Mike, Liam, and I had mediocre winds on our recent return to Seattle from the San Juan Islands, but my-oh-my did the wildlife make up for it. In a 24-hour period (starting 5:30 am on Sunday 6/26) we saw: bald eagles, great blue herons, kingfishers, southern resident killer whales, harbor porpoises, harbor seals, rhinoceros auklets, tufted puffins, pigeon guillemots, lunge-feeding and breaching minke whales (up to 5 at once), herring, swarms of sea gulls, a harbor seal <2 meters away (!), a northern red sea anemone, a sun star, river otters, a foraging humpback, and a leaping salmon!

Our lucky run of rare marine mammal sightings began when we met about 12 northbound southern resident orcas at Lime Kiln lighthouse and Deadman’s Bay. They were very close to shore (10-100m) traveling north in groups of 2-5 spread out over about a kilometer. The blows backlit by the early morning sun were mystical against the shattered basaltic coastline. We didn’t hear any vocalizations and there were no automated detections made that morning on the Lime Kiln (or Orcasound) hydrophones, but the sounds of the blows were clear and powerful and added majesty to a very peaceful passage down Haro Strait.

About the time Liam started asking “When are we going to get there?” we were treated to a rorqual reunion in the middle of the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca. In a few square kilometers centered over Eastern Bank (between Hein Bank, Smith Island, and Partridge Bank), there were at least 5 and probably more than 12 minke whales foraging on aggregations of forage fish. The fish were 10-15 cm long silver-grey elongated fish — probably herring — that formed tight schools or balls. One ball was chased directly under our boat by a languishing (full?) harbor seal so we were able to see it was 1-3 meters deep and 1-5 meters across, densely packed with slowly swirling fish. Sea birds were flying everywhere (almost always <10 meters above sea level) and flocking at the waters surface in groups about 10 meters in diameter, typically spaced 500-1000 meters apart. Does anyone know if this is a particularly great year for herring? I'd never before seen such large aggregations during Beam Reach programs (in the fall or spring) or in a decade of recreational sailing around the San Juans and Puget Sound.

The minkes were remarkably adept at heading strait towards the next aggregation of birds, lunging through it for a few minutes, and then traveling in a pretty straight line towards the next aggregation. We wondered: how they knew which direction to swim next? They often seemed to be working together, lunging or breaching through schools in groups of 2-3 whales. Many lunges were horizontal with heads out of the water, while a few seemed more vertical and looked like a killer whale spy hop.

Almost as amazing as the feasting minkes was our nighttime observations of a foraging humpback just south of where Admiralty Inlet meets Hood Canal. This is the furthest into Puget Sound that I’ve seen a humpback. At least one individual was feasting on aggregations of a small silver fish (more herring, we assume) earlier that (yesterday) morning from about 2-4 a.m. when Mike, Liam, and I sailed very slowly through Skunk Bay (Foulweather Bluff to Hansville). It was overcast with occasional rain showers with 0-10 knots of N/NW wind while a weak flood transitioned towards a strong ebb at Point-No-Point. Liam counted 38 blows in an hour of listening to the near-constant sizzling (snap-crackle-pop) sound of leaping forage fish. We were able to see some of the closer surfacings in the pale light from Seattle reflecting off the low clouds and calm waters and it was clear this was an adult humpback taking 3-5 breaths before making a 3-6 minute dive.

Actually, the light-wind sailing with our big polytarp crab claw sail was pretty interesting, too. Mike served up Nutella French toast as we jibed and reached slowly down Haro, greatly appreciating the 2-3 knot push from the ebb tide. .Mike chose a good clear night for Liam’s first night sail and Liam surprised me by waking easily, watching and listening carefully for the humpback, and doing a good job relieving Mike at the helm for a stint.

The last couple weeks have focused on preparing Milagra for its first trip up the San Juans. The plan (starting tomorrow!) is to have Mike, Sam, and others transit to Lopez via Port Townsend, then have the Veirs clan cruise for 3-5 days followed by 7-10 days of cruising by Mike and family, and then return to Seattle (Mike, Scott, Liam, and ??)… You can track our progress here — http://econscience.org/tiki/sail/

This meant that we needed to finish up the new main sail, find and mount an engine, build a dodger, and create a head! Additionally we organized our cruising ear/tools/materials, and added a tracking device to our safety gear.

