Return to the Salish Sea

[David Patterson]

Crossing Boundary Pass about 7AM, I entered the States after more than 50 days cruising primarily under sail, running before Force 2 north winds among developing tide rips. While leaving Port Browning of North Pender Island, it appears on this large scale chart that I sailed over every charted rock in the harbor. Not the case, of course. Three views of my track are pictured. First is the border crossing. Shooting the gap between S Pender and little Blunden Island turned out to be easy in the correct current and a following wind. Next, the whole 20 mile 6.5 hour passage. Last, I'm about to enter my anchorage, coming in a little "hot" in only 6 knots of wind and on a current stream. Alberg-designed sloops have large mains'l areas. My 25D was sailing well, on a port tack broad reach, with a genoa reefed to about 100%.

[David Patterson]

A few more photos from the Alberg Rendezvous, where Cape Dories may have outnumbered the Albergs. Three Alberg designs anchored out: GINGER TEA Alberg37, TARAH' MARA CD32, and DRAGON TALE of Anacortes, CD28. (I hope I have that info correct.) At a dock are a CD28, an Alberg 30, and to the right an Alberg 29. The last photo is of a neglected and probably worm-eaten Folkboat. John off MINTAKA joked about obtaining it, for a winter project. Perhaps more than one winter would be needed.

[David Patterson]

Back in my "home port" of Friday Harbor, after a 2 month absence, I find the season well advanced, though the heaviest activity is yet to come. The busy motor vessel traffic makes the typically light-airs-sailing of summer in the San Juans more difficult, because of the combined wake waves. Interesting boats come and go in the harbor and port as I re-provision. Three photos: first is a big/bigger/biggest(?) set of private motor yachts, whose owners find enjoyment on the local cruising grounds; second is a good example of an important cruising design of early fiberglass full-keel sailing craft, a Westsail 32, which while no nimble light air sailor still makes very respectable ocean passages under sail; third is the big yawl ODDESSEY (mizzen abaft the rudder post) as she finishes her turn in a very tight space near the fuel docks, basically having rotated within her own length under the skillful motoring of her captain.

[Sea Hunt Video]

David:

The Westsail 32 is beautiful - even though not a Cape Dory. She is what I think of when I think of a sturdy sailboat with beautiful lines (other than a Cape Dory) that could easily circumnavigate the globe.

Her name, S/V Adagio, is Italian. It means "slowly". Perhaps her owners were referring to their sailing style or to her behavior in light winds. Either way, an appropriate name and a beautiful sailboat.

Thank you again for all of your great posts and photos. Some of us (perhaps many) live vicariously through your posts and photos.

[David Patterson]

Thanks for your enjoyment, Roberto. This cruising-under-sail life I'm leading aboard has pleasures that I imagine many sailors would like. Fascinating boats are active here in Friday Harbor, in the high season months, almost compensating for the wake-disturbed waters. I watched the gaff-rigged topsail schooner SPIKE AFRICA leave harbor under sail today, an anchored 45' green-hulled junk-rigged schooner putting up her colorful tan bark sails for inspection, and caught the bow dock line from a young woman single handing a 1926 Ed Monk cedar-on-oak 28.5 foot sloop. She is slightly observable in the photo, a competent live-aboard water-woman with a 13' (!) dinghy. "It's too big, I know," she told me. That's it in front of her sloop. Note the sloop's tall mast, off a 34' boat she said. 11,000 pounds displacement would require nearly 600 square feet of sail, I suppose. She told me it buries the rail and steadies there. Lifelines weren't standard equipment 90 years ago, apparently. Boats and sailors and scenes...what's not to like?

