We aren't quite sure how it happened, but we blinked and it had already been 10 days we had been in Sitka. That town has some serious gravity for us. Our dear friends Greg and Nicole live there and they have an almost 4 year old daughter, Madeline, who is a delight and a good friend to Lars and Odin. We all had loads of fun together, mostly centered around delicious meals, and their hospitality and generosity was amazing. We also had a visit from Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Ralph that couldn't have been any more fun. We tromped all over the city together, drank terrific, locally brewed beers, went to museums and spent time together at the apartment they rented. Lars and Odin even had a couple of sleepovers with Grandma and Grandpa! Then we had the need to get boat projects done after our long passage to ensure everything was ship shape for the trip through Alaska and home. With chandleries for supplies and with the boat tied to the dock, we were able to do much of what was on
the to do list. All in all 10 days in Sitka disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Today we did finally reach escape velocity and got away from the dock. It was tough to say goodbye, but it also felt really good to be moving again. After taking a good hard look at the distances to cover and the time we have left before getting back to Seattle, we've decided we don't have enough time to do Glacier Bay right, so sadly we will miss it this time. But it just means we will have to come back another time, darn! We are starting home now and will have enough time to take it easy and stop at favorite places for multiple days if we want to, have time to hunker down for bad weather if needed, and have shorter days of travel. Besides all that, there are still tidewater glaciers to see on our way south, and we will have time to do it right.
It's with a strange mix of excitement and sadness that we are making our way home. If I can get my thoughts into any sort of coherent order, I may write more about it later. I certainly have photos to post when we have wifi and aren't using the satellite phone to post. For now we are working our way towards Warm Springs Bay...yes, hot springs!
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
Land Ho!
After sailing like demons, we made it to Sitka and were tied up at a dock by 9:15 pm Alaska time! We are thrilled to be here, and had the best welcome to Sitka celebration with our dear friends Greg, Nicole and Madeline. We are headed to bed and really looking forward to a full night's sleep. More about the passage later, I just love yelling "Land Ho!"
Day 25 to Alaska-- So Close!
Noon position 7/10/16: 56 33.0411N 136 06.3685W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 125 nm
Total distance travelled: 2655 nm
Distance to Sitka: 35 nm (!)
We are sailing along in perfect conditions for our little ship. She is making 6 kts or more in exactly the direction we need to go. We are making great time and are very excited! Sitka here we come!
In addition to the perfect, fast sailing conditions making for a quick countdown of the miles, I had the added bonus of realizing our waypoint for Sitka was in the wrong spot. I don't know if I initially set it wrong, or if it got accidentally reset by curious little boys fascinated by the computer charting software, but by discovering the error, I saved us something like 8 or 10 miles on our distance to Sitka. What a happy surprise!
As we get closer to land, we are stepping up our watch standards and Lars and Odin are helping out by checking for targets on AIS every 10 minutes or so. It's fun to use the computer! (AIS stands for automated information system, commercial boats over 65' are required to transmit their location, speed and course, many other boats have a transponder and transmit the same information. It's got a long range and is great for 'seeing' other boats out there before we can visually see them.)
Tor looked out and just said "it's not distinct, but I think I see the blue of land!" I didn't see it, but his eyes may be better than mine, and it's entirely possible!
We are grateful for the short northern nights. There is a possibility we could get in to port tonight, but only if it is light enough to navigate safely. We shall see!
This just in! Lars lost his sixth tooth! He'd been trying to keep it in until we got to Alaska, and he sure got close!
Noon to noon distance travelled: 125 nm
Total distance travelled: 2655 nm
Distance to Sitka: 35 nm (!)
We are sailing along in perfect conditions for our little ship. She is making 6 kts or more in exactly the direction we need to go. We are making great time and are very excited! Sitka here we come!
In addition to the perfect, fast sailing conditions making for a quick countdown of the miles, I had the added bonus of realizing our waypoint for Sitka was in the wrong spot. I don't know if I initially set it wrong, or if it got accidentally reset by curious little boys fascinated by the computer charting software, but by discovering the error, I saved us something like 8 or 10 miles on our distance to Sitka. What a happy surprise!
