Plan B, no C, maybe D...

Asterix will spend the winter in Sointula.  Work and other events have conspired against going further north this year.

Change of Plans!

Have decided to ditch the boat on Northern Vancouver Island for a couple of months.  New schedule - come back in August and sail it to Ketchikan (will take about 7-8 days), then next summer sail it from Ketchikan to Juneau (another week or so).  Trip is going a lot slower than we expected, and Craig is feeling like he needs to get back to work.  I think it would be a much more enjoyable adventure (that I might even take part in) if it was broken down in to segments.  We also have a few fixes/repairs it would be better to make before continuing on.

Emptying the holding tank for the first time.  Deep Bay Harbor Authority Dock, Vancouver Island

Craig and Adrian leaving Comox Saturday A.M., June 8, 2013

And a photo of Adrian at the helm

Sailing to Comox

Adrian decided to ride with Shana in the Prius while Katherine and I sailed Asterix from Deep Bay to Comox.  The wind came up right after leaving the harbor, so we got in the first good sailing of the trip.  With the main and 120% jib up we were making 4.5 knots by the knotmeter, and 7 knots SOG by the GPS.  A fun time was had by all.

Some pictures of Katherine at the helm.

The winds built up throughout the afternoon, and we ended up surfing into Comox under the main, still making over 6 knots with the flood tide.

Canasta in Silva Bay, June 6

We've spent a few evenings this trip playing canasta.

Katherine & Adrian in Silva Bay (June 6). 

We docked at Page's Marina (http://www.pagesresort.com/ ) in Silva Bay, and there was a huge windstorm all night.  The docks were kind of funky and old, and squealed like you wouldn't believe when they rubbed together, so we didn't get much sleep from the rocking, the wind, and the noise from the docks  Other than that, Silva Bay was a nice spot - one of the most beautiful on the trip.  There were three separate marinas in Silva Bay, and lots of boats at anchor.  

Asterix at the dock.  Notice the dark areas on the dock near the bow.  A sea otter inhabited the dock until we arrived, upon which he promptly showed his displeasure by emptying his bowels before leaving.  He came back once in a while to further show his displeasure.  

Shana & Craig in Silva Bay.  Yeah, not nearly as photogenic as the kids!
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There is some beautiful country between Sydney and Silva Bay.  Going up through Trincomali Channel the scenery looked a lot like some of the lakes in the Adirondacks.

Meeting the BC Ferry in Swanson Channel

Galiano Island

 

Docking in Deep Bay, Vancouver Island, BC

Here's a cool video of the Asterix docking in Deep Bay at the government marina (http://www.dbha.ca/)  last night.  It was a very smooth operation by Craig and the kids.

I am pleased with quality of videos my two-year-old Samsung phone takes.  I don't think it looks like a cellphone video at all (okay, they look great on my computer, but when I upload them to the blog, they don't look so good).

We are in Deep Bay late this morning because of high winds just south of here off Qualicum Beach (http://www.qualicumbeach.com/cms.asp?wpID=1), which are quickly dying down .  Because of this, Craig plans only to go as far as Comox today, and not Campbell River, as originally planned.

When I paid the harbor fees yesterday, the harbormaster asked if we wanted power and water.  I said yes, so he told me the boat should pull in to C dock, that there was lots of room there, and it was one of the only docks with both power and water.  The boat pulls in fairly late - sometime close to 7:00 p.m. - after the harbormaster's office had been closed for several hours.  Immediately upon docking, a commercial fisherman came down the dock and told us the dock was only for commercial boats.  We had to explain this is where the harbormaster told us to dock.  The fisherman said they had been fighting for a long time to get dock space designated for commercial boats.  It seems the harbormaster had inserted us (intentionally or unintentionally?) into the middle of marina politics/turf war.  It was a little awkward.

Deep Bay

Asterix on the end, tied up with the fishing boats

Panorama of Victoria B.C., coming in on the Black Ball ship "Coho"

Asterix Making Good Time on Wednesday

In Nanaimo to catch the ferry to meet Asterix at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island this evening. I was on my way to find a laundromat, when I decided I should find some wifi and check Asterix's progress (at the always reliable and caffeinated Starbucks).  Asterix is making very good time, and is about 3/4 of the way to Silva Bay, so I had better just get on the ferry and do the laundry later!

Port Townsend WA to Sydney B.C.

Okay, I feel like this blog is in danger of becoming really boring, "We left X and arrived at Y."  So I will tell you about my new role model/idol.  

