Sundown Sailing Adventures

Sailors for all history have taken advantage of the ebb and flow of the tide. Here in the Pacific Northwest, and in particular the San Juan Islands, the currents created by the tide have a profound effect on your movement by water. Depending on the time of day and location within the islands, there can be plus or minus two or more knots for or against you. In light winds, that means the currents could cause you to sail backwards!

So while tide has a daily effect on all mariners, time is ever present, also. “How does time factor in?,” you may ask. Besides planning your sailing around the currents (hopefully choosing routes with currents in your favor), the time you choose to sail is so dependent on weather.

Since September when we officially moved aboard, we have waited out at least five gales (sustained winds above 34 mph). There are three ways to do that. Drop an anchor, attach to a mooring ball or tie up to a dock.

Sitting on an anchor in high winds requires a vigilant watch to make sure the anchor isn’t dragging, plus watching other boats around you to make sure they’re not dragging and potentially threatening to drift into your boat. Similar considerations exist when you’re attached to a mooring ball (although dragging isn’t really an issue). The upside of both anchoring and mooring is that it’s relatively easy to leave a location when the weather is less than pleasant (which for some stalwart sailors means it’s just good sailing weather). Being tied up to a dock may feel secure, but there’s still a chance another boat can break free from its dock lines and create havoc for other vessels. Additionally, it’s more difficult to leave (or tie up to) a dock in stormy weather.

The slipway where we’re docked in Deer Harbor on Orcas Island is considerably challenging to get in and out of in high winds due to it’s narrow width and the direction the wind is blowing from, so we wait. (Besides, we have no particular destination and no timeframe.) While we wait, we’re exploring the island, ticking off items from the “to-do” list and taking advantage of short windows of opportunities to leave the shelter of the harbor for quick run abouts.

This past week, we rode our bikes to a trailhead and hiked up Turtleback Mountain. The forest is lush with large Douglas fir, Madrone and cedar trees, and ground cover rich with lichen and mushrooms. There are signs of deer everywhere, and I understand that there were even elk on the island at one time.

I’ve also finished constructing our propane tank mounts on the pushpit (the little deck on the back of the boat) and got our washdown pump working properly. Kim designed and sewed covers for the skylights.

The one day we were able to leave the dock, we drove around the harbor to get our navigation equipment fine tuned so our electronic compass and our magnetic compass are in sync. Then Kim practiced docking several times.

The weather forecast looks like we might get a break tomorrow. If that holds true, we may go for a sail before we have to button up Sundown in preparation for our travel back to Colorado for the holidays. We’ll see. Meanwhile, we wait.