As we get closer to land, we are stepping up our watch standards and Lars and Odin are helping out by checking for targets on AIS every 10 minutes or so. It's fun to use the computer! (AIS stands for automated information system, commercial boats over 65' are required to transmit their location, speed and course, many other boats have a transponder and transmit the same information. It's got a long range and is great for 'seeing' other boats out there before we can visually see them.)
Tor looked out and just said "it's not distinct, but I think I see the blue of land!" I didn't see it, but his eyes may be better than mine, and it's entirely possible!
We are grateful for the short northern nights. There is a possibility we could get in to port tonight, but only if it is light enough to navigate safely. We shall see!
This just in! Lars lost his sixth tooth! He'd been trying to keep it in until we got to Alaska, and he sure got close!
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Day 24 to Alaska-- Liking This!
Noon position 7/9/16: 54 54.4455N 137 39.6139W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 107 nm
Total distance travelled: 2530 nm
Distance to Sitka: 160 nm
Now this is perfect sailing. After a fairly frustrating night with shifty wind, that made for either frustratingly slow progress in the direction we wanted to go, or only progress with more easting in it than we wanted (yes, we want to go to Sitka, not Craig!), we've got the perfect conditions right now. 10 kts on the beam making a perfect course at close to 6 kts. The seas are very calm and we are making great time. I just woke up from an almost 3 hour nap and my brain is pretty fuzzy, but I feel terrific.
Perseverance was/is the word of the day, but I'm finding I don't need to focus so much on it right now. Maybe later, but for now I can glory in how things are right now. 160 mm to go, so close and we are so excited!
Noon to noon distance travelled: 107 nm
Total distance travelled: 2530 nm
Distance to Sitka: 160 nm
Now this is perfect sailing. After a fairly frustrating night with shifty wind, that made for either frustratingly slow progress in the direction we wanted to go, or only progress with more easting in it than we wanted (yes, we want to go to Sitka, not Craig!), we've got the perfect conditions right now. 10 kts on the beam making a perfect course at close to 6 kts. The seas are very calm and we are making great time. I just woke up from an almost 3 hour nap and my brain is pretty fuzzy, but I feel terrific.
Perseverance was/is the word of the day, but I'm finding I don't need to focus so much on it right now. Maybe later, but for now I can glory in how things are right now. 160 mm to go, so close and we are so excited!
Friday, July 8, 2016
Day 23 to Alaska-- Fortitude
Noon to noon distance travelled: 97 nm
Total distance travelled: 2423 nm
Distance to Sitka: 260 nm
When I woke up for my night watch, I was pretty discouraged to see our overnight mileage was likely not sufficient to help us meet our anticipated landfall date of 7/10. I decided I needed to not focus on the discouragement and realized I have an important role to play in maintaining ship's morale and that I needed to focus on what I could do to make today as good as possible. I decided that my word of the day is fortitude. Tomorrow may be perseverance. The next day, maybe patience. It looks like our arrival date will likely be July 11th instead of the 10th, and I'm okay with that.
Otherwise we just sail along. The skies are sunny right now and I just woke up from a good nap. The boat motion is pretty good and I've got a yummy lunch planned, chicken curry wraps with our last tortillas. I hard boiled 8 of our 9 last eggs this morning (I'm saving one for brownies this afternoon) and one was bad. I'm glad I discovered it as a boiled egg and not once I put it in brownie batter! I will be cracking that last egg in a separate container to ensure it is good before committing to brownies!
