SITKA
While Graeme and his family have been adjusting back to shore life and planning their next adventures, Dogbark has been patiently waiting for her next big adventure in the beautiful town of Sitka, Alaska. Our skipper Al and his partner Shauna decided the best way to get Dogbark to Nome was to share the journey with friends! 1,400nm is a reasonable amount for a shakedown cruise right?
Shauna has a knack for putting together a great team and somehow I became one of the lucky crew to join this leg of the journey (Hi – I’m Sandy!). Each crew member has their own story, but I’ve raced with Al and Shauna on their J-105, Creative.
Our journey began in Sitka, with various projects getting Dogbark ready for her 3 month journey. Everything from a detailed scrub down (inside and out!), sail repair, and troubleshooting various electronics (who needs radar and auto pilot?). Provisioning for such a journey takes a careful balance of stocking up on bulk items and rotating storage for fruits and vegetables. Luckily, there would be plenty of places along the way to restock fresh produce as needed before entering the arctic but with higher price tags (hello $23 for a block of Tillamook cheese!).
We also got to celebrate Shauna’s birthday (July 4), and the town of Sitka was kind enough to have a fireworks show just for her 🙂 We made her a mixed berry crumble with candles to boot!
Once Charlie arrived to Sitka, we were ready to depart! As former coast guard buddies back in the day, Charlie and Al have been sailing together for over 50 years! That’s a lot of time on the water together, and I’ve loved listening to all their great stories and memories over the years.
Every sailor knows the itch to leave the dock with a long journey ahead of them, and the day we finally departed, we could not have left in better conditions. It was a beautiful blue sky day, plenty of wind but not too much wind, and smiles all around.
Sea otters and two humpbacks sent us off on our journey just as we left the snow capped mountains of Sitka. Coming around the dormant volcano, Mount Edgecumbe, we set our sails and sights for the first (nearly) 600nm of our journey.
We crossed the Gulf of Alaska over 3.5 days, sailing steady between 6-8 knots most of the time. It was a very pleasant crossing, much easier than I had anticipated (all my previous long transits were aboard tall ships, so having autopilot and an enclosed dodger seemed like a luxury to me)!
Even with the grey skies, there’s still a beauty to staring out at the horizon and open water. With the late summer sun, it never really got quite dark enough for stargazing during our watches, but there’s nothing like the soft rocking of the boat and the surf of the waves against the hull to lull you to sleep when your watch was over. We were surprised we didn’t see another boat and hardly anymore signs of wildlife aside from the birds until we arrived to Kodiak to pick up the rest of our crew!
KODIAK
Arriving to Kodiak under low clouds, fog and mist felt like the the appropriate way I imagine sailing in Alaska was like back in the day. Kodiak is actually the second largest island in the United States (Hawaii is first) covering 3,595.09 sq miles. With a history rich in glacier carved islands, no point of land is further than 15 miles from the water. Before the Russians established a fur trade in 1784, Kodiak was home to the Alutiiq people. The stretch of the archipelago islands that reach towards Russia, made it a natural route for trading.
Nowadays, Kodiak has a population of 13,000+ and home to the largest US Coast Guard base. Despite the modern developments, nearly 2/3 of the land is protected by the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. We would get to spend the next week exploring the beautiful protected coastline and southeast Aleutian Islands for the next part of our journey.
Our last two crew members joined us in Kodiak: Rocky and Stacie. Stacie having recently joined the Creative crew and Rocky, her steadfast naval architect partner, excited to test out the cruising life which they plan to embark on in the future. We celebrated the whole crew being together with a red curry dinner and fresh spring rolls.
Now we’re ready for the next adventure!