Steady Progress

We carried the spinnaker throughout the afternoon making 5.5-5.7 kt with an apparent wind of 7-10 kt off the starboard quarter. At about 4 PM I had my first bath since departing Neah Bay, using 100% fresh water warmed with the contents of a hot kettle. It was a nice experience going rub-a-dub in the sunshine while the boat ambled happily under spinnaker.

Because the grib files predicted calm winds for at least 24 hours I decided to carry the spinnaker all night with a constant watch on deck. I figured that the extra speed justified the extra effort on our part. But it was not to be. At 6.15 PM we heard a loud bang. I raced to the cockpit and could not see the spinnaker pole. A closer look showed revealed that the lower sling on the spinnaker pole for the downhaul had parted and the pole had flown up and against the headstay. The spinnaker was billowing out at a strange angle but the situation was stable. "All Hands On Deck!" I yelled out. Brenda let off on the halyard as I hauled in the spinnaker clew and slowly brought the sail on board by coordination of my hauling in the sail with Brenda letting off on the halyard and brace. Part of the spinnaker wound up in the water but that didn't matter to me as long as it didn't wind up wrapped around the bow of the boat.

In Hawaii I had asked the rigger about replacement of the rope that I was using for the downhaul sling with wire. He suggested Spectra rope. I took that advice but I must have used too light a Spectra rope. I wish that I had had Dan replace all of the wire on the pole (the top one has a broken strand) while I had the chance in Port Townsend.

Anyway, that was the end of the spinnaker for the night. I stowed the pole, tidied up the foredeck, and soon we were sailing at about 3 kt with a no. 2 jib on a broad reach. At least we would get a good night's sleep. During the night the wind died down. At 1 AM our speed was below 1.5 kt but somehow Jeff kept us going in the right direction.

The 1 AM thing was not a random thing. Every evening I set the alarm for 1 AM for a one-hour weather fax session in which I capture the 24 and 48 surface and wind/wave faxes. As a bonus, I am able to hear the news on the Australian ABC world service at 1 AM and 2 AM.

In the morning I wished Brenda a happy birthday and promised her a deferred gift, possibly a nice meal in San Francisco. She wondered how many people her age spend their birthday on a small boat off the California coast. I told her that our age it is definitely better to be anticipating the Golden Gate than the Pearly Gates.

After breakfast I replaced the broken spinnaker pole sling with a thicker standard rope. Then I went below and spent a sweaty 20 minutes repacking the damp kite. Brenda said that she was going to put on appropriate accompanying music for the spinnaker packing effort and soon I was listening the "Wild Thing!" by the Troggs. We hauled the kite with little trouble - no wine glass this time - and soon we were traveling at over 4.5 kt. By noon our speed had dropped to 3.6 kt with an apparent wind of less that 5 kt, but we were certainly much better off with the spinnaker.

An hour later nature gave to Brenda her birthday gift. She saw a line of dolphins off the port bow, then the blowing of a whale behind them. The dolphins seemed more sleek than the ones that we are familiar with, and they did not seem to be running away from the whale. I saw the blowing myself and we could see the curve of the whale's body (probably a humpback or possibly a gray whale) as it made its short dives. Thirty minutes later she spotted a second whale and we got a good view of its body and its tail in the air as it made started a deeper dive. We think that we may be on a whale migration route, with the whales headed NW.

At 12.30 PM we were 157 miles from the entrance to SF bay and 65 nm off the coast. We had established good communication with our host at the private dock in SF.

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On The Move

As the grib file had predicted the wind died down at about sunset yesterday. To the credit of Jeff the boat continued to sail downwind all night quite often below a speed of 1.5 kt. Thankfully the 20 nm or so that we made during the night were in the general direction of SF. The batteries needed topping up so we ran the engine for 2.5 hours, making 5.5 kt on 1200 rpm. During this time the boat became enveloped in fog but that lifted an hour or two later and the sun emerged in a bright blue sky. We then resumed sailing at about 2.3 kt and agreed to implement our plan of putting up the spinnaker after lunch.

I had been tempted to try the MPS spinnaker, with its advantages of easy deployment and dowsing with a ring and no need for a spinnaker pole. However, even though Pachuca's MPS had been checked out as OK I had never seen it up and I had never been on a boat that used this type of spinnaker, so I decided to play it safe and use the standard spinnaker that I knew. Also, that MPS seems gigantic and extremely heavy, and I wasn't sure if it would be suitable in these light airs of about 6 kt.

After lunch I took my time and spent over an hour meticulously setting up the spinnaker lines and the pole. I discovered that I had previously been using the wrong halyard for the spinnaker, so that was progress. While I was setting things up we were sailing with about no. 4 jib with Jeff doing the steering. During the preparations I removed the staysail and sheets off the deck. Just before the hoist I rolled in half of the jib and turned the boat more downwind. With the pole in place and Brenda handling the sheet I hoisted slowly and steadily while Brenda pulled on the sheet. Soon the kite was up with a wine glass but with a bit of pulling and poking the spinnaker sorted itself out and we found ourselves doing over 4.5 kt with an apparent wind of about 6 kt. We tried using Jeff to steer the boat under spinnaker but that did not work out, as I had feared. There must be issues with the low apparent wind and light helm affecting the performance of the wind vane steering. We let the autopilot handle this one. Before long Brenda and I were at the steering station, her having a lemonade, me having a Heineken, looking at the blue flat sea, blue sky, Pachuca managing herself under spinnaker, and thinking that this is what cruising is supposed to be about.

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Steady Progress

Yesterday afternoon we spent an hour clearing the starboard cabin storage, assessing water damage to the stores, and drying out the compartments. There was remarkably little damage because most of the material is stored in plastic. The starboard cabin seat cushion was pretty soaked so we put it in the forecastle to dry and I slept on the back cushion which was still dry.

I decided to push my luck and do some water testing to track down some of the leaks. My plan was to throw panfulls of water into the reverse-facing Seabird vent above the galley and also into the starboard cabin vent. The idea was to simulate the huge seas that had been washing the cabin from the starboard quarter. Brenda was not happy with the plan saying that there was already enough water in the cabin. I saw it differently: an opportunity to take advantage of the dampness and disarray to try to make some progress in tracking the leak.

I shoved a couple of potfulls of water into the galley vent and sure enough water started to trickle into the stove. I thought that I had sealed the internal tube of the vent with fiberglass but obviously had not done a good enough job. I tried the same experiment with the cabin vent and it performed very well: no water into the cabin and I could see the water emerging from the drain at the corner of the hatch turtle, as it is supposed to do.

