Weather: Sunny and warm! Winds: N 0-10 Waves: <1ft
Moved aboard Wednesday night to get an early start to catch the tide on Thursday.
Thursday morning, moored for 30 minutes at the fuel dock to check the waterstay tension. Adjusted them and we motored out around 0830. Hooked a right into the Burrows Channel taking advantage of the westbound ebb. Turned south in Rosario and the southbound ebb bumped us up to 7kts! Wind picked up some and the main and genoa were set. Wind died after an hour and we were back to motoring.
Hugged Partridge Point on Whidbey Island at the eastern entrance to the San Juan Strait to avoid the normal rips at Point Wilson. Entered Admiralty Inlet with a slight ebb slowing us to 4kts. We were off Port Townsend at slack. Soon, a strong southbound flood had us moving fast again.
North wind started to pick up around 1300 and I thought to take advantage and raise the spinnaker. Nearly to the top, the pelican hook lanyard caught on something up high on the genoa furler and the spinnaker dropped to the deck with a bang. Fortunately, most of the spinnaker was on the deck and only about 15ft was in the water. Pulled it out and set it on the nets. Problem now was the the spinnaker halyard was up the mast and impeded the unfurling of the genoa. I thought to lower the main and use the main halyard to go up and get it. Kelly talked me out of it. Frustrating to see the sailboats actually sailing and we were motoring. Found a solution by furling and unfurling the genoa, each time slightly getting more slack in the spinnaker halyard. Finally, the halyard dropped free of the furler and we were able to use the genoa! The halyard though, was still at the top of the mast....
Sailed for about 2hrs, gybing back and forth under the main and genoa, staying in the southbound current, making 6.5kts. Winds died off Kingston and we were back to motoring. Arrived Blake Island State Park east side mooring buoys around 1900. 2 of 5 buoys were available and we took the middle one, the one closest to shore.
62 miles in 10 hours. Not too bad. Liked to have done it sailing, but after the spinnaker halyard goat rope, Strider was limited to the heavier weight sails, just not practical for the light winds.
We encountered several large ships, including a US Navy Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Momsen DDG-92 and several other powerboats creating large wakes. These wakes caused concern as the waterstays were stressed and slackened, still 'stretching'. The material is not really stretching, but being pulled into position, kind of like getting the air out. Still, there was no unexposed place to pull over and tighten them. So, the hinges, particularly the port side, took the brunt of the forces. Waterstay tension will need to be monitored and adjusted for quite some time.
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