A Sunny Work Day

Sunday 9 May 2010 Mother's Day

The other night after dark set in and as my head was hitting the pillow, I heard an active group of coyotes off in the distance. I could hear 4 distinct voices and they were definitely on the island. This is the first time for me to hear that call of the wild, while in Martin Slough. I always hear them while tied up for the night at Coon Island. I do love to hear them, as it conjurers up pioneering life in rural America.

This morning I ran the engine and charged the house batteries, then put Pashmina in the water and scrubbed the Shatoosh's hull, waterline and bottom as far as I could reach with the deck brush. Then I scrubbed Pashmina and put her back on the cabin top. Her tarp has met its last days so I have another to replace it. I fix the ends of all the tarp lines, taping and heating the ends.

 The weather continues to be beautiful and warm. It is such a joy to have good weather. Another couple in an old sailboat pulled in last evening. They were moving her to her new slip in Kalama. Both of us spent the morning cleaning boats and they were getting all the winter dirt off. She looked quite presentable when they left and they were excited to have her near their new home in Longview. I bid them farewell and wished them lots of fun in the coming months.

I left at 1445 hrs and slugged my way back up river and against the tide and current. The best I could muster was 6.2 knots and that was hanging out on the outer fringes of the river on the Oregon side. I by passed my other favorite, Coon Island, as the wind started to get cold and a rain squall was approaching. I did, in fact, pass a huge sea lion who was in hot pursuit of salmon. The Multnomah Channel was serene and still and hardly any boat traffic.

I had such a wonderful trip and the sun has boosted my spirits.
Total miles run 36.9

My Old Favorite- Martin Slough

Yesterday the sun was shinning and after getting supplies I depart for my old fav lagoon: Martin slough. The weather is perfect, the Columbia still and peaceful and I arrive after sliding down river with the ebbing tide at 8.5 knots. It could not have been a more perfect cruise. I meet a freighter coming up river.

My gps is being mapped on Sea Clear and the chartplotter is performing as it should. I look for my hearty mother osprey and she has already hatched her chick. Last year she had 3 and nutured them all to fledge. I slow down to navigate the cut and as expected, I am alone in the lagoon. What a treat.

I awake to crystal clear blues skies, a slight breeze fills the lagoon with one large cat's paw.

While the temperature is crisp the projection is a high of 70, which is a nice break from 47. The cattle herd is growing and I see 3 big black angus bulls and a few recent calves. 7 vultures are circling on the east side of the lagoon, but what catches my eagle eye is a pair of wood ducks cruising past the dock. This is a first for me to see these beauties here in the lagoon. They spend some time preening themselves on the shore and then take flight and circle back to the trees in the meadow. They build nests in trees and then shove their chicks out, sometimes falling 20 ft. They tumble and roll and are ready to follow their mother to the water to get their first swimming lesson.

I have a list of things to do, as usual, but will enjoy the weather and the peace that nature provides. A great blue meanders down the dock towards Shatoosh, and the swallows are flitting everywhere skimming insects off the water. I am certain today will be a delicious reminder that summer is near and I am going to enjoy the rare rays of sunshine on my pale body.

I pump up new fenders and attach lines. these will be used in the locks along with the new bow and stern lines that  I prepared a few weeks ago. I tightened all the nuts on cleats, pulpit railing, and the deck bolts in preparation of extra loads. Lots of scrubbing and cleaning done.

Went down to the end of the dock to say hi to all the cows. Many are new mothers and a red headed (hereford)  came over to smell my hand. I thought since it was Mother's Day weekend I should take their photos, as no other boats have cruised in. Where have all the mothers gone?

Late afternoon a lovely Tiara powerboat named Mattanza pulls into the dock, cooks up some burgers in minutes and hand delivers one to me. The new owners are familiar with Albins, so they get a tour and just as fast as they appeared, they departed. So fast, I didn"t get a photo of them. Thanks folks for the delicious burger and it was nice meeting you and seeing your boat. The sun is behind the cottonwoods now and it has been a beautiful day spent in nature with the sun beaming glorious rays upon me. With a burger in my belly, I'll settle down with some hot tea and have a quiet evening. At 9 pm I discover my #2 batteries are dead.They have been loosing their charge, so will have to get them replaced. They are only 4 years old. 

