This weekend begins the annual Sucia Island Rendezvous. Doryman has been invited to crew on Full Gallop, a Phil Bolger Chebacco built and owned by his friend Chuck.
For the first three days of this event, small boats gather in the San Juan Islands at the northern extremity of Rosario Straight in northwestern Washington State. Friendships are renewed and news exchanged from the past year, then for the remaining week Full Gallop, in company with other hearty small vessels rowed and sailed, completes a RAID of sorts with destinations to be determined each day by consensus. The entourage may even venture into Canadian waters, since there will be Canadian citizens in evidence.
Doryman plans to chronicle this event (along with mopping decks and cleaning bilges), so expect to read about it here in a week or so!
The isolated coves and bays of Sucia Island are the site of the rendezvous. This island was once used by the seal hunting Lummi Indians. They later provided excellent hideouts, in the 1800's, for smugglers of illegal Chinese laborers, as well as for hiding illegally imported wool and opium. The islands also played a role in "rum-running" during the liquor Prohibition of the 1920s and 1930s.
The cluster of Sucia Islands was purchased in 1960 by the Puget Sound Interclub Association and later donated to the State of Washington for protection as a Marine State Park.
The Spanish Captain Francisco de Eliza, in 1791 named this island group Isla Sucia. Sucia in Spanish means "foul" in a nautical sense, describing a shore defined by reefs and hidden rocks. (click on the link above for the NOAA chart.)
July 10-13 was yet another great gathering of small gunkholing boats in Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, one of the wonderful Washington State marine parks in the San Juan Islands. It's hard to beat the camaraderie of good friends in a beautiful spot aboard some of the most seaworthy small vessels around.
This year there were nine boats carrying eleven sailors. A small but tenacious group, all with credentials as able seamen and women.
Jamie came from Victoria BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass, fresh from the R2AK, where he made it to Johnstone Strait before succumbing to intense headwinds.
This is the view we usually have of Jamie.
Bob sailed Sally Forth, his beloved Drascome Longboat. It's easy to see why he loves this boat so much. He uses a very well designed cockpit tent for sleeping aboard. Additional photos can be found on the Doryman Flickr site.
Paul navigated from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, in his Jay Benford Friendship. He recently upgraded his rigging by moving the headstay to the masthead and installing a roller furling genoa. Sadly the winds were very light, so he couldn't show us how pleased he is with his new wings.
Claire and John came from Whidbey Island in their new Night Bird. A lot of boat in a compact package. Please note the pop-top deck.
Joel and his son Tim winged from Edmonds in their John Welsford Navigator, Ellie. Navigator Joel employs a tidy clothesline anchoring system to keep Ellie close to camp.
Randy arrived in his new Belhaven 19, Clementine. I sailed with Randy in our annual "race" around Sucia. The winds and currents are fickle around this island of many faces and we have yet to complete a single race, in many years of trying. This year may have been the shortest race of all.
Joe trailered from Texas with his wood runabout. He didn't know he came to see us, it was serendipity. I met Joe four years ago while cruising around the Canadian Gulf Islands after this same rendezvous. It was good to see him again, he's a sailor's sailor, with a fruitful life and many interesting stories to tell.
Ron motored in with his efficient outboard driven catamaran, Just Enuf, a plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler. Ron really gets around with this little cat. You may have seen his distinctive vessel around the Salish Sea.
I sailed the forty five nautical miles from Port Townsend in Belle Starr. That's her in the photo near the top of the post. She always gets me there and back, safely and in style.
A small but fun group. The Sucia Island Rendezvous was lovely as ever, a tradition well worth keeping.
Cap Sante in Anacortes, Washington is a low lying claw shaped headland with a high brow to the east which protects the harbor from all but southerly winds. The southerlies are prevalent throughout the winter and as summer progresses high pressure builds from the north and the boat basin rides easy.
When I arrived at Cap Sante Boat Haven it was late morning and the wind was already filling in from the north. My only concern was getting the boat launched before the high afternoon winds kicked in. There was a sign on the boat lift that said they would not launch boats in winds over 25 knots. In the summer, hot inland temperatures mean higher winds over the coastal landscape due to the warm air drawing cool marine air inland. If the wind was already picking up before lunch, it would likely exceed 25 knots by afternoon.
