Stories of Aeolus- Our Gulf 32 Pilothouse

Start of major windlass project

2012-01-31T22:07:00.000-08:00

I've begun a major effort to improve my windlass mount and operation. This has been prompted mainly by the fact that the chain pipe that leads the chain from the windlass down to the chain locker is undersized for the 3/8 BBB I've been using on Aeolus for many years now. As a result, the chain easily kinks and binds in the pvc pipe, which requires me to bang and fight to free it. This brings the whole operation to a grinding halt, often at the most inopportune times.


The Lofrans Tigres windlass unbolted and showing the top of the chainpipe and cable hole.

So in addition to upgrading the existing 1.5" PVC pipe with a 3" Schedule 80 PVC pipe, I am also adding a 1/4 aluminum backing plate under the windlass and on top of the deck to sandwich the deck above and below with backing plates and to protect the deck and pipe mouth from the abuse of chain banging on it's way down. I will also upgrade the way the cables are connected and do a better job of sealing them against moisture. Finally, I will properly drill out and epoxy seal the bolt holes and other deck penetrations.

So to start, it was all the joy of demolition baby! Here is a photo essay that tells the tale as well as could be told in words:

Deck with windlass removed

View of under decking showing backing plate and chain pipe going through bulkhead between Vberth and chain locker

The gaping hole after chain pipe removal

The old 1.5" pipe inside the new 3" schedule 80 pipe. Oh what a joy this will be!

View of new backing plate and how it will surround the chain pipe opening. The corners will be trimmed and all edges beveled smooth.

A Stuart day to remember

2012-01-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

1/15/12
...the small branches were so delicate among the thick bark trunks that rose up to that height, and on their very tippy tips were green buds with that tender fuzz that always speaks of new life. Seeing the green so much before spring, especially on a cold winter day that makes all things tremble and hide, was even more striking. And yet, this particular big leafed maple, the Mother Tree, The One, The Center of All Things, is capable of a great many things that defy easy understanding.

The One

Amy reached out and held one, excited at the beauty of the bud, and drew my attention to it. It was certainly a precious little burst of green, and a microcosm of all that was perfect and whole and exquisite about this entire day.

Piles of snugs

The morning began with a bed full of Windropes all smashed into one pile of snug. We all slept until forever, and then moving out of some deep unnecessary we stirred together for a while of piling. The boys are miserable cuddlers with all their elbows and knees and fussing and talking and poking, and yet the mere fact of their presence makes it all so wonderful.

It was up to me to start the vertical part of the day and by lighting the stove. This was prompted by it being 43 degrees again this morning on Aeolus, which for reasons probably related to the constancy of the ocean temperature seems to be the default onboard winter temperature.

Amy rose soon after and made fresh French Toast. Read that again and consider it for a moment...We are in Reid Harbor, Stuart Island in January, alone in the whole frozen place and a million, billion, trillion miles away from the horde of humanity and all the comfortable machinery of non-living and yet we are eating fresh French Toast. Perhaps it is merely me, but this alone fills me with a profound gratitude for Amy, and the whole menagerie of other interconnected parts that make French Toast on Aeolus in January in Reid Harbor possible. I've spent too much time deep in wilderness to not appreciate every simple luxury and culinary indulgence.

It was absolutely delicious.

The weather forecast has been threatening lowland snow for days now. Last night was utterly clear and there was a solid blanket of stars to bedazzle. No snow. Maybe it'll snow overnight, we hoped. But we woke this morning to yet more blue skies and not a hint of snow. It was cold, certainly below 32 degrees, and yet we had an umbrella of blue skies.


Looking south down Reid Harbor in early morning.

We head out to Tip Top with only the expectation of a grand adventure. All day the sun shone bright and clear here, while all around Stuart the heavy dark clouds were certainly dropping sleet and snow. And yet here we were, in bright sun. Clear, bright sun. Our walk up to Tip Top was wonderful, with a fun stop at the school for the boys to swing and Amy and I to do some exercises and stretching.

Looking north toward Salt Spring

Once on top, we were overcome with the grandeur of the light, the views and our selves. The light all around was sharp and warm. Warm enough that we sat for long periods absorbing the rays through our eyelids and consciousness. We melted like butter sitting in the sun, and like butter we became smooth. The views out to the maze of islands bewilders the mind and delights the deepest senses. I can't describe the quality of views from this high Haro perch other than to express that they wholly satisfy any craving for interest and beauty that I possess.

The icicles that hung from rocks near where we laid were endlessly interesting. They dripped a bit and created beautiful patterns of bubbles. Owen broke one off and enjoyed painting his lips with the ice, like a mustache marker. Elliott used his like a sword, of course, and battled demons all over the hill top.

There were mouflon sheep up top and they had new lambs with them. So cute.

After satiating ourselves with sunshine (no small task), we decided to journey south along the ridge.

All day we had bald eagles soaring around us. Amy had to duck once when she heard one fly right above her head. So close indeed that she could see his thoughts as he passed over.

Walking south along the ridge was a journey of magnificent moments. The terrain itself is like a wonderland of interests. Here a madrone, there a boulder, a dip and rise to work your thighs, an oak below and a fir above and everywhere a green garden of moss, lichen and grass cushioning your steps. It is really quite like a carefully choreographed dance routine designed to fill your body, heart and soul with joy. This step here, turn and look, bend a bit, lean and step, pause to behold...

As you walk south you encounter place after place that compels you to stay a while.

Eventually you end up at a promontory looking due south out over San Juan Channel and all the islands clustered there. For every moment there was an epiphany. Jones, Orcas with snow! How did they get snow while we had none? We took a load of pictures because the sights kept screaming for it. There is a marsh in the middle of this isthmus of Stuart and this promontory looks down over it to the distant landscapes. And yet this large marsh seems to frame the whole scene. Magnificent.

There is no way to express the perfection of this walk in this blog. It was deeply felt and nourishing. It was right and good beyond any reckoning. It filled parts of us that have no description.

Perhaps the best way to convey the way this walk, and this day, made us all feel was that Elliott broke into a spontaneous rendition of "The hills are alive with the sound of music" in a moment of sheer mindless joy, and it seemed utterly perfectly fitting.

Getting away to Stuart Island

2012-01-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

From our boat journal:

1/13/12
Up to the islands for the three day MLK weekend. Came up on 9:05 milk run ferry after converging in Seattle at 6pm. Boys took ferry alone, and were first off on the Seattle side holding hands. So proud of them! Got to Aeolus at 11pm in pouring rain and she was 43 degrees inside.

Orcas Island, Turtleback Mountain

So good to be back. Probably go to Stuart this trip as snow is forecast. Would be fun and beautiful to be at Stuart with snow.

1/14/12
Tied to dock at Stuart Island, Reid Harbor and snug as a bug now that I fixed the heater. We motored away from Friday Harbor at about 12pm after another lazy morning. Amy and the boys went to town for Cafe Demeter and to pick up a few things at the store, and I stayed on Aeolus to give her some love and attention. I finished up the starboard chainplate installation with the last two bolts. Now they are fully done and beautiful. Last thing to do on deck is to replace the plate that slides over the chainplate and holds the butyl rubber in place. It gives me immense peace of mind to know the chainplates are absolutely bomber, and even stronger than OEQ and without crevice corrosion.

I also filled the water tank and checked the batteries and engine fluids. All was well. Happy to be getting such long life from these Trojan batteries. A good investment.

When we left Friday Harbor we found it was ebbing hard and so we hugged the San Juan shore for our journey north. It was also blowing 15-20 NW, which was opposite of the SW forecast. Approaching Spieden channel it was awash with white caps because the eddy along both shores that drives the current NW on an ebb which rubbed against the NW wind with predictable results. The roughest patch was actually near the north end of Spieden on the east side, approaching Stuart. Choppy 2-3 foot waves.

Once we pulled into Reid it flattened right out and as always Reid was a refuge. We tied to the dock and leapt off to go to our favorite west facing sunny spot that once sported the tree stump the boys liked to climb so much. It had been suprisingly sunny all day after an evening that rained hard until 9am this morning.

We reached the sunny spot just in time to get about 15 minutes of pure unadulterated solar love before an interloping cloud crashed the party. Taking this prompt, we set out to walk the isthmus trail and marveled at the birds and views.

The Force 10 kerosene heater started acting up on our previous trip, such that it would barely burble a bit of flame despite pushing the little pin up as part of the self-cleaning function. I knew from experience these darn heaters are truly temperamental and resist all efforts to diagnose and repair them. Carbon fouls them here or there, and you end up having to clean the whole thing. Acetone is required. I tried just replacing the nozzle and needle, but to no effect. Fortunately I had the spare burner I purchased for just such an emergency. No heat on a 36 degree day with snow forecast was not an option!

The new burner fired right up and burned hotter than ever. It managed to get the boat up to a relatively comfortable 62 degrees, which is about 30 degrees warmer than the outside area.

Amy went for a long dinghy ride at dusk and circled this northern end of Reid Harbor. Evidently she had a blast and saw many, many birds.

Prevost Harbor from Isthmus trail

We are now, as always, counting our lucky stars for our incredible good fortune. Amy is cooking a gourmet dinner and we have every manner of delicious food around us, while cozy on our own sailaboat in a spectacular wild harbor all in perfect health and just thoroughly thrilled. Bad grammar and all, it is just heaven.

Making new dock lines is so enjoyable!

2012-01-13T14:57:00.000-08:00

Making new dock lines is one of my favorite boat hobbies. It is simple and satisfying to splice the eye into the line, and the lines are so smooth and supple before being roughened with use. I find I replace my dock lines about every two years or so. This sounds frequent to me, but by then, they are getting a bit worn on their jackets and I like making them so much I just do it.

I use 1/2" nylon dock lines for Aeolus, which seems to be the sweet spot between strength and elasticity. When I compare the cost of making lines with the cost of buying them pre-made, I am reminded of the many ways in which DIY saves immense cash. Especially when you buy your line material at LFS marine in Bellingham, WA. Great prices.

We are heading up to Aeolus for this MLK weekend and can't wait for more adventures. While there I will launch into the renovation of my entire anchor windlass mounting and chain management systems. A much anticipated project, and one that will fill a future post or two.

A Jones Island getaway, again

2011-12-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Despite the laundry list of reasons to stay home during the holidays, including all the prep and cleaning and logistics of the season, we knew we needed to get away to wilderness even more than we needed to be one step ahead of the to do list.

And so it was. We journeyed up to Friday Harbor on Friday night and found Aeolus safe but cold in her berth. I had left a circulation fan running but not an actual heater, so the boat was a frigid 43 degrees or so when we got there at 0 dark hundred. Never mind, our sleeping bags were warm and we were so very happy to be back on Aeolus that the trip already felt worthwhile!

Our new routine was followed on Saturday morning as we went to Cafe Demeter and ate delicious treats while visiting with friends. Can you say "Yum"? After gorging ourselves on tasty things, we were back on Aeolus to depart.

The weather was gentle and moderate. No wind to speak of. We motored to the south side of Jones as there was a NW wind forecast for the evening and Sunday. A quick lunch and we were off to explore. No matter how many times we go to Jones, there is always a new view, a new smell, a new mood to the island. It is endlessly beautiful and fascinating. We had a bet on whether we would have the island to ourselves, with Amy thinking we would, and the boys and I thinking there would be someone else in the busier north cove. But Amy won. The whole place to ourselves, once again!

We walked the west side. We laid down on soft mossy slopes in bright sunshine and soaked up the deep warmth. We were stunned by the variety of views and light as we turned each corner. It was, as usual, like we had never been there before, and yet intimately familiar.

After our walk, we had the most beautiful fire on the gorgeous south facing point. It was so wonderful, and warmed our bones in the most satisfying way. I wandered off one moment, toward where the dinghy was tied on the rocks, and found myself frozen in space as I looked out over the water toward Aeolus. My shoulders relaxed and fell. My jaw softened, and my eyes. My entire body assumed a state of full relaxation and focus while I felt a profound awareness of perfection in my world. Perfection. There was not a single thing that was not perfect in that moment. It was the best, clearest, and most precious thing I have experienced in a while.

Amy said she had the exact same experience when she was rowing the dinghy back from Aeolus with some food. She paused, and recognized a perfect moment.

The entire weekend was shades of perfection. Above all else, we were together. No, TOGETHER. Elliott was in his element as he climbed every rock and jumped athletically off every object around. Owen climbed every tree and was every bit the young apprentice to whatever Elliott could accomplish. We talked and walked, talked and ate, talked and sat by the fire. It is the best family time in our lives.

As is often said, cruising is "boat maintenance in exotic locations" and I consider Jones Island fairly exotic compared to the lifestyles of most Americans, and so I took this opportunity to finish up a few things on Aeolus. I finished the starboard chainplate and now that project is 95% done. I cleaned and used lemon oil on the wood. It was wonderful, and so deeply satisfying to work on the old girl.

We are back home, and yet we will be on Jones Island for many days to come. We are immeasurably fortunate to have a sailboat and to be able to sail her around the Salish Sea as we do. It is a gift in our lives beyond any other thing we do or possess.

New Chainplates!

2011-10-31T16:24:00.000-07:00

As part of my ongoing maintenance and search for any weak spots on Aeolus, I've tackled the replacing of both chainplates. The original plates, dating to 1988, had no obvious signs of corrosion or cracks, but there is that always suspicious space between the decking that hides the weak spot.

We all know sailors who have had a shroud snap or lost their rig, and there is nothing remotely funny about it. Among the greatest fears of any sailor is losing their rig, and this fear can be easily assuaged by routine replacing of parts. So, I pulled out my chainplates and decided to replace them no matter what I found. Turns out that when pulled there was no sign of cracking or corrosion even in the space between the decking, but diagnosing crevice corrosion and metal fatigue is a high-tech business.

I didn't need to spend big $ or do fancy testing to know I was not about to put 23 year old chainplates back on my boat, especially when the replacement cost is so reasonable.

I decided to order new chainplates from Garhauer, having had good experiences with their products in the past and knowing they can fabricate things quite well. My original plates were 1/8" and that seemed a bit thin to me. So I upgraded to 3/16" and had them match a template I sent for the new ones. The total cost for both chainplates was about $250. Quite reasonable in my opinion. They look beautiful.

This past weekend, on the night before we headed out to Stuart Island, I installed the new chainplate on the port side and am thrilled that it fit perfectly. The holes all lined up with the holes in the bulkhead and I didn't have to do any modifications. Everything installed just 1-2-3 and with a bit of lanacote on the turnbuckles the whole system was tensioned and we were off.

Replacing the chainplates was the very last piece of metal involved in my rigging that I had not replaced as new, besides the mast. Now I know for certain that the entire rig is solid, and that when I am beam reaching in a 30 knot SE wind in the Straits of Georgia with steep 4-6 foot seas that I do not have to worry (so much) about possible rig failure. Big peace of mind.

Weekend getaway to Stuart Island

2011-10-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Amy had been up in Vancouver BC for a Salish Sea science conference and so we met her up north to do a trip to Stuart Island. Saturday dawned clear and beautiful, and after a quick trip to our favorite Friday Harbor bakery we were away.

Being aboard the boat is as much a journey on a magic carpet as one can imagine. There is something distinctly transcendent about it, at least insofar as the experience goes much deeper and wider than what is happening in the manifest world. We experience stretched time (without mind altering substances!) and compressed focus, expanded perspective and lucid insights.

Approaching western tip of Spieden with Stuart in the foreground

Why does leaving land aboard a fiberglass floating object produce such a wonderful and profound impact on us?

It does.

So we went away to Stuart, traveling the familiar path up San Juan Channel, and facing the important dilemma of traversing the south, or north, side of Spieden Island. Winds were calm, and currents were strong on the ebb, which means you fight current going north on either side of Spieden (a local knowledge reality that defies logic without intimate knowledge of the local geography). The day grew more sunny, and warmer, and the fall rains have produced the burst of green that is our late year spring. We chose the south facing side of Spieden as it was so sunny and we enjoy the almost African feel of this side when the sun is out.

Much to our delight, all three species of non-native herbivores were out in large numbers. The Sitka Deer, Fallow Deer, and Mouflon Sheep were all right along the water. The antlers on the Fallow Deer are truly impressive, as are the horns on the Mouflon sheep. Such wild and exotic animals to have on a Salish Sea island. Oh how I wish we could place a few mountain lions on the island to cull the herd and allow the Garry Oaks to regenerate. There is not a single young tree on the south side because those damned hooved locusts devour ever living thing down to the ground. Wish the owner would at least hire an arborist to cage some oaks to let them replace the majestic elder trees that are now there.

So we pulled into Reid Harbor and immediately set out for a trip up our favorite peak. The walk is just fantastic, and this crisp sunny day made it all the more enjoyable with the maples changing color. Once up on top, looking out over Haro Strait and Vancouver Island, we layed in the sun on a soft grassy slope and forgot about ourselves.

Li Po evidently said, many years ago:
The birds have vanished into the sky,
And now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together the mountain and me,
Until only the mountain remains.

This is what we experienced. My favorite tree in all the Salish Sea is up on this spot, and we were laying right near it, embraced by the beauty it radiates all over the surrounding area. The boys played, and were content.

And then this happened, and that transpired, and then we ate some yummy those, and talked about things, and played games of whatever, and slept deeply and traveled more, and the next thing you know we were all very happy and back in Friday Harbor this morning to begin our trip back to this, our other home.

Just another trip to Stuart. Did I mention we were alone in all of Reid Harbor! Just another trip, and yet each one is like an exclamation point in our lives.

PCV system a major upgrade on Aeolus

2011-10-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the first time we used Aeolus since I installed the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system on her Universal 5432 motor. Wow. Not only did it completely improve the smell of the cabin and air from the cabin heater, which draws air from the engine space, but the engine itself is no longer shrouded in an oily mist when I check on her.

To elaborate, the cabin used to smell strongly of oil exhaust as the crankcase vented to the engine compartment and the cabin heater sucked air from nearby to blow into the cabin. So to be warm, you had to put up with a noxious smell.

I can't believe I didn't do this sooner, as it is a major upgrade to our experience on the boat. Yippee!

Weekend trip to Jones Island

2011-10-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Jones Island this past weekend and had a truly wonderful time. It seemed we all needed the get away. One of the most striking things about time on Aeolus is how great it is for our relationships with each other. At home, there are many places to get away and things to do. On the boat, we are close to each other and interact much more. We talk more, we play, we read books together, and when on shore, we are taking walks and playing frisbee and roasting marshmallows.

Perhaps this is unsurprising, but it is really distinct. Amy and I also notice how much more we talk when on the boat. No computers or phones or TV to isolate us from one another.

Jones was its normal beautiful self. We got there Saturday morning and enjoyed a mostly sunny and warmish weekend. We did in fact play some mean frisbee, and roasted marshmallows over a campfire, and circumnavigated the island on different walks.

We talked a lot, and deeply. We helped our boys with homework. We ate good food. In short, we did virtually everything good and healthy one would seek to do with their family.

It was perfect, and made us miss our easy access to those experiences we had when living in Friday Harbor. Oh well, can't complain too much, as life is always a tapestry of different threads, as we try build the best cloth!

New oarlock system on Watertender 9.4

2011-09-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

Our dinghy is a Watertender 9.4 that we love because it is supremely stable (as in try as you might you can't get it to capsize) and virtually indestructible. Having two young sons has made the first invaluable, and gunkholing in the rocky NW makes the latter a real saving grace. The original oarlocks on the boat are fairly insubstantial for anyone, like us, who rows as their sole means of propulsion. There are supposed to be aluminum backing plates inside the plastic hull, but over some time, the screws strip through that and pull free. On ours the screws had pulled out and stripped on the starboard side and were no longer functional, despite my many efforts to keep them just snug, not to overtighten, and to even try some West System GFlex to help hold them in place. Time for a new and better solution.


Stock photo of a Watertender being rowed. You can see the oarlocks. They are only screwed into the plastic hull with an aluminum backing plate inside the hull that doesn't hold up to much use. It is not through bolted in any way.

To fix this problem on our dinghy I noodled for a while and decided on a much more substantial solution involving an aluminum angle piece. Today I finished the first stage to securely fasten the oarlocks to the aluminum angle. To do this I drilled and tapped holes for the machine screws, and also sanded both surfaces rough to add some JB Weld as an added chemical bond. I used blue loctite in the screw holes to reduce loosening and to reduce corrosion between the SS screw and aluminum angle.

The final step will be to mount them onto the dinghy using through bolts on the ends of the angle. That is why the angles are longer than the oarlocks. When completed, this should be far more secure and trustworthy than the original configuration, and let me tell you, losing a functional oarlock when 1/4 mile offshore and a headwind blowing you away from your boat is not pretty. Trying to move a dinghy anywhere with only one oar is the ultimate example of futility.

So yeah for this problem fixed.

Installed crankcase ventilation system, finally!

2011-09-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it took me this long to do it, but after years of putting up with a gaseous bilge and nasty oily residue, I finally got around to installing a positive crankcase ventilation system on Aeolus. One would have thought that this system, required on all vehicles since about 1863, would have been standard on the Universal 5432 aboard Aeolus, but alas, it was not. Seems that marine diesels were neither required nor was it common practice to do this back in the 80's.

There is no particular concern in doing this installation as again it has been common practice on all engines for many decades. Even my lovely 1978 Mercedes 300D, one of the finest machines ever built, has a positive crankcase ventilation system on it. Though one of the main reasons for this on cars is smog related, boats lack the fresh air around the engines of cars and thus we sailors have other pressing reasons for the system.

The problem became very acute when I installed a cabin heater that drew air from the bilge area and it therefore blew out the oily air that the crankcase was venting into the bilge. I became really tired also of wiping oily residue off of all the surfaces, as the outlet for the old hose put it down near the bottom of the oil pan, but the suction of the intake manifold pulled a fair amount of that air up and around the engine. That is, besides hot air rising.

View of the crankcase ventilation system installed. Trace the hose from the air filter back to the crankcase.

The solution was quite simple with my K&N filter. I bought the appropriate diameter of high quality hose and ran it from the existing outlet for the crankcase to a plastic fitting I pushed through a drilled hole on the filter. With a hose clamp on the hose and fitting, there is no risk of it being sucked internally back into the intake manifold.

Let me say, I haven't done full sea trials yet, but just running the engine at the dock for a few minutes I could smell a noticable reduction in the oily vapor that usually permeates the engine compartment. I would highly encourage any other sailors out there with diesels like mine that lacked this system to make the quick and easy change.

8/5/11 Hardy Island to Lund, and goodbye to Bill and Banning

2011-09-01T11:17:00.000-07:00

It is 28 miles from Musket Island Marine Park to Lund, and we motored the whole way as the wind was light and on the nose. Lund is a funny place, so small and touristy, but it has a distinct utility and cannot be avoided at all times. The marina is tight and you usually need to raft during the summer, and so we did.

In Lund after a week of amazing sailing

This trip with Bill and Banning was absolutely wonderful. Bill is a true sailor whose knowledge and happiness afloat makes for great company, and Banning is a typical bright 10 year old who played well with both of my boys. I think the trip meant a lot to them too and whetted his appetite for more exploring up in these northern waters.