The good news is that the galley leak alone could explain our leak problems on the starboard side of the cabin. Hour after hour of water entering the vent with some force would have resulted in water running along the ceiling to emerge all along the edge of the ceiling and dribbling down the inside of the hull into the storage lockers. There was also water dripping over the starboard bunk, which came from the inboard edge of that ceiling, which is not surprising given that we were on a port heel. In any event we have proven one source of leak and that is progress. My long term plan is to remove the galley vent and seal the hole with fiberglass. These Seabird vents are a water disaster that I complained about in an earlier blog. I can see the wiring where there was once an exhaust fan fitted over the galley but it would have had a short life because of the incoming water.

We expected wind changes throughout the night so we decided to set the alarm for every 90 minutes. During the night I made several sail adjustments and two gybes and we managed to keep the boat moving at about 3 kt in the correct general direction. Fortunately the wind picked up at dawn and we spent the morning sailing SSE at over 5 kt with a fair wind and following sea. Patches of blue sky appeared and we got glimpses of the sun.

At noon we were 115 nm WNW of Cape Mendocino, 450 nm from Cape Flattery and 285 nm from the entrance to SF Bay. The 24 and 48 hour weather faxes indicated gentle NW winds and calm seas.

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Calm Wind

We sailed OK all night with a 15 kt wind off our starboard quarter, averaging about 4.5 kt with a small headsail. Soon after breakfast the wind died as predicted by the grib file and for the last few hours we have been inching along at 1.5 kt with a 5 kt wind in a falling sea. Unfortunately we are still 6 nm from the latitude of the Oregon-California border so that milestone must be deferred until later in the afternoon. The sky is overcast with occasional drizzle. There are prospects for better wind this evening.

This morning I checked out the diesel engine. The Racor fuel separator showed no water in the bowl. The engine oil level was spot on. The two belts on the 160-amp alternator were loose so I tightened them up. That reminded me that we have run the engine at least 32 hours since leaving Port Townsend. I'll defer checking the transmission oil level until we arrive in San Francisco.

Just before lunch I positioned the anchor back on the roller where it belongs, but lashed it firmly to the roller. I had a look at the damage to the bow from the loose anchor. There is an arc of indentation on the metal plate and scratching of the paint work of 150 mm. I'll touch up the paint work with 2-part part white International paint that I have on board. The dent on the plate will be a permanent battle scar and a reminder to me to better prepare.

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Hard 24 Hours

We have had a difficult 24 hours of sailing through near gale conditions punctuated by squall-related wind surges to over 40 kt every 45 minutes or so.

Yesterday afternoon I realized that we were carrying too much sail for the strengthening winds. Heaving to was tempting but it was important to keep moving on this High at all costs. I expected the wind to veer to the NW putting us on a broad reach. I don't like running with the mainsail because of the danger an accidental gybe. Much better to pop out a bit of head sail and be pulled along with little harm from accidental gybes. I did not think that the staysail was suited for the task. When under load it constantly agitates the inner forestay sending a shudder throughout the boat. Worse, its sheets pass between two of the shrouds and cannot be used for easing the sail. Finally, I did not know what the night had in store and I did not like having a sail up that I could not control from the cockpit. This put me in a difficult position that I had foreseen with the staysail: having to go on the foredeck in rough conditions to drop the sail.

The foredeck is narrow and has a curved surface, with the short rails on the sides. The conditions were horrible: wind howling across the deck, the boat wildly pitching rolling and yawing, and sheets of water racing across the deck every few minutes. I managed to bring the sail down and lash it safely with two crawls to the foredeck but it was a dangerous and exhausting effort to be avoided in the future. On the way back to the safety of the cockpit after the second visit to the foredeck I realized that in the heat of battle I had forgotten to clip on my lifeline.

Then it was time to drop the mainsail. That was no picnic either but it was safer and more straight forward than the staysail job. That left the boat lying ahull very comfortably and soon I rolled out a small bit of headsail - no. 4 maybe - and proceeded on a broad starboard breach. That configuration carried us through the night through gusts of over 40 kt that would put the boat down to the gunwale and round her toward the wind. I had asked Steve Hartley of Taskers to make me a workhorse headsail that could take 40 kt winds and he produced a laminated sail that is so thin at the front that I can see stars through it but heavy at the back to cope with strong winds. That sail has not let me down yet. As for the staysail, it will go back into the locker at first opportunity.

About an hour later I was in the cabin talking with Brenda when we got hit with absolutely no warning by a wave that hit the cabin like a sledge hammer. Brenda looked up and saw green water through the main hatch. Even in the Tasman Sea we had not been hit by anything this hard. Fortunately I had taken to buttoning up the companion way in case this very thing happened. We were not knocked over very far and the sails and monitor wind vane were spared of damage. The only damage that I could see was to the port side of the cockpit dodger.

The night was a difficult with the boat being pounded on the starboard side all night. This brought back some of the old cabin leaks: all along the starboard side and the starboard vent and over the navigation table. There are no leaks in strong driving rain but sheets of water over the cabin is a different story. I think that there is a problem when the water floods the companionway hatch and runs up the tracks into the turtle. This investigation will have to wait until I am back in Australia.

In the middle of the night I got two grib files that promised us relief at about 6 PM in the day (winds down to 20 kt). This cheered us both up. Also cheering was the chicken dinner that Brenda had managed to prepare in the pressure cooker. I cooked some rice to go with it for lunch then threw the leftover rice into the pot and reheated it for the evening meal. For lunch today I threw in a can of garlic tomatoes and had another great lunch. Fortunately Brenda has been able to hold down small amounts of this healthy and nutritious broth. We will finish it off tonight.

This morning I downloaded a full set of weather faxes from Pt. Reyes California. It looks like we got caught in a "squash" zone between a High and a Low further to the SE. The weather fax had the word "gale" written over the area where we were at. Fortunately all indications are that sailing conditions for us will steadily improve during the next few days. Anyone who would like to see what we escaped from should see the big deep and nasty low about to hit the Juan de Fuca area.

Our plan was always to ride on this High to San Francisco. But we were expecting the only kind of West Australian High that we know of: one that brings clear blue skies and serene winds. This NE Pacific high brought gale winds, squalls, and rough seas that we had not anticipated.

Anyway, we think that we are over the worst. Brenda managed to improve through it all, though only slowly with lots of sleep. Other than the disappointing and irritating cabin leaks the boat held up well, with the Jeff the wind steering doing a miracle job of steering this boat even when waves knocked it 30 and 40 degrees off course. The batteries have provided all of the power that we need and the communication system has worked beautifully. And the beer is still cold.

