LIES LIES LIES!

My friends on Yang Shi as it happens had quite an adventure. When I returned to Neah Bay 9/4 I had called Lee on his cell phone, and Yang Shi’s motor had overheated after a broken fan belt. They had a spare and had just replaced it and had decided to continue on to Westport. As the skies darkened the winds and seas picked up and it became quite a bumpy ride; so much so, that sediment that had settled in the bottom of the Yang Shi’s fuel tanks was now mixed into the fuel and clogged the fuel filter, stalling and eventually making their engine inoperative. They tried to reef the main, but some issues prevented a secure reef, so they just lowered the sail a bit and now with a 25-35kt south wind, had two choices sail east, or sail west, they chose the safer west bearing.

At dawn they decided to contact the Coast Guard and apprise them of their situation. They were about half way between LaPush and Westport, and the Coast Guard strongly worded their suggestion on returning to LaPush, as while there was due a temporary reprieve from the wind, it was indeed only temporary, and Westport was at that time closing it’s bar.

At about this point Yang Shi’s dinghy which was being towed behind, with the large and heavy steering vane oar secured inside, realized liberation and self realization was at hand and snapped the shackle holding it’s line and is now somewhere, off on it’s own adventure.

As morning became afternoon, conditions eventually did deteriorate further, and the Coast Guard at La Push decided to come out the 15 remaining miles to tow Yang Shi in, and by all accounts were the ultimate in consummate seamanship. They briskly towed Yang Shi to safety, so in spite of all else Yang Shi’s hull is now very clean indeed. Safe and sound in LaPush it was decided 2009 was not the year for Yang Shi, and she was returning to inland waters.

Those of you who have been with me from the start, know that I had to make the same decision in 2008, and while there are precious few words I could offer Lee, I hope that knowing he isn’t the first to have to turn around, repair and reassess and set their aim on next year, gives him some solace.

Meanwhile back aboard Ivy, I sat through the next few days of icky, ugly, wet and windy weather and I had my own concerns. The sun was rising later and later each day, and setting earlier and earlier. Looking at the various weather models I saw that weak, low pressure systems were arriving about every two days like clockwork. Well, no pun intended, after five days of muck, I saw a ray of sunshine. It appeared that Wednesday 9/9 the final system was clearing through, and Thursday 9/10 on was looking good.

Neah Bay

I had been in contact with Lee aboard Yang Shi, and Larry who had returned home to Arlington. Yang Shi now having had a mechanic fix the engine, was unfortunately down one crew, as Bob had boat maintenance of his own to deal with back in Everett, so I offered to come down over land to LaPush to help deliver Yang Shi back to Neah Bay. Do not think this was altogether so altruistic of me, I had ulterior motives as well. This would give me some experience crewing on someone else’s boat, also give me a chance to dig into the vast knowledge Larry had about seamanship, coastal navigation, and route planning, and give me eyes-on reconnaissance on my next port of call, something I have been lucky enough to do with every port this year.

Thursday 9/10, well in a word the trip back on Yang Shi was.. uneventful. Boy how I love that word ‘uneventful’! We saw some crab-pots, we got some fog, we never did find the buoy off Umitilla Reef, but all in all it was a glorious passage. It is so amazing the feeling of well being a trip like that gives. Could it have been better? Sure, we could have had more favorable winds, and been able to sail, but it was also good to exercise the newly repaired motor. It was a quick trip, I believe we averaged just over 6kts and made it into Neah Bay just after 4pm.

Back in Neah Bay, I was itching to get started, and Saturday looked fair, Sunday was suppose to be better (I am just going to ignore the fact that Fridays exist from now on I think). So watching weather model after weather model hour after hour, as Saturday approached, it looked less and less good.. disheartening! However Sunday was my ace in the hole: North or Northwest winds 10-15kts, West swell 10 feet at 13 seconds, and all models agreed, right up until Saturday night at 9pm; when they all did an about face and forecast Southerlies 5-10kts.. pisser! I went to bed thinking if they still claimed this in the morning, I would be looking at hanging in Neah Bay for another week. Well, I woke up Sunday 9/13 at 5am, and yes all the forecasts were still Southerlies. Just on a lark I rechecked at 6:30am and the new (6:00am) forecast had gone back to North or Northwesterlies. I am out of here!

Leaving Neah Bay

I was able to get everything stowed and ready, and by 8am I got underway, a little later then I would have liked, as I really enjoy the leaving at dawn concept.. a bit schmaltzy and over romantic I know, but I like to think of Ivy and I both waking up at the same time underway. There was no shortage of fog on the way out, and I was battling a pretty willful current. I had a very disappointing run out to Duncan Rock, as it took about four hours, averaging a ground speed of just 2.5kts. Even though the flood was at 10am I found the flooding current lasted a good two hours further. Maybe in the Strait this is a well known phenomenon, as I did notice the reverse happening on the Port Angeles to Neah Bay trip as well.

Southward bound, I made the new course for Umitilla Reef, and I was back up to about 5 kts. As for the North Northwesterly promised? LIES LIES LIES! South wind, 5kt on the nose the entire trip. Larry from Yang Shi had told me that even while motoring into the wind, one can gain some speed by lifting just a little bit of skirt, as this helps stabilize the boat and keeps the prop in the deepest possible water, so I raised the main with one reef, and it did make for an easier motion, I suspect he is right about the speed as well, but it pained me to see my new full batten main getting flogged so.

It was not the worst day ever by a long shot, but gray, overcast when the fog did lift; 10 foot Westerly swells complicated by Southerly wind waves just made for so much slop. The bungy cord to the tiller trick worked quite well, and for half an hour at a time I was able to leave the helm to itself, however I do think a tiller pilot is in my near future. I am thinking of getting the very smallest, cheapest unit out there, a Simrad TP10 (looking for advice and recommendations from all you old salts). Ivy when motoring seems to have a average to light helm, and if I am sailing, if I ever do sail, if I ever get some PREVAILING WEATHER! I will use the self steering vane. I will have to evict the spider now living in it though.

Ivan The Spider

After making Umitilla Reef and heading South South East, I was finally getting some wind on the main, and up to a respectable speed of around 5.5kts. I made La Push at 7pm, being close to dusk it was already getting hard to see, and the near fog made it all the worse. It was tricky coming in, right when you enter the channel and cross the bar, it gets fairly narrow; and I was respectfully nervous trying to make the approach, but once in everything settled down, and I was able to idle the motor down and breathe out for the first time in fifteen minutes.

On a positive note, Ivy freed from the labor of towing her dinghy is now making 5.5kts through the water. I had always planned to strap her dinghy to the foredeck once I got to Neah Bay, but in the attempt the week before I had plum forgot until I got out there in it. Yang Shi’s now unfettered dinghy, underlined the importance of giving my dinghy a little respite.

Randy
S/V Ivy

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