Both of our wives were driving up from Bainbridge today to meet us in Lund. So soon enough, the boys were joined by the girls and we told many stories over a nice dinner at the Lund Hotel. It meant so much to Bill and I to hear the boys excitedly relate their adventures to the moms. What a lucky group of kids, and two very lucky dads.

8/4/11 Left Jedidiah to Musket Island Marine Park, Hardy Island

2011-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

We were sad to leave Jedidiah as she is such a lovely and welcoming place, but we were anxious to feel the wind in the sails and see some new country as well. We left Deep Bay and turned into Sabine Channel to sail downwind in a NW 10-15 knot breeze. Texada is so beautiful here, steep and green. Our sails were full and happy all the way down to the southern tip of the island before we hit a large dead zone right at the point. We went from 5 knots to dead in the water about as fast as you can say "stop". We found some more wind a little further on and sailed in light breezes to Pender Harbor for a quick resupply of water and snacks.

A happy Bill Jones

My only previous time in Pender Harbor was in 1999 on my kayak trip as I had used the post office there as a resupply stop. There were two ladies in the office back then who were so thoroughly kind to me and my wife in the way they dealt with us and my food. Just angels. So I will always have fond associations with this place. It was only vaguely familiar to me as we pulled into the harbor, with the most striking feature being the "little Venice" feel of the complex shoreline.

We had a nice short stop and were then on our way on this hot 80 degree day. Cape Cockburn is a bit notorious because in either strong NW or SE winds it is a choke point. On our passage the wind had died altogether and we motored all the way around the corner to Hardy Island.

Banning at the wheel

The anchorage there is really nice with good options for the night. A stern tie is needed most places. Once we dropped our hook and tied up we were all in the water right away to swim. There are lovely granite rocks along most of the shoreline and many are steep and tall enough for perfect jumping. The entire group spent the afternoon swimming and jumping off these rocks and the water was the warmest yet. Truly bath water comfortable. The high jump was about 20 feet and Elliott and I were the only two to enjoy that particular spot.

Banning at highest jumping spot, Owen looking on

Banning airborne

Elliott airborne

Ellliott diving off Aeolus, a favorite pasttime

This was the last night of our trip together and we were making the most of it. The boys were playing Quirkel with Bill and Elliott was absorbed in a book while I cooked dinner. The evening was calm and warm. We were happy and exhausted from swimming, and all was right in our world.

8/3/11 Stayed at lovely Jedidiah

2011-08-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Windrope boys in meadow near Home Bay

We decided to stay a full day at Jedidiah because it is so lovely and well suited for exploration. We went to the island after breakfast and walked over to Home Bay. On the way you pass by some nice forest areas and into a truly wondrous meadow. There are few such places in the Salish Sea, and this meadow is particularly green and large. Home Bay is a really special place, and it is almost nicer because it is too shallow for all but the most shallow drafted boats to use. The old homestead is still there, though failing, and the nearby orchards invoke the nearby past of habitation.

All the boys below homestead at Home Bay

Aeolus in Deep Bay looking NE toward Texada and her eventual destination in Desolation Sound

My boys and I left Bill and Banning and hiked up to the highest point on Jedidiah at the summit of Mt. Gibraltar. We had all been looking for the feral goats and were hoping to see them near the summit as I had done when hiking up there in 1999. The trail to the top is marked with dayglow tape and comes off the trail to the western bay from Home Bay. It is a great walk. Easy to follow, but not widely used. Sure enough, when we got up top Elliott saw the goats!!

On top of Mt. Gibraltar, Jedidiah Island

Lovely Deep Bay

That afternoon, back at Aeolus, was spent swimming and fishing. Elliott and Banning both swam a very long way, about 80 yards, from the beach back to the boat. Diving off the pilothouse of Aeolus is about the best thing going and the silence of the water when you dive head first is really soothing.

Great swimming!

Owen swam today for the first time on the trip and he had great form. Head down, good arms and legs kicking. I was proud of him. Another perfect day with perfect sunny weather!

Happy Banning

The old home at Home Bay. In sad disrepair.

8/2/11 Left DeCourcy and anchored at Deep Bay, Jedidiah Island

2011-08-25T08:43:00.000-07:00

Our two days at DeCourcy were just perfect, as is typical of time there. Endless play and gorgeous scenery with great weather. Now we were settling into the groove of the trip. We left there at 11:30 am to time the slack water at Gabriola Passage and had a smooth trip through the lovely gap. The forecast was for SE 10-15 and that is what we saw, so up went the sails once outside the pass and we began a perfect broad reach straight across the Strait of Georgia to our destination at Jedidiah.

Underway to Jedidiah in the Strait of Georgia

Those quiet hours of sailing in the middle of the Straits are the closest thing to an offshore feeling you can get in the Salish Sea. You become far enough from land on several sides to see the curvature of the earth on the horizon of the sea, and it inspires visions of longer voyages and farther shores. My friend Bill is never so happy as when the sails are up and she is going along by her own accord. He is like a little boy at those moments, just happy in a simple and uncomplicated way. And that, my friends, is a right and wonderful thing for any of us.

Approaching Texada and Jedidiah from the south

We did 4-5 knots in the light wind on this sunny, warm day and made our anchorage at 7:20pm. Bull Passage and the environs of Jedidiah are exquisitely beautiful. Steep sided cliffs and a jumble of granite shapes makes it eye candy everywhere you look. It is right around this latitude that you leave behind the sandstone of the Gulf Islands and San Juans and approach the granite that predominates the north country. There is something special about granite that will always captivate me. A purity. Perhaps the knowledge that it is igneous, and born of a deeply molten past, is what makes it so striking, besides it's white brilliance. My many years in the Sierra Nevada might also bias me toward a reverence for granite. Likely.

Moments like these...

Deep Bay is aptly named and like most everywhere up here you must stern tie. It is a lovely spot, and quite well sheltered from all directions except perhaps a howling northwesterly. Best of all is that you are at Jedidiah Island, a place I first fell in love with on my month-long kayak trip in 1999. No sooner had we dropped anchor than the boys got out and began to swim. The water was so warm that even after a long period of swimming the boys did not even have goose pumps. Surface temperatures were well into the 70's.

Amazing approach to Texada and Jedidiah

Deep Bay. A stern tie is required. Some rude guy dropped hook in the middle and kept many other boats from using the anchorage.

Late that night the meteors were streaking their stories across the sky and a behemoth cruise ship passed by in Sabine Channel and the Texada shoreline. It was lit up like a Xmas tree and had a movie screen on the top deck so large we could clearly see the show from a mile away. Such a contrast to our little wild place on Jedidiah!

7/31/11 Wallace Island to DeCourcy Island

2011-08-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

This morning began with a little bit of water play as I had to dive on the propeller to remove our swim ladder line from it being wrapped around the shaft! Turns out that in our motoring last night to reset the anchor someone, one of the kids, had let loose the non-floating line that is normally kept wrapped neatly out of the way, and it had managed to get sucked down and bound around the shaft. It had been cut or town clean off and my big worry was that we had bent the shaft or ruined the transmission.

It came from the deep!

I heard from some Friday Harbor friends that their round Vancouver Island trip this summer had to be cancelled because near Campbell River they had wrapped a mooring line around their shaft and managed to bend their shaft and destroy their transmission. Of course, their boat is a fin keel with that long expanse of shaft exposed.

To check Aeolus I first got down under the floorboards and turned the shaft by hand. I found it tight, and yet it did move, and there was no obvious damage to the transmission flange or nearby things. By figuring out the rotation direction of the shaft, I was able to figure out which way the line would be wrapped. So next I donned my farmer john wetsuit and a pair of goggles and dove in the water to free the line. It turned out to be wedged pretty tight, but I was able to start pulling on an end and that was enough to get purchase on the line enough to pull the whole thing free in a few dives. Luckily, there was no damage to the shaft or transmission and we were soon on our way at 9am.

Elliott being Elliott, and reading his fourth book of the day

We motored north in calm seas and hot sun until we reached lovely DeCourcy. No sooner had we dropped the hook than little Owen caught the first fish of the whole trip! It was a small rockfish, about 14", so beautiful, and of course we put it right back in the water as they are seriously overfished.

The boys spent all day swimming and exploring

This day and the next were filled with all the good times to be had at DeCourcy. It is truly a lovely place, and the south beach and cove are not to be missed. We hiked all around, and swam all over in Pirates Cove. Perhaps the most fun was had by the boys by finding drift wood and using them as surfboards. Endless hours of good wet clean fun were had by them in this endeavor. It made Bill and I very happy to see them being all Huck Finn.

Me enjoying the magical shoreline and amazing views toward Galiano

The boys on their driftwood boards. They covered impressive distances on these things.

7/30/11 Left Friday Harbor and anchored Wallace Island, BC

2011-08-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

The grand trip north began at 8:30 am from Friday Harbor with me and my boys and a friend from Bainbridge and his son. The five of us were headed up to Lund, BC on the Sunshine Coast where these friends would depart and Amy and some other friends would join the boys and I for a week in Desolation Sound. Bill, my Bainbridge friend, is a lifelong sailor and I was excited to have him along to coach me on some of the finer points of sail trim. He grew up in a salty family back east and counts Peter Isler as a family friend, so he really knows his sheets from his halyards. His son is a school friend of my older son Elliott and so were were out for a father son trip.

Owen and Aeolus getting ready to depart

The trip began with light winds and so we motored north to Boundary Pass on customs at Bedwell Harbor. After customs, we were able to sail north in a lovely building breeze from the SSW and did about 5 knots in the 10-15 knot wind. Skies were mostly sunny and the temp was around 70.

Wing on wing heading north at 5 knots

Once we got to Wallace Island we tucked into Connover Cove for the night. This time I dropped anchor against the eastern shore and gave my usual 3:1 scope, which when stern tied and with my heavy ground tackle has never once been a problem anywhere else. We immediately jumped into the dinghy and headed off for the rope swing along the northern part of the cove, and boy was it a blast. There is a pure exhilaration and joy of swimming in wild water, as opposed to a pool, and flying off a rope swing is just all the more joyous. Elliott is a real spider man at it, and I just scream with happiness every time I do it. Owen is still too young to be that adventurous and Banning thought better of it too. The water there is quite warm, certainly in the 60's, but only a tease for how warm the water is further north!

Elliott taking flight at the Connover cove rope swing

Now everything was great until a strong W wind came up and began to blow right into the mouth of this cozy little anchorage. Pretty soon, we were dragging anchor! I've never drug anchor anywhere in my life and now I've done it twice at Connover cove in one summer! I let loose the stern tie and pulled myself forward and this time let out 6:1 scope in the 20 knot west wind blowing small chop into the cove. A little later on, a good size power boat next to us began to drag, and a pretty major drama developed as they tried to motor out but forgot to untie their stern line. They ended up swinging all over back and forth, as you'd expect, and nearly hitting me and the boat on their starboard side. Once they released their stern line, they pulled out but then got blown beam onto the bow roller of the power boat on their starboard. People kept cool heads, but it was ugly. They got away from that without major damage and limped over to the dock to spend the night.

I believe I will never again anchor in Connover cove as the holding is just so very bad and the room for error so small. With Princess Bay nearby there is just no reason to risk the holding to be at Wallace. The sunset that night was stupendous and we all settled down for our first night sleep after a great day of sailing and playing aboard the good ship Aeolus.

A series of posts on nearly three weeks of sailing in the northern Salish Sea

2011-08-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from nearly three weeks of sailing in British Columbia and have so many tales to tell and photos to post that I am going to do it as separate posts based on islands and anchorages. In overview, my boys and I were joined by some Bainbridge friends to sail Aeolus from Friday Harbor up through the familiar Gulf Islands across the Strait of Georgia to Lund on the northern Sunshine Coast. Those friends left, and Amy and some other friends came up from the Bay Area and we all spent a week cruising around Desolation Sound. Returning to Lund, I dropped everyone off and sailed Aeolus back to Friday Harbor by myself.

The Windrope boys on top of Jedidiah Island's highest peak

It was a profound and adventurous exploration of the northern Salish Sea, and we are all still walking on water with the memories of it.

In total the trip was nearly 400 miles and I am happy to report that Aeolus had no mechanical problems of any sort! The weather was hot and sunny, the salt and fresh water swimming was out of this world and the good times with friends were priceless.

Saturna, Wallace and Russell Islands

2011-07-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Anyone paying much attention to the recent posts will notice that I have managed to do a lot of trips aboard Aeolus recently. Well, the boys and I are just back from yet another week of sailing up in the Gulf Islands and have more tales to tell! With the boys on summer break and me not working at the moment, there has been no impediment to getting out for extended periods of time. And of course, my desire for trips is insatiable.

Me on top of Saturna Island, looking South

This latest trip began with a quick night at Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, as this is the closest good anchorage to the Bedwell Harbor customs dock for Canada entry. The next morning we zoomed through customs and headed over to Winter Cove for a few days at Saturna Island. The winds were calm and so we motored. Winter Cove is a really lovely little hurricane hole of an anchorage. That first day the boys and I played on the beach and went over to Boat Pass to watch the rushing current go through. It's quite a spectacle if you haven't seen it. When flooding, the water rushes out of Winter Cove toward the Straits of Georgia, and reverse for ebb. Speeds can be quite high, and the passageway so narrow, that the hydraulics involved are just wonderful to watch.

Elliott and Owen on top of Saturna looking West

The next day we set out for a walk I had long desired, and that was to reach the high point on Saturna Island that looks west out over the San Juans toward the Olympic mountains. It is a somewhat tedious walk on roads from Winter Cove to the main village, and then a steepish walk up a gravel road to the summit. One way distance was about 5 miles. A quick plug for the village store having a good assortment of tasty treats! Total elevation change for the hike is close to 2,000 feet, because there is a good hill between Winter Cove and the main village you must climb over before beginning the true ascent of the 500 meter peak. The boys powered right up no problem, though we were passed by several cars of people who looked sympathetically out at us as they churned up the road. We pitied them in return. The views at the top are wonderful, of course, and well worth the effort at least once. But having done this, I don't think I'll return too soon as the road to the top and the TV antennae take away from the place feeling wild and the overall experience is not as stunning as much more remote places like on Stuart Island.

Later that day we inflated our two person kayak and I paddled the boys over to Boat Pass in order to play with the current. It was ebbing at the time, and so I paddled hard against the 2-3 knot current to reach the outside. The boys loved it, of course, and we did it twice. The ride back in is a blast, and a no-effort ride.

We left Saturna and Winter Cove and headed up to Wallace Island and Conover Cover for our next few days. This is a sweet little spot and much adored by the cruising masses. There is a rope swing in the north part of the cove and the boys and I love a good rope swing like nobody's business. Elliott and I jumped off that swing many, many times into the lovely clean water of the Cove. We spent a few days here lazing around and swimming and playing frisbee and just being alive. The water temperature here is noticeably warmer than just a few miles south as you are edging towards the truly warmer waters in the northern Straits. Surface readings in the cove said 65 degrees, which is a hell of a lot better than the 50 degrees down in the San Juans.

One bit of adventure we experienced is that for the first time in my sailing life we drug anchor while stern tied. There was a bit of wind hitting the boat on the beam and the tackle drug, to my amazement. We had to act quickly as the cove is tiny and there is really no room for swinging around without hitting the rocks or another boat. I had to reset my anchor with a full 5:1 scope as the bottom there is so completely torn up that there is seemingly no holding. Keep in mind, my ground tackle is a thing of beauty with a 35lb CQR and 3/8 BBB chain. I'VE NEVER DRUG ANCHOR EVER, and we did here at Conover. Keep in mind if you are going there.

A cool thing on Wallace is that one of the old resort houses has been converted into a gallery of boat names over the years. People salvage whatever wood they find and create a sort of plaque with their boat name and maybe their years of visitation. Some of them are fancy and nice enough that I think they were created at home and brought to Wallace.

Met a nice father and boys while there and they quickly became playmates for Elliott and Owen. The owner built his own boat and sails it around the Gulf Islands for a few weeks each summer. She's small and light, which works well for the generally light winds and small seas in the Gulf.

Sunset from Conover Cove, Wallace Island

Finally, we left Wallace and went north around Salt Spring, simply because I love Sansum Narrows, on our way to Russell Island for our first ever visit. Again there was no wind, but the scenery is stunning and we had some helpful current. Having looked over at Russell many times from our stays at Portland Island, I decided it was time to giver her a try. Turns out she is quite a great little gem and I expect she will join our regular circuit in the years ahead. The anchorage is quite large and easy as there is a 30 foot shelf that extends from the NW corner of the island. On this night there were 13 boats with us in the anchorage, and one rude/ignorant enough to anchor well within our turning circle which annoyed me greatly. They were even members of the Vancouver Yacht Club so I think their club would have been ashamed of their behavior.

Russell is I think unique in having a family presence from the homestead days still in the National Park. The park likes to make much of the fact there is a Hawaiian history at this and other nearby islands, but when you read a bit you find out that the people were all intermarried with native people and the European population. Anyway, there is an old homestead that allows descendants of the original families to provide interpretive services. This is a wonderful thing, and really provides a connection to the recent human history of these islands. So many others are reverting to the wild without any sense of their human history, either native or settler.

Looking from Russell north to Salt Spring

There is a short loop trail that goes around the west edge of the island and there are many beautiful beaches and coves and points. It is a paradise for photographers or painters. The beaches are quite special, with white sand and shells. The water is unfortunately frigid, as the island is too far south to benefit from the northern warming, but on that one 90 day you might jump in.

Our trip back to Friday Harbor was highlighted by Elliott seeing a baby Orca jump clear out of the water right behind our boat. When Owen and I turned to look, it did it again!!! Couldn't have been more than 50 yards away.

So another week of sailing in the Gulf Islands of BC and another week of adventure with my boys. Now we get a week at home to prepare for the grand trip of the summer beginning this Friday the 29th: three weeks of sailing up to and around Desolation Sound and back again!! Oh my buddha, I must be dreaming!

Tumbo and Prevost adventures

2011-07-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

For this recent trip my boys and I headed north into BC and visited locations that were new to us. We had heard from a few people about Tumbo Island on the east side of Saturna, and it had long caught my interest due to the remarkable location. So we took off from Friday Harbor and had an easy motor in calm seas up to South Pender Island to clear Canadian Customs. As always, the Canadians were polite and familiar, pulling our name up on the system and not requiring passport numbers or anything lengthy. In literally a few minutes, we were on our way back into Boundary Pass to catch a strong flood east and around the corner to Tumbo.

Can it be more beautiful??

Happy Boys

The anchorage there is exposed to the north but the forecast was for consistent south winds. There are mooring buoys, but we chose to drop anchor. Right away, I could tell Tumbo was going to be a magical place to stay and it was. Cabbage Island is just to the east of the anchorage and it is famed for the white sand beach it contains.

Elliott rowing Owen around the anchorage

Beach on Cabbage Island

Looking north on Cabbage Island

We had no sooner anchored but Elliott and Owen went off for a little dinghy ride around the area. We dozed off easily and rose the next day for a full day of exploring the area. Cabbage Island is really special, both ecologically and recreationally. It has a prime location on the edge of Georgia Strait and so is especially scenic to walk around, and has a central marsh that makes it botanically interesting. There are even aspen trees on the island, and I can't recall seeing aspens anywhere else in the area, though they must exist. Gotta love the aspen scientific name of "tremuloides", to express the shaking of the leaves. Anyway, we walke around the small island and then settled into some blissful play on the beach. The boys dug holes and we all were enthralled with the soft feel of the sand under our toes. I went off a ways and just sat in silence for a good while. We ended our time there by playing some frisbee.

At the marsh

After lunch we went to Tumbo Island and walked the short trail over to the marsh and the old homestead. I was not expecting Tumbo to be as beautiful as it was, and it turned out I was thoroughly in love with the place. The marsh is quite large, and full of all the beauty and interest of large marshes. The homestead area is quite beautiful too, though I was struck by how lonely it felt in the absence of the residents. There are so many places around the Salish Sea that had once had pioneers and homesteaders but that are now empty of people. Many of these places are now parks of one sort of another and it allows one to imagine how at one time there were people spread more broadly over this area. Now, vast hordes of us are crowded into cities all around, but certain islands are for the most part altogether empty, or largely so. Examples include: Jones, Satellite, and Turn Island in the San Juans, and Tumbo, Portland, Prevost and many others in the Gulf Islands. It also made me think about the now distant relationship we have with the land, as these wonderful orchards and farmlands are now reverting to nature, and though there are more people, very few of us have any sort of intimate relationship with the islands such as that required by farming or harvesting.

Elliott on swing

There is a large oak tree on the edge of the shoreline on the north side of the marsh at Tumbo. Hanging from the tree is a rope swing that pendulums from a height not less than 30 to 40 feet. It was low tide when we were there, and the bay is so shallow that the water is hundreds of feet away. At first I was not clear on why the swing was there given the lack of water to jump into. Even at high tide, it would be hardly deep enough to land in. But then, Elliott jumped on and showed the true joy of the swing by simply arcing out into space and back. My gosh did the boys have fun.

What a view, and place, and tree

You have never seen a more beautiful sight than these two boys swinging out over the empty bay under a majestic huge Garry Oak and with gleeful giggles echoing off the marsh to my ears. It was a moment of pure bliss.

We later walked south to the other side of the marsh where there is another beach. This one is huge and utterly pristine and stunning. You are looking south down to Orcas and over to Patos Islands. A strange view for those more familiar with looking north to Saturna. We walked all the way out to the southern tip of Tumbo and felt far, far away. No signs of humans down there, and lots of wildlife in the water and above. We were kept company by a bald eagle that seemed to follow us along the shoreline.

Before getting back to the boat little Owen had an adventure. He saw an eagle feather in the marsh and thought he could reach it so he went down low and spread out his arms. Sure enough, he fell head over heels into the water and rose quickly with a look of total shock. The water on the edge was deeper than you would expect, though he could stand. Only the very top of his head was not wet, and don't ask me how he managed to keep that part dry.

That night, the sunset was among the most wondrous I've ever seen, and oddly enough, the sun set entirely into water. Now think about that a moment. We are inside the Staits of Georgia and watching the sun set over water. The way this is possible is that the sun arcs so very far north at this latitude and from Tumbo the nearest land up north is just far enough away that from the height of the cockpit the curvature of the earth allows you to see the sunset sneak down pixel by pixel into the sea. Utterly beautiful.

We sadly left Tumbo the next day and went over to the northern tip of Prevost Island where James Bay provides a lovely anchorage in south winds. Like Tumbo, the national park here protects an old homestead. The orchard is fading away and the area has succumbed to scotch broom and weeds. It was all I could do to not start reclaiming the place again. There is a walk here out to the northern tip called Peile Point and it is not much more than a sheep trail. At the point there is a lighthouse and the boys and I enjoyed watching a whole host of dragonflies swooping around on the eddies of the wind to find morsels to eat. It was quite a sight.

While at Prevost the wind came up stong so we jumped back aboard Aeolus and went out for a nice sail to Salt Spring. The wind must have been 20-25 and we just flew. Elliott took the wheel for a while and was pretty nervous, but settled down when he got the hang of things.

The next day greeted us with calm winds again and so we motored all the way back to Friday Harbor. Once again, at the American customs, we were treated like we had never been through before and had to provide every last bit of information and more. This time, the agent even wanted to come down to the boat to check things out. I think they board everyone when they can, or maybe he was concerned about my having the boys alone without Amy. I was just hoping he would ask for a letter authorizing me to take them across the border without her, because I had that with me, but alas, he didn't. Nice guy, who lectured my boys about all the bad guys in the world they have to look out for!!! My lord, how a job can determine your world view.

