Alaskan Sailing Adventure

by Charles Kaluza & Philip Kaluza

  Day 3

  The Captain let the boys sleep in and did not rouse them until after 8 am with his whistle and call to breakfast. Only after the Captain had his coffee did they discuss the plans for the day. A trip to the glacier for some ice and a night in McMullen Cove. Johnathan had the chart out and was already working on the course. Mikey wanted to know how big the glacier was and the Captain responded, “Well, it is a lot smaller than it used to be. During the Little Ice Age these bays were all filled with ice from the glaciers. The Harding Ice Field is huge and it dumped some zillion tons of ice into the fiords. The ice has been retreating since things started to warm up in the late 1800’s.”

  Johnathan asked, “Is global warming making it worse?”

  The Captain stared at Johnathan for a moment before saying, “Mother nature has her own cycles, most of which we do not understand. The extra CO2 we are putting in the air has got to make the melting worse, but I don’t think anyone knows how much worse.”

  As they were discussing the assigned duties for the day, Kade asked, “Do girls ever go on these trips?”

  “Sometimes but only with an all-girl crew.”

  “Why?”

  The Captain explained, “When you mix boys and girls, or rather young men and young women, the young men spend their energy strutting like roosters and the young women spend their energy preening for the boys. Nobody learns much, so I keep them separate.”

  “Do the girls make good sailors?” Mikey wanted to know.”

  The Captain responded, “Not many girls are interested in the sea but the ones who are make great sailors. They seem to pick it up faster than boys.”

  “How come?” Kade wanted to know.

  Captain looked at the boys and asked, “When you are dancing a slow dance with a girl who leads?”

  There was no response at first as they all looked down at their feet but Quinn finally spoke up saying, “I do.”

  The Captain said, “And that is the trouble boys have sailing, they always want to lead rather than following the lead of the sea and weather.” Girls learn quicker because they are used to trying to follow us clumsy footed guys.” “Enough of this for now. We’ve already wasted half a day. Get this boat ready and let’s make some headway.”

  It was only 9 in the morning but the boys snapped to and prepared to raise the anchor. Captain John said they would have to use the motor and leave the sail raising until they were clear of the bay and the williwaws.

  They used the motor until they were almost out of Three Hole Bay, then the Captain had Mikey turn into the wind so they could get the sails raised. They were working better as a team and sail raising went well. As soon as they cleared the mouth of the bay the winds which were still blowing hit them and heeled the boat over. Captain Cook said, “Tis a good wind. If you landlubbers are doing okay we will let her fly without reefing the sails.”

  Quinn responded for all of them saying, “Let her fly!”

  It was a simple enough crossing until the Captain reached over and turned off the GPS. Saying, “No need for those fancy gadgets. Sail the boat. Your navigator knows where you are going. Your job is to stay the course he has plotted.”

  It was a lot harder trying to follow the compass needle which kept bouncing around. Captain Cook was shaking his head and said, “My God. It’s as clear as can be and you can see land ahead. Pick out an aiming point just to port of the pulpit and keep it pointed where you want to go. And quit chasing every wave. Learn the wave pattern and adjust before the wave knocks you off course.” The Captain started to go below and said, “If you would trim the sails she would sail herself.” Still shaking his head, he went below.

  Mikey was still at the helm and said, “It seems like I need to keep turning to the left.”

  From below came, “I heard that. Seems like Mikey wants his turn to do dishes.”

  Quinn was using his hands as pretend sails trying to figure out how to balance the force of the sails. He said, “We either need more power from the main or less from the headsail.”

  Johnathan said, “It looks like the main is trimmed pretty well. How about we take in some of the head sail?” It took a few tries but they finally got the sails balanced. It seemed as if they were going faster but without the GPS they could not be sure. Kade and Johnathan started working on an old-fashioned way of measuring speed. Kade tied a small float onto his fishing line and went up to the bow. He released the spool and let the float drift aft. Johnathan was timing the float and when it had travelled the length of the boat recorded the time. Then it was time for the math. By their calculations, they were going 7.5 knots. Johnathan called below and asked the Captain if they could turn on the GPS to check their calculations.

  “Alright, but let me know how you did.”

  The GPS said they were doing 7.62 knots. Close enough. High fives all around.

  The voice from below said, “You do know that you are comparing speed through the water with speed over the ground?” When there was no reply from above the Captain poked his head into the cockpit and said, “The GPS measures your movement over the surface of the Earth but cannot measure things like wind drift and currents directly. So, if the current is flowing in your direction you get a GPS reading that is higher than the actual hull speed through the water. If you are fighting a current the GPS gives you a slower speed. You need to use all the tools to determine your speed and position. Now turn that damn thing off and pretend you are real sailors.”

