I am now able to get into the blog. Some of you have received this already via an email I sent, so this is for the others.
Hello Everyone! This is Harp aka Cindy emailing from Westport WA.We've had waaay too much fun already!
Second day out we were near Lookout Point south of Tillamook Bay when someone on watch (guess who?) picked up an unwanted passenger who wrapped himself to the propeller, stopping us dead and sending us adrift. The tag-a-long in question was a crab pot. For those who don't know, crabbers send crab pots to the ocean floor at about 20-60 fathoms with a line to the surface supported by floats. They are notoriously difficult to see and amazingly easy to catch even in the wide wide ocean.
I had been on deck centering up the staysail when I stood up and saw the floats go by right next to the hull, disappear, and didn't re-appear. I quickly put the engine in neutral but by then the damage had been done.
At this point we called the Coast Guard and the cowboys of the sea were on scene within 20 minutes. After much guy type work--grappling the line and sawing through it with a dive knife, they freed the line from the pot. We had hoped to reconnect it to the floats thus saving the pot and it's catch for the owner, but due to the heavy current were unable to do so.
We were still unable to maneuver so the CG ran a bridle back to our windlass and towed us to Tillamook. Their cutter was capable of at least 30-40 knots, but they had to tow us at our maximum hull speed of 6 and a half knots. Must have felt like a snails pace to them but we were flying!
Up to this point we had been motor sailing, as the winds had been primarily on our nose with some deviation out of the west. The new Yanmar diesel ran admirably but Ken is somewhat disappointed in the RPM's and thus increased fuel usage to get us to cruising speed.
We spent the night in Girabaldi, a small fishing town in Tillamook Bay. Even before we stepped off the dock everyone knew what had happened to us because they all monitor channel 16 on the VHF and overheard the entire 'drama' and communication with the CG. Though we were deep in fisher/crabber country, and we had just destroyed the gear of one man's livelihood, they were as helpful and friendly as they could be.
The next morning Ken went to get a diver to free the polypropylene line from the prop and shaft (it was not only wound around but twisted) but at dockside I was able to reach over with the boat hook and fairly quickly free it. Absolved and redeemed!
We have had a wonderful crewman aboard for this first leg of the journey due to the potential for a rough passage. Bob is a 72 yr old former fisherman and logger who just likes being out on the sea. I suspect that he won't forget his 72nd birthday as that was the day we hooked the crab pot! I told him that if he ever needed a recommendation as a crew member I would give him high marks--easygoing, not a complainer, eats whats prepared for him and a good watchman to boot! Thank-you Bob, we'll miss your company.
We left Tillamook Bay around 2pm on Tuesday and didn't expect to be in Gray's Harbor until Thursday. But because of light winds and some great current as we passed the Columbia Bar, we actually made it here an entire day ahead of time. We had originally planned to stop in Neah Bay, but we had an incident with our black water holding tank and Gray's Harbor has a marine supplier whereas Neah Bay does not. The holding tank had to be removed (that is a story for a different entry) thus we are waiting for the new one to come in today.
We plan to take off tomorrow Friday and it should be another over night run to there.
Not sure when we'll write again. Don't intend on sending out emails like this in the future so don't worry about getting them on going.
Thank-you for everyone's support in making our dream a reality. We are both doing well, though I'd pay 5 bucks for a hot tub to warm my cold damp bones.
Cindy/Harp on sv Allymar
Hello Everyone! This is Harp aka Cindy emailing from Westport WA.We've had waaay too much fun already!
Second day out we were near Lookout Point south of Tillamook Bay when someone on watch (guess who?) picked up an unwanted passenger who wrapped himself to the propeller, stopping us dead and sending us adrift. The tag-a-long in question was a crab pot. For those who don't know, crabbers send crab pots to the ocean floor at about 20-60 fathoms with a line to the surface supported by floats. They are notoriously difficult to see and amazingly easy to catch even in the wide wide ocean.
I had been on deck centering up the staysail when I stood up and saw the floats go by right next to the hull, disappear, and didn't re-appear. I quickly put the engine in neutral but by then the damage had been done.
At this point we called the Coast Guard and the cowboys of the sea were on scene within 20 minutes. After much guy type work--grappling the line and sawing through it with a dive knife, they freed the line from the pot. We had hoped to reconnect it to the floats thus saving the pot and it's catch for the owner, but due to the heavy current were unable to do so.
We were still unable to maneuver so the CG ran a bridle back to our windlass and towed us to Tillamook. Their cutter was capable of at least 30-40 knots, but they had to tow us at our maximum hull speed of 6 and a half knots. Must have felt like a snails pace to them but we were flying!
Up to this point we had been motor sailing, as the winds had been primarily on our nose with some deviation out of the west. The new Yanmar diesel ran admirably but Ken is somewhat disappointed in the RPM's and thus increased fuel usage to get us to cruising speed.
We spent the night in Girabaldi, a small fishing town in Tillamook Bay. Even before we stepped off the dock everyone knew what had happened to us because they all monitor channel 16 on the VHF and overheard the entire 'drama' and communication with the CG. Though we were deep in fisher/crabber country, and we had just destroyed the gear of one man's livelihood, they were as helpful and friendly as they could be.
The next morning Ken went to get a diver to free the polypropylene line from the prop and shaft (it was not only wound around but twisted) but at dockside I was able to reach over with the boat hook and fairly quickly free it. Absolved and redeemed!
We have had a wonderful crewman aboard for this first leg of the journey due to the potential for a rough passage. Bob is a 72 yr old former fisherman and logger who just likes being out on the sea. I suspect that he won't forget his 72nd birthday as that was the day we hooked the crab pot! I told him that if he ever needed a recommendation as a crew member I would give him high marks--easygoing, not a complainer, eats whats prepared for him and a good watchman to boot! Thank-you Bob, we'll miss your company.
We left Tillamook Bay around 2pm on Tuesday and didn't expect to be in Gray's Harbor until Thursday. But because of light winds and some great current as we passed the Columbia Bar, we actually made it here an entire day ahead of time. We had originally planned to stop in Neah Bay, but we had an incident with our black water holding tank and Gray's Harbor has a marine supplier whereas Neah Bay does not. The holding tank had to be removed (that is a story for a different entry) thus we are waiting for the new one to come in today.
We plan to take off tomorrow Friday and it should be another over night run to there.
Not sure when we'll write again. Don't intend on sending out emails like this in the future so don't worry about getting them on going.
Thank-you for everyone's support in making our dream a reality. We are both doing well, though I'd pay 5 bucks for a hot tub to warm my cold damp bones.
Cindy/Harp on sv Allymar
