Friday March 13, 2009 Day one early arrival:

Weather: Winds from South 3 Knots to gust of 25 Knots, Sunny and warm.

Early arrival Boats and crew:  The Boat, Cygnet.  Mark Welpman. Normal arrival (Saturday) boats: Andiamo II, Gene and Tami Reynolds with crew of Christen and Abby.  Wind Swift Terry and Val.

The Cygnet departed port at 1400.  Weather was sunny and warm and wind was out of the south.  The Cygnet was moving up wind at wind speed, so the cockpit was warm and the sun was hot on my face.  The Cygnet made 6kts good on the motor up to Boston Harbor. When Cygnet arrived at the fuel dock, she had to loiter at the fuel docks for a bit as a big power boat was fueling up.  The power boat pulled out and Cygnet slid into her spot.  The guys at the dock tied her up and 13 gallons of diesel later Cygnet was on her way.  

In Dana passage Cygnet was bucking the currents, so I ran as close to shore as I could.  In short order she was heading up Case Inlet and Cygnet surfing the currents.  The winds picked up, so of course the sails came up too. To my surprise Cygnet was making a solid 7.4 kts.  I think it was the fastest run Cygnet made up Case Inlet.  Nothing like a clean hull to make a boat go fast.  Cygnet made the run up Case Inlet in less than an hour.

Making the turn into Pickering Passage and then wind was on Cygnet’s nose.  So I thought that I might drop the sail and run on the motor the last bit up to Jarrell’s Cove.  That’s when things got interesting.  I put the bow into the wind and started to pull on my furler line.  About half way in the furler jammed and I could not roll the jib.  As I was fighting the furler the port jib sheet came loose and did a knot dance with the starboard jib sheet.  The port sheet was coiled up tighter than an eight day clock around the starboard sheet.  So I had to start the motor and lock the wheel. I went forward and noticed that there was as knot of some sort jamming the furler drum.  So I pulled all the line off the drum and then let it reel itself back in.  No problem after that.  I took me a while to uncoil the sheet lines.  Before long the emergency was over.  Lesson learned, it’s always a good idea to provide a little drag (one wrap around your winch) on the furler line when deploying a furling Jib.  This will not allow the line to back spin one the drum.

The run into the Jarrell’s Cove was uneventful.  Cygnet made a great landing with the wind doing all the work. She was tied up and stowed for port in no time at all.  Cocktail in hand and I enjoyed the evening.

Day 2:  Saturday March 14, 2009.

Weather:  Rain and wind 15 to 25 kts.

Andiamo III arrives at noon.  Crew reports windy conditions and Andiamo sailed the entire trip up from Olympia.  Wind Swift arrives at 1530 and she to sailed most of the way.  Both crews were wet and cold on arrival.  Dinner was at 1800 and included a wonderful sausage vegetable medially, Greek Salad and Spaghetti with gravy (Sauce).  Good friends and conversation were had all around.  By 2030 the dinner party broke up and everyone headed to their boats for a quite evening.   

Day 3:

Wind Swift makes an early departure.  Terry’s crunching footsteps wakes me. I pop open the forward hatch to see four inches of new snow.  Terry explains that he wants to make it through Dana Pass before the tide changes.  He also warns of bad weather coming, winds with gusts up to 50kts.  Wind Swift was off the docks by 0730. 

The reaming two boats had a casual morning.  Breakfast was on Andiamo, with Gene and Tami hosting a wonderful breakfast.  No one left hungry.  After pushing snow off boats, the Cygnet and Andiamo cast off lines at 1130.  The winds were calm running up Pickering Pass.  Rounding Dougall Pt the winds were coming from the south.  Both boats motored south into the wind.  Passing Herron Island Cygnet flies her jib.  Andiamo continues running on her motor.  Due to poor wind direction Cygnet douses her jib and runs on her motor again.  Nearing Fudge Pt the winds becomes favorable and Andiamo flies her head sail.  Cygnet follows suite.  The winds went from as study 10 to 12 kts to gusting 25 kts plus.  All 45,000 pounds of Andiamo was on her rail.  Things got exciting fast on Andiamo.  The head sail came down as fast as it went up. 

Cygnet was struggling to keep up right.  She kept shrinking the jib until there was not much out.  Still rounding the gusts and being pushed over on her rail, the jib was hauled and put away for the rest of the trip.   Entering Dana pass things became very exciting.  Wind gusts up to 45 Kts.  Cygnet ran on the north side of Dana Passage trying to dodge the wind that was nearly on her nose.  Andiamo ran mid channel.  The closer to Boston Harbor the stronger the winds blew.  At one point a squall blew down the passage.  The tops of the waves were blown off the raging white caps.  The water was very mixed up.  Cygnet was making 5 kts good into the melee. As soon as the squall hit, Cygnet speed dropped to 1.5 kts.  It was a struggle for boat boats to buck the wind and tides.

Andiamo now had a considerable lead over Cygnet.  Rounding Dofflemeyer Pt, the sun came out and warmed out wind chilled faces.  Andiamo radioed ahead to Swantown for assistance docking as winds gusted at 35 kts.  As Cygnet pasted the Guest Docks, Andiamo was backing down and lines were across.  Cygnets slip is more or less wind protected but the winds did cause a more difficult landing than normal.  All in all it was a great trip.  Good company, an opportunity to experience every type of weather and feeling like you lived a mini adventure.  Hope to see you all out there next time. 

PS.  We’d like to express our well wishes to Rod Thorpe.  Rod and Susan did not make this trip due to Rod having Knee surgery.  Though he is up and about, the meds he’s on is not conducive to sailing.  We’re sure will see Rod and Susan on Pax soon.