When you really need to go...

 There reaches a point on my internal psychological thermometer when the needle points to red, and I simply have to go. No more staying. 

And so I went. 

Riding my magical BMW S1000XR up to Anacortes, I boarded the ferry and was quickly enraptured with the sights and smells. The entire journey to the islands was a profound immersion in bliss. I stood on the bow and breathed deep the sunshine and salt air at 17 knots. Arriving in Friday Harbor, I was walking on air. 

Aeolus in her element

I journeyed alone on Aeolus to Jones, where I communed with that perfect little island. I walked around the perimeter and felt each step sacred. You think I exaggerate, I don't. The aromatherapy of the northern Salish Sea is impossible to describe or replicate. The combination of salt air, plants of that mixture, and whatever else produces chemical scent is beyond comprehension yet sure to delight. 

Looking toward Waldron

It's nothing I did, and everything I was able to do, in this place so deep for me. The sun shone. I walked, I rowed the dinghy. 

I returned home on my two wheeled beast. 

I needed this get away more than usual. My needle was on red with syphilization stir craziness. 

Fetch is not your friend, but courage is!

We flipped the switch and went to Aeolus this weekend despite the normal 1,000 reasons why we "shouldn't". It was a truly incredible trip, and we are just home and assessing what has been. The weather had a little bit of everything. We went up Saturday afternoon to Friday Harbor and it was benign. Sunday dawned mostly clear and the day was perfect for February. Our journey to Stuart was a magic carpet ride as usual. So much wildlife in Spieden channel. Sea Lions, birds. Mostly sunny and highs pushing 50 in the sun but cold in the shade. We did a favorite hike once we got to Stuart and enjoyed an all around wondrous day. Owen brought a friend and they spent the entire day, until dark, romping around and exploring. There is nothing better for young men than a day of aimless exploring in wild places together. Stuart isn't fully wild, being mostly private property, but it's undeveloped enough and has park and land trust lands in places you can explore. The entire island was clear cut to fuel the kilns in Roche Harbor, but the second growth trees are gaining some stature. We played games all night, ate great food, and enjoyed the warm boat. 

Spieden never disappoints for interest, now if they would only sterilize all those damn sheep so the plant life could recover and flourish! 

We used the new Cubic Mini all afternoon and it is such a game changer. So much heat out of that thing. And very little smoke with the compressed wood logs we use. Keeps the boat around 73 and it was a chilly 35-40 most of the later day and evening.

We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains

Going back to Friday Harbor was festive this morning, as the wind was blowing 30-40 NE.

Cranking out the heat!

You are sheltered along Spieden, but when you pop out to head down San Juan Channel you are exposed to the full fetch of President's Channel in those NE winds. It was a choppy 3-4 sea. Aeolus just smiles. She puts her shoulder down and just cruises along. Fetch is not your friend, but experience, preparation and the right vessel and these things are routine. People stayed away by the millions and once again, we didn't see a single other recreational boat out in the islands, despite us having such a lovely trip. 

When we got back to the actual Port of Friday Harbor, which takes two hours at 5-6 knots by the way, the NE wind was shouting straight into the Port. At the breakwater there was awesome CLAPOTIS! Both one of my favorite words, and things, on the planet.  There were surf scoters hanging out in the maelstrom of random wave explosions. Once inside the breakwater, the problem is that wind was blowing straight down the fairway. I knew I had to maintain steerage while keeping my speed low. I used reverse throttle several times to bring myself to a dead stop, only to quickly get going again to try and stay between 2-3 knots. It was blowing a solid 35 down the fairway. I knew I had to get into the slip with a certain approach.

The luckiest people on Earth

Our family knows what to do. I entered the slip a bit early and at a much higher speed than normal. I must've been doing 3-4 knots. I had to maintain steerage. But right as maybe 1/4 of the boat was in the slip, and before we had calamity, I gave full throttle reverse just as Owen jumped off with lines. It was a thing of beauty. A helpful gentleman appeared as well and took a line. We never touched the dock or a damn thing. High fives all around. This is precisely why I always get starboard ties in FH, so you can come in hot in a stiff wind and not get pushed into your neighbor. 

Thank you Aeolus. 

Cubic Mini Grizzly installed--Wow!

 Since we've had Aeolus, she has had a Force 10 kerosene heater that I have kept going and suffered through. It was obnoxiously loud, made the boat smell like kerosene, and put out only enough heat to slowly heat the boat about 30 degrees above outside temperature and so in the winter, to a tepid place. 

