sy Timoneer

Friday, Sept 15th Time: 1200 local (2200 UTC)
Position: 51’34 N 131’41 W
125 miles NW of Vancouver Island Days run: 264 miles (1400 – noon)
Boat speed: 12.3 kts Course 157 T
Weather: Clear & Sunny Wind: 10 kts out of 020’T

News:

Timoneer departed Ketchikan Alaska at 1400 Thursday afternoon in route to San Francisco. The weather in Ketchikan was sunny and clear and we actually pushed forward our departure schedule to take advantage of the Northerly breeze in the region. A low pressure system gathering strength in the Western gulf of Alaska was going to bring South Easterlies later in the week. We wanted to get as far South East as possible before that happens. Ketchikan is definitely civilization compared to where we have been cruising and you are reminded of that by the cruise ships and endless stream of sea planes. Departing Doyon’s Landing we headed down Clarence Strait and into the Dixon Entrance which has a reputation for being a rough stretch of water. The wind filled from the NNE maxing out at 20 knots, we unrolled the genoa and motor sailed reaching 14.7 knots over the ground with a little help from the tidal current. The conditions in the Dixon Entrance were excellent and the only surprise was the amount of whales we encountered crossing it. Timoneer rounded Langara island and entering open ocean at 20:30 gybing onto port heading down rumb line for San Francisco. At 1000 this morning we hoisted the main as the breeze veered to the East which gives us a little better angle on our course of 157 T. The fishing lines are out and fingers are crossed, hopefully we can land an Albacore tuna.

John

August 13th.
Juneau.

If you have been watching our tracking program you will see that we have moved on a bit, from the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak and Prince William Sound down to SE Alaska headed in to Juneau, the state capital.

We arrived in Homer, Alaska (bumper stickers read “a quaint little drinking town with a fishing problem” ) on June 24th and stayed there for a couple of weeks until the guests arrived. Homer was really good and the people there, and in fact all the way through Alaska, have been super friendly. Several times fishing boats have swung past and dropped off some fresh salmon or given us some halibut. Not too many boats like Timoneer ever get up here and we create a huge stir wherever we go.

We did a bit of cruising around Cook Inlet before an overnight trip down to Geographic Bay, on the Alaska Peninsula just west of Kodiak. We saw lots and lots of grizzly bears, managing to get very close safely with the dinghy while they walked on the shoreline in search of food. Great photo opportunities.

We cruised through the Kodiak area seeing lots of whales, Orcas, sea otters and other wildlife. From Kodiak we crossed to the east side of the Kenai Peninsula where there a huge glaciers at the Kenai National Park.

We dropped off one set a guests in Seward and waited there for the Boss to arrive a few days later. Nice little town and a good break. We spent nearly two weeks in Prince William Sound which is fantastic – Many many Glaciers, waterfalls and great wildlife. We interspersed our wilderness adventures with stops at the few small towns where we became the talk of the town. Few super yachts get up to this area it seems and no one had seen anything like Timoneer before. We were made most welcome at Whittier, Valdez and Cordova and enjoyed the hospitality. This is the area that was devastated by the earthquake in 1964 and then again in 1989 with the huge oil spill from the tanker “Esso Valdez”

From Cordova we had an open ocean passage down to Juneau but we picked our weather and made several stops along the way, Yakatat, Lituya Bay, Indian Cove and Salt Lake Bay, arriving here at the Marina in Auke Bay today.

During all this time we have been catching lots of salmon, halibut, cod and rockfish. At night we set our shrimp pot and have done rather well. Crabbing was illegal up north but now we are allowed here in SE Alaska and have already had a great meal of Dungeness crab.

We will update the log when we start moving again.

Saturday, June 24th Time: 1130 local (2000 UTC)
Position: 59’36 N 151’25 W
Docked Homer, AK . Days run: 226 miles (noon – 1130)
Weather: Sunny Wind: 3-5 kts out of 200’T

News:

Timoneer arrived in Homer at 1130 Saturday morning completing the 2250
mile trip from San Diego in exactly 9 days with an average speed of
10.42 knots. We made landfall at 2115 Friday evening sighting Afonak
Island as we approached the Stevenson entrance to Cook Inlet. Shortly
after Jeff came on watch at 2200 we sighted a pod of whales 200 yards
off the port side towards Kodiak Island. Due to some concern over the
depth entering Homer’s harbor, caused by silting from the 20ft tidal
range. The Harbor Master suggested we enter the harbor at least 2
hours after low tide at 0836 Saturday. Given that we were running a
bit ahead of schedule and the weather was perfect, we decided to stop
the boat and try our luck at catching some Halibut. Using some squid
we had from the Baja cruise as bait. Penny, Bevan and I landed 4
Halibut between 15-25 lbs each in less than 45 minutes! Back under
way we cruised up Cook Inlet admiring its snow covered peaks and
steaming volcano on the horizon. At 1100 the harbormaster met us off
Homer Spit in his work boat and guided us through the entrance to our
slip on “B” dock.