Loading and launching Saga took a while, since I had packed enough food and gear to be at sea for a month. I had no intention of touching inhabited land. The launch went flawlessly even though wind continued to build.
During the evening I reviewed the charts and my planned route to Fossil Bay, Sucia Island State Park. As I drifted off to sleep, it was apparent that the wind had not let up, which is strange after dark. I resolved to wake pre-dawn and catch a favorable tide at 5:30.
When I woke, it was still blowing and had clocked around to the southwest. This should have been warning enough. Persevering as only a doryman can, Saga and I set sail.
As soon as we rounded Cap Sante into Guemes Channel, which runs SW to NE, it was apparent this was not going to be easy. The wind opposed the tidal current and caused the whole channel to churn like a washing machine. It wasn't long before I wondered just how seaworthy my little boat was. In a normally busy, commercially trafficked lane, Saga was the only boat in sight.
I've never let small details deter me, though I did wait too long to put on my rain coat and my jacket was already soaked with salty spray. Every third wave came in the boat. The headland where I would turn north was visible a couple miles away and I fixed on that.
The new heading offered a great bit of relief but heaped on a new challenge. How well does a small double-ended boat surf down a choppy, trailing sea? With a lot of authority, but not much control. It was too early in the morning, on a day that felt like early spring, to be sweating this hard!
The 24 nautical miles to Sucia Island took just over four hours that day. Probably a record for an eighteen-foot displacement boat. The first two hours were not much fun, though by the time I set anchor it was warm and sunny. This was the first outing for me in the little faering, Saga and I learned to have a lot of respect for this descendant of the old Norse light displacement double-enders.
There was only about a foot of freeboard left, with all the gear I'd packed, yet the only water to ship was spray from waves off the forward quarter. Mind you, there was plenty of that at times but the faering commanded the sea as well as a boat twice her size and I soon quit worrying about her ability to take care of herself.
Fossil Bay is a special place. Black Oystercatchers, bald eagles, raccoons, otters, seals, crab and all manner of sea birds make their homes there.
On the second weekend of July, so do a dedicated group of small wooden-boat owners. The Sucia Island Rendezvous brings these mariners from near and far to commune with nature and each other for three days.
In addition to the photos seen here, a good taste of the rendezvous can be found on Joel Bergen's weblog. Joel showed up in his new Welsford Navigator, Ellie. That's Joel to the right, in the green t-shirt, at "Wine and Cheese Night".
If that is not enough, you will find photos (weather permitting) of my entire trip on Doryman's Flickr site. Click here for the slideshow.
We waited in Fossil Bay for the winds to come up, which never really happened. Fluky and unpredictable, some boats had a breeze to waft them home and others resorted to oars.
The small group that stayed on to continue sailing for another week set off on Monday morning on a promising lift which soon dissipated into a dead calm. This was to be the default for several days.
The post Rendezvous tour turned out to be a circumnavigation of Orcas Island. First to Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island, which is a Washington State park with permanent moorings and plenty of trails onshore to explore.
The next stop was Deer Harbor on Orcas Island for showers, hamburgers and fish 'n chips. My shower was supposed to last for seven minutes but it never stopped. Pure heaven after sitting in the sun on a calm sea for a week.
The last stop was Eagle Harbor on Cypress Island, headed for Anacortes. Lynn, in Katie Mae had peeled off to head for Port Townsend earlier that day and there were only three boats left, the Mother Ship (Baba 30, Gretel II), Jamie's Wayward Lass and me, in Saga. Eagle Harbor is an inviting primitive anchorage on a state preserve. I've often passed it but never stopped. Now I know why. The recreational traffic in Bellingham Channel churned up a confused sea that lashed the anchorage all evening.
Katie Mae had an uneventful trip home, as Lynn reported later:
" I parted company and headed down San Juan Channel; made it as far as Fisherman Bay.
Motoring in, I stopped to admire a 5.5 meter in the outer harbor, and the crew offered me a mooring to hang on overnight, very thoughtful."