While I have pursued endless other boat projects, I have fantasized about what I would replace that old Force 10 with many times. Finally, this winter, I read about the Cubic Mini stoves and found my answer. After considering a new kerosene stove from Dickinson, I decided to go the wood route since we cruise in the great wooded PNW. 

The Grizzly. You can see the fiberglass blanket for heat protection. 

This won't be a full installation story because honestly it was quite straightforward. You get all the equipment with your purchase and just have to make sure you have the proper amount of vent pipe and top cap you need. On Aeolus, since I already had a kerosene heater, I didn't have to do any changes to the deck hole or fittings since they were already of the specified size for the Cubic system. 

On a Gulf 32, the best and only place if you have a dining table on the starboard side, is to mount it on the port bulkhead. The Cubic Mini instructions specify how much draft you need, but you will find that you can fudge this down a bit and do fine. The challenge is heat radiation, and rather than doing some major surgery to my cushions for fire hazard, I decided to purchase some fiberglass welding blanket and lay this over the cushion and have found it works great. The fiberglass blanket gets hot, but with a small air gap between it and the cushion, the cushion does not. 

I've been burning some local highly condensed wood sawdust logs that are made here in Western WA. They are super dense, and pack a lot of btu in their space. This is important since storing wood is an issue on a small boat. I am using two plastic bins with sealing lids to store the wood, and bought an empty paint can to store and transport the ashes. 

Let me tell you, it is a transformation of the boat. It puts out so much heat that we actually talked about turning it down! We took our fleece off! We took our hats off! It was warm. Not only radiating warmth, but temperature warm. The boat was 76 degrees and felt like 86. It's a game changer. We've always sailed year round, and with special love of winter trips, but now, it will be so deeply comfortable that we will find even more joy in our journeys. Our winter swims will be easier to contemplate! And it is a dry heat. So deeply dry. The little thermoelectric fan does a great and nearly silent job of moving air around. I wish I had made this change years ago and thank Cubic Mini for making a solid and functional little heater! 

Teenage boys and Jones

 After too long, I finally stole a weekend away and had Owen and his friend along. There is nothing like a get away to the islands and the boat. The long journey is instantly rewarded once you arrive. The disconnection from syphilization does wonders. I've written repeatedly here on this boat blog about this necessary component of my life. 

The boys

On this particular trip I had reason to reflect on how we have raised our boys on this boat, doing these trips, and letting them be feral. Even as teenagers, it is so deep in their bones, they just drop their phones and disappear into playful wild places. Amy and I met doing environmental education, and there has never been any doubt that getting your kids into wilderness as much as possible pays priceless dividends to their well being. 

This was a garden variety trip to Jones in winter. For us, routine. And yet, there was no one around. As usual. The island is wonderfully abandoned and wearing it's winter coat of fallen branches and trails hard to find from debris. But we know them blindfolded. 

Sky and Sea

The weather was benign. The boat performed flawlessly. The food was yummy, the conversation lovely, and the boat sleep as special as ever. 

Heaven on Earth-with Garry Oaks 

To Jones we go on the map. To bliss we go in our mindhearts. 

A happy me

Stuart...How we love you.

A winter trip to Stuart is just a perfect part of our lives. We love the journey there, along Spieden, and are so cozy in either Prevost or Reid. No one is there. We have the place to ourselves. In summer it routinely has 100 boats in Reid alone, and on this trip like all between November and February, you will have it to yourself. Forecast was for deluges of rain and wind, and it doesn't matter. Any well found boat can make it there as there is little fetch from the SE where the storms come from. 

Voyaging north toward Spieden and Stuart

We went on Friday with our boys and a friend and came back Sunday, and in between had all manner of lovely adventures. We went up to our favorite mountain top, and walked out to the Lighthouse. It rained, yes, but winter Stuart has its own charms. Out at the Lighthouse we were not surprised to find a couple bald eagles hanging out. The waters off Turn Point are a cornucopia of food for all manner of critters. 

At Turn Point on the deck of the old home. 

Though the forecast was consistently 25-30, it never seemed to get above 10 anytime on the whole trip. Coming home down San Juan can be choppy in a true SE 20-30, but today there was hardly a wisp of wind despite that forecast. The heavy rain made the sky match the sea in color. Everything a grey. 