[David Patterson]

A morning view from my customary anchorage in Friday Harbor. A "god's eye," as some call them, looks down from the clouds onto the anchored boats. The even sea state is atypical, especially this deep into the season, for the waters are usually choppy from the wake waves of busy motor traffic, a sailing challenge in light airs. Lately some have asked me about ways to sail their boats more. They see or hear of me moving about under sail. I try to inform them of my many limitations. Recognizing that they mostly want encouragement to go beyond their limits, I say something like "Learn to really sail your boat by picking some short passage and doing it over and over again, in varying conditions. Do it anchor to anchor in both directions." Sounds minimal, but the primary elements of cruising under sail are there: planning an exit from the anchorage, raising sail and anchor, working out of the anchorage and bay, choosing and executing the required points of sail to make the passage, planning and entering an anchorage, sailing-in the anchor and dousing the sails. The satisfactions will encourage taking on more challenges. I think learning to do the whole process single-handed, depending on the boat (small boats usually get sailed more than large ones, right?) makes for a more knowledgeable sailor, one who can then direct crew more effectively. My own such "training passage" is only two miles, between my provisioning port and a favorite protected anchorage in which to swing on the hook. I've gradually learned to do it fairly efficiently, even in pretty fresh conditions (for example, by raising my uncleated main before I bring up the anchor, then sheeting in the mains'l to begin moving before unfurling my jib, which sequence works well for me single handing). Even if motoring from a slip is required, anchoring and starting again will allow the needed experience. Anyway, a well-designed boat like ours are will be fully able, and eventually so will the cruiser him or her self. At some point, the motor will return to being the auxiliary power, not the sails. You will deploy the "iron jib" less often, and truly be sailing your boat, probably adding to your cruising pleasures.

[David Patterson]

Crossing the Strait of Georgia under sail, at the end of a gale: On a nearly two month cruise, primarily under sail in the upper Salish Sea, rough weather will inevitably be encountered. A series of gales out of the Gulf of Alaska and/or the North Pacific had kept me pinned on the Sunshine Coast for far longer than I wished. It was an important experience for me in emphasizing the need for additional time room in cruising plans. Eventually I was able to make the Alberg Rendezvous in Port Browning with 18 hours to spare, a cruising achievement for me. Below is a summarized description of crossing the strait. As you read it, recall that meteorologists measure wind speed at 10 meters above the surface, about mast high on my small cruiser. My measured wind speeds are from boom-high on the back stay, not very accurate data. I tried to extrapolate conservatively. Also recognize that sea state can be far more influential on handling a small boat than wind force, at times. Many better sailors than I might critique my boat handling and my choices, but please suspend that as (and if) you read this journal excerpt. It was a memorable experience. [Good luck with my handwriting.]

[winthrop fisher]

my wife and i go to friday harbor ever other year and stay with friends, we love it thier.

[David Patterson]

A large ketch (50' plus range?) entered the anchorage this morning, the captain very well protected in the middle-cockpit craft, with its roomy aft cabin and hint of a clipper bow. Winds that will have me swinging later will barely move this big craft. Above the mainmast, a red sun hangs like a ball of St Elmo's fire, though the wrong color. A high haze of particulates from forest fires is probably what is filtering out all of the longer wavelengths of light. Photos from Iowa and Missouri have been depicting strangely colored suns, likely due to Western forest fires. The ketch's second dinghy, in davits, appears to be a 9' Fatty Knees. I'm tempted to row over after the coming minor wind event, to ask if he will sell it to me. I doubt it. If anyone hears of a used 8' Fatty Knees for sale, please let me know. It might be worth the shipping, to me. On the west coast would be ideal, of course. (Winthrop, I hope your next visit to the San Juans is as enjoyable as all of the others.)

[David Patterson]

In my current respite from active cruising, I am having time to glance back over my recent postings, resting, and even gaining back a couple of lost pounds. My four day beat out of Princess Louisa Inlet lacks one chart, of tacking up wind thru Agamemnon Channel, from Agamemnon Bay to (eventually!) Pender Harbor. A close look at my track will show the couple of hours it took me to get around innocuous-looking Daniel Point. I was a bit late for my tide. I had to fight being swept back up Agamemnon by the developing flood, in very light airs. Once I got some wind, I got around and the flood boosted me into Pender quickly. A passing work boat queried me on Ch 16. "Sailboat by Daniel Point: You doing okay there?" My response was "Having fun." But I minimized. Only for the first 90" was the challenge engaging. The last half hour got somewhat tedious in the glaring sun. Boat wakes there added to the difficulties. I thought I had posted this chart, but it apparently didn't send. The second photo is a closer look at my challenging little struggle to round the point. But, it is an occasional part of actually sailing a boat here.