"Went in to the Islander marina and had beer and fish tacos, and the ladies at the next table were having way too much fun and pulled me in to their movie -- ah, civilization!"
"Thought I'd make it across the Strait to Port Townsend the next day (Friday), but the weather scared me off -- I kept seeing the lightening ground strikes and looking at the cans of gasoline in the cockpit and, and... went back to Watmough Bay, Lopez Island. Saturday morning the thunder had stopped so -- off again. Thick fog in Rosario Strait, but I figured it would clear up."
"It didn't."
"Socked in, with visibility up to 1/4 mile and down to 100 yards all the way to Partridge Point, Whidbey Island; never had a whiff of Smith Island. I was motoring in three foot current waves for the first part; barely making way through the water, but getting 7 to 8 knots over the ground in roughly the right direction. Once in a while I stopped the motor and listened for engines, hearing one at one point. It faded pretty quickly though, and there were no actual incidents."
"Made it to Point Wilson [Port Townsend] in a shade under four hours; not bad for my pretty slow boat (slow pretty boat?) and very glad and grateful for a safe and happy trip."
Jamie Orr, in Wayward Lass, was the last man standing. He headed west in his Chebacco and home to Victoria, BC from Anacortes:
"I almost got caught in fog in Rosario Strait, but it wandered off up Guemes Channel instead - although at one point a ferry about a quarter mile south was totally invisible. Once inside the islands I decided to try to reach Deer Harbor, Orcas Island for fuel, they close at 7:00 sharp. I made it with only minutes to spare, in fact, after I'd pumped my gas and went up to pay for it, they wouldn't let me in, saying they were closed! Unfortunately they figured things out and let me pay after all."
"I stopped for the night at Jones Island where the thunderstorm that had followed me from Rosario Strait finally caught up and dumped a few gallons of rain in the bilge before passing on."
"I'd had no wind all the way and nothing was changed at 4:30 next morning when I hauled up the anchor. But the tide was helping to the tune of up to 2 1/2 knots down Haro Strait so it was a quick ride home."
So ends Sucia Island Rendezvous 2012. There is a lot more in the telling, but you will have to come along and see for yourself. The written word does not do justice to the beauty of being becalmed under a mossy granite ledge with eagles wheeling and crying overhead while Doll's porpoises feed playfully on herring under your keel. Time is of no consequence and minutes pass into hours unremarked.
Back on Sucia Island the Concordia Sloop Feather caught my eye. There is no mistaking a Culler boat. Capt’ Pete could inspire people to take up sailing, just to be in one of his lovely creations. One day I hope to sail (or row) Feather. I have high expectations and don’t expect to be disappointed.
Glenn is skipper of this little sloop and obviously loves his boat, so I’ll ask him to tell us about it.
“Feather is a Concordia Sloop Boat, designed in 1964 by R.D. "Pete" Culler, for the Concordia Company of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. John Graham in Sausalito, California built ours in 1983. We purchased it from him in Sequim, Washington in June of 1994.”
“She is 17' 8" long, 5' wide, and draws 18" with the centerboard up and 3' with it down. She is rigged as a gaff knockabout sloop with 172 square feet of sail, 127 in the main and 45 feet in the jib. There is no standing rigging and the jib is set flying. She displaces 1240 pounds with rig and anchor and carries as many as six adults. She has two sets of reef cringles in the mainsail, allowing her to sail to weather in 35 knots of wind with both reefs in and the jib set”
“Most of the work we’ve done on the boat is more in the nature of maintenance and repair, keeping up brightwork and spars. There have been a few modifications and some repairs of the inevitable sailing damage.”
“In the summer of 1999, when our daughter was five weeks old we took her across San Francisco Bay and back in Feather. Even an infant’s life jacket was too big."
“Last year I used her for winter crabbing season from late October to the end of December. On December 20 I pulled my pots out for the year under sail, the air temperature was 20 degrees. I was glad the wind was light -- it was a wonderful last sail of the year.”
That’s what that boat was build for, Glenn!
Thank you for taking us with you….