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Conditions Have Improved

At 5 PM I ventured on deck for a good look around. We had noticed that the boat had been sailing quieter and the wind numbers had dropped to around 20 kt and what I saw outside confirmed this. I went forward and saw that the headsail was happily working away with no evidence of stress or damage. The plow anchor was still firmly lashed to the Sampson posts. I then went to the bow and lifted the cover of the anchor well. It was dry, all of the way down. It appears that the two drain holes had not been able to cope with the enormous amounts of water pouring in around the lid, which was never designed to be water tight. I am happy to say that through it all there was no evidence of water seepage from the anchor well through the bulkhead to the V-berth area. I then went to the stern and freed the Rutland wind generator blades. Soon after turning the On switch below its familiar hum began to accompany us

This is the evening of Tuesday the 27th, just over 3 days out of Juan de Fuca. We are now approximately 325 direct distance miles from the entrance to Juan de Fuca and 407 nm from the entrance to San Francisco Bay. We are 135 nm off the Oregon Coast. We have 80 nm to cross Lat 42 N which will put us off the California coast.

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Heavy Going

After sending out my noon report yesterday the wind picked up and so did the seas. At 1.30 PM we were moving well at 6 kt SW but the boat was taking a pounding so I decided to heave to with the double reefed mainsail and the staysail. Just as well. Soon after we hove to we started hearing a banging. It did not sound serious - more like a banging door or shifting box - but had to be investigated. I found it on the second search topside. The plow anchor had slipped off its roller sometime during the night and was banging on the side of the bow. I had a quick look for damage as I brought in the anchor and lashed it on the foredeck and was pleased to see that Scotty's stainless steel anchor protection plate at the bow had done it's job well. There may have been some minor denting and I will check that later. Of course it was my screw up. Normally I lash down the anchor either to the roller or back on the foredeck. I simply forgot. I set up the boat for heavy weather, e.g. jack lines and life lines out but missed the anchor. That is another lesson that I am unlikely to forget.

While I was tending to he loose anchor I opened the lid to the anchor well to see if there was room for stowing it there. I was shocked to see that the anchor well was full almost to the top with water. Just then a wave swept over the bow and filled the well to overflowing. It appears that the lower drains were either blocked or partially blocked and unable to cope with the ingress of water. It appeared that the drain holes at the upper level were working. Somehow the boat had managed to beat at over 6 kt into a heavy sea with a nose full of water. It is just as well that the chain locker section below is relatively small. It was impossible to clear out all of the chains, anchors, and spare anchor from that area to bail out the well and unblock the lower drain holes in the rough conditions, so Pachuca will have to sail on as is.

At about 6 PM Brenda commented that the wind had seemed to ease, and indeed it was below 20 kt. I resumed sailing on a starboard tack by easing off the weather sheet on the backed staysail. We sailed at about 3 kt for the entire night.

It had not been the best of days: near gale conditions, boat getting damper and damper, the anchor and chain locker problems, and Brenda still seasick. We had been shipping serious water into the bilge all day and I must investigate whether it is coming in from the bow because of the flooded anchor well, or the stern, which would have to be a drain hose. This was a big disappointment to me.

But there had been some successes. Brenda said that the boat had been hove to the best that she had seen. Indeed, it had been riding at about 40 degrees to weather. Also, the Rutland wind generator had started freewheeling in the strong winds and I managed to lash it down by using patience instead of blundering in and risking horrible injury from the fast-spinning blades. The cabin was comparatively dry, moisture creeping in principally from my wet weather gear or the occasionally overflowing bilge.

At 2 AM the AIS anchor alarm went off and Brenda woke me up. A ship was going to approach within one mile of the boat. Because the visibility was so poor I decided to hail him. On both calls I identified myself as a sail boat 12 miles ahead. I got no verbal response but we watched the ship make a turn of about 20 degrees for Portland. The conditions at this time were sill rainy and near gale, with winds 25-30 kt and huge seas.

Just before dawn Brenda woke me up and told me that the wind had picked up and Pachuca had was now heading SW instead of SE. This represented the switch to the West wind that we had been pinning our hopes on. The boat was riding well making about 4 kt so I made a cup of coffee and waited until daylight. I then went to the cockpit, went to manual steering, eased the sheets, and fell off the wind to a beam reach. Immediately the boat speed jumped to 6 kt. As noon approach we were about 95 nm off the infamous Oregon coast heading S at 6.5 kt. The seas were still rough but we were moving in parallel with the waves. We were taking regular hits from gusts of up to 40 kt. Things were looking better. Brenda got up and prepared a chicken meal in the pressure cooker, we started seeing patches of blue sky with some sun, and the Heineken beer was as cold as ever.

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Good Start

It looks like our gamble paid off and we are off to a good start for California.

We motored for the rest of the day yesterday without any help from the wind and averaging about 4.2 kt. However, the sun came out in the afternoon and the seas continued to get calmer. Brenda felt queasy and wisely spent most of the day in the bunk.

For dinner I heated up two of the beef meals still in the hold from the Pacific crossing. Brenda could eat only a little bit of mashed potato and gravy so I wound up having double rations.

This was coastal sailing, not the solitary Pacific crossing, so I kept pretty busy in the night monitoring the chart plotter and looking out for lights. I turned the radar on for several hours to become more familiar with it. I found that the radar image was consistently off in one direction so I used the software to rotate the bearing alignment -8 degrees to get a good match between the radar images and those on the chart plotter. I then spent an interesting hour dodging two ships. An overtaking tanker bound for Portland altered course as I thought that he might to cross my path 3.5 nm ahead. Then I spotted a towing tug on essentially a collision course (200 ft) 45 minutes away. I waited as long as I could then swung 20 degrees to starboard toward the tanker and cleared both ships by over 2 miles.

It was actually a very pleasant evening: calm seas, half moon, stars out. A group of 5 or 6 dolphins played around Pachuca's bow for about 20 minutes before they got bored and moved on.

I pumped 44 strokes during the first 11 hours of motoring, indicating that water intake while running the engine is down to about 4 Whale Gusher strokes per hour, which is a lot better than the 20+ strokes per hour before the muffler was replaced. Zee of Shoreline Diesel had reported quite a bit of water streaming from the stern gland. I then shot a few more squirts of grease into it and tightened it until I could feel resistance from the packing, but that may have been enough.

At 9 PM I noticed a steady wind off the port bow. I rolled out a 1.5 jib and soon the speed was up to 5.7 kt. Shortly after midnight Brenda got up and felt well enough to give me a break. I took one last look for lights and hit the sack at 1 AM while Brenda conned the boat at the navigation station. I woke up at 1.45 AM and Brenda said that the wind was up and maybe we could shut down the engine. We shut down the engine and found ourselves doing over 5.5 kt off of a 15 kt Se wind with just a 1.5 jib. We had run the engine for about 16 hours.

