north: 6/13

The Race to Alaska had just ended. They go all the way from Washington, so of course they dribble in, dont arrive all at once. Some of the finishers were parked there in my harbor. "No Motor, No Support" is the rule, so several of the racing sailboats in addition, of course, to their sails, had multi-person bicycle pedal power as well.

I'v never seen such a feature.

A fit looking woman paused by. I meet people often because they see where i'm "from", according to the boat hull, La Conner, WA, i'v never been there, but people see it and stop to chat about the place. Anyway, we got to talking about the race, and she related that she's kayak'd from washington to skagway, 2 separate summers, 1/2 each time, and now she's employed on cruise ships to give lecture/slide-shows about her adventures.

Good idea.

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Headed today finally out of Ketchikan harbor. Still cloudy grey, but with some optimistic blue patches. But first: gas.

(Well, actually, first, fix the bilge pump, which is running continuously. Culprit is a fuel-absorbing ~pillow i bot a while back, it spozedly soaks up oil/etc that gets into the bilge. But then the pillow floats around & blocks the pump's float-valve. It's a tight squeeze reaching under the engine, so in the process i cut up a forearm in many multiple places, certainly nothing serious, i wrap an Ace bandage around (because i didnt bring any proper kerlix).)

The fuel dock's in the wrong direction, but whadya do? I was amazed at the traffic in the channel. Right in the immediate area of the fuel dock was: me, following a commercial fishing boat, 3 approaching recreational boats side by side, a tug pulling a huge barge, a more distant approaching mega cruise ship, the ferry that runs from town to the airport across the channel, and a float plane landing.

The float planes are kinda insane. In harbors, here's all this boat traffic going every random which way, and right in the middle of it all are float planes landing, or taking off, or both, and there are no designated traffic lanes for any of this.

Turns out the fishing boat was also headed to fuel, so i followed it in and we both docked. A beat up old boat, a grizzled couple, fishermen are amazing, i listen to 'em talk, they go on & on. It's certainly not just some job to them.

Anyway, remember this Ketchikan fuel dock was the only 1 on the way north with no attendant, but with obscure controls, timeouts, procedures, and the only self-serve credit-card capability of the whole trip. Well today there's a young man attendant there, but rather than doing things, he just explains things. (Even as i'm tying up, he comes over as of to help, but holds up his hands to show me he has thick work gloves on, indeed he has all imaginable safety gear, how is he to tie ropes in thick gloves? He explains the procedures and everything that can go wrong in great detail. The switch that turns on this particular pump needs to be pressed hard. Steps in operating the automatic credit card machine, every step, and how it times out if you dont pump quick enuf. (Yes i found that out last time i was here.) More details: it only'll give you $120 (or whatever it was) worth of gas, if you need more (and with a boat, you will) you must turn off the pump and start all over fresh, and you onlky get 2 full cycles of this, then it locks you out for the rest of the day. So i'm pumping the gas while he's explaining all. This fuel dock, as i said last time i was here, is in a stupid exposed location, so the wind and the passing craft are kicking up waves, rocking the boat up/down as i'm on my knees leaning out over the water trying to pump gas into it, listening exquisitely carefully for the faint gurgle indicating its about to dump any excess fuel to the sea, while roaring seaplanes take off and land.

Finally it was done, and i was off. *5* maga cruise ships in Ketchikan.

Initially everything was great. Grey, dull, sea not 'glassy' but the waves insignificant and from behind (north). I see a whale spout, yay! Then i head off across Big Water, where of course as time passes it gets worse. And worse. Now the waves are from the ocean (SW), 4 or 5'. I want to make it around Cape Fox, but finally i think, tho not dangerous, i can handle it now, but what's going to happen?

So i check the Guide Book for nearby anchorages, and it turns out that the only attractive alternative is one i've already passed. So ok i can turn around, but that presents an issue of its own: big waves on the stern quarter. Which i'v done before, but not this big.

So i figure i should try that out, see how it goes.

- -

Back when i was sailed, the 2 worst situations i experienced were sailing downwind in big blows. It sneaks up on you, otherwise you'd be prepared, so i wasnt. Both times I had all my sails up, enjoying the good breeze carrying me along at speed; then it was too much. And solo, there's nothing i could do, other than release the sail lines, but even then, to get a sail down you really need to go there and pull it down, but i was stuck at the helm steering franticly, since as each wave passes from the stern it wants to heel the boat over sideways to its certain doom.

So the first time was in Baja, it broke the boom, a good thing since it 'took the wind out of my sails'. 2nd time was going from NewYorkCity across open ocean to an inlet in NewJersey; a long nitemare. I'v had fear in life, but thankfully it's relatively shortlived. [(1)hitchiking, got a ride on back of a motorcycle, me wearing a big square backpack, my hands holding the rack behind me, and the guy takes the San Rafael Bridge at 80mph; (2)Denny marijuana raid, me side-facing seated in a Huey helicopter, and the pilot circles around some target below, me looking it-felt-nearly straight down, nothing at all to hold onto, only the seatbelt holding me in.] But this east coast fear was constant yet continued for hours. The waves were 30 feet high, tall as the mast.

- -

Semi-downwind i go. The next question, as i'm inexperienced with this particular situation, is: how fast? Faster mite be better, that way you're going over the waves instead of them coming up and messing with you, so i tried that. Didnt work well. Dropping down into trough at speed, the boat was thrown so violently sideways that everything relocated, even the cabinet drawers were thrown out, and cabinet doors opened spilling all contents.

So i slowed to ~9mph. I found after awhile that i could anticipate the motion and steer straighter downwind to prevent the feeling of about-to-tip-over... most of the time. On the other hand, steering more downwind meant i mite miss the point that i had to clear to get into the cove.

This went on a long time. Short version: there were many more instances of sideways rolls, tho not as severe as 1st, & yes i cleared the point.

Now anchored in a cute little cove with view thru opening to the sea outside.