Staying Local this Winter: San Juans in December and January

Oh, winter sailing. It’s cooooold, but the advantages usually make up for it: roomy anchorages, uncrowded marinas, consistent high winds.

From December 26th to January 5th, we sailed up Admiralty Inlet, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, around San Juan and Orcas Islands, across Rosario Strait, through Deception Pass, and down Saratoga Passage back to Seattle. A short but beautiful trip.


Some takeaways:

• Winter sailing = lots of wind! One complaint many sailors have when cruising the Salish Sea in summer is the low or inconsistent winds. It could be breezy one day and calm the next, sometimes requiring motoring (ugh) to make progress. This is not the case in the winter. In fact, our biggest issue was one period of too much wind. Which brings us to our next point...

• Don’t sail on a fixed schedule in the winter. A big wind storm passed through the San Juans and Puget Sound during the last few days of the trip. Were we not rushing to return to Seattle in time for work on January 6th, we could have waited it out. But as it was, we were caught in it. This led to some sketchy maneuvering from Saratoga Passage to Oak Harbor. In over a decade of sailing these waters, we’ve never moored there, so we assumed it would offer a respite from the 35+ winds we faced in the passage. And with the forecast calling for higher winds, we knew we needed to hunker down. What we didn’t know was winds often barrel down and intensify in Oak Harbor, and with only a floating breakwater, the visitors’ dock was exposed. We grew uneasy when we headed up the narrow channel to the marina and found the winds didn’t lessen. Outside the visitor's dock, Dave made circles in the dark, avoiding the shallows and pylons like a champ. Meanwhile, I clipped in and crawled against wind and seaspray to hang fenders and uncoil lines. Fortunately, this gave a liveaboard at the marina enough time to see our lights, don his foul weather gear, and run out to the visitors’ dock to help us dock. What a blessing he was! As we fought against the seas and gusts, we made it. Novi heeled in her slip, the seas crashed over the floating dock, and our wind instrument read around 35 knots, more than we normally see inside a marina. But we were safe. We made it in before the really high winds started overnight. We tied six lines, added two snubbers, and secured everything on deck. And slept. :) We were able to time the next two legs within two narrow weather windows, and we were lucky to have them. Regardless, more time would have led to less stress. 

• Stay warm. Layers! Waterproof shells! Wool socks! Xtratuf boots! Big ol' heater! 

• Uma finally became a sailing cat! That’s right. It happened. Dreams do come true. Those of you who followed our Alaska sail know that we've had to keep her at my mom's for long trips. But our cat is now a sailor(ish). She still doesn’t like the engine, but she handled the windy conditions and upwind heeling much better than in the past. No accidents. And although she'll need to stay with family when we eventually head south to Mexico, this means we can take her on so many local trips before then. Next step: desensitize her to the engine noise.

Photos!

Uma enjoying the sights

Christmas Light Show in Kingston

We installed a new stove this winter. So shiny!

Easy downwind sail to Port Townsend

We set up a comfortable cat cave for Uma to hide from the big, bad engine.

At Rosario for New Years

At Rosario for New Years

Ready to explore a new dock

A New Years hike around Cascade Lake, Orcas

A New Years hike around Cascade Lake, Orcas

Derp

In 2012, we found a small trail to the beach near Olga on Orcas and, with only our immediate family our witnesses,
got married. So happy to find the bluff and picnic table from the water.

Staying warm, mostly

Uma's checking out the conditions in Possession Sound. Where's your life jacket, kitty?!

Beautiful Lopez Sound