Two weeks ago, Mike and Catherine laid out the dodger and two Tuesdays Mike and Scott stayed up most of the night installing it. Last Friday, Mike and I got the boat in the water at the UW WAC, revved up the engine and made it to the locks in about 30 minutes (minor cavitation if too much weight forward or wake lifts the engine up), locked through smoothly, and took a guest berth at the Shilshole H dock. Mike and Catherine then spent the weekend at Blake Island, reporting an easy downwind passage (2 hours) there, and some good motor sailing back. This week we tuned the rig a bit during an evening sail on Monday, a working/sailing Tiki Tuesday with Julian and Matt Johnson (put tell tales all over main, finished 1/2 dodger struts), and a final session tonight — I installed the head while Liam and Cora assembled the new tool and repair boxes and Annie organized the first aid kit.

Here’s a link to a prioritized sailing checklist for coastal cruising on a Tiki 21.

And here’s links for helping plan and execute safe coastal cruising in the Salish Sea — with a focus on Puget Sound’s main basin and the San Juan Islands.

It wasn’t quite as sunny as the day before, but today brought us a nice combination of dry decks and 5-7 m/s April winds.  We got to the trailer around 2, had it in the water around 3, sailed for about an hour, and had it out of the water around 5:30.  The sail was very pleasant with Union Bay in classic form — unpredictable gusts and lulls sweeping over the arboretum from the south.  We enjoyed a long beam reach over to the east end of the 520 bridge and back.  A highlight was being approached by a little red zodiac which at first glance looked like a Coast Guard boat.  It was a treat to realize it was actually Fritz and Erin coming over to check out what appeared to be a felucca making good speed in light winds with minimal sail area.  Thanks to Fritz for the great photo above!

Liam, Ryden, and Cora tested out the new benches, determining they make great tables and desks for kids.  Annie got cold hands, but seemed right at home on deck, reading over the wind to the kids nestled down in the hulls.  The sailing was very smooth and the only problems I noticed were another stress crack in the main hatch covers (this time inboard forward corner of the aft half of the port hatch) and rain water having leaked into the forward two (round) waterproof hatches (likely due to o-rings scratched too much by last summer’s sand).

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Overall, the trailer modifications worked well.  With only 10-15 cm clearance under the keels, I was surprised we didn’t touch going over bumps and undulations.  The final dip and rise at the top of the ramp, however, led to the skeg/rudders hitting.  Liam and I propped up the stern beam on the skids with 4×4 blocks and made it over.  Lowering with the climbing rope worked fine, but it was way too stretching on the way back up.  I think the winch is the way to go, though it’s slow; maybe bring a cordless drill?  Another a-ha was realizing the trailer tongue could be raised or lowered with the front wheel jack to keep the keel from hitting the ground.  The longer-term solution though is to raise the skids another 10 cm or so.

While it was good to get Milagra in the water and under sail again, it was also nice to spend enough time at the boat ramp working out the trailer/launching/recovery kinks that we bumped into the local WYC+ guard.  Gavin kept an eye on the end of the boat ramp and offered some suggestions, Chris (owner of the Supercat) chatted about trailer solutions that might work for hand-deploying off the ramp, and John discussed the rig and vessel, before volunteering ideas for improving the WAC winch and finally heading home around 5:30.  I ended the day sponging out the bilges (old rainwater, not new!) and the prolific fish cracker crumbs left behind by my crew.

Last weekend we finished the trailer conversion, assembled the boat on the carpeted skids, and confirmed the beams would take the load of the hulls hanging from them by the lashings.  We ended up with the desired proximity of hull and ground (about 20 cm) that will enable us to move the boat from the storage area to the short boat ramp and deploy the boat at all Lake Washington levels without having to lift the hulls on/off of the trailer.

On Saturday the Veirs Reese clan drove down to the UW WAC with shiny beams, tillers, and platforms atop the VW.   I forgot the boat keys, so Liam was denied frisbee access and spent a long time ascending the climbing wall with Cora.  I started the trailer conversion (from <8′ wide trailerable hulls on V-cradles to boat-ramp ready) with the stepwise scheme for one person getting the hulls off the trailer:

1. Tie support cradles to snugly to hull;
2. Remove inner straps holding forward cradles to trailer and all straps on aft cradles;
3. Place a sturdy box (about 50-75 cm high) adjacent to an aft cradle;
4. Lift stern of that hull and rotate hull on forward cradle beam and strap until aft cradle can be lowered onto the box;
5. Remove forward cradle strap;
6. Lift bow, rotate hull on box until trailer wheel/fender is cleared, and then lower forward cradle to the ground;
7. Return to stern, lift and hold it while removing box (with foot or free hand), then lower to ground;
8. Move box to other side and repeat steps 3-7.