John

Friday, June 23rd Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 56’43 N 149’38 W
190 Miles South East of Homer, AK. Days run: 280 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 11.8 kts Course 328T
Weather: Overcast with occasional rain showers Wind: 7-10 kts out
of 350’T

News:

Timoneer motor sailed across the Gulf of Alaska throughout the evening in
10-15kts of Southerly breeze as we closed in on Homer. The morning started
out very calm with just a slight swell running and 3-5 kts of breeze, the
watch was very keen to spot some whales or other wildlife. Unfortunately
we struck out with the exception of a few birds. We also took advantage of
the good weather to knock a few things off the job list and get the boat
cleaned up for arrival in port tomorrow. The calm weather lasted until
shortly before noon when the tide must have turned against the wind
resulting in instant chop. All on board are well and looking forward to
our arrival in Homer.

John

Thursday, June 22nd Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 52’45 N 145’35 W
485 Miles South East of Homer Alaska Days run: 282 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12 kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15 kts out of 200’T

News:

All kinds of action on watch during the last 24 hours as we saw our first
ship in five days yesterday afternoon on its way to Portland, Oregon.
Currently the 40m fishing boat “Leslie Lee” is 18 miles off our port side,
thanks AIS system. This morning we had two Dall Porpoises swim along side
the boat for a good 20 minutes. They have a stocky stark black body with
a white region on the belly and white triangle on the dorsal fin. These
porpoises definitely display the features that set them apart from dolphins
in that they have a chubbier shape, smaller size and blunt, rather than beak
like, snout. Interestingly the Dall’s don’t do much aerial work but
rather just break the surface at high speed sending a “rooster tail” of
spray aloft. Timoneer has 418 miles to go to reach the Stevenson entrance
and then another 65 miles NNE up Cook Inlet before we arrive in Homer.

John

Wednesday, June 21st Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 48’34 N 141’39 W
740 Miles West of Vancouver Canada Days run: 279 miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12 kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15 kts out of 220’T

News:

Really starting to get the feel of higher latitude sailing at the moment,
grey skies and rain. It is unfortunate we couldn’t be further North at
this time to get the full effect of the Solstice, but each day of the trip
the days get longer and longer. Over the course of the night the interior
temperature of the boat has fallen to 52’F making it quite crisp.
Convincing even the last hold outs that we may have to change the air
conditioning over to heating, not a bad plan as it hasn’t been used in so
long we need to test it before the guests arrive. On watch we have yet to
see a ship for four days, occasionally birds are starting to appear along
with 2 pods of dolphins that came by this morning to wish us a safe trip.

John

Tuesday, June 20th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 44’30 N 138’02 W
2600 Miles West of Rochester, NY Days run: 269miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 12kts Course 329T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 12-15kts out of 200’T

News:

Timoneer continues knock off the miles in the favorable South Westerly winds
covering 269 miles today with an average speed of 11.2 kts. The sky has
been overcast with the occasional rain squall throughout the day brought on
by a front in our area. According to Bevan this is the first rainfall that
has landed on the boat in over two months since before we cruised the arid
Baja California region. The slowly dropping outside air temperature has
become very noticeable along with the 50’F water temp, making everyone
really appreciate the pilot house.

John

Monday, June 19th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 40’38 N 134’51 W
500 miles West Oregon/California border Days run: 257miles (noon –
noon)
Boat speed: 11.8kts Course 329T
Weather: Sunny Wind: 4-6kts out of 005’T

News:

Looks like my birthday wish has come true as we have a sunny day with light
breeze. The barometer has risen to 1036mb and we have reached the edge of
the Pacific high pressure system. Looking at the next few days the
weather to the North is fairly settled and the weather predictions are for
West and South Westerly winds in the 10-20kt range. Currently we are just
short of the half way mark to Homer with another 1200 miles to go, I am
hoping to arrive on Saturday morning. The boys are taking advantage of the
fair weather to repair a few things on deck and oil the leather fender hooks
while Penny is making steaks for dinner.

John

Sunday, June 18th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 37’20 N 131’13 W
500 miles West of San Francisco Days run: 236miles (noon – noon)
Boat speed: 11.5kts Course 310T
Weather: Overcast Wind: 16-18kts out of 005’T

News:

Timoneer motor sailed through the evening and into Father’s Day without
incident. The breeze finally dropped below 20kts this morning and we have
started to arc our course more Northerly towards the Gulf of Alaska some
1500 miles away. Rhumb line course to Cook Inlet would be 327’T although
currently because of the Northerly breeze we are still 15 degree’s below
that course. The boat is still moving around quite a bit although the
period of time between each swell has lengthened making the motion much
better than the last two days.

John

Saturday, June 17th Time: 1200 local (1900 UTC)
Position: 35’21 N 126’24 W
260 miles West South West of San Francisco Days run: 235miles (noon –
noon)
Boat speed: 10kts Course 285T
Weather: Sunny and clear Wind: 22kts out of 050’T

News:

Timoneer continues on a Westerly course as we cross the band of Northerly
breeze paralleling the Pacific coast of the states. I think we beat the
worst of it although it has been blowing 22-29kts solid for the last 24
hours from the North while the predominate ocean swell is right out of the
West. We could easily get the boat speed up to 12-13kts but at that speed
were going over one wave and right through the next. Tried it for awhile
and there was a lot of water flying around along with the occasional crew
member down below. At ten knots the bow just has enough time to rise
before the next wave resulting in a much smoother ride. We are making
pretty good progress and hope to be in lighter breeze by tomorrow.

John