60 days of sailing

[ChrisM]

Well Carl I didn't mean to hijack your thread so I'll start one of my own, despite not being too terribly loquacious today.

Debbie and I enjoyed the benefits of being in academia and having the summer off by spending the entire time sailing in British Columbia. We left Washington on 4 June, and we just moved off the boat yesterday - what is that, 65 days total?

We sailed at a leisurely pace from Bellingham Washington through the inside passages all the way to the northernmost city on Vancouver Island. The boat is our venerable 1968 Columbia 36 SUNDANCE - a "classic plastic'' that is spartan by today's standards, but suits us just fine. We have made her our comfortable home with lots of personal modifications, including the mad scientist mods that are peculiarly my own. (The most dramatic of those is the fact that she does not have an engine, having an electric auxiliary drive instead.)

We had intended to leave the boat for the winter in Port Hardy, but when we got there we discovered some serious mis-communications and decided that the right choice was to return to Washington. This meant an unexpected 300-mile sail in the last week. But all went well, we just made some long 12 hour days and took it one mile at a time.

Our leisurely trip north was punctuated by six sets of tidal rapids. These rapids have currents as high as 13 knots at peak, so of course we have to time them to hit only at slack. But the result is that there are natural 'gates' that we can only pass at one of two times each day.

Other than the tide gates, the other landmark is of course the spectacular scenery and wildlife. We saw seals, sea lions, otters, black bears, humpback whales, and Orcas.

The weather was...well.... We had 40F days and 70F days. We had a couple of weeks of rain, and a couple of days of sunshine.

I am not one for photos, but my wife has many on her Facebook page. Carl, maybe if you "friend" her on Facebook you could then find a way to clone some of the pictures into here? If that's a viable option let me know and I'll initiate the friend request from her site.

We are now enjoying a house, running water, and electricity, and then on Friday we will jet back south to the cauldron that is New Orleans in August. School starts in two weeks.

Best regards,

A sincerely relaxed Chris.

[Big and Bashful]

Looks like a great time was had!

[crfriend]

Well, Chris, certainly a hearty "Welcome back!" is in order. Please pardon me while I put some more coal under the cappuccino machine.

From the sound of it, save the mis-communication matter, you had a good time of it. I am rather envious. I took the time to locate (on-line) several nautical charts of the area, and from the looks of those what you had all around you must have been positively spectacular. Otters and orcas; yes, I am a bit green with envy.

On the "mad-scientist mods" -- how do you charge the system that powers your electric drive? I would surmise that you'd do some with solar, but you'd need something for when it seriously clouds over for days at a time, so you must have an internal-combustion powered generator in the mix as well. What's the weight comparison of an electric motor and batteries compared with a diesel engine and transmission?

The "tidal gates" sound interesting to run through, and I can certainly see why you did it at slack water. They must look pretty interesting, too, when the tide is really running. (The current in the Cape Cod Canal can get up to almost those speeds, and it's pretty impressive to watch.)

Best of luck back in N'Awlins; I spent a couple of days there a number of years ago, got mugged, and have no desire to see the place again. But, do chirp up if you're ever going to get up towards New England!

[Kirbstone]

An amazing odyssy...65 days. It is a rare privilege to be able to slope off for that length of time doing just what one wants in a total vacation mode....also to have a spouse who can and wants to do likewise.
I'm also intrigued by the electric drive thing and would like to hear more about how it works on a long voyage at those latitudes.

Tom K.

[ChrisM]

The electric drive is but the most visible of my innovations, but it has indeed garnered me a bit of a reputation in certain corners of the internet. We were written up in 2001 in the San Francisco magazine "Latitude 38".