I then drilled holes for the T-legs in the ends of the trailer 9×9(cm)’s and through-bolted them, adding straps on the inboard sides of the T-legs.  With unexpected help from a nice boat-owner named Paul, we drilled holes in the tops of the T-legs and bolted the carpeted skids to them using the original hardware (shifted slightly at the aft end to meet the aft T-legs).  The beams looked happy sitting up on their soft perch and the rest of the bits got stored on the trailer’s new double 2x6x8′ treated lumber “gangway” or central shelf.  This shelf was intended for storing beams during transit, but had an unexpected benefit of creating an overhang at the aft end of the trailer which makes a handy step on which to stand during platform assembly.

On Sunday we returned in search of frisbees and climbing walls, with books, sleeping bags, and picnic cooler at the ready.  Proceeding at a leisurely pace (with some assistance lacing up the tramp from Cora), I assembled the Milagra in about 4 hours.  I started by adjusting and aligning the hulls, using 9x9s and 4x9s to raise up the V-cradles until the hulls touched the beams that were resting across the skids.  Lashings went on pretty quick, platform got fit (after some attempts at gluing a spongy split portion of the port section), tramp got laced (again painful that we didn’t put holes higher in central beam so platform doesn’t impede lacing), forestay bridle and traveller tightened, and mast and standing rigging popped up.

Then Liam kicked out the cradles (as I lifted each hull end).  We were happy to see that the beams did not explode in splinters when asked to hold the hanging hulls with the skids acting as fulcrums.  Kevin and the grlz showed up about then and helped walk around on the hulls to further test the beams.  Then Kevin helped me get the cradles back in place.  (Lifting each hull end is a tough affair when it’s all lashed together… Doing it alone will take a jack of some sort, or another use of a sturdy, kickable box.)

So, there she sits, ready for her inspection next weekend!

In the meantime, I spent this Tiki Tuesday laying out, cutting, and taping up a new bigger (13 m^2) crab claw sail.  It took a couple hours on the tennis court under a starry sky, but guided by Polaris and the Wharram/Boone crab claw for Tiki 21 plans, the sail came out looking great.  Used white WeatherGuard polytarp again (this time a 6×9 m), Samson , and Rhino Grip carpet tape.  The new meter tape measure worked great for getting nice curves, especially when ends were steadied by dual cinderblocks.  Next steps are to sew, grommet, and lace up to the long bamboo spars!

Thomas and Kevin re-joined the mayhem tonight.  Through banter about poking dead things and other facets of our technological age, they helped Matt, Mike, and Scott with gluing neoprene seals into forward hatch covers, prepping the main hatch overlapping hinge bits, and protecting the bottom of the platform sections.  Thomas came up with a good clamping method for holding neoprene in place while 5200 set.  Mike and Scott decided to skip plans to glass seams on bottom of center platform section — as well as epoxy coating sanded/rounded corners, priming, and painting — and instead slapped a thick coat of truck bed liner onto the entire bottom surfaces of the three sections.

By the monochromatic glow of the sodium street lamp, have we created another monster?  It looks promising at the moment — with the grey color suggesting Naval fortitude.  We just hope it holds back the nightmares of dry rot that Thomas described from his recent Tsunami Chaser check-up.

Some great photos!

While non-curing paint maladies caused us to miss our sea trials deadline (7/17), we’ve made a lot of progress in the last couple weeks. Matt and Mike have been putting in many hours in the Ballard shop hammering out the platform. Scott and pals have been getting the hulls ready for primer, including stitch/gluing the platform supports, and testing the size/alignment of the new trampoline.

Last Tuesday Mike and Scott stripped the first attempt at putting Easypoxy (sandstone) over recently cured System Three epoxy. Matt used the jig saw to custom fit the side platforms to the hulls and beam struts.

