Sucia Small Boat Rendezvous 2014 Day 1

My son Tim and I just got back from one of our favorite annual events - the Sucia Small Boat Rendezvous at Sucia Island State Park.

Like the last two years, we launched at Sandy Point Shores marina. 

The entrance to Sandy Point always makes me a bit apprehensive. The narrow and shallow entrance goes through a blind S-curve, which then opens to a shallow area with a 270 degree exposure to the vast Straight of Georgia.  During an ebb, the tidal current rushes through this S-curve like a river.  At low tide, there is barely enough room for one boat at a time to fit through the entrance.  You have to approach slowly and peek around the corner to see if there are any oncoming boats, then zip through if the coast is clear.

High tide was 8.9ft at 3:18 am
Low tide was -2.4ft at 11:02 am

We launched at 10:00am.  The worst possible time.  Right near the end of a minus tide with a swift outgoing current due to an 11.3 tidal change.

We should be Ok, I figured.  After all, Navigator only draws 6" of water.  In the back of my mind, I wondered if that was still true when fully loaded with two people and a weeks worth of camping gear.

As we approached the entrance, I idled the motor, double checked that the centerboard and rudder were fully up, and cautiously peered around the corner as I slowly crept toward the entrance.

The swift current immediately grabbed Ellie and swept us into the narrow channel. I instantly realized that the current was so strong that there would be no turning back. Id be using the motor to try to stay in the middle of the narrow channel and not much else. I shot a quick glance for oncoming boats, fortunately there were none, thank goodness. The channel looked too narrow for two boats to pass and there was no room to maneuver.  We were going through, no two ways about it.  Along both shorelines we could see about a dozen spectators, waiting to watch the next fool to try and shoot the rapids.  Up ahead the water looked "funny".  Ripply.  Whatd that mean?  Shallow?  Must be shallow.  How shallow?  I glanced over the side.  Gravel!  Crunch!

We were aground in the middle of the narrow channel with a swift current all around us.

Ok, now what?  Think.  Tides going out. We gotta get out of here or well be stuck here for hours, or until the next boat comes along and hits us.  Should I get out and push her off?  Probably a real bad idea.  The strong current would most likely rip the boat from my hands.

I looked over the stern.  The prop was still above ground.  "Ok, Tim, were gonna try and back our way out of this.  Hope it works".

I turned the motor around and gave it half throttle.  Nothing.  Gave it full throttle.  Our mighty 2hp outboard was giving it everything it had, but still nothing.  Still stuck.

"Tim, lets try shifting our weight around".  Ellie slowly started to move, then broke free!  We backed a safe distance away from the gravel bar and took a couple minutes to regain our composure and assess the situation.

Looking more closely at the water, we could see that it was shallow and ripply on the right, but on the left, closer to the opposite shore, it was clearly deeper.  But then it shot directly into a rocky breakwater.  "I think we can make it, Tim.  Well have to hug the left shore, then quickly zip over to the right at the last second to clear the rocks, then were home free".  Tim agreed, it looked doable.

So we checked again for oncoming boats, then cranked up the Honda to half throttle (full speed for Ellie) and rocketed through the channel.

Whew.  Made it!  Next time, we vowed, well pay closer attention to the tides.




After that ordeal, we were rewarded with many hours of  absolutely perfect sailing conditions.  We saw lots of dolphins.  One surfaced less than 20 from the boat.

We arrived at Sucia and set up camp.  This was our first opportunity to try out my new Anchor Buddy - a Fathers Day gift from my daughter Heather.  Thanks, Heather!  It works great.

Thats Cameron Im talking to.  Cameron and his son take a month off every summer and stop by Sucia for the rendezvous.  They sail a beautiful Wayfarer.

Jamie Orr, organizer of the event, always brings along a set of bagpipes, which he uses to greet arrivals, wish them farewell, or summon the group to various get-togethers like wine and cheese night, campfire gatherings, and the around the island race.  Boaters all around the island applaud using their horns.  In this video clip is Bob Ennenberg (Scram Pram "Duck"), Jamie Orr (Chebacco "Wayward Lass"), Paul Miller (Benford Friendship sloop "Friendship") and Dan Rogers (Balboa 16 "Ladybug").  Dan is organizing an 8-day Movable Messabout in Eastern Washington and Idaho that I am looking forward to attending.

Here, Jamie is summoning the group to celebrate the 11th anniversary of this Rendezvous, with a fine bottle of single malt scotch.

There is so much more to write about, but it is getting late.  I will write some more soon.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this most beautiful sunset.

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Sucia Island Rendezvous 2015

July 10-13 was yet another great gathering of small gunkholing boats in Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, one of the wonderful Washington State marine parks in the San Juan Islands. Its hard to beat the camaraderie of good friends in a beautiful spot aboard some of the most seaworthy small vessels around.

This year there were nine boats carrying eleven sailors. A small but tenacious group, all with credentials as able seamen and women.

Jamie came from Victoria BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass, fresh from the R2AK, where he made it to Johnstone Strait before succumbing to intense headwinds.
This is the view we usually have of Jamie.

Bob sailed Sally Forth, his beloved Drascome Longboat. Its easy to see why he loves this boat so much. He uses a very well designed cockpit tent for sleeping aboard. Additional photos can be found on the Doryman Flickr site.

Paul navigated from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, in his Jay Benford Friendship. He recently upgraded his rigging by moving the headstay to the masthead and installing a roller furling genoa. Sadly the winds were very light, so he couldnt show us how pleased he is with his new wings.

Claire and John came from Whidbey Island in their new Night Bird. A lot of boat in a compact package. Please note the pop-top deck.

Joel and his son Tim winged from Edmonds in their John Welsford Navigator, Ellie. Navigator Joel employs a tidy clothesline anchoring system to keep Ellie close to camp.

Randy arrived in his new Belhaven 19, Clementine. I sailed with Randy in our annual "race" around Sucia. The winds and currents are fickle around this island of many faces and we have yet to complete a single race, in many years of trying. This year may have been the shortest race of all.

Joe trailered from Texas with his wood runabout. He didnt know he came to see us, it was serendipity. I met Joe four years ago while cruising around the Canadian Gulf Islands after this same rendezvous. It was good to see him again, hes a sailors sailor, with a fruitful life and many interesting stories to tell.








Ron motored in with his efficient outboard driven catamaran, Just Enuf, a plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler. Ron really gets around with this little cat. You may have seen his distinctive vessel around the Salish Sea.






I sailed the forty five nautical miles from Port Townsend in Belle Starr. Thats her in the photo near the top of the post. She always gets me there and back, safely and in style.

A small but fun group. The Sucia Island Rendezvous was lovely as ever, a tradition well worth keeping.

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Sucia Island Rendezvous 2012

Fossil Bay, Sucia Island, near the Canadian Border in the San Juan Islands is the scene for a gathering of small boat enthusiasts the second weekend in July.

This year was a quiet one. The weather was postcard perfect, unless youre a sailor. Boats came and went in an erratic schedule, so it was hard to tell how many attended. A couple big production boats were in the line-up, which was a new twist.

For the sailors, the week was a tease. When a breeze came up we were all seduced but most often, once out of the harbor, boats drifted on the tides while skippers and crew baked in the sun.



Please make no mistake - getting up to a brilliant sunrise every morning is a wonderful thing! I suppose it would be brash to take credit, though Im convinced the weather was so fine because I made up a heavy-duty boom tent that could stand torrential rains for weeks (nay years) on end. That tent became my penance. It is so heavy and ungainly (and I must say unattractive) it took an hour to set up and an equal amount of time to strike. If it werent for the heavy dew fall, I might have abandoned it altogether.

Lets look at the line-up...

Katie Mae belongs to Lynn Watson of Port Townsend. She was built by the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, under the supervision of Ray Speck
She is a modified 21 foot Drascombe PeterBoat.
Well sailed and an exceptional design, she is hard to keep up with.
I include this photo to demonstrate the contrast of vessels found in Fossil Bay.

Heres Joel and Tim Bergen in their Welsford Navigator, Ellie. 
Joel has some more details about this gathering on his website.

Paul and Arnie sailed in from Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, BC.
Pauls boat is a Friendship Sloop designed by Jay Benford, named Friendship. Weve talked about Paul and his fine boat before.
Arnie is a former bosun in the Canadian Navy and an accomplished sailor. It was a pleasure to make his acquaintance.

Marty Loken, from Marrowstone Island brought his newest acquisition, a Iain Oughtred Willyboat.
Marty is as bad as I am about boats - if he loves um he has to bring em home.
Marty runs the Island Boatshop on Mystery Bay, Marrowstone Island, east of Port Townsend.

Ron Mueller cruises the San Juan and Gulf Islands every year in his power cat, Just Enuf.
This plywood EcoCat from Bernard Kohler has a king sized berth, standing headroom galley, and a private head. Ron stores two inflatable kayaks and two folding bikes in the starboard ama. Cruising speed is 10 knots with a top speed of 15 knots, using a 20hp outboard motor.

 

Bob Ennenberg hails from Vancouver, BC, where he built this Jim Michalak pram, Duck. Its Bobs first build and I was impressed how well it sails. He has no permanent furniture inside and its a regular ballroom down below.
Bob is a grade school teacher with perpetual good humor. Hope he comes back next year.

These folks were not here to join us, but what a happy coincidence!

Their beautiful vessel is a Connecticut River Shad Boat.

James McMullen showed up from Anacortes, WA in his sail-and-oar boat Rowan.
James had places to see, so he was there only one night. He told me later that he covered over 60 nautical miles in four days under sail and oar alone. The man has ambition!

James is part owner of Emerald Marine in Anacortes.

And here we have Jamie Orr of Victoria, BC in his Phil Bolger Chebacco, Wayward Lass.
Ive had the pleasure of sailing with Jamie quite a few times, though Im a bit tired of looking at his transom. The Chebacco is an amazing little boat and Jamie handles her well.
Thanks to Jamie for all his organizational efforts concerning this rendezvous!
He has a website to keep us updated and is one of the best cat-herders I know.

You recognize this guy. Its Doryman in Saga. Jamie was gracious enough to circle around and take my picture before he took off for the horizon.
The jib was an experiment and well come back to that later.
Saga is a modified William Atkin Valgerda faering.

I call this the Mother Ship. Chuck Gottfried, his wife Shay and good friend Dean chartered a Baba 30 for the week. Not my cuppa tea, but what luxury!
Here we see Dean firing up some Super Tramp on his digital music player just before breakfast. Not my cuppa either, but the man is happy and thats all that counts.
They sailed in company with some old friends in a C&C 35 and Im sorry to have not gotten a photo of them.

Martin Schneider came from Port Townsend in his Allegra 24 cutter, Clover

Thats a lot of boat in a tidy package. I hope to sail with Martin someday.






That about covers it, hope I didnt miss anyone.

The slideshow from Sucia Island 2012:

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Preparation for the Sucia Rendezvous

Not much going on around here that has any romantic appeal. The Doryman boatyard is currently occupied by a ClipperCraft dory and a Bartender dory.

The ClipperCraft has a four cylinder Volvo engine that can power a two ton craft to speeds of 40 mph. The Bartender utilizes a 40 hp outboard to exceed speeds of 30 mph.

The modern offshore fisherman will rationalize the use of a vehicle that gets 5 miles per gallon by explaining that they need to get farther and farther offshore to fish.  

It costs over $200, American currency, to go out 50 miles and back in one day, so even if you catch your limit, the fish will cost far more than market value.
So what is the point to such extravagance?

I have no answer.

 Scraping and sanding. Will it ever end?







The redeeming  task of the day is preparation for a sail and oar trip in July. While I had hoped for completion of the Stone Horse project for this trip, that was not to be. Instead, the capable faering, Saga will once again traverse the waters of the northern Salish Sea. To that end, she has been completely repainted and outfitted as though she might commence a circumnavigation.

I have confidence in this little boat, the only reservation being that she is completely open. Sometimes the question is whether the skipper can take as much as the boat..



This year, Saga will sport a jib.

Recently, a reader found exception to the gear on Saga. The complaint was that the design by William Atkin did not call for deadeyes on the shrouds and that such an extravagance was nothing but fluff. Mr. Atkin was adamant that his designs should not be altered, but if there were one perfect design, there would be only one boat.

Weve cut down an old sail to fit the worthy faering as a storm jib. I have only a theoretical idea how this might affect performance.

We will see, wont we?









Heres a link for the Small Boat Rendezvous, which will be on the first full weekend in July this year.

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Sucia 2013

We just got back from our favorite annual event - the Sucia Small Boat Rendezvous at Sucia Island State Park.  Like last year, we launched at Sandy Point Shores marina.  There was very little wind, and it was coming directly from Sucia so we had to motor the entire way there.

We anchored in Fossil Bay and set up camp.

Ive been to Sucia many times, but every visit has been to the Fossil bay area.  This year we decided to hike all over the island to see all the parts weve never visited.

Saturday we hiked for about 5 hours.  Our first destination was China Rock at Shallow Bay.  On the way we had a peek at Echo Bay. 

Echo Bay

From there is short walk to Shallow Bay.  Shallow Bay has some very nice sandy beaches, perfect for beaching kayaks.  Its very tempting to beach Ellie there, but the bay is quite shallow so tides would be a concern.

China Rock is located on the north shore of Shallow Bay.  Legend has it that these sandstone caves were used  to hide smuggled orientals from detection by Customs and Immigration authorities back in the mid 1800s, and by bootleggers to hide illegal liquor during Prohibition.

Lawson Bluff is one of the most beautiful areas on Sucia. The trail skirts the rim of a 100 high bluff that runs along the northwest side of the island.  The bluff offers a spectacular view of Patos and the Canadian Gulf Islands to the West.

Next destination was Ewing Cove on the northeast tip of the island.  The trail to Ewing skirts the north shore of Echo bay.  Echo bay is the largest bay on Sucia.  It has ample room for countless numbers of boats.  Theres plenty of room to park your airplane too.

 Ewing Cove

From Ewing Cove we hiked back to camp.  That 5 hour hike covered about half of the island.  Tomorows, plan:  Tackle the other half!

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