S.V. CAMBRIA: May 2011

Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

Tuesday, May 31, 2011TheCambrians

Roche Harbor, San Juan Island

David received an e-mail from a friend in Canada saying his band would be performing Saturday at the Pender Harbour Blues Festival. So, with decent weather and manageable currents on our side, we decided to get motivated and move north. But not before taking a quick look at Roche Harbor.

We left Garrison Bay at one o'clock and made the short trip to Roche so we'd have the afternoon to walk around before checking out of the US in the morning. With little or no expectations, we were pleasantly surprised. Unlike it's counter-part, Friday Harbor, which is busy year-round with boats, ferries, sea planes, road traffic and people, Roche is small, quiet (this time of year) and picturesque. The waterfront is lined with simple white buildings – the general store, hotel, church – and beautiful formal gardens which were all originally part of the Tacoma and Roche Lime Works, the largest lime producers west of the Mississippi. From the 1800s to the Great Depression, it was a flourishing industry, employing hundreds of workers who lived in the small cottages along the beach which are now rented out to tourists. Roche Harbor is, in a word, quaint.

We walked through the Wescott Bay Reserve Art & Sculpture Park where there are approximately 100 pieces on display set in a large grassy field and along a trail in the woods. Modern art isn't really our“thing” but this worked and we enjoyed strolling along the paths looking at the sculptures in the beautiful pastoral setting – at one point even seeing a fox sitting perfectly still and mistaking it for a statue until our movements scared it away. Afterwards, we walked to the Afterglow Vista Mausoleum where the company's founder, John McMillin, and members of his family have their ashes entombed. A strange thing to do on the surface, but the mausoleum resembles an ancient Greek ruin being overtaken by the forest and truly has to be seen to be appreciated.

All and all, it's been a great side trip to the west-side of San Juan Island through historic Garrison Bay and Roche Harbor; one which we hope to do again soon. But it's time to move on, and tomorrow morning we'll check out of the US and cross the border into Canada where we'll stay for the next five or six months.

Garrison Bay, San Juan Island

Monday, May 30, 2011TheCambrians

The formal gardens of English Camp at Garrison Bay, San Juan Island.

We're anchored just off English Camp, a National Historical Park, where something extremely rare in history occurred – a war was averted through international negotiation, with no human casualties. It started with a pig....

In 1846, the Oregon Treaty was signed which established the boundaries between the US and Canada along the 49th parallel, from the Rocky Mountains to the middle of the “channel”, but failed to specify which one – Haro, nearest Vancouver Island, or Rosario, nearer the mainland. The San Juan Islands lie in the middle. And both sides laid claimed to the group.

It didn't take long for word of good farm land and profits to spread to the mainland and by the spring of 1859, at least 18 Americans had settled claims on San Juan Island proper that the British believed were illegal. The uneasy peace which had existed between countries ended on June 15 of that year when Lyman Cutlar, an American, shot a pig that was rooting in his garden. Unfortunately, the pig belonged to the Hudson Bay Company (British owned) and Lyman was threatened with arrest and his countrymen with eviction by British authorities bringing the unresolved territorial issue to the surface: did the island belong to the US or Britain?

A delegation was sent to the commander of the U.S. Army's Department of Oregon seeking protection and a company of infantry was then sent to San Jan Island. The British responded by dispatching three Royal navy warships to dislodge the American troops. Reinforcements were then dispatched by the U.S. Army before both nations agreed to a joint occupation of the island until the water boundary could be settled.

In the manner of good government, that didn't occur until twelve years later when the issue was submitted for arbitration to Kaiser Wilhelm I, the monarch of Germany, who ruled the islands belonged to the US and set the border in Haro Strait. The Royal Marines left Garrison Bay in the fall of 1872 leaving behind structures so well built that the family who bought the property from the US government lived in several of the structures for over 30 years, some of which are still standing today.

Admiralty Inlet Boat Maintenance On the Hard

Port Townsend

Sunday, May 29, 2011TheCambrians

Admiralty Inlet Lighthouses

Fort Worden, Port Townsend

Saturday, May 21, 2011TheCambrians

The wind's gone, but so is the sunshine and we're left with a grey sky and scattered showers as the barometer, once again, rises. Most of the work on Cambria is finished, either legitimately or because we can't find the parts we need in the local chandleries, so, between the two, it's the perfect time for a day off!

Our friends, Jeff and Karry, drove up to join us in the afternoon and we went to Fort Worden where they filmed the movie, An Officer and a Gentleman. It's also the home of Point Wilson Lighthouse which was open for tours, so we took a climb up to the light for a look around. Unfortunately, today wasn't a day for a great view, but we had an interesting conversation with the Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteer about how lighthouses across the country are fading away due to advances in technology – radars and GPS – rapidly taking their place.

