November 2012

[This is Part II of Imi Loa’s report – Part I appeared in October’s newsletter – Ed.] [You may recall that last month, we read about Devon & Rowan’s rugged trip up the Washington coast, learning about most possible things that could go wrong. They went from there to Neah Bay, Port Angeles, and finally the San Juans. They were having a great time, but at the end of July, figured it was time to head south. We pick up the story there… — Ed.] First stop was Port Townsend which we really enjoyed. From there it was the reverse of our trip up, hop over to Port Angeles, then to Neah Bay and around Cape
Flattery. It was flat calm leaving Neah Bay (despite the forecast of 5-10 knots from the NW) so we motored through the day and night to Westport. We were hoping for a good weather window that would allow us to go non-stop to San Francisco but it was not to be. Instead we waited in Westport while gales were blowing off Cape Blanco and Cape Mendocino.
Finally after 6 days the forecast was looking good so we departed the next morning. It was foggy and calm for the first few hours but then we had a nice NW wind and made good time. Most of the night we were running under a double reefed main and staysail, making about 5.5 knots. By morning we were down to just the staysail and still making great time until we had a failure in our self steering. It was an easy fix but we needed some hardware so we diverted to Newport.
The wind started dropping and when we were about a mile out it died altogether so naturally we decided to start the engine. Devon turned the key and nothing happened. Well not quite nothing, we could hear the starter solenoid engage but the engine didn’t even try to turn over. Devon quickly found the problem; the cylinders were flooded with seawater!! We knew immediately what had happened: the waves had forced water in through the exhaust and into the engine. We have a high rise exhaust elbow and vented loop above the water line but the pressure of the following seas was enough to back water up all the way to the cylinders. We’ve heard of this happening and had considered putting a ball valve on our exhaust but with the long list of projects it just never got done.
Fortunately no harm was done. Devon drained the water out of the muffler and manually rotated the engine a little at a time until the water was forced out. Then she fired right up. She ran roughly for a minute or two then it was like nothing had happened. The valves are fine, no water got in the oil, and she is still running like a champ so we got lucky on this one. Once we got to Newport we headed straight to Englund Marine and got a ball valve for the exhaust!
After Newport the only real excitement we had was being visited by a pod of humpback whales 15 miles off of Bodega Bay. For about 20 minutes we had 7 or 8 whales swimming on all sides of us within a boat length. Awesome doesn’t even begin to describe it. They weren’t doing any acrobatics, it seemed like they were just curious about us, and they would gently surface next to us over and over again. There was at least one pair (a larger and a smaller so maybe a mom and her adolescent calf?) and then several individuals. Of course we were a little bit scared but mostly just amazed and in awe. No, we didn’t get any pictures or video. Rowan said that she knew as soon as she went for the camera they would be gone and she was right. This was on our last day out and it happened to be Rowan’s birthday. Being visited by whales and finally passing under the Golden Gate Bridge, not a bad birthday!! Oh, and we anchored that night at San Francisco’s aquatic park on the waterfront where the Americas Cup officially kicked off the next morning.
We hope everyone is doing well and we miss attending the meetings and club cruises but the newsletter helps us feel connected to the group. We especially enjoyed reading about Dave Mangan’s adventures aboard s/v Tortuga and he is absolutely right: river sailing is nothing like ocean sailing!
Our plan is to stay in the Bay Area for the next few years taking advantage of the excellent sailing and saving money. Then, as the cliché goes, we will head south until the butter melts. If anybody is heading our way send us an email, we’d love to take you out for a drink.We thought we’d close with a top ten list. The top 10 things the crew of ‘Imi Loa learned this summer:

10) Check the weather often

9) Don’t believe the weather forecast

8) Install a high water alarm (or at least look in the bilge on a regular basis)

7) Don’t count on your cabin heater staying lit in 25 knots of wind

6) Whales are BIG!!

