Auke again

Sunday. Winds to 20 knots out of the southwest, 45, some sucker holes in the overcast.

We got away from Pelican about 1:30PM. It was partly cloudy and dead flat calm as we motored up Lisianski Inlet our wake stretching from the stern to each shore. A long 2-4 foot swell from the Gulf greeted us as we rounded the corner at Column Point, Cross Sound. The swell came and went as our exposure to Cross Sound waxed and waned with the only wind being that produced by Mercedes.

We were at the entrance to Elfin Cove’s inner harbor a little after 5. The channel is both narrow and shallow but with the tide a bit before its midpoint and rising I was pretty sure there was enough water. The scare box didn’t fail to excite as the reading was 7.5 feet at one part, 1 foot below the keel.

Elfin Cove is kind of like an old friend who hasn’t aged as well as one would like. I have been here several times, first by float plane in the late 70’s, next as crew on the M/V My Way in October, 1987. The last time was June, 2000, when Dave, Suzan, and I brought Blue Note north. The quaint fishing village has morphed into a seasonal charter-fishing destination with big fancy lodges dominating the architecture and virtually surrounding the inner harbor. Of course, this time of year they are all boarded up, lending an air of dead artificiality to what used to be a beautiful little town. This trend was becoming apparent ten years ago by the construction of a large brand new lodge on the point just west of the channel. Since then there are four new ones on the hill above and beside the post office.

Thursday dawned clear and calm. We were underway before 10, late as usual. High tide was at nine and we really should have been on our way a couple hours before. The reward for my laziness came in the form of an ebbing tidal current pushing through the venturi otherwise known as South Inian Passage toward the Pacific. We, of course were going the other way. The chart says those currents can reach 8-10 knots. Fortunately they weren’t that strong but they were cutting our speed in half and the rips were causing Blue Note to yaw through 40-50 degrees.

We survived. Rounding Point Adolphus we began to pick up a following wind. Too bad it was only traveling as fast as we were. I tried unfurling the Genoa but it hung limply and shifting into neutral we slowed to 2 knots. Oh well, back to motion by Mercedes.

After successfully negotiating the Gedney Channel and rounding Cannery Point Hoonah hove into view. The Coast Pilot says it is the largest native community in Southeast. It is noticeably larger than the other small villages obviously taking advantage of relatively flat land not possessed by the others. Like the others it faces mostly south on its inlet, Port Frederick. Just after passing their lift dock a humpback blew and sounded right off Pitt Island on our starboard bow. It was magical, right down to the hint of a rainbow in the drifting mist. Then we docked the boat.

Met a fellow who arrived in a 12 foot skiff right after we did. He was admiring the beach wheels on Blue Note’s skiff. Seems his place had a mud flat in front and he wanted to know how they worked. The conversation wound on and presently I found myself discussing someone we knew in common whom I really didn’t think much of. But it was a gorgeous afternoon and this guy was a well spoken pleasant fellow so I didn’t bring up what I really thought of his friend. He was on his way to catch the State ferry to Juneau to meet his wife. He pointed me in the direction of a restaurant and was on his way.

So after Jazz finished with his business I wandered up to Mary’s Inn on the main drag just past the cold storage dock. The two story building has its front sitting on land and its back end stilted over the high tide line. Other than a lady picking up take-out I was the only customer. The seating area in the back had a beautiful 270 degree view of Pitt Island and the approach to the small boat harbor directly ahead with Blue Note’s mast poking up over the breakwater on the left to the ferry terminal at the far end of town to the right. The sunset reminded me that I had forgotten the camera again. The menu resembled that of Kenny’s Wok and Teriyaki in Sitka with selections of both. I had the fish and chips special. It was pretty good.

The forecast for Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday had not changed in two days: a front was to move through northern Southeast and the winds and seas would make voyaging very unpleasant. The bottom line was that wherever we were Friday night was where we would be until Monday. For a lot of reasons I wanted that place to be Juneau rather than Hoonah even if it meant berthing in Auke Bay.

We got away by 8:20AM Friday. Ten minutes later the belt driving the house battery alternator let go. I thought about turning around and replacing the belt at the dock or maybe not even replacing it until reaching Auke Bay. I quickly rejected the second idea as should we have to shelter in Funter Bay I wanted a fully charged house battery. I also didn’t want to lose the time spent turning back. Fortunately Icy Strait was flat. Twenty minutes and we were underway again the batteries receiving their needed charge.

By the time we reached The Sisters, a bunch of islands and reefs almost at the intersection of Icy Strait, Chatham Strait, and Lynn Canal, the winds had built to 20-25 knots out of the northeast, right where we wanted to go of course. The predicted storm had the winds veering from northerlies to out of the southeast. Rounding Point Couverdin into Lynn Canal it was obvious the wind direction had begun its move to the south.

This was beneficial because finally the sail was contributing to Blue Note’s forward motion. At times we were exceeding 7 knots with main and the ‘iron jib’ Miss Mercedes. About halfway across Lynn Canal to Point Retreat the engine quit. I knew immediately what had happened. I had checked the main fuel tank in Elfin Cove and finding it empty transferred the contents of one of the two 15 gallon deck jugs into it. After 13 hours of running time plus almost 36 hours of heater usage it was dry again. It was a total rookie mistake. After switching tanks and the requisite 5 minutes of pumping, priming, and various machinations, Miss Mercedes was running again. A couple of things made the incident inconsequential. First, the fetch was short and the seas were fairly flat. Second, there was enough wind at a good angle to keep the mainsail full and driving, allowing Otto enough steerage to keep Blue Note on course. I hate spending my luck on situations brought about by my own stupidity while at the same time am thankful for it.

While all this was taking place the winds were continuing to veer to the south and build in intensity such that by the time we rounded Point Retreat the winds were out of the east at over 30 knots with gusts into the gale force range. In these conditions a stalled engine would have had catastrophic results with the wind driving us onto a lee shore before we could even get the jib deployed to try to claw our way off. But the engine didn’t stall and after three hours on a run normally made in less than two we finally gained Statter Harbor.

Yesterday was spent resting, relaxing, and reconnecting with friends and family. Today the job is updating the blog. Tomorrow I was planning to take the bus to an auto parts store to find a replacement belt and to Fred Meyers to restock the larder. It however is Seward’s Day, an important holiday in Alaska’s capitol city and I don’t know if there will be an open auto parts store although I’m pretty sure Freddies will be. Tomorrow will tell.

The pics are of Cape Spencer across Cross Sound, the entrance to Elfin Cove’s inner harbor showing the first large lodge on the right, the other end of the channel, the back side of Elfin Cove and the inner harbor, Hoonah, the Blue Note in Hoonah’s small boat harbor with Pitt Island to the right, and The Sisters.

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