Category Archives: Sailing

Sailing, Travels

20200818 Catching Up

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Our last blog was on May 15th about 3 months ago. Yes I admit it, I have been neglecting you. So here is what has happened since then.

The Migration North Begins:

On the sixth of June, we started on our northward migration with our good friends, Dave and Lynda Campbell traveling with us. The first night we made it to Camp Verde on Interstate 17 headed for Utah.

The second night we were still in Arizona and we laid over one extra day. We drove into Utah at Paige Arizona, on the shores of Lake Powell. June 5th found us in Hurricane Utah, near St. George. We stayed four days. It was a nice park; expensive, but nice. What kept us there was high winds. Each day we would check the winds and each day we would pay for an additional day.

Cathedral Gorge NV
These slot canyons are formed in mud stone

We toured some miniature canyons at the Cathedral Canyon State Park near Panaca Nevada.

This is the uniform if you wear shorts

We arrived in Ely Nevada on June 11th and booked a ride for Dave and I in the cab of Steam Locomotive, 63 of the Nevada and Northern railroad. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and we have a half done video to prove it. I am looking for a “Round-Tuit” for that project.

The next day we made the trip through Wells and Winnemucca Nevada. We continued over the Steen’s Mountain region of South Western Oregon. A road construction crew was spreading fresh oil and chip seal on a four mile stretch of highway. The Sprinter and rear of the coach were covered with black tar specks. Judy was very annoyed when she started cleaning it! We soon arrived at Dave and Lynda’s place in Bend, Oregon.

Judy and I had doctor and dentist appointments lined up for the next week, so we crossed the Cascades and arrived in St. Helens. We also have been cleaning out our storage unit that we have paid for the last sixteen years! Our goal is to clean it out by the end of September.

This is not the longest route North we have taken, but most certainly the latest start for the PNW due to the Covid pandemic. The longest was our trip to Oshkosh for the EAA fly-in, August 2011. That year we left Arizona on May 12th and arrived at my sister Holly’s place on Newman Lake on August 22 and Portland area on August 30, 2011.

We have been in the Western Washington area called the Kitsap Peninsula since July 4th. (Better recognized as the Olympic Peninsula). Visits to Judy’s sister in Sequim and our son’s family in Seabeck. A short trip back to Portland and then a sailing week on Glen’s 38 ft sailboat.

Grand Adventure 2020:

Sunset on Hood Canal at Pleasent Harbor
Sunset on the Hood Canal at Pleasant Harbor
Buffering the anchor chain
This is the snubber we designed for Audrey ii’s chain anchor rode. Worked nice .

On Saturday, August 15, 2020 We joined yet another “Grand Adventure” with Glen, Barb and Bryce. Because of the pandemic, the Canada portion of the trip was canceled and we have been cruising Hood Canal, almost literally in Barb and Glen’s own back yard. We started in Brownsville where Aurey II is moored. We went North to Port Ludlow for our first day trip. Second day out we passed through the Hood Canal bridge. If you’re not aware, Hood Canal is a floating bridge, so getting a 65 foot tall sailboat through requires a little bit of finesse. The cars on the bridge got to watch us motor through. It was a busy Sunday morning, and we probably made a few enemies. If you happened to be in the traffic jam, we apologize. We dropped the hook in Seabeck Harbor, which is just a couple of miles from Barb and Glen’s home.

Audrey ii at Blake Island

The Grand Adventure continues, so we will update you on this in a few days.

It has taken a few days to get this far. Here is Audrey ii in the state park on Blake Island.

Guest Blog by Glen Dinsmore

Glen’s quote: “Sometimes I even in impress myself! I was able to schedule a nuclear submarine encounter on our second morning out. That may have been even better than the time I scheduled humpback whales on the ferry for our anniversary

Sailing

20190817 This is a Bittersweet Moment:

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The first week in May, 1974, Judy and I purchased a 23 foot Aquarius sailboat. Over the next five months, we familiarized ourselves with the bigger boat and spent the lot of time getting our new boat, now named the “Regal Jug,” ready for her maiden voyage. On August 9,th 1974, we arrived in Anacortes, Washington for our first cruise of the San Juan Islands.

45 years later, our son, Glen sold the Regal Jug to Cousin, Henry Hall for a token one dollar.

