All posts by Co-Captain Kaz
Day 3 – Anacortes to Port Angeles
It was a morning of frenzied activity after the Pirate Party at Anacortes Marina last night. Despite that Jacintha managed to set up her art and tattoo stall. Unfortunately all the pirates were on their boats nursing their sore heads from too much grog the night before . So business was sloooow.
The men were busy readying the boat for the noon departure. Last minute things were stowed away, some things were taken off the boat and the solar panels and jack lines installed.
Then it was time to have a photo and a boatside toast to Neptune/Poseidon…..
…then it was finally time for Jim to cut the lines to the dock! And off they went!
Wilderness Medicine Course
Being a health practitioner and in preparation for our upcoming offshore excursion I decided to “brush up” on some Wilderness Medicine.
The meeting was attended by a large variety of healthcare professionals from physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners to EMTS and medical students. The topics included Alpine and Travel medicine to search and rescue and fracture/dislocation reduction/immobilization plus a variety of hands on practical courses like knot tying, things for your medical kit.
There were also guest presentations from a variety of speakers for interest.
Dr Matt Oliva, an ophthalmologist presented his work with in Nepal with the Himalayan Eye Project. This organisation’s quest is to cure blindness with a simple cataract operation through training, mobile field hospitals and grassroots local clinics. The model has been so successful that they’re now implementing a similar model in Ethiopia. It was inspirational to watch videos of people who were previously blind for years when the bandages were taken off a day after their surgery. The pure joy on their faces when they realised they could see again and the dancing and celebration!
Dr Micheal van Rooyen talked about the Frontiers of Humanitarian Medicine, touching on the quest to eradicate malaria in the third world and the emergence of dengue fever as a new threat to those who live and visit the tropics. There is exciting emerging science in the field of mosquito borne diseases that will hopefully make a difference in the coming years to eradicate these diseases that cause a lot of morbidity and mortality.
Dr Karen van Hoesen talked about her expedition to Antarctica to test new SCUBA regulators under the polar ice cap. The photos were spectacular and amazing.
The things that I learnt from the meeting are as follows.
1. Dengue Fever is on the rise in the tropics. This is a mosquito borne disease causing a flu like illness of high fever and pain, often called breakbone fever” which can be debilitating. It is now prevalent in ALL areas tropical. For those exposed to it a number of times you are in danger of getting Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever which is also life threatening. There is no vaccination, no treatment and no cure for this disease. All that can be done is “supportive therapy” hence treating the symptoms.
An ounce of prevention is better than any cure. These mossies bite during the day as well as night! Wear long sleeve clothing, use lots of insect repellant, sleep under a net.
www.cdc.gov/Dengue/prevention/index
2. Diarrhea is very common, you will get it and it will make you miserable but it won’t kill you.
Prevention is better than cure especially in underdeveloped countries where there may be feces in the soil etc. Purell doesn’t remove a lot of these bugs so carry some soap and water with you to wash your hands. Don’t use community soaps or towels. Boil/treat your drinking water and use this to brush your teeth as well.
wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2014/chapter-2-the-pre-travel-consultation/travelers-diarrhea
Pepto Bismol can help with the treatment of diarrhea and pull out the antibiotics only if it doesn’t get better or if you’re immunocompromised. Loperamide for symptoms if needed. If you’re in South East Asia, Ciprofloxacin resistant Campylobacter is on the rise so you may need to take a different antibiotic there. Consult your medical practitioner.
3. I probably need some ear drops to prevent “swimmers ear” and for barotrauma from diving and some more ophthalmic drops for eye injuries and infections in my medical kit, which I didn’t think about.
4. A great refresher on how to reduce dislocations and simple fractures and the uses of SAM splints which i’m going to pack in my medical kit.
5. Safety pins and duct tape are useful improvisation tools for your medical kit.
Now I’m off to pack my Medical Kit.
Other Sewing Projects
Before continuing on the Weather cloths, a batten had ripped a hole in the batten pocket and broken in two.
I copied the shape of the sail pocket onto some new dacron that we got from Seattle Fabrics, new elastic for the bow end of the batten. It was difficult getting the large main sail into the small arm of the sewing machine but we managed it. Also, the sailcloth is much more slippery and harder to sew than canvas. I finally managed to sew on the pocket. I did manually it using the monster wheel as it was easier to control than with electricity and i had to work on the deck of the boat as the sail was so large and difficult to maneuver.
