A Happy Chance Meeting!

We’ve just experienced one of those “chance” events that you think must have a guiding hand behind it. Last Friday in Pender Harbor I sent a message to our friends Earl and Kristin Lasher, with whom we did lots of boating when their and our children were young. They sold their sail boat about 13 years ago, but this year bought another boat (42’ Grand Banks, so they moved from sail to power). My message was to find out if by any chance they would be cruising any where near us this summer. The next morning we were hailed by Earl Lasher from his boat, which he and Kristin were picking up in Pender Harbor! They had just gotten my message the night before and were looking for us as they left the harbor. They were on their way to Desolation so we agreed to stay in touch.

Then the weather helped give us a day together. The Lashers went out into the channel and discovered that the wind and seas were way too boisterous for them (and for us, we decided). They returned and we both decided to put off moving north for better weather. We spent a great day together, sharing a fresh oyster lunch from oysters I’d picked from our friend’s beach (which you see in the picture), taking advantage of their moorage at the Seattle Yacht Club outstation to do laundry and take showers, and then enjoying a lovely dinner at the Painted Boat Restaurant.

On Sunday the weather calmed down and we both headed off north—they to pick up grandchildren in Desolation Sound and we to stop at Lund to visit friends. We spent last night in Lund enjoying a great supper with our friends Barbara and Warren Chapman and today we’re heading through Desolation to run the Dent rapids about 5:30 and tuck in at Shoal Bay, on the northeast corner of East Thurlow Island. We’ll stay there a few days, and since they have internet, my next posting will be from there.

Our First Great Adventure of the Cruise

After a smooth start to our voyage with our engine ticking along beautifully, on our second day out Phil sponsored our first big adventure of the season, putting us aground (actually “arock”) on a rock reef. How did our experienced captain manage that?

We were coming into Ganges Harbor, which has a chain of islands separating the main harbor from the smaller harbor where we planned to anchor. We have crossed between those islands many times, carefully, because there are lots of rocks scattered about, in the places where the chart shows there’s enough water. On this particular trip, we were almost at the pass that we had planned to take when Phil saw a large, older sailboat come slipping across a passage that was nearer (and fuller of rocks than most, according to the chart). He made a sudden decision to go through where the other boat had gone, and found to his chagrin that the other guy knew where to go much better than he did. We slid up on a nice reef of rocks and came to a halt, with a slight list to starboard. Not a big list, and we were still afloat fore and aft—just stuck in the middle.

If you note the two pictures, you will note in the first one that you really don’t want to be able to see rocks that close as you look through the lifelines over the railing. In the second picture you can see that we’re listing a bit to starboard.

Several helpers appeared right away, first to be sure the boat and its occupants were all right (we were, though with an embarrassed captain), and then to offer advice and help. Two good things had happened—(1) the rock was smooth where we hit it so we had not suffered any damage and even moreso (2) it was low tide and we had several hours of incoming tide to help us get enough water to get off. After one helpful person took an anchor out to secure us and keep us from sliding further onto the reef, we fixed cocktails (it was 5:15 pm) and sat down to wait. In a very short period of time the water had come in enough that we were heeling less. About that time another pair of people came by to offer help, one of whom put a line on our bow to pull us while the other gave us a sideways push to keep us from sliding further onto the reef. After a couple of tries, we were free. We gathered in our lines and gave hearty thanks to all involved, then proceeded to get ourselves properly anchored.

After all that ado, we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner in Ganges Harbor—quite a nice one at a restaurant we hadn’t tried before. Biggest lesson learned (other than BELIEVE THE CHART) is “don’t make spontaneous decisions.”

We hope that’s our season’s grounding and we can get on from there without any other major mishaps. We seem to have to do something like this once a season, just to humble ourselves. Since Ganges, we have spent an uneventful night in the northern Gulf Islands (Ladysmith Harbor) and are currently anchored in Pender Harbor where we are visiting with our friend Jack Charlton, who has a cabin on Mary Islet in the middle of the harbor. After a day of rest, we’ll move on north to Desolation Sound, possibly stopping at Lund.

The Tamarisk will cruise at last!

If you look closely at the two pictures you will see Tamarisk’s engine minus its head in the first picture, and sporting its pretty blue refurbished head in the second. We had a successful install of the “new” head this morning, the engine ran like it’s supposed to, and we are scheduled to launch on Monday at 2:30. So we will see our cruising grounds after all. We’ll get over to a bay in the San Juans on Monday and then Tuesday head to Canada to clear customs and begin making our way north.

We’re celebrating this evening by going to a well-known small café near the little town of Edison—The Rhododendron Café. We’ll toast the new engine and all of our patient friends who have been waiting and hoping to see us off. Over the weekend we’ll turn our project boat back into a proper ship for cuising and be happily on our way Monday. Stay tuned for the real cruising adventures to come.

Exploring around Anacortes (& a new head for our engine)

It's Tuesday the 27th and we're still in Anacortes. The engine head is indeed cracked. Since our Perkins 4108 boat engine is no longer in production, we are getting a refurbished head done by a shop in Seattle that specializes in used Perkins engines. We pick it up in Seattle tomorrow, stay overnight to touch base with friends and return to Anacortes on Thursday where Phil will get started putting the engine back together. Hopefully Friday the mechanic will join him to complete the job and give it an overall inspection. Then we’ll test it and see if it works!