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Day 22 to Alaska-- We Live Our Life on the Great Seas (title courtesy of Lars)
Noon position 7/7/16: 52 35.7524N 141 42.6141W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 103 nm
Total distance travelled: 2326 nm
Distance to Sitka: 354 nm
You tired of hearing about this passage yet? We are tired of living it, but we are in the home stretch. Thank goodness. After the headwinds of yesterday that made it impossible to point where we wanted to, the wind clocked around and we are now on a close reach. We are heeled over, and the sea state means we are crashing into waves, but most important, we are going exactly where we need to go at a decent pace given the sea state. It looks like we will have this wind for the next three days then it's supposed to die off so we motor the last day into Sitka. At least that's what it looks like right now. We think we will make landfall on July 10th. Fingers crossed we can keep up our speed and the schedule holds.
The on board routine is well set. My day starts at 1:30am with my night watch. Odin usually wakes around 6:00am and Lars and Tor sleep a little longer. We have breakfast and then I go take a nap around 9:00 for 1.5-2 hours. Tor, Lars and Odin hang out while I nap, usually playing Lego, building forts or reading. When I wake up I get our noon update ready and after that is posted we have lunch. After lunch Tor takes a nap for 2-3 hours and then it's my turn to hang out with Odin and Lars. We usually read, play Lego, do an art project or occasionally watch a movie. When Tor wakes up I make dinner and by 7:00 the boys and I are getting ready for bed. Tor goes on watch and the boys and I go to sleep together after reading. We are usually asleep by 8:00. We fit in boat sailing as conditions require, but we try hard to preserve sleep times so we try to reef or make major sail changes prior to sleep times in anticipation of calm and quiet sleep. As well as the routine is working for
us, we are ready to completely abandon it and enjoy life on land. Soon enough!
Noon to noon distance travelled: 103 nm
Total distance travelled: 2326 nm
Distance to Sitka: 354 nm
You tired of hearing about this passage yet? We are tired of living it, but we are in the home stretch. Thank goodness. After the headwinds of yesterday that made it impossible to point where we wanted to, the wind clocked around and we are now on a close reach. We are heeled over, and the sea state means we are crashing into waves, but most important, we are going exactly where we need to go at a decent pace given the sea state. It looks like we will have this wind for the next three days then it's supposed to die off so we motor the last day into Sitka. At least that's what it looks like right now. We think we will make landfall on July 10th. Fingers crossed we can keep up our speed and the schedule holds.
The on board routine is well set. My day starts at 1:30am with my night watch. Odin usually wakes around 6:00am and Lars and Tor sleep a little longer. We have breakfast and then I go take a nap around 9:00 for 1.5-2 hours. Tor, Lars and Odin hang out while I nap, usually playing Lego, building forts or reading. When I wake up I get our noon update ready and after that is posted we have lunch. After lunch Tor takes a nap for 2-3 hours and then it's my turn to hang out with Odin and Lars. We usually read, play Lego, do an art project or occasionally watch a movie. When Tor wakes up I make dinner and by 7:00 the boys and I are getting ready for bed. Tor goes on watch and the boys and I go to sleep together after reading. We are usually asleep by 8:00. We fit in boat sailing as conditions require, but we try hard to preserve sleep times so we try to reef or make major sail changes prior to sleep times in anticipation of calm and quiet sleep. As well as the routine is working for
us, we are ready to completely abandon it and enjoy life on land. Soon enough!
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Day 21 to Alaska-- Headwinds
Noon position 7/6/16: 51 25.8286N 143 35.2546W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 98 nm
Total distance travelled: 2223 nm
Distance to Sitka: 452 nm
Ugh. Headwinds. They were forecast, but they seem to be stronger than what our models suggested. So we are heeled over and crashing through waves. Ugh. Hopefully the forecast is correct that they should swing to coming from the west this afternoon for a more comfortable ride.
Other than that, we are just anxious to get there. It's great to see the miles to Sitka tick down.
Noon to noon distance travelled: 98 nm
Total distance travelled: 2223 nm
Distance to Sitka: 452 nm
Ugh. Headwinds. They were forecast, but they seem to be stronger than what our models suggested. So we are heeled over and crashing through waves. Ugh. Hopefully the forecast is correct that they should swing to coming from the west this afternoon for a more comfortable ride.