I always find a good ghost story interesting. It's not that I'm a believer; I've never had an experience to guide me one way or the other on the issue. But I can see the possibility which was enough to give me goosebumps when I read that several wives of the men stationed at Point Wilson Light had seen a shadow of a woman in the keeper's quarters. Footsteps could be heard leaving the room and, as the wife would turn to look, there was nothing there. Thought to be the spirit of a woman whose daughter was lost in one of the numerous shipwrecks in the area, she's also been seen wandering around the grounds in a long gown and heard rummaging around the upstairs bathroom – sometimes so loudly that neighbours in the attached duplex would call out to see if anyone was home. The men stationed at the light have never seen or heard her, with one exception. A visitor staying there and sleeping on the couch, awoke to the feeling that someone was smothering him. He sat up, clutching his throat and saw a figure of a woman in the kitchen. When he got up to see if she had attacked him, she vanished. Our tour was limited to the lighthouse, so we didn't see or hear anything ourselves and can't give our two cents one way or the other. But it's fun to imagine.

After a quick walk around Battery Kinzie, a 1910s artillery emplacement and part of what once was the triangle of defense in Puget Sound, we went back downtown for an early dinner at Waterfront Pizza topped off with homemade ice cream at Evolution – just what the doctor ordered after a long week on the hard stand.

Boat Maintenance On the Hard

Boat Haven Boatyard, Port Townsend

Friday, May 20, 2011TheCambrians

David waxing Cambria's hull.

The rest of the week was as productive as the first day with help from beautiful weather – literally one of the few times in the past eighteen months that we were able to wear shorts and tee-shirts instead of layers. I was able to apply two coats of anti-foul paint on Wednesday and Thursday while David fixed a few dings in the rudder, got things ready for Thursday's survey and, because there's no water in the yard, cleaned the hull with Windex which worked remarkable well for some unknown reason.

In order to keep our insurance coverage, like all boats, we were required to have an up-to-date valuation and survey done. Because Cambria was built in England, we wanted the task performed by someone who would understand where her value lies – not in the US market necessarily, but in Europe. And David picked John Sanford out of Seattle, a fellow Brit, for the job.

He spent about seven hours tapping, prodding, prying and came up with little more than compliments. We have a few minor things to attend to – installing batteries in the smoke detectors (ironic when you consider David's former profession but not surprising when you consider my culinary skills), a few broken turning blocks to replace, and installing a pressure gauge to the propane tanks – but was more than impressed with the condition we keep Cambria in which is always good to hear. We love the old girl and take a great deal of pride in taking care of her, so it's nice when others notice and appreciate our efforts.

With the anti-foul on and my job complete, I left David to his own devices on Friday. While he laboured away waxing the hull, I started to get things ready for our push northward by doing laundry and getting a“summer” haircut – it was great to get away from the boat AND the boatyard.

As the day progressed, the wind increased and a trough moved into the area signalling the end of our fine weather. By evening, dust from the yard was blowing everywhere and the boat was jerking unnaturally in her props. It was gusting up to 30 knots about 30º off our port bow – I asked David if he wanted to lay out some more chain, but he didn't see the point. With no anchor watch to stand, we put in a movie and settled down for the night while Cambria rumbled and complained about the wind.

Boat Maintenance On the Hard

Hard Times in Port Townsend

Tuesday, May 17, 2011TheCambrians

Dry-sanding the hull.

Finally! One week after our original date, Cambria came out of the water. And, for the first time, I missed the whole thing!

We were scheduled for 11 am, so we upped anchor and came into the marina around 9 or 9:30 to tie up and wait. When I took Sally for a walk, Doug, the yard manager, came down to look at the boat. A few minutes later, he said he was ready, and up she went. For once, without all the drama usually associated with it.

Forty-five minutes later, Sally and I were walking back to the boat only to find it wasn't there. I looked around for our mast (generally the tallest one around) and finally found it in the boatyard where I also found David power washing the hull – this truly is a do-it- yourself yard! But what we hadn't expected is that it's also a bring-it-yourself yard...including ladders to climb on and off the boat. Had our friends, Chris and David Dewees who live in the marina, not offered to lend us theirs, we'd still be standing there looking up at Cambria wondering what's next.

But I digress...it's been close to three years and 5000 miles since our last haul-out; and we were a little concerned about what we would find attached to Cambria's bottom, but she looked good. As a matter of fact, with the exception of a small muscle farm dangling from the keel and one trying to squeeze its way in between the rudder and stalk, she looked GREAT. So, with all of the slime washed off her bottom, she was brought over to her spot in the yard where she was propped up and the Travelift dropped its slings leaving us to work.

The first day of a haul-out can be easily wasted organizing jobs, but we managed to get a lot accomplished. I dry-sanded the hull – a first, and hopefully last, for me. Normally we wet-sand but Washington requires using a shop-vac attached to an electric sander in hopes that it's better for the environment. It was AWFUL!!! And made more of a mess than wet-sanding does...not to mention me! It also took a lot longer –four hours versus one or two. Meanwhile, David attacked the barnacles that had attached themselves to the prop while the angle grinder attacked him...twice. Fortunately, no hospital visits or stitches were required, but there's always tomorrow.

Before we knew it, it was 7 o'clock. It had been a very long, but productive first day so we put the tools away, drug ourselves to the shower, scrubbed ourselves clean and went straight to bed – tired, sore, and clearly out of shape.