Above the Salish Sea II 2016

[David Patterson]

Roberto, one very trustworthy source thinks TEMPTRESS might be a William Garden design, with characteristics of an Angleman Seawitch. Garden designs tend to be heart-warming to look at.

[David Patterson]

A feeling of quasi-religious awe is something I can readily admit to for two particular areas of the Salish Sea. When either in the Strait (Gulf) of Georgia or in Juan de Fuca Strait, the openness, the potential power, the majesty -if you will- all impact me strongly. Yet at least yearly in recent years I've crossed both at times, under sail usually, and with mixed success from the aspect of comfort. Planning is the key, to be sure, but conditions can...vary. This year, since I'm on the Wooden Boat Festival presenters' list, I want to arrive in Port Townsend, from the San Juans, early. A fair wind is needed, but fickle. Spring tides (full or dark moon) are an aid, traffic lanes are significant, fog occurs this time of year, etc. And, my boat is small and comparatively slow given its heavy cruiser's displacement to length ratio. My typical plan for heading south on the 30 mile or so passage is to exit the San Juans via "Cattle Pass" in the Middle Passage, catch the ebb currents in my port beam, pass to north of Smith and Minor Islands, utilize the current down the west side of Whidbey Island (avoiding military areas), then round Partridge Point into Admiralty Inlet. Port Townsend is still then about 8 miles away, with the task yet present of not being swept near Point Wilson. There is no fun to be had there, much of the time. Other factors come into play, including 6 hours per tide, time of day, sudden weather changes, and so on. One guidebook notes about the Salish Sea's primary straits that they are "no childs' playground." As an intermediate-level cruiser, I find that very much the truth.
***I'll try to illustrate. First is a chart view of the east end of Juan de Fuca. Note the traffic lanes, the islands, and the banks, around which strong currents flow. Second is a current atlas page of a mid-ebb time. Last is a similar one, mid-flood. A steady, fair, Force 3 (7-10kt) wind is ideal to me for managing the currents, with wind waves 2' or less. Once out there, the small boat skipper takes what there is, naturally. Once it was thunderstorms by Smith Island, lightning striking intermittently on the island. I blessed the grounding system on my Cape Dory during that event.

[David Patterson]

More boats seen in port: The first one is a folkboat (I believe). When you look at it you are seeing the forerunner design of many of the sailboat designs of the last 6 and a half decades, including Alberg's offerings. If my memory serves, a Scandinavian country, maybe Norway, had a design contest just after WWII for an affordable s/v to help get people back on the water and sailing. The folkboat won. (I haven't googled to check that memory yet.) I'm not even sure there is sitting headroom below, never mind standing. Uffa Fox's comment comes to mind, "If you need to stand up, go up on deck!" The second photo is of a Lyle Hess designed Montgomery 23. Hess was fond of lapstrakes for the resulting hull strength, I suppose. OVERTIME is pretty recognizable as a Hess. The third photo, of what I took to be a Bristol Channel Cutter, is actually a Westsail32. The dinghy is a Lyle Hess designed Fatty Knees, a high-volume excellent sailing dingy, with the gunnel a couple of strakes higher than many similar lapstrake NW designs, such as the Ranger Minto. Notice the serious ground tackle on the cutter. I guess I'm preparing myself for the fascinating craft I'll see in a few weeks at the Port Townsend festival.

[David Patterson]

Finally some time and attention from me to reviewing my cruise taken earlier this summer, above the Salish Sea. The first photo is of a very large scale chart, on which you might be able to imagine the cruise beginning at my boat's symbol in the San Juan Islands. I progressed NW through the Gulf Islands of Canada, exiting near Nanaimo. I crossed Georgia to the NE, to Pender Harbor (not shown), went up Malaspina Strait after a bit, worked west, and entered the Discovery Islands between Read and Quadra Islands. There I was able to work through Hoskyn and Okisollo Channels between Quadra and Sonora Islands, and a bit of Discovery Passage -through difficult Surge Narrows- under just sail. A very satisfying experience for me, given my interests and limited cruising history. I went on to go counterclockwise around E. Thurlow Island, upper left, before returning, getting a taste of intimidating (to me) Johnstone Strait. I went east into the Desolation Sound area for a multi-day explore next. On my passages south my route was west of big long exposed Texada, then SW across Georgia, before passing through the Gulf Islands again as I made my way back to the San Juans. Some stats: 73 days, 40 passages, 3 dockings (30" to make customs "landfall"; 20" for a fuel reserve; 4 hrs for a re-provisioning), all nights on the hook, 426 passage miles (my addition and division changes with repeated attempts), 13NM ave distance per passage at 2.2 knots (includes time raising/lowering anchor and working in/out of anchorages), less than 5 1/2 hrs average elapsed time per passage. (Tides are 6 hours long here.) Nearly 3/4 of my passages included motoring, at an average of 3 hrs per motoring passage. Longest passage, 40 miles. Shortest passage, 1 mile. The scenery and the sailing-only passages were the cruise highlights, plus a few stellar private anchorages. The second photo is of a sailor ashore, providing some traditional seaport entertainment. Shanties, a dancing stick man, and a calm dog. Putting money in the hat was a fair trade. The last photo is of a scene in a favorite peaceful anchorage, on a Saturday morning during the season. 160' loa ZODIAC is in the background, plying the tourist trade. She's 92 this year. [If you are a NW viewer and happen to be at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in Sept, please stop by and say hello at one of my presentations. They won't be about this cruise, however.]