  The boat was pretty much sailing itself and the boys had time to think of other methods of figuring out where they were. Mikey made a sketch of the mountains they could see and connected them with lines. Johnathan was watching and said, “Good idea, little brother. If we can measure the angles we will know where we are and then can figure out the speed, we are travelling.” They compared the sketch to the map and used a protractor built into the hand-held compass to measure the angles. Kade was doing the geometry in his head while Johnathan worked it out on the paper. Their marks on the chart almost overlapped. More high fives all around. An hour later they rechecked their position and Johnathan calculated that they had traveled about 7 nautical miles. They checked the float speed again and it still showed 7.5 knots. They were arguing about which method to trust when the voice from below asked, “Has the tide changed?”

  Mikey picked up the small tide book and after finding the proper date said, “The tide changed an hour ago.”

  It was midday and Quinn said, “I’m hungry. I think I’ll go fix some lunch.”

  Kade said, “Fix me some too.”

  Quinn grumbled only a little and went below to find the Captain sitting at the table with glasses perched on his nose reading a western novel. The Captain said, “If you are fixing lunch I could use a bite to eat myself. Seems you boys forgot to leave some leftovers from dinner, for the Captain’s lunch.”

  Quinn just nodded his reply and went to work slicing up some potatoes into one frying pan and heating oil for the fish in another pan. He seasoned the fish a bit heavily but skipped the flour coating. He figured Mikey and Johnathan would get hungry as soon as they smelled the cooking food and he was right. Johnathan called down asking Quinn, “Is there enough for Mikey and me?”

  Quinn served the food on paper plates just in case it turned out to be his turn to wash dishes again. All he got was a simple “thanks” as the food was devoured. By the time, he finished cleaning up the pans the Captain had gone topside and was giving orders for their approach to the Holgate Arm. The plan was to sail up the arm until they encountered ice. Then they would drop the sails except for the small staysail and sail amongst the “bergy bits” scooping up the small ones with a fish net. Seemed easy enough but the Captain was very fussy about his ice, “I don’t want any ice with dirt on it and the stuff that is all white is pretty rotten. Pick out the nice clear blue ones. I don’t want any junk in my martini.” Kade and Mikey put on the safety harnesses
and stood on the swim step. Quinn was at the helm and had to turn the boat so the others could reach the ice from the small swim platform. Johnathan was the spotter and gave the turning orders. The first chunk of ice they captured was so big they could barely lift it out of the water and onto the aft deck. Captain John said, “No need to try and catch the whole glacier at once. Don’t break my landing net.”

  By the time, they were done Kade and Mikey were a bit wet but in high spirits. Mikey asked, “Can we take the kayaks up to the face of the glacier?”

  “Absolutely not You boys get this ice cleaned up and stored in the coolers. Navigator, plot us a course to McMullen Cove.” He then asked Quinn who was at the helm, “Think you can sail us upwind?”

  Quinn sat quietly using his hands as imaginary sails, turning first one way then another. He replied, “Yes Sir, but it will take a lot of zigzagging, I mean, tacking to make it work.”

  “Well, as soon as the roustabouts get done with the ice get the sails up and let’s go.” With that the Captain grabbed a small chunk of clear blue ice and headed below.

  Johnathan said, “I was hoping to get a close up look at the glacier.”

  From below the voice said, “If you landlubbers can get your act together we will visit the Northwestern Glacier. It is our most spectacular glacier but we may need to run the engine.”

  They still had about 10 knots of wind but it was almost right on their nose. Quinn struggled to keep a constant angle of about 30 degrees into the wind before calling out, “Prepare to come about.” Mikey would pull the main back to center and secure the traveler, while Johnathan and Kade would man the winches. Quinn would then call out, “Coming about.” One of the winches was cranked as fast as possible pulling in the headsail sheet, while the other winch was used to control the slack sheet so it did not tangle. The small staysail pretty much took care of itself. As soon as the tack was completed Quinn would struggle to maintain course until the sails were properly set. They were working hard and having a ball. For all they knew the Captain was asleep in his berth.

  As they were approaching McMullen Cove, Kade, who was now at the helm called down, “Captain, we are arriving at our destination.”

  “About time” was the Captain’s reply. He appeared in the companion way and asked, “Navigator, how far out are we?”

  Johnathan had been doing the calculations and said, “Less than one nautical mile, sir.”

