Knotty C's Alaskan Adventure

K

Knotty C

New member
Hi Brats,

As many of you know, Don and I took a fabulous trip to Alaska this past summer. It was a trip of a lifetime and we have been reliving it through pictures and videos ever since. You may be wondering why we have not posted anything about the trip before now. I’m not sure that I can explain it—maybe we’ve just been busy, as we have both been working our normal jobs plus teaching additional classes. Believe it or not, the Knotty C is still sitting on the trailer in our yard and hasn’t been back in the water since we pulled it out at Prince Rupert in August.

At some point as we uploaded pictures to the web site and I began to think about posting our experiences my heart got tighter and tighter and I realized that I could not think about our trip without also thinking about something sad that happened while we were there. When we left in July we were anxiously expecting our first grandson who was due in October. While we were in Petersburg we received a call from my son, DJ, informing us that the baby’s heart had stopped beating and they would have to induce labor. It was very hard for me not to be here with my son and daughter-in-law and I ended up flying home once we arrived in Juneau to be with them. I was home for a week and Don stayed in Juneau. So….maybe that’s why I’ve been avoiding posting our experience. Talking about it is one thing, when you write, you are remembering everything you saw and felt.

I have written some of my memories already. We have decided that we will post our memories a bit at a time so we don’t overwhelm anyone. As we post our experiences we will color code the narratives so you know if it’s me or Don talking. My posts will be red and Don’s posts will be blue.

We'll do our first post very soon!

Dee
 
Sorry to hear of your family tragedy, so sad, my condolences.

Looked at some of your pictures, they're great! It is about the same route I was planning until our own family situation diverted our plans, we took a shorter Princess cruise instead, had a wonderful 'scouting' adventure in the SE. Looking forward to your narrative!
 
Dee and Don,

Our condolences. Many of us understand how a family tragedy can change your perception of an otherwise wonderful experience. Our life experiences are complex and intertwined with the ups and downs.

Take your time. The photos you've posted in your Alaska album are spectacular; when you're ready to share some narrative, we'll be a receptive audience. Perhaps as winter limits the northern boating activity for many, your travel tales will be most helpful and cathartic.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Dee, I am sorry to here about your loss. It always shocking how life is so fragile. My sisters first child was born without a heart beat, 8 minutes, but she and the baby were blessed with a miracle, got it restarted and he is now healthy. I was there at the hospital with her durring the birth. Time always helps to easy your feelling. I Think it is truely the only thing that does. NO words can. Please know that I love you and would give you a hug if I was there. A small concilation is that we still have joy to come in the future.

The pictures are great!!! I look forward to talking with you about the good parts.

susan elliott
 
Patti and I extend our sincere condolences. How sad, and how frustrated you must have been to know about the baby and not being able to get there. I had a child born 41 years ago who died similarly and I recall well my deep sadness, anger and frustration. We hope your son and daughter-in-law are holding up and we wish your family well.
 
Dee -
We appreciate your sharing your experience with your friends here -- our condolences on the experience. We look forward to your sharing your Alaska Trip with us and understand your personal feelings that the trip memories bring back for you folks. Our best wishes to you.
 
Dee

Our condolences. We too have have suffered through family tragedy and can say only time has been a healer for us. Words though appreciated in a different way never helped the hurt a bit.

Am really looking forward to your sharing of trip and thankful you have decided to.

Jay
 
Dee,

So sorry to hear of your loss. Caryn and I extend our condolences to you, Don, your son and daughter-in-law.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience through your pictures and we look forward to reading of your experiences as you find the time.

Peter & Caryn
 
Dee-

Sorry to hear of your family tragedy. We lost a son to SIDS some 34 years ago ourselves. Time will heal such difficult emotional feelings.

Looking forward to your Alaskan Adventure!

Joe. :rainbow
 
We too lost a child, ours' shortly after birth. It amazed us how many people shared a similar experience. You never know about it beforehand; it always turns up afterward, -when you need the most support. I relived our experience as I read the responses to your posting. You will heal in time and will discover that such a very short life has turned you into people with an understanding and compassion not possessed by everyone, and you will be better able to help others going through a similar experience.
Kent
 
Hello Brats,

Thanks for your kind words. It's been especially hard on Dee and her son DJ.

Again thanks,

Don

We will post a little at a time and Dee and I both will chime in on each of our perspectives on our Alaska Adventure!
 
Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. I know that time heals the pain and now it's the helplessness of watching your child grieve without being able to do anything. Don and I have had several losses in our lives since we got our first boat, Don's Dad, my cousin, and now our grandson. In each case we have found comfort on the water in our boat. This was no different. It's just very comforting to know that there are so many out there who understand and support us.

