Thursday, September 22, Blind Island to Spencer Spit
When we woke in the morning the mooring lines were tangled and it took many tries to free Gretel II. The wind we were expecting arrived in the night and the boat hit the mooring ball repeatedly. Sleep was hard to come by so when the morning light came we were up and at them. A slight breeze continued in the morning – it was the right day to raise both headsails in perfect cutter-rigged fashion. We did not have to make many miles this day and the wind was good so we sailed around at the top of Lopez Island, technically in the Harney Channel. We flew both headsails and Gretel II was splendid looking. I’m not sure if it was just my imagination but it seemed like the other sailboats in the area were doing fly-bys in an attempt to get a closer look at Gretel II. I think I was expecting a power boost with two headsails flying and I’m not sure we were going any faster but we were sure a pretty sight! Our only issue was where we found good consistent wind was also in the middle of the main ferry route from Orcas and other islands back to Anacortes. It did feel like we were playing “ferry chicken”.
Although Gretel II looked spectacular flying both headsails it was a chore to come about and tack. Bass spent a lot of time on the fore deck adjusting the sails. I think Bass’s assessment was the two headsails would be great if we were sailing downwind for hundreds of miles, say for instance on a run to Hawaii (I’m game!). But for our purposes the two headsails were really not practical except in keeping us warm with all of the fiddling. [Bass: two things I figured out belatedly: one, the giant furling genoa style headsail is not really the ideal forward sail in a cutter rig, too hard to get it to come around the inner stay that the staysail was hanked onto. Given belated thought #1, belated thought #2 would be for upwind work perhaps leave the big headsail furled and just use the staysail, which tacks back and forth which much less effort and less foredeck work.]
We were spending this night at Spencer Spit on Lopez Island. We arrived in the mooring field in the afternoon. It was sunny and warm and we kicked back in the cockpit reading and listening to tunes. On the power yacht moored next to us were two older couples who were very serious about their crab. Their “dinghy” was a zodiac loaded with pots, buoys and other fishing gear. They checked their pots a few times as Bass and I were basking in the sun. They were laughing and smiling when they collected the last of their pots. I watched as the two men cleaned the crab right off the swim platform of their boat. Up until this point I did not understand the popularity of power yachts. We saw more power yachts than sailing vessels and many of them were chartered. But it dawned on me that a couple of 80 year olds could charter one of these boats and tour the San Juan’s, fishing, watching for whales and experiencing it all in luxury and warmth. I envisioned me and Bass snuggled up in the glass enclosed, raised cabin touring the fjords of Alaska celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary!
Google Earth Tour
Click the link below to download a Google Earth .kml file that will take you on a fly-by tour of our route from Blind Island to Spencer Spit:
2) Double click to open in Google Earth
3) Expand the “Blind_Island_Spencer_Spit.kml” tree down and double click “Double Click to View Tour”:
Pictures:
Video from Day 9 (2 mins 37 seconds):
I was glad to hear that your idea of an “older couple” were people in their 80’s.
Another interesting post.
xoDeb