Judy and I spent most of the afternoon helping with the launch, finding lunch for all, and ferrying people back and forth to the marina.

It is easy to get nostalgic when you think about the many times our family traveled together in Regal Jug to the San Juan’s the Canadian Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound, Barkley Sound even to Pend Oreille Lake in Idaho and Trinity Lake in California.

Glen and Renee Showcase the Name of our Neew Boat- April of 1974
Glen and Renee with Regal Jug, April 1974

When Judy and I retired the Regal Jug fell into a pattern of occasional use, once every year or two. She languished in a friend’s pasture for several years. We transferred ownership to Glen’s family. That gave Regal Jug a new coat of bottom paint and a new lease on life. Recently that family caught a bad case of two-foot-itis, but that is a whole different story.

Glen and his family had Regal Jug for seven years. They sailed her among the whales on Morrow Bay, and even sailed near Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay. On that trip, they were photographed from a helicopter and were able to get a fabulous action photo of Regal Jug.

Henry, Glen and Judy
Regal Jug rests at her moor-age, (by Glen’s hand,) as Henry, Glen and Judy finish up.

This now starts a new chapter in this boat’s life with a new family and we hope mny new adventures to keep them excited. So I will end this blog with a wish of bon voyage to Henry, Heather and the girls. May you always have an extra foot of water under your keel, a gentle beam reach to your destination and favorable currents along the way.

Henry Hall and Skipper Glen Dinsmore exchange the token sales price. Gary, Skipper Emeritus, watches.
See this on line at 
  https://www.dinsmore-enterprises.com/
Art, Family Legends, Maintenance, Sailing

20190729 The Grand Adventure, 2019 Style. (“Afterglow”)

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It’s Monday, July 29th, and I feel the need to publish one more blog in this series. The afterglow for me is tinged with the scent of camphor from the sore muscle massage cream.

But first I want to tell you about time. That continuous creeping or headlong rush into tomorrow depending on your immediate situation. That is just everyday time. No what I am talking about is “Island Time.” The special unique Island Time of the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands that allows the shops to open about 10 am and close about 4 pm. That gives you time to set out the crab traps in the morning. There is time to slow down and drive on the opposite side of the road for pedestrians.

One particular example I just have to elaborate on. There is a fleet of float planes by Kenmore Air. They have the ubiquitous DHC-2 De Havilland Beaver with its 9 cylinder radial engine. They have a few of the Beavers they have upgraded with turbine engines and they have the newer DHC 3 De Havilland Otter with its long turbine nose. These planes land and take off right beside the boats entering the harbor.

The other morning an Otter landed near the marina on West Sound, Orcus Island. This plane was special, It was painted with an Orca whale motif. The youngish pilot in a crisp short sleeve uniform stepped down from the float and twisted a short dock line about the handy cleat. Two girls were walking in from the end of the float, one was carrying a carry-on bag. The pilot greeted them and asked if they were his passengers. “No.” They were headed for the ferry.

I kept tabs on the pilot over the next half hour as he walked to the marina office and to the parking lot at the top of the hill. I saw him checking over the plane and at one point talking over the radio. Finally a car pulls in at at the hilltop parking lot, and a man walks down the hill with a bit of carry-on luggage. The pilot greets him and he boards. Soon the plane is drifting away from the float as the turbine began to bite into the cool morning breeze. Who says that whales can’t fly. They can on Island Time.

The second topic is space. I figure that my 34 foot cruiser has about three times the usable interior space as Glen’s 34 foot cruiser. For five active adults that means carving out a little “My Space” for individual water bottles, clothing, cell phones and charging gear. Groceries and cooking/eating space dominate the cabin space during the day, but most of that is converted to sleeping space at night. This is an interesting time since we must simultaneously stow many of the cushions and assemble the rest into a mattress. We had things like the Guitar that had to move from the bow compartment to the galley. It all got put back together the next morning before we could cook breakfast.

This is Me! Glen is fully qualified as Skipper. I call myself “Skipper Emeritus.” Otherwise known as “deck hand.”

