Saturday August 2, 2014

Saturday August 2 arrive on the bridge of “OA” at 7 hundred hours expecting the crew to have been holy stoning the teak decks, cheesing the lines (coiling the lines in a sun up rotation to sun down rotation) on all decks. I am expecting breakfast served piping hot on time at the captain’s table AND SMART and crisp, A GOODMORNING SIR, but nothing. I will go below and muster the crew.  I descend to the private sleeping quarters (it is dark and the ports have not been opened to announce the day) of ‘she who must be obeyed ‘and I approach Chevy’s private state room first.  The dog opens only one eye and in the most impolite fashion tells me she is prepared to share her fleas with me. The Admiral WITHOUT lifting the covers uncoils her arm and points a craggy finger at the coffee pot from her berth below and indicates that if there is no coffee in bed the mutiny will start and the captain will be chained to the engines! Being a tough negotiator I speed to the stove and I deliver the brew, piping hot coffee, in her special mug to her chambers and ever so politely back from her presence to work on the teak on deck and coil all the lines for a much later inspection by her Admiralship.                                                

A lot of muttering huffing and grumbling from me as I look out the pilot house windows at the interior wing walls of the portages bridge that will be the first area to be decimated first with sanders grinders; tools to remove the soft spots (rot)AND IT WILL BE A MESS. We are committed to our yearly maintenance of the paint work and wood as this must be done once a year; if it’s not done it’s a fast slide into hellhole that will screw up the old girl (the boat). You must seal all surfaces so the water will not take residence below the paint surface and blow the finish off in the winter freeze. Once the OLD LADY GETS WATER UNDER HER SKIN old man rot is not far behind. It is a back breaking, gnarling dusty, messy work and the clean-up takes place over weeks. It requires special epoxy fillers that are ugly to play with, but when it’s done she is Magnificent. WE always say it’s a Bondo (epoxy) boat with a WOOD PROBLEM. 

Two Old Fish Boats

 Later in the day a small trim sail craft “CLOUD NINE” comes into our little haven and I hail the skipper the challenges of anchoring here, like the strong current and the difficulty of the heavy kelp bottom fowling the anchor and the fact that this is the time for us to start are maintenance program on our old girl and there will be the periodical buzz of sander and he responds that he is only here for a short time and no problem. I know that once his hook is set he is not leaving this secret nook particularly as it’s blowing 20 knots out there and its foggy, and at 20 knots it is still fogy and he has no radar. Later in the evening I know that he is a died in the wool hardy sailor as he has a small dingy with only oars and you don’t blow it up with air, I can see the smoke coming out of his chimney stack and it smells of kiln dried hard wood (the smell reminds me of sitting around a camp fire in the evening watching the sparks going to the heavens). His dinner is on simmering on the old wood stove but I spy a Cell Phone attached to his ear and I know by his boat he is a purist and he is only pressed to the techno edge by his office or life style or ex-wife. He is a lot like the kayakers that paddle from Seattle to Ketchikan only with a vessel that has a head, a warm berth and an old wood stove to boil your first coffee of the day on. Good on him. To be a minimalist in this country and not go to the extreme gives time for contemplation of life’s course and not be uncomfortable doing it, is a gift. To each to his own.

Nice Secluded Anchorage

 

I am weak and not like the determined soul that resides in the small back cockpit of his trim little craft and him with his black watch cap on and I envision him drinking a wee dram of the finest Scotch whisky neat, but only one. I love my scotch filled to the brim with ice, and maybe one or two but not over three; my electric flush toilet and my oil stove, hot showers and the now and again microwave oven and of course TV so I can watch the local news and weather). I am not a purest but a realist and spoilt to boot and I am not camping this late in life.                   

 Now the real Mc Coye enters the bay. The red sail boat has slowed to a crawl as she is having difficulty determining the clear passage; I nip out in the little boat to direct her around the bumps. The Admiral is on the bow and thanks me for the sailing directions. This vessel is an honest to goodness self-reliant go north boat. The owners of her are practical to the point of back to basics without comprising there comfort and chosen a life style that appears to be balanced between frugal without being silly. They have thought through what it takes to do a sustained life style on a limited budget on a cruising vessel that will do the job .The name of the boat is “MOM” and her home port is Icy Straits in ALASKA. Now Penny and I have been to the Icy Straits in Alaska in “OA” and it brings BACK BIG MEMORIES of the last frontier on the North American continent and TV show the “Deadliest Catch” (it was filmed much further north but the seas of Icy Straits are just as ugly on an ebb tide with a north storm surge coming in.

“MOM” is painted Coast Guard red with white house work and with a pilot house.  She is steel construction and a twin bilge configuration so she can sit on a clear beach on a low tide and be very happy there. Just think about it no travel lift to paint the bottom, half the time out of water (savings on bottom paint, zincs, and moorage) and flat muddy bay is not prime real estate and you can check out your anchor skills at any low tide. There are some down sides, when you think about it there is a cost to everything whether it is time or money. No shore power for TV (maybe large solar panels) (forgot this is BC and half the time it rains here in the winter). A mucky walk out at low tide, on a half tide, dragging the dink over rocks and mud and wading out in hip waders and carrying a ladder with you to reach the deck up 6 ft. In this case timing high tide is everything and that can be at midnight or four in the morning,  rain or shine, moon or no moon.

Red Designs on Shore Rocks

“Mom” settles in just north of us out of the tidal stream that flows between the islands. Mrs. MOM comes over to visit and thank us for the directions for the clear passage, as we have had a very busy day Pen has gone done to her berth to check out the insides of her eyelids.  I share a small dram of scotch with Mom and join Pen for the search of the interior of my lids to.ZzZzZzZzzzzzzzzzzz,