If all goes well (and at this juncture I’m not holding out too much hope), we’ll try to get in the water early next week and be on our way. We now hold a personal record for time spent in the boat yard. It will be a month this weekend.

On Sunday Phil declared a “no work” day and we drove to Bellingham along beautiful Chuckanut drive, enjoying the scenes of water and trees. We spent the day exploring the Fairhaven district of Bellingham, which has taken the original old town buildings and rebuilt them. It’s much more upscale than it was on my last visit, with LOTS of coffee shops, restaurants and shops. Our favorite find was a great used book store called Eclipse, which has so much inventory that in additional to what’s on the shelves, there are stacks of books (organized by subject area) all over the store. Today’s picture gives you an idea of what it looks like. I found a couple books on Vietnam and one on the Philippines, to provide background for next January’s trips. And Phil found a couple books too. Altogether a very nice day.

Tamarisk Cruise Summer 2010 - The Beginning

I ought to be sharing a pretty picture of a cozy harbor somewhere in the San Juans or Canada, but instead we find ourselves camped out in the Anacortes boat yard where we store the Tamarisk over the winter. Notice the lovely surroundings for our evening dinner!

Why are we camped here in our boat? Because the engine has a problem that Phil discovered two weeks ago, just a couple days before we were to go in the water and leave. The mechanic we called looked at it and diagnosed a problem with the head—either a crack in the head or a split head gasket. And a week and a half wait before he could get to it!

So we’ve been waiting. We spent several days doing boat work (there’s always plenty to do), then went over to Lopez Island for six days, using the cabin of our friends, Nancy Taylor and Fritz Levy (see second picture, if it posts). We returned to Anacortes last Tuesday, ready for our mechanic to appear on Wednesday. He didn’t come. He didn’t call. Didn ‘t come on Thursday either. Finally called Thursday night, just as we were lining up other mechanics to contact, to say he’d be there Friday morning. And this time he did show.

The head is now being closely examined for a possible crack, and we are waiting to see how much longer we will enjoy the gravel boat yard with its splendid porta potty facilities. I have just completed a first coat of paint on the cabin sides, after spending 3 days in preparation. Why is it that it always takes five times as long to prepare for painting as it does to actually paint (especially masking everything and removing all the little fittings that boats have)? We are also sporting a new coat of paint in the cockpit, covering up the repairs that were done there to remove some dry rot.

The balance between boat work and pleasurable boat use has tipped a little too far towards the “work” side this year and both Phil and I are beginning to suffer from the deprivation. Hopefully our patience will last a little longer. Will keep you all posted when there’s news to report.

More fun in the snow!

Another nice storm came through Escalante and added another foot of snow to what was already here. Here's our Subaru before we dug it out. Fortunately the weather cleared this afternoon and is predicted to be sunny for our departure Friday. The highways between here and Las Vegas should be okay for our travel.

We've cooked lots of food to leave behind for Phil's brother Howard and go on our way with good conscience. On to Las Vegas to see my brother Bob, and then to California to visit friends in Long Beach before heading to San Jose.

Winter in Escalante Utah - January 2010

Here Phil and I are in Escalante Utah, a winter visit I said I’d never repeat when I did one several years ago. Our special mission this time is to keep company with Howard Hutchison, Phil’s brother, who ended up with a subdural hematoma after a fall in December. After two surgeries, several days of not being sure he was going to pull through, and a month’s convalescence in Salt Lake City, Howard is now back at home in Escalante doing just fine. We came visit, cook, and entertain some of the many friends who helped him.

Now that I’m here, I am forcefully reminded of why I declared my “no winter returns to Utah” policy. First—it’s not a good time to be driving in the mountainous west, due to the potential snowstorms and poor road conditions. While we had mostly dry roads coming down, we met a snowstorm in northern Utah, driving for an hour in the dark in blinding conditions that left me unable to see where the road was. We had no option but to go forward, bcause there was no place to stop or stay in that remote stretch of road. It was the most frightening hour I have spent as long as I can remember.

Second, Howard’s house has no central heating. There are baseboard heaters in our bedroom (thank goodness) and the living room, but no heat at all in the dining room or kitchen. There’s a courageous small electric space heater trying to make a dent in the cold in the kitchen, without much success. The temperature outside is in the low teens or lower at night, heating up to just above freezing during the day if it’s sunny. The highest daytime temperature reading in the kitchen has been 54. In the morning it’s about 48. The dress code inside the house is as many layers as you can pile on, with feet and hands constantly cold, especially at mealtime. Fortunately Howard has a second house just a block away, with a stove that brings the temperature up into the 60’s if you’re within 10-15 feet of it. That’s where we’re cooking and eating—still wrapped in several layers.

Except for these two conditions, southern Utah is especially stunning when it has snow—which it does this winter. There were over 3 feet of snow on the ground when we arrived and today (Wednesday), after several days of sun, we’ve added another several inches of snow. This is unusual for Escalante, which usually gets just a dusting of snow that disappears in a couple days. I’m glad we are here to see it. I’ve taken pictures of it so I can share some of that beauty with friends and remember it when I’m not here, but I promise myself NOT to repeat this adventure.