  The Captain checked the time and said, “We have an hour or so until slack tide. Might be worth fishing Hub Rock.”

  Kade always ready to fish asked Johnathan, “What heading to this Hub Rock?”

  A small change in heading and they sailed passed their anchorage hoping for some fishing time. The Captain stayed topside and said little until they approached the rock. He took the helm saying, “Secure the sails. We need to be careful because at low tide the rock will try and grab our keel.”

  Mikey asked, “What are we fishing for?”

  The Captain responded, “Anything, but mostly it will be black bass.”

  Mikey said, “I think I will use grandpa’s jig and hope I catch a halibut.”

  With the engine now at idle they drifted close to the submerged rock and when the Captain said to fish, all four lines went into the water. Kade had not even reached the bottom and was yelling “Fish on!” It was a fishing frenzy and the Captain just sat and watched the excitement. They were releasing the fish as fast as they could just so they could get their lines back in the water. Mikey had a fish get off right at the surface and was surprised when other black bass started attacking his lead jig right at the surface. The wilder he jigged the more frantic the fish became. He was even able to shake the jig above the water and the bass were jumping into the air trying to grab the jig. Kade stopped fishing and picked up the landing net. He tied himself off to the safety line and climbing down to the swim platform said, “Mikey, see if you can get them to jump back here by me.”

  Mikey continued to splash the surface and shake his jig in the air as he moved aft. The fish would grab the big jig but never got the hook so they would fall off right away. He raised the jig even higher in the air and the bass kept leaping, trying to grab it. Kade waited until a fish jumped close enough and then scooped the fish out of the air with the net. He yelled, “We got one! Nobody is going to believe me when I tell them this story.”

  Johnathan went back to fishing and hooked another bass. As he was reeling the small fish in his rod suddenly bent over and the small fish became really heavy. It did not fight much but with the light rod it was all he could do to lift the fish to the surface. As the line came in they saw why. A small 3-pound black bass had the jig in its mouth and a big ling cod had the black bass sideways in its mouth. Johnathan yelled, “Kade get ready and net my fish.”

  Kade asked, “Which one?”

  “Both of them!”

  Kade did as Johnathan asked and the ling did not let go of the bass until they lifted the net out of the water. Kade took the hook out of the bass and released it back to the ocean. He was getting ready to bonk the ling cod when the Captain said, “Better measure the fish. It has to be 36 inches. Tape is in the deck locker.”

  No matter how hard Kade tried they could not make the fish longer than 35 inches and so released it. The tide started to flow and the fish disappeared completely. The Captain said, “Best you store the fishing gear and we make way to our anchorage. Seems you forgot to save a couple of fish for dinner.” The boys looked at each other and realized that with all the excitement they had indeed released all of the fish.

  “Well, get busy and raise the main and the headsail. We will use the engine to enter the cove because the terminal moraine blocks most of the entry. One of you landlubbers needs to take the helm.”

  With Kade manning the helm and calling out orders they almost seemed to know what they were doing. They made good time back to the cove and called down to the Captain when the entrance to the cove was insight. When the Captain came topside the sails were secure except for the small staysail which was giving them control. He told Kade, “Start the damn engine.”

  Kade automatically responded, “Yes sir.” Problem was he had not ever watched the Captain and did not know what to do.

  The Captain let him squirm for a minute before saying, “The damn check list is right in front of you.”

  Kade picked up the check list and activated the switches as called for. The throttle he opened the ¼ inch called for and made sure the transmission was in the neutral position. He pressed the starter button but nothing happened. The Captain was shaking his head and asked, “What is the first item on the check list?”

  “Ensure the circuit breaker is closed.” “Johnathan, would you check to see if the engine circuit breaker is closed?”

  Johnathan went below and called out, “It is now.”

  This time when Kade pressed the starter switch the diesel motor coughed to life. He adjusted the rpm to 800 and looked over at Captain Cook. The Captain said, “Not good for these engines to start and not be run until they are warm, but it is what it is. Increase your power to 1200 rpm and slowly engage some forward rpms.” The Captain turned the GPS back on and when the image became active, he pointed to all the foul water from the moraine. “You need to hug the starboard side of the channel but keep us off the rocks.”

  They needed to set the anchor pretty tight to the shore because of the deep water. When the Captain was satisfied, he said, “Seems you ate tonight’s dinner for lunch. Pretty good fishing for black bass and some lings along the drop off of the moraine. Low tide is approaching and there should be clams in the sand along the moraine. Might be a good idea for you landlubbers to get us some food so we don’t starve. If you dig for clams wear some gloves because their shells are sharp and dig fast because they are fast.”

