Another great day...week on the water

Well I can safely say this has been a very nice vacation. I got to play around with all my new rigging and sails quite a bit. Went a couple places I had never gone before and did something I don't want to do again!
We stayed a few days in Pt Hudson. I always like staying there but this time I was a little annoyed at the overabundance of starlings as well as the usual flock of seagulls. To make matters worse they were eating some sort of purple fruit with seeds which they proceeded to poop out on my boat!
Nevertheless we had a nice stay. I rigged the dinghy and took it out into the bay a few times. Pt. Townsend bay has lovely winds and it was quite fun to stretch the dinghy's legs a bit. A little exciting at times too! The harbor entrance was a little tricky and sailing straight upwind to Attitudes to get back was a challenge but neither one of us had to resort to oars to get in. Our last day at Pt Hudson we flipped a coin so to speak to stay or go. Turned out they did have a spot for us but we would need to move the boat. Well if I was going to untie her I was going to go someplace else, not just another slip. Choice made!

So off we went making the decision at about Pt Wilson to head over to Sequim Bay. I have never taking a boat there although at one point Attitudes' was signed up for moorage there. We had driven up and eaten at the lovely Dockside Grill there so were looking forward to that. On the way over we went by Protection Island and saw the young seals and lots of birds. I have been a little disappointed this trip by the lack of Rhinoceros Auklet sightings but we have seen all types of other cute seabirds. Sequim Bay was not too tricky getting in. Just watch the buoys and look at your chart. Having GPS is nice also. I did have a little trouble with a couple of the last buoys I needed. I could only find 1! I did see a coast guard boat ahead and about on course so figured the water was ok there. Turns out the coast guard was doing buoy maintenance, they dropped the buoy back in the water just as I came by! Getting in to the Marina was only tricky in that as I lined up to come in to the small oval marina I realized I had quite a cross current at the entrance. I had to pick up speed a bit more than usual to make my way in. Once inside we had the transient area all to ourselves. We made reservations for dinner and settled in for a nice relaxing stay. I found at this point that I really wanted nothing more than some long naps so signed up for two nights. In fact we ended up staying a third we enjoyed it so much! We found John Wayne Marina very peaceful even with a busy boat launch ramp.
All things must come to an end though and we finally decided to head out again. On the way out I decided we were so close to Dungeness Spit that we should run up and look at the lighthouse and see what wildlife was about. NOAA was promising small craft winds so I figured we could sail after visiting the spit. We went up and poked around, took pictures and then I put the sails up and headed east hoping that the 2 knot wind would pick up. On the way I flipped another proverbial coin and decided to stay on the south side of the Straits. The wind didn't really pick up but there was enough to keep us moving and I enjoyed sitting in the sun listening to the birds with salmon jumping all around me and even the sound of whale surfacing. I only managed to catch sight of one at it but that at least let me know I wasn't hearing things! Eventually the wind died altogether ( even though the coast guard was still announcing small craft advisories where we were.) so off we went under power into Pt. Townsend. This was the first day of the three day weekend so of course every inch of dock space and anchorage was in use. I've never really felt great about anchorage at Pt. Townsend anyway so just as the sun was going down I made the decision to go into Mystery bay between Indian and Marrowstone Island. Doing that route after dark is not an experience I want to repeat! None of the markings are lighted so it was a strain to find each one. I went in mostly under iPad navigation with Sinan watching the depth. We made it without going aground and even made it into Mystery bay without hitting anyone else anchored there or hooking a crab pot. I had never been in there so was pretty conservative anchoring and didn't try to get inside too far. Also put out quite a bit of chain while Sinan backed it down. I somewhat regretted this the next morning while hoisting all that chain (item on wish list: electric windlass). I would recommend the little bay, there are a number of park buoys and it was quite dark and quiet. Although just as we finished anchoring a chorus of coyotes started up! I would recommend going in during daylight!
Now on the home stretch we pushed out of Pt. Townsend Bay under sail in a nice breeze. Unfortunately the current was hard against us. I first went out in order to take a freighter wake headfirst ending up taking it in the middle of the tide rips. At least we got the rest of the anchor muck washed off the deck! We then fought our way towards shore where I was hoping for some current relief. We were flying through the water on a nice broad reach but we were not making very good headway over the ground. No matter once we got close to shore our SOG picked up and we had a pleasant sail. I had tweaked my neck and shoulder hoisting anchor that morning and was getting a little tired from all the downwind running in the tide rips. Plus I just didn't want to go home yet! I called Pt Ludlow on the off chance that they had a spot for us even though it was the middle of the holiday weekend. In fact they did! I pointed slightly more to the west and headed in to ice cream bars and free showers!
So today puttering along in a non existent breeze, current still against us, I am confident we will be in to our slip at Shilshole tonight. A little sad to be going home but I have a bunch of things I want to tweak on the boat at the dock now. Looking forward to a barbecue/ clean up evening on board and maybe even some adventuring on land.
Cheers!
Linda
Sent from miPad