[David Patterson]

"The Season" for cruising (though one can actually cruise here year round) in the Salish Sea is marked at its high tide by festivals. A focus on wooden boats starts in beautiful Victoria, shifts to a more local one in Deer Harbor of Orcas Island, and climaxes with Port Townsend. Some boats might be seen at all three. Port Townsend this year is having its 40th annual festival, including boats as small as kayaks and the Scamp, and as large as tall ships such as LADY WASHINGTON, ZODIAC, and ADVENTURESS. A full and varied program of presenters includes figures significant to the sailing world (Nigel Calder and Lin Pardey this year, for examples), right on down to average locals. As time draws near, fascinating wooden (and not) boats from all over the NW begin to converge, showing up in anchorages large and small. I expect to see several in coming days, as I provision and wait for my weather window for crossing Juan de Fuca Strait. WESTWARD, in the first photo, was built for taking tourists hunting and fishing in Alaska, back in 1924. She is still in the upscale tourist trade. You can learn about her online. Modeled on the boats that loaded fish from the fishing vessels to take to the canneries, her hull is fascinating to study. I don't know if she'll go to the festivals, but here she is in Friday Harbor, crew working on the windlass. Or maybe just swabbing the deck. The second photo is of presentations that two young cruising friends and I will offer in Port Townsend, hopefully at this link: https://2016wbf.sched.org/mobile/#page:page-schedule. Click on the various topics for details. The festival is very much a cruisers' Chautauqua. I leave the festivals far more informed and stimulated than when I arrived. And, man! The boats!

[David Patterson]

A local boat, JOHANNA of Shaw Island. Built in the early 1980s from an older Alden design. She won't be in the wooden boat show, but would certainly add to it. Photographed in Friday Harbor. I paced her off at 50' LOA, including bowsprit. Notice that the roller furled jib can be brought inboard, allowing a hanked on jib to be used. Usually it is the staysail stay that can be moved, once a Hyfield (?) lever is released. In fact, it looks to me like this one can. Interesting rig, the gaff mains'l aside. Love that spring in the sheer. And the decks. Inset glass prisms too. Elegant boom gallows. Iron horses for the club foot and traveler. Fine skylight. Etc., etc. Classic design. Can you imagine her cabin?

[David Patterson]

Before enjoying the Port Townsend festival, one must first get there. From my usual anchorages and frequented port in the San Juans, that means for me transiting "Cattle Pass" and crossing the east end of Juan de Fuca. The Middle Passage used to open on premier salmon fishing areas in the strait, before overfishing and spawning habitat destruction. Three generations have passed now since the fishing died. Haro Strait bounds the islands, and the country, to the west. Rosario Strait bounds the county and the islands to the east. Prodigious tidal flows travel 4 times a day through all, the islands raking and breaking the powerful currents like a giant inverted harrow of sorts. My route begins, typically, from an anchorage near Fish Creek, not actually a creek, but a narrow inlet. As conditions in the strait include, as I write this, 20kt winds and 3' wind waves, I'll wait another day before taking my little pocket cruiser through on the slack-before-the-ebb. With proper timing -and a fair wind- sailing through is not difficult, if motor traffic has not disturbed the water too much, that is. First photo: the lower San Juans, Middle Passage in the center. Second photo: Cattle Pass, home of waters in significant turmoil, except near the slack. Third photo: small scale of the pass, with deep and powerful currents constricted between Goose Island and Deadman's Island. The green-shaded area, if memory serves, represents that it was "wire-dragged" to remove obstructions, at some point. Charts, after all, are historical records. No such thing as a truly up-to-the-moment chart. Charted wrecks may have moved, old pilings rotted away, new obstructions appearing overnight. Barring earthquakes, rocks stay put, naturally. Things remain represented that may no longer be pertinent. But, better to have them on there. Not even your chart plotter is actually up to date. Nigel Calder points out some of the scaling issues, too, even with plotters. And when were those inshore soundings actually taken? When Cptn Vancouver went through?