At about daybreak the wind picked to over 20 kt. After a breakfast of toast and coffee ventured on the deck for a general check and to plan the sail change. We had been sailing with a bit of jib only and I was hoping to put up a better balanced sail plan. I raised the staysail and rolled in the headsail and the boat speed dropped from over 4 kt to under 3 kt.

I then made a valiant attempt to raise the trysail but had to give up because it is too difficult and dangerous to do in a rough seaway. The first problem is trying to zip up the sail cover. This is difficult enough in an anchorage, requiring climbing part way up the mast to finish the zipping operation. I realized that it was too dangerous to complete that job so decided to tie down the front of the mainsail. But then there is the problem of the lazy jacks which must be completely dropped. Then there is the task of feeding the trysail slides up its track. There are two problems with this. The first is that to gain access to the track the entire front of the sail cover must be peeled away from the mast. Then the feed operation itself is difficult because the slides can be passed around the bend of the track only with great difficulty. Then when the slides reach the join between the curved track and the straight one they still give trouble, even though I did a lot of work on the join with a Dremmel tool in Honolulu. The last time I raised the trysail I had to climb part way up the mast to help some of the slides along. Unless I figure a better way to do things hoisting the trysail on Pachuca will be a calm weather thing in anticipation of a major blow.

So I decided to raise the mainsail with a double reef. I also decided to do it alone while sailing and without the help of the engine to bring the boat into the wind. I finally figured out how to do it. (The key is to let the leeward lazy jack right off to fly as far from the sail triangle as possible.) and when I finally got the sail up I realized that the second reef line had not been completely set up. I had to drop the mainsail and sort that out. It was a hard, wet, sweaty time - my hardest sailing since before Hawaii. But after four months where the only "sailing" was the four weeks of magic time in the San Juan and Gulf islands, I got a quick re introduction to working my way around a pitching wet foredeck.

Late last night in the pitch black after the moon had disappeared the autopilot decided to go on standby without warning after more than 16 hours of faultless operation. I managed to set up Jeff the Monitor wind vane steering in the dark and I marvel how tolerant and reliable he is. It steered the boat with just a No. 4 sized jib, staysail only, and now staysail with double reefed mainsail, all without any problem. It even managed to steer the boat when it speed dropped below 2 kt during the sail change.

So at noon Pachuca was on a heading of 240 T doing 5.5 kt off the 20-25 kt wind with her double reefed main and staysail. We were approximately 110 nm SSW of Cape Flattery. We expect a wind shift from SE to E then SW before the onset of the W wind early tomorrow. Brenda was still debilitated with sea sickness and I am going what I can to support her. She is very good in that she never ever complains about it and stoically soldiers on until she gets though it - just like Lord Nelson used to do.

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On The Way

We left the slip at Neah Bay at 9.30 AM. The sea is calmer than we had hoped but the winds are weak and variable and not much help so far. At 12.30 PM we were well clear of Cape Flattery and motoring SW at 4.2 kt. We will motor until we get wind or get half way to San Francisco, whichever comes first. All is well though Brenda is feeling queasy in this swell.

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Maybe Tomorrow

We had a look at the weather information this afternoon and tentatively decided to leave Neah Bay tomorrow (Saturday), pending a review of the situation in the morning.

We were looking to departure on Monday, but it looks like that day will bring strong westerly winds from a High and I don't like the prospect of fighting my way out of the Strait then beating to SW all day.

We could have waited until Tuesday but I didn't like the idea of sitting in port all day Monday watching a west wind which could help us rocket our way toward the south go to waste. Also, there was risk that heavy weather would hit the area a day or two later.

We've had stiff westerly winds today - I saw 26 kt on my instrument at one point - but the forecast is for a quieter day of lighter and favorable winds tomorrow and part of Sunday. After that we can expect SE the S winds of up to 30 kt and then the strong west wind on Monday. Our plan is to depart tomorrow morning and make the most of the favorable winds to position ourselves with plenty of sea room. It is likely that I'll set up the storm trysail for Sunday afternoon as an exercise if nothing else, since it unlikely that we we'll encounter storm conditions. I'll try sailing the boat out with the trysail and the staysail either sailing SW against the S wind and possibly with heaving to.

I always have a psychological barrier to cross from the safety of security of a harbor to the uncertainties of the open sea. We will certainly miss our on-board WiFi, the cosy warmth of the electric fan heater, and the secure and peaceful nights of sleep. But once I've been out to sea for a while I must face the barrier between the familiarity of life at sea and the dangers of shoals, rocks, jetties, etc.

During a lull in the late morning we visited the post office and the big store. The Gortex coat and my sailing jacket had shown signs of water leakage and Brenda wanted to find something to spray on them. Fortunately we found an experienced and helpful man who helped us find the correct spray product then took us over to the wet weather section. When you think of it, Neah Bay is the place to be for wet weather gear since the fishermen must have gear that works. I purchased a rain coat and Brenda and I got "Southwester" rain hats - you know, the kind that you see in movies with the front folded up and the back overhanging the collar. We also purchased a pair of wool gloves each and I purchased a pair of waterproof rubber gloves to fit over the gloves.

By the way, the refrigerator has been working splendidly (knock on wood).

After a morning of steady rain the skies cleared and Brenda and I went for a jetty walk. We had a brief chat with a man on the bridge of of the aptly named Hunter, which is on standby to rescue any large ship that gets into trouble. What a great idea considering the potential ecological catastrophe of a tanker foundering on the rocks. You can see the effect of the strong wind.

Neah Bay Day 9

After a look at the latest weather information it looks like there may be a problem on Sunday, so we are still in wait-and-see mode.

This morning I spoke to the skipper of a ketch that was brought in by the Coast Guard yesterday. He had a hard time coming up from Oregon with high winds and strong seas. He blew out his jib to smithereens and I saw him dump it into the bin just before I spoke with him. Then his diesel stopped due to dirty diesel and he called the CG for help, though I'm not sure how close to Neah Bay he was able to sail. He thinks that next Monday looks like a better day for departure and I must say that the latest 96 hour fax makes Monday look very, very good, with a High practically on top of us and strong NE winds. Today we observed lots of spray from the swell crashing into the barrier spit on the other side of the bay, and there is a lot of thick foam in the marina; so we know that it has been rough out there. Anyway, our friend's diesel is running now and he plans to leave today, possibly towing a second ketch that arrived yesterday with diesel injector problems.

Early this morning we executed a plan that I had proposed two days ago. Taking the opportunity of practically no wind I backed the boat out of C39, motored toward the marina office, and backed into C15. This has given us two advantages: (1) It has almost halved the distance to the marina office, which should avoid those intermittent problems that we've been experiencing with the WiFi, (2) The boat is now berthed bow-out making our exit much easier in a wider variety of winds.