Dee
 
A Plan Comes Together

Our trip to Alaska started more than two years ago when we attended the SBS. At the time we had a Trophy walk around but had decided to start looking at something a little bigger. We attended a seminar by Leif Terdal at the SBS called “Small Boat Cruising to Alaska.” Our interest was definitely piqued and we realized that if we wanted to do this we would need a seaworthy boat. (Leif Terdal's boat is a 26 foot Clipper Craft, a wooden lapstrake with an I/O diesel (see photo below). He is a former owner/operator of a salmon troller who has crossed the Columbia River bar and the Garibaldi bar over 700 times. He retired from Oregon Health Science University after 30 years as a clinical psychlogist. We bumped into him at the 06 wooden boat festival in Port Townsend, WA. He is also the co-author of Northwest Sea Disasters - beyond Acceptable Risk. Both of his books are good reads) Don



clipper_craft_26_wooden_c_dory.jpg


I can remember that trip to the SBS, for more than one reason. We stopped at so many charter companies dreaming of cruising the San Juan Islands. Never did we believe that the very next summer we would be doing that in our own boat. Now we have made many trips in the San Juans. Never in our wildest dreams did we believe that in less than two years we would actually make the trip to Alaska that we had heard about in that seminar. (My planning of the trip actually started over 40 years ago after many story-tellings from my father of his time in Southeastern Alaska as a young Coast Guard skipper. Lots of photos and inspiration) Don

Photo of my father piloting CG50076 during WWII:

Dad_Alaska.sized.jpg
We bought our C-Dory specifically with this in mind. We crawled over all the boats we could on the trip to the SBS with a trip like this in the back of our minds. It needed to be comfortable enough for the two of us to cruise; it needed good storage; it needed to have a marine head and preferably a shower; it needed to be seaworthy; and it needed to be trailerable since we live near the Columbia River. Well, as you all know, that’s a C-Dory 25 Cruiser. After we bought the boat, I went back to work and announced in a meeting that we were going to take it to Alaska some day far, far out in the future.

We started thinking of the logistics of making a trip like that. We decided we needed, preferably, six weeks. No problem for Don since is a teacher, for me, however, it would be more difficult. Since I do budget prep every other summer that leaves only the off summers to go. That means ’07 or not again until ’09. After our August ’06 vacation I stopped taking vacation days and started saving up. I get five weeks each year, so I know that I can get very close. Just before Christmas last year, I put in a vacation request asking for five full weeks beginning July 9. I got the request back with “Merry Christmas” message from my boss. :D Timing is everything!

Okay, now what? In my mind we are still relatively new boaters. We haven’t even spent the night anchored out anywhere yet. Do we have the experience to make a trip like this? One thing I know for sure is that Don does his homework. He is adventurous enough to consider this endeavor, but cautious enough not to put us at undue risk. I trust him with my life and if he thinks we can do this, then I do too! Our Christmas list included many of the resources we need to help us plan-- maps, cruising guides, charts. Santa even put Alaska GPS chips for the Raymarine in Don’s stocking. There were so many other expensive things we also needed, but we had time to get that all together.

Fast forward to July 2007. We were in overdrive mode getting ready to be gone for five full weeks. Gathering up everything we need but still didn’t have—motor and registration for the dinghy, a generator, FCC licenses, passports and on and on and on; making plans for a house sitter and care of our three dogs, which, by the way, is why we did not post on the Internet while we were gone. Not that we don’t trust our C-Brat’s family, but I think there is entirely too much information available about people on the Internet and I did not want to, in any way, put my daughter at risk while she was staying at our house alone for that length of time.

Dee
 
Dee

Very good start. Interesting reading about how your plan came together, especially since we went through a similar planning period without any previous cruising experience too.

If possible this thread should be moved to the Grand Adventure Forum, so it can be more easily accessed in the future. A sharing of a trip like this is immeasurably helpful to other C-Brats with similar future extended cruise hopes and great entertainment to read.

Thanks again for sharing and looking forward to the continuation.

Jay
 
Vancouver WA to Prince Rupert BC

My vacation started on July 9, but we still had a lot to do. It felt like we would never be done. As luck would have it we had the hottest days of the year that week, so it made it very difficult to be loading everything into the boat and doing the other modifications and last minute things we had to do.

