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Stinkpotters for the weekend

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/17/2013 : 21:55:40

This past weekend Rita & wanted to go to Blake Island & spend Saturday evening there & head back on Sunday. Unfortunately the forecast was for winds up to 14 knots and while that's fine with me, Rita, not so much. We talked it over and discussed our options which came down to, (A) Don't go, (B) Take in both reefs and use our 70% jib, or (C) simply motor over to the island avoiding any heeling issues entirely, or (D) go by myself. It was touch & go between A & C, but she eventually agreed to go with C. As it turned out, while the wind was up a bit, I don't think the sail would have been that eventful, but unless I wanted to go by myself, C was it.

The nice thing about stinkpotting is there's less prep work. However there were some chores I wanted to before we went, the depth sounder has been acting up, and I wanted to swap out the QR pin on my forestay for a regular pin (especially after the story about the mast coming down!). The depth sounder "fix" was simple if not long lasting, I found that the wire for the transducer was crimped by the 4" PVC pipes I'd put over them to protect them. Somehow the notch I'd cut for the wires was no longer over the wires, and the weight of the sails had managed to crimp the wire a bit. Wiggling it while Rita watched the sounder display showed that it still worked just fine, but there's something wrong in the wiring. This "fix" would not last the trip to Blake Island. Swapping out the QR pin wasn't as easy as I expected, but we finally got it done (I'll talk more about this in an upcoming post because I caused some other problems I need advice on).

Soon we were on our way to the island and it was sort of odd heading out into Elliott Bay without any sails at the ready, but such was life. We rounded Duwamish Head as usual (I'm still the mayor!) and headed parallel to Alki Beach (which we've established in previous posts is sort of WSW-ish...). The crossing was largely uneventful except for hitting a dead head (floating log) probably 8-9' long x 1-1/2' in diameter. It was a solid thump, but a glancing blow, we probably lost some paint on the starboard side as a result of the impact, but I couldn't see any damage when we got back the following day.

As we neared Blake Island, the depth sounder was reading 235' when I knew we were only in about 40-50 feet of water, so I had Rita monitoring our depth on her iPad using Garmin's chart plotter, telling her to look ahead along our track to make sure we wouldn't get into anything shallower than 20' on the chart (it was a rising tide, so not much to worry about anyway). We rounded the bar at the north end of the island and found that virtually all of the balls were (unsurprisingly) occupied. We'd intended to anchor anyway, so this wasn't a big problem. We motored down the west side of the island until we got almost to the south end before we found a suitable site just south of a nice little ketch.

We dropped the anchor in about 12' of water (I'd brought a "stainless" steel lead line I'd made up). We backed down on the anchor and settled in. We had a raccoon hunting on the beach right next to us and we could see starfish on the bottom. The current was running south, so all of our boats were in a nice little line with their bows pointing north. At least for a while.

We mounted the grill on the stern and grilled up some marinated turkey cutlets and had that with some balsamic tomatoes, mushrooms, & cucumbers Rita had made before we left. I celebrated with a nice German beer.

While this was going on, I noticed that the boat to the north of the ketch was decidedly moving south, and there appeared to be no one on board! He drifted past the ketch probably less than 20' (no exaggeration) away. I was trying to raise the boat on the radio, and the ketch blasted him with his air horn. Suddenly a head popped up from down inside the cabin, looked around, and said "oh ***'! The guy on the ketch drolly replied, "I think your anchor might have dragged a bit", and you could see his anchor was dangling perpendicular to the water line. Fortunately the current was carrying him both west & south, so we were never in the collision course, but it was definitely interesting to watch. He eventually got his anchor up and inboard started, and then just motored up right in front of the ketch again and dropped his anchor again. Had I been the ketch, I'd have been a bit pissed!

Here's the ketch & other sailboat:

I was using the whole thing to teach RIta a bit more about anchoring, and by this time the current had gone slack, so our boats were pointing in various directions, and I thought that maybe we had enough rode out that if the ketch also had enough out, we might be able to bump before the current reversed and we were all pointing south instead of all over the compass. I watched as we drifted closer and closer to the ketch confident that our anchor would hold (we've never dragged more than a few feet before), but it eventually became apparent that wasn't going to be the case that night. We got uncomfortably close to the ketch, and checking our GPS track, it looked more like a fish bone than the nice arc you want to see. Crap.

