We went up and out this weekend and had a deeply restorative trip to Jones Island. With the ferocious forecast for SE and SW winds, we knew we would be fine in the north cove. There is really no amount of wind that threatens you in the north cove if it blows from the SE or SW. A few waves wrap around, but nothing much, and the island is high enough to only allow eddies and swirling gusts to spin you around a bit.
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| Calm water and wilderness all around |
The holding at Jones is in good mud, and with a modern anchor in the Mantus or Rocna style, with good chain rode, and knowledge of how to set and manage your anchoring, you just have no reason not to go.
We went, and had the place to ourselves as usual. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon it was calm and lovely. We had time to take our usual walk around the West Side and enjoyed it enormously. The island has many moods, all of them good. This trip she was in her wet and wild mood, which engenders thoughts of adventure.
All was calm right up until bedtime. The forecast called for sudden winds at 1am, with the strongest winds at 4am. Up to 65 knots in the Straits, and diminishing to 45 in the San Juans. Just before turning out the lights, the pressure had dropped to 988.5 mb, which is the lowest pressure I have ever seen while aboard Aeolus. Sure enough, I was woken at 1:05 am by a sudden gust that stirred everything to life. I laid awake for some time to see what it would be, and found it benign. Going back to sleep, I was awake again at 4am, no joke, with new gusts. Again, it was all sound and fury, but signified nothing in our cozy anchorage. By the time we all woke up for good about 9am, it was all calm, and there were blue skies.
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| The storm is gone and it is a calm ride back to Friday Harbor |
We had a lovely calm trip back down San Juan Channel to Friday Harbor. And again, that trip of less than 24 hours on the boat felt like many days, and the spice of adventure washed clean the cobwebs of normalcy and patterns.
2 comments:
Speaking of bad weather, on my 1989 Gulf Pilothouse, I want to install windshield wipers. I'm afraid to drill the first hole. Do you have them? Can you give me some measurements? Thanks Scott.
Hey Scott,
Now there's an idea I haven't heard of on a Gulf. No, I don't have them. I have worked around the problem of water on the windows with Rain X. You may have read that I replaced the crappy plexiglass windows with aluminum framed tempered glass many years ago. So I keep them clean, and coat them in Rain X a few times a year, and they stay clear and shed water so fast it's not a problem.
I've always found that during anything resembling a storm, and we've been in plenty, I cannot steer from inside. Either because we are sailing and I need to be in the cockpit to see and control sails, or because we are motoring around monstrous seas, and I need the visibility and feel of the wind on my face to not puke.
I have installed pad eyes in my cockpit to attach my tethers to anytime it is stormy. I can't go anywhere from the wheel without detaching.
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