Six Days Behind the Mast

As most of you know, for my 40th Birthday, Mary Lynn bought me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received: six days of sailing for ASA certification in Coastal Cruising and Bareboat Chartering.  Sailing has always been one of my passions that sat quietly on the back burner while I lived in the mountains. My Dad taught me to sail at age 12 on the Chesapeake Bay and Lake Gaston in a 22′ Catalina that he loved.  Ironically, I spent the past week on a 32′ Catalina while learning more about the fine art of sailing but more importantly the intricacies of safety, diesel mechanics, navigation, coastal cruising, and mooring in anchorages on mooring balls and in marinas.

Our Charted Course

This is a log of the lessons that you may find boring but is here for our journals and to share with those that have asked.  It will also be a constant reminder to keep these skills fresh and to motivate our pursuit of a cruising blue-water boat. My goal was to become more familiar with the mechanics of the boat and to gain a better understanding of marine navigation.  I succeeded because we are already committed to another charter with one of my classmates for a week in the San Juans in late September.

Beware the fever….

Day One (Saturday August 14th, 2010): Bellingham to Sucia Island
Mary Lynn and I irresponsibly spent Friday the 13th in Seaside OR as spectators at the Seaside Pro Beach Volleyball tournament rather than driving the 280 miles to Bellingham WA.  We had to be at the school at 11am so after a short night of sleep, we left Seaside at 3am and arrived in Bellingham at 8am.  Shopping was quick but I still needed to pack so we pulled into the marina and I threw together a few things before heading to our boat ‘Just Fiddlin’.  Here, Mary Lynn and I both met my instructor for the week, Chris Rundlett.  Chris is a man following his dream.  He lived in Spokane and spent time sailing in Lake Coeur d’Alene but was working as a prison guard and was entirely unfulfilled.  One day he decided to follow his passion and is now a fully accredited ASA instructor as well as U.S. Coast Guard certified Captain’s License instructor.  As we settled on the boat (a.k.a. stowed the Tecate), the remainder of our crew arrived.  Andy is from Seattle and has his own small sailboat on Lake Washington while Nancy and Jeff are from the Bellingham area and looking for skills to eventually buy a sailboat and cruise.  Chris promised we’d learn everything we needed.

Sailing in the Shadow of Mt. Baker

Our first exercise was a scavenger hunt on safety equipment required by the Coast Guard and additional equipment recommended by the ASA.  Items included PFD’s, flares, throw rings, fire extinguishers, through-hull valves, etc.  The second exercise was our 101 certification test (pre-study required!) which we all passed.  After our tests, we had lunch with Chris’ girlfriend Crystal and Mary Lynn at the Web Locker restaurant.  Here we said our goodbye’s, returned to the boat, cast our lines and motored out of the marina.  Winds were light but after entering Bellingham Bay, we hoisted the sails for the first time and pointed west towards the straights between Lummi Island and Orcas Island.  I spent most of the journey asking questions about geography and getting myself oriented.

That evening we dropped our first anchor in Echo Bay on Sucia Island to a perfect sunset.  The fever was lit!

Day 2 (Sunday August 15th, 2010): Sucia Island to Stuart Island
Course: 48:45.6 n,122:54.3 w; 48:44.9 n,122:52.55 w; 48:42.85 n,122:57.5 w; 48:37.6 n,123:06.1 w; 48:37.9 n,123:10.0 w; 48:39.6 n,123:10.6 w
Distance: 17.4 nautical miles

As anyone who’s been on a sailboat before, quarters are tight.  On a 32′ sailboat with 5 people, they are even tighter.  We gave Jeff and Nancy the rear berth because it was a double.  Andy and I decided to take turns nightly between the V-berth in the bow and the dinette that converted to a bed.  On Monday, we eventually settled with him in the dinette and me in the V-berth up front.  Chris brought his bivy and slept in the cockpit each evening.

After coffee and breakfast in Echo Bay, we took the dinghy to shore for a short hike around the island which is a state park and entirely preserved.  When we returned, Chris broke out the navigation charts and taught us how to use the parallel rules and dividers to calculate way points.  We learned how to read the charts and navigational aids, plot a safe course to our next destination and determine latitude and longitude for any point on the chart.  We also learned how to calculate compass headings, distance, speed and time on our course.