Of Fog and Hard Docks

This morning I woke to bright sun straight up but thick fog everywhere else. Cup of coffee in hand I de-rigged the dinghy (we really need to find a name for her). This time I stowed the rigging in the dinghy, well lashed down of course, to see how that worked under tow. Once Sinan was up and everything ready to go we untied. At this point Sinan decided to do one of his more creative pull outs. He decided that we would turn Attitudes around in the slip and pull out forward. The neighbors had left so there was plenty of room. I pushed the bow off and got onboard to turn her around. I did so quite handily and started forward to leave when something tweaked my ear. Turning around I realized that Sinan had not pushed the stern off and jumped on like I thought but had stayed on the dock, line in hand, and was now standing on the opposite finger pier!
Wind and Attitudes orientation were not great for me to back up to pick him up but no problem! Our original finger pier was the super long end pier. I told him to throw the line in and meet me there. I would pick him up with no problem..... Oooops

I pulled over to the other side slowly enough for Sinan to catch up and he grabbed hold of the shroud and attempted (I thought) to hop on board. For some reason he seemed to be having trouble so I kept her into the pier so he could get on. Oh well I still have some of the blue paint for the scrape.... Turns out Sinan was trying to push us out sideways before getting all the way on. ( yeah right: full keel, 9 tons)

Once out I found the fog even thicker than I thought. Out came all 3 GPS devices (GPS, iPad, Laptop) and yes Helen once clear of the rocks I switched the iPad to the Ship Finder App. Luckily Ben kept course pretty well although wind, waves and rips occasionally threw him into a tizzy. The fog gradually cleared, as I passed Colvos Rock it was about 0.8nm visibility. As we got to Marrowstone pockets of clear started to show up. A bit of Marrowstone, A bit of whidbey and even Mt Baker peeked through. Finally I gratefully put down my bronze fog horn. Lifting and blowing that thing once a minute made me wish I had fixed my electric horn!

At this point it became painfully apparent how bad the current really was. For quite a stretch our SOG ranged around 1.9 knots! I started wondering if my propeller was really turning! Up a ways I finally saw 6.7! Oh boy the current must have turned, yeah no not really, just a rip going my way for a bit. We were soon down to between 2 and 3 knots. No matter though we were coming into Port Townsend bay. A bit more dodging of log bombs and sailboats and we headed into Pt Hudson.

I radioed in as we came close and was in luck. Someone had canceled and the end of a 70' slip was mine. That was the last slip in the marina. Port tie which meant the strong west wind would be pushing me off the dock. My first try was a resounding non success which left me trying to clear the child fishing off the end of the next boat with my bow and not back in to the sailboat who followed me in. I managed an admirably tight 360 in the entrance and made a second attempt. It was not my finest moment however with the help of all nearby boaters we managed to get tied up without hitting: outboard of boat in front, little kid fishing off stern to side, expensive side of big motorboat to side, most of the dock. There was no yelling or cursing involved - although one wag did ask if I didn't have a reverse. He obviously didn't see my first attempt. After completing tie up of boat and dinghy we watched Carol Hasse sail her boat in to her slip straight upwind with hardly a murmur.

Our plan is to stay 2 nights and since the 70 foot slip is booked I get to move to a different slip, also port tie, and try this all again. I'm hoping that I'll be able to shift the boat before the wind comes up tomorrow. Also would be great if the neighbor is not in the slip, but that might be too much to ask.