Then on Sunday, a grand entourage assembled to paint the hulls with Easypoxy undercoater (primer). Enzo, Francesca, and Liam rolled on the primer, while Matt, Mike, and Scott dashed about trying to tip the paint before it dried (and it dried fast — tack free in <1hr). The primer seemed to take well to the old cured epoxy which had been sanded down with 60-80 grit. In 24 hours it was hard to scratch it with your finger nail.

Tonight, Matt, Mike, and I replaced the side section of the platform and found them still too flexible, despite Mike’s beautiful glassing/fairing of the upper surface. Then Thomas stopped by to help us work out a couple methods for drilling and lacing the holes for the rudder hinges. Along with the platform (which seems way too weak as designed), the rudder lashing guidance could be explained more to the reader.

I rounded out the evening sanding down both rudders, which Mike had faired previously. They are looking good and will soon be sporting a Wharram emblem of sorts…

Liam and Oliver scratched their heads about how to keep a mast from kicking out.  Then they lined up and began to drill a hole through the upper two planks.  Stymied by lack of power drill energy, the spent some time sanding the of the madrona forks that Scott and Liam found up on San Juan Island last week.

Luke smooths a rudder

Scott and Mike started the final sanding of the final beam.  We were joined by Luke and Drew and together we finished the sanding in ~45 minutes.  Then Luke and Scott sanded down the 2 coats of epoxy on the tillers while Thomas helped Mike and Drew figure out the proper placement and size of the rudder/tiller “notch.”

After Luke orbital-sanded one of the rudders a bit, he headed home with Drew.  Thomas also retreated after generously sharing his latest brew — a slippery stout with overtones of Jaegermeister.  Mike and Scott glassed the second side of the rudders.  Finally, Scott finished up the mast step, at least the hole saw work and gluing up of the 3 plank-layers.

Young Luke and hull

Blank beam bottoms

Liam and Cora sanded the tillers, cut out the 2nd rudder slot, and then gave a 2nd epoxy coat to the whole shebang.  They may need a tiny bit of fairing in the seams and basalt sock, but are very close to  being ready for paint (black?)…

Scott used extra epoxy to coat the sides of the sockets and pads, as well as Thomas’ mast foot and the shovel.  The he started sanding beams (tops, bottoms, and sides/webs) and dolphin striker.  Kevin and Thomas lent a hand later, and Thomas bought 4 potential SS handle/hinges for the main hatches.  We all discussed Kevin’s idea of putting a 4″ diameter basalt sock over a cheap 2×4 to make a stout compression beam for his gazebo.

After finishing most of the sanding (still have sides of center one), Scott and Kevin followed Thomas over to his workshop.  There they helped him expansion-glue the deck to his new surf/paddle board.  We also got to see where he built Tsunami, tour Rachael’s tree house, and examine the quiver of paddles and surf boards he has built.

Upon his return, Scott tried coating dolphin striker and a tiny portion of the third beam with the high-gloss blank easypoxy.  It seems a bit thin and I’m worried it is going to take way too many coats before we get nice uniform coverage.

Tillers bent

Cora and Liam helped mix up some peanut butter.  Cora did a fine job of plastering it on the bottom of the dolphin striker plate and then screwed it into the bottom of the center beam.  Liam used his to fill countersunk holes that we accidentally put in two of the cleats.  After they finished their root beer and headed for bed, Scott used the left overs to glue layers 1 and 2 of the beam sockets together, and to fix the gap in the fillet of one of the beam struts.

While Kevin and Russ made strides fiberglassing Kevin’s BMW hood, Thomas and Scott threw together some tillers.  Although the 3/4 x 1.5 pine boards from True Value were worrisome, we glued them together with a lot of epoxy and hope that they’ll be plenty strong after being sheathed in fiberglass.  The trickiest part was figuring out how to space and (later) fit the rudder to the blocks within the tiller ends.  In the end, we got both tillers constructed by inserting packing and blue masking tape between them and then gluing, clamping, and saran-wrapping them all together.

Satin beam

After Liam and Oliver measured and cut some beam plank scraps to form the base of the mast step, Scott had a quiet night! Alone, he sealed up the trampoline lacing holes in the beam web, as well as the dolphin striker holes.  Then he sanded the top of a beam with 180 grit and tried brushing on a coat of clear satin System Three WR-LPU polyurethane.  Though it won’t have the blinding gleam of glossy varnish when the sun hits it, it looks mighty fine and should last longer with less painful repairs and re-applications.