Beyond My Known 2017

[David Patterson]

Set in a scene comprised of a palette of greys, what I believe was a CD 28 or 30 (I couldn't tell which) named DANNY BOY was in my Friday Harbor anchorage. I wasn't able to interact with the crew before they cruised on. Her waterline in the photo suggests being loaded for cruising. Also in recently was a 24' Lyle Hess design, his Falmouth Cutter. Close to being fully set up in the L & L Pardey tradition --notice the anchor residing on the bobstay, the cockpit footwell, and the SS boom gallows-- she looks too small for a circumnavigation...but they can do it. Just, I suppose, as a 25D can make New Zealand. That's been done also, I think. I'm not only unready to go off-shore, if I ever do, but my as yet unstowed gear in NAVIGARE's cabin probably couldn't handle a 5° heel. Her appearance in the anchorage belies that, however. Only the main halyard over the spreader spoils the geometry of the rigging. That buoy astern is not mine, though I am here on a bow and a stern anchor for the comfort of being able to limit swing. In this anchorage, ferry and other m/v wakes need to be kept forward of the beam in order to avoid unpleasant rolling. Notice the midship lift and drop of N's sheer, atypical of most of Alberg's designs. He allegedly joked that he "only had one French curve" when he drew up plans. Whether that is the case or not, an Alberg design has a particularly recognizable and lovely (to my eyes anyway) sheer line.

[Sea Hunt Video]

David:

Perhaps I have not been as attentive as I should have been but I think this is the first time you have posted a photo of S/V Navigare. At least it is the first photo I remember.

She is VERY pretty. You are most fortunate. I am sure she will give you many wonderful sailing adventures.

I assume you know the word "navigare" means "to sail" in Italian. Were the prior owners Italian

[David Patterson]

Roberto, the name (given by the Canadian couple from whom I obtained her) derives from a Latin quote from the Roman Gnaeus Pompeius: Navigare necesse est, vivere non est necesse. That is, "to sail is necessary, to live/survive is not." The anecdote can be found online. Various variations are derivable, such as: "standing still won't save you," or "I can't not sail" (E. B. White), or "we all know how this is going to end and better just get under way," etc. I like the name, the quote, and the implications. David, Friday Harbor

[David Patterson]

Though I'm harbor-bound by some medical appointments, the cruising world still passes by my anchorage, at least to a degree. Here is s better look at the CD28 DANNY BOY of Anacortes, WA. I've encouraged her new owner to attend the NW Alberg Designs Rendezvous in Bedwell Harbor of Pender Island (counting N and S as one). To be held 16-18 June this year, it is a convivial gathering of interest. I may not be able to attend myself, unless my own boat's new registration numbers appear in the mail soon. No border crossing possible without them. First photo was as I found DB near, in the new morning. Next, a better look. Last as she heads out cruising, into the morning sun.

[tjr818]

Beautiful photos, as always David.
I might be the bearer of some bad news however. Below is a notice I received from my documentation service:

I have inquired on the status of your filing with the US Coast Guard and they have received the request and it is in que to be processed.
They are currently up to date with filings they have received through March 27th ,2017. The Coast Guard received your filing on April 24th, 2017 so it could easily be another 2 to 3 weeks before they issue your Certificate of Documentation.

I hope that yours comes sooner than that! Do note though, that if you contact the Coast Guard they can probably tell you what your number is going to be, I have my number, I just do not have any paperwork yet.

[David Patterson]

Thanks for the heads up, Tim. Fortunately, I haven't yet applied for a documentation number, though I likely will. The valuable aspect of it is that it establishes ownership, the chain of ownership, in fact. (And you can fly the yacht ensign by right.) A boat with clear ownership can be more easily sold in a foreign port, etc. I can't apply until I have proof of federal de-registration in Canada, which is forthcoming eventually. Bureaucracy. It's a state registration I'm waiting on. I think I'll get it in time, if my medical situation allows me to start cruising. Whatever you do, don't get old. It's too complicated. The photo shows that it really doesn't take that much to get out cruising. A Potter (?) and a Nutshell Pram. Notice that she has real anchors and all the useful appurtenances. Look too at that Sampson post on the probably home-built dinghy, for proper towing I assume. Note also the R2AK sticker. The third Race to Alaska is underway right now. This cruiser, an early-elderly single-hander out of California, knows what he is doing. David, Friday Harbor

[David Patterson]

Unable to make a protected anchorage in time for a gale off the Pacific, and through Juan de Fuca Strait, I'm making a rare visit during the season to Friday Harbor's Port Marina. In this unusually cool spring (nearly gone) it's not crowded. I've had a chance to practice my slipping skills (questionable) and to continue to learn about such niceties as where to place my dinghy. First though, the companionway doors of the CD28 DANNY BOY (formerly DRAGON TALE). Very handsome. Next, a Devlin designed and built gaffer, GULLEY JIMSON. Devlin is a local NW craftsman, so well known and respected that he is referred to by one name, like a famous singer or something. His work is frequently displayed at the PT Wooden Boat Festival. Among many other characteristics of his work, I love his paint schemes. With a big cabin for a small boat, her captain needs it, for he is well over 6' tall. In the background is my A29 NAVIGARE. Back to slipping: I've slowly learned to choose the side of the finger dock to the lee of expected winds so as to be held off rather than pushed on (duh), and to take advantage of boat shapes to get my dinghy out of the way of a potential slip mate. Leaving a dinghy at the stern is too exposed in a tourist marina. (Someone like me might come weaving through!) LAGNIAPPE, my CD Dink, has her mast and boom covered and lashed to N's lifelines.