5) Six days in Westport is five days too many

4) Bioluminescence on a moonless night at sea is a magical sight to behold

3) Have faith in your boat, she can take more than you can

2) When in the open ocean and sleep deprived, the telephone pole you are about to run into is probably just the mast
And the number one thing the crew of ‘Imi Loa learned this summer……………..you should always disconnect your tether before stepping off the boat to tie her up (especially when the wind is blowing the boat off the dock)

October 2012

We are writing to you from Alameda (an island across a narrow channel from Oakland on the San Francisco Bay). We have been here since late August, living aboard at the Marina Village Yacht Harbor. We thought we’d send you a recap of our summer adventures. It definitely has been an adventure and we have learned a LOT!

We left St. Helens on June 28th, only 2 weeks behind schedule. Projects completed in the weeks before departure included sewing a dodger and bimini, installing a wind vane, installing a new LED anchor light, installing a solar panel, installing a windlass, and lots of other smaller projects plus countless trips to West Marine, Sexton’s, and Columbia Marine Exchange (all a long long way from St. Helens). The anchor light should have been a simple one hour/one trip up the mast job except a wire broke and fell down in the mast when removing the old light turning it into a 4 day job with more trips up the mast than we can remember, but in the end we got it done and we are now very good at climbing the mast.

The night before crossing the bar we stayed at the East Basin. We hoped to turn in early since we planned to depart at 7am. Unfortunately just as we were getting ready to turn in at 10pm a large tug pulled in right next to us to do some emergency repairs. The repairs took a few hours and involved welding, which of course meant they were running a loud generator in addition to the tug’s engines. It was pretty noisy but not as bad as the powerboat with the generator on its bow at Hadley’s Landing last Thanksgiving Cruise (I’m sure George and Sue on s/v Julia Max remember). Anyhow, we planned to depart at low tide in time to catch the beginning of the flood for our bar crossing, but we hadn’t counted on the East Basin being so shallow (it was a negative tide). In the morning the water was lower than we expected and we were worried about running aground on the way out so we delayed our departure by 2.5 hours. This also meant we were fighting the flood the whole way to and across the bar so in the end we were running about 4 hours behind.

Unseasonal south winds were forecast so we were hoping to do a lot of sailing and head directly to Neah Bay, but there was no wind so after we finally got across the bar we continued to motor. By late afternoon the forecast south wind materialized so we were having a nice time doing 5 knots sailing wing and wing with our new wind vane doing the steering. Yippee!! We were finally sailing in the ocean!! It was pretty chilly even sailing downwind but the seas were calm and we were having a great time. At dusk it started to drizzle but we were visited by a large pod of dolphins that swam with us for about an hour!! During the evening the wind had shifted to the west so we were on a reach with staysail and single reefed main. It was dark so we couldn’t see the sea state but we had more swell now and we were taking some occasional spray in the cockpit. After dinner Devon took the first watch which was pretty uneventful. Rowan came on watch at about 11:30pm and within about 15 minutes the wind became strangely warm and began to clock around, with the wind vane steering we were suddenly heading south! Rowan had just disconnected the vane and started hand steering when we were hit by a squall. The skies opened up and dumped what felt like several inches of very cold rain in a matter of minutes and the wind increased dramatically. This was our first time sailing on the ocean, our first time sailing at night AND, our first time sailing in a storm. Putting in the second reef at this point would have been very difficult (lines are not led to the cockpit) and we were definitely over powered. Not being able to see the sea or the sails (it was raining too hard for our spotlight to be much help with either) we decided to drop the sails and motor. With Rowan still on watch Devon went below to get some sleep. At this time the wind was still building and coming out of the northwest so it was pretty much straight on the nose. The seas continued to build and throw us about. Waves were coming from two directions, mostly from the northwest but sometimes there would be a roar and a wave would hit us on the beam knocking us over, tossing Rowan about the cockpit and throwing a bucket of salt water in her face. I don’t know about the crew being fearless but I can say our tiny ship was tossed!!

Meanwhile Devon was below trying to sleep in the v-berth. After being thrown into the ceiling several times he decided to relocate to the main cabin (what they say about the ends of the boat being uncomfortable at sea turns out to be true). We were taking waves on the port side so even without lee clothes he was able to sleep on the starboard settee. Moving about the cabin was difficult due to the jerky (bordering on violent) motion, plus much of what had been in the lockers was now freely roaming about the cabin sole. At one point Devon was moving through the cabin and grabbed a handhold to steady himself when the boat rolled, suddenly he found himself across the cabin still with the handhold in his hand but no longer connected to the boat. Fortunately he landed on a settee.

