Sailing SE Alaska

July 18, 2012 Klag Bay to NE arm of Goulding Harbor

     Left the head of Klag Bay early to catch the low water slack at The Gate--minus 2.1 low tide today. Pete had seen an uncharted rock from the shore at low tide on a previous visit to Chichagof Mine so he had Kelsey on the bowsprit as we left. As we got underway Kelsey suddenly shouted out that the rock was dead ahead and Pete threw Privateer into reverse--it was very large and only about a foot under the surface. Pete stayed at the helm until we exited Klag Bay at the Gate. While we were in Klag Bay I spotted some sort of weasel, probably a mink scampering over the rocks.
     Today Kelsey was on helm and I was the navigator. We made our way SE into Smooth Channel then headed North. While we were in Smooth Channel we spotted a white shell beach on one of the small islands on our East side. White shell beaches are called midden piles--they indicate an old Indian village as the people would throw their clam shells on the beach after they had eaten.
     Once narrow Smooth Channel had opened up into the much wider body of water called Ogden Passage, Pete had us put Privateer into neutral and had me take a 3 point fix to verify our location. This was the first time using my hand held compass and it was much easier to take a reading than I thought it would. It’s much harder here to take a fix as there are rarely man-made objects such as buoys or buildings and there are so many rocks and islands, it is hard to know for sure if the land you are taking a reading from is the one you think it is on the chart--which is what happened to me this first time, so I actually ended up with a 2 point fix. After we established our position, Pete had me figure out our latitude and longitude. Awesome practice and Pete is an outstanding teacher--he is very patient and explains things well--he also makes me think things out for myself instead of just giving me the answer right away.
     While we were still out in the open Ogden Passage, we unfurled the Yankee and sailed for awhile, the light wind was from the NW and we sailed on a close reach but furled it back in as we approached the narrow part of Ogden--I watched the chart carefully to keep track of where we were as it gets very narrow and shallow at this point and Kelsey and I communicated constantly. Pete watched his GPS--not the chart info on it, as he has found it to be inaccurate in this area, but he watched his previous, successful path.
     Then we continued into Surveyor Passage, another narrow, shallow channel that at one point has a submerged rock almost mid channel. Pete stood on the bowsprit looking for rocks as we slowly made our way through.
     Once we were in Portlock Harbor--another wide open body of water, Pete had us idle again and had me take another 3 point fix--I got this one right and ended up with an nice small cocked hat--yeah! We unfurled the yankee but when we weren’t even making one knot in the light wind, we refurled it. Interesting note about GPS accuracy. Pete’s GPS has been 2000 feet off on the West coast of Chichagof. Another good reason to still carry charts.
     Then onward up into Goulding Harbor but instead of going into Baker Cove, we went into the SE arm and are now anchored in 60 feet of water, with a towering mountain peak just to the East of us. Every anchorage just gets prettier and I am truly blessed to be in such amazing country, with two awesome people and the best, most seaworthy and beautiful boat I’ve ever been on. Privateer rocks!!!
     We were able to get the updated 4pm weather report on the VHF and a low pressure system is moving in tomorrow with 20+ knot winds and 7 foot sea swells so we will hang tight here in our protected harbor and will wait until the day after tomorrow before our next leg which takes us out to sea before heading into Lisianski Strait.
     Gotta go, Kelsey is serving us pasta with greens she just harvested when she and Pete rowed up into the mouth of the bay--goosetongue and beach greens. From the water, they saw ten bears while they were up there and videotaped a bear eating grass until he turned and snarled at them. They also heard some bear roaring in the woods.