We left Seward on Sunday, 5/1 with a crew of 5 hearty sailors (Capt. Ken, Dave, Judy, Kevin, and Travis).
We crossed the Gulf of AK and made landfall at Elfin Cove 80 hours later, 6:30 Wednesday evening. Lots of fun and
games (including the last Resurrection Cup for a while, with Middleton, Fairweather, Elfin, and Glacier
Bay cups. There were favorable winds part of the way, and the new wind vane (christened "Mr Wonderful") worked great
on a close reach. Several hours of motoring were required, but then the opportunity to fly the spinnaker presented
itself. The spinnaker was not packed perfectly, and didn't go up smoothly, so we repacked it and had a delightful
sail......... until it wrapped around the forestay and roller furling sail. That was a real problem. It got worse
before it got better, and 4 of the crew were on the foredeck wrestling the sail while we motored in circles trying
to unwind it. Finally it was unwound, but then the halyard wouldn't come down and both clews escaped and the sail
was flying from the top of the mast with no lines to the deck. After considerable effort, eventually Travis
volunteered (?) to go up the mast and release the sail. We had a line to a clew, and Travis was able to release the
halyard and we were able to pull the wet sail aboard, and get Travis back down to the deck.
Rumor has it there were many glorious sunrises and sunsets (altho Kevin, who is writing this while Judy changes
the laundry) slept, as he had the 2400-0400 watch. Allegedly, Mt Fairweather was pretty spectacular as we approached
it Wednesday morning.
Capt Ken and Kevin worked through several noon celestrial sights of the sun, and we came within 2 miles of our latitude
both times. Who needs the GPS?
Another highlight of the passage was the culinary delights that Judy prepared meal after meal. I've had quite a
few meals at sea, and these were among some of the best.
Wednesday evening we arrived in Elfin Cove, a quaint fishing / quickly turning into a tourist village. It consists
of several docks with a boardwalk connecting everything. It felt really good to sleep in a stationary position, and
not have to get up in the middle of the night.
Thursday morning we were awakened Good Morning Viet Nam and then found showers in Elfin Cove. Then refueling, and
off to Glacier Bay. A good sail / motor there, although we were bucking currents up to 4 knots on the way. Ken
got to see the results of one of his last big projects. While Ken and Judy were showing Nellie Juan to the park superintendent,
Kevin recognized one of his dream boats in the anchorage, then those sailors came down and asked why we had the spinnaker
spread out on the dock. Turns out they use an identical sock for their spinnaker, so we got a lesson on how to use this
handy device.
Friday we got an early start to go with the flow (of the tide) and continued on to Funter Bay on the east side of Admiralty
Island. We saw possibly dozens of whales, and lots of sea lions, seals, birds, and other wildlife. After touring
the bay, we anchored in Coots Cove. We watched a brown bear on the beach in front of us and took a hike to an indian
burial ground on the island. We also talked to some other boaters who where cleaning and cooking crabs. So we
put out a crab pot, without success.
