Chrysler Sailors Forum

Well,
We did it again!

Diane and I took Destiny for another 2+ week cruise to The San Juan Islands Wa. USA and the Gulf Islands BC. Canada!

We were forced to endure 80 degrees every day of the trip! Not a drop of rain and only two mornings with fog and that was because we got up early to travel.

I'm now sitting at work sporting a very nice sun tan and weeding through emails! Far cry from a few days ago!! LOL!

Sorry if I missed anything good!

Scott

I'm sure it wasn't your intent, but you have managed to make me and I'm sure everyone else extremely jealous. Thank you.

Ha ha! Yeah, that is always fun to do!
Wait until I post photos! You're really gonna love me then!


Scott

endure 80's...poor babies...

I endure the 80's every morning now-about 9am..then it gets hot

I wake up early in a fog. Every. Morning

NYCSAILOR wrote:I wake up early in a fog. Every. Morning

Ha Ha!
That is funny!

Finally got my pictures uploaded to the computer!

I'll be posting soon a brief writeup and photos!
Yes, just to tease you!

Scott

Glad you had a good trip!

Looking forward to seeing the picts!

Maybe see you next year along with other Chrysler boats. 5 weeks + in early June and July out of Bellingham north to False Bay crossing the Straits of Georgia north of Nanaimo. Canada day in Winter Harbour followed by the fourth in Roche. Go early as the kids are still in school, winds are excellent (7 gallons of gas total in 5 weeks) and had to endure a max of 78 degrees.
Little 26 footer went everywhere the big guys went.
Looking forward to doing it again next year, hopefully going out of Lund B.C.
s.v simplicity

Ken

Would be great to meet you Ken!
Winter Cove on Saturna Island is one of our favorite spots too!

You might have seen a hulk of a hull left at the entrance to the cove!
It has deteriorated badly after getting stripped and neglected over the years.

This is a great article of what it was!

http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=fe2 ... 31201e0fa0

We'd love to meet you, even if it is a drive by! You'll pass within a couple of miles of my house!


Scott

The hulk is not there anymore. No sign this year. In 2008 the spars were floating in the cove. You missed the yearly lamb fest and 125 boats anchored in the cove for Canada Day. Went through boat pass this year and down to Tumbo island for the night before heading to Roche. Another favorite place for us is Connover Cove on Wallace Island. Overall nothing beats the public dock in front of the Empress in Victoria.
Thanks for the link, always wondered.
Hopefully can visit (maybe sail at the same time) next year on our way up from southern Oregon.

Ken

Scott,
Thanks for sharing! My wife, Reth, and I are heading out from Olympia on sept 12, towards the san juans. Any tips or suggestions are appreciated.

Hey Corey,
I'm happy to chat and show some great places to go but before I do that I will do a write up and picture of the most recent trip for you and others to see. That'll wet your whistle and start specific questions!

However, there are several cruising guides available! We use "Wagner's Cruising Guide" a lot and really like and mostly agree with descriptions. It is almost always a starting point when shopping for places to go. Keep in mind, if you use a guide and then disagree with the style or description, find another! LOL! What we like and what you like may be different same with guides!

When you find a guide you like stick with it as you will learn the styles of the writers and their tastes. We carry 3 guides and the Coast Pilot along with charts and such.