The drive is a re-purposed golf-cart motor, energized by a 72V (6 x 12) battery bank. The batteries are trickle charged by a bank of six 50W solar panels, and in leisurely cruising in a sunny summer this will almost meet the full needs of the yacht. In a grey and gloomy summer such as the one just finished, or a mad race such as the repositioning back to Bellingham, then we do have to revert to fossil fuels and our Honda 3000W gasoline (petrol) generator. This year we used a tremendous amount of fuel, because we had so little sunshine, burning almost 35 gallons of fuel total - unthinkable! In a normal cruise, e.g. in California, we use about 10gallons per year.

Even with all that lead (batteries) the system is still lighter than the diesel that died in that space earlier. Of course the drawback is that we only have about 10-20 miles of range on the batteries. We have a 3 knot electric cruising speed, and of course with the generator running a range limited only by the amount of gasoline on board - in our case about 100 miles.

But recall that in all of this, the PRIMARY propulsion of the yacht is canvas. We often make an entire trip without recourse to the motor at all, sailing from anchor-up to anchor-down.

Yes, I am indeed fortunate not only that my wife tolerates my skirts but my boats as well! (smile) She is motivated by different aspects - for her the pleasure lies largely in the wilderness and the wildlife, while for me it lies largely in the sailing itself. I delight in the poetry that transforms a subtle interplay of forces into a useful mode of transport.

But then watching a mama bear and her cub stroll on the beach and overturn rocks for breakfast ain't too bad neither!

Chris

[Kirbstone]

Chris!
A most impressive post. Thank you for the very erudite explanation of, as you say, the most visible of your innovations. (Let's hear about some others). It would certainly not be the most audible. Electric launches on the River Thames in England ghost along in eery silence, and that must be a great advantage for you when manoeuvering close to wildlife.
All your technics make for probably the lowest Carbon footprint of any yachtsman I've heard of....save for Joshua Slocum, of course, who didn't have access to the technical wonders of our age. To successfully negotiate inner passages like you describe with cataract-like mid-tide currents & eddies &c. with only 3Kn. of motorised speed available to you for two months without mishap marks you down as a very clever yachtsman indeed. I take my hat off to you. The B.C. coast looks like the West of Scotland multiplied by four!

I get pleasure from sailing off anchor and up to the next, but I admit to using power more often that perhaps I ought.

I expect that after such a break you both will be all bright eyed and bushy tailed for the beginning of your next Academic Year in Noowiyeans. I envy your students. They must be infected by your enthusiasm for your subject(s).

Tom K.

[crfriend]

But recall that in all of this, the PRIMARY propulsion of the yacht is canvas. We often make an entire trip without recourse to the motor at all, sailing from anchor-up to anchor-down.

Nice! I sail with an opportunist who is desperately sick of tacking for 2 hours to get out into open water from Boston's inner harbour. It's fun watching the aeroplanes fly in and out of Logan Airport (Aerodrome is such a better term), but all that work for not much way gets tiring. We head out under the "Iron Genny"; it's just easier that way.

The drive is a re-purposed golf-cart motor [...] we do have to revert to fossil fuels and our Honda 3000W gasoline (petrol) generator.

[Reaches for slipstick]Hmm... 3 kW.. That's just about 4 horsepower, counting for mechanical loss, I'd posit they put a five-horse mill on it just for good measure so the thing wouldn't stall. A bit more than a trolling motor. But, it's an auxiliary so the commentary really doesn't bite, and since the main source of 'lectricity is the Sun, you get wholehearted joy on my part! Ten to twenty miles on sun-power is no slouch.

Yes, I am indeed fortunate not only that my wife tolerates my skirts but my boats as well!

I am getting greener with envy by the moment; my dear wife tolerates, but just barely, my fascination with elder computer gear. Fortunately she tolerates my skirts much better, and even encourages it.

But then watching a mama bear and her cub stroll on the beach and overturn rocks for breakfast ain't too bad neither!

That did it. I am wearing a green skirt at the moment -- the same one I wore to work today -- and I can no longer tell where the skirt ends and my legs pick up! We get (little brown) bears where we live, but those show up in newspapers and on TV in backyard settings. To see them in the wild must be wondrous.