Living Aboard Magazine and SEAS
Robin Richardson-Stout is the mother of a friend of mine and she and her husband Mike were visiting their daughter in Juneau this summer and had the chance to spend an evening 'sailing' (motoring actually) around Gasteneau Channel on my boat, S/V Lyric. Robin writes articles for Bob Bitchin, former owner and founder of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine. Bob is in the process of starting a new magazine called 'Living Aboard' so I emailed him good wishes on the new endeavor and told him a bit about SEAS. He answered and asked if I'd write an article about SEAS to appear in his magazine and of course I complied!
Since the magazines theme is living aboard, I first gave mention to SEAS and some of our activities and mission, then proceeded to two topics of great importance to sailing in Southeast Alaska: keeping dry and keeping warm. I hope you enjoy the article.
Wade Rogers
SEAS Vice Commodore
"There are special rewards and challenges for those who live aboard their boats and for most, this idea evokes visions of warm, tropical waters, and a quiet harbor safely tucked away from wind, waves, and the hubbub of daily life. For people in colder climes, like those found in the misty mountain fjords of Southeast Alaska, living aboard takes on a whole new meaning.
Imagine snowcapped mountains that jut straight out of the ocean, narrow protected waterways, hanging glaciers, seals, sea lions, Dahl porpoise, orcas, and humpback whales. Such is the daily beauty of sailing in Southeast Alaska. There are ‘yacht clubs’ in Alaska and one of them is strictly for sailors. SEAS, or SouthEast Alaska Sailing, was founded in 2009 with the goal of promoting sailing, sailboat races, boating safety and education. They sponsor the SEAS Cup races, a series of eight races to various locations around Juneau, Alaska, including overnight events and three day races over Labor Day and Memorial Day. SEAS also organizes and sponsors two, 220 mile races, which are the longest inland waterway sailboat races on the west coast. During both, the midway layover point is Baranof Warm Springs on Baranof Island, a protected bay with an amazing waterfall, public hot spring bathhouses, and a natural hot springs located beside a raging river. A short hike brings you to Baranof Lake and world class trout fishing. The Around Admiralty Race is a one of these races and is non-stop, 24-7, until you arrive at Baranof. The AIR, or Admiralty Island Rally, features several different legs with lengths from twenty to sixty miles and overnight stops in protected bays.
During winter months, when boats are safely covered from the Taku Winds, a wind that blows off the Juneau ice field at up to 70 mph, SEAS conducts their educational series entitled ‘Sailors Talk’ which span many topics including recent trips by club members or friends who are circumnavigating, ‘how to’ boat repair tips, sail maintenance, the Coast Guard giving tours of their SARs (Search And Rescue) operations center, and a myriad of other sailboat related issues. During the off season, these Sailors Talk events keep the sailing enthusiasm alive until spring.
Please understand that Juneau, Alaska, is in a temperate rain forest, not a tropical rain forest, and the key word here is ‘rain’! So, how does a person live comfortably aboard in the Great White North? It isn’t easy but certainly is doable. Let’s look at some special adaptations people make to themselves and their boats to make living aboard bearable in Alaska.
· Keeping Dry
While it doesn’t normally rain hard in Juneau, it does rain steady, for days, sometimes weeks, so staying dry, whether dockside or underway, is very important. Underway, there’s a bevy of gear to help keep you dry; from dry suits to coastal waterway raingear, waterproof Gore-Tex socks and gloves, to good ole Grunden and Helly Hanson PVC raingear. Personal raingear has come a long way recently so there’s no shortage of options and garments with high tech bells and whistles. I use light weight pack-able rain gear for light showers or short, heavy downbursts, combined with Sperry Docksider shoes and Gore-Tex socks. It’s a light weight setup that won’t slow you down on the foredeck. When things get rough, out come the coastal jackets and bibs from companies like Gill and Mustang, along with waterproof deck boots.
Dockside, keeping dry means using boom tents or having a fully enclosed cockpit. A boom tent is also good at keeping the occasional sun off your dodger, winch and wheel covers during the summer months. On my boat, Lyric, I use a large boom tent that covers nearly the entire cockpit, dodger, and deck up to the mast. During winter months, many people who live aboard completely cover their boats with either canvas covers or with 6 mil reinforced poly sheeting, sometimes called Tuff Scrim or Dura Scrim. Canvas is usually only highly water resistant while poly sheeting is waterproof and that makes a big difference when your boat goes through 4 months of winter. The idea here is to cover the boat completely so the deck dries thoroughly during the winter months. This also keeps the cold winter winds off the deck and reduces the speed with which heat escapes your boat.
Dock shoveling is also a favorite wintertime activity! Juneau can receive a foot of snow a day for several days so keeping the dock snow free is important. When snowfall is left to accumulate, begins to melt, and the weather goes through a ‘freeze/thaw’ cycle, the snow turns to ice and the dock becomes very slick. Many people have fallen and broken a leg or arm in these conditions getting on or off their boat. Keep a snow shovel and some rock salt ready at all times.
· Keeping warm
It does get up to 70 degrees in Southeast Alaska in the summer months but early spring and late fall temperatures can be on the cool side. So, how do you keep warm in these conditions?
Underway, layers are important. If it’s a bit cool, a light pair of fleece pants with a long sleeve tee shirt and a light windbreaker jacket might be ideal. For colder weather, break out the heavy fleece pants, the SmartWool undergarments (tops and bottoms), a fleece shirt, a fleece coat with Wind Stopper material, SmartWool socks, a balaclava, and fleece gloves. Why fleece and not down garments? Fleece is light weight and dries very quickly. Down, while warm, is bulky and doesn’t dry very fast. On top of this, I’ll often layer my light weight rain gear just to help cut the wind.
Dockside, keeping the boat warm is quite necessary and many people depend on diesel stoves like Dickinson or Webasto. Combine that with cabin fans and perhaps a small, room size electric heater and you’ll have enough heat to beat the winter chill. The key is to keep warm air moving through the boat and vent the inside air to the outside. This will cut down on condensation.
Underway, a hydronic cabin heater is a good option, especially if you’re on a power boat or a sailboat that has to run its engine. These are an easy DIY installation project and are relatively inexpensive. Some hydronic heaters put out as much as 40k British Thermal Units (btu’s).
There is a majesty that is unique to Alaska and since the Southeast Panhandle has hundreds of miles of ocean access, where bears stroll along the shore and humpback whales breech and blow, it just makes sense to ‘take it all in’. Doing so requires a special knowledge of cold water sailing, of safety at sea, a well founded boat, and owners who are willing to get a little wet at times. Those times, for people who live aboard and sail the expanses of these mountainous fjords, are punctuated by moments of world class access to untamed wildlife as well as uncharted and unpopulated territories where silence is palpable."