Ah, The Sound of a Ringing Bell

Thursday 6 May 2010

I'm on board this afternoon after a quick house-sitting stint on Orcas Island. I have to admit sometimes life is tough but someone has to do the difficult tasks. While I was there, I went out on my favorite whale watching boat, The Orca Express. J-pod is one of the resident pods in the Puget Sound and they were beginning to come down from BC. We got to see many of them in Rosario Strait between Deception Pass and Lopez Island. Granny, the matriarch is 99 years old and her son, Ruffles or J1 is 55 years old this year. It is always a treat to see these magnificent creatures. Dan, the captain and his naturalist, Deb always go the extra mile so everyone gets a wonderful experience. As a genealogist, I love that they have photos and genealogies of J,K and L pods available for review.

The first order of the afternoon was to mount the SS Independence Bell. First, I had to remove a photo and the hat rack in the head, then drill through the bulkhead and finally through bolt everything. The bell is quite large for this small boat but makes an impressive statement and sound in this small cabin. I like it tho and enjoy our shared history of cruising the Hawaiian waters, the SF Bay area and Suisun Bay. Just out of interest I looked up her sister ship, The SS Constitution and she, too, had a terrible ending to her life. While being towed from Portland to Asia for ship wrecking, she began taking on water and sank 700 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. What disastrous endings for such beautiful ships.

SS Independence: Putting the Bell Puzzle Together

Life is always full of surprises. The other night a friend asked if I had a ship's bell on my boat. I replied, "no, I don't". He got up and returned with a back pack and pulled out a ship's bell. He stated he bought it several years ago in a donation auction and always thought it needed a ship.

He went on to say that he recently rang it at the funeral memorial of his long time friend and Chief of the Makah Indian Tribe at Neah Bay, Washington. It had been the only time he had rung the bell. I asked about the history of this bell and he relayed what had been told to him at the auction. The Independence was an aircraft carrier during the Viet Nam era and his Captain was named Bridges and is a family member of the Ben Bridges Jewelery stores in the Seattle area. Also, the Independence had been mothballed with the fleet in Pearl Harbor.

The next day, I pulled the bell out of the pack and really looked at it. I found it unusual that the inscription is

SS Independence; meaning sailing ship and not USS Independence, as it would be for a US Naval Ship. I googled the names and discover:

The SS Independence is a cruise ship:

1. Built in the 50's on the east coast and in the 80's was refitted in Japan to become, along with its sister ship, The SS Constitution, an inter-island Hawaiian Cruise Line in the 80's. It ran for 20 years and the end the company went bankrupt. Her last Captain was Dana Wirkala.
2. After that the ship had a miserable journey of being towed to various ports, running aground, hitting the Carquienez Bridge while heading into the Suisun Bay( Delta of California) to be mothballed, then back up to the Napa River at Mare Island Shipyard, where it grounded at the dock. It was then towed back to the Bay area and docked for years.
3. It was bought by a shipwrecking company in India, who towed it to the Arabian Sea near the State of Gujarat in India where it ran aground on a small island just offshore. It lies, stuck, listing at 35 degrees and rusting.
4. I am familiar with this sailing ship from seeing it many times in the Hawaiian waters, remember it hitting the Carquinez Bridge, as I had Shatoosh in the Delta at the time, have run aground on the Napa River myself, and have cruised past the mothball fleet in Suisuin Bay trying to find Montezuma Slough.

The USS Independence:

1. Was an aircraft carrier used in the Viet Nam era and her sister Ship was the USS Saratoga, based out of Yokuska, Japan. I am very familar with the Saratoga, when being a Captain stationed in Yokohama, Japan in late 60's, we were frequent guests onboard the Saratoga, as I dated one of the young officers. We had many wonderful dinners onboard in the Captain's Mess when they were in port.
2. The Independence was indeed, later mothballed, but in Washington state. Her last Captain was Mark Milliken, USN, who was the last person to leave the ship in 1998. He later became Rear Admiral.

After further examining this bell, I have deduced that it has never been used as a bell on the SS Independence, as there is no evidence of wear, and none of the parts fit together and the fork needs widening, the drill holes don't align and the clanger needs a rope attached,  perhaps it was given to the last Captain or some other member, as a departing gift. It seems as though Hira, Shatoosh and the SS Independence have traveled many of the same waters, so it is fitting that something belonging to her essence be in form on Shatoosh. It is beautiful and I will look forward to putting it on Shatoosh.

Tacoma Schooner Rendevouz

23 April 2010:

The Schooner Kia Ora 1980 65 feet

My twin Jean joins me to celebrate our 67 birthday. While Shatoosh and Pashmina did not get to be here, we couldn't miss the opportunity to check out a few nautical oldies and goodies.

The Schooner Zodiac 1924 160 ft.

Wooden balls rather than hoops to haul up the sails.

 

The Schooner Martha 1907 84 ft

The Schooner W.N. Ragland 1913 101 ft.