  Johnathan asked, “How could a clam be fast?”

  Quinn replied, “I got to go clamming a couple o
f times. You look for these small holes and you dig up the sand, but if you are slow the clam gets away.”

  Johnathan said, “How about I go with Quinn and we try and catch some clams. Kade you and Mikey can catch us some fish.”

  They each claimed a deck bucket and Kade and Mikey set off in the dingy to catch some fish. It was Mikey’s turn to cook and as they were paddling away Mikey called back. “We need some of that seaweed stuff for a salad.”

  Quinn and Johnathan took the kayaks the short distance to the moraine and pulled them all the way up out of the water. They headed to the exposed side of the moraine and walked along the water’s edge. Sure, enough they spotted the little volcano opening and started digging with the small shovels. They reached in the hole and could feel the clam but it kept digging faster than they could. It was only on their fourth try that they pulled a large razor clam out and put it in the bucket. By the time, they had collected a half dozen they were both tired of digging and headed back. They did stop and collect the better tasting seaweed growing on the rocks by their kayaks. As they were getting back aboard the boat they could hear Kade yelling “fish on” and figured the other guys had caught a fish.

  By the time, they got the kayaks stowed Kade and Mikey were approaching the boat. Kade was doing his best to paddle by himself and Mikey was holding onto his fishing pole for all he was worth. The fish was pretty tired by now but big enough that just dragging it through the water put a strain on the tackle. Johnathan and Quinn clipped onto the safety harness and stepped down to the swim platform. While Johnathan was securing the dingy, Quinn took the rod from Mikey’s shaking hands. Kade scrambled aboard and grabbed the big landing net. As Quinn pulled the nice fish to the surface it thrashed about showing all of its teeth. Kade said, “No way was I going to land that fish in the rubber dingy, it could have bit my hand or put a hole in the dingy. We decided to tow it back.”

  When Kade netted the fish, Mikey stood up to see what was going on but just for a moment. The unbalanced dingy started to tip and before he could even cry out, Mikey was in the ice-cold ocean. He was a strong swimmer but the shock of the cold was so overwhelming that all he could think of was getting back into the dingy. He pulled himself aboard and shook the salt water out of his hair. Crawling forward to get out of the dingy the others were asking him if he was alright and Mikey answered only, “Ya.” Mikey climbed up onto the aft deck only to be met by the Captain.

  Captain John looked at the fish still flopping in the net and the very wet Mikey. Shaking his head, he pointed to the small sign on the aft railing and asked, “What does that safety placard say?”

  Mikey had a bit of hesitation in his voice as he replied, “No swimming without the Captain’s permission.”

  The Captain then asked, “How many persons aboard our boat?”

  “Five, Sir.”

  “How many do you think we should return to port with?”

  “Five, Sir.”

  Captain John looked up at the other boys and said, “If I were you, I’d get your crewmate warmed up and into some dry clothes as quick as I could. It is his turn to cook and I’m getting hungry.”

  Kade helped Mikey strip out of the wet clothes and Quinn brought up a full teakettle of warm freshwater. Johnathan went forward and returned with dry clothes and a towel. Kade said, “After dinner I’ll take your clothes over to the small waterfall and rinse them in fresh water. For now, let’s leave them in the bucket and I’ll get the kayak ready later.”

  Mikey headed below and Captain John asked him what they were having for dinner. Mikey said, “I was planning a fish hash but now I would rather have something warmer. I think clam chowder sounds good. Sure, wish we had some corn.”

  “There is a nice recipe in one of those cookbooks. Seems to me there are several cans of corn in the storage beneath the sole.”

  “There are a bunch of cans but no labels.”

  “Labels do not last long in the bilge even in a dry steel boat. Should be a “C” scratched on the top of the corn cans. The chowder would be better with some corn in it.” With that the Captain went aft and Mikey got to work on his chowder stock.

  Topside Kade was fussing with the clams and Johnathan finally came below to get one of the books that showed how to clean them. Quinn had attacked the ling cod and done a pretty good job of filleting it. They packaged one fillet in a zip lock bag and Quinn called down to Mikey, “What size pieces of the ling do you want?”

  Mikey hollered back, “About 2 centimeters square.”

  Quinn had to do the conversion in his head and mumbled, “Why can’t he just say he wanted them about an inch?”

  Johnathan spoke up saying, “Your English system of measurements is so confusing. I’m not sure why America has been so reluctant to convert to the metric system.”