Photos of Feather under sail by John Kohnen, taken at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Show.
Glenn has a great story of struggling to attend the 2007 Sucia Island Rendezvous in Feather:
Northbound
Crossing the Straits of Juan de Fuca
"The beginning was a fiasco."
"Feather had been out of the water for a couple of years after a mooring parted and she went on the beach in the winter of 2004, tearing off her skeg. I recovered all the bits at low tide, including the keel band, rudder and attendant hardware. I spent the month before Sucia Island Rendezvous 2007 with a good deal of help from my brother Alan, building a new skeg and performing various other repairs. Alan also built a rowing seat to mount on the aft end of the centerboard case."
"Our plan was to launch Wednesday afternoon, load up and let the boat soak overnight (I'd been soaking the bilge with a hose for 3 days), then leave on the dawn ebb Thursday morning. Wednesday evening found me frantically varnishing spars and oars and leathering the oars."
"We launched at dawn Thursday. By the time we loaded and cleared the dock at Fort Flagler at the north end of Marrowstone Island, it was almost the end of the ebb... We tried anyway and sailed across to Keystone on Whidbey Island. It was obvious we had totally blown the tide. If it weren’t for the back eddy in Admiralty Bay we'd have wound up in Seattle!"
"We worked the back eddy as far West as Admiralty Head, where it peters out against the Whidbey shore and spent the rest of the flood tacking on and off the head until it eased enough to reach off to the State Park moorings at Ft. Worden in Port Townsend. Feather was making more water than was comfortable, but hourly pumping kept up with it. Never hazardous, but a worry for the whole cruise."
"We spent the night at Alan's and left, rowing on the dawn ebb Friday. We hit the tide perfectly, but cut too close to Pt. Wilson, actually passing inside the buoy. It was a miserable time trying to row in the rips, so rough that I was afraid we'd lose the boat. Thank Pete Culler for a seaworthy design! The water would just come to the deck edge, and that beautiful bow would rise over the sea. It was all I could do to keep one end to the seas (I swear they were 6 feet high and 3 feet apart!), either bow or stern first, like a MacKenzie River drift boat. Between rips we tried for all the northing we could. Somewhere around the "SA" buoy we got enough wind to set sail, which steadied us out a lot, and relieved us of rowing."
"We learned to check our charts for topography liable to cause rips or overfalls. Bad ones are usually labeled as such on the chart. It's obvious that ebb coming around Pt. Wilson will be forced up by the rapid shoaling there and raise a huge rip. We should have headed well east from Ft. Worden and not gone north until we had enough offing to keep the ebb from setting us through the shoals."
"We went east of Smith Island, which was a mistake. The tide turns in Admiralty Inlet an hour before it does in Rosario Strait. So when the wind died, we had the remains of the ebb setting us south again. We were afraid if we got too far south, we wouldn't make the flood up Rosario. So we rowed for three hours and actually lost ground from being just at the north end of Smith Island, to a little south of Smith before the tide turned."
"Around the south end of Flounder Bay we got a little breeze and were able to sail north through the bay, into the marina. We arranged to spend the night with some of Alan's friends in Anacortes."
"Saturday morning, the tide didn't flood until afternoon. We were underway on the first of the flood, sailing for less than an hour until the wind dropped and it was back to rowing! Up Rosario Straight a little wind off the east corner of Orcas Island allowed us to lay one long tack with the tide holding us to the wind. Then, back to rowing off Barnes and Clark. Near dark, we found a counter current against us on the south side of Matia Island, which wasn't shown on the current print out Alan had downloaded. With diligent pulling, we made it into Fossil Bay just after dark, and a day late, to the music of Jamie's bagpipes."
Homeward
"Southbound down President's Channel to Jones Island, the wind was light."
"Everyone else was being sporting, using sails only, and edging towards Waldron Island to get a little more wind. We edged closer to Orcas Island to get a better current; whenever the boom swung inboard we'd top it up and row. We were first to Jones Island, beating in on the last mile against a brisk southerly."