Scott

Depends upon weather want to anchor, grab a buoy or dock at a marina.in my experience a buoy after noon is chancy, anchoring is always my goal although might have to row a bit to get to shore. I avoid marinas like the plague.
Inside has less weather but more boats (although a southerly can roar up west and east sounds and hammer boats hard. Outside has better anchorages, less boats but more chances of weather. I especially enjoy the sailing options north of Sucia into the straits.
Fog can change the best laid plans. Best to wait it out and not chance traveling on a GPS plotter. Can't believe the folks who just because they know where they are on an electronic plotter feel the other fools out there can see them. Radar is a necessity in the fog.
I enjoy Sucia Island, Provolt Harbour on Clark and Patos (room for 1 more boat to anchor if the buoys are taken.
The biggest problem I hear about is a total lack of awareness and appreciation of currents. Trip planning using the currents is the only way to go. I have traveled from Montague Harbour to Victoria easily gaining up to 2 knots assist.
If time allows a trip to Canada and the Gulf Islands is a must. Less boats and a chance to practice your stern line to shore anchoring skills.
As far as guides, The dreamspeaker series is well written, the folks who wrote the excellent guides to mainland Mexico and the Sea of Cortez possibly have a local guide. The gunkholing series is a bit dated but timeless.
I feel the guides from the rental agencies limit options as they seem to be very concerned about you going places I consider easily accessible and safe
.
Hope this helps.

Thank you gentlemen! Scott... I look forward to reading of your adventures. Oh, and thanks for your willingness to assist when I was trying to get The Tigon launched. I will look into the books you guys mentioned. I am joining the south sound sailing society sept 9. This will get us the luxury of reciprocal moorage at many marinas in the case off severe weather and such. The plan is to anchor as much as possible. I'm currently noting all of the tides and currents for our trip. Especially through deception pass, which we plan to go through on our anniversary day. Cheers gents!

keno... capt. i would loeto learn more about how you set up the boat for extended cruisingesp.tomake the first mate more comfortable

NYCSAILOR:
Our boat that we cruise on is a 40' Beneteau with all the goodies aboard already. We load her with food, water, clothes and fuel. There are some very specific tricks and tips we have and use for cruising but the tend to lean towards facilities we carry with us including a fridge, freezer, microwave, etc. I am happy to expand however it may not apply.

However in other boats we've had, there are very cool things we learned! I'll list a few here off the top of my head specifically related to creature comforts and not navigation/safety stuff.

1) a good ice box is REQUIRED. whether a high quality cooler or an actual built in ice box to us was not important. ability to retain cold was.

2) Weeks before leaving we'd freeze water in gallon jugs and water bottles. Why? 3 days before leaving we'd take some of this frozen water and fill the ice box aboard Destiny 1 our old 32' Endeavour. Two things happen. 1 the ice eventually melts providing nice cold drinking water. It also pre-cools the icebox!!!! YES! we found we could keep items including ice 2-3 times longer by pre cooling the ice box. The day we leave we'd remove the now partially thawed water and replace with SOLD frozen jugs. Then pack the ice box! NICE! FYI, we kept gallon jugs at the bottom and used the water bottles to pack around things that really concerned us like chicken, mayo, etc. Kind of portable cold in the box. I can not tell you how this improved or food and safety! Very nice!

3) We'd plan our meals long in advance and still do to this day. Lasagna freezes extremely well! Rice casseroles freeze well, pre cooked chicken breasts, etc all freeze very well!!!For a month before our trip, if we cook a meal that we like AND it freezes well, we vacuum pack a single meal per person and freeze it! SOLID. Aboard, some meals like lasagna can be warmed as easily as soft boiling water and dropping the vacuum packed meal in the water. Dump onto a plate and eat!! YEAH! We've learned for us, DO NOT put TWO meals together in the same package. Sometimes I want meal A and my bride wants meal B. NO worries! Also two or three smaller frozen meals warm easier and faster than a big block in water. This also as a HUGE cash saver! We rarely go out for food. We do but it is planned and budgeted.

4) packing refrigerated / frozen meals, We pack them in the icebox in inverse order of expected use. IE next weeks meals go in first either back or bottom. This week next and tonight's go in last. The idea is you already know what is for dinner, you can open grab and close. No digging and wasting precious cold. Very important if you are out for a week or two without refrigeration.

