Onwards to Kodiak

I leave Sand Point an hour before sunrise. Did I mention, that my body has to relearn sleeping an entire night? As I exit the tight harbor in the dark I am shocked by what I at first took for a whale: an enormous sea lion is patrolling the harbor’s entrance. I slowly “force” my way out, he doesn’t seem to mind much.

The plan is clear but relaxed: move east in a swift but comfortable manner and refill the sleep tank. North winds will prevail the next days at some point weather will turn rainy.

The wind is as unsteady as can be expected downwind of a shore. The mountain ranges on the north block and funnel and deviate the wind as I sail along the coast: 5 to 35 knots, swinging 50° in either direction. In these conditions I rather not sail through the night. It means being alert and trimming all the time. The plan is to anchor in Ross Cove, a known safe anchorage. But as I sail past Mitrofania Island, I change my mind. Too beautiful to just sail by. So I stop early and drop the hook in a bay of this steep, rocky island. Besides, I have things to do, and time at anchor is time I can use.

As yesterday, and as again the following evening, I start a load of laundry. In preparation for the haul out, I am working through all the things that need washing. Probably 4 machine loads worth of textiles. It can't happen under sail, since the machine doesn't like it, and it can't happen on the hard. So it's either now or a laundromat on shore later. I also begin cleaning, drying and stowing the ropes I won't need again.

The anchorage, while extremely cool is not the best for the wind we have. Quite gusty with directions changing all the time as the wind falls down the cliffs and eddies into my anchorage. I hope the anchor won’t entangle with the chain as the boat going in circles! Maybe because of the gusts, maybe because of my broken inner clock, I sleep nothing like a full night. Before sunrise I weigh anchor and carry on eastwards. The expected rain arrives soon enough, but the wind is fine. I start contemplating a bigger leap: straight through to Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island, sailing through the night. The weather looks stable enough to let me take my power naps.

With night fall, I enter the Shelikof Strait. The wind accelerates as expected and I am hammering across towards Kodiak at 10 knots. To my surprise, there are fishing vessels out here without AIS. It is raining and the sea is high, which means that whenever the elevator is up I have good visibility, and in the trough of a wave I see nothing at all. The wave state also keeps the radar from doing its best: targets are not detected consistently.

So, no sleep. Radar and binoculars, writing down the bearings of every navigation light I can find, making sure that no bearing stays constant. Once a vessel is within about three miles I can put a tracker on the radar target and let the radar do the work. It even calculates SOG, COG and CPA. Nice.

At 10:00 I arrive in Uyak Bay, a side arm of Larsen Bay, and anchor in — again — a very picturesque spot. I sleep until noon, then carry on with cleaning and small repair projects. There is no wind and it's raining anyway.Read more