We strolled over to say hi to Carol on her renovated folkboat. She wanted to hear all about the sail's performance and was quite happy to hear how satisfied I was. The topic of carrot juice came up. OK Sinan asked where the nearest grocery store that might have carrot juice was. Carol kindly offered a ride to a nearby store. ( I did ask if she had seen me dock, she claimed ignorance of the whole affair.)

Back on the boat now, empty dark and stormy at my side, just about to hit the sack. The wind is still blowing like the freaks of heck out there.

All in all a great day!

Friday's Tale

Friday was a day of unabashed silliness, we left Kingston and headed north toward Port Townsend. We had a 2 knot current against us and so speed was not great however once we tweaked around with Ben (Our Cetec Benmar Autopilot) for a while he started working! At first not well which made our course rather a zigzag affair!

Once we rounded Pt No Point the wind came up a tiny bit and even though the current was still hard against us we decided to put up the sails. Attitudes sailed wonderfully! In such a light breeze it was marvelous to see the sails fill and Attitudes leaning over jus' treking along! Of course with current hard against and wind light and on our nose the game was up well before we called it. We spent several pleasant hours tacking back and forth gaining not 1 inch on our course but also not losing any. At one point I took heart as it seemed we started to make trees on Mount Olympus. On a particularly lovely stretch I called Sinan for help and stepped off into the dinghy - camera in hand. I took pictures of Attitudes seemingly sailing away and pictures of the Victoria Clipper passing. (I was quite sure she would swamp me.) Eventually I tired of normal pictures and attempted a bit of steering trying to run the dinghy out to the side more, something like water skiing. It only partially worked but was quite fun.

At this point I realized how foolish it was to hop off into a Dinghy in tow, leaving my computer mad slightly deaf husband on the mothership. I tried to grab the tow line and pull myself in but realized quickly that putting that much weight forward was quite exciting! I then rather hopefully tried a shout out but to no avail. Sinan was in the pilot house on his computer. Luckily I had brought along my iPhone! I quickly called hoping he would hear the ring.

Back on board we continued our lovely sail, dodging ships as we went back and forth across the shipping lanes. Eventually however, the time did occur to me and after several exciting unplanned tacks We hauled in the sails and the iron Genoa came on. At this point we were still well away from Port Townsend but look! Pt Ludlow is right there! Off we headed in a new direction. "Do we have a reservation?" "No!? Well okay pull into the back of the end pier."

After tidying the boat (only a bit). I sat down with all the spare rigging bits plus some I had bought for the purpose to rig the dinghy mainsheet. My first try was almost, but not quite, right. However the test sail was marvelous. Ghosted out of the Marina and then caught more wind to play dodge with incoming boaters. I did get quite wet - probably should've dried out dinghy first. We did that and added a cushion before pushing Sinan out to enjoy the very last bit of wind that evening. I then made the final change to the mainsheet blocks and hopped in to try her. Oops I did say the last bit of wind right.... I made it about 10 feet and sculled back.

Vacation Sailing with the new sails and rig!

So we finally made it out of town today. Got a really late start but decided not to fret about destinations and just sail north. Against a north breeze of course but hey that gives us the sun!

I am really liking the new rig. I am in love with the main sheet system, it is soooooo much easier than the old one! Even reefed the genoa to see how hard it was to furl under load (pretty hard- I need a different cleat system for the furling line. I already figured out how to do it. I'll pick up parts next time I am near a boat place. Maybe Pt Townsend or Anacortes -still don't know which way we will go tomorrow) She sailed fine with the reefed foresail in fact I was pretty happy with how well she was pointing all day. I had staysail and the new genoa up front. I was having trouble adjusting the staysail. I had not noticed but it's sheet had not been connected correctly last time we worked on it. I'll fix that tomorrow before hoisting. Otherwise the two sails played together nicely.

I am so impressed with how the mainsail keeps it's shape and just keeps pulling no matter how stupidly I trim it! (hey how was I to know those telltales weren't really glued down?)

And yep those lazy jacks really do work.

I'm sitting here watching the sunset and sipping my dark and stormy in Kingston, looking forward to another day of sailing tomorrow. We are still learning all the tricks of the new rig!