5) Comfort aboard. What is comfort for me is likely different from comfort for you but we can all mostly agree humidity aboard is not comfortable in heat or cold days. Our old 32'er was a SMALL and NARROW 32'er. Showering inside left so much moisture it was really not comfortable. Not bad but really not good either. You know, damp blankets, seats, clothes, etc. Ventilation on that boat was not good so with a family . . . . well, you know. So I built an octagon using PVC pipe. Picture the shape of a stop sign. Then laid it flat. USed line to built a cradle to lift it flat, then hung two shower curtains on it! NOW we have a portable shower! YES! We then simply used a halyard to lift and a line on the aft stay to move over the cockpit! Showering outdoors is fun, kinda fun if you will . . ., and leaves moisture/humidity OUTSIDE! no more damp blankets and such! YES!


6) GARBAGE! Did you know you have to PAY to unload garbage in some places? Especially remote or smaller islands and harbors? Remove ALL excess packaging from your food or other items. Example, do not take your brand new deodorant in its box to your boat. remove the cardboard and plastic first! Many items are double packed. Cereal is in a card board box AND in a plastic bag! Dump the box. Take only the bag and maybe a little clip to keep it fresh. This will be an amazing thing and can become an issue if you do not think ahead of all the packaging CRAP that is extra!


7) OOooo just thought of a good one. Vitamins and daily meds. Many folks like me are lazy. I hate counting pills, opening bottles, this med, that med. So folks get these little week pill planners. IE 7 little boxes in one bigger. Now you have a week done! HAH! not really! Did you know that MOLD will grow on some pills and not others? It will grow in less than a week!!!!!! Moist environments ( boats ) will cause it! So either keep your pills in the original packages with the cilica (sp?) gel things to prevent moisture! OR . . . . vacuum pack the weekly pill containers. One year I had a whole set of multi vitamins mold badly in the second week out! OMG! I had no idea!

OK, there is a few items you might not think of or read about in all the wonderful books out there. There are MANY tips and tricks that are pretty generic you can find online and I'm happy to share more if you have specific questions!

I just posted these because We learned them on our own vs read about and applied them.

Scott

I do not have a first mate, I have an admiral. A willing partner in cruising, day sailing and she has always let me know what she needs to be comfortable. Read all of the books on cruising couples and how to make it more comfortable. None of them were as important as starting slow and working into cruising. Her feeling of safety was more important than comfort down below, a working galley and enclosed head. Her confidence in sailing without help (including navigation), sharing crew responsibilities was the key to success.
Female frst mates want the same as a male capt, and viseversa. A snug bed, warm meals, time alone etc.
Spend time at the dock or on the trailer looking at storage and accessibility of same. How can you both move around with the least amount of discomfort. What is your comfort level and discuss it with her.
When we cruised on our 38 footer daily planning was a shared responsibility in protected waters where a daily destination was the goal. Taking turns as planner and capt the next day worked well for us. Offshore planning was more long term with short term watch schedules set.
It was sad to meet many men in Mexico and onward who were now sailing alone as their partner got off the boat. Maybe more of them would still be together is they fully shared living the dream. Seemed to me that they never fully shared the dream.

I am rambling here sorry, but got thinking of all the work and time we put into our cruisinbg and where we went wrong and finally got it right. There are great books on \making the boat comfortable for the first mate. Get one for the type of sailing you will be doing. If gunkholing is your goal a book on how to provision and live on a boat crossing oceans will be a waste. Is there a "cruising for dummies" book? We followed the KISS principle, Keep is simple sweetie.
Ken

CaptainScott wrote: One year I had a whole set of multi vitamins mold badly in the second week out! OMG! I had no idea!

Fortunately research has shown that multivitimans are pretty much a complete waste of money.

Otherwise some great cruising tips, especially the pre-cooling of the cooler with frozen water jugs.

Stopped at the Winco in Bellingham to provision. Was in the parking lot decanting all of the boxed items into my plastic storage containers when a store employee informed me I could not place the packaging in their trash bin. I was around back using a recycling container at the time. it worked out OK as a manager was called and she approved the task. Take home lesson is businesses have a hard time dealing with the unexpected.
The Thrifty store in Ladysmith B.C. assisted me in eliminating as much of extra paper and cardboard right there in the store.