Finished with new foam in cushions

2011-06-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

For about a year now I have been slowly working on placing new foam into all the cushions aboard Aeolus, and it is certainly high among the most worthwhile projects I have undertaken. At least from a comfort point of view. The old cushions were pretty dead, where when you sat on them your butt sank quickly and firmly down to the bottom of the bench and after a short period of time you had to shift around to avoid bruising!

I first tackled the cushion at the navigation and instrumentation table as I sat there constantly and it was dreadfully uncomfortable. Next I did all the foam in the starboard berth as this is where my wife and I usually sleep.

Just this week I finally replaced the foam in the port cushion.

I have not tackled the foam in the Vberth and have no immediate plans to do so because only our kids ever sleep up there and they are too light and young to care.

Replacing the foam is not particularly hard, but I have learned a few tricks. I have found using a sharp fishing knife to be the easiest way to cut the foam, given my lack of a fancy foam cutter. I even purchased a reciprocating meat knife for the purpose and it didn't work nearly as well as a standard filet knife. Getting the new foam into the upholstery is a bit tricky but not insurmountable. Replacing the buttons is fun and simple with a hand needle and some strong thread.

The foam I have used is a very firm Lux blue foam that I got from the Foam Factory in the midwest somewhere. Good service and OK prices.

It makes such a difference in the boat to have cushions that are nice and firm for sitting and sleeping. Another project completed.

Friendship and Fun

2011-06-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

My best pal is an odd man, and I love him for it. A mix of contradictions and symmetries, riddles and clarity. Among his oddities is that he does not love the ocean as much as I do. How can that be? He does not like wind, or being cold or wet. He is a wildlife tracker, and a rock climber, and an elf in the forest, but water is not his world.

After all these years of my kayaking and sailing, he had yet to ever join me on a boat. Sailing has been the guiding principle of my life for ten years, and yet my best friend had not so much as raised a sail once.

We fixed that this past week! He came up from his cozy confines in Marin County, CA and I took him up to Friday Harbor for an overnight on Aeolus. He was game, but worried about getting seasick and the wind and other things he needn't have been worried about.

On our journey north to Stuart Island we did manage to raise sail for a little while before the wind died. At least he got to feel how a sailboat flies for a little while. We dropped anchor in Reid Harbor and went out for a hike to a nearby peak. On the way there he was tracking and had us stop when he heard a cacophony of birds up near the school. We stood for a while listening to a righteous chorus of angry birds when suddenly a great horned owl flew from the forest and cruised off, followed by many of his worst enemies. Broad daylight! By listening to the bird language in the forest we had tuned in to a real life drama and were able to see the majesty of a big owl fly right nearby. Wow.

We visited my favorite tree up at the top of the ridge: the big-leafed maple whose crown of green and airy branches altogether convey a powerful impression. We sat there, the tree and me, until only the tree remained.

My friend wandered and I found our favorite family spot up there, including the little sacred place where Owen made an Owen-world out of rocks and logs. I spread out on the bed of moss and did some yoga in the sun and slight breeze. Heaven.

After a great night with great lights, we slipped over to Jones Island for him to see a second locale. While walking around the island we came across a racoon on the trail who proceeded to deftly climb a large doug fir right in front of us. He scaled it like a squirrel, with arms and legs splayed wide. About 30 feet up the tree bent flat and a young coon was up there waiting for the parent. Must have been a day bed. They both looked down at us like all racoons, with a look of utter superiority and disdain.

So my friend sailed for the first time and now he can relate to how I spend my time. And he helped me see some wildlife I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Great friend, great trip.

Memorial Day escapade

2011-05-31T15:55:00.000-07:00

My family got away for the Memorial Day weekend by sailing off to some wild places. We journeyed first to the north side of Jones Island and dropped anchor in time to watch a magnificent sunset. The next day we went to Prevost Harbor at Stuart Island and enjoyed ourselves immensely. Had we given it a moment of thought we would have brought our passports and gone into BC to Portland Island or Wallace Island for a deeper get away, but one cannot shrug about the San Juans too much.

I'm not up for writing much right now, but will suffice to say that we hiked, and relaxed away a great few days. Swinging at the Stuart Island school was a highlight for the boys, and being among the clouds high up on Stuart for a balmy afternoon was a highlight for Amy and I. Altogether a wonderful time. I'll let some pictures tell the story:

Elliott snoozing on the way to Stuart

Amy and the boys on the top of the world-At our favorite place in the islands

Owen and I under a big leafed maple on Stuart that is the finest specimen I've seen. A sacred place indeed.

Owen saving Elliott from certain death off the "cliff"

Prevost Harbor is wonderful, and has better light than Reid Harbor. Counted about 25 boats.

Elliott rowing Owen around for a bit. We trust him fully, but still get nervous when he is far away.

Anchor riding sail works wonders!!

Sailing toward Point Disney on Waldron. This Point is truly stunning, and the picture doesn't show it. Doing 5 knots.

A Stuart Island get away, far away.

2011-05-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the opportunity to get away for a few days to tackle some boat projects, and since none of the projects required electricity, I was able to cast off the dock lines and set sail to wilder places. The weather finally turned warm and sunny, and so I was ecstatic to have time on Aeolus in a beautiful place and a taste of summer.

Decided to go to Stuart (not that any reason is needed) because the forecast winds were shifting from north to south and neither anchorage on Jones provides all weather protection. Where Reid and Prevost both are virtual hurricane holes. I went to Reid.

The projects I tackled included:

New engine intake hoses. Upgraded all related hoses to wire reinforced hose from standard water hose. Better flow in tight bends and durability/strength in a high impact area.
New septic hoses in a few places.
New sink drain hose. Upgrade from standard water hose to reinforced septic hose. Primary reason here was to keep good flow despite a tight bend, where the water hose would kink a bit, and the septic hose maintains it's shape.
Excavate, clean and scrub the starboard settee locker. Yikes.
Clean the fiberglass around the bilge area with Soft Scrub-my favorite cleaner on the boat for really dirty things. Went through many rags wiping old oil and dirt from the area around the engine.
Did new varnish on my bright work grab rails.
Miscellaneous other cleaning of brass, glass, floors and such.

Photo on Stuart from previous trip. On this trip, this spot was all green with exploding growth, and I had it to myself.

But when tackling the above with a happy relish, I took a few hours each day to go for a long run. The first day I ran out to the lighthouse and looked around a while at the frothing flood of water and wild things galore, and on the way back I detoured out to the county dock near the old Ericson farm before getting back to Aeolus. Everything on Stuart is in full grow mode. Heaven.

The next day I ran up to the top of a different mountain, and enjoyed my favorite views from anywhere in the San Juans. Hot sun, astounding views, and that resonant smell of heated grass, fully intoxicated my senses. Wow, wow, wow. I leave part of my soul there every time I visit, and yet grow my soul as a result.

There are few things more wonderful that a day of good solid meaningful work, and a solid dose of exercise in wilderness. Running quiets the mind and enthuses the body, allowing a better appreciation of all the beauty a wild place like Stuart has to offer. I missed my family in spades, but it was great to get away for a few days in this far NW corner of this great NW state.

The harmonics of a sweet sail

2011-05-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Among the experiences in this world that defy description or even comprehension, the feel of a sailboat when sailing well is high among them. We can all conjure a quick list of the things that we know, but would struggle to articulate. Certainly love, or even deep pain. You know it because you have felt it, or you don't.

This reminds me of one of my favorite Robert Frost poems where he says simply:
"We dance around in a ring and suppose,
The Secret sits in the middle and knows."

This "knowing", which I would argue is not intellectual in nature, not manifestly articulate, is beautiful and ineffable.

But somewhat like using a filter on a telescope to look at the sun, I will attempt to throw a few words around the edges of the feeling and see if a sort of impressionist image can take shape that at least suggests the true thing.

Amy and I went for a Mother's Day sail this weekend and were excited to have some wind for our journey north to Roche Harbor. Friday Harbor often has a spot of wind, but for unknown reasons it will die once you leave the harbor and turn north or south. For this reason Amy was advising me to not raise the sail until we saw what was happening outside, and the weight of our experience made me relent. But the wind remained and so up went the canvas and off went the motor. Every boat I have sailed has a different helm and feel and sweet spot, but the groove feels the same. For Aeolus, that spot requires wind of 15 knots or more. We had 15-20 knots of wind from the WNW and were heading NW. Skies were typical of spring, with cotton ball clouds and sun enough to warm your bones.

Aeolus on south side of Jones Island, her home away from home

We were on a close reach to beam reach on our way up San Juan Channel. The sails were trimmed, using the main and genoa, the engine was silent, the prop was in reverse to prevent spinning, the batteries were turned to house with nothing on but the GPS, with no radio or even VHF noise to disturb the peace. In short, there was no sound not originating from the movement of the boat through the water and wind.

Heeling over, leaning, edging, to that point on Aeolus where she feels like she has her shoulder in the water, and quite comfortably, like you lean against a wall to talk to someone, relaxed. The sails taught. No flapping or creases, no inefficiencies, telltales back. Wings. Like rigid wings.

The helm light, and in dynamic tension between you and the water. The round wheel of the helm in your hand, turned slightly against the push of the water trying to straighten her, and turn the boat up to weather helm. The rudder dragging through while thousands of tons of water push against it, communicating whatever mood the water contains, transferring that through the rudder up the shaft to the gears and cables and to the wheel I hold in my hand so lightly. In this way I am feeling the slightest movement of the rudder, and the water, and the play between them.

The wind approaches my face at the same angle it approaches the mast and sails. There is more on the left, and a bit of vacuum on the right. My head makes a poor sail, and contributes nothing to our forward speed, but the feel of the wind on my face tells me how to adjust the sails, and in this way the wind on my head does much to affect our speed. Another translation.

The angle of the boat, the sails taught and full, the feel of the helm and water below, the hush of sound and the flush of wind on my face. Somewhere in there, and more than the parts, is a feeling of everything being in harmony.

Harmonic. Resonant. These words most often come to mind. There is an unmistakable vibration to it all, a subtle inaudible vibration. A resonance that matches something in our bodies, or something less material in ourselves. The sum of all the parts is this harmonic resonance: where we humans feel like the wings of the sails, in perfect balance.

We sailed like this up to Spieden, and then played a while around Flattop before heading into Roche. I could explain how great the rest of the weekend was, and how much we enjoyed the leisure of a fine night and a fine dinner. How much getting away for a weekend felt like an eternity, and how deeply we settled into a place of peaceful contentment. That is all true, but this is a sailing blog, and the feeling we had while sailing to Roche Harbor made the weekend as much as anything we did on land.

Replaced Thru-Hulls and Seacocks-Down the rabbit hole

2011-04-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

I hauled Aeolus out last week to do bottom paint and replace all my below the waterline thru-hulls as well as install proper seacocks and backing blocks. My bottom paint lasted two seasons and was finally tired. I recoated with West Marine PCA Gold and expect another couple years. Slime appears on it over time, but it has appeared on every paint I have ever used here in the NW, including Trinidad SR. Anyway, bottom paint is straightforward and not the topic of this post.

No, the topic here is the big kahuna of cutting big holes in the boat and filling them in. I'll try to put some order to this process as it was pretty epic.

Gulf 32 Thru-Hulls and original equipment
When we bought Aeolus she still had plastic gate valves screwed directly onto the thru-hulls with only a 2"X2" and 1/4" backing square and the nut that comes with the thru-hull. Dreadful. I replaced the plastic gate valves with Marelon ball valves back in 2007 even though I knew the mating of bronze and Marelon was less than ideal, because it beat the hell out of what had been. Although none of them leaked, I had reason to doubt the condition of the meager backing blocks and the status of the bronze itself, and I was of course anxious to get proper flanges installed and redo the whole works. I put this project off from my last haul out because I had a lot going on and I think I was a bit intimidated by the scope of what would be involved. My concerns about the thru-hulls, and project, turned out to be justified. The photo below shows the sink drain thru hull before being worked on.

Turns out that all thru-hulls on a Gulf 32, and I presume on all Capital Yachts boats like Newports, are glassed in flush head fittings. That's right, glassed in, flush head. I'm sure these were used on Gulf's simply because they were used on the faster Newport boats and they had them laying around the shop. However, this installation method is unusual, and means that they are impossible to replace without major surgery on the boat. Most every other boat in the boat yard, especially cruising boats, will have mushroom head thru hulls. If that had been the case on Aeolus, I would have been able to do the whole job in two easy days, no problem. Instead, I had to tackle a major deconstruction and reconstruction project for four full days of 12 or more hours each.

Removing the old thru hulls

To remove the old thru hulls I used a trick from Don Casey that worked really well. But first, you must remove the valve and nut that backed down onto the meager backing block. I started with my engine water intake as it was the most accessible. As I put my wrench on the nut and began to turn, after having let the nut sit in some PB Blaster for a few minutes, I was stunned to find the entire top of the thru hull laying in my hand as it had snapped off just as easy as you please. A textbook example of nightmare scenario. In this photo you can see the entire unit removed from the boat and with the backing block removed. You can just make out in this photo the green color of corrosion at the breaking point and the metal looked soft and spongy. And this was my raw water intake. The one you exercise most often. This whole thing was just days away from from snapping off altogether and though easy to plug, it would prevent easy use of the motor without some creative work arounds. After seeing this, I knew I could not trust any of them no matter how they looked. These are 23 years old as she is a 1988.

You can see on the head of the thru-hull that it has had one edge cut straight. This was so that when they glassed it into the hull it would not turn on them when they tightened the ball valve on the inside.

Before being able to pull the thru-hull out, the fiberglass surrounding the head of the thru-hull must be removed. This is the serious part. No boat owner likes to take a hammer and chisel to the hull of their boat to make a large hole, but that is exactly what had to be done. I used a chisel to cut a hole around the head of the thru-hull and then my dremel tool (more on that later) to excavate the proper circumference of the shape. It was such a dramatic and irrevocable act.

This photo shows the Don Casey apparatus to remove the thru-hull once the area around the head has been excavated. On the inside of the boat the long bolt has a nut and large washers to prevent it from pulling through. Then you simply tighten the nut on the outside and it pulls the thru-hull right out. There is a lot of force involved, and when these popped it was clear they were being held in very firmly.

Once they were removed it was possible to see how they had been installed. Apparently the hull had been laid up completely, and probably solidly, and then the holes were then cut for the opening of the thru-hull. On the inside, making this whole thing stranger, they had then had to glass over the inside of the thru-hull to provide some strength, which they did with a fairly light treatment of glass and lots of polyester. The result of this was a raised, pimple like protrusion on the inside of the hull that the meager block perched upon. This had to all be sanded smooth in order to accept the larger backing blocks.

Prep for new thru-hulls

This photo shows the engine intake thru-hull hole after I had done a serious amount of sanding to get it flat. 60 grit paper on my good disc sander did the trick. The single most important piece of equipment on this whole project was my Dremel. I want to write an Ode to Dremel here soon to express my appreciation to this great little instrument. Having a Dremel with the little cutting heads let me do the rather artistic work of shaping the area for epoxy work and then sculpting the epoxy for final prep.

Once the hole was flush and cleaned on the inside, I then had to take the Dremel and prep the outside area of the hole for the new head and the epoxy I would need to use to make it solid. This involved grinding away any loose material, and getting good edges and angles.

After all this grinding and sanding and prep work, I cleaned the whole area repeatedly with acetone to remove all dust and oils and such. Lots of white rags turned brown.

Then I mixed up some West System epoxy with fast cure and painted the outside area with the unthickened epoxy in order to fill in any micro gaps and provide a good foundation for the thickened epoxy coming next. I let this dry for a few hours, or until it was still soft but tacky. I then came back with colloidal silica thickened to the point of peanut butter and filled in the edges of the hole in preparation for using the thru-hull as a mold. This was necessary because the new thru-hulls were not the same size as the old ones, wouldn't you know it.

The photo here shows my approach. I took the thru-hull and wrapped the threads and the head with duct tape. I then coated the whole thing with Vaseline as a mold release. I then pushed the thru-hull into the thick epoxy like this and seated the head from the outside nice and flush. I used duct tape on the outside to hold the head in place until the epoxy set up. Before the epoxy had fully cured but after it was quite firm, about 6 hours or so, I carefully removed the thru-hull. This worked well, and the epoxy did not stick at all to the vaseline. In retrospect I might not have needed the duct tape in addition to the vaseline but I hadn't wanted to take any chances of epoxy bonding to the bronze.

I then had to take my dremel tool again and finely shape the epoxy and remove any burrs or bumps left over from the ridges in the tape. I then wiped the whole thing with acetone again to remove any debris or dust and the vaseline and it was then ready for installation of the new system.

New backing blocks

Back at home I had fabricated some new substantial backing blocks from 3/4 inch exterior plywood. A friend of mine let me use his band saw which made this quite easy. I then used a hole saw matched to the size of each thru-hull to make those holes and then coated the whole thing with unthickened epoxy. I set them aside to dry on the first day.

I should say a few words about the choice of plywood over fiberglass backing blocks. First, there is no question that fiberglass or epoxy glass backing blocks would be more permanent. You can make them yourself, or buy stock from McMaster Carr. I chose to use plywood for a few reasons. One is that it was sufficient to the task of being rigid and bonding well. This is the primary purpose of backing blocks: to provide rigidity and stability to the area of the thru-hull to avoid any flexing. Second, I chose plywood because it was cheap and easy to work with. I knew I wouldn't be through bolting the block (no need for extra holes in the boat to prevent the block from turning) and I don't have a drill press for perfectly vertical bolt holes that unforgiving fiberglass requires if you seat the bolt heads underneath the glass block but on top of the hull. Finally, since I fully coated these in epoxy and expect they will remain solid for many years, they more than meet my expectation for the life of the system. I will be pleased to get 10-20 years from this set up, and expect to replace the thru-hulls again at that time. All these locations are easy to inspect since I will be exercising the ball valves regularly, and can check for any signs of corrosion or softening of the plywood. It will be a small matter to replace these backing blocks at the same time as the new thru-hulls then. All this to say, fiberglass is a gold standard for backing blocks, but not the only or best choice for my particular situation.

When it came time to use them I first took some rough sandpaper to the surfaces to prep them for better adhesion. My adhesive of choice for this project was 3M 4200 Fast Cure. I needed fast cure because I only had about 24 hours between my last installation and being put back in the water. 4200 is also less permanent than 5200 but much stronger than even Sikaflex 291, which gets good reviews. I wanted the extra strength, and needed it because I did not through bolt these backing blocks into the hull.

What you see in the picture is a whole lot of 4200 gooped onto the backing block as it is prepared for placing over the hole. When I pushed these down on the hole, the 4200 oozed out around all edges. I would then go outside and insert the thru-hull and tape it in place to hold the backing blocks at the proper position. This took a few hours to set up firmly enough that they would not move when the thru-hull was removed.

Installation of new harware

For this project I decided to go with the Groco system using their IBVF flanges. I was convinced by the good arguments about the advantages of this system, including the ability to change ball valves without removal of the entire works, as well as the thread compatibility of the whole thing.

When the backing blocks had firmly dried I then threaded the thru-hull into the Groco flange to make sure everything lined up properly, and to determine if I needed to cut any extra threads off the heads of the thru-hull. Turns out I did have to do the latter on three of the five. I then predrilled the pilot holes for my bronze lag screws. I decided to use lag screws to prevent the flange from turning as I believe they will be more than sufficient for the job and much easier than through bolting. I then took it all apart, and coated the inside of the flange with 4200 and secured it in place with the lag screws.

The photo here shows how much I had to cut off the thru-hulls to ensure they fit well with the flange. The flange only accepts a finite number of threads, and so the extra must be removed in order to have them tighten down onto the backing block together.

From the outside, I cleaned off any 4200 that was in the way of the thru-hull and then coated the thru-hull flange with 4200. I put a thin bead of vaseline around the top 4-5 threads so that they would not bond too tenaciously to any 4200 that was that high up the shaft. There would be plenty of 4200 on the bottom to prevent any movement and provide sealing. Using my step wrench, I then tightened the thru-hull into the flange good and tight. Lots of 4200 oozed out and cleaned this up and smoothed the exterior nicely. It is worth noting that where the previous thru-hulls had been glassed under, these are mounted on the surface. It will allow for removal 20 years from now without doing major glass work again.

Ball valves and final installation

I used Groco ball valves on the flanges and hope for many years of good service.

Altogether this project involved replacing:

Engine intake thru-hull

Sink drain thru-hull

Sewage pump out thru-hull

Sewage diret overboar thru-hull

Sewage water intake thru-hull

This was all painted over quite nicely before I was put back in the water. I shed a lot of skin, and got a lot of bruises doing this project, but it gives me an incredible piece of mind knowing that these thru-hull systems are now absolutely solid and no longer a concern. I've been on countless boats, new and old, that don't have proper seacock systems and I'm very glad that Aeolus now joins the ranks of those few who have it done right.

*A quick note on bonding. Everyone has an opinion on this, especially around boat yards, but I went with the wisdom of Nigel Calder and my own experience which is to not bond them together. Of the five I removed, only the engine intake had any corrosion. By not bonding them I let them each stand alone and not suffer corrosion shared among them all. All the hoses are rubber insulated and so there is no electrolysis between them and the engine. I expect to get another 20 years from the thru-hulls and to replace the ball valves more often.

Spectacular weekend of fun

2011-04-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Over the next few days I will have a number of posts relating to a recent flurry of boat activity, and I will start today with a quick recap of a spectacular weekend of sailing last weekend. We left Bainbridge on Friday and made the long journey up to San Juan Island. It takes a good 5 hours of travel time all told, and though much of that is on ferries, it is still a bit long. Nevertheless, the closer we get to Friday Harbor the happier we become and the night aboard Aeolus was splendid.

In the morning we gathered up one of Elliott's close friends from the island and headed straight over to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island. There was no wind, so we had to motor, but it was still great.

Once we arrived at the Spit we dropped anchor on the north side as south winds were anticipated. Amy and the boys rowed the dinghy over to shore and I inflated the kayak to paddle around. The boys ran right over to a large sandy bluff and proceeded to become wild things, complete with near nakedness and guttural shouting.

They were in boy bliss for sure. Yet another reminder of why we sail our boys to remote island places and let them run free in nature. There is no type of indoor fun that can begin to replicate the whole body/whole mind/whole soul fun of wild nature play. Mind you, our boys are bright and well educated, we are not raising unsophisticated grunts, but they have childhoods rooted in free nature play, and we believe that engenders many great things for them, now and down the road. Enough soap box, anyone who has read this blog or knows us will know our views on these things.

We lounged in the sunshine and read good books, and then rose our beastly selves and strolled around the beautiful spit. Just divine.

As a stiff north wind rose that made our trip back to Aeolus a bit adventurous, we wove our way through the Wasp Islands and over to Roche Harbor where we anchored out and went to shore to join some friends for dinner. A lovely evening. When we returned to the boat we were delighted to see a full moon and pinkening sky to greet us. Just incredible.

