Alaska 2014 - Sitka Interlude 3

July 2-14, 2014

We alternated working on Spirit and day fishing out of Sitka.  We picked up one nice Coho on the 3^rd.  Fireworks were on the evening of July 3, and we spent the evening with the Benson’s on Wild Blue, using the Grady White as our taxi to the other end of town where Wild Blue was moored.  The fireworks started at 1130 PM, so it was very late getting back to Spirit.

The rain left and a great sunset over Sitka harbor

July 3 Fireworks

More fireworks

Some of the local USCG - lots of applause for them!

The highlight of the parade was the flyover by 2 USCG helicopters

On the morning of the 4^th we left the dock at 0450 and picked up Alex Benson.  By 0930 we were back alongside Wild Blue and transferring our daily limit of King salmon to Big Blue.  We have only one King salmon left to catch to reach our annual non-resident limit.  While fishing, we began experiencing intermittent throttle/gearshift issues on the main wheelhouse control head, so we used the corded remote control the rest of the day.

In the afternoon was the parade, which included a flyover by two of the USCG helicopters.  The rain held off until after the parade.

On July 5^th, we swapped control heads with the unit on the flybridge, fixing the problem for a while.    We left the suspected bad unit out of the system pending discussions with ZF Marine after the holiday weekend.  We finally had a sunny day.

Sunday, July 6, was another pleasant day in Sitka, and we met up with the Dance’s on “Peregrine”, who had just arrived.  We last saw them in Northern BC in May.

On Monday,, July 7, fishing for the last King salmon seemed like a good idea, so we left the dock with Spirit at 0600, but no luck, just a couple of bites, and then the weather turned windy and rainy, so we returned to the dock empty handed.

 While underway we talked to ZF Marine and found they will not allow the control heads to be repaired, apparently a liability issue, and that this intermittent type of problem is not uncommon.  We may have accelerated the failure with the amount of shifting we are doing while trolling from Spirit.  Parts are not even available for at least six weeks, so we will only fish from the Grady White the remainder of this season to cut down the possibility of another failure on the control head we moved from the flybridge.

We hosted a farewell dinner on Spirit, with both grilled King salmon and steaks since Pat Benson was leaving in the AM, and Alex Benson will be heading out with friends fishing.  We will probably not see them again until winter.  Dance’s also were leaving on Peregrine in the morning and we will probably not see them until Fall.

Tuesday, July 8 was rainy and cold all day, sometimes torrential.  The troller fleet is returning, since the initial summer King salmon troll fishery has reached the quota in just 7 days, so the harbor is full.  The charter fishing boats continue to come in with lots of fish, even though the King salmon limit is down to 1 per person per day.  The Coho salmon seem to be in abundance, so we will go out on Thursday, weather permitting.

July 9, 2014

Even though it rained off and on all day, we decided to try and install the trolling motor autopilot for the Grady White in the water.  Launching the AB tender, we pulled it into the stern of the Grady White and in just a few hours we had all the components installed without dropping anything into the water.  After filling the system with hydraulic fluid, we tested it and it worked as advertised.

July 10, 2014

We had a sunny day for a change, so we headed to Viskari Rocks for fish in the Grady White, but with no luck.  Returning to the harbor for lunch, Patrick went out in the afternoon to Biorka Island and after losing a nice King salmon alongside the boat, netted a nice Coho instead.  By the time Patrick returned to the harbor the wind had started to increase significantly, as predicted.

July 11, 2014

Patrick went fishing with Alex Benson and his guests on Wild Blue, coming back with a 22 pound halibut and a large Quillback rockfish big enough for dinner for four people.  One of Alex’s guests landed a nice King salmon in terrible wind, rain and waves in the Shark Hole at Kalinin Bay before we called it quits due to weather.

Returning to Sitka Harbor and unloading the fish onto Spirit, we noticed a sailboat without a mast wandering around the harbor looking for a place to tie up.  We called the harbormaster and got permission to have the 36 foot Jeanneau “Coocinelle” raft alongside Spirit.  We found the French couple (Gilles and Armelle Ruffet) on board had been dismasted 25 miles from Sitka earlier that day and had no VHF radio antenna after the mast was cut away from the boat.  They also had no cell phone.  The couple had been at sea for 24 days, transiting from Honolulu, with their two young girls (Apolline & Camille), about 5 & 7 years old.  The couple was from La Rochelle in France and had been travelling the Pacific for 2 years.  They were exhausted and still in shock from the incident, which also damaged lifelines.  We invited them on board for a glass of wine and some cheese and the use of our cell phone to report into US Customs.  It was a short visit since they were very tired.

Coccinelle rafted alongside Spirit

July 12, 2014

The French couple did not arise until late in the morning when the harbormaster, who did not know about the dismasting, came by to get them registered.  Even without a mast they plan on cruising to Glacier Bay and working their way to someplace where the mast can be replaced, eventually returning to the Marquesa Islands in December.  The couple appears to be both very resilient and competent and we think they will do just fine.  They spent the day getting showers, groceries and doing laundry, planning to move out into the harbor to anchor either later today or tomorrow.  Gilles and Armelle Ruffet have a blog (in French) that has some great pictures.

  

http://voiliercoccinelle.blogspot.com/.  

Some years ago Gilles Ruffet circumnavigated the world on a sailboat.  He is an author and journalist, having written books on offshore catamarans

We decided to splurge this evening and went to Ludvig’s Mediterranean Bistro where we tried the white King salmon and scallops over a bed of squid ink risotto as well as the Cioppino with halibut, black cod and calamari.  Everything was delicious, with large servings.

July 13, 2104

Patrick headed out at 0530 in the Grady White for Salisbury Sound, in the rain and occasional fog.  Salmon fishing was unsuccessful, but Patrick brought back 2 halibut and a large Quillback rockfish, our final fish before we return to Bellevue for a short visit.

Coccinelle moved out into the harbor at anchor this afternoon, and already have a temporary VHF antenna mounted so they can communicate as they head to Glacier Bay and then south.  Gilles Ruffert has also identified a used radome in Juneau to replace the one lost with the mast.

July 14, 2014

The morning was spent fueling Spirit and the Grady White so both are ready to go when we return from Bellevue in a week.  Aside from some fog, the rain has quit for the day, a welcome change.

We have covered 1510 nautical miles on Spirit so far, and another 350 nautical miles fishing on the Grady White.  The fish box score for the boat is 23 King salmon, 6 Coho Salmon, 7 Halibut, one Yelloweye and 2 Quillbacks, along with the all the Dungeness crab and Spot Prawns.