[David Patterson]

While I work on my new-to-me-boat, and work to recover my health while still in the San Juans, I continue to look back with appreciation to last year's experiences aboard nimble CD25D CLOUD GIRL. My familiarity with her after 6 years of steadily cruising her allowed me to be adventuresome at times. On 6 June of last year, in the heart of a 73 day cruise from and back to Friday Harbor, I negotiated the Upper Rapids of Surge Narrows of Okisollo Channel, in the Discovery Islands, under sail. I posted about it last year (Above the Salish Sea p. 8, I think). Here is a plot of my track that afternoon, paired with the first page of my journal description of the passage...if you can read my cursive. (The timed entries are from my "cockpit log" that I keep as I sail.) The subsequent pages are below.

[David Patterson]

In port for the predictable needs -fresh foods, mail, laundry, etc.- I enjoyed seeing Oregon's tall ship HAWAIIAN CHIEFTAN also in port here in Friday Harbor. Though traditionally rigged she has a steel hull (1988) and of course an engine. Needing maintenance, she is soliciting donations, by the way. Her bosun is apparently under supplied. She, and Washington state's LADY WASHINGTON, represent coastal ships of the first half of the 19th century that were in the fur trade, taking their cargoes as far away as China, I believe, no doubt arriving from around the Horn. In these photos you can see the grace and complexity of hull and rigging, the massive bitts, her beak/head/prow (Stephen Maturin might call it an "anfractuosity"), the net of forces focused on and distributed by her dolphin striker, and so on. An elaborate creation. I especially admire the wing-like platforms on her masts...her tops. The crew was "sweating" her dock lines to have her closer to the dock.

[David Patterson]

And another tall ship, this one the LADY WASHINGTON. Better maintained, she joined HAWAIIAN CHIEFTAN for a weekend of tours for tourists in Friday Harbor. Also remarkably complex, her masts are set up as a square rigged schooner, though with a "spanker", while the CHIEFTAIN is essentially a ketch, with her shorter mizzenmast rigged fore and aft, not square. Unfortunately, I left port before tours began. Maybe I'll get aboard one or both in September in Port Townsend.

[David Patterson]

Still living in the past, as far as cruising goes, but with pleasure. This is in and near Roscoe Bay, West Redonda Island, off Desolation Sound BC. I sailed almost to the bay, in baffling tidal currents on CLOUD GIRL, but motored in. A hard flat rock bar cannot be crossed at low tide by boats of more than a couple of feet of draft, if that. The bay is enclosed, protected, stunningly beautiful, and when I was there last June, occupied only by small s/v, and just a few of those. I ate wild cherries from my dinghy and marveled at the fresh water sources. I'll hope to return one day.

[David Patterson]

On a quick 40" anchor-up-to-anchor-down "motorboat" passage back to port, from my preferred non-cruising anchorage, the somewhat elemental scenery was the most interesting part. Not long after sunrise, and soon after slack, sun and water interacted glitteringly in the midst of greyness. A skyscape to the south also made for pleasant viewing. The anchorage, hardly at its busiest, was mostly occupied by m/v. I took up my familiar spot in the middle back, next to the rock face, where no one was likely to either get behind me, or to "cross my hawse." A little local knowledge about depths is pretty useful for minus tides, such as those happening now. Not infrequently, when crowded times occur, someone will accidentally pull up a neighbor's anchor when attempting to leave. Colorful language has sometimes been heard.

[David Patterson]

Hoping to get provisioned to allow for leaving port before the full holiday weekend tourist onslaught, I hurry through my round of errands, appointments, and shopping. Art rewards me here and there, as in the Hawk Man displayed at the excellent island medical center, flanked by a lively Fox Play. Art of a different sort, in the form of a fine wooden boat in the marina. (Is that a beautifully faired wood hull, or one of GRP? I couldn't tell.) The bi-level cabin top is echoed in some of Alberg's designs. A detailed look at the mast step shows a slide for adjusting mast rake, I assume. She is modern to the extent, at least, of shore power, an LPG barbecue at the stern, and a recent anchor design. She also appears to have an electric windlass.

[tjr818]

Another beautiful boat David. I am amazed when I see teak that light in color. Is it teak? That color seems to match the mast color and I would imagine that the mast is Sitka spruce. I have unused teak lumber that is darker than that, before I put any kind of finish on it. I hope allis well with you, I am glad to see that you are out voyaging again. Have fun.

[David Patterson]

Tim, I assumed that I was looking at teak. The mast seemed lighter colored. Teak comes from multiple sources, and has variation, I understand. Maybe some other wood is represented, but I think not. As for voyaging, I'm a long ways from that. I'm not even cruising, by my own standards. I'll not count a 2.3 NM motor-boating passage across San Juan Channel anyway. I'll get there eventually though, as my health improves and I work up this boat. Meanwhile, comfort and beauty remain priorities. Stimulation can bide it's time. I hope your own boating life is going well. David