We have tenure here at the marina until mid-November. It turns out that after nine days it is cheaper to book for an entire month than to stay on a daily basis. I found the monthly rate very reasonable: $281 for the slip including electricity. I make that to be less than $10 per day - cheaper than even Honolulu.

Neah Bay Day 8

On Monday we had fish chowders for lunch at The Warm House restaurant and enjoyed the panoramic views of the bay, with telescope provided.

We then visited the Mahah Museum which had been highly recommended by several friends. We spent an interesting and informative 90 minutes learning about all aspects of Makah history and culture. One of our highlights was a visit into a full-sized replica of a Long House which was very large and was set out as historically accurate as possible.

On Tuesday just after noon our visitors from Port Townsend arrived: Burl and Jean with friend Francis. They arrived with much appreciated supplies that cannot be obtained in this dry reservation: two cases of Heineken beer and two 3-liter casks of red wine. It is wonderful to have friends who understand the priorities and needs of a modern sailing boat.

After a conversation over drinks and nibbles on the boat we went to The Warm House for lunch where we all had fish chowder. Laura, who seems to run the place single handed, is a keen fisherman who lit up when she talked to us about fishing and cooking fish. She recounted how she caught a giant squid with her bare hands ("Did you wrestle it? asked Burl.) and took delight in describing the cooking of squid and tasty result. I mentioned how inadequate I felt, not having caught one fish since Australia and she ran into the kitchen and after some digging around returned with a brand new "buzz bomb" lure and told me how to use it. Laura is quite a person. She once ran the family restaurant/motel, is a diesel mechanic who once owned her own Kenworth truck and, by the way, raised three children while fishing whenever she got the chance.

We then visited the fish smoke house where sampled the smoked fish, had a great chat with the man who runs the place, and purchased smoked salmon.

After that we drove to the west end of the small settlement and visited a memorial to a wooden Spanish fort that was operating just before the American revolution. The Spanish explored up to Vancouver Island but relinquished their claim later under some treaty.

By then it was 5 PM and it was time to say a reluctant good bye. We very much appreciated their making the three-hour journey each way to see us. But the rewards were there. It was great to be with each other and we all had a great time.


The top photo is of the entrance to the Makah museum grounds. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside of the museum.

The second photo shows Laura regaling her guests with her favorite topic, fishing.

Th next photo is of the smoke house with the proprietor holding his smoking rack.

Then there is Francis and myself discussing the history of the Spanish fort. The Spanish Government were very involved in the establishment of this memorial.

The last view is of the Coast Guard pier with Waadah island behind it and Canada under cloud in the background.

We expect to depart for California on Friday or Saturday. It appears that a stationaryHigh off the California coast will provide us with good weather and favorable (though maybe weak) winds for several days.

Neah Bay Day 5

Yesterday we went for a walk in the light drizzle and a car stopped to offer us a ride. We explained that we were walking for exercise and the lady introduced herself as Noreen and suggested that we drop by at the marina where here sister Harriette was presenting food to all comers in celebration of her birthday. We went to the marina and enjoyed the hospitality in the finest Makah tradition. We had a long chat with Harriet and friend Vicky and another who had driven up from Port Townsend. It was great to interact with these generous local people whom we liked very much.

This morning we on a knife edge on whether or not to depart for California tomorrow. The winds in the next few days did not seem very strong or favorable but on the other hand there were not too many strong winds predicted in the following days. We figured that we would have to do a lot of motoring and possibly heave to when we encountered strong southerly winds. However the afternoon 96-hour weather fax indicated that the deep low approaching from the west would get a lot closer to the coast than we had expected, so we decided to sit tight until at least the following Thursday, when the deep low has moved on.

The prospect of sailing tomorrow spurred me on to do some preparatory work. I replenished the main diesel tanks from the two 10 liter containers and found that the 12 hours of motoring over the 50 nm from Port Angeles consumed exactly 20 liters of fuel, which meant that the engine was averaging 1.7 liters an hour, compared to well over 2 liters before the recent repairs to the engine.

I also put up the storm trysail to ensure that I know what to do when the time comes. Until I have had more practice I'll plan on putting up the trysail well before the arrival of the gale winds because I'll have to drop the mainsail, zip it up in the sail cover, transfer the halyard to the storm trysail, tie off the boom, then get the trysail slides up the curved track which is not so easy.

The top photo show the trysail in place. It is higher up the mast than I would like but it cannot be helped because of the height of the mainsail stack. The trysail track is to the left of the main track so I will try to be sailing or hove to on starboard tack. Besides, I must be hove to with the wind from the starboard in order to deploy the para anchor. I cut two sheets of proper length for the trysail, which are now stowed in the bag with the sail. The sheets pass through the spinnaker blocks at the stern corners of the boat then on to the cockpit winches.

I have never used the storm trysail but there are times when I should have. The mainsail has only two reefing points which leaves too much sail area for heaving to. During two strong gales in the Tasman Sea we were forced to heave to with mainsail zipped up and a tiny amount of headsail at the headstay. The result was that we rode side on to the waves. I am hoping that the storm trysail with staysail combination will give better results, with the boat facing the waves at a better angle.

The photo also shows the staysail hanked on the inner forestay ready for hoisting.

The lower photo is of a holly bush all ready for Christmas, even though it is only October.

Neah Bay Day 4

WiFi access from the boat has been a marvelous bonus at Neah Bay. We have been able to get excellent weather charts looking up to 4 days ahead and grib files indicating expected wind conditions up to 7 days ahead. Unfortunately the situation for the next 4 days does not look good. During the lulls between the lows the wind is too calm for serious sailing and, worse, it is often from the S or SW. We would get some assistance from the current but would be battling swells from the S and SW.

Yesterday a Morgan 45 tied up at the next slip. They had motored the entire way from Port Angeles with gentle wind conditions. There are three on board: John, the skipper, Christina, and another man. They too are headed south in their own good time, according to John, but there was talk of them leaving tomorrow for Aberdeen on the south side of the Olympic Peninsula, which will work if they are motoring. They were delayed by work on their boat in Bremerton and like us watched the beautiful sailing conditions pass by, unable to take advantage of them.

The highlight of our day was a wood-fired pizza supreme that Brenda agreed was very good. Later I spied the crew of the Morgan approaching their boat with pizza boxes in hand. In the evening we amused ourselves with the movie "The Italian Job", which Brenda had never seen before.

Fortunately the boat is warm and cosy and dry despite incessant rain for the last 12 hours. The only leak that we have detected was a thin bead of water near the galley after rain driven by strong wind off our starboard bow. This is a far cry from the bad old days of leaking windows, serious water on the galley stove, water dribbling down the chain plates, shelf in the head filling with water, drips into the cabin through the vents, etc.