Other than that, we are just anxious to get there. It's great to see the miles to Sitka tick down.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
Day 20 to Alaska-- That's More Like It.
Noon position 7/5/16: 50 12.6295N 144 52.8730W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 116 nm
Total distance travelled: 2125 nm
Distance to Sitka: 540 nm
Whew. The wind has calmed and the seas are calming. That's much better. Yesterday was really challenging with rocking and rolling so bad we felt like ping pong balls being thrown all over. Tempers were flying and it wasn't a good day at all. We all started over today and with conditions much better, we are back to being a happy family. Albeit a happy family very ready for landfall.
We are making good time and the miles are ticking down. The boys are reading Stuart Little with Tor. I just woke up from a nap and need to come up with something for lunch. The sun is shining. The boat is sailing along where we need her to go at hull speed. We just passed a NOAA research vessel on station. Life is good.
Noon to noon distance travelled: 116 nm
Total distance travelled: 2125 nm
Distance to Sitka: 540 nm
Whew. The wind has calmed and the seas are calming. That's much better. Yesterday was really challenging with rocking and rolling so bad we felt like ping pong balls being thrown all over. Tempers were flying and it wasn't a good day at all. We all started over today and with conditions much better, we are back to being a happy family. Albeit a happy family very ready for landfall.
We are making good time and the miles are ticking down. The boys are reading Stuart Little with Tor. I just woke up from a nap and need to come up with something for lunch. The sun is shining. The boat is sailing along where we need her to go at hull speed. We just passed a NOAA research vessel on station. Life is good.
Monday, July 4, 2016
Day 19 to Alaska-- Fourth of July
Noon position 7/4/16: 48 57.9367N 147 01.9963W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 124 nm
Total distance travelled: 2009 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 650 nm
Happy Fourth of July! The most excitement we are having on our holiday is that the wind has picked back up into the 20s again. With the wind, the seas have picked up, so we are bouncing and rolling again. But we are making good time. This current windy bit is supposed to last through tomorrow morning and then it should moderate again. Morale is a little touch and go because bouncing around like this is so uncomfortable. We look forward to it settling down.
Lars and Odin were given a package by Asunto to open 1 week out from Sitka. We gave it to them to open this morning, it's another milestone! That, and last night we passed Seattle's latitude, we are now north of home and patiently riding out our third low (or aspiring to patience).
Noon to noon distance travelled: 124 nm
Total distance travelled: 2009 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 650 nm
Happy Fourth of July! The most excitement we are having on our holiday is that the wind has picked back up into the 20s again. With the wind, the seas have picked up, so we are bouncing and rolling again. But we are making good time. This current windy bit is supposed to last through tomorrow morning and then it should moderate again. Morale is a little touch and go because bouncing around like this is so uncomfortable. We look forward to it settling down.
Lars and Odin were given a package by Asunto to open 1 week out from Sitka. We gave it to them to open this morning, it's another milestone! That, and last night we passed Seattle's latitude, we are now north of home and patiently riding out our third low (or aspiring to patience).
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Day 18 to Alaska-- Back to Sailing Sailing
Noon to noon distance travelled: 117 nm
Total distance travelled: 1885 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 768 nm
After motor sailing for just over 24 hours, the wind came up at 12-15 knots for a nice beam reach directly to Sitka. We will take it! The sky is even bright. I was going to say the sun has come out, but that's not quite right. We are making some solar power, but not much. All in all conditions are quite nice right now. I even made pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Yum!
Yesterday afternoon we crossed over 150 degrees W longitude which means we are now in the Alaska time zone! We've decided to keep our ship's clocks on Hawaii time for now and just transition to Alaska time when we get to Sitka, but crossing over 150W is a milestone none the less!
Alaska, here we come!
