Tag: #mvdocktails

As we spent an extra day in Sidney provisioning and catching up with friends, we opted not to stop at our typical next destination – Port of Nanaimo. We thoroughly enjoy the marine store and restaurant Stella Trattoria, but we didn’t feel the need to be in port another day in a row. So we picked a favorite midway destination of ours – Jedediah Island.

Our first visit to Jedediah Island wasn’t a planned visit, and we didn’t even know the island existed. We were in our first boat, an Ed Monk designed 42′ Performance Trawler, with a favorable wind forecast. Halfway from Nanaimo to south end of Texada the wind picked up and Strait of Georgia bared her teeth. One of two bridals holding our skiff broke, of course it was the bow bridal, holding our skiff by one davit against the outboard swinging in the seas. To make it more complicated we were towing our 21′ Shamrock. As we tipped back and forth at idle to lower the skiff and set to tow two boats, we looked on Navionics for a tuck in destination at the bottom of Texada to lick our wounds protected by the gnarly seas. That destination was Jedediah Island.

Jedediah Island is a popular spot, with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, stern tie, and hikes on shore. Boaters will spend multiple days here, but this it typically a one night layover and stern tie practice for us. We always enjoy gunkholing in our fish boat, looking for the goats and sheep that can be spotted on the cliffs nibbling on grass. It always amazes us the unexpected places we spot them.

We have been fortunate in our last handful of South Strait of Georgia crossings for Whiskey Gulf to be not active. It appeared our luck had run out as WG was active and we had to divert our course slightly to transit around the active military torpedo zone to our destination of Jedediah Island. Not too big of a headache as we exited the Gulf Islands through Porlier Pass with the current running with us at 6.9kts, giving us a favorable line with the seas.

Our crossing of the North section of Strait of Georgia couldn’t have been much more candy. A little slop until we approached the North end of Texada, then the seas flattened out, the the wind non-existent with a flood tide at our backs. Portia kept Tessa company on the flybridge helm most of the cruise.

We enjoyed our outstation at Cortes Bay in Desolation Sound, especially the fresh lettuce and kale from the Pea Patch. Only four other boats were at the dock and the weather continued to be spectacular for mid June. Tom got to work sanding the starboard quarter of the cockpit caprail that had failed, as Tessa supervised and enjoyed the beautiful weather with Portia.

We had to be strategic with our provisioning this year, as we were going to cross the US/Canadian border three times in a week, and a fourth time to commence our cruising season in Canada. So we were a cured/deli meat, cheese, bread and butter boat for ten days.

We did an initial provision at Philbrooks in Sidney BC, a second provisioning at Bainbridge Island where we connected with our 16′ aluminum fish boat we tow and brought aboard frozen goods and condiments from our house. And it was very exciting to do our third provisioning back in Sidney BC where we finally could bring onboard fresh fruits, vegetables and eggs!

When we left Bainbridge at 5:15am, we knew we’d be fueling at Cap Sante in Anacortes, but were unsure where our final destination would be for the day.

After ninety minutes fueling and back underway, we made the decision to go back to Sidney. We truly love the town, it reminds us of Bainbridge Island, and we have become very familial with Sidney over the past five years with Docktails being maintained and upgraded by Philbrooks. Once we made the decision of Sidney, Tessa jumped online and ordered provisions for pick up from save-on as the morning slots for delivery were all taken. Being able to now order groceries for pick up or delivery has been a game changer for us.

We had another epiphany last year while cruising SE Alaska. After having our Radpower electric bicycles serviced before cruising season, they both crapped out on us again. Radpower does not ship parts to the greater US, only to the lower 48, so we have no easy way to ship parts for Tom to service them when in Alaska. Ironically, they do have a Vancouver headquarters so the first season they crapped out we were able to ship parts to Pt McNeill. Since this is the third year in a row we’ve had issues with them, we decided to leave them overboard this season. They were a lot of fun when they worked, but dead weight when they didn’t. If we need transportation when in port, we can take a local taxi or rent a car.

Crossing the US/Canada border. We are Nexus members, which makes it *somewhat* easier to cross the border by recreational boat.

Let’s start with the easy one: returning to the US. There is now the CBP Roam App that allows you to report your arrival back in the US. We have had great luck with the app, and if they need to talk to you they will do a video or phone call. One critical note: you have to be in US waters before you can report your arrival.

Crossing the border into Canada. There is now a Nexus phone number again, which is great. And our last two times reporting arrival, we did not have to touch the customs dock and wait for our reported time of arrival to pass before untying and proceeding to our destination. This is something new this season. When reporting arrival in Canada, you can call minimum 30 minutes up to 4 hours in advance. We suggest calling earlier than later, as when you approach the US/Canada border your cell phone begins to switch carriers, and typically you have poor service. This last crossing we called 1 hour before our arrival, only to drop the call 3 times with each dropped call being 20+ minutes on hold. While waiting to be connected to an agent, Tessa took a shower and Tom did circles outside Sidney to calibrate our compass. Yes, we had a humorous AIS track. We were beyond ecstatic when we finally connected to an agent, and were cleared within minutes.

After 12 hours on the water, our inner ears were rocking, we were ready for a safe arrival cocktail and dinner at Jacks.

The transition to life aboard Docktails was seamless, even Portia hopped aboard and was immediately at home. Philbrooks performed a two hour sea trial and tested all motors and systems, gave her a good scrub, so all we had to do was hop aboard and store away the de-humidifiers for the season.