The photo is of Brenda heading for her shower dressed up in wet weather gear (except for the pink shoes.)

Neah Bay Day 1

We had a quiet night at anchor and over breakfast discussed weighing anchor and moving Pachuca into the marina. Unfortunately the wind picked up after breakfast and we motored in against a 13 kt SE wind gusting to 18-19 kt, which was not a disaster but nevertheless made the entrance "interesting". We weighed anchor with three fenders on each side of the boat. From my earlier visit on the way from Hawaii I knew to expect plenty of free slips and so it was when we entered the marina. I picked a convenient up-wind slip which turned out to be C39. I allowed the wind to carry us to the jetty on the port side, hopped off the boat, then tied off the bow line. Our nearest neighbor was a large sea lion who seems to mix a bit of swimming with a lot of laying around on the jetty. The first person that we met ahore said "Howdy" to us and Brenda commented that he had not said "How".

We soon discovered that we had excellent WiFi internet on the boat: reliable and fast. Neah Bay, and Indian reservation, has provided on-board WiFi service that I have not had since The Fuel Dock at Ala Wai Boat Harbor in Honolulu. I had a quick look at the weather and saw that we can expect to remain at Neah Bay at least through Tuesday, five days away. It appears that we are one week too late in departing the area, and we are in for a patient wait for a suitable weather window for our lunge to California. In the afternoon we visited the marina office to make arrangements for our stay then did a quick walk around part of the town. Soon it started to drizzle again and we retreated to the boat which was dry and warm, thanks to electric fan heater.

The top photo shows our neighbor dissipated, world weary, and ruminating on the meaning of life. The second one shows him holding court with his adoring disciples.

The next photo is in a class of its own: the rigging enhancements is nearest Brenda will get to a moose.

The final photo shows Pachuca at her temporary home in Neah Bay.

Photos from Port Townsend

Now that we have good internet access from the boat at Neah Bay we can look back and present some photos from our last days at Port Townsend.

On our very last day we were visited in the afternoon by Burl, Jean and Francis. The chemistry among us was phenomenal as always but unfortunately the visit was cut short (after about 2 hours) when we got advice to make a hasty exit out of the marina or risk a blockage the next day.

The top photo shows Jean and myself. Jean has climbed up a 50 foot mast and I offered her a position on Pachuca as lookout from the top of my mast as we round the Horn. The second photo could be captioned "Two Grumpy Old Men" but is in fact of two thoughtful men in an instant of introspection. Ninety five percent of the time it is a barrel of laughs.

There is one more photo of that day that I wish that I could provide: Karen Sullivan of "Minstrel", Sue's boating neighbor, who provided the last kindness from Port Townsend by casting off our lines and giving Pachuca's bow a smart turn to set us off on our journey.

The third photo is from a few days earlier with, starting from left, Brenda, Byron a visiting sailor, then Nancy, a double circumnavigator and national award winner for women's sail training with her partner Lynne and her father Paul, who was interested in various aspects of Pachuca.

The last photo shows the pumpkins at Safeway Port Angeles in preparation for Halloween.

Neah Bay

Today we motored the entire way from Port Angeles to Neah Bay. The wind predictions were hopelessly inaccurate and instead of favorable E and SE winds we got winds principally from the W and SW. We used the jib for a few hours for some assistance but then the wind veered to the west I remember seeing a speed of 22 kt as I frantically rolled in the jib.

We left Port Angeles at 8 AM. We went through periods of drizzle with low visibility and at one point I switched on the radar. In the afternoon we knew that would not make Neah Bay before 7 PM so we decided to have a look at Clallam Bay as a possible anchorage. One thing that bothered me was that somebody had warned me not to stop at some place on the way to Neah Bay and the warning may have been about Clallam Bay. But with binoculars we thought that we could see calm water and decided to have a go. Unfortunately it did not work out. Brenda noticed kelp all over the place. I dropped the anchor and more kelp welled up. I thought that we were dragging, I didn't like the place, it wasn't as calm as I had hoped, so we moved on.

Fortunately as we approached Neah Bay the drizzle stopped and almost biblically the clouds parted in the west and the outline of the terrain was visible against the fading light. I identified the green and two red lights and we motored in with no dramas and dropped anchor just north of the marina in 11.4 meters of water at 7.45 PM.

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Still at Port Angeles

We were up at 6 AM intending to set off for Neah Bay at 7 AM, not long after daylight. We listened to the weather report over breakfast and were concerned that the high winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca would be from the E, not the SE. To us this meant little protection from the wind and probably some gybing. We thought it prudent to wait in Port Angeles until Wednesday, when the worst would be over. We then took that next step of prudence and motored into the boat haven while the wind was still calm.

Late in the morning the wind was still relatively calm and there was none of the predicted rain. It reminded me of the near catastrophe at Eden Australia where we prudently moved to the southern side of Two Fold Bay to take shelter from the big blow expected that night, then foolishly moved back to the northern side the next day because nothing had happened, only to get slammed big-time for 24 hours while Arnold and I worked to exhaustion to somehow save the boat from being bashed against the jetty, to the surprise of the locals (who helped us a lot). Even for a slow learner like me that is an experience that I will NEVER forget and a mistake that I am very unlikely to ever make again.

In the early afternoon the wind kicked up a bit but then died down and we had a relatively quiet and dry day. However, we have not doubt that things would have been much rougher out in the Strait, particularly at the western end.

It is just as well that we came to the boat haven. The marine toilet became hopelessly blocked this morning. From previous experience I knew what to do and I did it relatively efficiently but nevertheless it was not a pretty sight when I uncoupled the outlet hose. The joker valve was totally blocked and after unblocking it I spent a lot of time knocking the scale buildup off the joker valve and its fitting with a screwdriver. Many buckets of fresh water laced with bleach were used. (Color photos will be provided upon request.)

In the afternoon Brenda and I took a taxi to the laundry in town. I visited the internet kiosk and had a telephone discussion with Arnold about the procession of lows headed for the Oregon/Washington coast (gulp!) In hindsight we are one week late in departing the area, but it just couldn't be helped because work on the SABB diesel and the refrigerator was being completed last Friday. After that we walked to Safeway for some supplies then took a taxi back.

We expect to set off for Neah Bay tomorrow (Wed) morning, unless there is a weather surprise.

I forgot to mention that I used "Jeff", Pachuca's Monitor wind steering yesterday and it steered us most of the way to Port Angeles.