Below decks several berths had curved elephant tusks to adorn the edges.

Such beautifully mantained vessels and it added a special touch for our birthday celebrations.

Update On My Cruise of the Snake and Columbia River

Monday, 19 April 2010

I recently notified the Hells Canyon Visitor Bureau in Clarkston, Washington to see if they could assist me in finding a parking place for my car while I am cruising down the rivers. They responded immediately and today I received an email stating that parking is available to me at Beamers Hells Canyon Tours. This is wonderful as we planned to take one of their tours anyway. Thank you again for all your help.

Go to their website and/or check out their facebook pages:
http://www.hellscanyontours.com/
http://www.hellscanyonvisitor.com/

A Quick Getaway to Coon Island

9 April 2010 Friday: The news states there will be tie-ups along I-5 south of my home, so I scurry around packing a bag and am in a rush to get on the road. The clicker on the garage doesn't seem to work, so I manually get the door open. I test the clicker again and it is working, but as soon as the door closes it ceases to work. I test my car clicker and it, too, is not working properly. I, manually reopen the door, replace the batteries, and again, no luck. I decide to leave and deal with it all later. In all this confusion I forget to take my precious computer with me, as it was laying on the chair. Can I live without it for a whole weekend? NO blogging, no testing my Sea Clear program. Instead it will be a test for me. I'll see how I fare.

Friday night I catch up by reading 3 boating magazines. Saturday morning I am off to Coon Island which is only 3nm away. I see a familiar boat tied up to the docks and my friends take my lines. I have run into these folks 3 times now and we certainly enjoy talking boats to each other. He loves and has wanted an Albin for years, but ended up buying another sweet boat, a Bayliner 26 Explorer, named Harmony for the Finnish Sointula. They trailer their boat and will be taking her up to the Broughtons in British Columbia this summer. Wow, how fun would that be? He has done the Snake river so I picked his brain good. He and his wife, Betty were fishing off and all all day and Pepper his Aussie dog, watched the poles and whenever there was a strike up she'd jump. Dave threw back some small fish and out of the blue the eagles would swoop down and grab them with their talons and off to the trees they would fly. Quite a sight.

Lately as spring emerges, many Albin owners on the Yahoo Group are wanting to have hardtops made. I have been in conversation with several people and many discussions emrge about how many inches the side brow line should be. Since I have never measured mine several of us were thinking 3 inches might be the magic number. This information is a critical measurement, as too short the rain runs off into the cockpit and too long it would prevent you from walking on the side decks. So I decided to take my measurements and to my surprise my side and aft brow was 5 inches wide, thus creating a dripline onto the deck at the cockpit coaming. Perfect: see photo below. When I measured from 3 inches and dropped a plumb line it landed in a place that water would drip right into the cockpit.

Saturday afternoon and evening I tackled reading Ann Gash's, A Star To Steer Her By. Ann is known as the Sailing Granny of Australia. She circumnavigated the globe in the 70's and endured so many problems along her circumnavigation that I was exhausted after reading it. How she did it is beyond me? I wouldn't be up to it. In the 80's she cruised through the Hawaiian Islands on her way to California and back to Australia, when I was livng aboard on Sabra, my Swan 36. I did sail with her on Ilimo II from Honolulu to Kauai and back one summer. I learned many things from her. She is deceased now, but I always remember her as a sailing mentor for me. All of my Hawaiian sailing mentors have died now, but their spirits live within me and is going strong.

The dock cleared out Sunday afternoon, so I had the whole place to myself. I made my new bow and stern lines to be used on the bollards in the locks, cleaned the galley and stove and played Sudoku puzzles on my electronic version New York Times. While I kept busy I did miss my blogging in the evening.

The rains came and went all night long and I discovered a few leaky windows that need some sealant. I take my time returning to my marina, as I always hate to go back. The newly returning ospreys brightened my mood. All the cormorants have gone, it seems it is nature's way to "changing of the guards". I see old mother goose, high atop a deserted osprey nest/pilings, sitting on her next brood. Spring is definately in the air.

On the way home I stopped by Scappoose Bay to check out if I would have to pay any moorage fees when I haul out in June. They have an electronic system at the docks and I will have to pay for overnight moorage of $12.00. I took note of where to dock and had a lovely chat with Bonnie the owner of Scappoose Bay Kayaking. She showed me several interesting kayaks that were pedaled by leg power, a fishing version and a catamaran version made by Hobie Cat. All very interesting.

PS...my garage door clicker worked perfectly well upon arriving home. Is Mercury in retrograde? I'm so happy to be blogging again and will never forget my computer.