By about 2:30am Rowan was completely exhausted and chilled to the bone so Devon took over at the helm. The wind was mostly from the northwest and the mixed swell was from the SW and NW. The rail went into the water a couple of times, and the inclinometer was pegged at 45 degrees. The worst wave broke over the bow and swamped the cockpit (even rained a little in the cabin), and almost dislodged the dinghy on deck (it shifted several inches). The breaking waves are really difficult to navigate in the dark.

By 4am NOAA was forecasting the winds and seas wouldn’t improve until late afternoon (we were in a small craft advisory for winds and hazardous seas), we had both been up pretty much all night and it was obvious we were not going to make it to Neah Bay nonstop. It was time to duck in somewhere and rest; we figured our position and plotted our course to Grays Harbor, 35 mile away. Our new heading was SE and we ran with most of the swell. The following seas pushed the stern around a bit but it was much more comfortable and we were able to make great time.

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So about 6 or 7 am, Devon decided to peek into the engine room as is the habit. His heart just about stopped, the bilge and engine room were flooded! The prop shaft was rotating under water and spitting seawater everywhere. After about a minute or two of electric and manual bilge pump the lower part of the engine was in free air again. The problem was the following seas, and our transom hung rudder. The waves forced water through the steering cable fairleads in the steering quadrant compartment. The electric bilge pump was left on to deal with this (it was off in the first place because it tends to cycle and we were worried it would burn itself out).

Conditions calmed quite a bit as we approached Grays Harbor around 11am, luck was with us and we arrived on the flood so the bar was a piece of cake. We found moorage at the Westport Marina, time for a rest and refueling. The following afternoon we were surprised and pleased to see fellow SIYC members Ron and Wendy on Best Revenge pull into the marina on their way up to Barkley Sound. We had some really good after dinner conversation, and they gave us some advice on the approach to get into La Push so we wouldn’t need to do another overnighter getting to Neah Bay.

Despite the pounding and stuff flying across the cabin the list of damage was short: a broken handhold & we lost the cap to our chain pipe because we did not have the shank of the anchor secured well enough and the cap’s tether snapped (unfortunate because the cap was bronze and will be difficult to replace). But the worst loss,

Helens. After that it was on to the San Juans! We visited Lopez Island where we anchored at Mackaye Harbor and then Spencer Spit where we walked across the island to Lopez Village for some supplies. Fisherman Bay was a little too shallow for our liking and we actually watched from the beach as a sailboat ran aground trying to get in there. Next stop was Sucia where we anchored in Echo Bay. This was our favorite stop, very pretty and protected with some nice trails for stretching our legs. Devon took advantage of the nice weather to do a little dinghy sailing. From there we went to Roche Harbor, a very nice (if expensive) marina with dock hands and everything. Roche Harbor was very relaxing and for the first time it was warm enough to start our days wearing shorts!

almost tragic really, was the french press. It made it through the night but broke the following morning and it would be over a week before we could find another. It was tough but somehow we persevered. We checked the buoy data for that night and found the following: winds 25 gusting to over 30 knots, waves were 6-7 feet with a 5 second period. Probably not too bad for seasoned sailors but more than we were expecting!

The rest of the trip was much less eventful. We hopped up the coast from Westport to La Push, spent a few days there waiting on weather, and then on to Neah Bay. After 3 days in there (waiting on weather) we finally made it to Port Angeles where we ran into some friends of ours from St.

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After a couple days of the good life at Roche Harbor we spent a few nights anchored at Friday Harbor. This was our first time anchoring in 60 feet of water and it took us a few tries, the anchor set fine but we had some trouble anticipating where we would end up once we had sufficient scope out. We ended up resetting the anchor 3 times, not easy with a couple hundred feet of chain and a manual windlass!

By now it was the end of July, we had hoped to make it to the Gulf Islands but didn’t want to risk running into the fall southerlies. We figured we were good until late August but it seemed to take us forever to get anywhere so we played it safe and started to plan the trip back down.