Jim purchased a new batten and shaped it and we inserted it into the pocket and manually sewed the end of the pocket up with my palm and needle.
I had some spare green canvas which I then made up into a ditty bag to put all my sewing stuff into. I found the pattern in the book “Canvas for Cruisers” by Julie Gifford http://www.boatcanvasbook.com/index.html . It is a really great resource book for sewing your own canvas. Between this book and the youtube videos put out by Sailrite.com it’s really easy to learn to sew canvas.
Even Jim got into the act of sewing. Here he is learning to use the Beast and sewing a cover for the forward hatch. The biggest problem I have now is he likes to hog the Beast when he has a project to do as well.
Vacation 2013
We planned a 2 week vacation in the San Juan And Gulf Islands in the first 2 weeks of July 2013 with my sister. Unfortunately, due to family circumstances we had to trim it to 1 week.
We left Monday July 8th after last minute packing of the boat as Jim had climbed to Camp Muir at Mt Rainier on the Sunday. We left at midday and had a leisurely motor from Seattle to Port Townsend. The weather was sunny and clear with a mild breeze.
At the locks
A leisurely motor up the sound
Just past point no Point the wind picked up and we put up the sails. Had a north westerly wind so the boat heeled over a fair bit and we had to re-secure our stuff down below. We arrived at Port Townsend at sunset which was around 9pm and put the anchor down. Everyone was tired and we went to sleep after dinner.
Day 2 July 9th.
The next morning, Jim was itching to get going so he up anchored while I made oats for breakfast. We had it and as we rounded out of Hudson Point. Oh boy, was that a bad idea. We had wind vs tide and it was one of my choppiest rides in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Jacintha and Sharon both lost their breakfast. I dosed them up with drugs then they went up into the cockpit to recover. Jacintha held onto the mizzen mast for dear life despite her life jacket and harness. The bumpiness settled down half way across the Straits but the damage was done. Sharon felt sick everytime we hit a wave.
It was a long ride to Roche Harbor and we were all happy to enter the calm harbor and drop our anchor. Sharon was happy to hit dry land and the shops when we dinghied to the resort. We bought Jacintha her first fishing rod and tackle and she was very pleased and wanted to go fishing right away.
The next morning Jim and Sharon took the dinghy to the resort while Jacintha and I stayed on board. As we were doing errands I noticed smoke coming from the marina which started getting thicker and thicker. I called Jim to find out what was happening over there. One of the million dollar display boats caught fire and the harbor workers had to move other boats out of the way and try to put out the fire. They closed the marina and Jim and Sharon were stuck on shore. Jacintha and I had a safe view from the boat.
To keep Jacintha from fretting and occupied we pulled out her fishing rod and she was happy to “fish”. I didn’t actually know how to load the hook or put on the weight but since she didn’t know she was very keen to catch a fish.
Speaking to Jim and Sharon, they had tied the dinghy in a location they couldn’t get to because of the boat fire. The hotel and shops were closed due to the smoke and they were hungry as it was lunch time by then. Also, Jim had been taking photos so his phone charge was running low. Meanwhile Jacintha and I had a nice lunch and a relaxing sunny day. Sharon and Jim finally got a ride from the marina staff to our boat as the dinghy was in an inaccessible area. They told us to come into the marina and they would give us moorage for the night. We got a spot right across the water from the boat which had burnt down to the waterline. The whole area smelt of char.
The coastguard helicopter buzzed overhead a couple of times before they landed and checked out the wreck.
And we had a beautiful sunset that night.
The next day, the salvage cranes came to haul out the boat. We stayed 3 nights as our dinghy was still inaccessible.
Sharon was very much happier on land so I bought her a ticket on the Friday Harbor Clipper to Seattle home as she did not want to go back through the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Our next destination was a short trip to Jones Island.We enjoy walking around the island and exploring. We usually anchor in the north end but seeing as it was filled with boats we anchored in the south end this time. As it was low tide Jim secured the dinghy high up to a tree. I think he was wanting to practice his climbing skills. It was fun exploring the beach along the south end and hiking along the west side of the island. There was a wedding there that day so there were lots of people were around.