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Port Angeles

Today we sailed from Port Townsend to Port Angeles on a cold but dry day. We decided to delay getting underway until 12.30 PM to take advantage of the ebb current at Admiralty Inlet. I spent the morning finishing the tidying up of the boat and doing a handyman task. I took Nancy's advice and bent the staysail on the inner forestay to be ready for use in high winds. Soon after lunch we weighed anchor at 12.30 PM and motored well out past Pt. Hudson with a 10 kt SE wind. In Admiralty Inlet we hoisted the mainsail with one reef and soon had the full jib rolled out. The ebb current assisted us most of the day and for the majority of the trip we sailed at 6.5-7.5 on a broad reach from a 15 kt wind. Passing Protection Island we looked at the houses on the coast and wondered if Nancy and Lynn were watching us sail by. The wind died down at about 5 PM when we were 7 nm out of Port Angeles so we cranked up out rejuvenated SABB diesel and motored in. We dropped anchor at about 6.30 PM next to near the public jetty in 7 meters of water.

There is a deep low of 970 mb off the coast affecting this area and tomorrow will be its biggest effect. The prediction for tomorrow (Tuesday) is for 15-30 kt E winds in the Strait of Juan de Fuca gusting to 45 kt. Prudence would dictate that we sit tight in Port Angeles except that the forecast for Wednesday is for 5-15 kt SE winds switching to SW at noon. We figured that it is safer to do the 50-nm trip to Neah Bay with strong winds in daylight than clawing our way in weaker winds and arriving after dark. So we plan to depart at about 7 AM tomorrow for Neah Bay.

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Sudden Exit

They started a week of dredging the entrance to the marina on Friday and today we got word that from tomorrow on the entrance/exit to the marina might be blocked off for a few days. we decided not to take a chance and motored out of the marina late this afternoon instead of tomorrow morning as we had planned and are spending a quiet night at anchor. We expect to head for Port Angeles late in the morning to take advantage of the outgoing current.

All is well.

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Farewell to Port Townsend

I arrived in Port Townsend about four months ago.

I've been fortunate enough to have seen much of what the area has to offer and met many of its terrific people. I am sure that there are many other fine places to live both in North America and abroad, but I find Port Townsend hard to beat. I have never seen a community with so much grass roots involvement of its people in all sorts of activities. The people whom I've met seem very happy to live here and I can see why. I would love living here myself.

The generosity that Brenda and I have experienced here has been amazing: offers of friendship, hospitality, advice, practical help, and even the loan of four-wheel drive truck until the end of our stay. It seems that wherever we go in this town we run into somebody that we know who says "Hi" and often has a chat. That has made us feel right at home.

Port Townsend has been a wonderful experience that we will never forget. We will miss it and leave with regret. But maybe leaving with regret is what this circumnavigation is about.

Costs

Maintenance and repairs are a part of long distance cruising and I must include the associated costs if I am to present a complete story of this circumnavigation.

The costs of labor in Washington are high due no doubt to a variety of commercial, social, and taxation realities. Having said that, I have found all of the work done on Pachuca here in Port Townsend to be first rate, performed by skilled and honest professionals. When sailing over the horizon cost takes second place to outcome. I state this from the hard experience of having spent over $2000 on rigging work in Hawaii most of which was wasted and worse, would have eventually resulted in loss of my rig.

I will sail out of Port Townsend confident that Pachuca is in the best shape that she has ever been, particularly in rigging and engine.

Having said that the costs are as follows:

Total expenditure over the 4-month span at Port Townsend, including hard standing and moorage: $22,380 USD ($25,654 AUD)

This principally, in US dollars, from:

- Rigging: $7900
- Sails: $2100
- Engine Work: $4700
- SABB Parts: $2700
- Hardstanding and moorage: $1500
- Hull maintenance: $2100

My total expenditures on Pachuca to date, including purchase price but excluding hardstanding and moorage, is $243,000 USD ($270,000 AUD).

Mailed Head

On Saturday morning I posted the second SABB head (I ordered 1, they sent 2.) back to Norway with a covering note at a cost of $93, which I thought reasonable. The package will arrive in a week and I expect the company to deposit the approximately $900 USD that they charged me for it directly into my bank account in Australia. I also stated that in the spirit of fairness they should also compensate me for some of the shipping costs associated with their mistake.

Brenda and I then visited West Marine where she purchased a wonderful and much-needed pre-birthday gift for me: a "Raiatea" 7x50 waterproof and nitrogen-filled (to prevent fogging) set of binoculars.

At the end of the day I realized that all of the last minute activity had caught up with me. I was not up to updating the blog or packing the boat for sailing. That evening we checked the weather report and were relieved to see that Monday will still be a good day for sailing, with 10-15 kt easterlies. Tuesday will be more interesting. We will make the jump from Port Angeles to Neah Bay with easterlies that will straighten to up to 35 kt due to the effects of a storm. It will be a following wind and I figure that we will do just fine with a rolled-in headsail.

Frantic Friday

Friday was a very busy day for me.

Over breakfast Brenda and I decided to depart Port Townsend on Sunday rather than Saturday because there was still too much to do.

Zee visited in the morning to tension the head bolts and plan the installation of the Racor fuel vacuum gauge. Afterward Brenda and I visited Shoreline Marine Diesel where Brenda took a photo of me with Mark, Seth, and Zee.

From there we visited Dan, Lisa, and Shannon at Port Townsend Rigging to say goodbye and thanks for the great work to make Pachuca safer. On the way back I saw Joe from BUMS (Bottoms Up Maintenance Service) who had antifouled Pachuca bid my farewell.

Arnold and Sandra arrived from Kingston at about 2 PM and I was very pleased that with my new ladder in place and the rails down Sandra was able for the first time to board Pachuca for a visit. We had a delightful lunch over a bottle of Washington State chardonnay at the Bay View restaurant with splendid views of Port Townsend Bay.

After lunch I visited the marina office and got a nice surprise. Even though I was entitled to a $10 discount four days per week because I was on the slip for boat work I had been there long enough to save about $200 dollars by paying the regular long-term price. We walked out of the office knowing that we were paid up until the following Wednesday and the funds would be taken out of my Visa card when I telephoned them on departure.

I then met Doug Roth on Pachuca where he mounted the thermostat on a new evaporator that he had installed earlier in the week and made a final check of the refrigerator. I paid him for his service and thanked him for his tenacity over a span of almost four months.

Then I visited Shoreline to settle accounts which I told Mark looked reasonable to me.

The top photo is of Arnold with the restaurant's free live entertainment: Anna the waitress. The second photo shows the new fuel pressure gauge. Below is a photo of, starting from left, Zee, myself, Mark, and Seth. The mural at the back was commissioned by Mark to depict a scene of Port Townsend industry in the 1930's if I recall correctly, which saved the town in very tough times. In the foreground is a Foss tug.

