About 6:30 a.m.
the chain started growling as the tide went farther and farther down. I really
needed to use the restroom and I knew that I had to go and disturb Dad because
the last flush of the night last night broke our head. Today would be the third
time we have had the head apart for repairs. I stayed in bed not wanting to
wake everyone and wrote notes in my notebook. Before I left I told my
leadership team that I was going on an Executive Retreat not vacation. I packed
lots of business books, expecting to read every night and spent the next day
discussing my lesson with Dad. I was somewhat disappointed with myself until I
had an “a-ha” moment and realized that we had been on a major executive retreat
complete with training courses since we left the dock in Seattle. Now I’m
trying to document all the wonderful lessons.
The sun was
up and it was warm this morning, but the wind had started and the clouds were
moving in. We couldn’t open the boat up because the nasty horseflies would come
in and get us! Dad and Thor went to the
beach to scout for crystals that the folks from the Sitka Bear were talking
about, postponing their head fixing exercise.
Dad and Thor
came back from the beach with some cool crystals and then fixed the toilet. We
were set to fire the engines and hoist the anchor at 12:35 so that we would arrive
at the critical point at high slack water. It was tough waiting in anticipation
for the right moment to depart. By noon, I could tell that Dad was getting antsy
and was ready to take on the navigational challenge ahead of us. He had already
raised the dinghy and had the anchor wash hose in hand. We would be 15 minutes
early, but I decided to give into him.
We departed
with Thor on log duty and binoculars; I had the paper chart in one hand and the
fly zapper in the other and I was watching the fathometer. Dad was steady at
the helm and watching the electronic chart. We started at navigational aid 36
and had to count down to zero. As soon as he could spot them Thor would call
out the next marker and provide a visual reference. Dad carefully weaved between
the rocks. At some points, coming about like a horse doing barrel racing. I
followed along with the paper charts confirming each obstacle that was listed
making sure Dad could locate it. After each hairpin turn and skinny channel it
seemed like there was a wide spot in the road that we could all take a quick
breath, stand up and then focus again. It took us 1 hour and 44 minutes to make
our way through Rocky Passage, another South East Alaska Navigational challenge
conquered. At the end point our estimations
for time were off by 2 minutes.
The rest of
the day was spent pitching and rolling up Summer Straits, first with the waves
coming at us and then with a following sea. The offset was that the sun was out
in full strength. The poor boat was so covered in salt that when we came to
anchorage you couldn’t see out the windows. Thor and Dad drove from the bridge
all day and I worked on my computer. It was a long day and we finally came to
rest after 7:00 with Wrangell, Alaska in our sights.
Once on anchor
in Roosevelt Harbor both Dad and Thor were busy on their phones. Our intention
was to fish the halibut hole in the morning and then head south.
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