Well, the de-humidifiers had to wait. We re-entered the US at Roche Harbor, and enjoyed a couple fabulous early June sunny days tied up at Henry Island. A good friend whom we hadn’t seen in a long time was also moored at Henry Island, so seconds after tying up we were sharing a beverage in the sun of the cockpit catching up. With no plans but to shake the boat down, we did very little shaking and lots of entertaining. But we wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The start of the proving grounds for the Race to Alaska (r2ak) happened to be the weekend of us picking up Docktails. So we circled the flagpole back into Canada to watch the racers finish in Victoria after crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the docks in front of our restaurant Doc’s Marina Grill in Port Townsend.

The beautiful weather held, and we again spent much of our time in Victoria catching up with different sets of friends we hadn’t seen in weeks to two years, and making new friends. Portia continued to welcome people aboard, and keep them company on the settee. The r2ak truly brings people of all walks of life together, whom have a common passion for adventure and and the thrill of living life. Outside the race, none of us have much in common. But after a two year hiatus of being together, and only the third time we’ve seen each in person, conversation was natural and familial. It truly is a unique race.

We unfortunately did not take a single photo of the r2ak racers or parties that spontaneously happened, but we did have front row seats to the Victoria Harbour Ferry Water Ballet.

With the waning of a westerly gale mid-morning day of our departure from Victoria, we thought we’d have a candy crossing of Strait of Juan de Fuca South to Bainbridge Island where we’d spend the week provisioning and working. Well the weather had other ideas. Half hour into our cruise we found ourselves in the wash cycle of the clothes washing machine. The wind was still 10-15kt, with a strong and stacked ocean swell, against a large outgoing tide. When you batten down the hatches, and with stabilizers, things still are being knocked over, you throttle back, read the water, and pick a different course. So we went North to go South. A 45 minute diversion, our speed swinging 1.7kt with the ocean swells whether we were climbing or surfing, with a 30 degree shift from port to starboard in direction of transit. Portia was not happy, we were not happy. But we eventually made it around the slop and by Point Hudson it flattened out and we couldn’t believe it was still the same day as when we left Victoria.

This was the first year the r2ak was able to race since 2019, and in the witty commentary they said with three years to prepare, you’d think there wouldn’t be any last minute projects on the dock in Point Hudson Port Townsend WA the eve of the race. But there was. We had a good laugh and agreed with the writer. But then after our boat being at Philbrooks since November for maintenance, we found ourselves in the same predicament.

We picked up m/v Docktails beginning of June to be able to be in Victoria BC for the r2ak festivities before the real start of the race, not just the proving grounds from Port Townsend WA to Victoria BC. Our good friend was racing in the r2ak for a second time, and we were here for him and his team and in any support they needed; whether it be a warm bunk for him, a happy hour aboard m/v Docktails for the team, or a trickle charger for their boat’s batteries.

It was a good thing we did a shakedown cruise, as two of our major upgrades were not working properly. We upgraded our Naiad 254s for following seas, and in calm water when we crossed paths with a boat wake, we rocked. As we have had stabilizers for four years, we have become spoiled, and didn’t want to go without them around Cape Caution BC (we’ve seen what it can do), or even Strait of Georgia for that matter (also some not so comfortable experiences).

The second major upgrade we did was convert all our engine gauges to digital, and now have a nifty window on our Simrad screens with the digital gauges. Well, they pulled the data from the analog gauges that did not work (and we told them they were inoperable and to use the other gauges) and thus our digital gauges did not work. Since we have a second set of operational analog gauges in the pilothouse, this wasn’t too big of an issue, however our analog rudder indicator was a casualty of this project. And we like to know our rudder positions when we dock, as it makes it a heck of a lot easier if they are straight (also speaking from experience, when trying to dock in a 25kt wind blowing us off the dock in the Berry Islands Bahamas).

The last time we were in Victoria BC was four years ago to take delivery of m/v Docktails off a freighter from Ft Lauderdale. We’ve always had great times here, and it was fun to be back. We typically (or always) miss Victoria BC as we moor our boat in Anacortes WA and then make a beeline North. For 2022 Nexus is still understaffed and not accepting boater phone calls, so crossing the border was just like a non-Nexus member: complete the ArriveCAN app and once you are tied to the customs dock, phone in.

With having no set-in-stone agenda, we were able to stop in at Philbrooks for them to take a look at our stabilizers and correct our analog-digital gauges, and do multiple sea trials at $6.38/g for diesel. When we cruised in the Bahamas in 2018, we thought $4.50/g was expensive, we never thought we’d see, or blow out of the water, $4.50/g in the PNW.

Our upgraded Naiads didn’t throw any flags to the installers, and with calm seas it was hard to create the rocking motion of the ocean. We tried to use our wake, however the Naiad representative said this wouldn’t suffice with the way the fins sense movement. With diesel prices through the roof, we are continuing to cruise at 1200rpm/10kts – we slowed down last year just South of Prince Rupert and watched our diesel consumption drop significantly. When the Naiad representative asked what speed we cruised at, he told us to speed up and that would solve our issue.

Speed up, eh? When our original Naiad 254s worked just fine at 1200rpm/10kts. Well, coming South around Cape Caution we got into 8-10ft seas on the beam, which became following seas as we rounded Cape Caution. Our upgraded Naiads didn’t do a darn thing. And no, when we sped up to 1500rpm, they still didn’t do a damn thing.

To be continued, as a Naiad representative has agreed to fly out and look at our stabilizers. It just took being in the exact scenario we upgraded for, and not have the stabilizers work properly, to make it happen.