I started up the outboard and oozed south (we had our Magma Rock -N- Roll plate in the water which makes a pretty effective rudder, so I had to move slowly). I had Rita drive while I went forward to raise the anchor. When I got up to the anchor locker to ready the lead line, I was astonished to find the "stainless" steel horribly rusted after just a few minutes exposure to salt water and a couple of hours sitting in the anchor locker. The rust of course made no difference to it's ability to drop to the bottom, so we maneuvered into about 30' of water (it was nearing high tide, didn't want to be bumping the bottom in six hours), so that only gave me 3:1 scope on my Danforth. We backed down hard until the boat came to a complete stop, so I knew I had a good set this time. We took some compass readings on things we thought we'd be able to find in the dark (ferry landings on Vashon Island, radio masts with lights on them, etc.) so we could easily check during the night, and I'd deliberately anchored immediately offshore of a sloping log that would be easy to see with a flash light or moonlight. You can see the log I'm talking about over Rita's shoulder:

Now I was uneasy about the anchoring, so I decided to stay up till high tide (11pm-ish), plus it was nice to sit and pick out stars from the cockpit (and have another nice German beer).

We finally settled in around midnight, but even watching the GPS showing us swinging on an arc, I couldn't sleep well. I decided to sleep in the V-berth for the first time, and I'm not sure if it was simply the anxiety, or the position, but neither one of us could really get to sleep. She finally nodded off and I slept maybe a couple of hours, but still got up a few times during the night to check our position (we never moved again, and neither did the boat in front of the ketch).

Low tide was about 6am, so around 5:15, I heard a new noise I couldn't categorize. I listened to it for a few minutes, it was slowly rhythmic, a thump & a soft scraping noise. I could see we were close to the island, but the beach drops off sharply so this generally isn't a problem, and I knew at low tide, we should still have more than 4' of water under our keel based on the calculations I'd done after we dropped anchor the second time. But there was still the thump....scrape sound that I couldn't explain, so I got up to see what it was.

When I looked over the port side, this is what I saw:

And the bump & scrape was the Magma plate bouncing along the bottom. I'd deliberately set it to about 10' deep, which meant that we'd get an early warning, I just didn't know what it'd sound like. Now I do.

I'll continue the story tomorrow, I'm pooped & going to bed.

David
C-250 Mainsheet Editor

Sirius Lepak
1997 C-250 WK TR #271 --Seattle area Port Captain --

Edited by - on

GaryB
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
4275 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 08:02:43

It would be sooo nice to have a sailing venue like yours. Where I sail the water visibility is maybe a foot on a good day, and mostly it's houses or container ship cranes on the horizon with a few refineries thrown in for variety.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 08:27:01

So... what is the tidal range in that area David?

Paul

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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USA
4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 08:39:15

We have [url="http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/tides/media/supp_tide07a.html"]mixed semi-diurnal tides[/url], but the general range here the Puget Sound is around 12-13'. On this particular night, we had a low-high (+11') tide followed by a high-low tide (+4'), so the difference in the tides was only about 6'-7' if I remember correctly. It's possible to get tidal differences of probably 18' or so on a full or new moon, but this past weekend was sporting a half moon, so the tides were dampened down a bit. For example on the 23rd of this month (new moon), we'll have a tide swing of nearly 16' (-3.7' to +12.1')

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redeye
Master Marine Consultant

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3474 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 08:40:55

<< a tide swing of nearly 16' >>

Talk about needing rode... wow..

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shnool
Former Capri-25 Tech Editor

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1032 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 08:53:15

Ray your picture of the spin has my brain hurting...
Sorry it's OT.. but is that spin mounted on the mainsail halyard, filled backwards? I think I see that correctly:
Do you make it a habit of sailing backward?
Is this a cruel torture test to an anchoring system?
A better way to SET your anchor (although looks like a lot of work)?
A better way to point into the wind WHILE anchoring?
In lieu of a bimini?
If you are giving spinnaker rides, the boom/halyards/backstay might HURT!

Awesome shot (of course), but these things make me go HMMMMMM... why?

Edited by - shnool on 06/18/2013 08:55:15

awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

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1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/18/2013 : 13:55:16

I'm going to Blake Island this weekend and the tidal range will 15' on Saturday.

On Saturday there is a -3.2 low at 10:30am and a high of 11.8 at 5:21pm.

It's spring tides this weekend, neep tides last week and next week.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 12:57:59

Do you normally anchor, or pick up a ball?

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awetmore
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1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 14:19:48

I've only picked up mooring balls at Blake Island. Last time I was there was about a month ago and we got the last ball and had to raft up two boats (Pearson 28-2 and Catalina 25) on one ball. I really don't like doing that, I woke up to loud banging from wakes a few times. Blake Island is quite exposed.

This weekend I'll be there for Friday and Saturday nights. I'd like to sail during the day Saturday, so I will probably anchor Saturday night because I expect all balls to be snatched up.

My preferred location for a quick overnighter is Port Madison, but Blake has a lot more public shoreline. Port Madison is a lot more protected, can be quiet, and I've seen some pretty cool wildlife in there.

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 14:57:13

Yeah, it was quite bumpy for a while when we first went to bed, even with the Magma plate to damp out the oscillations. It quieted down after a while and was pretty quiet for several hours afterward.