[David Patterson]

Like most busy tourist-oriented ports, Friday Harbor offers plenty in which to be interested. Here is a view of the well-attended Port Marina, over some lush flowers. (The haze is from WA and CN forest fires, in a very dry summer.) From the docks is a view of a mega yacht on the breakwater. At first I thought it was a cruise ship, but I think it is just another dramatic pleasure boat. It must be difficult to feel truly successful and special when so many others match you. Such craft are quite commonplace during high tourist season in the Salish Sea. And, some comparatively modest sailing craft at anchor could be enjoyed, the last time I sailed in to anchor. 40 footers are the new 30 footers, it seems this time of year. That green-hulled schooner is junk rigged on the masts, but with a conventional jib. I find the colors of the hull contrasted with the red of the sails to be visually pleasing. The scuttlebutt around the anchorage is that she is being fitted out for a doubling of Cape Horn, west to east. The masts look wood but are aluminum. When I visit the harbor for mail and provisions, I do it during mid-week, anchoring elsewhere during the hectic weekends of tourist season.

[David Patterson]

A few more boats. Another lil' ol' mega yacht on the breakwater courtesy dock, Port of Friday Harbor. Seems to always be at least one, usually several, in port this time of year. Also pictured is the junk-rigged schooner that had been interesting me, as she is fitted out for Cape Horn (if that rumor is true). I enjoy her lines and like the cabin house. The wheelhouse looks particularly vulnerable to me, though I'm not competent to judge such things. Last is a very well-crafted motor vessel. Joe, the builder/operator, told me he had once reconditioned and sold on a CD Typhoon named SEQUOIA, and that I could find it on the registry. His workmanship is first class on his current boat. I don't know if he also does his own canvas work, but the boat has a handsome cockpit enclosure as well.

[David Patterson]

A vignette of classic boats. Sailing into my current anchorage on Shaw Island, the yawl ODYSSEY (90' Olin Stephens 1938, built for Long Island racing and "yachting") and the Scotland-built (early 1960's in a yard put out of business by fiberglass) wood sloop ABLE both tack upwind. In Force 3 winds ABLE moved smartly at 5+ knots. ODYSSEY, under club-footed inner jib and mizzen, moved at a more sedate 1-2 knots and never missed stays. Next is a somewhat closer look at the big cutter-rigged yawl, now a Sea Scout training ship. Last is ABLE under main alone, having doused the jib for anchoring. Notice the unusual slope of the house. Her master uses a wheelchair ashore, and sails with élan when afloat, his partner as crew. In the background, notice a very fine Chis-Craft (I think). A good day of boat watching. [Sorry for the blurry shots.]

[David Patterson]

One more post on the classic boats theme and I'll drop it. Here are closer looks at the Chris-Craft (I think it is) as well as the Scottish boat ABLE. My imagining about the slant of the cabin top on ABLE is to think about the waters around Scotland, much of them famous for their waves and roughness. Taking solid water over the bow on this sloop would be less likely to damage the house, perhaps. She certainly is exquisitely elegant.

[David Patterson]

Sorry, but I can't leave the classic boat theme alone, with two fine examples in my current anchorage this evening. Both gaff-rigged topsail schooners are frequently on view at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend, ALCYONE at least 28 times. She is 65' with a 10' draft, built in 1956. Her sail area is 4500 square feet. I enjoy the square yard especially. While I have been aboard her at the boat show, I've not seen her out at anchor before. Farther away is big ZODIAC, making an evening arrival in Parks Bay of Shaw Island, in the San Juans, where a parade of interesting craft pass through. She is 160' LOA, 15' draft, built in 1924, able to put out 7000 square feet of sail. Her displacement is 220 tons. ALCYONE, with a shallower draft, was willing to anchor in 5 fathom water, while ZODIAC stayed out in 10 fathoms. [Edit: I've added a photo of the two boats near each other. They make the sort of scene that might make someone run off to sea. But then, I already have.]