Charting the Course

After a few hours with the Nav Charts, we learned how to check the critical components of the diesel engine which include the raw water filter, fuel filter/strainer, belts, oil and closed water cooling system fluids.  Navigation and engine checks are done daily with each student taking a turn doing both.

Once the engine checks were done, we pulled the anchor and spent the next hour learning to maneuver under power up to the lateral buoys and mooring balls in Echo Bay.  Each of us took a turn or two getting a feel for the boat handling under power.  We learned to work together on communication to get the boat up to and onto a mooring ball.  After lunch on the mooring ball, we hoisted the sails and sailed out of Echo Bay for Stuart Island.

That afternoon we sailed down President’s Channel off the northwest coast of Orcas Island between Orcas and Waldron Island.  The weather couldn’t have been more perfect but with light winds we used the diesel for assistance.  We cruised into Reid Harbor on Stuart Island just in time for dinner and sunset.  We had planned to hike to the lighthouse on the north side of the island for sunset at the northernmost point in the San Juan’s but dinner took longer than expected.  Instead, we stayed on board for steak and potatoes at sunset!

Friday Harbor Ferry

Day 3 (Monday August 16th, 2010): Stuart Island to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Course: 48:40.36 n,123:11.7 w; 48:39.6 n,123:10.6 w; 48:38.1 n,123:05.5 w; 48:33.2 n,122:59.98 w; 48:32.6 n,123:00.6 w
Distance: 11.5 nautical miles

Coffee and breakfast started another gorgeous morning in the San Juan’s.  Overall, the weather on this trip was nearly perfect.  We had some fog in the morning on Tuesday at Friday Harbor and a low pressure system move through on Wednesday night that brought low, grey cloud cover but no rain. Otherwise, the weather was absolutely perfect for the remainder of the journey.

For our morning at Stuart Island, we took the dinghy ashore and hiked up to the small community that lives on Stuart Island.  The community of about 800 people includes a one-room schoolhouse with 3 students and a community center that is powered and heated by both active and passive solar energy.

Instruction from Chris

Every day of this trip is busy with class, experiential learning, exploring islands, cooking, cleaning and sleeping.  I didn’t have a whole lot of time for photos. Even when we were sailing there was a lot of learning (a.k.a. work) to do!  We returned from shore, plotted the very short course to Friday Harbor, did the engine checks and set sail.  Outside of Friday Harbor, we finally found some breeze and spent the entire afternoon taking turns maneuvering the boat under sail through all points of sail: close hauled, close reach, beam reach, broad reach, running, jibing (stern through the wind), back to broad reach, beam reach, close reach, close hauled and back through a tack (bow through the wind) to close hauled.  Everyone took several turns through the 360 degrees and somehow 3 hours slipped away. When we finished going in circles for hours, we called Friday Harbor Marina to reserve a slip for the evening.  Finally a night we didn’t have to cook and clean!

I had the dubious honor of the helm as we dropped sail and motored into Friday Harbor.  Piloting a sailboat through a very tight marina for the first time definitely raises your awareness.  Unsure of where our slip was located, we motored right past it into a tight corner of the marina.  Chris taught me how to safely execute a 180 degree turn within 1.5 boat lengths without margin for error and then put us safely into the slip using a spring-line on the dock.  This exercise was one of the most beneficial of the week.

Marina at Friday Harbor

We paid the mooring fees, cracked open beers and then grabbed showers.  Dinner in Friday Harbor was at Haley’s Bait & Grill, a low-key restaurant with multitudes of fishing photos.  Friday Harbor is the county seat for the San Juan Islands, a busy town with ferry’s and private boats in the marina.  Summer is in their prime season with tourists aplenty!

Day 4 (Tuesday August 17th, 2010): Friday Harbor to Roche Harbor
Course: 48:32.6 n,123:00.6 w; 48:32.4 n,122:57.5 w; 48:26.05 n,122:56.65 w; 48:25.3 n,122:58.55 w; 48:30.4 n,123:09.5 w; 48:34.25 n,123:11.1 w
Distance: 22.7 nautical miles

I woke up on Tuesday, poked my head through the forward hatch above my bunk. I couldn’t see further than 100 yards!  Suddenly I heard the enormous fog horn on a ferry that I couldn’t see and I knew we weren’t going anywhere soon.  We casually made breakfast and plotted our chart for the day while waiting for the fog to break.  The first lesson of the day was tidal currents.

