Log Entry: Thursday April 28th, 1999
Tomorrow we will finally leave Bellingham!
We've checked engine fluids, battery fluids, instruments. We've checked the
weather (calm: not good sailing weather). We've sent last-minute emails.
Getting to this point has been an enormous endeavor. Major obstacles to our
departure have included:
 | we are attempting to register the boat in Dublin. We were warned that they expect
t's to be crossed and i's to be dotted, but they expect the cross on the t to measure x
millimeters, and the dot over each i to be x nanometers in diameter, and to be z
nanometers above the main segment of the i, and to contain q nanograms of ink, etc., etc.
We do have a letter from them acknowledging that the registration process is in
progress, which (we've been told!) is adequate for moving about Canada and the US. |
| our spinnaker pole has caused problems: first, we had to walk it back from the yard
where it was painted, about a half mile away. It has a pin at the end which allows
it to be attached to the mast. The pin has a spring. Anyway, the spring was
kaput, and I was examining the pin to figure out what size spring we needed, when it
jumped out of my hand, dropped onto the dock, and immediately found its way to the nearest
crack and went for a swim. |
| we have invested in dive gear, which we felt we needed in order to do emergency work
around the boat: untangle stuff from the propeller; examine our zincs; check the rudder;
etc. Well, we decided to do a dive at the dock to try and find the pin ( a magnet
wouldn't work, as the pin is stainless steel). This was my first time ever into a
dry suit, and I felt and looked like Armstrong taking his first tentative steps on the
moon. Jane and I spent about an hour trying to get the suit, the tank, the BCV, the
octopus, weights, hood, gloves, mask, and flippers attached to me in the right sequence,
with results which would have been comical if the whole thing hadn't weighed about five
tons. I finally made it into the water, and discovered that even with the powerful
light we had purchased, that visibility in Bellingham Marina is about three inches.
While trying to acclimatize myself to this unwelcome environment, the flippers, which I
had thought were firmly attached to my huge dry suit boots, came off, and FLEW to the
bottom. At this point we decided to cut our losses. |
We've had a lot of help from folks around here. Bob Plum, from Performance Yachts, was a great
help: he runs a brokerage right at the dock here in the marina, and gave us lots of advice
and tips. Whenever we've mentioned that we're going to Alaska, people have
volunteered spots for good anchoring, crabbing, shrimping, and fishing. We've been
to Seattle a couple of times, and Vancouver numerous times. In Seattle, we visited Bob and Kris, from West Coast Yachts, the brokerage which originally
sold us Ilari. They went to Alaska last summer, and had tons of advice. They
also came up to Bellingham to visit us: we took them out for lunch, and discovered a Thai
restaurant in Fairhaven: we were the only patrons, but the food was pretty good!
We have over 150 paper charts on board, for every nook and cranny between here and
South East Alaska. We also have all the electronic charts.
We've loaded cat supplies; fishing, crabbing and shrimping gear; bicycles; computer
equipment; DVDs; tools; and spares, spares, spares.
We have loaded enough food, supplies, and spare parts to see us around the word 13
times. But it's absolutely certain that the first thing that goes wrong will involve
something for which we have no spares.
Ching seems to be getting used to the shipboard life. We've been out on
Bellingham Bay a couple of times, and it didn't seem to phase her. She hasn't seen
her first seal yet. More importantly, she hasn't seen her first eagle yet.
Some of them may be capable of carrying her off, so we'll have to be careful ...
|
