In the soup
17 June 2011 | Puget Sound
Foggy Bill
As I write this, we're motoring in pea soup fog and drizzle, "flying IFR". Our chart plotter and radar are on and performing well, and the new AIS adds great dimension to the information that we have on which to base decisions.
We'll make it to Port Townsend this afternoon, we hope, and spend the night there. Laundry, engine maintenance, and web stuff are on the list of tasks to accomplish. Tomorrow, we should make it to Port Angeles for the night. Monday night is THE NIGHT: we stay in Neah Bay. It's a long Monday, requiring about 60 miles of travel. Neah Bay is a tiny First People fishing town with a USCG station, but it's the last stop before we reach Cape Flattery: the western end of Washington State. From that point, we head south toward San Francisco and the end of Leg 2. We're two weeks, perhaps, from sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.
I've already started noticing the effects of the upcoming run in the great big Pacific: I didn't sleep too well last night and I have an anxious feeling, too. Yikes! We're about to sail down the coast! Even if we're 30 nm offshore, we'll be in shipping channels and have to keep a close watch on things as we travel 24-hours a day. We've decided on a different watch schedule for the offshore work: we've yet to find one that completely suits us. The new schedule plays to our individual strengths. Conni will be on watch for 7-8 hours in the night, until, say, 2-3 AM. She's a night owl so this suits her. I'll take over in the early morning since I don't mind getting up in the morning and she does. She'll get her 7-8 hours until 10-11 AM. We'll both be up together for a while during the day, and I get to nap when I need to. We'll have lunch together, dinner together, and I'll hit the sack. Will it work? We'll see.
In Seattle, we made contact with my old teacher friend, Carol. She's been living in Seattle since she retired and knows the place very well. We had breakfast with her at Glo's Coffee House. If you EVER get to Seattle, be sure that a meal at Glo's is on your list. It's well worth the effort. We then took a cab to the Bell Harbor Marina where she saw us off. A Classic Wooden Yacht show was being held at Bell Harbor and we knew that we had to leave: check out at 11!
We went across Puget Sound to spend the night at the private dock courtesy of Nina and Grant. Nina, as I said, is one of Conni's old law partners. She and her husband, Grant, have lived on Bainbridge Island for many years. They were able to spring loose from social obligations for a few hours and we had a great time sipping cocktails in the cockpit, talking about boats and boating life. What great people! (Nina said that she'd read this to confirm that I said nice things about them.)
Of note is that on the way across Puget Sound to Bainbridge, I made the last connections and got the towed water generator working. We had to wait for the tide to change so Conni was just slowing sailing around an island, perfect for testing the system. I had called Hamilton Ferris, the manufacturer of the device, to ask for any non-destructive tests that I could make, and once they were completed, I connected things and tossed the propeller from the stern. Damn if it didn't spin, causing the generator to spin, and producing energy! Once we start sailing south, it will be running all the time to keep up with our demands. The generator needs some a bushing change, and probably new brushes, but they'll have to wait for San Fran. Still, of all the projects that we had listed, all have been accomplished.
To make use of a huge ebb tide to carry us north, we left at 8 AM today and have ridden out with it. Interestingly, Kashima, the Japanese ship that was next to us in Seattle, passed us in the fog this morning. We've since determined that military ships don't broadcast via AIS, logical when one considers the consequences of telling the bad guys where are of your warships are. We spotted her on radar and then were able to make our her signature huge flat stern. As she approached, we were finally able to discern her vessel number, confirming her name.
Not being from a place with so many inhabited island, we're unused to the ferry system by which so many people plan their lives here. I have no idea how many Washington State ferries there are, but there must be at least 20. Some go from one dock to another, back and forth all day long. Others have much longer and more interesting routes, visiting tiny communities, carrying mail, supplies, vehicles, and people. They all travel at 20+ knots, but all use AIS so we can see them coming. Living one's life by the ferry is an interesting way to plan one's day. The other extreme, what Nina and Grant do, is to ignore their influence and go about one's life and take the ferry waits in stride. If the gate comes down in front of you and you miss the ferry, they don't worry and settle in for wait. I'm sure it's a much saner way of dealing with it, but they tell us that not everyone is able to manage that attitude.
I hope to be able to upload this and some photos today or within the next few days, but once we turn the corner, communication will be sparse at best. We'll certainly call when we get the chance. Wish us luck!