As this was a short trip, our next port of call was Kingston where we anchored for the night. We had a mandatory stop at Mora’s ice cream which is our tradition. There is another Hans Christian 43T moored in the first slip at Kingston marina. We met the owners 5-6 years back and everytime we go there we stop to look out for them. Unfortunately, their boat was in a sad state of neglect with moss and leaves collecting. I do hope nothing amis has gone wrong and it’s just early in the season.
We love our Keens sandals!
The Beast
I’m very excited. After some basic sewing lessons and practicing with a home sewing machine we bit the bullet and bought “The Beast”. It’s a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ, a portable semi-industrial sewing machine. We got it from sailrite.com and I’ve been combing through all their instructional videos which have been very helpful.
Jim is creating a to-do list for me of boat sewing projects which is daunting since my sewing experience has been limited to 2 tote bags, a zipper bag, a pillow, 4 place mats and 2 bows! This includes weather cloths, dinghy cover, cover for our new BBQ grill, rope bags etc etc.
I decided to start with weather cloths because how hard can it be to sew a few rectangular cloths up. Wrong!!!
We wanted to be able to take them off easily made the design of them more complicated than sewing a rectangle of Sunbrella, lining it with grommet holes and lacing it to the boat.
Firstly, I used my primary research tool, Google. There i found lots of photos and some canvas blogs on boat sewing that we’re useful. I also watched all the how to videos produced by Sailrite the makers of The Beast. Good videos on techniques is sewing canvas and other tools needed for all kinds of projects.
Then I went and bought a large amount of Sunbrella in Hemlock tweed.
I used some blue wrapping material that I recycled from the OR for making a pattern. They’re flexible like cloth but can cut like paper. I made patterns for the aft end of the boat for each side.
As the weather cloths got more tricky because of the winches and life sling attachment and Jim decided to get a bimini fitted, I took a break and started the grill cover for our new Magma party sized grill.
It consists if a circle whose diameter I measured along the top of the grill to its widest part. Then I cut a rectangle of cloth to make a cylinder along the edge if the circle whose length was the perimeter of the widest part of the grill and its width is how much I wanted to cover the underside. I also made a seam allowance of 1″ at the joining seams plus 2″ for the edge seam at the bottom. I stitched the circle to the long side of the rectangle to make a cylinder.
I double stitched the seams.
Then sewed an edge on the ends and reinforced it with polyester.
I inserted some size 2 spur grommets at the two edges for a tie to be inserted from the front of the cover then encased a tie into the seam along the bottom edge of the cover.
Spur grommets
And Voila! A new Grill cover!
PSCC Salmon Bake
After a few busy weeks provisioning and fixing up our boat for our 3 week journey to Barkley Sound, and Jim running the Rock and Roll half marathon on Saturday morning, the first leg of our trip that afternoon was to Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island, where we rafted up with 27 other boats at the Puget Sound Cruising Club (PSCC) for their annual salmon bake.
This was our first salmon bake and it was a beautiful sunny day with a calm motor sail there (that’s when Jim has both the engine running and the sail up hoping to catch some wind with it!). When we arrived, four other boats had left and there were two groups of boats rafted together with a largish gap between the two groups and some lines between them. We slotted nicely into the gap as did another boat after us and the two groups became a huge raft up of 27 boats.
All the boats in a row!
While the organizers were on shore getting the ovens ready for the salmon bake I was on the boat getting our dish, apple crumble, ready. Around 5pm we got the dinghy out and headed to the beach where everyone was. Everyone brought an appetizer or a dessert and there was salmon and halibut cooking on a mish mash of ovens that some people had brought over earlier in the day. We had a yummy meal. Jacintha ate some dinner but was mainly preoccupied with playing on the beach and although we did tell her not to get her pretty tutu dress wet she did so! She had a great time on the beach and entertained the onlookers with her songs and her cuteness. She was the only child there, as most of the other members of the PSCC are retirees.
Fishing on the beach
After dinner, we returned to our boat where we chatted with our neighbors before turning in early as we were all exhausted! We could hear footsteps on our boat as people would walk over our boat to visit another boat on the other side. It was all very social!
The next morning after breakfast of pancakes on the deck, people started visiting each other again and having sticky beaks at other boats!