We had Roche Harbor entirely to ourselves by the way, which is amazing because in the summer time it is wall to wall boats. The next day we took off to Jones Island and enjoyed our usual south side happiness. A bit of walking, a bit of reading, a bit of playing. I had an amazing game of frisbee with the boys on the lawn above the south beach. Owen has really grown able to play, and Elliott is as good as any adult. We did some tidepooling and then called it a day. Amy and the boys had to head home for school on Monday and I stayed over in order to haul Aeolus out of the water for a full week of work on her. That story, will come in the next post.

Peregrines, Sea Lions, and the Windrope boys

2011-04-13T17:12:00.000-07:00

The boys and I did wander and play for a few days last week, on land and sea, and had all sorts of fun that is funny. We went to Stuart Island first, and hiked out to the lighthouse as we have numerous times before. The skunk cabbage was starting to bloom and it is quite a sight. The rope swing on the way up to the school was in fine shape and Owen had the biggest swing of all since he is smaller and I can lift him higher.

Reid Harbor was deserted but for us, and we saw only one person on the entire island. People stay away by the millions...and wallow in the urban decrepitude! So alone, we watched as the resident Peregrine Falcon swooped and intimidated all the birds around. We witnessed a big bull sea lion hanging out right off Turn Point below us. It was majestic. There is a grassy bluff up above the lighthouse a ways that is certainly one of the prettiest places in the whole NW. It is off the trail a bit, and looks out over everything with the most picturesque duo of a doug fir and madrone right at the point nestled together. It is a pinch me spot.

The boys had a grand old time taking the dinghy around the shoreline and adventuring on the rocky cliffs. Reid Harbor is sandstone and so has weathered into dramatic caves and other shapes that are heaven to any kid. I had so much fun watching them navigate their way along the shore, in and out of caves, and avoiding big falls into the water. They were in the sort of bliss kids know from exploring wild places.

We sailed around boundary pass for a day in some nice winds and then headed back down to Jones Island for a spell. The usual hiking, and playing ensued. Nothing to report other than how great it was.

This trip had some great sailing, which made me happy, and some fantastic play time for the boys. We capped it off by returning to our slip in Friday Harbor and going out to a movie. A bit of decrepitude, in small doses, is quite nice!

Good times, trip, on the horizon

2011-03-23T18:27:00.000-07:00

Soon to head off for a good long trip with the boys where we will play away many days in the islands again. Poor Amy has to work. Head to Stuart, hike and climb around, head into BC and over to Portland Island, and who knows where else? Five easy days, sailing on a breeze, lots of good food and wild, deep time. Time to think. Time to play. Time to sit next to each other and not say a word while watching eagles soar. Ah, just the anticipation of it fills me with joy.

We have such an intimate connection with the Salish Sea and her many islands, and I am just so grateful for every single day I am able to explore a bit more. Our sons have little clue that what they do with us to explore nature is so unusual and unique, and that is fine with us. They'll follow their own path eventually, like this one or not. But come on, look at this beautiful boy and imagine he doesn't get this into his bones?

Love your machines, and they will love you back

2011-03-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

I went to Aeolus to perform the sort of maintenance that must be done but that people avoid doing. Growing up, my father would let me use his tools to tear apart lawn mowers and fix my bike and do all sorts of crazy things. Looking back on that, I see how much I learned about basic mechanical principles, and most importantly, the reciprocal relationship between machines and their owners.

I know people who treat their machines as though they are autonomous creatures, capable of their own preservation. Don't lift a finger to maintain them, and then get upset when they fail them at inopportune times. Sailing books and blogs are filled with stories of sailors having misfortune related to a routine maintenance item not being addressed.

To indoctrinate my boys, I have taken to saying to them that you must "Love your machines and they will love you back". A simple mantra, easy to understand. Really, it is just a subset of the larger truth that Auden said so well that we must "Love one another or die". But sticking to machines, they do so much and ask so little. Especially a diesel engine.

Well, I just spent about 24 hours hanging upside down in the bilge giving lots of love to my diesel on Aeolus. Changed the oil, changed the filter, and changed the Oberdorfer impeller on the water pump. Cleaned this, cleaned that, checked this, checked that. Really, I was just giving her a good rub down and making sure she is ready for another season.

Snowy trip to Jones, cozy times on Aeolus

2011-02-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Jones Island this weekend when absolutely everyone else seemed to be cuddled up inside in front of a fire. The weather has been snowy and very cold (for the Salish Sea) and yet we knew how much fun there is to have on Aeolus in any conditions.

A strong south wind pushed us north on Saturday morning, and we tucked into the north cove to have the entire island, once again, all to ourselves. It was about 31 degrees and sleeting.

We hiked around the west side, seeing amazing sights you just don't see in July. There was exquisite hoar frost that fascinated us for a long time, and ice along the shore rocks that was just amazing. We had a fire back at the north cove and enjoyed that for several hours. Caveman TV.

The night on Aeolus was warm and cozy. The Force 10 kerosene heater keeps it right around 65 degrees, which is plenty given the outside temperature. I was reminded of a Frost poem about a winter storm being properly defied by a window. Outside it was cold and nasty, inside it was snug and happy. People read books, and played cards, and ate good food. What's not to love about that?

The trip back to Friday Harbor on Sunday was uneventful. We motored both ways this trip as the weather made sailing unpleasant. The pilothouse is such a blessing! Warm and safe.

A winter trip in about the worst conditions the Salish Sea ever gets, and still we had a fantastic and adventurous and wondrous time. We know we must be freaks of some sort, given how people stay home by the millions, but it feels right as rain to us.

The good ship Aeolus carried us to yet another island adventure we couldn't have otherwise.

Bainbridge Island to Friday Harbor to close 2010

2011-01-01T20:12:00.000-08:00

Leaving Bainbridge

Some trips are special for their destinations, some for their people, and others for their season. This trip was spectacular for all three. Choosing to delay this trip a few days yielded the most perfect and generally benign conditions anyone could expect to close out December. Where a few days prior it was stormy with 40 knot winds, we had winds below 20 knots and blue skies all day.

Elliott, who just turned 10, was first mate for me on this trip to take Aeolus back up to Friday Harbor where she will be based from now on. Any dad has a complex relationship with his son, and mine no more than any other I suppose. This trip turned out to be a perfect escape from some of the tensions of my day to day life with Elliott and a blessed bit of happy ease.

We left Bainbridge at 9am on December 30th under cold clear skies and with forecast for a north wind of 10-15 knots. Our journey north was smooth at first because the flooding current smoothed what little waves were being produced by such mild wind. The views of Seattle, all the nearby land, and the Olympic and Cascade ranges were simply spectacular. Mt. Rainier loomed in the south and Mt. Baker began dominating in the north.

I chose to go the Port Townsend route for two main reasons. One is that I find it much more scenic and dramatic. The other is that there are no good anchorages within a winter day distance from Bainbridge if you go inside Whidbey. Oak Harbor is really horrible and I will never go there again by choice. Besides, it is too far to reach on a winter day.

So as we headed up the outside, and before we reached the aptly named Foulweather Bluff, the tide had turned and a strong ebb began to push against the peak winds of the day. Later checking revealed that the gusts at this time of about 2pm were around 18 knots, which combined with our 6 knots of boat speed made it feel like 24. At Foulweather is where the Hood Canal drains into Admiralty Inlet, joining all the water from Puget Sound. Right at the point the seas were nasty and confused. For about 30 minutes we bounced through seas that were between 3-6 feet and breaking because of being undercut by the current. I could tell it would be brief and so the violence was fine and even enjoyable.


Approaching bridge in Port Townsend channel. Ebbs north.

As I've stated many times on this blog, Aeolus endures these sorts of rough seas with relative ease. Too heavy to be tossed around lightly, and too long of a keel to be tossed side to side very easily. As I stood at the helm I was having to lean far back and pitch far forward to stay level as we climbed and plunged through the waves. We were taking them nearly straight on as any other angle would have really prolonged our suffering unnecessarily. I was really proud of Elliott for showing no fear and being really casual about conditions that would really scare the hell out of most non-sailors.

No surprise but note here for anyone doing this trip is to be aware of current against wind at Foulweather Bluff.

After this it was smooth sailing through the Port Townsend channel under a nice high bridge and over to the Port Townsend Boat Haven.

Boat Haven Marina on 12/31/10 at 8am.

Throughout this day we motored as it was never really above 32 degrees and the wind was on the nose all day. The pilot house on Aeolus was a savior again as I could steer from within the 72 degree cabin that was heated by my nice Heater Craft cabin heater. Not bad to have a 40 degree difference between inside and out!

Elliott and I enjoyed a night in Port Townsend and a good night sleep. The boat got down to 37 degrees by the morning but we did what all mountaineers learn and kept bundled up tight with no arms or heads exposed. Outside in the morning it was about 27 or so.

One note about the Port Townsend Boat Haven is that their slips are marked with signage so absurdly small that I needed binoculars to see which dock was which even from close range. Have your binoculars ready if you go there to know where to turn and find your slip. The online map does not show which dock has which slips.

The second day of the trip was even calmer with a forecast 10-15 knot E wind that was really SE coming up Admiralty Inlet to start our day. Once out from downtown I unfurled some genoa to push us along and to steady the boat. There were small wind waves of 2 to maybe 3 feet and our downwind course made it all smooth.

Passing through the Straits of Juan de Fuca always feels adventurous to me because of the fetch and frequent gales. It is simply a fierce place of many moods, and many of those moods are unfriendly to small boats. I've observed it's weather for many years now and know that any number of wind directions and current conditions can conspire to create very rough waters.

Watmough Bay with picturesque island in foreground

On this day, however, we passed close to Whidbey to reduce the fetch of the east wind and had smooth sailing right past Smith Island to Lopez. We went the longer route up the east side of Lopez rather than through San Juan Channel mainly because I wanted to see more scenery and partly out of it being the path less traveled. We were rewarded by nearly dead calm conditions as we approached Watmough Bight and the views all around were breath taking. Watmough is a truly awe inspiring place from the water.

My awesome first mate

How close do you dare to go? Spit is just underwater on the port.

The highlight of the inside San Juan Islands portion of this trip was passing between Spencer Spit and Frost Island. We've been to Spencer Spit many times over the years for little trips by boat and by bike, but had never sailed our boat through the narrow pass. It is precarious in that the usable width of the pass can't be much more than 30 feet. The spit extends out very far. Good news is that depths right up against Frost Island are over 40 feet! So you just cruise as close to Frost as you dare to go and all is well. It was really cool.

The rest of our journey to Friday Harbor was beautiful and uneventful.

Some trip statistics for anyone else doing this trip is that it was 74.6 miles by this route from Eagle Harbor Bainbridge to Friday Harbor. Total travel time on Aeolus was nearly 14 hours and we averaged 5.6 knots for the trip.

What a spectacular way to close out 2010 and what a profoundly wonderful thing to do with my son.

A proud papa and his son after arriving in Friday Harbor

Worsening forecast threatens trip

2010-12-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Well, damn. The pleasant forecast of winds SE 15-25 has now changed to a forecast of SE 25-35. Sailors know that the force of the wind does not grow in a linear fashion, but in fact relates to the cube of the velocity. Meaning, 30 knots of wind is not twice as forceful as 15 knots, but about 9 times more forceful. Practically speaking, having sailed in winds up to 40 knots, there is no comparison between winds of 25 or less and winds of 30 or more. Especially in the open waters of the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

If this forecast holds through tonight, I will not be heading north tomorrow after all. No need to suffer that much. My Gulf is as seaworthy and solid as a 32 foot boat can be, but I have seen the steep seas that kick up in the Straits with winds over 30 knots and it is pretty rough.

I'd go the Swinomish channel route except it is too far from Bainbridge to a decent anchorage like Deception Pass to make it in one day. That area is rather tight to sail at night without more local knowledge than my few trips would provide. Plus it is just way more fun and beautiful to go the Port Townsend/Smith Island route.

Anyway, I'll have to check my calendar for the next attempt and spend the next few days doing something else like go for some long hikes.

Excited about journey north December 26th

2010-12-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here it is Christmas Eve, and my thoughts turn back and forth from the holiday and my boys to my upcoming trip north on Aeolus. The day after Christmas I will hop aboard that trusty boat and captain her back to her home waters in the San Juan Islands.

The forecast is for S to SE winds in the middle range of 10-25 knots. Should be perfect for a trip north. I'll go first to Port Townsend and spend the night, which is only 30 miles from Bainbridge, and from there hop over to the islands either via Rosario Strait and Lopez or straight up San Juan Channel. It depends in part on my appetite to wake up and catch the pre-dawn flood, and the amount and direction of wind.The total journey is about 60 miles and I will split it over two days this time of year. The current is ebbing most all day Sunday, which along with a south wind should mean I do a hearty 7-8 knots to Port Townsend. Quick trip. Looking forward to a night in that fun town.

It will be great to be out, to be away, to journey, to feel the wind, to be in the wilderness of the sea, to inhabit the wilderness of me, and to simply be upon our boat.

Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas to all!

Dove and replaced zinc and removed barnacles

2010-12-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

I check the shaft zinc on Aeolus every few weeks as just a part of my boat routine, much in the way my house plants don't die because I habitually check them to see if they have enough water. My recent check of the zinc showed that it had come time to replace it, and a check of my records showed that it had indeed been 10 months since it was last new. I also noticed that the propeller was heavily fouled with barnacles. Little bastards.

Today I dove on the boat and did the works. Though saying "dove" might give the wrong impression as I am not SCUBA certified but was merely snorkeling. The water in Puget Sound is probably somewhere in the mid 40's and fortunately my wet suit is an arctic model lined with merino wool.

It keeps my core perfectly warm and is nearly a dry suit in the way it fits. Glad I haven't gained weight since I got it because it is really tough to get on and off as it is.

On the subject of shaft zincs I must say that I have developed a preference for those that have a slot for a standard screwdriver instead of only an allen head. The reason is that fitting an allen into a corroded head is not nearly as easy as finding the slot for a screwdriver. It is easier to get the old one off and the new one on during my short times under water if I don't have to fiddle with the allen wrench. The allen might allow a smaller increase in torque, but I've never had a zinc come off that was screwdriver tightened.

The shaft on Aeolus is a 1 1/8, which I believe is standard on all Gulf 32's. Just for reference.

When I got around to scraping the barnacles off the prop I must say it is enormously satisfying. The little buggers must wreak havoc on prop efficiency and there is little I dislike more than poor mechanical efficiency. My biolove takes a back seat to my boat love in this case, and the barnies got scraped off with a happy vengeance.

Boy it felt great to be in the water and taking care of Aeolus. Whole thing took maybe 15 minutes, and is slowed mainly by my time underwater while holding my breath. I manage around 20 seconds per session even though I can hold my breath on land for two minutes or more. Anyway, a quick job.

Day sail to Blake Island and decision to move Aeolus back to Friday Harbor

2010-11-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Not sailing for a sailor is like being put into a deep cave. You know there is a bright beautiful light out there somewhere, but it feels so distant and inaccessible. As much as I might like to explain how hard it has been living away from San Juan Island in terms of our sailing life, I don't know that the words would suffice. I was just reading some Les Miserables again, a book I return to often for inspiration, and came across a line I underlined when I first read the book years ago. Hugo said "conscience is the chaos of chimeras...". Wow. Nothing I have read is more true than this statement, and this truth explains why I cannot accurately describe how much I miss our sailing life in the San Juans.

Notwithstanding that our Life on Bainbridge is far better suited to our overall happiness and well being, it will never satisfy my desire for wilderness and nautical exploration the way our almost daily experience of these things did around San Juan. As this blog can attest, our lives there revolved around constant sailing trips to fantastic islands that had amazing hikes. That is a simple formula for my bliss.

Well, there is nothing around Bainbridge or Seattle that comes anywhere close to the wild appeal of the San Juans, which is why everyone here goes up there whenever they can. And the San Juans are just a tease for what lies further north! However, if you ratchet down your expectations quite a few notches you can find some small satisfaction in Blake Island State Park. Like Jones or Portland Islands up north, the entire island is a park, and in this regard has a special appeal. Unlike those islands, it does not feel like wilderness in any way.

There are some nice trails on Blake, and a few nice beaches, and it is certainly a worthwhile destination for a quick day trip in the central Sound. However, I hope I cannot be blamed for having constant thoughts about Jones Island, and Stuart Island, and Lopez and Portland, and Desolation Sound and...I therefore find Blake a poor substitute for no fault of its own.

But as you might guess, we still had a great day on this day, and Owen is now big enough to steer and asked to take the wheel on the way back. We had raised sail and cruised on a broad reach all the way back to Eagle Harbor.

For this recognition of our need to sail in wilder places, we decided today to move Aeolus back to her home waters of Friday Harbor. That is where we want to sail. We cannot muster motivation to sail here very often because there is nowhere to go that is wilderness or even just a bit wild, in comparison. And a boat that sits unused is a very sad thing indeed. So we will move Aeolus back up north and do the relatively quick trip up there for weekends and still get more time sailing than we would here near Seattle. Plus she will be there for our longer trips into BC as we have time.

So this blog will once again have stories and photos of the San Juans, even though we won't be living there and sailing quite as often. Isn't life a grand game of putting your pieces into the best possible positions?

Trip to Gulf Islands through Swinomish Channel

2010-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

We are just back from yet another amazing trip aboard our good ship Aeolus, and boy was it heaven. Having moved to Bainbridge we were not sure whether the time it takes to get up through and past the San Juans would leave enough time on a one week trip for real enjoyment of the Canadian Gulf Islands, but it did. We left Bainbridge on a Friday afternoon headed north to DeCourcy Island just below Dodd Narrows and Nanaimo. Due to gale wind forecasts in the Straits of JDF we opted for the Swinomish Channel route.

That first night was about a five hour trip from Eagle Harbor to Langley. When we arrived at Langley, which we had read was a marginal anchorage, we found a stiff 15-20 knot NW wind was turning the anchorage into a trampoline. Oh well, we knew we were in for a rough night. As has happened many times before, our robust ground tackle saved us from trouble or real worry. We anchored in and among quite a few other boats and slept pretty well through the 2 foot chop.

The next day we motored up to the southern entrance to Swinomish channel at the start of a rising tide and when just starting to head in, several outbound boats urgently told us to turn around as several other boats had just run aground. Glad for the advice, we turned around in the tight channel which was showing about 8 feet of depth where we were and circled around outside the entrance for about 30 minutes to let the water rise. We watched the grounded boats float free and figured we were good to go as well. The channel is a lot of fun in some places, and tedious in others. It is like a portal from Puget Sound to the San Juans.

I'd always wanted to sail under the bridge at Hwy 20 and to pass beside the railroad trestle and we finally got the chance. From there we passed through Guemes Channel against the flood and hit a thick fog bank at the south side of Cypress. I turned on the radar, got out the fog horn and prepared for the worst as the ferry came out of fog not 200 yards away with no sign it had even been nearby. Fortunately, the fog was light enough that it gave a good amount of visibility around the boat even when in the thick of it and we were able to pass easily over to Peavine Pass. That day we went straight to our favorite island in the San Juans, other than Stuart, and that is Jones. With south winds we grabbed a spot on the north side and said hello to our old familiar friend. Amy wasted

no time getting out in the dinghy for a little exercise and sightseeing. The views north from Jones are exquisite.

From there we crossed Boundary Pass the next day and cleared customs with the always friendly Canadians at Pender Harbor. Or, the friendly Canadians in Victoria that the phones at Pender connect you with. That night we slipped into Winter Cove as the forecast was for strong NW winds and this kept us from going out to Tumbo Island. Boat Passage and Winter Cover are a ton of fun in a kayak and I inflated our double and put the kids in the bow while I paddled us over the tidal race for some fun. The current there moves along at something more than 5 knots and creates a fair amount of turbulence. We would enter the current near the mouth and then ride it for a while before jumping into an eddy for the return trip. More like whitewater paddling than sea kayaking. A to of fun. Both boys said, for the first time ever, that they loved kayaking!!

A note on food. Amy did all the planning and purchasing and the lions share of preparing food. We ate like kings, even if there was a little less candy than my still teenage stomach would have packed. We were all so damn lucky to have her as chef. This shot is of the glorious west slopes of Saturna Island as we approached Winter Cove.

We left there to spend time at Wallace Island, a place we have visited before. This time we pulled into tiny Conover Cove and grabbed a stern tie spot right at the mouth. We arrived at low tide and had about 12 inches under our keel, but knew we would have higher water the rest of our stay. We went swimming for the first time on the trip and man was it heaven. Elliott and I love jumping off the pilot house as it is high enough to give some excitement.

We then hiked all the way to the northern tip of Wallace Island, which I remember from staying at while on my kayak trip north in 1998. It is a rather unremarkable walk, but still worth doing as it stretches the legs.

Once we got back to the boat, the most amazing thing happened. Elliott and Owen hopped into the dinghy and went out for an adventure. Elliott is now big and strong enough for us to trust him in all but really exposed windy conditions. Conover Cover is an ideal place to let your sons roam free as it is completely sheltered, but filled with fun options. The boys went to land, got out and played Huck Finn, and then a while later I paddled the kayak over and said hello. They told me about a rope swing they had seen nearby and so we went over to check it out. Elliott was the only one still interested in getting wet and so he swung on that rope again and again. It was a nice swing, maybe a couple feet above the water for your feet and putting you about 15 feet out from shore. There is little in life more enjoyable than watching your son swing on a rope from a wild island shoreline and land in the ocean again and again.

That night, the sky exploded with color and we found ourselves ecstatic once again at our good fortune. These pictures do not begin to express the fullness of color we witnessed.

The next day we headed to the northern terminus of our trip at DeCourcy Island. It has become our favorite place in the Gulf Islands for swimming as the water is seemingly warmer than anywhere else around. We found temperatures there to be a solid 70 in many places and not just near the shore and rocks. The ambient temperature was maybe that as well. We prefer to anchor in the south cove instead of Pirates Cove as we prefer that beach and the views. It is pictured here to the right. Plus there is always space and no views of the marina in Pirates Cove which detracts from the wild feel of a place.

Amy and I went out for a late night dinghy ride and enjoyed another light display by the bioluminescent creatures. Feathering your paddle through the water results in an explosion of color all around the swirls of otherwise unseen currents. It is extraordinary, and as near to magical as anything I have ever seen.

We had a cousin of Amy flying in to join us for our trip back south and so we picked him up in Maple Bay on Vancouver Island. He got to fly a float plane for the first time and we were excited to see him. We headed down the wonderful Sansum Narrows on our way to Portland Island and were able to sail much of the way there in good wind. While approaching Portland I noticed some whale watching boats and sure enough there was a lazy Orca right nearby. Seemed to be alone, and moved very slowly as though resting. Still very close and very cool.

Portland Island is always great and did not disappoint. Sure wish it was near Seattle. We hiked around the shoreline for a few miles and dinghied/kayaked over to our favorite sandy beach nearby to swim. Water there is frigid as it is too close to the Straits of JDF to have any warmth to it. Still, on a warm sunny day like this, it was refreshing.

We then continued south and cleared customs at Roche Harbor. I must say it was by far the most pleasant US customs clearing I have ever had and must thank office Wallace for being professional but not officious, thorough but not accusatory. She was great. The highlight of the day was getting a massive amount of ice cream at the Roche Harbor shop. It was absurd. I asked for small and they gave me a mountain. Poor Owen could not keep up with the melting and instead dripped most of his along the dock.