"We parted from the flotilla the following morning at Spencer Spit with a light southeast wind and drizzle, rowing most of the day, with no problems with tides or rips this time. Going through the channel to the west of James Island we had enough wind to sail as the following current pushed us south. By now the drizzle had soaked us thoroughly. Whoever had the helm was hypothermic. Rowing kept the other one warm."
"Lousy visibility with drizzle -mist and fog off Smith Island, with no steering compass. We used my hockey puck hand-bearing compass, sighting on our bow and periodically wiping off the rain while we rowed. Southbound, past Smith the current change worked in our favor, so passing east of Smith again worked best. Hugging the Whidbey Island shore would have worked too. South of the "SA" buoy we got enough wind to sail, but with a headwind from the southeast. We made one long tack from there to Point Wilson, the flood being strong enough to lay the Point. We encountered some light rips, but not so bad on the flood and we stayed outside the buoy. Feather lost the wind again off Fort Worden and we had to row up Port Townsend Bay."
"Just before we got to Point Hudson the long forecasted westerly wind finally kicked up, so we sailed the last quarter mile, after rowing most of the day."
"The next day I took Feather home, across the bay to Marrowstone Island. We’d rowed three fourths of the trip!"
Glenn Woodbury
PKA Black Douglas,
Master of the Sloop-Boat Feather
And the Terror of Scow Bay
For those not familiar with the San Juan Islands, that would have been over 100 nautical miles! Doryman.
Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, near the Canadian Border in the San Juan Islands is the scene for a gathering of small boat enthusiasts the second weekend in July.
This year was a quiet one. The weather was postcard perfect, unless you're a sailor. Boats came and went in an erratic schedule, so it was hard to tell how many attended. A couple big production boats were in the line-up, which was a new twist.
For the sailors, the week was a tease. When a breeze came up we were all seduced but most often, once out of the harbor, boats drifted on the tides while skippers and crew baked in the sun.
Please make no mistake - getting up to a brilliant sunrise every morning is a wonderful thing! I suppose it would be brash to take credit, though I'm convinced the weather was so fine because I made up a heavy-duty boom tent that could stand torrential rains for weeks (nay years) on end. That tent became my penance. It is so heavy and ungainly (and I must say unattractive) it took an hour to set up and an equal amount of time to strike. If it weren't for the heavy dew fall, I might have abandoned it altogether.
Lets look at the line-up...
Katie Mae belongs to Lynn Watson of Port Townsend. She was built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, under the supervision of Ray Speck She is a modified 21 foot Drascombe PeterBoat. Well sailed and an exceptional design, she is hard to keep up with. I include this photo to demonstrate the contrast of vessels found in Fossil Bay.
Here's Joel and Tim Bergen in their Welsford Navigator, Ellie. Joel has some more details about this gathering on his website.
Paul and Arnie sailed in from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, BC.
Paul's boat is a Friendship Sloop designed by Jay Benford, named Friendship. We've talked about Paul and his fine boat before.
Arnie is a former bosun in the Canadian Navy and an accomplished sailor. It was a pleasure to make his acquaintance.
Marty Loken, from Marrowstone Island brought his newest acquisition, a Iain Oughtred Willyboat.
Marty is as bad as I am about boats - if he loves 'um he has to bring 'em home.
Marty runs the Island Boatshop on Mystery Bay, Marrowstone Island, east of Port Townsend.
Ron Mueller cruises the San Juan and Gulf Islands every year in his power cat, Just Enuf.
This plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler has a king sized berth, standing
headroom galley, and a private head. Ron stores two inflatable kayaks
and two folding bikes in the starboard ama. Cruising speed is 10 knots
with a top speed of 15 knots, using a 20hp outboard motor.
Bob Ennenberg hails from Vancouver, BC, where he built this Jim Michalak pram, Duck. It's Bob's first build and I was impressed how well it sails. He has no permanent furniture inside and it's a regular ballroom down below.
Bob is a grade school teacher with perpetual good humor. Hope he comes back next year.
These folks were not here to join us, but what a happy coincidence!
Their beautiful vessel is a Connecticut River Shad Boat.
James McMullen showed up from Anacortes, WA in his sail-and-oar boat Rowan.