Shortly after arrival in Port Townsend

We were in a hurry to get an early start the morning we left Port Townsend, so we left the marina at Point Hudson and headed over to the other marina for fuel and to buy a fuel jug and some spare dinghy oars at West Marine.  The Strait of Juan de Fuca was going to be a long crossing, and I (Shana) had to get over to Port Angeles by 10:30 to catch a ferry to Victoria.  The fuel gauge on the sailboat doesn't work (something we didn't know about earlier, or we would have had it fixed), and Craig wasn't sure, after two days of sailing, how much fuel was in there, so he wanted to be safe he wouldn't run out.  After barely beginning fueling, all of a sudden it was full.  We almost had a little spill, and there was a panic to get the sorbent pads on the boat before any of the small amount that dribbled out of the nozzle went in the water.  The guy at the fuel dock didn't get upset at all, and was really laid back about the almost-accident, while I was mortified and apologizing profusely.  He was like, "No big deal, sailboats are like that - hardly buy any fuel at all and often come close to having a spill."  He was very kind to the fuel dock's lowest-spending, problem customers (us), and never once seemed to get stressed or even concerned.

The first landmark Asterix cleared after leaving Port Townsend was Point Wilson

Goodbye Port Angeles, Washington State, and the U.S.  

We made it to Sidney - a long, almost 12-hour trip for Asterix, about half that time for the road crew.  However, it took the road crew an hour to get through customs, while it was only a brief phone call from the marina for Asterix.

Asterix just coming in to the harbor in Sidney on Monday evening.  There's a big-ass mountain in the background.  Maybe the one over by Whistler that I can't remember the name of?  Garibaldi?  Or something like that?  It was a really long crossing, and so we took an extra day off in Sidney.  Didn't really do anything except run a few errands, take showers, and get hot, tired, and cranky (me, see below).

I had to send out a brief email for work, and either MS Outlook or the internet wasn't working for me - I'm not sure which.  I got really stressed out, but later remembered my idol from the Port Townsend fuel dock.  I swear I'm going to try to be better about my response to problems!  Like I said, he's my new hero.  This evening I tried the wifi at the restaurant we're at, and the emails went out fine, so all's good.
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Here's the layout of Sidney Harbor:

We pulled into G Dock, where Customs is supposed to be.  There was a beat-up old phone booth there.  No dial, just a handset.  I picked it up, and a voice came on the line:  "Welcome to Canada Customs and Immigration.  For English, press 1.  Pour Francais, 2."  I looked at the place where a normal phone would have some numbers...  Eventually, a nice lady in Ottawa came on the line, in English.  After I explained where Sidney was, she assigned Asterix a 12 digit number that made us legal in Canada.

Port Townsend

Arrival at Point Hudson Marina.

Waiting for the Asterix in Port Townsend

Watching the boats sail by while I wait for the Asterix to arrive. And drinking sangria.

Bainbridge Island

After several tours of the harbor looking for a mooring, finally tired up to the city dock. Having a slow morning while Katherine goes book shopping and Adrian recovers from sunburn.

On Thursday we went to Seattle Center to visit the Science Fiction Museum and see Iron Man 3 in IMAX at the Pacific Science Center. I took several cell phone photos of artifacts that particularly interested me.

One of the Daleks from Revelation of the Daleks.

A space gun from Stargate Atlantis.

A variety of space guns from various shows.

An Anubis head from Stargate SG-1. I'm currently kicking myself over not looking at the photos after I took them because of that reflection.

A sextant that was used as a prop on Deep Space 9.

The costume worn by Christopher Reeve in one of the Superman movies.

A genuine 15th century suit of armor with some modern repairs unfortunately positioned in a very dark spot.

The costumes worn by Vizzini, Buttercup, and Westley in The Princess Bride.

Swords and the six-fingered glove from The Princess Bride.

Susan's bow and arrows from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

The crown and scepter worn by the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

We motored all the way to Bainbridge today. There was a good amount of napping in the sun all around.

On the way to Bainbridge!

Finally made it on the Bainbridge ferry. Asterix beat the road crew by several hours.

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While Shana drove, Asterix's crew was hard at work...

Leaving Des Moines

Our last morning in Des Moines, Craig made sure his ukulele was tuned up and played us a little tune

Hoisting the Alaska flag

Voyage prep includes hoisting homeport flag!

Katherine Going up the Mast to take a Measurement (for a part we were later unable to get)

I asked Katherine if she was nervous being up the mast, or if heights scared her, and she said no, she was just worried about Craig and Adrian dropping her (they were belaying).  Craig said, speaking from experience, that it's not the fall that hurts, but the sudden stop at the end.  Sorry the video is sideways, I have no way to rotate it.

She was measuring for the main halyard sheave, so we could replace the halyard with the proper dimension line. We later found out it had to be custom made, and not available before we need to leave Des Moines, so that is an item that will have to wait to be replaced.