The winds were high, maybe 25 knots, and we raised sail once outside of the harbor and sailed all the way into the Wasp Islands. It was pure sailing heaven. We then motored over to Spencer Spit on Lopez Island for a nice evening. Met a gregarious Kiwi there on a 45 foot beauty who has been sailing all around the Pacific Ocean for some many years. Quite the sailor and quite the man. Made Amy and I reflect on how much we crave that sort of travel.

After this it was really pretty plain getting back to Bainbridge as we returned through the Swinomish Channel and had a thoroughly horrible experience trying to find dinner in Oak Harbor. My buddha, what a sad and dreadful town. The walk from the marine in Oak Harbor to the nearest place of commerce is already a half mile or so, and what you find is a depressed and abandoned old downtown and a little further on is Hwy 20 with all the charm of an asphalt field. The greatest challenge of traversing the inside route from Seattle to the islands is the lack of a decent single anchorage between Seattle and Deception Pass.

Anyway, we sailed home our final day from Oak Harbor and enjoyed a very long broad reach all the way from the southern tip of Whidbey to Bainbridge. It was grand. I couldn't help but notice as we passed more than a few Catalinas and Hunters that they had sails reefed and seemed to be up against their comfort zone that I had full sail up and we moved along absolutely comfortably, doing 6 knots. Once again the design and weight of the Gulf 32 shows itself to be ideally suited to strong winds and rougher seas. A fantastic trip and another grand adventure logged aboard our beloved Gulf 32.

Aeolus is now at Bainbridge Island

2010-05-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

My new work has kept me away from this blog longer than I would like but such is life. Just this last week I moved Aeolus from Shilshole Marina over to Bainbridge Island because after a look around Seattle for our new home, we are going to give Bainbridge a good try. Finding a new neighborhood is a bit like choosing clothing. Some look good, some don't, some you try on, and then decide they look bad, and others you try on, and purchase. We are in the "try on" stage with Bainbridge and so have moved Aeolus there as the advanced guard.

I've been out sailing a few times recently, both to bring her over and just to get out one day. Even though my work is keeping me busy these days, I'll soon be back to boat projects and trips and will continue this blog for all it has ever been: fun for me, fun for my family, and perhaps useful to a few fellow sailors.

Trip from Friday Harbor down to Seattle

2010-04-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

As I motored away from Friday Harbor that day, I was well aware of the significance of it all. I took this parting shot of the area even though there is nothing to see in it.

The trip was enjoyable and uneventful. I had a weather window that cooperated pretty well. By far the roughest weather on the whole trip south was what I experienced on the south side of Lopez. It is about one hour from Friday Harbor down to Cattle Pass, and with the currents being in my favor I did so quite easily. I then turned into the maze of islands that make up the area on the southern tip of Lopez and soon dealt with the remnants of a strong west wind going against a strong ebb. It was a typical confused bit of heaven and hell on the water. Bouncing clapotis of about 3-4 feet, which is just enough to make any boat plunge and hop. As always, Aeolus puts her shoulder down and handles it very gracefully, despite the conditions being pretty unpleasant. I surely wouldn't have wanted to be out in a flat bottom Hunter or power boat in those conditions.

After a while I got out of that and was able to power on smooth seas right past Smith Island and down past Port Townsend to Port Ludlow for the night.

I grabbed a slip because I was honestly too tired to lift the dinghy off the deck to deal with the anchor rode. The "resort" at Port Ludlow is nice enough, though I have to wonder about the environmental effects of such a place at that spot. Dinner was quite nice. I guess Port Ludlow is a popular get away from Seattle.

The next day I made the quick hop to Shilshole and tucked Aeolus into her new home. Quite a change from the relatively small size of the port at FH to the gigantic marina at Shilshole. There are various nice things about Shilshole, however, and among them is the number of sailboats. For a guy like me, it's just fun to see so many boats at the docks and to see how someone else has dealt with a problem.

The page has turned.

Aeolus moved and back from travels to Rome and Corsica

2010-04-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

I think this has been the longest I have ever gone without posting on this blog but that's what being on the other side of the earth from your boat will do to you. We are just back from three weeks of traveling in Rome and on the island of Corsica. This is a specialty blog just about things involving Aeolus, but I will post one picture (from a 14th century Genoese watchtower on a headland about 1,500 feet straight up from the Med) and state that Corsica is a paradise for explorers and I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who loves ocean, mountains, hiking, French food, or Mediterranean history/culture. Rome was, well, thoroughly and enjoyably Roman.

In the days just prior to flying off to Europe I did manage to move Aeolus down to Shilshole Marina in Seattle. The weather cooperated enough that I didn't face anything more than 25 knots and by far the roughest conditions I faced were just off the south side of Lopez Island. While cutting the corner toward Smith Island I got caught in some pretty nasty chop from an eddy going against the prevailing swells. It was a ton of fun, really, but would have made most people puke. Seas about 4-5 feet and steeply slopply. This photo is my parting shot of Friday Harbor, a sentimental moment for sure.

Anyway, that was about it for anything even resembling drama. There was a south wind my entire trip, on the nose, which prevented sailing in the tight channels. I motored down to Port Ludlow and grabbed a slip for the night as I was tired and didn't feel like hoisting the dinghy off the deck to row to shore for dinner just to have to put it back on the deck for the next day. This last photo is of Port Ludlow that late afternoon. The next morning I did the jump over to Shilshole and there you go. Smooth as butter.

My feelings are mixed about having the boat in Seattle as opposed to Friday Harbor, along predictable lines, but my overriding emotion is one of excitement. It will be a lot of fun to be playing around down there among the big city sights. And the views of the Olympics are better and you gotta love that.

Moving Aeolus to Seattle

2010-03-11T20:24:00.000-08:00

Well, the big news in our world is that we will be moving Aeolus down to a slip in Seattle. In fact, this weekend I will be moving her down if the weather on Saturday does stay below 25 knots SE. Hope to go the Admiralty Inlet route but it exposes me to more fetch from the S. We'll see.

The reason for the boat move is that I have begun a new position in Seattle and will use the boat as a crash pad on some nights. Although I will miss having her here in Friday Harbor, it will be a lot of fun to join a more active sailing community and explore a different region. Sailing around an urban water front was always a ton of fun when we learned to sail in San Diego, and I look forward to that in Seattle too. One thing is for certain, it will be a whole lot easier and cheaper to buy parts at Fisheries Supply and not need them shipped!

This blog will begin to be filled with stories about sailing the greater Seattle environs instead of Jones Island and the San Juans. I'm sure we'll still bring the boat up for trips in the San Juan and Gulf Islands, but it won't be our backyard anymore. Oh the changes that make up a fascinating and fulfilling life...

Adjusted engine valves

2010-02-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

I knew it had been a while since I adjusted the valves on Aeolus and I had started to notice some unusual knocking and pinging. Adjusting valves is both fun and easy, and I launched into it today. It was a bit rainy and though there was some good wind, I chose to maintain rather than sail. The boys read books and played with figurines while I was sprawled around the diesel. Overall the valves were in decent shape, with some not needing any adjustment at all and several needing minor corrections.

This photo shows the identical parts of a Universal diesel, though it isn't one.

(For anyone not familiar with the purpose of the gap adjustment for valves, it is as simple as understanding that air and fuel need to be let into the cylinder chamber and then exhaust let out. The valves open and close to do these things and need to open and fully close at precisely the right times. Adjusting the valves allows you to make certain that they are not too tight, and thus preventing the valve from closing and sealing all the way, or too loose and knocking a lot and opening too late or too little. Remembering that these valves open and close once for every engine rotation at a speed of 2,000 RPM or more than 30 cycles per second is enough to convey the importance of proper timing.)

Valves on a Universal 5432 or M40 are set to between .007 and .009 inches. Naturally, I used .008. There were several valves that were loose to a gap of .012. Valves almost always become looser with time because the surfaces that are rubbing and pounding are wearing away.

When I put her all back together and fired her up, Voila! Quieter and the knocking and pinging gone. Turns out that .003 of an inch is enough to cause some noise. Another reminder of the way all good mechanics develop a fine ear for the motors they maintain.

New cabin heater, bilge hoses, windlass batteries and..

2010-02-22T20:56:00.000-08:00

Given the sheer volume of projects I pursue at any one time on Aeolus, it is easy to forget them when I sit down to update this blog. But to honor the purpose of this blog, I really should try to include at least a few of the smaller things I am doing all the time to make Aeolus a better boat.

For example, I just installed a new Heater Craft cabin heater that I got from Fisheries Supply. It supplies 28,000 BTU of heat and is overwhelmingly effective. I got the recommendation from Beth and Evans and am glad I took their advice. We have a nice diesel cabin heater for when we are at anchor and so forth, but all that wasted heat from the engine drove my efficiency brain crazy. The plumbing is straightforward, and I bought bulk hose for cheap from Jamestown Distributors. My system plumbs from near the thermostat as opposed to the outlet to the heat exchanger. The hardest part of this job was cutting the hole in the fiberglass near the port settee. Never easy, but it worked out fine.

On his trial run we found out that even with the companionway doors wide open, he ("Ford" is it's name, I'll explain later) heated the cabin from 50 degrees to 70 degrees with heat absolutely pouring out of the cabin and heating the entire cockpit area under the dodger. It was incredible. And this was with the fan on low, with an option of medium and high.

You can see both heaters in the attached picture. Realizing we needed names for them now that there are two, we decided that the bulkhead heater has a certain Dickensonian feel and so we named him Dickens. The Heater Craft is technology straight out of an old Ford and so call him "Ford". Hey, it works for us. It is such a game changer for Amy that she will forever after be asking me the following question when we are under motor in winter: "Will you please go turn on the Ford sweetie?"

I've also been tackling my bilge hoses, which are some of the last original hoses on the boat. To begin, the hose for my manual pump, a Whale Urchin, had been a standard 1" rubber hose that had essentially collapsed in various places due to curves and bends. I put a considerable amount of time into choosing my bilge hose and scoured all the usual places for information. My foremost criteria was that the hose must not ever crush or collapse, and so it had to have some sort of reinforcement.

This really leaves you with a few options: some bad, some good and some best. The bad hose is what is sold as bilge hose, believe it or not, and is the corrugated looking stuff that is unsuitable for below the waterline connections. The problem is that the inside is often rough, greatly increasing the friction of water flow and it is generally flimsy, so that even though it initially resists collapsing, it is easily crushed with any force. Needless to say any softwall rubber hose is unacceptable.

The good option is what I went with, which is a Trident series 148 sanitation hose. It is reinforced with a PVC cord that makes it uncrushable and will not collapse. It is what I use on all my head applications. Turns out it is rather ideal for bilge applications for the same reasons.

I suppose the best option would be a wet exhaust style hose with wire reinforcement, but it is almost three times the price with very little advantage and so I made the choice to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

So I have replaced all my bilge hoses all the way back to their through hulls. This means the manual bilge pump hose, my 2000GPH Rule electric pump, as well as my 800GPH small electric automatic pump that I run on a 1/2 inch reinforced PVC hose a la Don Casey in This Old Boat. That's another story altogether.

I also just replaced my fiver year old windlass batteries. They were two 85AH Deep Cycle Kirkland batteries that power my 1000W Lofrans Tigres windlass. They were doing alright, but their age suggested I replace them. They still held 12.8 volts, but the clock was ticking. I replaced them with a brand new version of the same battery at my nearby Costco. Love the fact that they were manufactured in 12/09 and I bought them in 2/10. Nothing stale about that battery.

The list goes on, honestly. So many small projects that may not cost a boat unit but sure make the boat a safer and nicer place to spend your time. I've come to be amazed by how many projects I've done on Aeolus, many of which are documented here. It is really starting to pile up! Pretty soon I will have had the boat long enough to start needing to replace some of the things I did when I first bought her. We're only 4 years into this now.

Three day sail, high winds, no kids

2010-02-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

While our boys are away with the grandparents for the week, Amy and I jumped at the chance to go on a trip. It turned out that Friday also had high SE winds and that determined our sail plan for us pretty well. We had toyed with the options of going to Victoria or Port Townsend or up into the Gulf Islands. All good choices. Turned out that Friday had 30 knot winds from the SE and so heading out Cattle Pass wasn't going to be much fun and so we headed north, with the wind.

It was fantastic. We put out a handkerchief of genoa and still did hull speed of 6.5 knots downwind all the way to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. Around Spieden Island things got pretty choppy as the waves reached 2-3 feet and gusts were reported to hit 33 knots. Aeolus handles that stuff gracefully and Amy did all the steering in the beautiful conditions.

We tucked into Prevost and had a great evening, even running into some friends from San Juan Island who had been blown into Reid Harbor by the storm instead of making it elsewhere.

The next day, though the winds were still high, we decided to head down to Jones Island for the heck of it and to open up our options for Sunday. We ended up motoring the whole way because the wind was on the nose and we weren't feeling the need to tack our way there. Jones is always a highlight, and we hiked around the windward side and were dazzled by our solitude and the exquisite views. Jones has not been logged in any real way and so it is a rare glimpse of an intact island forest. And the pocket beaches on the east side are just incredible.

The wind howled that night, hitting near 40 knots, but we were snug as bugs.

To top this trip off, Sunday dawned calm and so we fulfilled Amy's biggest wish of heading over to Doe Bay on the east side of Orcas. The trip there from Jones takes you through the heart of the San Juans, and through the Wasp Islands. Paradise. We hadn't been on our way for long when we were approached by an RCMP boat with an American Coastie aboard. They came aboard to do their safety inspection and we learned that the joint operations are due to the Olympics. They were very friendly and all was well. Curiously, they don't check a single thing that a true sailor would know to check when it comes to a boat's safety, but instead focus on some very cursory things. I'm glad they check for environmental things like oil discharge.

Anyway, that took 30 minutes, and we were on our way. Doe Bay was heavenly. Being fully exposed to the south meant that we could only anchor there in calm conditions, and that is what we had. It was a magical day of drifting low clouds and calm seas. We anchored out, rowed to shore, and hopped into the hot tubs and sauna. My gosh, is that the best thing for a NW body! We soaked up heat for 90 minutes and got that deep warm glow that feels so good here in winter. A nice lunch capped off our stay and we were on our way.

It is two hours straight from Doe Bay to Friday Harbor doing 6 knots. We had to motor the whole way as the wind was nowhere to be found.

Everything about this three day trip was fantastic. We had high winds and great sailing, great hiking on wonderful trails and a luxurious soak and meal at Doe Bay. We missed our boys, but it was nice to have the ease and fun of just being together too.

Thank you Aeolus!

New cabin lights with ABI fixtures and Sensibulb LED bulbs

2010-02-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

Lighting has been on my list of next projects for a while and I am finally tackling the challenge. My existing cabin lights are cheapo plastic RV fixtures that used a 20 or 25 watt incandescent bulb. I wanted to upgrade the appearance of the fixtures, improve the overall lighting in the cabin, and greatly reduce my electricity draw. I did all three!

With the help of some friendly folks on www.sailnet.com /forums/ I was turned onto some really nice ABI fixtures. ABI has gone out of business and so their light fixtures have been placed on sale various places. I bought mine from Defender for about $30 each, instead of $55 or so. They are a never tarnishing brass color that comes with xenon bulbs. They also have a real glass fresnel lens. They're a really nice looking fixture and readily accept G4 LED bulbs.

After doing the usual burst of research I decided to try out the Sensibulb LED bulb.

Well, the results are in and wow, am I happy. The fixtures are a huge upgrade in the appearance of the cabin, and even with their standard xenon bulbs they use one half the power of the old incandescent and put out more light. I only have one of the Sensibulb bulbs right now but it is amazing. I have it installed over the port settee and it is both super bright and a great color. The fixtures have two bulbs, and by replacing one with LED I can leave the other bulb with a red cover for night voyages.

I have ordered enough fixtures to replace all the old ones and will order enough of the Sensibulb for all the fixtures we use most often. The Sensibulb uses about .2 amps, and the old incandescent used 2 amps. That's a 10X reduction in power usage! And they will last a lot longer. And the light is better...what could be better?

I don't have a picture but I also installed a new Hella articulating arm cabin light that uses a 10W Halogen. We needed a spot light over the galley as the cabin lights didn't get light down into the pots. Now, the new light provides excellent cooking light and when not in use tucks perfectly into the corner of the pilothouse in an otherwise unusable space.

Being Wild Things on Jones Island

2010-01-25T00:14:00.000-08:00

With Amy away for a few days coordinating our local leadership group, I grabbed the boys and sailed off to Jones Island for an overnight of being Wild Things. Leave work, pick up some firewood, some potatoes (you'll see), grab Owen from pre-school, grab Elliott from his after school Origami class, and we're on our way by 4:30pm on Friday. Civil twilight at 5:30 pm, one hour trip, should just make it. We just made it. Motored on a gorgeous calm evening through the dappled glory of our water world to arrive on the north side of Jones as last light was fading away.

We jumped into the dinghy and once on shore, we started up our fire in one of the fire rings and were Wild Things. We beat our chests a bit, and were transfixed by fire.

Deep sleep, next day, circumnavigate the island. Two and a half hour walk, about 4 miles, lots of stopping and laying in the sun. Warm, deep heat. Boys are amazing beasts. Not a word of "complaint", not even from Owen. It is what we do. Who we are. We skipped, threw rocks, sang songs, told jokes, watched bald eagles, were mesmerized by the water and altogether absorbed in being ourselves, and together.

My boys. My beautiful boys.

Back at Aeolus for lunch, then, they dinghied over to shore by themselves and played with their potato guns for a long time. I watched them climbing all over the rocks and around the trees. They were having a ball while I cleaned the boat. Seeing Elliott row the 100 yards there and back is so incredible. That I can trust them, and give them that freedom, makes me so happy. That they get such abundant opportunity for unstructured nature time means more to me, and them, than I can ever say.

To top it all off, we sailed all the way home in 10-15 knots of wind, doing 4.5 to 5.5 knots of boat speed. Elliott took the wheel for one tack and did every bit as well as I could with holding that delicate line between too close or too far off with the sails.

What in the wide, wide, world could possibly be better than this?

Shaw Island, County Park

2010-01-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

On what is expected to be the last nice day for a while, we jumped aboard Aeolus with no particular destination in mind. The sun was shining, and the air had warmed nicely to over 40 degrees, which is no small thing in January. After considering our old favorite of Jones Island, we decided to mix things up and go to County Park on Shaw Island.

The wind is supposed to come up strong tonight and we hoped for enough to sail in during our trip, but on the south side of Shaw there was hardly a wisp. We anchored right off County Park, which is about as easy and nice a place to anchor as you will ever find. The high tide covered most of the beach but you could still tell that it a fine, soft sand beach. A rarity in the San Juans.

We had lunch and walked the short distance across Shaw to Blind Bay, enjoying fine pastoral scenes along the way. Shaw is so quiet, compared to the "hustle and bustle" of San Juan. Oh, the relativity of it all.

While at anchor I hoisted the new anchor riding sail I made this winter and though the wind was light at maybe 10 knots, it did seem to keep Aeolus unusually steady at anchor. I'm encouraged.

A fine winter day, with moments in the sun where it was uncomfortably warm in our down jackets and fleece hats! And being winter here, there is virtually no one else around to share the beautiful days.

This last photo is the view from the picnic shelter toward Aeolus at anchor. Not sure why it looks so dark, as it wasn't.

New stern cleats for sheets and drogue

2010-01-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

Today I completed the installation of two new Schaeffer stern cleats to use for sheets and drogue anchoring. Gulf 32's come standard with stern cleats for dock lines, but they are down below the level of the coaming and not able to be used for sheets.

Since I have added a storm jib to our sail inventory I needed a way to free up the winch for use with either the genoa or storm jib sheets, or, for that matter, any future headsails I might have. I ordered these stainless steel cleats from defender and they are really solid. They use a 5/16 inch bolt, which is also good sized. I ordered the necessary 4 inch long bolts from McMaster Carr, my source for all such generic hardware supplies as they have EVERYTHING and are consistently cheaper.

Anyway, the deck coaming here is made from about 1/3 inch of solid fiberglass, then maybe 1/2inch of plywood, and then a thin fiberglass layer to make a sandwich. I overdrilled the holes to 1/2 inch and filled with thickened epoxy. Today I drilled the holes out to 5/16 and placed a roll of butyl tape around the bolts as the sealant to the teak deck.

Underneath all of this I placed an oversized 1/4 inch stainless steel plate as the backing plate. It is probably 3 inches by 8 inches. Plenty of force distribution.

Installing the backing plate and associated washers and such is quite an ordeal as I have to wedge myself wholly sideways into the stern lazarette and jam one arm into the area while holding all the washers and nuts in that hand. I used butyl tape to get the stainless plate to stay attached to the underside of the coaming ( a good trick) and then holding the fender washer, a smaller washer, a lock washer and the nut all in one hand. I put them all on one at a time. No easy feet to maneuver all these pieces in one hand while hanging virtually upside down and not drop anything. I dropped many things, many times. I'd have to extricate myself with great effort, reach down and retrieve the dropped item, and try again. Oh the patience boat repair requires.

Now that it is all done, I am quite pleased. It will allow me to easily tie off the genoa sheets to switch the winch to storm jib use, and I aligned them properly to provide a fair lead to any drogue being towed behind the boat. The photo above shows the angle the lines would take to a drogue. I will add chafe protection to the drogue lines where it crosses over the coaming at the stern.

New exhaust pipe and ball valve

2010-01-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

On Aeolus the exhaust runs to the stern in a 1.5" hose and upon reaching the stern lazarette it rises up a few feet and goes through some pipe and back down to the through hull. This U shaped approach somewhat prevents sea water from filling the hose/water muffler and engine block. Nothing worse than a following sea filling your engine block with H20 and then going to start your motor to find that you just demolished your rods.

The pipe was showing signs of rust, and knowing a thing or two about rusting iron I knew it was time to at least pull it out and check for bigger problems. Turns out the pipe had partially disintegrated in places and it was high time to replace.

This allowed me to install a ball valve in the pipe as per suggestions for offshore conditions where strong following seas can overwhelm that U shape section. I ordered high pressure thick walled pipe from McMaster Carr and assembled the pieces with a full flow ball valve. It's a thing of simple beauty. I beveled the outer edges of the pipe that entered the hose so it went in easier.

Today I took the assembled piece to the boat and installed it with one section of new hose. The existing hose from the pipe down to the through hull was original and though it showed no signs of trouble, I knew it had lived it's life. I had some extra ABYC exhasut hose around and replaced that section. Turns out when I cut the old hose off that it was not wire reinforced and though this is a low pressure environment, it was a good call to upgrade.

One more little upgrade project. One more ounce of prevention...

A winter night at Stuart Island, Reid Harbor

2009-12-20T21:17:00.000-08:00

My inner adventure clock had been pounding loudly and I could barely wait for our tiny little overnight to Stuart Island this weekend. On one hand it is a pathetic facsimile of the sorts of adventure I truly crave and once enjoyed, and on the other hand it is a perfectly acceptable bit of happiness within the self-imposed boundaries of my current life. It turns out my clock was pretty reasonable because upon a check of our boat journal it had been since my return from Comox, BC that I had been out overnight on Aeolus. We have had quite a few wonderful day sails since then, but nothing overnight. It was high time.

