Thank you. Those logs were bad! I have never seen it that bad. I am thinking the big storm caused all the debris in the water. It wasn't like that before the storm.
I haven’t watched all of your video yet , but if anyone can help you out it’s James . His videos are unbelievably informative on everything that he says.
Your comment makes me think a bit. We don't think we are nearly as adventurous as some.... but I guess we must be somewhat adventurous to even be doing this. Thank you for the nice comment.
We have fun…. Sometimes the videos get the more stressful aspects of our lives. I actually really enjoyed the trip south. Well, maybe not the day with the 45 knot winds, logs coming at us, and the branch in the fin…. but, I sure enjoyed the end of the day cocktail!
Awww, Happy Anniversary! Stay warm and safe and watch those bloody logs! Treacherous. Your dear husband looks tired. Do you ever take the helm for him? Has to be very stressful!
I do take the helm when I can. Lots of the video time of the navigation equipment is when I am driving. However, he really likes the helm chair since it is the best view in the boat so I have to push him out of it. Sometimes I do that just to make him rest. This trip was especially stressful because if we got the decision wrong, it could go very badly.
Wow. Glad all worked out with the noise and it was not something serious. Great having James Knight picking up the phone! Definitely much scarier leaving Alaska at the time you did. Question, you guys seem to be leaving in darkness, I am surprised you did not have spotlight on- or was it because you were relying on the Flir camera?
Yes, James is awesome! We can actually see better than the camera shows in the morning. We are pulling anchor in the dark but by the time we are moving we can see pretty good.
Oh my, the logs would scare the 💩out of me as well, had one or two damaged props in my time and stuff wrapped round them, completely lost control once with stuff round my prop and no steerage at all, that was nerve wracking. Took me an hour to cut the stuff off my prop. So were you are and the lack of assistance to hand I can see why its a worry.
Oh my! I can see that you have had experience with that! We really need to get a plan on how to deal with the prop if it gets tangled and we can't get it loose. We don't have diving gear on the boat. But... we could not have dove in that water anyway. Maybe we could have used the wing engine (which would have been awful) to Klemtu and dove there, but dang that is freezing cold water.
Luckily on the Dutch Barge I had a weed hatch under the bed to get to the prop, all a big hassle with a lot of tones of boat drifting and trying to clear the crud of the prop! Would not like to get into the water in your neck of the woods. There are contraptions to attach to near the prop to cut ropes and protect the prop, was a real pain when I hit something and bent the prop very badly and lost loads of power as well as the shaft slightly out of aline, no back up engine in that case either@@havaseas.
We did sell the N55 but we bought a N50 on the east coast. We have been working thru the new boat blues. Lots of videos from where we have been cruising. Trying to figure out a new niche.
Having had a 48' that didn't have anywhere near the capabilities that the Nord 55 has that you have so I'm a bit confused. I was in the San Juans from Seattle north. You had Great visibility in comparison to what it can pea soup to instantly. The only things were the logs--now THOSE are truly scary. But 25 knot winds? That's a light Zepher in comparison to what it gets to. The light rain even heavy rain is why you have the right gear. This almost seemed like a "reality show" where most if not all of the drama is manufactured! Didn't watch to the end as it seemed faked.
The San Juans are very nice for cruising! We spent time cruising there over a winter. It was like Alaska summer cruising. Love the area! In these videos we are trying to document the weather conditions, planning, and anchorages for others. Not many people have travelled the inside passage in winter. As the Canadian Coast Guard told us over the radio... "we don't see boats like yours around here in winter." Most the boats that travel in winter are tugboats, fishing boats, or ferries. The challenges of the winter trip is daylight with limited anchorages, freezing temperatures which can cause freezing spray and a fast death if you are in the water, and limited assistance if something goes wrong. You are on your own. You are correct, 25 knot winds is acceptable in our boat. We get those a lot. We don't like to get winds unexpected because it means our planning went wrong. The stress of this day was the unexpected 40-45 knot winds that were pushing the logs at us and creating waves that hid the logs. It got more tense when we got the branch wrapped around the fin and we had to put the boat into neutral and reverse several times while still dodging logs. The deadheads can do serious damage to a boat. We were several days out from being able to get any assistance, so it was imperative that we not have an issue. I might be a wimp, but I was actually very frightened after being at the helm dodging logs as Eric tried to troubleshoot the sounds that we were hearing under the boat. Maybe it is just because I am fairly new to this type of boating. If you love the San Juans, you should come up to Alaska sometime! You will think it is incredible!