To round out the trip we saved the failure to the last 5 miles. Barb was at the helm and declared the exhaust pitch sounded wrong. Glen was trouble shooting the problem, I was hanging over the back rail listening to the water surging in the exhaust, when the over temperature alarm sounded. We shut down just off Port Orchard. We got the sails up and were able to maintain steerage way. We finally called the tow service and got a 5 mile tow to home port. The problem was traced to a plugged thru-hull on the raw water intake. The stuff never got to the raw water strainer. Probable cause; we must have backed into one of the floating mats of seaweed when taking a mooring at Blake Island. No damage, even the tow was covered by insurance. It’s just the disgrace for Abby Normal to g et towed home after braving all of the challenges so valiantly.

Brian and Linda Burright.
Introducing Brian and Linda Burright on their third day of full timing. We meet in St. Helens OR.
Sailing, Travels

20190714 The Grand Adventure, 2019 Style. (Time and Tide)

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We just spent two days in Naniamo B.C. exploring the waterfront. Our marina, Waterfront Suites and Marina, is at the end of a grand esplanade that skirts the waterfront from our marina to the boat basin about a mile and a half away. In the middle is Maffeo Sutton Park. The whole waterfront is clean attractive and well used by the locals. There are hundreds of upscale, (read expensive,) apartments and condos all along the waterfront.

We also took the shuttle boat to Newcastle Island Park and hiked another 2.5 miles there. This island is just across the channel from our marina so we got a nice picture of Abby Normal from the island through the trees.

Barb Dinsmore on Newcastle Island.
Barb on Newcastle Island on a Perfect Day.

We are long on time on this end of the morning. We must take ourselves back south through Dodd Narrows later today. This is a tiny slot between Vancouver Island and Mudge Island of the Gulf Islands. This is similar to our Deception Pass between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands. The tidal currents are on the order of 7 or 8 knots and reverse twice daily. The prediction table Tells us to be ready at 3:55 pm this afternoon, so we are napping and reading and writing a blog while we wait for the right time and the right tide. Remember the sailors adage, “Time and tide wait for no man.”

Abby Normal and Eye Gor

If you go to my website you will get to see several of the photos we have taken here in Naniamo.

Dodd Narrows
Dodd Narrows from the South on Our Trip North
Gary, Judy and Glen Hiding from the Dragonfly
Gary, Judy and Glen Hiding from the Dragonfly in Maffeo Sutton Park

We had one more adventure on the way to Ladysmith. Ed and Phil, my old sailing buddies, will identify with this. We painted Abby Normal’s keel paint on a submerged rock not two boat lengths from our slip. Apparently without further complications. We went back to our slip and checked keel bolts and bilges and found no evidence of damage. I got the wind knocked out of me when I fell down the hatchway to the main cabin when the boat literally bounced off the rock. Glen is planning at least a diver inspection when we get back to Brownsville.

Yes, we made our date with Dodd Narrows with an hour to spare.

Sailing, Travels, Uncategorized

20180803 The Grand Adventure – Part 4 Return:

On Thursday, August 2, we got serious about getting back to Brownsville Marina and Seabeck. We have been gone exactly 3 weeks now. We gathered our resources for the quick run behind Whidbey Island down to Kingston. Then it is a quick hop around the corner to Abby Normal’s home in Brownsville Marina.

Gary (Papa or Skipper Emeritus)
Gary (Papa or Skipper Emeritus)

Skipper Glen
Skipper Glen

Bryce, (Swab and Deck Hand)
Bryce, (Swab and Deck Hand)

Judy and Barb kept this whole thing together. (What can I say!}
Judy and Barb kept this whole thing together. (What can I say!}

On Friday I took a full length video of our transit of Deception Pass. It is “boring.” so you will only get to see clips of it. I really needed to get a video of the North bound trip. There we rushed the timing to pass through the rapids a few minutes early, and the ride was wild. This time we rushed the timing by a full 20 minutes and it was flat water and a light following wind. The difference is due to three factors, the phase of the moon, it was a week after a full moon. We are having “neap tides” and the tide simply doesn’t go up and down very much. Second: we chose the high slack time period to pass through Deception Pass. So the water is full depth and the rocky bottom doesn’t throw up the big standing waves we get on the low ebb. Finally there was little wind outside the pass to throw wind waves at the cliffs. “Boring.” It was a little chilly this morning at 7 am with s threat of
rain. In the afternoon that cleared away and we are set for more idyllic warm weather.