Playing Minecraft in the quarterberth

After cleaning out the quarterberth, Adrian took over the berth to play Minecraft.

Dogmatix, the dinghy

Among other toys, we bought a new dinghy for the boat.  Here's the old dinghy:

And here's Dogmatix, the new dinghy:

Dogmatix is Obelix's little dog in the Asterix comic books.

Up the mast

Needed to check the mast, so we sent the lightest crewmember up. 

Katherine checked everything out, so far so good, just a bunch of cobwebs.  She also measured the masthead sheaves.  I'm thinking of swapping out the current wire/rope halyard for an all-rope one.

Squid

Last night there were several dozen squid feeding on jellyfish around the dock, so Adrian and I had a chance to play with the GoPro under water.

There's more footage that we'll post later, including some of the jellyfish and a couple crabs on the pilings.

Playing with the GoPro

We got a GoPro camera for the trip, so of course I needed to try it out.  Here's a short video of all of us hanging out in the cockpit with pizza and beer.

Forward Party

Katherine & I have been down in Seattle since Thursday.  I can't remember why we decided to come down before Adrian & Craig.  I think the original purpose was to get the boat ready to go, but mostly we have been visiting Mike Kirk, sightseeing and eating, and a lot of book shopping.

However, the first thing we did Thursday when we arrived was take an airport shuttle down to Tacoma to pick up our new car.  It's a Prius C.  Last year, Toyota came out with several new Prius models, including the Prius C, which is the smallest Prius.  It isn't as small as a Honda Fit, but it is pretty small.  The color is called "Ocean [something or other]."  I picked it out without much input from the rest of the family, and now they are deciding that it is a "girly" color.  Oops.  Guess it's my car!  So, Katherine and I drove around Thursday afternoon and evening, got back to the Des Moines Municipal Marina about 7 hours after picking up the car, and noticed that it had a chip in the windshield!  Fuck!  We didn't notice getting hit by a piece of gravel or anything, but we must have.  

Friday after we visited Mike, we went over to Seattle.  View of Seattle from west Seattle.  The two black things in the water are scuba divers.  There was a nicely dressed couple on the beach, who had a photographer taking pictures of them.  Katherine and I thought maybe they were having engagement photos taken, and that they didn't see the scuba divers in the background.  We thought it would be funny if the photographer went back to his studio before he realized all the nice engagement photos had been photo-bombed by scuba divers.  

After we got to downtown, we walked through Pike Place, then sat in the sun in the park next to Pike Place.    The photo above is looking toward where we took the first photo, with the scuba divers in it.  The park was fairly crowded.  The people to our left (just out of the frame of the photo above) were smoking something that was not tobacco. A short while later, a woman came along and tried to sell them some marijuana.  

Someone painted over the "not" in the "Do not feed the birds" sign, so it said, "Do feed the birds."  The woman and girl in the foreground spent a lot of time playing chase while we were there.  It was a park where the sun, tourists, marijuana smoking, sun-bathing, painted out "not", playing children, and general overall atmosphere was pretty relaxed.

I don't buy books, Katherine does.  She buys enough books, that I figure I can just read hers.  Here she is, reading me a funny part from one of the ten books she bought Friday.  It's Dorothy Sayers, "Strong Poison."

Our schedule for today (Saturday) - we are off to visit Mike this morning.  His shaver battery is dying, so he asked us to buy him a new shaver yesterday, which we did, and I'm sure he's waiting for us to bring him the new one.  Then we will come back to the boat and tidy up a bit.  Craig and Adrian arrive late afternoon - 4:30-ish.  I am thinking we should eat at The Scotch and Vine tonight, since we haven't been there yet.  They have pretty good food, and it's fairly close to the marina. http://www.scotchandvine.com/ 

Boat Graphics

Another detail - new boat name and graphics.  I won't bore you with the long story of all the suggested and rejected names for the boat.  Suffice it to say that we spent more time coming up with a name for the boat than we did naming the kids.
Anyway, the boat has a new name, and I've ordered graphics for the hull:

Boat Prep

BOAT: an acronym, meaning "Bring Out Another Thousand".

Asterix is a 35 year old boat, and it shows in some places.  She has also spent her entire life so far in Puget Sound, mostly daysailing and short cruises.  So there was some work to be done to get her ready for the trip.

Upholstery

Asterix still had her original upholstery:

That got replaced.

Ditto for the boat canvas.

She also gained a dodger in the process.

And hauling for strut work, bottom paint, new through hulls, engine rehab, etc.

Oh, and installation of a throne...

What more could anyone want?