Sea Trial and Visit

Mark at Shoreline Marine Diesel thought that it was a good idea to take Pachuca out for a sea trial to check out the performance of the SABB diesel engine. At about 9.30 AM on Thursday Pachuca departed from her slip graced with the presence of two mechanics, Mark and Zee. We ran the engine at various speeds comparing their accurate readings with a strobe light with Pachuca's tachometer which was off by as much as 200 rpm. For now I will use a translation table to assess the true rpm and will change the tachometer in Fremantle.

The engine ran well, up to about 1800 rpm. Zee did some checking and tweaking down below and no serious problems were found. Mark says that the engine is well matched to the propeller at the the expected cruising rpm's. It appears that 1200 rpm is very good for cruising.

It was decided that Zee would return to check the bolt tension on the heads and to install a vacuum gauge off the Racor fuel filter. This will be a good tool for assessing various aspects of my fuel system, principally when it is time to change the fuel filter.

In the evening Brenda and I visited Burl and Jean's beautiful home for dinner with them and with Francis. We had a wonderful time with a few drinks followed by a true banquet laid on by Jean, Burl and Francis. Following dinner we had several hours of fun discussing all sorts of things. It is great to find yourself in a tight group of people who are all on the same wave length.

The top photo shows Francis at work under the approving gaze of Brenda. The bottom photo shows Burl in the kitchen and Francis setting the table.

Walk along Elwha River

Sue Hoover invited Brenda to join a group of women on a walk in the Olympic National Park. It was to be a 4-5 miles long and rated "easy" along the upper reaches of the Elwha River. Wednesday turned out to be a perfect day and the decision was made to walk a bit further.

The walk was led by Mary Grace. Others there were Mary Pat, Dianne, Colleen, Val, Katie, Carol, Michael, Sue, myself, and one other. To get to the trail head they passed two dams that are to be removed so that the river can again be used by Salmon for spawning.

The top photo shows lunch time. The second one shows the entire group having a break (Sue in the foreground). Further down is Sue the unabashed tree hugger.

Sailing Plans

We expect to be ready to sail out of Port Townsend on Saturday October 10. Our actual departure date will depend on favorable wind and weather conditions. Our first leg will be to Port Angeles, preferably sailing but motoring if we must. Our second leg will be to Neah Bay, at the mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

At Neah Bay we will wait patiently for what we think is a good weather window then make haste for the south at about 100 nm from the coast.

Engine Up and Running

Zee spent the entire day installing the new muffler and hose, putting the finishing touches on the engine, replacing the big batteries in their normal position, and thereby completing the SABB diesel repair work.

After lunch he bled the fuel line and started the engine for a one-hour run mostly under load with the gear in reverse. We tested the limits of the engine and got it to 1800 rpm in neutral gear and 1750 rpm under load. Before the repairs it could not reach 1200 rpm.

The engine runs amazingly cool. After an hour of running most of the engine was at about 35C. The exhaust manifold was hotter but one could still put a hand on it for a second or two. The exhaust did not contain any steam as before and the water was at blood temperature. Zee says that the steam that I had been getting out of the exhaust was probably caused by the ingestion of minute amounts of sea water into the forward cylinder, not to mention the muffler problems.

While Zee was away getting some more materials I went over the entire system while the engine was running and it was a joy to see all hosing and clamps in good order and not a hint of leak of fuel, water, oil, exhaust gas, etc anywhere. Zee agreed that the engine sounded great.

Zee did a couple of other improvements during the repair. He moved the anti siphon fitting from its position inside the engine compartment to a higher position behind the aft bulkhead between the quarter berths. The fitting had been too near the waterline and there was risk that if the boat heeled enough, water would invade the cylinders and ruin the engine. (And by the way, the hoses on the fitting had been too large, which explained why one of them had dropped off causing the engine seizure.) He also did some last-minute wood work to make sure that the four rear batteries do not shift in a rollover. And Zee being the professional that he is, finished up by neatening his hosing and cabling work with cable ties.

The top photo shows Zee making adjustments to the running engine.

The middle photo shows the new muffler in place. (Look! No more leaks! YAY!!!)

The bottom photo is of something that is a thing of beauty only to a boat owner: a healthy pulse of cooling water returning to the sea.

Eco Sail

While I stayed back to assist Zee in putting the diesel motor back together Brenda went for an afternoon sail with Sue Hoover and friend Robert on Sue's boat "Quantum Leap". The winds were light so they sailed/motored their way to Rat Island where Robert helmed the boat while Sue and Brenda did their bird watching. Brenda saw three new birds and had a good look at others she had seen before.

The photos show Sue and Robert enjoying the sail.

Muffler Post Mortem

Mark sliced off the bottom of Pachuca's faulty muffler and the accompanying photo reveals what we found. Exhaust heat entering from the side port melted the exit tube causing a severe crimp. Mark says that the back pressure to the cylinders would have been "off the scale" and it is a wonder that the engine ran at all. The PM confirmed Mark's suspicion that the innards of the muffler were made of ordinary PVC plastic and that the entire thing had been encased in fiberglass.

The other photo shows the new muffler next to the old one. The new muffler was fabricated entirely with heat resistant material.

Nancy Erley developed a severe back pressure problem on her SABB 2G that resulted in a cracked piston in one of the South Pacific islands - Tonga, I think - during one of her two circumnavigations. I was very to not have suffered the same fate. (Nancy managed to get the parts for an engine rebuild from the cylinder sleeves on up.)

Drive to Mt Walker

Yesterday Brenda and I visited Mt Walker on the western side of the Hood Canal. Being Western Australians accustomed to flat terrain we found the drive to the 2800 ft summit nerve wracking. The road was steep, narrow, winding, with mind-boggling drops along one edge. One faux paux and it would be adios amigos for a 1000 ft roll unless you got lucky and bashed into a tree. If you met a car you hoped that it would be at a point where one of the cars could find a passing lay by of maybe 5 feet. At one point I was forced to pass a car with my wheels at what Brenda estimated was 18 inches from the edge. We both broke out in sweats going up. Going down was easier, probably because we knew what to expect and also because we had the sense to engage the 4 wheel drive.

At the summit the road branches for northern and southern views. With binoculars we could clearly see Seattle and SeaTac airport and of course Mts Rainier and Baker. At a viewing lay by on the way down we got good views of Port Townsend and Admiralty Inlet.

The top photo shows me being naughty and sharing my lunch with the local bird life (gray jays).

The second photo shows the forestry service's idea of humor. Of the four choices for the toilet door they chose the side with maybe 3 feet between bliss and oblivion.

The next photo shows dainty Sue's muscle car.

Following that is the passenger side view of the road edge.

The distance photos are hazy due probably to moisture in the air. However, Mt Baker can be seen on the penultimate photo.