One of the things that Judy, Glen and I found fun to do has been a bird walk each morning. The sun rises early these days we’re not inclined to sleep in. About 5:30 a.m. We gather up the camera and my cell phone and choose a so called “Hot Spot.” Recently Judy has been doing all of the camera work. I keep track of the identified birds in an application called e-birds. The e birds app is a free application for tracking your bird finds and helping you identify birds. It does more than that. You start by identifying where you are going go birding. You then indicate if you’re going to move or stay in one spot. You then pick a spot that other people have birded at, or create one of your own spots, like your own back yard. E-bird sets up a bird list containing birds that would be expected in your area.
While the app is running, it tracks where you go by GPS, and how much time you spend. You add new birds by scrolling to the correct species and tapping the counter. You can search out species by typing a few letters of the name.
If you are unsure of the bird’s identity, you click on the name and a page is opened with access to photos and details about the bird. Things like range and voice help narrow down the possible choices. When you finish your walk you check off a couple of information blanks and submit the report right from your smart phone.
This next part you might want to do first.  Go to ebird.org and sign up for an account. You link your mobile app to this account. When you submit a list it shows up in your account here. You can then edit your check-lists,  add photos, add or delete species etc.
As I write this,  we are on the last leg of “The Grand Adventure.” When we pass through Agate Pass,  we will enters Abby Normal’s home waters. That will be the sign that we are finished. The next task is to pack all the gear up the ramp to the cars and clean up Abby Normal.
I didn’t get this posted on Sunday, but the thought is the same. Here are photos of our motley crew.
On Thursday, August 2, we got serious about getting back to Brownsville Marina and Seabeck. We have been gone exactly 3 weeks now. We gathered our resources for the quick run behind Whidbey Island down to Kingston. Then it is a quick hop around the corner to Abby Normal’s home in Brownsville Marina. On Friday I took a full length video of our transit of Deception Pass. It is “boring.” so you will only get to see clips of it. I really needed to get a video of the North bound trip. There we rushed the timing to pass through the rapids a few minutes early, and the ride was wild. This time we rushed the timing by a full 20 minutes and it was flat water and a light following wind. The difference is due to three factors, the phase of the moon, it was a week after a full moon. We are having “neap tides” and the tide simply doesn’t go up and down very much. Second: we chose the high slack time period to pass through Deception Pass. So the water is full depth and the rocky bottom doesn’t throw up the big standing waves we get on the low ebb. Finally there was little wind outside the pass to throw wind waves at the cliffs. “Boring.” It was a little chilly this morning at 7 am with s threat of
rain. In the afternoon that cleared away and we are set for more idyllic warm weather.

One of the things that Judy, Glen and I found fun to do has been a bird walk each morning. The sun rises early these days we’re not inclined to sleep in. About 5:30 a.m. We gather up the camera and my cell phone and choose a so called “Hot Spot.” Recently Judy has been doing all of the camera work. I keep track of the identified birds in an application called e-birds. The e birds app is a free application for tracking your bird finds and helping you identify birds. It does more than that. You start by identifying where you are going go birding. You then indicate if you’re going to move or stay in one spot. You then pick a spot that other people have birded at, or create one of your own spots, like your own back yard. E-bird sets up a bird list containing birds that would be expected in your area.
While the app is running, it tracks where you go by GPS, and how much time you spend. You add new birds by scrolling to the correct species and tapping the counter. You can search out species by typing a few letters of the name.
If you are unsure of the bird’s identity, you click on the name and a page is opened with access to photos and details about the bird. Things like range and voice help narrow down the possible choices. When you finish your walk you check off a couple of information blanks and submit the report right from your smart phone.
This next part you might want to do first.  Go to ebird.org and sign up for an account. You link your mobile app to this account. When you submit a list it shows up in your account here

. You can then edit your check-lists,  add photos, add or delete species etc.
As I write this,  we are on the last leg of “The Grand Adventure.” When we pass through Agate Pass,  we will enters Abby Normal’s home waters. That will be the sign that we are finished. The next task is to pack all the gear up the ramp to the cars and clean up Abby Normal.
I didn’t get this posted on Sunday, but the thought is the same. Here are photos of our motley crew.

20180803 The Grand Adventure – Part 4 Return: