Sunset at Port Townsend; Our Last Night - 6/19

Photo by Vi

The Engine Mechanic's Hat

Being a skipper means you have to have a few extra hats on hand.  I might not always know what I’m doing, but hey: that engine room floor looks clean enough to eat off of.  That’s gotta count for something.

Photo by Vi

Visitation

Customs and the Canadian Coast Guard pay Quijote a visit

Photo by Vi

Taking down the genoa

Photo by Vi

Awesome Soup and Rowdy Locals - 6/17

It was a much nicer day today, as we worked our way eastward through Juan de Fuca Strait, than it would have been if the starter motor had not decided to burn itself to smithereens.  What exactly is a smithereen?  In any case, while we waited for the replacement part, hobbled in that sorry excuse for an anchorage, a storm rolled though with gale force winds blowing up the strait.  At least in that respect, it worked out well.  Clear skies replaced stormy skies, calm replaced gale force winds, placid water replaced chop and swell and a burned out starter motor was replaced by a brand new one.  It dutifully fired up the engine this morning and off we went into the wild blue yonder.  At last.

The passage to Sooke Harbour was blissfully uneventful.  I have to report though that the boaters around these parts are in serious need of some manners.  To get into the protected water you travel through a narrow passage that makes a shallow dog leg left.  There isn’t a lot of room to maneuver, but that doesn’t stop the locals from flying through on two wheels, practically taking the paint of your hull on their way by.  I’m thinking: really?!  Is that necessary?  Apparently so.

We found the indentation that passes for an anchorage in this bay and it's full of crab pots.  Nice.  But, always a glutton for punishment, we put our hook down anyway.  All will be well as long as the wind doesn’t come up from the east and blow us in the wrong direction.

Kevin and I lowered the genoa shortly after our arrival and Vi put on a pot of soup.  The furling genoa is coming down because I’m going to hand it off to the sailmaker in Port Townsend on my through for survey.  She’ll let me know what maintenance it needs or whether replacement is a better option.  It looks to me to be in good shape, if a little green in places from algae, but she has a finer eye for these things.

And the corn soup was awesome.

On the road again! - 6/16

The new starter motor is in and working.  It was a lazy day of waiting, but after doing a whole lot of nothing for what felt like a fortnight, the part showed up late in the day. Finally there was something to do: engine work.  What fun.

Tomorrow morning we will finally be on or way to Sooke, after three miserable nights in this barely protected anchorage.

There was one other notable event around mid-day:  a Zodiak visited us carrying law enforcement and customs officials, one each.  They wanted to see that our paperwork was in order and everybody had a pfd.  I'm happy to report they left satisfied.

It feels so good to be mobile again.

Fingers Crossed - 6/15

Quijote has hit a bit of a snag, a minor catastrophe if you like.  Yesterday morning we roused ourselves early to do a 38 mile day to Sook. I asked Kevin to fire up the engine a few minutes early to give the batteries time to charge a little before we fired up the electronics.  This is becoming increasingly necessary as we proceed, so it's looking like a full replacement of the house batteries will be in my future after I return home.  Kevin did as I asked and the engine was purring away as it always does. Moments later a wail started coming out of the engine room, followed by billowing smoke.  We shut the engine down and took stock.  The starter motor was burned up. My guess is that the pinion gear got stuck in the engaged position and it burned itself up.

What to do. We were anchored in Port San Juan near the town of Port Renfrew. Thankfully Vi and Thomas had mobile phone service. Thomas had to be in Victoria the next day, so we had three things to work out: finding a new starter motor, finding a way of getting it to the boat, and finding a way to get Thomas into town and on the bus back to Victoria.

The last of those was accomplished with the help of a fishing boat and some phone calls to the bus company.  So we're down to three again.

I called a marine supply in Sook and they were able to find the right part in Vancouver. It's being overnighted to Sook, but unfortunately Port Renfrew is remote enough that no delivery service operates out here. They suggested I call places around town and see if I could find anyone making the drive.  With low expectations I called the marina, and hit the jackpot on the first try.  The woman in the office is making the trip this afternoon, when the part is expected to arrive, and will pick it up for us.  Then she'll ask her husband to run it out to us in his boat. What luck.

So we wait.  If everything works out as planned, we'll have the part in hand this afternoon, a day and a half after destroying the old one.  If the part is delayed or it's the wrong part, we'll be waiting a lot longer.  Best case, were home two days late. Worst case, we start worrying about our food, water, and battery levels.  It's been a stressful kind of boredom.

Meanwhile gale force winds are blowing out in the strait making it a boisterous, stressful kind of boredom.  Vi has been sitting in the cockpit to mitigate the nausea that comes with so much rolling around at anchor.  We can't wait to get out of here.