Quick jaunt to Orcas Island and a porpoise encounter!

I needed to pick up some stuff from Orcas island, namely

  • Drag link for autopilot (last piece I need!)
  • Curtain stuff to finish all 9 remaining curtains
  • a safety cuff thing to put on prop shaft in case of gearbox malfunction so the prop doesn’t fly off
  • 2 safety siphons (I tried transferring diesel from a jerry can to the tank once by pouring and it sucked IMMENSELY)

On the way out it was sunny and great weather with 15-20 knots. We had to reef in fact!

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It continued being blustery and then the seas unexpectedly got pretty choppy – at one point we were dropping off very steep chop that was 4′ high!

Me being the intrepid seaman I am immediately got a bit queasy, luckily Emma held it together. In between the buffeting, I could hear all the crashing from the cabin as all my stuff fell on the floor, and then got tossed to the other side of the cabin each time we tacked.

And I thought I had all my stowage dialed in! Sigh.

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The knife block needs to go as it’s magnets are not strong enough. You know what adds a bit of spice to a rough passage? Knives flying through the air!

Eventually we got a bit further down the haro strait and it calmed down. And then these guys showed up!

HOLD THE CAMERA THE RIGHT WAY EMMA!!!

After that, the nut on the end of the shifter decided to fall off, leading to us not being able to change gears. Luckily in the middle of some water, but still.

After all that, I got my stuff and now can finish the curtains and the autopilot. Yeah!

Matt

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