Dee

In preparation for the trip I made some modifications and added some “extra gear”

Modifications include:
shelf under galley
4 rod-holder inside on roof
tender kicker bracket
XM satellite radio
Microwave and shelf
Soft pocket pouch storage under dinette
Side window Plexiglas spray guards (BC style)
Cabin visor grab handles
Factory swim step
Marine clock mounted on teak
Factory teak plate and cup holder on galley door
Stainless grab handle in head
CO detector

Some of the extra gear we brought along:
165 quart cooler
2000 watt Honda generator and 1 gallon extra fuel
5 gallons extra water
4 fishing poles and related gear, downrigger, tackle box, etc
2 crab rings
2 folding bikes
2 folding chairs
1 folding table
spare anchor and rode
anchor for tender
flare gun
tender USCG kit, flares, horn, etc
added 2 Taylor Made round fenders
Tender-Zodiac Bombard 9ft 4in with 2.5hp Suzuki four stroke

Spares for 3 outboards, spark plugs, fuel filters, water pump kits, propellers
In addition to the Raymarine C 80 with radar, autopilot and chart chips we had 2 backup GPS. The main backup that was running at all times underway was a Garman 176 C with charts and a back-up handheld. We had approximately 30 paper charts from Prince Rupert to Skagway to Pelican. In addition we had a copy of the Coastal Pilot, Douglass Exploring Southeast Alaska, Marine Atlas and Charlie’s Charts.
2 VHF marine radios

Don

Finally, on Wednesday, July 11, we decided we were leaving and it didn’t matter what time of the day, we were leaving! We left at 9:30 p.m. :shock:

We pulled into Arlington at a rest area about 3 a.m. and crashed. I understand that the R-Matey crew saw us there the next morning from I-5. The next day we stopped for breakfast with my cousin Emily and got on the road about 11 a.m. We drove for about eleven hours. The terrain was quite desolate in places. The temperature registered as high as 106 degrees. I didn’t know it got that hot in British Columbia. About 9 p.m. we started looking for an acceptable RV park and we drove away from about three undesirable options before we found a beautiful, empty park at just after 10 p.m. There was only one other RV and us. It was quiet, clean and had very nice showers. We counted our blessings and slept with the v-berth hatch wide open so we could see all the stars. It was very nice.

Friday we left about 9 a.m. and set out on the second half of our road journey. We were determined to get to Prince Rupert by the end of the day. The trip was long, long, long. There were very few towns and most of them were very small. The coolest thing we saw on our way, however, was later in the evening. At three different times we saw little black bears on the side of the road eating berries. We got a couple pictures of them before they could scamper off into the brush. How exciting! The scenery was beautiful on this leg of the journey.

Don’t forget the “Loonies” for the showers in BC!!

Don

After eleven hours of driving, we arrived in Prince Rupert and camped in the only place we could park the truck and trailer (on the street) and slept overnight. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to do that, so we were very quiet and kept the lights off so we didn’t attract attention. I think I saw someone in another boat doing the same thing. We launched in the morning as soon as the tides allowed, about 11 a.m., and motored a short distance to the Prince Rupert Yacht Club where Don had secured us a slip after talking with a local who was leaving for a few days and didn’t mind us using his. After a few frustrations, we found a place to park the truck and trailer for the next four weeks behind a locked gate for $40 per week. (Thanks, Halcyon, for the tip!) Before setting off we spent a relaxing day just puttering on our boat and looking around the town. The weather was still unusually warm. It was a perfect day down on the dock and at one point we found ourselves sitting on the deck in our lawn chairs with our feet up on the cooler. It was so peaceful that I never wanted it to end.


photo003.jpg
During our stay at the Prince Rupert Yacht Club we met Don Douglass and Re’anne Hemingway-Douglass, the authors of Exploring Southeast Alaska, which was one of the guides we used to plan our trip. Of course we had them autograph our book and we exchanged email addresses so we can write to them about our trip. They are traveling in a 40 foot Nordhavan trawler, a beautiful boat named Baidarka. When we told them what we were going up in, they shared with us their favorite quote, “The enjoyment of cruising is in inverse proportion to the length of your boat.” Don Douglass. That must mean we’re in for a great time. :D

Dee
Here is a photo of Re'anne aboard the Baidarka:

photo005.jpg
 
Don and Dee...great story! But, next time...consider the cruise from Blaine to Prince Rupert...this is some GREAT cruising territory, the B.C. coast is fantastic.
 
Hi Pat and Patty,

Our original plan was to launch at Cornet Bay and travel the Inside Passage through BC last summer. It looks fantastic and we plan to explore for 2-3 weeks at a time on the off years (like 2008) when we don’t do Alaska. We are talking about towing to Skagway in 2009 and concentrating on fishing and exploring in the north part of Southeastern Alaska.

Thanks,

Don and Dee
 
Hey, it's all good! We didn't get to see a glacier...Patty wants to go south to the sun before we go north again, so we'll see. But you are going to enjoy the cruise from Cornet Bay to Prince Rupert!
 
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