Chris had showed us in our first navigation lessons on how to check the tidal currents throughout the San Juans.  The currents can reach 2.5 knots and for a boat travelling 5 knots under sail, they can provide a significant boost or obstacle.  They had not had any significant impact to date, but today we were sailing through Cattle Pass out into the Straits of Juan de Fuca which is where the Puget Sound joins the Pacific.  The tidal charts showed a very strong 2.5 knot tidal current pushing against us throughout the morning, making it difficult to get through the pass.  Chris explained that the best time to sail through a narrow pass with heavy tidal currents is during the slack – the point at which the tide changes direction and there is no current.

We determined from our tidal atlas that 1:35 was the opportune slack for the day. Our course indicated approximately an hour sail to reach Cattle Pass so we determined that noon or shortly thereafter was our best departure time.  By 10 A.M. the fog had cleared and we used the morning to grocery shop and photograph downtown Friday Harbor.

Main Street - Friday Harbor

The sail through Cattle Pass revealed more breeze in the Straits but was mostly uneventful.  As we turned the corner on the point and headed north, we first encountered a large number of commercial fishing ships.  Since the fisherman know where the salmon are, the likelihood is high that the Orcas know as well.  Just north of the fishermen, we encountered our first whales of the trip.  Surrounded by whale-watching boats with throngs of tourists, they are easy to find when they are feeding.   We throttled down to an idle (as required by law) and waited as 5 or more killer whales swam past us in search of salmon.  These elegant creatures are easy to spot with huge dorsal fins and their stark black and white coloring.  We were treated to a mother and calf ‘fly by’ as we watched the fishermen drop their nets for fish, seemingly oblivious to the presence of the whales.  Even more entertaining, we laughed when the whale-watching boats tipped uneasily to one side or the other as all of the tourists moved to either side in unison with whale appearances.

Orcas Off San Juan Island

From the whales, we sailed north past Lime Kiln Lighthouse heading for Mosquito Pass into Roche Harbor. The wind increased to nearly 12 knots so we decided to take advantage.  The wind was so good that we stayed out rotating through crew positions and sailing until nearly 8pm.  Again, practicing all points of sail and going through several tacks and jibes each in much heavier winds than we had previously experienced.

Perfect Winds

Finally, with a setting sun, we dropped the sails and headed towards Roche Harbor under diesel power. Approximately 15 mins after starting the engine, the engine overheated with an alarm.  Chris checked the exhaust to determine if raw sea water, which cools the internal water system through a heat exchanger, was emitting from with the exhaust as it should.  There was no water.  We shut the engine down, hoisted the jib and turned back out of the pass for deeper water.  While Andy, Nancy and Jeff took over sailing, Chris and I opened up the engine to determine why the raw sea water had stopped flowing.  We bled the raw water lines and took apart the impeller which pumps the water into the heat exchanger.  After several reassemblies, an hour of work, and some tests, we determined that water was flowing again. We restarted the engine had water flowing out the exhaust.  The problem was apparently fixed but we had no idea what we fixed, leaving us with a constant worry about the cause.

Andy Rests

Chris would later determine with a call to San Juan Sailing mechanics, that the boat, when heeled over in strong winds, will get an air bubble in the raw water line and the flow of water will stop. By simply taking it apart and bleeding the line, we had fixed the problem. They are still working on a solution. We only experienced the issue once more in our week after another aggressive day of sailing. A quick bleed of the line fixed it and we never had to worry about it again.

By now, the sun was almost down and we called Roche Harbor marina for a slip reservation. As we motored in to our slip the loudspeakers announced ’10 minutes to colors’.  Roche Harbor has a color guard and a nightly ceremony that brings a crowd to see the guard lower the flags at sunset.  It’s somewhat hokey, but not wanting to miss it, we secured the dock lines, left our engine compartments open, tools out and grabbed the camera.  We caught it just in time and amidst a crowded marina of other tourists, watched Old Glory descend the flag pole.