We took off Saturday morning and brought along a friend of Elliott's. The two hour trip to Reid Harbor was beautiful. We motored the whole way as the wind was on the nose and it was pretty cold. Not too bad, but maybe 43. With the very short days, we wanted to get them with time to go on our hike before dark. Going through Spieden channel is always a highlight and it didn't disappoint. Several Sea Lions were active and the usual assortment of birds. The exotic sheep/goats on Spieden island were as prevalant as always. I have to really wonder why there is no active management of those herds. All it would take is some birth control in some feed and the population would be gone in a few years and the oak trees and wildflowers could rebound. As it is, every tree is old and nothing new can possibly grow due to the intense grazing. They are truly hooved locusts. Better yet, drop off a mating pair of mountain lions. Now that would be fun to watch.

Anyway, we ended up tying to the state park dock in Reid because we had it to ourselves. I prefer to anchor, but in the absence of anyone else around to bother us, we took advantage of the opportunity for the kids to be able to get on and off easily. With no delay, we took off on our hike up to a high point on Stuart and every step rejuvenated me. The more we climbed, the happier I got. With every calorie burned, my heart got lighter. The views from on top are truly incredible, and even on this overcast day we sat for quite some time and pondered deep time.

There are wild sheep that run around on Stuart, and though I don't know if they are recently feral or one of the old stock from the Spaniards, they are still crazy to see. When we got to the top, they were nearby and gave us very long stares. It is hard not to credit them with some measure of intelligence even though it is undeserved. They stare blankly but you think they stare maliciously. We had a good laugh imagining their conversation about us.

We made it back to Aeolus just as dark was settling in. A few more minutes and we would have needed headlamps to hike. The night was enjoyed away by playing cards and eating a delicious dinner. Our kerosene cabin heater does an admirable job of heating the cabin to about 70 degrees in about an hour. Cozy. Elliott sat on the bow of the boat for some time whittling away on some wood. He has recently been allowed to use a knife, after a safety lecture from me, and so he was eager to do what kids like to do to wood.

After the kids were asleep I went out into the cockpit to look around and was struck by the absolute lack of artificial light in the harbor. Reid harbor is narrow and has some fairly high hills around it. The ridge line of the hills could be seen against the faint starlight, but no other lights were visible. This is a great, and rare, thing.

In the morning I took the boys and we did the little 1 mile walk around the isthmus at the state park to stretch our legs. It had not rained on us at all the day before, but today it was raining steadily and we took the chance to get back for Amy to take a pastry baking class. Crazy to realize that we can get away on our boat to a remote island with almost no people and go on amazing long walks without seeing another soul and then return home to our nice home and all this relative civilization and Amy can take a class in the finer points of pastry baking. What a contrast.

Aeolus is better, and better and better. The new cushion foam really made a difference and we enjoyed the quiet of the relatively new cabin fan. Boats are like a blank canvas we paint upon, depending on our time and budget. They reflect us. They certainly reflect our values and priorities.

This little overnight trip felt like we were gone a week. It was perfect.

Jones with Justis Family

2009-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Our dear friends came up for our annual reciprocal Thanksgiving reunion and we took advantage of the spectacular Friday weather and went to Jones. The last time they were here we went to Jones but it was very cold. On this trip, it was sunny and fairly warm, with temperatures up to about 50 and much warmer in the sun.

We sailed about halfway there before the wind shifted and died. Once in the south cove it was tempting to never leave the cozy warmth of the southern exposure but we knew a walk was in order and so we took off. The boys were rambling and scrambling as normal, and there is no finer thing in the world for a parent to see than their kids frolicking happily in nature.

The construction on the island is progressing right along and I have very mixed feelings about the development on Jones. To the extent it is creating a place for people with disabilities, I am all for it as I recognize the shortage of facilities for their use. On the other hand, they are installing indoor sleeping cabins and other things that seem not only unnecessary, but degrading to the primitive feel of the otherwise wild island. Can't people sleep in tents for Pete's sake?

Anyway, our day on Jones was wonderful in every way and our friends got a little taste of the paradise that is living in the San Juan Islands.

Anchor riding sail

2009-11-30T18:20:00.000-08:00

Last year on our attempt to make it out to Barkley Sound by way of the Straits, we made it as far as Becher Bay near Sooke where we stayed for 3 days while 40 knot winds tore up the waters. While at anchor, we were swinging around so much that it was truly unpleasant. I ended up setting a stern anchor just to stop the swinging, which worked so well that the little danforth dug in so deep I bent the shank when it came time to pull it out. I swore I would make an anchor riding sail and that time has come.

I purchased the kit from Sailrite and it was a quick and easy evening project.

Hoisting the sail on the boat was interesting and it seems I have two good options. One is to hoist it on one of the two wires of the backstay. This arrangement has certain advantages and disadvantages. In particular, the disadvantages are that it is a bit low and some of it is sheltered by the dodger, and the halyard pull is not exactly in line with the luff of the sail. Advantageously however, it is oriented to the side of the boat which is purportedly better for preventing swinging.

Another option is to hoist it on the boom topping lift. This is a better hoist in terms of having a fair lead for the halyard in line with the luff, and that it is up higher to catch cleaner air, but that height may be a problem if it causes heeling and the fact that it is in line with the boat is a concern.

Next time we are anchored out in strong winds I will try both arrangements and see which one works best. In either case, I am very happy to have this sail in my inventory.

Replaced sewage Y valve and etc.

2009-11-22T16:20:00.000-08:00

I make a point to excercise all the various valves on Aeolus fairly often, just as matter of routine. I went to do this to the Y valve that controls the flow of sewage and the handle cracked. I am certain it is orginal to the boat and is also made of a plastic wtihout reinforcement. No surprise it's day had come.

I replaced it with the new Jabsco model which seems beefier and I hope to get 20 years out of this one too.

Let me say, replacing hoses on the sewage system is a true test of will. Although I have taken to using tank treatment, it is still a nasty proposition. Most of the hoses around this system have been replaced and upgraded with better stuff, but as you can see in this picture, the main supply hose from the head itself to the Y valve is still original and fairly thin walled. I've ordered the new hose to replace it too.

While on Aeolus I topped off all my wet cell batteries with distilled water. My house batteries took the most at about 1/4 cup each. None were too low, but low enough to need water. It had been about 6 months or so since I last checked them. I've been very happy with my batteries, which are now three years old. Trojans. I describe them in an earlier post. They get a lot of use, and are always quick to charge and hold their voltage very well.

Upgrade to AC system

2009-11-13T16:11:00.000-08:00

Aeolus is typical of production boats of it's generation in that it has an occasionally adequate and occasionally abysmal electrical system. I've already documented here my many upgrades to the DC system to compensate for inadequate breakers, fusing and connections. Now that I comfortable with my DC systems being in close compliance with ABYC standards I am turning my attention to the AC system.

Long ago I changed all my outlets to GFCI to provide protection for shock. Now I am getting around to protecting the system from fire hazard and other catastrophic shorting problems. Based on what I have learned from the various reference books on boat electrical systems I have come to recogize a serious fault in the AC system as it is currently installed. There is no breaker of any sort between the shore power and the distribution panel, and the distribution panel has a breaker that is single pole and rated at 37 amps! There are several problems with this, including that any short in the line between the shore power and that "breaker" would be unprotected. Codes call for there being a breaker within 10 wire feet of the shore power plug. Another problem is that the outlets are all 15 amps and the wire is rated for about 15 amps. Any breaker above 15 amps is not providing protection to the outlets or the wire itself. Like the old saying goes, you have to fuse systems for the weakest link in the system.

For all these reasons I am glad to be installing a nice waterproof breaker box right next to the shore power plug. I found one that is by Square D and is used for around hot tubs and other outdoor uses. It is made of plastic, and so doesn't corrode. Although it will be installed inside the hull space, it is certainly a high humidity and potential splash environment. The breaker is a double pole breaker. As Don Casey says:
"Although single pole breakers are commonly used for branch circuits, this is risky economy. Double pole breakers, which open both sides of the circuit when tripped, fuly protect the circuit even if the polarity is reversed. Perhaps YOU will never forget to check polarity before plugging in, but I'M not that confident."

Inside the box is a 15 amp double pole breaker.

Between this upgrade, the quality of my wire and connections, and the GFCI outlets, I am about as safe as possible from problems.

Yet another thing ticked off the list.

New boom topping lift

2009-11-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

The last wire on Aeolus that had not been replaced was the boom topping lift. It's been on my mind for a while as it showed some obvious signs of corrosion, and is 20 years old. I bought some Amsteel as a replacement for the opportunity to try it out and use a lighter line. As most know, this stuff is stronger than steel, doesn't stretch, resists UV fine and is super lightweight.

This weekend I have made the switch. Splicing the small diameter Amsteel is not possible by the recommended full bury method of the larger stuff. I looked around and found a method that is fine for this low load smaller line where you just weave it into and out of itself for a while.

Nice to have this done and not worry about a catastrophic failure of my boom topping lift while I am trying to reef my mainsail or powering into rough seas with my main down and relying on the tension between the topping lift and the mainsheet to hold that boom still.

Back to Jones, our home away from home

2009-10-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

As hoped, we were able to take Aeolus away from the dock on Sunday. I did a furious boat clean up and by lunchtime we loaded some friends onto the boat and headed off to Jones on a warmish and sunnyish day.

This exact formula produces marvelous results every time: sail to Jones, dinghy to beach, play on beach, hike around Jones, return to beach, return to boat, sail home. Perfection every time.

It was not that warm by the thermometer, but with a small dose of sun on that south facing beach, it was very comfortable. The recent rains have reawakened all the smells and the grasses have all burst green again.

The motor ran and sounded fine and so my alignment must have passed the test. No funny vibrations or noises. I'm happy.

By the way, the reason Elliott has no pants is because the boys played in the water and we made them take off their wet pants before getting onto the boat. Never mind that the water is quite cold, the kids had a blast.

She's running again!

2009-10-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

Ha! Went back to Aeolus today and after connecting this, that, and everything else, I started her up for the first time in about a month. Filled her with oil, filled her with antifreeze, changed all her filters (fuel and oil), attached the new heat exchanger and whamo! she purred like a kitten.

I have never had trouble starting my Universal diesel after the lines have been cleared. I pull the stop switch and crank her a few seconds to prime the oil system. I loosen the bleed valve on the injection pump. I turn the key on and let the electric fuel pump do it's job until it builds up pressure and stops. With all this, she always starts as always, on the first crank.

Now I have a massive boat cleaning job to do, but I might be able to pull her out of her slip just to take a short jaunt tomorrow! Yippee.

Engine alignment and other reconnecting tasks

2009-10-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't had a lot to report over the past few days as I was away for travel and the work of aligning the engine is tedious. I think I was spared the worst case scenarios associated with engine alignment because now that I am done, I would estimate it took about 6-9 hours of time and a lot less donated skin than I anticpated. Not too bad really.

My transmission flange and prop shaft flange were already within reasonable tolerances when I dropped the diesel back down onto the new mounts. I had eyeballed the new mounts to match the old ones, as you would, and got lucky. However, when you need to get two surfaces within .003", being close is not much reassurance.

I believe my first check of the gap had the difference between the small gap and large gap at around .015". I was also able to eliminate other sorts of problems that Calder et. Al. mention by noting that the gaps did not rotate with the shaft, but stayed in the same place. This eliminates concern about the shaft itself, or the transmission flange itself, being warped.

I had to lift here, and drop there, and lift here and drop there a little bit. Each time I had to rehoist the engine off the mounts as the only access to the lower adjusting nut is when the engine is 12-24" off the mounts. This was actually the hardest part. I didn't want to tighten the nuts clamping the mounts to the stringers until I knew that I had the alignment pretty darn close. When I got that very close, I went ahead and tightened all the mounts to the boat, and then did the remaining adjustment with the mounting height nuts only. More specifically, the mounts themselves determine the left/right orientation of the motor--or movement in that plane. Once that is good, you can tighten them and deal with the up/down movement with the adjusting nuts on the bolts of the mounts.

Anyway, that's all done and now I am putting everything back together. I purchased a new heat exchanger from Lenco as our old one was original and dying. That will be reassuring as I had patched a few places in the old one and always worried it was going to blow at any moment. While doing all this, the other thing I am really excited to fix is the shifting of the transmission.

The shift arm on the transmission is supposed to travel far enough in both directions to fully engage the clutch. If this doesn't happen, and it often doesn't, you will prematurely wear out the clutch in your transmission (read: $1500). I knew my trasmission was slightly out of adjustment because when I shifted into forward, it barely seemed to engage and did not click solidly and reassuringly into forward. Exactly the problem I needed to solve.

Turns out in my removal and lubricating of all the shifting mechanisms that the easiest way to adjust hte lever travel is at the lever itself. It clamps to a round shaft coming out of the transmission and can be clamped in any position. So you can move the shaft to the full engagement place in forward, and then tighten the lever arm to it at the full extent of it's forward travel. So long as you have enough total range of motion in the system, this will ensure that you have solid engagement of the clutch. It feels great, and solid, and I am so happy to know that clutch is fully engaging.

Side note: Anyone who has every taken apart a trasmission of any sort, especially automatic transmissions, will have a profound respect for the importance of clean oil and proper adjustment. The whole damn thing relies on just enough friction, but not TOO much friction.

The mixing elbow, which I replaced with a nice new one a few months ago, is attached to the exhaust manifold with a high temp silicone gasket material. It has worked very well for me and is cheaper and easier to get than the manufacturers gasket.

So the putting back together is going well and I hope to have the diesel started and be out sailing again maybe by the end of this weekend.

Replacing engine mounts

2009-09-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

For some time now I have recognized that it was time for me to replace my engine mounts. They are orginal to the motor installation in 1988 and by any criteria it is high time to replace them. In addition, I have known I have an oil leak somewhere, and it was either my rear main oil seal or something related to the oil pan, neither of which can be accessed without raising the diesel off its mounts.

Once we had returned from our amazing August trips into British Columbia, I figured it was a good time to launch into this major project because I had satisfied my need for sailing time and wouldn't need to be out on the water for a few weeks.

When I had the new prop shaft and dripless shaft seal installed in Portland in 2006 they did a cursory engine alignment and thought it was pretty close. I was always able to spin the shaft freely by hand and so knew the alignment was pretty close, but at my last haulout was a bit concerned I was developing some signficant free play between the shaft and the cutless bearing which could indicate an out of alignment engine.

That's the back story.

To lift the engine the Gulf 32 is pretty ideally arranged. I was able to lay two 2X4's across the pilothouse top and the alignment between there and the lifting eyes on the motor is perfect. With a come along I was able to lift the motor straight up a few feet, giving me plenty of access to everything. The hardest part is removing everything from the motor that would be torn off if you left it in place. I donated yet another large amount of skin to the boat while doing this. All the electrical wires and various plumbing hoses have to be removed. Before doing this you have to remove all the coolant.

Anyway, once the motor was raised, I had no trouble removing the old mounts. They looked corroded and worn, but the rubber didn't look too bad. Only one of them had significant compression of the rubber, and that one is shown here.

I got the new mounts in place and adjusted their bottom nuts to be about where the old nuts had been. Lowering the engine back down was easy too.

I have mated the prop shaft with the transmission flange but haven't taken the feeler gauge to the alignment yet. That is well known to be the tricky part. I'm allowed .003 of an inch maximum discrepancy, and that's not much.

I don't know if I'll be lucky or not, but I'm signed up for a few weeks worth of trouble.

Bringing Aeolus home from Comox: 15 hour day

2009-09-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

What a journey. Aeolus was sitting up in Comox, BC waiting for me to come get her. If you have read the previous entry you will see that we left her there after crossing the Straits of Georgia in the Labor Day storm. On Friday after work I chartered a flight up to Comox to begin the journey of bringing her back home.

We've been having bright sunny warm weather, and Friday's flight was incredible. In a Cessna 172, we flew at 2-3,000 feet over the San Juan and Gulf Islands right up Georgia Strait to Comox. Man, I love flying! I've got too many interests to fulfill them all. The flight only took 90 minutes, and it had taken us 7 days to reach Comox on the Dad's trip I described earlier. We flew at 125 knots of SOG and so about 20 times faster than our 6 knot sailboat SOG.

Once there, I took a taxi right over to the marina and departed. It was 6pm. The trip back to Friday Harbor is about 100 miles. I knew this would be about 17 hours of travel time for me, and was anxious to get started.

That night I headed down the inside of Denman Island as the sun slowly set and by the time it was pitch dark, I had arrived in Deep Bay on the mainland side of the straits. It was about 9pm or so when I dropped anchor. Finding a spot in the darkness was a bit tough because the little anchoring spot is not very large and there were already a few unlit boats floating about. I ended up dropping anchor in about 70 feet of water just to be safe and outside the crowded zone. I then had to try to diagnose why my engine temperature was riding a bit high. Normal for my thermostat is about 195, which is perfect, and it never moves. On this trip down it climbed up to 200 and sat there.

I decided to take all the cooling system apart and do an inspection. Turns out the first thing was the problem. I found what was left of several jellyfish in the Groco strainer and that was sufficiently reducing the flow to cause a higher temperature. I went ahead and pulled the plate off the water pump to check the impeller and it was perfect. Then I removed both end caps off the heat exchanger and found no debris of any sort. Everything back together, I started her up and ran her hard at anchor and she sat at 195, so problem solved.

I set my alarm for 4:30 am and was gone by 5 am. Raising the anchor by hand was good work that time of the morning, but our windlass requires two people to operate.

It was still deep dark, and the sky was filled with the most impressive star display I have seen outside of the SW deserts. The milky way was very bright, like the proverbial can of white paint thrown across the sky.

To think of the billions of stars in our own tiny galaxy, to think of the immensity of space, to think of the depths of time, to think of the certainty of other lifeforms on other planets, to think of the fragility of our own lives, to think of it all is to experience enlightenment. I drove Aeolus through the depths of night as kerjillions of stars spangled over the sky. It was as though, as we were, levitating.

Sunrise came slowly and exquisitely. If the night must end, this is a beautiful way.

My only goal was to make Dodd Narrows at close to slack, and my boat speed and the distance conspired to put me there at about 12 noon after an 11:15 slack. Turning to ebb and helping me.

I had about 7 hours to go, but it's a pretty simple math problem to know if you'll make it. The weather forecast was for light and variable winds all day. Smooth motoring.

I did indeed hit Dodd Narrows at 12 noon. The ebb had started and was moving at maybe 2 knots as several boats headed south along with me. Such a beautiful spot.

After that, it was just a straight trip down to Friday Harbor through the Gulf Islands. I used the autopilot a fair amount to be able to cook dinner or just get a break.

On the way past Spieden Island, always a beautiful spot, the sunset overwhelmed the sky with the most intricate cloud patterns. These pictures don't do it justice.

I made the customs dock at Friday Harbor just as they were closing up shop at 8pm. I drove Aeolus for 15 hours straight yesterday and experienced in one day some of the most beautiful scenery our world has to offer.

Comox-Desolation Sound-Comox: What a week!

2009-09-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

A prelude:

I'm sitting in a cozy leather chair near the fireplace in my lovely home with dry clothes and clean dry skin and nice moisturizer on my hands and the big speakers playing nice music and my stomach filled with large amounts of food and my hands still looking around for hand holds...

Anyone who has returned from a sailing cruise, especially one with some exposure to rough seas, can relate to what I say above. My wife and I woke this morning with all the disorientation of being home after a week aboard Aeolus. We have residual impulses to grab for handholds in our kitchen and Amy even said she was worried about running out of water while she was letting the sink run this morning doing dishes.

Oh, the greatness and oddity of being at home on land.

This time yesterday. That's bizarre and somehow wrong to say. "This time yesterday" we were passing Harwood Island and heading toward Texada in a gale warning and 25-35 knot SE winds. Heavy downpours all around, visibility about .5 miles, ferocious clouds. Steel gray seas. We left from Lund on the Malaspina Peninsual at 8am. Reefed main only, motoring, close reaching to on the nose wind angle, seas white capped and 2-3 foot chop in that spot due to a fairly limited fetch.

Just a little later from that, yesterday, at 10:30 am, we had reached Crescent Bay on the western shore of Texada. About 15 miles from Lund. Winds E, to SE, to S and blowing hard. Visibility .25 miles. Squall line approaching, getting nearer, I tighten my jacket hood, and it hits. I'm getting slammed by hail and torrential heavy drops of rain and just start to laugh. I couldn't steer from the inside pilothouse station because the visibility was jut too poor to look out the windows. The rain was so intense it was absurd and beautiful. The ocean was heaving from the rain; it was exploding with percussions of impact. I have always felt a giddy joy in extreme weather, so long as my safety is not seriously threatened. That's how I felt, joyful. As I was laughing and licking the water off my lips, I could see my wife and our friends looking at me from inside the cabin with concerned expressions. I think they thought I'd gone mad. In a way I had and it was beautiful.

We were somewhat sheltered from the fetch and in the lee of Texada, so it was not dangerous, and it allowed us to wait out the squall and hope beyond hope for a little clearing behind the front.

The forecast called for the gale warning to dissipate to 15-20 knots in the afternoon...but would it? We hovered around Crescent Bay peering into the silver void and pondering our choices. For me, it was a question of how much suffering I was willing to subject people to. Anything less than breaking 10 foot seas and Aeolus is going to survive just fine, but we might prefer death at that point. A lifetime of wilderness experience prepares one for making these judgments that are as much emotional as intellectual. As much inarticulate certainties as conscious choices. You weigh the available information against what you see with your eyes, smell with your nose, and sense with your skin. Then, you choose...We decided to...

A flashback to the day before: About this same time on the previous day we had come to nearly this point and had to turn around with our tail between our legs and return to Lund because the 20knot SE forecast of the night before was revised to 25knot SE at the 4am forecast and then to 35 knots in a special update while we were approaching Harwood Island in just miserable conditions. Furious rain, howling wind, and no visibility. I said, forget it folks. Captain's call. If they can revise their forecast from 20 knots SE to 35 knots SE in less than 8 hours, I have no confidence in their forecasts and don't want to get out into the Straits of Georgia returning to Comox if they decide it will now be 45 knots and survival conditions. We headed out at 7:30 am that day thinking we might see a fast bouncy ride back to Comox in 25 knot SE winds and beam run from Texada across, but I've seen what 40 knots of wind can do to the ocean and was not going to subject my family and friends to that suffering. We headed back and spent the day on land in Lund and tied up to the breakwater again.

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The rest of the story:

We decided to head across Georgia Strait to Comox on that day, into the teeth of a very large early September storm. It was a group decision, with all in. Yes, we are now all safely at home.

We began this trip a week earlier by meeting in Comox on a Friday and then leaving Saturday morning for the trip across the Straits to Desolation Sound. Like all of our previous trips across the Straits here, it was nearly dead calm. Our friends Kevin and Liz (3 months pregnant!)and their son Jackson were our guests for the week. They are both very experienced wilderness guides and know a great deal about the joys and hazards of trips into remote places, but they are both fairly neophyte sailors.

We were able to sail just a little when the wind rose to maybe 10 knots, but otherwise motored our way all the way to Tenedos Bay in Desolation Sound. This is a good half day in a 32 foot sailboat doing 6 knots. It was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect.