[David Patterson]

These photos provide little detail, but might work to illustrate a couple of things. The first is of my track across Juan de Fuca Strait and Admiralty Inlet to Port Townsend. The large scale chart is the only one I had that would show the whole track. 28.75 NM over a bit more than 9 hours. Only the 2 hour crossing of the Inlet was pure sailing. The middle third of the passage was done in thick fog, with visibility less than 300 yards. Having a plotter of some sort sure helps in fog. My track wasn't an avoidance of the lavender-outlined area. It just represents the best I could do with the currents and light winds. The second photo is of the point in the passage that most satisfied me, for I made Admiralty Inlet just before the turn to flood, catching the counter current below Point Partridge right on time. Excellent luck. Port Townsend is a portion of wooden boat heaven. The sight of that Whitehall (?) in the third photo greeted me near my anchorage choice (none are great here). The leg-o-mutton (?) sail looks perfectly cut and filled. Two late elementary-school girls were enjoying the perspective from the bow. I'll share some better photos over the coming week, hopefully.

[David Patterson]

In both boatyard and marina, here in Port Townsend toward the end of the conventional cruising season, the theme seems to be maintenance. How many of the yarded boats' owners thought they would get out this last summer, but didn't make it? In the first photo, any Alberg-design owner would be right at home with that classic hull shape. The cabin must be exceptionally light inside, but even with modern plexiglass for Windows, wouldn't that house be very vulnerable? Note the single life-line. In the second photo, the maintenance appears to have taken the form of a full refit of the converted 1944 wooden fishing boat, ready for new ownership. Whoever gets her better be prepared to budget significant amounts of time and funds to keeping her looking like that. The colors are downright restful to look at. Notice that she appears to have a boom, there amidst the mysteries of a down-hauler fishing rigging, suitable for a "get-home sail". George Beuhler's "troller" designs have those. The third photo is of a late-middle-aged woman calmly going about the process of inspecting her mast, varnishing nicks and scratches, inspecting everything as she works her way down to the deck of her wooden cutter. Competent and serene.

[David Patterson]

A few boats. First is a lap strake rowing/sailing craft, not far descended from a Scandinavian "faering," of the Middle Ages and before, seemingly. There is something fascinating about well-crafted wood. Elemental and complex at once, as it were. Second is a smallish schooner with a classic hull-shape, the forefoot, to modern eyes, only slightly cut away to ease coming about. This hull must really hold a course, and also hold onto the water against leeway. The rounded rudder, I think, remains in some early Alberg designs, but gave way to a rectangular keel-hung rudder with a vertical trailing edge. This boat seems to be a 19th century design. The last boat seems very 21st century to me. The owner told me it was built by the Gudgeon brothers, I presume of fiberglass over wood. On the water she moved with preternatural speed, faster than seems possible for a small sailboat. Witchery. A work of art, really, though a very long ways from a practical cruiser. The festival is ramping up, on the other end of the waterfront, as people and boats from around the Salish Sea gather for the good times. From food and music, through excellent boats and skilled craftsmanship, to technical information and cruising narratives, it's a sailor's pleasure. A photographer's playground, as well. One thing it is not is a commercial boat display with a floating-condo/latest-gadgets orientation.

[David Patterson]

As part of my cruising, I enjoy (with a perhaps boyish delight) the workings of a functional shipyard. The Travelifts, ungainly steel creatures on splayed legs, are such unusual vehicles, often underway with sometimes astonishingly large craft, even tall ships here. Here are some pics of a medium-sized lift. The first has a handsome wooden m/v moving. The white pickup owner scrambled to move his truck as the lift came within inches. Notice there is no one at the lift controls. The second photo shows why. That young man with the orange box was walking backwards as cars drove under the slowly moving traveling lift, handling the huge machine by remote. All in a day's work, apparently. Ordinary yard activity. In the nearby "yacht haven" a fine larger raked-mast folk boat shines on mirroring water, a Friendship-looking hull to the right, another interesting craft to the left, and an oddly swollen hull design behind. Perhaps I'll be able to post some of the festival entrants soon, as they begin coming into the festival-site basin today. A "giant jigsaw puzzle," the organizer called the task of slipping all of the boats for display.

[David Patterson]

Sterns and bows...and whimsy.

[David Patterson]

Perplexed about how to represent the visual and tactile riches of this particular cruising stop, I'll opt for two posts. The three photos of this one show the main festival boat venue, wooden boats cheek by jowl in a fine display. A tall ship, HAWAIIAN CHIEFTAN is background for beachable wooden craft at the festival edge. And, a restorer of old engines, among other skills, displays several beautiful gas outboards near a boat of his building. Notice the rug under his display.

[David Patterson]

The level of craftsmanship in wood, at this festival, is remarkably high. Usable sculpture is my best attempt at a description of many of the small boats. Here is a sampler. The Northwest Wooden Boat School is the center of the festival's land portion.

[tjr818]

I have only been to the Festival once, but I was amazed. Those folks actually use those beautiful "Usable sculptures". The problem that I had at the festival is that I wanted them all, I felt as thought I was cheating on my Cape Dory. Lust in my heart....