Roche Harbor Colors

We returned and cooked dinner on the boat and then closed out the evening in the bar at the marina with a nightcap. This ultimately turned out to be the most eventful day of the trip, from fog, to killer whales, to wind, to engine troubles and a final wrap in the gorgeous marina at Roche.

Day 5 (Wednesday August 18th, 2010): Roche Harbor to Rosario
Course: 48:36.5 n,123:09.15 w; 48:36.9 n,123:10.0 w; 48:36.6 n,123:05.5 w; 48:36.0 n,123:02.2 w; 48:35.6 n,123:00.8 w; 48:35.9 n,122:57.1 w; 48:35.5 n,122:55.9 w; 48:35.1 n,122:52.0 w; 48:37.0 n,122:50.9 w
Distance: 18.0 nautical miles

We spent the morning sightseeing in Roche Harbor.  The sculpture gardens were worth a tour as well as the history of the first lime kilns west of the Mississippi.  The hotel is an artifact of old English maritime influence and the entire town is an idyllic harbor town.  After the tour of town, we did our engine checks and plotted our course to Rosario harbor on Orcas Island.

We departed Roche just after lunch and sailed for Rosario on Orcas Island.  Only one pass and very light currents made for a quick trip into the East Sound of Orcas Island where we found good winds for our next lessons.  Today it was time for ‘Man Overboard’ drills.  Our course books had attempted to explain the figure 8 process of turning around to find and pickup someone who has fallen overboard but it didn’t really make sense until we put it into action.  At first it would seem that when someone falls overboard while sailing that the easiest thing to do would be to drop the sails, fire the engine and motor back to get them.  However, all of that takes time, considerable time in fact. This drill can put your boat back on the overboard person within a minute or two, all under sail.  We rehearsed it rigorously by tying two fenders together (nicknamed Bob) and throwing him overboard.  The move requires assigning a spotter, falling off the wind to beam reach and sailing 5-6 boatlengths then tacking through a full turn to a broad reach on the opposite tack. It’s a big turn on this tack but immediately puts your boat 90 degrees off the wind and able to turn close-hauled to your victim and pick them up.  See, I told you it didn’t make sense on paper…you just have to practice it!  Practice we did!  I think each of us did it 3 times apiece.  If you happened to be on the jib sheets, you were working.

Nancy gets a workout on the Jib sheets

Exhausted after this exercise, we then learned how to ‘heave-to’; essentially parking the boat in the wind if you want to make lunch or take a nap.  After each of us took a turn at this, the sun began to set and Chris said it was time for the final lesson of the day: sail into the Rosario harbor and pick up a mooring ball under sail (no engine).  Normally picking up a mooring ball isn’t a difficult maneuver with the engine since you can control speed and direction.  Under sail, speed and direction are a factor of the wind and since directional control comes from speed, a light wind is not your best friend.  I wanted to try though and asked to take the helm.

It took us a while to get there with light winds but as we approached we found and targeted one of two remaining mooring balls.  We sailed into the harbor from downwind of our choice and turned up between two boats to grab the ball.  The idea here is timing…with the mooring ball directly up wind, the trick is to sail slightly off the wind with enough speed that you can blow the sails, coast up and grab the mooring.  As we approached, I blew the sails too soon and we lost our speed almost immediately.  Reigning the sails back in with an audience of boats around us, we then jibed quickly and headed back down wind towards the back of the harbor.  Weaving our way through the harbor we slowly came back up to a close hauled and then tacked between two more boats to take another run at the mooring ball. Having learned my lesson on the first one, this one was easier to gauge and we blew the sails on time. Andy and Jeff were able to hook the ball and run our lines in one swift move. Once moored, the stern swung around and pulled tight. We dropped the sails and cracked a ‘We’re Here Beer’ !

