OP
OP
Nomad Willy
Guru
Day 20. 0500. Leaving Brundage Inlet. Bueautiful sunshine but as we motored down the channel we saw fog at the far end. Thick fog. Decided to run on insturments. A course just slightly west of north took us out into the most open part of the Dixon Entrance. I was extreemly pleased with my compass. Without autopilot the old fashioned compass was the best way of maintaining a reasonably straight course. With so little time in this mode it took (at first) lots of attention to stay on course. We were headed toward the west side of Duke Island and could see Prince of Wales Island after the fog cleared. We were running 5 or 6 miles west of most all marine traffic I didn't see anything on the radar and I had everything well adjusted.
There was an extreemly beaten up plastic dinghy right out in the middle. Was calm untill the fog lifted but our passage was fairly comfortable in the big open water. Went through a narrow channel on the west end of Mary Island. Usually one goes to the east end by the " Mary Island Light " . I was tired and gave the helm to Chris to Revillagigado Channel. I can actually pronounce that!
When we arrived at Ketchikan a stiff wind blew up 3' seas right in the harbor. Banged my knuckles getting the boat into the slip at Bar Harbor. The Willy Displaces 8 tons and we still got blown around some. Did the customs thing .. dinner and bed.
Spent a whole extra day in Ketchikan. Getting showers, shopping for a larger "O" ring for the fuel filler caps, shopping, eating, playing tourist. After only a few days in the wilderness I seem to revel in getting urbanism all over me. Sat on the rail at the dock alongside a cruise ship and watched the people. Now and then you'd see an Alaskan in amongst them. Even though the Alaskans were the minority the tourists stood out as foreign. The tourists looked like generally nice people. Some of our Alaskan friends don't look so nice and have some mildly rude habbits but many of them actually are the nicest people I've known.
Day 22. 1035 hrs under way from the fuel dock with 43 gal at 4.56 a gal. Wind was comming right up Tongass Narrows so I thought we'd have a nice ride home on the following seas .. wrong. Wind and seas turned SW at Gaurd Is. Seas also came from the ENE down Behm Cannal. Every minute or so the boat fell into a hole sideways on the stb side. The fwd cabin floor was covered with stuff and we thought we were quite secure. Another 5 min of that and we changed course that took us to the east side of Clarence Strait and Camano PT.
Always the optomist I figured things would get better but in front of Camano pt we couldn't hold our course west enough to pass the point to the west. Had to go a bit up Behm Canal, then turn west to get west of Camano pt so we could go gracefully north .. sort of . I spread my legs wide apart, got savage with the helm, swore a bit (OK a lot) and slowly we won our northward passage. It was a long haul up the west end of Cleavland Peninsula. In time the seas moderated a bit and we headed across Clarence Strait tward Tolstoi pt and the entrance to Thorne Bay.
The long ride home was a done deal. I was already looking forward to a long peacefull winter. The weather has delivered in that no unusally harsh stuff has come our way. My recent stepdaughter and grandson (6) are coming to stay with us .. at least through the winter. To make a trip like this you need to go beyond your skills, experience and judgment, or you won't make it .. the trip. After all .. how did you get to where you are now? If you come this way keep in mind that it is a wery long way and the slower you go the harder it will be to find good anchorages. You can do it in a rowboat or a very large yacht .. both have their disadvantages .. but the best size of boat is 30 to 40 feet. Learn to navigate, listen to the radio, anchor and maintian your boat. The rest is a matter of weather, luck and good judgement. It woudd be fun to share fact, opnion or experience but keep in mind that I'm just the one talking .. there are a lot of guys that know more about this than me .. even on this site .. like Old salt. Cruising styles vary widely ( for example I never use waypoints ) and we can learn from each other, much that we can't learn ourselves. As a prize for listening to me run along at my keyboard I invite you all to my home if you come, more or less one at a time as I'm down to one guest room. If you want to know what it's like here ask Old Salt .. He's been to Thorne Bay and he's been to many places in SE that I have not .. but I'm out to narrow the gap.
There was an extreemly beaten up plastic dinghy right out in the middle. Was calm untill the fog lifted but our passage was fairly comfortable in the big open water. Went through a narrow channel on the west end of Mary Island. Usually one goes to the east end by the " Mary Island Light " . I was tired and gave the helm to Chris to Revillagigado Channel. I can actually pronounce that!
When we arrived at Ketchikan a stiff wind blew up 3' seas right in the harbor. Banged my knuckles getting the boat into the slip at Bar Harbor. The Willy Displaces 8 tons and we still got blown around some. Did the customs thing .. dinner and bed.
Spent a whole extra day in Ketchikan. Getting showers, shopping for a larger "O" ring for the fuel filler caps, shopping, eating, playing tourist. After only a few days in the wilderness I seem to revel in getting urbanism all over me. Sat on the rail at the dock alongside a cruise ship and watched the people. Now and then you'd see an Alaskan in amongst them. Even though the Alaskans were the minority the tourists stood out as foreign. The tourists looked like generally nice people. Some of our Alaskan friends don't look so nice and have some mildly rude habbits but many of them actually are the nicest people I've known.
Day 22. 1035 hrs under way from the fuel dock with 43 gal at 4.56 a gal. Wind was comming right up Tongass Narrows so I thought we'd have a nice ride home on the following seas .. wrong. Wind and seas turned SW at Gaurd Is. Seas also came from the ENE down Behm Cannal. Every minute or so the boat fell into a hole sideways on the stb side. The fwd cabin floor was covered with stuff and we thought we were quite secure. Another 5 min of that and we changed course that took us to the east side of Clarence Strait and Camano PT.
Always the optomist I figured things would get better but in front of Camano pt we couldn't hold our course west enough to pass the point to the west. Had to go a bit up Behm Canal, then turn west to get west of Camano pt so we could go gracefully north .. sort of . I spread my legs wide apart, got savage with the helm, swore a bit (OK a lot) and slowly we won our northward passage. It was a long haul up the west end of Cleavland Peninsula. In time the seas moderated a bit and we headed across Clarence Strait tward Tolstoi pt and the entrance to Thorne Bay.
The long ride home was a done deal. I was already looking forward to a long peacefull winter. The weather has delivered in that no unusally harsh stuff has come our way. My recent stepdaughter and grandson (6) are coming to stay with us .. at least through the winter. To make a trip like this you need to go beyond your skills, experience and judgment, or you won't make it .. the trip. After all .. how did you get to where you are now? If you come this way keep in mind that it is a wery long way and the slower you go the harder it will be to find good anchorages. You can do it in a rowboat or a very large yacht .. both have their disadvantages .. but the best size of boat is 30 to 40 feet. Learn to navigate, listen to the radio, anchor and maintian your boat. The rest is a matter of weather, luck and good judgement. It woudd be fun to share fact, opnion or experience but keep in mind that I'm just the one talking .. there are a lot of guys that know more about this than me .. even on this site .. like Old salt. Cruising styles vary widely ( for example I never use waypoints ) and we can learn from each other, much that we can't learn ourselves. As a prize for listening to me run along at my keyboard I invite you all to my home if you come, more or less one at a time as I'm down to one guest room. If you want to know what it's like here ask Old Salt .. He's been to Thorne Bay and he's been to many places in SE that I have not .. but I'm out to narrow the gap.