We saw a couple of raccoon, and what I think was an otter, whatever that was, it was moving fast right out of the underbrush and into the water. Looked to be about 6-8" in diameter, and maybe 4-5' long. I just caught a glimpse of it, maybe three steps before it was in the water and I never saw it again even though I watched for it to come to the surface to breathe for a while. We've also seen deer on Blake but not for a long time.

Where do you anchor in Port Madison? There doesn't look to be much of any kind of access to the shore and Google maps shows tons of boats in there.

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awetmore
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 15:08:45

There is a public park in Port Madison with a public dock. You can't use the dock overnight, but it gives you a little space for a walk. The dock is very sketchy and most of the cleats are missing, but it's available.

I've never had trouble finding room to anchor. There are a lot of mooring fields, but there is a lot of space elsewhere. Sometime during a day sail I'd recommend checking it out.

Blakely Harbor is closer to you and also looks nice. Shore access is not big.

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Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9015 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 15:53:14

The old saying was, "You can get there faster in a powerboat--in a sailboat, you're already there." Maybe now that's, "You can get there in a powerboat. Period."

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delliottg
Former Mainsheet C250 Tech Editor

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4479 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 15:56:40

Yeah, I keep telling Rita that, she really doesn't understand why I like to sail in the first place, but she (mostly) tolerates it. And I go out of my way to accommodate her fears because I'd much rather go sailing with her than not. I like sailing by myself just fine, but it's more fun with company to share it with.

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TakeFive
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2269 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 17:16:52

I'm lucky. My wife loves to sail and heeling does not bother her at all. She HATES to motor. It is much nicer being able to talk without raising your voice.

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Stinkpotter
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Djibouti
9015 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2013 : 19:11:36

Don't get me wrong... My late wife loved to sail--she acquired that over 30+ years that started with our Sunfish, graduating to our Daysailer and then our C-25. Well before the end, she had reached the point where not heeling, to her, meant not going--therefore not good. She loved when the outboard shut down and the sails took over--even if it was just the roll-out genny on a blustery evening.

But like David, I have always wanted to do things with and for people. To me, it's sorta like the "tree falling in the forest"--if nobody else is there to enjoy it with me, was it fun?? To me, the answer is mostly "Not that much."

So my journey to the Dark Side included (1) moving to Mystic, one of the great sailing venues in the WORLD, (2) having to keep my C-25 in a Marina even though I had my own slip by my condo (just above a fixed bridge), (3) having a new, amazing, very busy lady 90 miles away, (4) discovering that when she could spend limited time in Mystic, the weather was either not great for sailing or we didn't have the time to go to the wonderful destinations around here (on a sailboat), and (5) realizing I had no real interest in singlehanding a cruising sailboat. Thus, Passage languished in her expensive slip most of my first two years here, while a little Downeast center-console runabout occupied my own slip and became my "daily driver." So I "consolidated the fleet."

Having sailed since age 8 (starting on a square-rigged rowboat with pine leeboards), which makes 61 years of sailing, I love it, and still do it on anything with anyone. But now my personal vessel, which I had built in NH, is the one that matches my greater need--to enjoy the water and the amazing places around here with my partner, friends, and family. As an "Association port captain", the same goes for members here.

<center>

Mystic River, Mason's Island, Ram Island, Fishers Island, and The Race</center>

Edited by - Stinkpotter on 06/19/2013 19:18:35

awetmore
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1144 Posts

Response Posted - 06/23/2013 : 17:57:44

We're back from our weekend of stinkpotting at Blake Island.

We went down there on Friday and came back today. The wind was super light (about 4 knots Friday, less today), so we ended up motoring in both directions. I did sail my dinghy on Saturday.

We got there too late to get a mooring ball and anchored out on Friday night. The 15' tidal range and Blake Island's bathography made it difficult, but we also had luck that low tide was during daylight hours (at 10:30am). So we anchored in water that would eventually be too shallow, slept through the night, and moved the boat to an empty buoy the next morning.

Some friends joined us in the afternoon on Saturday and all of the buoys were once again empty. They spent a while trying to find a good anchorage then we decided it was safest for them to raft up with us on the buoy (2 <30' boats on one buoy is legal there). We also did this about a month ago and had a lot of trouble with our boats banging into each other when big wakes came through. We solved that this time by kedging out two anchors, one tied to the stern of each boat. This pulled the boats apart from each other on the mooring ball and we turned them west, in the direction of the wakes. It was a little bit of work, but really worked well.

I really don't like anchoring at Blake Island. I do like it as an destination (especially for big group trips like the one I was on this weekend) and the island itself is nice, but overall I prefer more protected anchorages. If I kept my boat on the Duwamish I think I'd do more overnighters at Eagle Harbor or Blakely Harbor than at Blake Island.

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