Passing through the inside of the Copeland Islands is a real treat and an appropriate prelude to the wonders of Desolation Sound. Turning the corner at Sarah Point, is well, overwhelming. You round the Malaspina Peninsula and there is a range of high BC mountains that tower above the waters. It is exquisite. We've been there enough now to also feel a sense of homecoming, like an old friend you've been away from.

Kevin and Liz were gasping in recognition of the beauty, as anyone would.

Tenedos Bay is a really lovely spot. Stern tieing is almost required unless you like putting out 200 feet of chain. We like to be right near the trail to Unwin Lake and were lucky to find a great spot along the shore.

The theme of this trip was swimming. We swam nearly every day, and for the first few days we had a trend of swimming in two different freshwater lakes every day! This on top of jumping into the warm 70 degree ocean water at every stop.

We swam around the boat that first day at Tenedos and saved the lake for the next morning. We got up Sunday and took off for Unwin and had an incredible time. Elliott and I found a playground of rocks to jump off along the northern shore. First we jumped off a rock about 10 or so feet high, as a warm up. Elliott has no hesitation at all, and loves it! Then we worked our way along the shore and found a truly amazing jumping spot. We climbed out of the lake after a long ascent, we got to a cliff top that was a solid 25-30 feet above the lake. It was so high, that when I got there first I thought I might not do it.

Believe it or not, I hesitated, and Elliott didn't. I checked and was certain it was safe and deep water, but still had that gag of "Jesus that is a long way to fall". Elliott saw that I was uncertain and said, "Dad, I want to jump". He asked if it was safe and said Yes. He then stood back a few steps, said "Here goes nothing..." and ran off the edge. That little 8 year old bastard shot like a missile down to the water and came up happy.

This is significant for two reasons. One, is that it officially marked the first time in my fatherhood when one of my boys physically challenged me. My supremacy is doomed. The other is that Elliott is the same boy who two months ago on July 4th would not jump off an 8 foot rock despite MANY DAYS of cajoling and patient prodding. A switch has flipped in his mind, and now he is cautious, but fearless. Not kamakaze, but bold.

Needless to say, I stood up and jumped off that damn cliff and loved it.

Amy and Owen played happily along the shore and our friends did their own thing elsewhere around Tenedos Bay. I think they found a place to lay in the sun.

That same day we left for West Redonda Island and Teakerne Arm/Cassel Lake. We made a quick top at Refuge Cove just for fun and some sundries. What another incredible spot. The anchoring is tricky in that the bottom slopes very steeply, like 200 feet depths to 40 feet depth in maybe 50 horizontal feet. You cannot swing at anchor here or your anchor would simply pull off the cliff it is laying against. But with a stern tie, you are pretty bomber, because there is no way for the anchor to pull up that slope or to pull you forward. We were right near the dinghy dock and immediately went up to explore Cassel lake.

It is an incredible swimming spot, and perhaps the warmest of the three lakes we visited. There are some perfect logs in the water and the rocky slopes are ideal for lounging. We swam this day and the next morning.

The most significant thing to happen this day was with Owen, our 4 year old. Up to this point, he had been very fussy and unwilling to get in the water. He wanted to, but would have one million excuses for why he couldn't. It was tiring. He was in his life jacket as he is only a beginning swimmer. At Cassel lake he started up again with whining and complaining about wanting to get in but then finding excuses for why he couldn't. I made a critical decision. I decided to toss him in. I knew it might backfire, and that he might forever distrust me for it, but something had to change, and nothing we wer doing was working.

I casually got out of the lake, not looking at him, and he sort of instinctively moved away from me, but not far enough. I just sauntered over to near him and then suddenly and without hesitation I picked him up by the lifejacket and chucked him. We were about four feet high off the water.

What happened next is one of the most amazing and beautiful and important things I've ever experienced with Owen. He hit the water and came up angry and horrified. His face was contorted into exactly the face you would expect for a kid that was just tossed into the water against his will. But then, as I watched his face fearing the worst, it absolutely suddenly transformed into a big smile and laughter. This transformation happened in the course of one second. Literally. Once he started to laugh, he stayed so happy and spent a long time swimming around the lake. He loved it so much, he was the last one out!

More later...

Friday Harbor to Comox, BC with the Justis boys

2009-08-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from a trip so wonderful it certainly surpasses any attempt to render it in words. My close friend Cleve and his two boys Galen (5) and Daniel (3) joined me and my two boys for a week of voyaging north into Canada. It was a men's trip. Or, given the age of the men, a boys trip. Our wives thought we were crazy to go on an extended boat trip with four boys under the age of 8, but Cleve and I are the sorts that value adventure together so highly and for our boys that we'll pay just about any price.

The trip took us from our home port here in Friday Harbor to Comox, BC on Vancouver Island, via the Gulf Islands and Lasqueti Island in the Straits of Georgia. Besides being an incredibly good time of swimming and playing with our boys, it included some of the finest and most enjoyable sailing I have ever experienced.

There are so many stories to tell, and so many places to highlight, that I am sure to leave out great things. For now, I'm just going to load a bunch of pictures, and as I find time I will update with text. Suffice to say for now that the sailing highlight was being able to sail all the way from Nanaimo up the Straits of Georgia to Comox, with an overnight stop at False Bay on Lasqueti Island, in 20-25 knot SE winds on single tacks both days doing a broad reach. It was unbelievably good luck and Aeolus took the white capped 3 foot seas in stride and had such a gentle smooth motion.

Our trip was:
Friday Harbor to Montague Harbor
Montague to DeCourcy Island
DeCourcy Island another night
DeCourcy Island to Newcastle Island/Nanaimo
Newcastle to Lasqueti Island
Lasqueti to Comox. We traveled seven days and around 110 miles or so.

Here is a google map showing this area between Friday Harbor and Comox. You can zoom in and out and move around.
This sunset shot is from Montague Harbor, which is a zoo of boats and much too busy for my liking. The north side of the park has a nice beach where we swam happily in the hot sun, and the peninsula has a nice walk on it, but being surrounded by so many other boats is a real drag. Reminds me of Sucia, which I dislike for the same reason. Feels a bit trashed.

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This shot of the boys and the boat shot below were taken at DeCourcy Island and Pirates Cove. Now that is a place we love. We prefer to anchor on the south side at bay across from the cove proper. The swimming off the rocks at Pirates Cove is just fantastic, with steep drop offs that allow diving and warm water. The boys found endless amusement by pouring water down the eroded sandstone and creating waterfalls. Elliott swam and jumped in constantly, like a river otter.

After DeCourcy Island we shot up through Dodd Narrows where a funny thing happened. We timed our arrival for slack turning to flood but when we go there it was still ebbing pretty strongly. As we got into the throat of the narrows the sea was moving pretty well and we estimated the current at about 3 knots. There were some whirlpools and the usual turbulence. At the very narrowest mouth of the narrows, my boat speed slowed to about 1 knot. Because Cleve and I have so much experience on the water in kayaks and him in windsurfing, we are both very comfortable with the dynamics of water. I had excellent steerage because I had massive amounts of water passing over my rudder. And, I was making progress. If I had come to a stop or feared being pushed back, I could have executed a turn in the narrows safely because I had it to myself. We were very lucky to not be sharing the space with anyone.

When we finally powered through and thanks again to my diesel and 3 blade prop, I saw a whole phalanx of boats heading to the narrows and thought it was odd. What did they know that I didn't? Weren't they going to hit the oncoming flood?

Cleve and I raised sail once into Northumberland channel as there was a good 20 knot wind blowing into the area. We sailed close hauled on a few tacks and pretty soon were aimed right at Nanaimo. Heaven.

Later that night, I checked the tide book again, and guess what: we hit Dodd Narrows an hour early because I had checked the tides for the day before. So we were going against the last of a strong ebb an hour before slack. Oh well, it was fun.

This photo of Cleve steering is from when we raised sail right outside the narrows. He was such a happy man behind the wheel. His sailing experience is light, but he is an avid windsurfer and it helps him tremendously. Look at that smile on his face...

After a night at Newcastle island and some nice exploring, we headed out in the morning for Lasqueti. Our sail that day was incredible as we raised sail, and on one tack, sailed right up the straits to Lasqueti. We might have gybed once, but only at the end. This photo is from our anchorage in False Bay, which was beautiful and uncrowded. We rowed over to the village once anchored and stretched our legs. It was great to pick blackberries and get some land time after a good long sail. It's about 27 miles or so from Nanaimo to Lasqueti. We sailed at between 5 and 6 knots that day.

The photo of the lighthouse is of Sisters Islets just off Lasqueti Island on the day we departed False Bay for Comox. It is one of the main weather stations in Georgia Strait and is a beautiful little desolate place. That weather station reported 40 knot winds the night we stayed in False Bay, a known lee shore in these Qualicum winds. Fortunately, despite the howling wind that started late at night, it came into the anchorage and just off the main angle of entry and we were spared the full force of the wave train. The dominant SE winds of the day seemed to deflect enough of the Westerly Qualicum winds and the combination hit False Bay a little to the side. As it was I stayed up until about 1 am listening for anchor drag or trouble. The wind started at about 10pm and died down sometime after 1am. In the morning, it was back to 25 knots SE and we continued our downwind sail up the Straits.

This second shot of Cleve sailing was on this crossing from Lasqueti to Comox. It was another perfect sail. The seas built in the strong wind and we had to very actively steer the boat to hold our broad reaching angle. The seas would want to push our stern off to a beam reach, of course, and we were surfing a lot too. These pictures don't look like much, but notice the white cap over his shoulder.

New Poly-Planar speakers

2009-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to replacing my ancient cockpit speakers. The covers had fully decomposed in the UV and the sound was bad. I replaced them with some new Poly Planar speakers that are beautiful and have great sound. Their construction is also nicer in that they have a SS screen and the speaker material is not styrofoam, as it was in the old ones. Now my music sounds lovely and the cockpit isn't marred by nasty looking speakers.

Solent Stay Installation

2009-08-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

Where to begin?

I've been putting off writing this post until I had some measure of conclusion to what has been a fascinating and difficult process. As boat projects have gone, the design and installation of a solent stay on Aeolus has been the most technically difficult and, in some ways, the most physically demanding of all the numerous projects I've done thus far. This first picture is the view from where I spent most of my day today: at the top of the mast. Actually, this is looking toward my daily dinghy commute from my neighbor's dock to Aeolus. Not a bad way to get to a boat eh?

I'll start at the beginning, as my own search for information on solent stays only turned up one or perhaps two things on the web that were of any use. To honor the original intent of this blog, I will do my best to make this entry useful to others.

This process began with a recognition that our previous sail plan was only suited to the middle range of wind conditions. A typical sloop rigged with two sails, basically. Knowing that we will always encounter winds below 10 knots and above 30 knots, especially in our offshore travels, I knew it was time to diversify our sail plan. The genoa needs at least 10 knots to come to life, and in wind above 25-30 it is poorly shaped and poorly suited. Like with most all of my other projects, I began by reading everything available on the subject of headsails. I own several of the classic books by Calder, Casey and Leonard, and these were useful, especially Leonard. I also read everything I could find online, including all the sailnet and cruisers forum archives.

What I concluded boils down to this: Given our genoa is roller furling, it is impractical to use the headstay for both a storm jib and light wind headsail as well. This is true for various reasons, including the need for a free stay for hanks, a separate halyard and the desire to not remove the genoa to hoist another sail. Therefore, some form of inner stay was required. Of these options, all but the solent stay require running backstays to support the mast. Only a solent stay is installed high enough on the mast to not require running backs. This was a compelling advantage to solent stays for me.

A solent stay has the masthead fitting as high on the mast as is possible, and therefore as close to the attachment of the backstay as possible. This reduces any chances of mast bend from an unsupported stay placed further down. Just imagine the pulling forces on the mast and you can picture it. The solent stay is then brought down to a point on the bow that is capable of supporting the forces of the bow fitting.

Seeing that there are some important forces involved here and wanting to get it right, I decided to gain some consultation from Brion Toss Yacht Riggers. I'd read his books, seen his videos and heard him speak and so knew him to be a nice guy who knew way too much about rigging. In general, I am one of those people who prefers to go it alone and make my own mistakes and relish my own triumphs. I find most things are quite possible to do with only help from books and a little willingness to struggle here and there. Anyone who has read this blog knows what I mean about what I have done without paying someone else for help. Perhaps most importantly, I know for certain when I have done something whether it was done properly and how to fix it again if I ever need. But, I thought, this involves some forces that are quite structural to the boat and maybe it is best to get some help.

I will make a very long and actually quite painful story short by saying that I did indeed work with Brion Toss and his staff in a phone and email consulting capacity and did receive some useful guidance in the placement of the solent stay. Along the way there were an unbelievable number of headaches and frustrations with that experience and so after several months of patience, I decided to go it alone. To his credit, Brion remained a very nice guy and my bad expereince is no comment on his persona but rather on the particulars of my business interaction with his firm. In any case, all is well that ends well and I'm grateful for the help Brion provided and have been happy to take it the rest of the way myself.

The most important challenge in the placement of a solent stay is the placement of the bow fitting. The goal is to get it as far forward as possible to give yourself a larger sail triangle to work with for a drifter or spinnaker. The drawback of having the center of effort farther forward for your storm jib is minimized by the proper sizing of the storm jib for this placement. My storm jib was beautifully built by Carol Hasse and took into account the forward triangle my solent stay would create.

My options on Aeolus were several, with various advantages and disadvantages. The Gulf 32 actually came with an option for an inner forestay, which I'm pretty sure had running backstays and the bow fitting was placed just forward of the bow sliding hatch where there is a ledge leading down to the chain locker. Placing it here has the advantage of being a clean place to work on top, but requires some sort of fancy reinforcement or connecting rod in the V-berth as the deck itself is not suitably strong. This would require a removable fitting that connects from the ceiling of the Vberth through the flooring where the mattress sits, and down to the hull where some sort of padeye would have to be anchored. This was a very tricky thing to install and had the disadvantage of being in the way of the Vberth whenever that stay was rigged.

Another option was to place the bow fitting on either side of the windlass but on the forward face of the bulkhead creating the chain locker. This requires the fitting to be off center by a fair amount to clear the windlass, but Brion Toss said this would be fine as it wasn't much of an angle difference. However, the symmetry lover in me didn't like that idea, and neither did Carol Hasse.

The third and final option, which ended up winning, was in some ways the most simple and yet difficult. This involved anchoring the double padeye bow fitting onto the bow inside the chain locker and just enough below the headstay attachment to not interfere with the genoa furling. On Aeolus, there is a very substantial anchor roller set up that has a vertical brace from the anchor platform down to the bow to support the vertical forces. There are three bolts that come through this anchor support rod and into the chain locker, with an aluminum backing plate to distribute the forces. These three bolts are exactly where you would want the double padeye for the solent stay.

OK, so how do I attach the double padeye to a place with three bolts already coming through? I went through countless pieces of paper sketching out various ways to do this and eventually hit upon one that ruled the day.

I decided the most beefy and elegant way to do it would be to anchor a thick stainless steel plate to the bow where the three bolts are and then to drill and tap the screws for the double padeye into this same plate. Sounds easy enough. Oh Jesus.

I shopped around for stainless steel stock and after a lot of nights of comparing prices and options, I settled on McMaster-Carr as my supplier. You can get any size or thickness imaginable from them and the prices were great. I wanted thick and unquestionably strong enough and so ordered 3/4" 316 Stainless. I got a piece 3" wide and one foot long and paid $76. I thought that was a very good deal. My thinking was that I ordered twice as much as I though I would need, in case I screwed up, which I did.

I knew I would be drilling and tapping the 5/16 inch flat head screws machine screws for the double padeye into the stainless bar, and so got the necessary tap and a cobalt drill bit. It is important for me to note here that I do not own a drill press. A drill press would have made this job far easier and saved much difficulty. I do not own one. I don't have one. I couldn't justify buying one just for this job and none of my friends has one. So I did all the drilling by hand...

After securing the stainless bar in my vise, and grabbing a chair to stand up above the piece, and marking the first hole, and trying to drill a straight hole in EXACTLY that spot, I found it slow going. I used motor oil to keep things moving in the hole and to prevent too much heat build up, but it still got so hot with my old home drill that it overheated the drill bit. Eventually though, I did get through the thick stainless. By eventually I mean 10-15 minutes of constant drilling and stopping to oil and drilling again. Great, now I can tap the hole. The tap works alright but wants to catch and bite as it gets deeply into the 3/4 inch stainless. I keep it oiled and back it out and work slowly and eventually get the hold tapped. The screw fits fine and there I have one hole done after a good 30 minutes of work.

Drilling the second hole is way more critical as the first hole didn't have to align with any other holes, but this one did. So I did my utmost to make sure this damn hole was aligned perfectly and drilled the puppy as with the last one. About halfway through the hole my drill bit snapped off perfectly in the hole. Snapped off clean. NO way to get it out. Damn bit was cobalt steel and there was no way to drill it out with a cobat bit without completely ruining the hole for any future tapping and use by the screw.

OK, that time wasted, but I can shift the padeye to the other side of the bar and there is room to try it there. After buying every 5/16ths cobalt drill bit on San Juan Island, I repeated everything I said above, drilling even more slowly and not letting the bit get too hot. Drilled a hole, got it tapped, drilled another and got it tapped. Wow, making progress here. Two down and two to go. Drilled the third hole alright and while tapping it guess what? This time the tap snapped off in the hole. FUCK!!!! NO, more like FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK! Except I had to do it under my breath the way that ever good neighbor and family man must do.

Good thing I bought enough stainless for two tries at this.

I decided the agony of drilling with my old household drill was just too much. It was a 1500 rpm 2 amp Sears drill that had served fine for household projects but this was no household project. I went and bought a new DeWalt corded drill with an 8 amp motor and a support arm for leverage and a larger chuck. This thing kicks ass. I have a nice cordless drill I leave on Aeolus and knew I wanted a corded drill for the extra power required for this job.

So with my new drill I start into my new piece of stainless, ready to apply all my lessons learned. Boy the drilling goes much better with a slower speed (800rpm) and super strong drill with the wonderful leverage arm on the side of the chuck so I could bear down on it. I drill a hole and tap it, and drill a hole and FFFUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKFUUUCCCCCKKKKKFUUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKK! Not again! My second tap, despite going very slowly and lots of oil and doing everything gently, snapped off in the hole.

Now, I know I'm not the sharpest crayon in the box, but this is testing my self confidence. I almost threw in the towel and decided to find a machine shop in Anacortes or somewhere and farm off the job. A more sane and less masochistic man would have done so. I have too much of my dad in me and just can't quit when I have a mechanical problem in front of me. Alvin Drope was not the most skilled or talented mechanic, but damn that man could work. I learned a love of fixing things from him and have the same inability to accept defeat with iron objects.

So I launched back into it but decided to eliminate this faulty variable. Figuring there must be a better tap material out there I got back onto McMaster-Carr and discovered there is a bajillion different types of tap designs and materials. Bonanza. I ordered two high speed steel taps, which were rated to deal with metal even harder than 316 stainless, and that had a good point for the type of hole I was working with. When they finally came I could finally begin again, and I'm happy to say that on my final try everything worked perfectly. I was able to drill all four holes accurately, meaning dead vertical by hand, and in line with all the other holes, which gave no margin for error. The new taps cut the stainless like butter (what a difference!) and I went to bed that night with the pure lovely satisfaction of having succeeded at a very difficult problem.

That is one of the sweetest feelings known to humankind.

My challenge was not over, however. Now I had to take this piece to the boat and figure out how to connect it to the bow where the three bolts come throuh for the anchor roller support arm. Another long story short, I decided to tap one of the holes right into the bar as this wouldn't present any alignment problems and would be super strong. I then drilled a larger hole through the bottom of the plate so I could use a normal nut on the bolt. These two bolts hold the stainless bar to the bow and are plenty strong for the forces involved. The one bolt farther down required me to make a custom support plate on the outside of the bow, as it is curved there and I wanted more protection than a big washer.

With the bow fitting done (stop and thank your holy molecules...) it was time to install the masthead fitting. This was made by Yachttech in BC based on drawings of my mast I had sent to Brion Toss (this was a major PIA) and uses a bolt through the mast to secure the fitting.

This weekend I spent most of the time at the top of the mast while I marked and drilled and expanded the holes for the masthead fitting. I've become completely comfortable being 40 feet off the deck of the boat holding on to this skinny pole but it is physically difficult to work with only one hand. Another plug for how much I love my mast steps! I hoisted the drill with my halyard so I didn't have to worry about it and after a handful of trips up and down to make it all happen, I am glad to say it is installed just right and ready for the wire. This first mast photo shows my cordless drill hanging from the halyard and the masthead fitting hanging from a line I tied to my waist. My foot is in the mast step.

I've ordered wire and fittings from rigging only and will finish up that part when it comes later this week. Having replaced all my standing rigging myself last year, I know this part is actually very easy and not worth discussing. The wire will attach to a Johnson turnbuckle that can be tensioned by hand with levers. Model # 46-501. They are usuallly used for backstay and inner forestay situations. It is a beautiful piece of machinery and more simple than a Hyfield lever.

One of the design considerations was whether to use wire or rope for the stay. Although Brion has become an advocate of synthetic, he never got around to providing me any information on why it is best for my solent stay and Carol Hasse strongly encouraged me to stick with wire for all the usual reasons. I've decided to go with wire this time and if in 5 years the synthetics have proven themselves against chafe and UV and such then I can switch then.

Well, this is a very long post, and surely only of potential interest to someone considering a similar project. I wish I had found one like this when I started my research though, and so here goes. Even at this length there is a tremendous amount of information I have left out and so contact me if you would like more details.

I can't wait to fly my new Carol Hasse storm jib this winter off my new solent stay!

Weekend in Victoria

2009-07-26T20:40:00.001-07:00

Just back from a weekend away to Victoria and what a great time it was. We left Friday afternoon and went against a strong flood just to be on the water. Did all of 2 knots through Cattle Pass and 4-5 across to the Discovery Islands with no wind and motoring. We went into Oak Bay that night as it is about an hour closer and we really like the pedestrian friendly environs. The marina folks were very nice but somewhat ignorantly put us on a slip in shallow water, I think not realizing we were a 32 foot sailboat that draws the better part of 6 feet. Good thing we left early in the morning as we couldn't have moved at anything close to a zero tide. We got there just at 9pm and had time to take the short lovely walk into the village for a great dinner at Penny Farthing. I recommend that pub to anyone venturing into Oak Bay for great food and great pub atmosphere.

By the time we hit the sack we were nice and tired and ready for Saturday. I got up and went for a run along the waterfront and discovered that there is a great park just north of Oak Bay. Oak Bay really does have a lot going for it, with a village like town with great food and a great waterfront. Even all the apartments and condos don't detract too much.

We met some dear friends Saturday morning who were out from Calgary for a wedding and though there was no wind, we went out to motor around anyway. It was grand. Hot and sunny. Amy and I then motored around the corner into Victoria where we grabbed our slip on B dock right in front of the Empress. At $1.60 a foot it is pricey for dock space, but still feels super cheap for such prime real estate. Even though you are right downtown with hordes of tourists along the causeway, the dock itself feels sufficiently private. Yet, you are 100 feet away from all the street performers and the sights of the town. It's great.

