Another busy day. Today was spent loading supplies onto the boat. This was made a bit more interesting because the boat is sitting in a sling at the haul-out facility (Delta). We had the entire back of our SUV filled with supplies, all of which had to be carried up a 20′ ladder into the boat. Not fun.
I worked for a while on my monitoring system, with great success.
The boat is at the haul-out facility to get a leak, at the port stabilizer fixed. It was the first time I’ve ever seen the boat without the stabilizer. It was a little spooky being able to see into the engine room from beneath the boat. I should have measured the thickness of the fiberglass, but forgot to. My guess is that it was about 3″ thick.
And on a different topic: Mike at Lafferty’s pharmacy sent a picture of the medical kits he is assembling for us. It looks impressive. [Note… this must be a “representative picture” .. because the name on the box isn’t mine!]
And lastly, Bill Harrington (the Alaskan Commercial Fisherman accompanying us) saw a comment on my blog about the new radar system being installed at Adak (an island in the Aleutians we’ll be visiting), and sent this email:
“…Hi Ken.
That X-Band radar should be outside Adak Harbor when we get there. That is if the contractors are done soaking the government for repairs by then. The whole thing is a navigational hazard. They plunked it down right in the middle of the route most travelled when heading North out of Adak in order to go around the top and head West. Besides the platform they have a field of giant steel anchor buoys and floating fuel storage cylindrical tanks, all of which are poorly marked. They are also not on any charts that I know of. We probably won’t have to worry about the actual radar gizmo as it has not been there the last two years but in Hawaii. All the associated floating junk is there though. Your tax dollar at work.
When we get to Adak my suggestion would be to anchor out if possible unless they have repaired the pier. There are broken pilings and bolts hanging out of it that never seem to get repaired. There are a few select spots that the pilings are serviceable. We can find out ahead of time what’s up. They have been rebuilding a small boat harbor at the head of the bay that may have room though. My Dad actually dredged the original one in WWII when with the SeaBees.
Good luck with finishing up.
Best regards. Bill”
Bill sent some photos from Adak (or, at least I think they are from Adak. The last couple look like they are of the abandoned military base there. To see them,
CLICK HEREI couldn’t resist “improving” on one of his photos by experimenting to see how Sans Souci would look at anchor.
-Ken W
5 Responses
Sailing day, April 17th
The 1st three photos look like Dutch Harbor, subesquent photos could be anywhere in the Aleutians but my guess in Unalaska Island. Image 7. is certainly Adak, like the the remaining images also.
In Adak we comfortably moored alongside an ex-Navy barge (YFN) now used for mobilization of a variety of oil-spill cleanup equipment stored aboard. No one seemed to mind & it saved dealing with the large tidal range & nasty pilings it was moored (July ’08) on the seaward side of one of the 1st long finger-piers encounered on your starboard hand. Three boats should be able to raft-up there, from what we saw of Adak, you won’t be staying long.
Fair seas!
Sam:
Roberta and I will be alone or with guests, for the first 800 or so miles (through to Glacier Bay).
We’re not sure about the passage from Glacier Bay to Kodiak. This is a 500 mile passage that can be rough. We’re going to wait until the time comes to make the decision. If there are no mechanical issues, and the weather outlook is good, Roberta and I will probably run it alone to Kodiak. If it feels like we could use the help, I’ll ask Jeff to give us a hand.
From Kodiak to Japan, we’ll have three Captains: Capt. Jeff Sanson, Capt. Bill Harrington, and myself aboard. Plus, we’ll have Kirt Ahmquist, who crews regularly for Jeff. Kirt was with us on a run up the west coast, and on the crossing of the Bay of Tehuantepec last year.
It will be a VERY senior crew, and arguably overkill for a July crossing of the Bering Sea. That said, I’m not one to complain about being “too safe”. This will be a crew where, when it comes time to grab some sleep, I won’t need to be setting the clock every hour to check on things.
Ken W
Ken, you may have mentioned this before, but will Jeff be aboard for the trip? If so, for how much of it? Best of luck with the final preparations.
Sam
Bill – Thank you for the clarification.
I’m still running on adrenalin and haven’t had time to just relax and think about the trip. Jeff assures me everything will come together, but there’s still a lot to be done. I asked him him today what he thought the odds were that we’d really be ready to go for Friday morning, and he said “100%.”
See you soon! (well … actually around June 10th…)
-Ken W
Hi Ken The last three photos are on Adak. The pier, the former military housing, and the last is of the former nuclear weapons facility where they worked on Trident MIRV missiles and warheads. The beautiful shots from altitude are ones my son took while climbing one of the mountains in Beaver Inlet south of Dutch Harbor on Samalga Island. Bill