We caught up with David on his brand new aluminum boat Barefoot. He’d commissioned her hull to be made then fitted out the interior himself. It was beautiful with all the gadgets and comforts you would need for a long ocean passage. It was useful picking his brain for some of the knowledge from the 50,000 sea miles he had accrued. We met his first mate, Ros from Darwin, Australia. She’d signed up as crew all the way from Oz to sail to the South Pacific with him. It was nice to talk to an Aussie again and we even flew our Aussie flag to celebrate! They’re leaving in September for Mexico and then the south pacific.
David and Ros
After the raft up broke up around 1pm we motored (no wind) all the way up to Port Townsend where we dropped anchor for the night.
Trip to Poulsbo
The weather window was perfect for a quick weekend trip on April 30th. We set out late and went through the large lock. When we got out onto the sound the wind was blowing north, so we decided to head northwest towards Poulsbo. Since there was some wind we put the sails up, but it soon died down so we had to use the iron sail!
It was wonderfully sunny but the wind was cool. It was lovely getting the boat out again after a long rainy season.
We made it to Poulsbo in 3 hours and anchored out in Liberty Bay, then took the dinghy into town. Had a walk around and bought some cookies from Slavs Bakery. The local mart had fresh herbs growing outside that you could pick to use! Cintha fell asleep so Jim and I went and chilled out in the coffee shop while she lay down on a bed made of two chairs!
Went back to the boat and we had roast chicken for dinner which I cooked in the new oven. I love it!
The next day was a lovely calm morning. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast, cooked by Jim. Then we headed into town where Jim bought a bell for the boat and we ate ice cream. Motored back to Seattle going through Agate Pass against the peak current!! Oops we hadn’t checked the tide tables! Didn’t have to wait long for the locks and it wasn’t as busy as we thought they would be.
CLOSE CALL!!
When we got back to our dock, we noticed the shore power inlet was blackened due to excessive heating as was the shore power cord – we’d nearly burnt the boat down. Thankfully we were off the grid on our trip to Poulsbo and very cozy with our diesel stove that Jim managed to coax to work! Jim quickly changed over the shore power inlet to a “smart plug” that cuts off the power when things heat up! That was a close call and money well spent!
14th Annual Seattle Women’s Boating Seminar
The freezing temperature today made it a perfect day to spend indoors at the Seattle Women’s Boating Seminar. It was my third time attending and I’m amazed how much there is to learn from the women giving the lectures and how inspiring it is for me to attend. Being held at the end of Winter, it does tend to get me out of my winter boating blues and thinking of our next cruise this summer and how we should prepare for it.
Today I learnt about using our Radar from Linda Lewis who was very practical in her approach and made it seem simple – boy did I wish I did this before our trip last year when we sailed in the pea soup fog around the San Juan Islands and Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Nancy Erley talked about leadership roles comparing Captains Kirk and Bligh which I think Jim really needs to attend!! Nancy has circumnavigated the globe twice and runs a womens sailing course on her own boat Tethys.
Lynne Reister an accredited marine surveyor talked about surveying your boat and showed great pictures on what to look for which led me to think that perhaps I shouldn’t be so hard on Jim when he says he needs to do maintainence on the boat – especially after the stories of how boats end up sinking while still moored!!!
Wendy Hinman who has a lot of sailing miles under her belt gave us tips and tricks on cruising which were really useful and has a great blog Velella’s Adventure which has more information crucial for our big trip.
We also heard about spring maintainence from Judy Nasmith which made me think more of Jim and how much work we both have to do to get the boat ready for the sailing season. So Jim, please spend as much time as you need on the boat to fix er up!
The last talk of the day was given by Kaci Cronkhite who has run the wooden boat festival at Port Townsend for a number of years. She gave an inspirational talk of her life and how she started sailing and circumnavigating the world with Nancy Erley.
It gives me great inspiration that there are a lot of women out there sailing whom have done a lot of miles with a much experience and are interested in teaching and educating those of us who are just starting out. To think that these great lectures only cost a measly $90 which probably only covers the venue and lunch is a testament to their dedication to education!
So to all you women sailors out there – it’s time to get your boat ready for this years sailing season. Get out there and enjoy yourselves!!