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Day 17 to Alaska-- We Prefer to Call it Sail Motoring
Noon position 7/2/16: 45 53.8447N 150 22.9986W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 105 nm
Total distance travelled: 1768 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 880 nm
After some very windy days, we now have next to no wind and are motoring. My night watch found me out in the cockpit for the first time in many days making sure we were on course, for the full 5 hours. It made me long for an autopilot! Sitting in the drizzle also made me very cold. Fortunately while I took a long nap this morning the wind came up just enough for us to motor sail and Merlin our windvane is handling the steering. The rain has also stopped. It's amazing how a nap can help you to refocus and feel better!
We've crossed some psychological milestone for me. I look at the chart every noon and see the progress towards Sitka in a different way. It feels like we are actually going to get there, instead of me just seeing how far we still have to go. It's a very good mental shift.
We are still having problems with water in the diesel day tank for the heater. Tor continues to drain fuel off that has water in it, gets the heater going again, and then a few hours later it fizzles out again and he needs to repeat the process. It's really frustrating for him, and I think he's in a different mental state than I am. Poor guy, but we are getting there.
As usual, Lars and Odin are handling this all very well. They find lots to do to keep themselves entertained, and though they would clearly benefit from some running around on land, the occasional wrestle fest helps fulfill their minimum needs for movement.
Noon to noon distance travelled: 105 nm
Total distance travelled: 1768 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 880 nm
After some very windy days, we now have next to no wind and are motoring. My night watch found me out in the cockpit for the first time in many days making sure we were on course, for the full 5 hours. It made me long for an autopilot! Sitting in the drizzle also made me very cold. Fortunately while I took a long nap this morning the wind came up just enough for us to motor sail and Merlin our windvane is handling the steering. The rain has also stopped. It's amazing how a nap can help you to refocus and feel better!
We've crossed some psychological milestone for me. I look at the chart every noon and see the progress towards Sitka in a different way. It feels like we are actually going to get there, instead of me just seeing how far we still have to go. It's a very good mental shift.
We are still having problems with water in the diesel day tank for the heater. Tor continues to drain fuel off that has water in it, gets the heater going again, and then a few hours later it fizzles out again and he needs to repeat the process. It's really frustrating for him, and I think he's in a different mental state than I am. Poor guy, but we are getting there.
As usual, Lars and Odin are handling this all very well. They find lots to do to keep themselves entertained, and though they would clearly benefit from some running around on land, the occasional wrestle fest helps fulfill their minimum needs for movement.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Day 16 to Alaska-- Another Windy Day
Noon position 7/1/16: 44 45.6817N 152 07.6746W
Noon to noon distance travelled: 123 nm
Total distance travelled: 1663 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 978 nm
We are scooting right along with just the reefed mizzen and staysail. We are cuddling down below and staying warm. Merlin the windvane is doing all the hard work. We are glad for a crew member who doesn't complain about the weather!
We are making good progress and are glad for it, though we are a bit tired of being thrown around due to the sea state. The weather models show that we will have very little to no wind tomorrow, that will probably be good for settling the sea state down. We can hope!
We've seen lots of commercial traffic and are grateful for our AIS so we can see where they are. We've been able to reach someone on almost every vessel just to let them know we here, though only one has been close enough to us that they have altered course.
The boys are listening to The Boxcar Children on audiobook, thank you Uncle Karl! They are binging and loving it.
Noon to noon distance travelled: 123 nm
Total distance travelled: 1663 nm
Distance to Sitka (straight line distance): 978 nm
We are scooting right along with just the reefed mizzen and staysail. We are cuddling down below and staying warm. Merlin the windvane is doing all the hard work. We are glad for a crew member who doesn't complain about the weather!
We are making good progress and are glad for it, though we are a bit tired of being thrown around due to the sea state. The weather models show that we will have very little to no wind tomorrow, that will probably be good for settling the sea state down. We can hope!
We've seen lots of commercial traffic and are grateful for our AIS so we can see where they are. We've been able to reach someone on almost every vessel just to let them know we here, though only one has been close enough to us that they have altered course.
The boys are listening to The Boxcar Children on audiobook, thank you Uncle Karl! They are binging and loving it.
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