All 'Yachty' on the Mooring Ball in Rosario

Day 6 (Thursday August 19th, 2010): Rosario to Cypress Island
Course: 48:38.6 n,122:52.0 w; 48:37.0 n,122:50.9 w; 48:35.7 n,122:49.9 w; 48:36.0 n,122:48.1 w; 48:36.9 n,122:42.6 w; 48:36.05 n,122:41.7 w; 48:36.05 n,122:41.7 w
Distance: 10.25 nautical miles

It was a cloudy, misty morning on Thursday when we woke.  We took the dinghy to the Rosario resort dock and explored the resort which was originally built by Robert Moran, a world-famous shipbuilder from Seattle. The museum on the second floor contained an enormous history of the Moran Bros. Shipbuilding business and of the fortune Robert amassed as a trustworthy and efficient shipbuilder.  The pride of his career was in the construction of the USS Nebraska, launched from the shipyard in October of 1904 as Washington State’s only battleship. The woodwork in the resort is as intricate and precise as any ship Moran built.

We returned to the boat and spent the rest of the morning going through all of the systems on the engine.  One of the primary causes of diesel engine failure on a boat is air in the fuel lines.  We learned how to bleed the air at the primary filter and the uplift filter.  Chris also showed us more about both water cooling systems and the heat exchanger.  Finally we went through a review of the electrical and plumbing systems.

It was finally time for course navigation, engine checks and a sail to Cypress Island.  We sailed out of Rosario under cloudy skies that were slowly breaking up.  The run to Cypress Island was through Obstruction Pass with some heavy cross currents but the distance was short.  We took a mooring ball just off Cypress Island and settled in for lunch and our next test, ASA 104 certification.  Chris graded them immediately after we finished and everyone passed.

Feeling a bit lethargic from the ‘Man Overboard’ drills the day before and having the rest of the afternoon to ourselves, we decided to go for a short hike to Eagle Cliff on Cypress Island.  We loaded some beers in the backpack and climbed about a thousand vertical feet over 1.3 miles up to the cliffs. The view was more than I expected!  It was a classic panaroma of all the islands of the San Juan to the west and south of us.  It was about 6pm when we reached the summit and I hadn’t brought my camera.  The sunset was obviously going to be photo-worthy so Andy and I trekked it back down to the shore, across the water in the dinghy and grabbed the camera, snacks and more beer. Nancy, Jeff and Chris stayed and chatted while Andy and I hustled to make it back to the top just in time for sunset photos!

Sunset on the San Juans (Overlooking Rosario Straits)

All of us hiked down together in the dusk and cooked a late dinner, reveling in our sunset nostalgia over a spaghetti dinner.  Chris announced that we needed to get an early start on Friday in order to sail back to Bellingham by noon.  It didn’t take much more than that to convince everyone it was time for bed.

Day 7 (Friday August 20th, 2010): Cypress Island to Bellingham

Friday Sunrise

Friday morning sunrise was the best of the week.  I stuck my head out the forward hatch above my bed as usual and had to immediately grab the camera.  The sky was crystal clear sharp blue and red with glowing yellow on the high clouds to the east.  We had coffee and quick bites of any remaining breakfast items while we washed dishes that we ignored for sleep the night before.

From Cypress, we motored south of Sinclair Island and into Bellingham Bay. Along the way, we practiced taking sightings on navigational aids and plotting our coordinates and comparing them to the GPS.  Chris also performed individual reviews with each of us to let us know which skills he thought we had mastered and which ones we needed to continue to develop.  In Bellingham Bay, we hoisted the sails for the final crossing into the marina.  Along the way, we practiced a few more ‘Man Overboard’ drills in strong winds. We were able to sail all the way across the bay to the entrance of the marina. Here we dropped the sails and under diesel power took our last turns navigating the boat through the marina.  With a stop at the fuel dock and our final stop in the slip, we had two more docking opportunities that solidified our skills.  “You should never feel too confident in the marina!” Chris said.

Looking Back on the Lessons

We threw the final dock lines, tied off, tidied up the boat, filled the water tanks, washed the decks and said our goodbye’s.  Mary Lynn and Crystal were both there to greet us with hugs and I couldn’t say THANK YOU enough for this absolutely amazing birthday present!

Andy invited us to join him and his partner, Gale, on his first charter back into the San Juans in September.  I couldn’t say anything but YES!  I can’t wait to sail again…

A Little Bit More…

• View the Full Slideshow on Flickr
• Download a Google Earth KML file of our Navigation Course

That's a Wrap