Aeolus was warm and cozy for the gang. Food was delicious. Games were played. Books were read. Conversations had. Just a fantastic and therapeutic get away for all.  

Forecast Gales? Time to Go!

Forecasts called for this epic low pressure system off our coast and the resulting winds. It became an all time record low for our area of something below 945 mb. But knowing Aeolus and the San Juan Islands as we do, there is really no forecast that keeps us in the marina. So I made hasty plans to head to the islands and managed to get my older son to join along. 

We left Friday Harbor at around 1:30 on Saturday and there was enough SE wind to sail right up San Juan Channel under head sail only doing hull speed. Once up near the Wasp Islands I was even able to swerve through those passages under sail. But as we popped out past Yellow Island the wind died and we motored the rest of the way to the North Cove on Jones. Home away from home. 

On the way to Jones, a lovely sail

To our surprise there was another boat there! The friendly person tried to tell us there was a storm coming and how to anchor, and I kindly let him know we knew the forecast and had been there many times before. He was on a ball and even had a stern line to the Eastern shore. On Aeolus, our Mantus doesn't drag. Period. 

Anchored in about 25 feet of water near the middle of the cove shore, we were soon on land and loving every second of being back on Jones. We walked around the West side and even got some sun. Then we played some frisbee in the field and just felt immense gratitude. 

The night was peaceful enough and as any captain knows, the sleep is light when storms are forecast. About 5am I woke to some waves entering the North Cove, which is rare. The forecasted E wind was actually a NE wind and yet was only 10-15 knots. Nothing to distress Aeolus! The morning forecast still called for E 15-25 building to SE 25-35. Anything up to 35 knots is really fine in San Juan Channel. You might have a bouncy go of it, but nothing dangerous to any well found boat. 

On Jones West Side. Just a magical place

We went for a hike on Sunday morning, this time around the East side, and then headed out. Our trip back to Friday Harbor was easy in about 15-20 knots of SE wind. On the port quarter. 

Nasty forecast? Just go. We had a wonderful time, and it never even rained on us. My motorcycle ride home was another story, with cross winds of 30-40! 

View to North Cove and toward Canada

Aeolus back home to Friday Harbor!

 We brought Aeolus down to the South Sound with us to explore the local area and for me to do some projects, and now that we have done both, it was time to take her back to her home waters up in the San Juan Islands. So this weekend I did the journey north over three days and what a journey it always is. 

It is about 110 miles from Swantown to Friday Harbor. I've done it going south in two days, with favorable winds and currents, but this time took three days going north. You traverse the entire US portion of the Salish Sea, and there is something satisfying and dramatic about this journey. 

On Day 1 I left Swantown at 5:50am to catch the slack and turn to ebb at Tacoma Narrows. It's quite a sight passing under those gigantic bridges. Going up Colvos Passage is pleasant, and then you pop out with views of Seattle. I stayed in Eagle Harbor that first night and saw family. I even ran into a former student in town that delighted me with stories of how my teaching had inspired them. 

Tacoma Narrows Bridges

On Day 2 I was joined by a friend and based on the forecasted high winds in the Eastern Straits of Juan de Fuca we went inside Whidbey. On this day we journeyed from 8am to 7pm, dropping anchor at Hope Island near Deception Pass. Hope Island is a fairly large, forested island with some nice ancient forest trees. There are trails that cross the island and might go at least part way around. Despite having a lot of boats anchored nearby, it was quiet and lovely. 

Big Doug Firs on Hope Island

On Day 3 the slack at Deception Pass was at 11am turning to ebb, but the tidal changes were from the high low to the low high and currents were only peaking at 5 knots. We timed hitting the Pass about an hour before slack, judging it would have about 3 knots of current opposing us. Sure enough, we slowed to about 2.5 knots going through and it was as dramatically beautiful as always. I've fought stronger currents near Spieden Island and of course up in BC like Dodd Narrows. When you emerge from Deception Pass the landscape just outside is ruggedly majestic. High dry bluffs and rocky headlands that are more like what you get up in BC than down south here. It's quite a sight. The area outside Deception Island was lumpy from all the passing boats and groundswell from the Straits, but there was no wind and we did hull speed anyway. We left Hope Island at 9:30am and were tied up in our new slip in Friday Harbor by 2pm. 

Bridge was cloaked for painting

Overall a smooth, easy and beautiful voyage.