  Kade responded, “Does it really matter? We speak different languages so why can’t we use different measurements. I like the metric system for science stuff but would just as soon buy my gas a gallon at a time.”

  Their bantering was interrupted by Mikey yelling up that he was ready for the clams. Kade said, “Give me five more minutes.”

  Dinner was soon ready but despite using the largest pot onboard there were no leftovers. They were visiting about the day’s adventures and Mikey asked the Captain, “Why did you get so upset when I asked about taking the kayaks up to the glacier?”

  Captain John sat and rubbed the stubble on his chin before responding, “I may have been a bit harsh. When things get cleaned up I’ll tell you the story but for now I am going aft for some quiet. Seems Mikey volunteered for dishes tonight.”

  Quinn helped Mikey with the dishes, while Johnathan and Kade took the kayaks to the small waterfall at the end of the bay and rinsed Mikey’s clothes in the fresh water. When they were securing the kayaks, the Captain came topside and said, “Might be a good idea for all of you to wash your clothes before we start attracting buzzards. Tomorrow we will tow the dirty clothes behind the boat and let the salt water and microscopic critters do the cleaning.” The Captain claimed another piece of the blue ice and said, “Let’s go below and I’ll tell you the story of the Holgate Glacier incident.”

  My college buddy from grad school had come up from the outside to see a glacier. Let’s just call him Jim. Well, Jim was fascinated by the writings of the naturalist, John Muir. He wanted to experience the wilderness but in greater comfort than Muir ever experienced. He brought up a kayak that folded up into two large suitcases. Jim could hardly wait to put it together and paddle up close to a real glacier.

  We spent the first night in Phil’s Cove and had a nice evening of reminiscing about the twist and turns of our lives. The morning came and with the still air the marine layer of clouds hung low, almost enough to call it fog. We motored over to the Holgate Arm. In the distance the clouds were parting over the glacier. The cold air over that mountain of ice creates its own weather and there was enough of a breeze blowing off all that ice to blow away the clouds. The morning sunshine reflecting off of that mountain of ice created a beautiful display with just a hint of a rainbow at the edges of the ice.

  Jim was so excited he had trouble assembling his kayak because he kept looking at the ice instead of paying attention to what he was doing. When he finally got, the thing put together we lowered it over the side of the boat and he climbed in from the swim platform. I tried to admonish him to stay to the side of the ice and not get too close. He just kept going on about how neat this all was.

  The water is several hundred feet deep in the Holgate Arm and no way for me to anchor the boat so I just drifted around with the ice watching my friend. At first, he stayed close to the lateral edge of the glacier but some force kept drawing him closer to the ice and further from the shore. His plan was to fill his water bottle with pure glacier water and celebrate his trip by bringing it all of the way back to Ohio for his wife. It was then, as he was filling the bottle that the rumbling a
nd groaning of the glacier suddenly increased. From my distant viewpoint, I could see the glacier starting to calve but despite my screams of warning, Jim did not flee. I suppose my voice was lost amongst all of the groaning from the ice.

  When the face of the ice broke free it was too late. The wave tossed him about in his little kayak like a small cork. He may have survived that tossing but that damn demon possessed mountain of ice would not let Jim go. A chunk of ice bigger than a semi-truck from deep below the surface broke loose and bobbed to the surface with such force that it threw Jim and his small kayak against another iceberg. The kayak was destroyed and Jim crushed by the thousands of tons of ice.

  I had no way of reaching Jim. All I could do was sail back into the open water until I had radio reception and call for help. The Coast Guard helicopter crew arrived quick enough but it was too late. I sailed back to Seward by myself and spent the time trying to figure out how I was going to explain to Jim’s wife what had happened.

  I don’t trust any of the glaciers but I have a fear of the Holgate Glacier which is probably irrational. I sense that it wants to claim me just as it did Jim. I know it is just a slow-moving river of ice---doing what ice does. The dread I feel whenever I look at that wall of ice is also real. I cannot shake the feeling.

  Captain’s Log

  Day 3

  Perfect day for the crew to practice navigation without the GPS. Seas behaved and the crew did OK. Trip to Holgate Glacier for ice but with sad memories. The crew learned the fine art of catching glacier ice.

  Had our first man-overboard incident. My worst fear. Fortunately, it was uneventful and the lesson learned, hopefully, carried through to the rest of the crew. Reminded me to practice the drill under less favorable conditions: while underway with full sails.

  Settled in at McMullen Cove for the night. The crew are becoming a team.