Friday, April 30, 2010

T-7 Hours


The party is over, the debris has been swept away, the rain has returned, we are ready for SE Alaska.


Just a little Beefeaters left, Margaret stepped up to the challenge!



The excess!!!!
The rest disappeared somewhere.


The final repairs have been accomplished, our thanks to Steelhead Marine! The excess liquor has either been packed away and sent to Bellevue, or consumed, and we are making the final preparations for departure at 0700 from Anacortes Marina. Not many hours left. There is still some waterline showing, so I guess we are good to go!

Next Post from Ganges, BC.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

T-3 and Counting

The Selene rendezvous is complete. There were 39 Selene Trawlers in attendance. The rendezvous at Roche Harbor was well attended and we were able to see how many of the other owners had customized their vessels. We always pick up new ideas. Weather was variable, with everything from sun to intense rain, but we had a great time in spite of the showers, and even the power failure on the docks.
From the picture, you can see we launched the tender. Good news and bad news! The tender ran well, but the davit developed a problem in luffing down. We got the tender back on board, and Steelhead Cranes will be up on Friday, cutting it close, to make repairs.


On the way back to Anacortes, after the rendezvous, we put an additional 808 gallons of fuel on board, bringing the total to about 1450 gallons for the trip North.
Today, Wednesday, we transitioned up to Anacortes and loaded the fishing gear and crab pots for the trip. The weather is clearing here in Anacortes, and Spirit is nearly ready for departure! We can still see the cove stripe, so we have a little room for more supplies, but not much.
Our son Cameron will be living at the house and taking care of things in Bellevue while we are gone, so that there is always somebody at home.
Just the davit repair and Bon Voyage party to go!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

T-10 and Counting

On Sunday, April 20, Spirit finally left Selene Yacht Service for home base at Anacortes Marina.
All the mandatory items from the survey have been accomplished, although some work has been deferred until the fall.
We are in the final stages of packing and finalizing plans for departure (on-time) from Anacortes on May1. We made a stop at Armchair Sailor and purchased the remaining paper charts for the trip, since they are still a requirement even with all the electronic aids.
Tomorrow we depart for the 2010 Northwest Selene Rendezvous at Roche Harbor and will use the time to make sure all the systems are really ready. We will return on Sunday afternoon, April 25 and will top off the fuel tanks. We expect to take on about 800 gallons of fuel.
Back to Bellevue for last minute arrangements and then we transition to Spirit on Wednesday, April 28.
Our guest list has filled out (more on that as our guests arrive and depart) and all provisions are on board except for the perishable items. We still have some boot stripe showing so we could pack some more items, but are running out of places to put things. It is sort of like packing for any trip, the last minute "nice-to-haves" seem to explode in volume.





Spirit on the "hard" at Canal Boatyard

Monday, April 5, 2010

2010 Plan
We will be gone just over 4 months, from May 1 to September 5, 2010.

Month 1 May 2010 – Anacortes to Juneau via the Inside Passage, with stops in Desolation Sound, Dent Island, the Broughton Archipelago, Bishop Bay Hot Springs, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Tracy Arm.
Month 2 June 2010 – Exploring east and west coasts of Chichagof and Baranof Islands, with possible side trip to Lituya Bay, weather permitting. Sitka will be our base of operations, and we hope to visit Baranof Hot Springs, Goddard Hot Springs and Tenakee Springs. We will end up in Wrangell.
Month 3 July 2010 – Making a brief side trip back to Seattle from Wrangell, then exploring Prince of Wales Island, Behm Canal (Misty Fjords) ending up in Ketchikan.
Month 4 August 2010 – Heading South through British Columbia, spending more time in the Broughton Archipelago and then cruising south to Anacortes.
Month 5 September 2010 - Roche Harbor Yacht Club cruise to Port Townsend.
We will be joined at various points by friends and family. Stay tuned for updates.

The Dream Begins

The Dream Begins – November 2007-July 2009

After searching the world for a replacement sailing vessel for our 2005 Jeanneau 49 Deck Salon, we decided to switch to the “dark side” and signed a contract in late November 2007 for a new Selene 55 Ocean Trawler built by Jet Tern. We were assigned hull number S55099, the 99th hull of the popular 50/53/55 series of trawlers. The vessels are displacement hull, mostly single engine pilothouse trawlers. Delivery was originally anticipated in December 2009, but we soon found out that schedules for new boat construction are notional at best and fictional at worst. Our first of several visits to the shipyard in Dong Guan, China was delayed several times due to delays in the start of construction, but we finally visited the shipyard in August, 2008. By this time, we had a revised completion date of March 2009, which soon moved to May 2009.
The hull was started in September 2009 and released from the mold in November 2009. On our second visit we were able to crawl around the hull, with the forward lower deck accommodations and tanks installed.

By the third visit in February 2009 the hull and deckhouse had been joined, however the inside main deck was still missing, but the pace was picking up, and by the fourth and final visit in late March 2009, the fly bridge had been mated to the deckhouse and the interior furniture was roughed in.
Then along came the H1N1 flu scare, and due to both that and factory schedules, we were unable to make more trips to Dong Guan. However, weekly photos assured us that progress was being made.





Down the streets of Dong Guan
















The schedule slid one more time, due to late arrivals of items like the generator and hydraulic davit, but finally, tank testing took place, final inspections and loading of the boat onto a freighter for Seattle happened ( when we transferred the final payment) and S55099, soon to become SPIRIT, set sail for Seattle.
















Loading on Barge



Down the Pearl River to Hong Kong














Spirit arrived and was offloaded from the CMA CGM Alcazar on July 20, 2009, only 8 months later than we anticipated when we signed the contract in November 2007.
In the hold of the Alcazar with a Selene 43


Almost in the water


Floating in salt water for the first time
SPIRIT Arrives- July 2009

Spirit was not ready to begin voyaging yet! We had to spend several weeks in dealer preparation before Spirit was moved to Selene Yacht Services (SYS) for installation of electronics and other optional equipment. SYS took just 3 weeks to complete an extensive (and expensive) series of installations, which included navigation electronics, R/O water maker, cruising alternator, entertainment systems, canvas, carpeting and provisions for holding down the tender.

Commissioning Complete

We decided to make the Roche Harbor Yacht Club 2009 Labor Day cruise to Swantown Marina in Olympia our maiden and shakedown voyage, and also to formally christen Spirit in Swantown. We found the pre-scored bottle of champagne almost impossible to break!

Spirit is formally christened!

Spirit performed well, but we did generate a punch list for both the dealer and SYS during the 300+ nautical mile shakedown cruise. Shortly after we arrived back at SYS, Spirit was featured in the September floating boat show at Lake Union.

More Shakedown Cruises – September 2009 to March 2010

Spirit cruised the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands on a number of voyages over the next several months, accumulating another 1200 nautical miles on the log, as systems were exercised and we became familiar with the handling and operation of the systems on board. Spirit travelled as far North as Nanaimo and Vancouver, with several trips to Roche Harbor and also back to Seattle for additional upgrades and warranty work.
Spirit is now at Selene Yacht Service undergoing final preparations for the trip North beginning in May, 2010.