James had places to see, so he was there only one night. He told me later that he covered over 60 nautical miles in four days under sail and oar alone. The man has ambition!
And here we have Jamie Orr of Victoria, BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass.
I've had the pleasure of sailing with Jamie quite a few times, though I'm a bit tired of looking at his transom. The Chebacco is an amazing little boat and Jamie handles her well.
Thanks to Jamie for all his organizational efforts concerning this rendezvous!
He has a website to keep us updated and is one of the best cat-herders I know.
You recognize this guy. It's Doryman in Saga. Jamie was gracious enough to circle around and take my picture before he took off for the horizon.
The jib was an experiment and we'll come back to that later. Saga is a modified William Atkin Valgerda faering.
I call this the Mother Ship. Chuck Gottfried, his wife Shay and good friend Dean chartered a Baba 30 for the week. Not my cuppa tea, but what luxury!
Here we see Dean firing up some Super Tramp on his digital music player just before breakfast. Not my cuppa either, but the man is happy and that's all that counts.
They sailed in company with some old friends in a C&C 35 and I'm sorry to have not gotten a photo of them.
Martin Schneider came from Port Townsend in his Allegra 24 cutter, Clover
That's a lot of boat in a tidy package. I hope to sail with Martin someday.
Bound for Home
I could go on forever, but as they say, all good things... (must make way for other good things).
For this series I'll leave you with two of my favorite boats from the Sucia Island Rendezvous.
First, the 18 foot Sloop Boat Feather, designed by Pete Culler. Is there any doubt that Captain Pete Culler is one of the preeminent designers of the twentieth century? Two brothers, Glen and Alan rowed this fine boat from Port Townsend, Washington.
Feather waits quietly at anchor.
Also from Port Townsend is Sparrow, a 20 foot yawl rigged Surf Dory designed by Ed Davis and built by Kees Prins for Laingdon Schmitt. Here we see Kees at the oars and Laingdon standing by.
Kees and Laingdon have rowed and sailed Sparrow in the Shipyard School RAID and found that they make the most efficient time if one rows while the other rests, then switch. These hardy fellows are setting out on a blustery day to head home, while the rest of us wait out the storm.........
(In the comment at the bottom of this post, Laingdon describes the consequence: "Kees and I got completely spanked by the huge gusts sheering down off the mountain on Orcas (Island)- at one point even running off with just the jib was too much, and we were making steerage and then some under bare poles. Ended up taking refuge in Brandt's Landing, by the mercy of the harbormaster; spent the night aboard there, while Kees hitched to the Anacortes ferry. Next couple of days I sailed back to Port Townsend through San Juan Passage.")
"Great little voyage!"
Kees designed this bronze steering linkage which hinges around the mizzen mast with such precise linkage that it feels like the tiller is attached directly to the rudder head. A very well executed design from stem to stern.
Kees Prins has competed in RAIDs with Iain Oughtred and Iain's influence is apparent in Sparrow.
There is more, much more, so look for all the dedicated Sucia sailors and their seaworthy vessels in future posts......
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The Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica of the European merchant traders of the turn of the nineteenth century. Her hull shape and rigging are similar to those of Spanish explorer's ships used in the expeditions of the late eighteenth century along the coast of the western US.
Built of steel in Hawaii in 1988, she is a 103-foot-long topsail ketch. Owned by the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority in Aberdeen, Washington, the Chieftain joins the Lady Washington, the other GHHSA vessel, in educational cruises and ambassadorial visits along the Pacific coast of the US.
The Hawaiian Chieftain was on a cruise in the San Juan Islands during the Sucia Island Rendezvous, where we shared Prevost Harbor on Stuart Island. The ketch was crewed by young men and I was told that the ship offers sailing training for disadvantaged youth.
Thanks to Frank for taking me for a spin around this little ship so I could take these photos!
Two gigs accompanied the ketch, but were elusive before my camera. Coming into Prevost Harbor, I could see the gigs sailing in tandem, but as we approached they had struck their sails and were under oars. They quickly and efficiently rowed out of range of my camera. A crack crew, for trainees!
We spotted them several more times during the week.
