07/01/2009

In case you were confused and thought we were going back in time, I thought I'd explain that the previous three blog posts were just received, but were from several different times over the past week. Apparently the sat phone finally decided to cooperate and connect to the internet.

Scott

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07/01/2009

I've been so frustrated at the failure of the sat phone to talk to the computer, that I haven't bothered to try since leaving Kushiro. Just thought I'd take a shot and see what happens.

We are 36 hrs away from arrival at our waypoint which will set us up to pass between the Near Island group and the Rat Island Group of the Aleutian Island Chain, and on into the Bering Sea. From the waypoint, through the pass we've selected into the Bering Sea clear of the islands is about 100 miles total, and will take 12 or more hours, but we look to be set to do the whole thing in daylight, which takes a bit of the edge off.

Once in the Bering sea we'll use a series of relatively short waypoints to cover the 600 miles left (at that point) to Dutch Harbor -- about 4 days. This way we'll stay within 20 miles or so, north of, the various islands as we transit west to east along the top of the chain. This should keep us within 3 hrs or so of some kind of shelter should we need it during the rest of the passage to DH.

The sun comes up about 0200 local time here, and today we had several hours of blue sky and sunshine before being overtaken by a cloud bank which has overcast us ever since. The wind is coming at us from abaft the bean, just about our port quarter, and we've had various sets of sail up to take advantage. Right now we've got just the main up, and it's giving us a bit of a push, and providing some stability without putting a p-vane fish in the water, which would slow us down.

Had a dolphin on the bow a little bit ago, and Craig saw a baby dolphin in company with it. I did poop patrol on the deck which there was still a bit of sun, and opened some of the hatches to air out the cabins on the boat. The Kirk and I bailed out the engine room bilge, which has been collecting condensate -- water hot engine room, cold fuel and raw water plumbing, as well as the hull and freshwater tank all produce condensate -- mixed with a small amount of diesel fuel leaking from the transfer pump plumbing. Later Craig and I, and eventually Jim watched a Tom Selleck cowboy movie, which ate up a bit of the time. Mainly it's a grind with little to break the monotony -- and really we do not want any excitement! really, really do not want any excitement...

So no way to be exact about this, but we should be in DH in 6 days give or take 1/2 a day. And we'll be happy to be there.

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07/01/2009

We got away from Kushiro at about 0030 UTC 25 Jun. The day before, we installed a new raw water riser that had been built for us in one of the shipyards at Kushiro, to replace our own which had developed leaks at the welds. We had not been able to run the engine until re-installing this pipe. Upon running the engine to check for leaks at the new installation; and also test the by-pass oil filter for impact on oil pressure, and the bypass "red-dot" heater system which runs engine coolant thru coil boxes with fans in the salon and aft cabin; and also to check for leaks after changing out oil and fuel filters -- all went well except we found a leak in the body of the raw water pump! It appears to be a crack, so I rummaged thru spares and found that I had purchased a spare raw water pump for the John Deere -- good! But taking it out of it's wrappings and holding alongside the old one the mounting flange looks completely different -- 4 holes instead of 2; 1 piece base instead of 2 bolted together pieces -- bad! After pondering the whole thing for awhile, and having faith in Barb at Hatton Marine; while the rest of the crew slept (thinking we were now not leaving Kushiro in the morning), I dismounted the leaking pump, and surprise, surprise! (as Gomer Pyle would say), it fit -- different, but it definitely fit, and the gasket was still usable too.

So, after waiting for Lee's official weather Okey Dokey, we dropped lines and slowly made our way, in sunshine, down the Kushiro River, out across the harbor, and out into the Pacific Ocean to be greeted by heavy Pacific swells. One fish out and away we went around the SE corner of Hokkaido Island, NE towards the Aleutians.

In his weather message to us, Lee asked that we consider a route which provided us 'holes' to go to in the case of bad weather. I looked closely at the Kuril Island (which we run more or less parallel to for awhile). We have charts and sailing directions for the area, so will be OK, if there's a need to go that direction.

But the reality is that whether we parallel the Kurils or not, we will have to jump off into blue water for this passage sooner or later. We've marked a way point between and south of Attu Island and the Rat Island group, at the far west end of the US sector of the Aleutians, and that is the mark we are headed towards. We are about 1200 nm from that position at this point. From that point it is less than 700 nm into Dutch Harbor. I've adopted Don McIntyre's philosophy / advice about blue water passage in a small boat, and that's to not dilly-dally, but to make best possible speed crossing the blue water, until at a point where shelter is again possible.

Right now we have 0 wind, smooth water with a 1 meter swell out of the ESE. We are traveling in hazy fog, thin above -- blue skies overhead -- which gives us only a couple hundred yards visibility. Current position (2330 UTC 25 June) is: 43deg 44' N, 147deg 18.25' E, COG 057 True, SOG 7.3 kts.
estimated position 24hrs from now: 45deg 04' N, 150deg 27'E estimated position 48hrs from now: 46deg 16' N, 153deg 36' E

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