Lady K nearly sinks, and a Saturday morning reflection

Port Townsend, WA, 5-JAN-2019 – It’s ten after seven on this Saturday Morning. It’s dark and won’t be light for another while. I’m trying to think where have we spent that last few winters such that I am surprised it is dark.

I remember winter sailing from Lake Union the first year we had Caro Babbo. We left the dock at 6.30; it was very dark.

This morning I have a bit of panic: I don’t know what to work on. For a moment, I had a ‘‘I’m retired’’ panic. What do I do with my time? I’m not head down in a house to be sold, I’m not literally head down in a boat bilge.

Work has translated into physically doing something. And I don’t have anything physically to do.

The great refuge is email and the web. An email from Darrel Walters suggests I watch a video of a Canadian pleasure boat sinking in the Bahamas. Their nightmare lasts ninety minutes and all is well at the end, but it makes me look at Caro Babbo in the light of their calamity.

Continue reading “Lady K nearly sinks, and a Saturday morning reflection”

Back in the PNW

Back in Port Townsend, after an overnight on Caro Babbo, we return to a water leak at the PT house.

Port Townsend, WA, 30-DEC-2018 – It’s 4 am. I haven’t made the complete transition to west coast time.

It is a fitting morning to be in Port Townsend. The wind howls and buffets Jennifer’s house here, while Caro Babbo sleeps 30 miles away, across Puget Sound, safe in her slip on Lake Union

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On Land

Decatur GA, 20-Oct-2018 – The most pleasurable difference, between sailing and being on the dock at Lee’s landing in Seattle, is unlimited water and unlimited power. Granted, the water comes in 25 gallon slugs, but with the unlimited electricity it means that the water is hot.

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Victoria, BC – Back in civilization

Victoria, BC, 27-SEP-2018 – There’s no denying we’re back in civilization. The drop boards are in the main cabin way to keep out the noise, not the cold. The sirens sounded throughout the night. Jennifer slept soundly.

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Resting and Reflecting in Hot Springs Cove

Hot Spring Cove, Vancouver Island, BC, 18-SEP-2018 – Two days ago, we regained cellular service after a two week absence. The first Messenger text to come through was a single, ‘‘Where are you? The pain is unbearable.’’ from a close, family friend.

This year we have an Iridium GO with us. It has allowed us to be in contact with world via e-mail, voice and text. It has been invaluable.

I did my best to make sure that everyone dear to us knew how to easily contact us. In the case of my Dad, who suffered a blood clot, this worked as planned

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Waiting for weather on the Pacific Coast

Bunsby Islands southeast of Brooks Peninsula, 7-Sep-2018 — The random play on the tablet seems to have a penchant for 1960’s seminal bands: The Byrds, the Yardbirds to name two.

We’re in a cove nestled away from the Pacific, which won’t be very pacific for the next few days. Today is not too bad, twenty knots most of the day, but a low is moving in. The barometer will drop from 1018 to 996 in a bunch of hours at some point in the next couple, three days and 40 knot winds are scheduled to come ashore. Continue reading “Waiting for weather on the Pacific Coast”

Racor

Khutze Inlet, 27-AUG-2018 – While Jennifer sleeps, I research and fret over what to do about he junk that has accumulated in the bowl of our Racor fuel filter.

Kutze Inlet is a beautiful, big place, surrounded by mountains, with snow-cover peaks glimpsed around closer mounts. The water is flat and two water falls provide a constant aural accompaniment to the sights. Continue reading “Racor”

People, the RCMP and us

Lowe Inlet, Nettle Basin, BC, Canada, 24-AUG-2018 – Yesterday we stopped at a preserved cannery. Yes, there is an irony there.

The cannery is in Inverness Passage, a short drive from Prince Rupert, or about 15 miles by boat, if you don’t go over the shoals, which we do not.

It was another in the series of days of predicted northerly winds that do not show up. It is also the land of the mystifying currents.

We moored the day before at Cow Bay marina, which is the most expensive marina we stay in in our entire travels. It is the only marina that charges by the slip length, rather than the boat length, though we have been comped power. It also has a Canadian customs phone, which makes things easy.

When calling on the phone, the Canadians want you to be on a certified dock. You can’t just call in, as we do with the Americans. At Cow Bay is Robin, the manager whom we’ve gotten to know over the past two years. We’ve also seen him at the Seattle boat show.

This year we’ve also gotten to know Mango. Continue reading “People, the RCMP and us”

Port Townsend on Parade

Lord’s Pocket, AK, 14-AUG-2018 — I’m not writing as much as I’d like. To be honest, as much as I feel I should. Traveling in Caro Babbo has become life, it is not an adventure or a vacation. It is our life, or at least my life. Jennifer is feeling she has had enough of this trip and wants to return home, wherever that is now. But we are headed south and it is nice traveling.

We’ve traveled from Juneau to Baranof Warm springs, after Tenake springs, and then Cosmos Cove.

Cosmos Cove was lovely. It is wide with nothing particular to recommend it looking from a chart, but from inside it is silent with a focused view of the mountains across the strait. The trip to Cosmos had been a long 10 hour motor with mirrored water rather than the predicted 10-15 knots. We’ve been shadowed recently by two sail boats, Laiva and Balloon. We’d seen Laiva in Juneau, where it sat empty for a few days before showing signs of life. Continue reading “Port Townsend on Parade”

Leaving Glacier Bay

Icy Strait, North of Hoonah, 5-AUG-2018 — I lay in bed for a while this morning after the alarm went off at 4. I wasn’t tired, but I thought it might be darker than we wanted to leave. Sunrise is around 4:50 in the morning these days.

It probably wasn’t, but I lay there anyway. About 4:20, I got up, used the head and found my clothes in the main cabin where I left them. Socks are always the problem. Without turning on the lights, dark socks in dark shadows are generally found aboard Caro Babbo by feel: either underfoot, or on hands and knees. Continue reading “Leaving Glacier Bay”