We took a long walk around Victoria to explore new places and discovered how nice the waterfront is south of town. They have managed to preserve open space all along the shore and there is a multi-use path all along the water. It is packed with walkers, joggers, lovers, strollers, dogs and all other manner of bipeds and quadrapeds. We walked about five or six miles and ended up in the Cook Street Village when we circled back and this is where we found a great bakery called Bubby Rose's where we had yummy things.

That night was the annual Luminara event at St. Anne's Academy and Beacon Hill Park and it was a great festival of fun. There were various types of live performances in front of many hundreds of people assembled on the lawn and it had a wonderfully healthy happy family feel to it. We can't help but notice how many young people and families you see in Victoria compared to Friday Harbor. Locals say it is inhabitated by the newly weds and nearly deads, but we find Victoria well stocked with the 25-45 crowd that San Juan Island lacks. It is very nice to not feel so young or old, but squarely in the range of middle where we actually are. We left during a lull in the performances as clouds gathered ominously and the wisdom of this choice was manifested by the arrival of heavy rain once we returned to the boat. It was about 9:30 or so, and this was a bummer for the event because it was about this time that people were supposed to start walking with their lanterns through the park. The rain was heavy enough to discourage anyone from staying out in it and I'm sure the whole Luminara event suffered pretty badly from it.

This morning we had breakfast with the same friends at ReBar, the great lesbian run cafe, and then had some time on the beach to admire rocks and soak up the sun. Amy and I left the slip at the 1:30pm check out time and began a slow journey back home. Slack was at 3pm when it would turn to flood, but we found a nice eddy going all the way to Trial Island. By the time we got there, it was close to slack and there was just a puff of wind so we raised sail. We kept that wind on our stern for about an hour as we did 3-4 knots, but then it died and we motored the rest of the way home. We made it to the custom dock at 6pm but had hit a record 11.6 knots at Cattle Pass.

Overall the trip was fantastic, and only lacked enough wind for a nice sail. Did I mention we did the trip without the boys? They stayed with the grandparents and so we got away. It was wonderful to have the space, and silence, and freedom of responsibility. We missed the little bastards, but not so much we couldn't get by without them for the weekend. When we got home, they seemed to have done just fine without us, which speaks well of them and for us.

Islands as portals

2009-07-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

The calendar said it was Sunday and the chart says Jones Island. Nothing else about the experience had the certainty of place/time. Something about the alchemy of perfect summer days in the islands has the effect of transporting us through a portal into a world apart.

As E.E. Cummings says in one of my favorite poems "Listen, there's a hell of a good universe next door, let's go!".

Something about the way we move and think and be on these days takes us across to this universe next door. We play pickle on a hot sunny clean beach with the boys and find ourselves slipping away. We build a rope swing and take turns and slip further away from this world to the next. We row back to the boat anchored in the cove and jump off the pilothouse top into the cold water again and again, and the waters wash away the dust and detritus of our structure clinging. By the time we take an adventure hike around the east side of the island we are unbound by the gravitational pull of the old familiar world. The tired familiar world. The burdensome world.

Instead we inhabit a nameless place of bliss with no better description than a universe next door. The mind, to the extent it is engaged, is a pure sine wave. The softer senses flutter with happy recognition of enlightened clarity. Nothing foreign, nothing known, nothing other, nothing non.

I have no need to pin this down. It is a thing too light and diffuse and massive to suffer reductionism.

My family journeyed together to a nearby island, and returned a while later. What happened in between was, well, too utterly perfect to mar with pictures or more words.

Thank you Aeolus.

To Jones and Stuart Islands with Jim

2009-07-14T21:34:00.001-07:00

One of the best parts about living in the San Juan Islands is that everyone finds some excuse to come visit. That is, for people like us who love to have company, this is one of the fringe benefits. If, on the other hand, you were like my mom, this would be hell on earth. Living in a somewhat remote place is made all the more splendid when you can count on all manner of friends and family passing through the door at some point during the year. No one lives anywhere else so nice that it isn't worth a vacation here in the islands.

Another great benefit to having so many guests, besides the guests themselves, is that it gives us an excuse to go sailing! Most everyone is eager to get out on the water and yet feel that discretion requires them not to ask too forcefully. Little do they realize that there is nothing we would rather do than take people out on Aeolus.

The next in the long line of great guests was Amy's uncle Jim. This was his first trip to the islands I believe and so we dialed up a trip to some of our favorite places. Jim is an athletic and adventurous sort and so there were no limitations to what we could do.

The plan worked beautifully. The poor guy arrived on a red eye but we threw him on the boat the same day he arrived and left that afternoon for Jones Island for our first overnight. It was just the boys and I plus Jim, as Amy stayed behind to finish some work. We left and headed up San Juan Channel and even had the chance to sail. I always try to give my guests an early opportunity to take the wheel and experience the thrill of "sailing". A side motivation is that I am eager for them to understand the basic boat controls so that in the event of an emergency I can rely on them to play a role in handling the boat. Jim had a steady hand, unlike most others, and kept the boat on a steady tack without a bunch of weaving around. Faster and more fun that way.

We went to the north side of Jones as SW winds were forecast. After dropping anchor off the NW corner of the state park dock, poor Jim dropped straight to sleep at whatever it was, like 8pm, as he had been up and traveling since 4 am or something like that. Owen went down too. Elliott and I were still spunky and so we dinghied over and hiked around and played on the beach and had a grand old time. Sure enough the lovely south cove was getting some good wind and our stay there would have been bouncy. Good call to stay on the north side.

In the morning, after a deep and wonderful night sleep for all, we went to shore and took Jim on our favorite walk around the West side of Jones. He was as impressed as everyone is with the views and it was a perfect start to a perfect day.

We then went over to Roche Harbor to pick up Amy, where we had arranged to have lunch before heading over to Stuart. We got to sail most of the way there on a nice beam reach before the wind died and the always strong and contrary currents in Spieden channel forced us to rouse the iron horse. As this was a Saturday in summer, all the face dock space at Roche was taken and we dropped anchor as near to there as possible.

Blue sky, hot sun, light breeze. If there is a better place, a better feeling, a deeper good on this earth, I have not yet found it. I've found equal, but not better.

We navigated the garden of mega yachts by rowing (OH MY GOD!) our dinghy like the hoi polloi we are and found Amy on time for a well deserved lunch at the newly expanded cafe. Roche Harbor is such a bizarrely obscene and yet wonderful place. The history is tragic, both ecologically and socially, and the new resort atmosphere wreaks of plasticine wealth, and yet the old hotel and the setting and the happiness that pervades the harbor counteracts all that and leaves you with a pleasant feeling of happy tranquility.

Satisfied, we shuttled our bodies and enough food for fifteen for a week over to Aeolus. No sooner had we raised anchor practically than we were able to raise sail. The wind was a steady 15-20 from the SW and coming right up Haro Straight. We took a tack headed over toward Sidney BC to take advantage of the great wind on a beam reach. After touching our toes into Canada (OH JOY), we headed back to Reid Harbor for our afternoon hike.

We grabbed one of the mooring buoys in Reid because we wanted to be near the State Park dock and between space restrictions and eel grass concerns we don't like to anchor here. We took Jim, who by this time is nearly stupefied with island pleasure, on a hike to a high point on Stuart that is especially sublime. Views all over and a feeling of being on top of the world. On this hike we gain something approximating 1,000 feet and cover a good handful of miles, but little Owen our 4 year old has never known anything different and just motors right up to the top and back with a negligible amount of fussing.

After a BBQ dinner and all the joy of sunset in Reid Harbor, we settled in for another great night sleep in preparation for our trip to the lighthouse at Turn Point the next day.

Having done this walk a great many times by now one would think it might have lost some charm the way familiar things sometimes do. Not in this case. The walk out to Turn Point remains my most favorite walk anywhere in the county and has lost none of the fascination and excitement it held upon my first trip back in 1998 or so.

So we get there, dumbfounded with smug happiness, and while pondering our good fortune Amy spots the whale watching boats nearby. A sure sign whales are in the area. Sure enough, an entire pod of Orcas is headed our way and over the course of the next 30 minutes or so we watched as they passed by doing every trick in the book.

It was hilarious listening to the excited banter between our boys and Amy about the whales. You know you are raising your kids in the islands when conversations sound like:

Elliott: "Hey, Hey, Mom, that was a flipper flap, a flipper flap Mom"
Amy: "Yeah, so cool"
Elliott "Hey, A breach! A breach! That one breached! I saw it breach!"
Amy: "Yeah, it breached, did you see that!"
Elliott "Yeah, so cool, it breached right there! and hey look at that one spy hopping!"

It was stunning to be in that unbelievably picturesque spot, on a blue sky warm sun day, with Orcas passing by and the world to yourself and nothing more to do.

We enjoyed our hike back and enjoyed our dinner and enjoyed our sleep and enjoyed our sail back to Friday Harbor. I've run out of superlatives.

There is nothing more wonderful than sharing great times with great friends, and Jim helped us create another wonderful memory aboard the good ship Aeolus.

New Storm Jib from Carol Hasse/Port Townsend Sails

2009-06-21T19:51:00.000-07:00

I'm like a kid on Christmas Day with the receipt of our new storm jib from Carol Hasse and Port Townsend Sails.

It is a work of art and my experience with her loft has been top notch.

From the beginning of my contact with her business I have been treated as a valued customer and kept well informed of where things stand. I wish I could say this about all the sailing businesses I have used. When I sent them an email, I got a full response within a day. When I called, they spent time talking to me like they had nothing better to do. When Carol came to Friday Harbor to do a boat inspection, she was not only the diva of boat knowledge I expected, but warm and friendly, even to a relative novice like me. No attitude.

I say all this because when I am paying good money, and their sails are not cheap, you expect this kind of service, in addition to a superior product. Carol delivers both.

Look at some of these pictures and note the craftsmanship. I have a new mainsail by North, and a genoa by a now defunct Portland sailmaker. Neither begins to compare in quality.

We decided to go with Carol for our storm jib because when you need that sail, you really need that sail to not fail. Being a smaller sail, the cost differential was also not as great when compared with the corporate lofts. If we had more piles of cash, we would have had her make our new mainsail too, but her work is about double the cost of the big lofts who get their stuff made in Asia and shipped back.

The tack, clew and head are just beautiful. The hanks are sewn on with elegant line work. Note the hollow leech to minimize flapping. See also the triple rows of stitching between panels. The eyes at the corners are held on somehow with a woven roving that goes around an eye with a groove and feels bomb proof, and not a pressed in eye as on our main. I don't even know enough to point out all the details, but know outstanding quality when I see it. Like being able to appreciate the elegance of Porsche, without a clue how to make one.

Can't wait to fly this sail. It will be flown off our solent stay whenever we finally get that installed. Am waiting for parts from Brion Toss to complete the installation myself.

I can't speak highly enough of my customer experience and the quality of the work I received from Carol and her crew at Port Townsend Sails. We are fortunate to have her perpetuating these amazing skills.

To Stuart Island with friends

2009-06-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

We ventured off after dinner on a Thursday night headed for our favorite stomping grounds in Reid Harbor, Stuart Island. From experience we know it is a two hour motor from our slip in Friday Harbor to anchor in Reid Harbor, and wishing to arrive before it was too dark, we left at 7:30. There was no wind to speak of and so we motored up San Juan Channel, but for a change of pace, we went up Spieden Channel to the west of Spieden rather than through the Cactus Islands east.

As always, this trip, even motoring, is magnificent. Spieden is a real jewel and the waters around it teem with life. We arrived at Reid during an amazing sunset and decided to use the state park dock for the first time since we were meeting colleagues from the San Juan Preservation Trust there the next day to do a hike with members of our organization.

It is strange to be on a dock, and a little unsettling, compared to the freedom and safety of being at anchor.

The next day we had the morning free and so I went for a run around the state park trails while the boys climbed trees and tossed rocks. There is nothing more satisfying to me as a parent than seeing my boys run wild and free around a natural area, creating games and being adventurous. This gave Amy some nice time to herself.

Folks arrived a little later on and we went for our hike up to a spectacular spot on Stuart that is not accessible to the public. The land is privately owned and we had special permission due to our work with landowners in the area for conservation easements and other preserves we own outright. The day was glorious and the views out of this world.

After a long, rugged and invigorating hike, we were back to Reid Harbor and saying goodbye to everyone who had to head home. We were staying another night. Our friends Kathleen and Chad and their son Evan were coming back to join us and before too long they had dropped folks off at Roche Harbor and come back with goodies. They have a very cute power boat named "Scout" that takes them wherever they want to go in style. It is just big enough for the three of them but can still be put on a trailer easily.

We had a fantastic night with great food and roasting smores. The boys were boys and had the run of the place pretty much. Elliott is quite good at rowing now and so is trusted to go just about anywhere. In the morning the boys went off to the other side of the isthmus, completely out of sight and sound. This made Kathleen and Chad a little nervous about Evan, but Elliott is a good big brother to any little kid and though he is only 8, he is quite responsible. They came back happy and healthy.

We wrestled with whether to hike out to the lighthouse as we love to do, or to take the day to sail down the west side of San Juan and up through Cattle Pass. We decided to sail, as there seemed to be good wind, but when we got out to Henry Island what little wind there was blew right onto our nose. We still enjoyed a great trip along Henry and down San Juan past Lime Kiln and False Bay. Right on time, as we turned into Cattle Pass to head home, the wind came up and we got to broad reach all the way home at good speed. There was a steady 10 with occasional gusts to 15, and that was enough to keep us above 5 knots SOG.

Home safe and sound after another incredible trip aboard Aeolus.

BC Ferries are so far better than WSF!!!

2009-05-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

One picture says it all. BC Ferries are so, so much nicer than our lame Washington State Ferries that it is a laughable comparison. Theirs are new and well maintained, and ours are literally antiques and rusty buckets. We have great staff on our boats, but the boats themselves are pathetic. Look at this ferry that even without the Olympics would be glorious. Oh well, we Americans get to give more money to Colombia for "Drug interdiction".

Memorial Day trip to Salt Spring Island and environs

2009-05-25T19:28:00.001-07:00

We're just back from a much needed voyage to Salt Spring Island for a get away. Between boat projects and some health issues, we had been stuck at the dock for too much recently and we are not happy campers without some real adventure in our regular diet. So off with the lines and despite lingering excuses not to go, we set forth upon the seas and cast our lot with the wind. We had never sailed into Ganges Harbor and knew from visits by land that it would be fun and beautiful. Sure enough.

We left at the start of the flood but once again were disappointed by the lack of help going north. There are so many eddies and funny currents that you really need a good current chart or deep perosnal experience to play them expertly. We did alright, and motored into a headwind all the way to Bedwell Harbor, South Pender Island to clear Canadian customs. This tanker is typical of the traffic you cross in Boundary Pass going over the border. No sooner had we tied up at Bedwell than Owen starts to pee as I took a picture. It wasn't planned that way! As always, clearing customs was quick, polite and simple. God I love Canada. The resort there at Poet's Cove imported some mega million tons of white sand for the beach and they let low life sailing scum like us enjoy it without a suit and tie. It was nice to stretch the legs. It is about 2.5 hours from FH to Bedwell on Aeolus.

From there we shot off to Ganges for the night and dropped anchor at about 7pm. There is tons of room to anchor and despite many mooring balls near to town, there is still room to swing among them. Despite the hour, we jumped into the dinghy and rowed to shore for a little terrestrial exploration.

I have to add that the weather has been extraordinary for days and days, and this night was also sublime. As close to a warm summer night as we ever get around here. There is a Rotary sponsored dinghy dock downtown at Ganges and above it is a park and the main market. Perfect. We met some acquaintances from Friday Harbor there who have two girls the same ages as our boys and that was the evening. The kids ran and frolicked while the parents did the "Damn I like BC and it is so much nicer and better than Washington and I've got half a mind to find work here..." talk. It always happens. All the quality of life and more that we have in the States, plus universal health care and no national tendency toward militaristic fascism. Oh well.

The next day we went over for brunch and happened upon the Salt Spring Inn. On the way I got this picture of Elliott in front of the mermaid at the Rotary dinghy dock. He called her the "freaky lady". I can't recommend this restaurant highly enough. We had great meals, really friendly service, cheap prices and a nice atmosphere. The food was very high quality, not cheap. Fresh. Meals were like $6 Canadian, and would have easily been $10 in Friday Harbor and been half as good with bad service. Yet another reason to like BC is that even their tourist towns are nicer than ours. Amy, tea lover, was pleased that her tea came with a clever little tea pot. The British in British Columbia makes her very happy to have tea in BC. Yet another reason to like it here. I tell you, the list goes on.

Anyway, we had a great morning and then left Ganges for a tremendous sail toward our next stop at Portland Island. While Amy and Owen slept, I raised sail and had a rare opportunity for a long sail with many tacks. The wind, as always, was on the nose, but at least there was wind. We had probably 10-15 knots, and with full sail that moved us along at about 5 knots close hauled. I was so very happy to sail those three or so miles tacking back and forth on this exquisitely beautiful day. We were not alone. At one point I counted 22 other sailboats within sight of our position with sails up.

The highlight of the sail was needing to navigate around some closely spaced islands under sail and against a strong current. On one tack I was able to skim past a rocky headland with maybe a few boat lengths to spare, while heeled over and loving every second. Beautiful day, beautiful sandstone islands. Truly incredible experiences. On the approach to Portland Island Elliott jumped into the dinghy we were towing behind and enjoyed a nice roller coaster ride.

Portland Island was all she always is. We anchored in Royal Cove and immediately jumped into the dinghy to go to nearby Arbutus Point to our favorite beach. This soft sandy beach is our favorite beach anywhere in the Salish Sea. It is just so friendly and beautiful and interesting and quiet. You can swim and play in the soft sand, and the uplands have great trails and forest.

Today was a very low tide, and we caught the end of the ebb south after a morning walk to Princess Cover on Portland. We left Royal Cove at 11:30 and arrived at Friday Harbor at 3pm having motored the whole time. Once again, the wind was on the nose and we did not have time to sail those tacks home. The currents near the south side of Spieden were once again incredible. We knew from experience that despite the strengthening flood, there would be an eddy here that we could ride and sure enough, we did 8 knots for quite a while. Nowhere else in the San Juans has quite the tumultuous current that the Cactus Islands behind Spieden possess. Just crazy water that never seems to stop.

A perfect trip and we needed and enjoyed every second of it. The boys were great and had a blast and Amy and I nourished our spirits.

New hatch finished!

2009-05-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report that my new Lewmar Ocean 70 hatch is finally installed and done. Replacing the sliding bow hatch that came on the Gulf 32 was a necessary project due to its age and design. I liked many aspects of the sliding hatch, but it was not a great design for offshore use as the drains were easily overwhelmed.

Anyway, the new hatch is on and looks great. It is anchored securely and I used butyl rubber as the sealant. It passed a high intensity hose test at all the seams and edges. My epoxy job around the existing coaming did the trick and provided the necessary width to accomodate the slightly larger hatch. I need to touch up a little paint and clean up some old caulk and dirt from the old hatch, but otherwise she's complete.

Another thing off the list...

New bow hatch coming along

2009-05-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

I've finished all the epoxy work for my new bow hatch and am now finalizing the priming and painting. This job won't be too pretty up close, but from normal distances she'll be just fine. I used an epoxy prime coat as a fairing agent and topped with Brightside. Next, I can mount the darn thing and call this project done.

I used epoxy to build up the sides, with rope to provide strength and fill. I only needed about 1/8 inch on all sides to fit the hatch, but this will give some more strength and rigidity to the area.

Gulf 32 "Jester" passes through

2009-05-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Yet another Gulf 32 passed through Friday Harbor this weekend. I was on Aeolus working on my bow hatch when two guys walk by and comment on my boat. They said they had a friend with a Gulf and sure enough, they had just pulled in to Port together. "Jester" is a somewhat unnamed Gulf that has apparently gone through several name variations without one sticking. The current owner, Jake, has not quite settled on a name yet, but his friends call her "Jester" because that is the name on one of the cushions.

In any case, she is a beautiful Gulf 32 and Jake does a remarkable job of keeping her shiny. She is the first Gulf I have ever seen that has a polished stemhead fitting. The fitting is brass, and corrodes instantly in rain, and yet he keeps his shiny by constant attention. Amazing. He also has his ancient gelcoat looking like new, and does the hard work to keep it that way. She is an older Gulf too, like "Merry Me" that passed through last week. It's pretty amazing how many changes they made in their layout and details between his 82 and my 88. Too many to list.

Jake is off to explore Jones and Stuart Islands, world class destinations, and have a grand time cruising around for a bit. I'm happy for him, and glad to have seen his Gulf. I learned a lot that will be of use to me on Aeolus.

One thing I'll mention is that he installed a flat screen TV in a way that lets him see it from the main salon and Vberth. It is a Sharp Aquos, and he got it because it has an external transformer, which he cut off and runs directly off his 12V system. Awesome. And, he has a CD/DVD car stereo for music and movies. How great is that?
Jake was a great guy and I appreciated his willingness to share his boat ideas. Yet another Gulf 32 here in the NW.

Gulf 32 "Merry Me" passes through to Alaska

2009-05-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

It's great to see other Gulf 32's come through Friday Harbor and I had a real treat last week when "Merry Me" came through on her way to Alaska. Her owner, Bob, had just taken her on her maiden voyage under his command and made a stop here at San Juan Island to see his friends Debbie and Kimba. They had worked around each other up in Alaska.

She is an older Gulf, about an 82, and there were many differences between her and my 88. In her previous life she had actually spent some time in Friday Harbor as a charter boat, but is now on her way to the great north. Bob has his hands full with the usual projects one faces when you take ownership of a boat. Nobody seems to sell their boat at the peak of their maintenance schedules!

I'm jealous of his voyage north, and feel kindred he will do so in a Gulf 32. This marks the second Gulf 32 to pass through here on their way to Alaska this spring.

SV Silent Partner returns from going around Vancouver Island

2009-05-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

My friends Adam Mims and Peter Frost just returned from their off season voyage around Vancouver Island on Peter's O'Day 27 "Silent Partner". He and she are veterans of several trips into northwestern Alaska and she is well outfitted for offshore trips. Still, weather offshore in April can be dreadful.

Turns out they had remarkably good weather and sailed 85% of the time. They said they had SE winds going up the inside and NW winds coming down. They hit rough water at Nahwiti Bar and the Brooks Peninsula, but nothing beyond their comfort zones. I think they said their highest winds maybe hit 35 or 40. Gales, but not storms. They had to hold up in Bamfield for several days to wait out one strong storm, but then did a 100 mile day from there straight to Victoria. Left Bamfield at 2:30 am and made it to Victoria at something like 7pm. Said they had rough patches at Swiftsure banks and did a lot of surfing on the way in.

They had a tremendously good time, with all the usual highlights of a trip like this, but perhaps the most unusual and special place they visited was the upper reaches of Knight Inlet. They went all the way up and gained anchorage on a sand bar off one of the countless drainages. Sounded truly extraordinary. Huge mountains and countless waterfalls. They saw a pod of about 100 pacific white sided dolphins in the upper part of Knight Inlet, and Pete said that is where he sees them most often, is up the inlets.

It was a pure pleasure to host these sailors at the start and end of their voyage, and they were all the better for having done it.