Its another dreary, dismal, stormy, weekend winter day in Sitka. No sailing today, and the same forcast for tomorrow. So it looks like i will have to be satisfied with with fantasy sailing instead. I found an interesting website thanks to the Bristol list on Sailnet: www.laurig.com Not what I would call a typical cruising website, but it contains a number of entertaining tales as well as some interesting philosphy. The site is worth more than a passing glance.

On another note, I have been looking at ways to improve Polly's functional spaces. I need some bookshelf space, and I would like to have an area in the cockpit to do chart work. I think that the port side under the sprayhood will work with a few modifications. It seems to stay fairly dry no matter what the weather, and is just wasted space now. I originally intended to mount line handling stuff there, but the more I sail the less I think its necessary or even better to bring lines back to the cockpit. Of course the cabintop is curved so fashioning a base for a chart table will require copying a curve. After a couple of false starts I think I finally have a close approximation and will try fitting a template before attempting to make the pieces out of expensive mahogany stock. The top should be relatively easy I will use Okume plywood and about 15 coats of varnish. This project will also invole moving the depth sounder readout and perhaps will also allow mounting the sailing instruments also.

I've finished the mockup for the helmseat/propane locker and will work on the finished product as weather an time allow. My workshop is neither insulated nor heated so working is a bit uncomfortable this time of year. Great for keeping beer cold, the temp stays right around 40f. Definitely not user friendly for getting woodworking projects done. One project for next summer will be to insulate and finish the space. My neighbor has done his and is able to carry on his custom fishing rod business year round. I have a number of fiberglass projects waiting for warmer weather also. I think getting the plastic to set in thteambient chill is more than a bit problematic.

Sitka has a real problem with mooring space. Although, we have 4 very large harbors and a small private marina there are at least 200 boats on the waiting list for slips. Unfortunately, we are on the longest list at positon 123 or some similar spot. We have a 30 foot slip for the winter but will have to move to transient moorage in April. there will aso be aobu t100 commercial boats here for the summer starting in late March so moorage is normally a big problem here. To compound the problem one of the harbors is being rebuilt this summer which will make the problem even more acute. I asked about anchoring in the moorage field across the channel for the summer, if that becomes necessary I will have to upgrade my ground tackle. I was not really surprised to find out that no provision to change the rules to allow longterm anchoring. I will talk with the Harbormaster next week, but I would be willing to bet that nothing has been done to alleviate the upcoming crunch. I guess thats part of the price we pay for our ridiculous low moorage rates here. I think I would rather pay more and have a bit better facility as well as foresight.

At the Helm 

January day in Sitka Sound

Got out yesterday on a photo expedition. We have seen lots of evidence of whales in the Sound recently, flukes appearing momentarily and the occassional spout far out on the horizon, and have heard many reports of sightings. Including one whale trailing entangled gear of some sort or another. Yesterday was cold (low 30s) and mostly sunny, with 10 to 15 knots of wind from the west which is not the norm this time of year. I had aske dsome friends to got out with me. Only 2 takers, winter is tough on all but the diehards I guess.

Boat was covered with hoar frost when I got to the harbor a bit late at 9:10. The sun had been up for about 40 minutes, but was just peaking over the eastern mountains at Sealing Cove. The boat is in disarray because I am slowly working through many winter projects as work and the weather allow. My guess is the temp is in the high 20s, so it was a bit of a crank to get the Perkins to light off. I used both starter batteries eventually and things finally lit off. While we let it warm up, we stowed miscellaneous gear and partially finished projects. The interior was chilly, but the ceramic heater keeps it from freezing inside, except deep in the lockers where the air doesn't circulate well.

Mooring lines were frozen in place as were the mainsheet and halyards. I showed the new passenger how to bend on the jibsail and I spent several minutes unwinding the main and jib halyards from their cleats and flexing them to break up the frozen solid feeling. Because we have so little sunlight during the winter things tend to stay damp. Low temps then make lines freeze in situ. Frozen Sta-Set X halyards are very hard to work. They don't wind around the winches well, and tend to slip as well as being hard to grip with gloves and very uncomfortable on bare hands. I had planned to replace the mainsheet with 1/2 inch Sta-Set X, but I think I will go with Sta-Set instead, its softer and I think will be easier to manage. Especially in very cold weather.

Used the new 7/16 jibsheets, which are doubled 100 feet of Sta-Set DB with a whipped loop in the center. The line tackle that was discussed on one of the bristol forums supposed to make a secure connection to the sail parted itself about 3 minutes after the jib went up, so I used the Tylaska Spool shackle with great results. I was hoping to avoid hardware for the jib to sheet connection but will have to try something new. I like having a single sheet with one connection. I'll watch it closely for wear and may change my mind if it doesn't wear well.

There were a fair number of floating ice chunks as we left the harbor, but no solid ice. I didn't see any solid ice in the harbor at all, but there had been a fair amount of traffic going in and out before I arrived so it may have been broken up. The air was absolutely still and the water glassy. As we motored out three boats passed us in the channel and we saw many out in the Sound. Winter King salmon are are very tasty so there is a lot of fishing even though the weather is quite cold. Started to feel a bit of a breeze about 1 mile out, put up the sails, and got rid of the noise. I really like the almost eerie calm when the motor noise and exhaust odor die away. Waves lapping at the bow and the slight gurgle coming from the stern are my favorite sounds. And the faint sounds of the sails as they settle into the groove along with the creaks of standing rigging as it takes up the strain...Music to every sailor.

I let my crew do most of the steering, since we weren't going anywhere in particular the course didn't count for much. We just sailed by the wind and tried out various points of sail. The wind was perfect, enough to make the boat move well without fighting. Although, the old, tired sails don't give a lot of power and are frequently difficult to trim adequately, we managed about 6 nautical miles in an hour and a half out toward Viskari rocks. Came about 1 mile before the rocks and sailed toward the Eastern Channel running on mainsail alone. Got back in just before the sun was going down.

The pictures above are Mt Edgecumbe with a lenticular cloud, and 2 views looking toward Sitka from the sound. The first is to the north of town, and the second is looking at the mountains behind Silver Bay to the south of town. Life is tough living in a postcard.