All By Ourselves

The weekend was shaping up to be a great one.  After the wet and cold July, the crew of Haiku was really looking forward to some sunny sailing, a beach party, and some great camaraderie on the hook at Ad Cove.  The forecast called for some light westerlies, which, as every Juneau sailor knows means there will be some decent breeze on the backside of Douglas, and probably some sunny weather.  

As Haiku motored up the channel, it became clear that no other SEAS boats were going to brave the unbelievably sunny and breezy weekend.  But, the wind and sun proved too much to ignore, so Haiku started the race, alone.  The wind was coming straight down Stephen's Passage out of Young Bay, so the boat had a beat to Pt. Young, where the wind had started to clock northerly.  

A small pod of Orcas greeted Haiku as they cracked off past Pt. Young to finish the course in a little over three hours. So, Haiku finished the race in a minutes over 3 hours, on a close reach, going about 6 knots. 

Luckily, the crew had plenty of sunscreen to endure nearly 9 hours of sun, paddling around Admiralty Cove, walking around on the beach, and napping.

S/V Petrel and another cruising sailboat joined us in the Anchorage for the calm evening.  Olive, Petrel's canine skipper, joined the crew of Haiku and Taiya (well known canine foredeck from Haiku) on the beach for some hiking, splashing around in the water and general enjoyment of Admiralty Island, the views, and running around in the dinghy!

The next morning dawned with a light northerly.  Haiku isn't a boat to let a nice spinnaker run go to waste, so the crew immediately hoisted the chute for the run back to Marmion.  The wind began light, but once the boat was fully into Stephen's passage, it built to 15 knots, so the run to Icy Point was fast, relaxing, and oh yeah....SUNNY!

As is known to happen, the currents increased and the wind died between Icy Point.  Several times the discussed hypothetical situations like: "if we don't see at least 3 knots of breeze in the next 20 minutes" or "if we get too close to the beach as we drift back".  However, the sun won out every time, with the unassailable argument of "where else do you have to be on a sunny day like this than a sailboat looking at the water and mountains?"

Anyway, after a couple hours of this, the wind filled in just enough for the boat to cross the finish line a little less than 6 hours after they had started.

Normally, Haiku would not score the races with no other competitors, but this time was different.  The sailing was so good that there really was no excuse to miss the races.