Part two of Racing Adventuress Around the Sound
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Adventuress is maintained and used as a teaching vessel for youth education in the maritime environment and classic sailing techniques. [/caption]
By Kathie Meyer
Day Two – Friday Harbor to Sucia Island
We awake to singing as well. I feel rested enough, but it’s going to be a big day. After breakfast, we “muster” on deck for introductions and divide into two groups for work assignments. My pain medication for my back has yet to kick in, and I lean against a steel cable that surrounds the boat for some comfort. This is my first faux pas. It was mentioned not to do this in the introductory packet, I see later, but I didn’t really know what a lifeline is to not lean against one, so hence…I leaned.
The captain, Katelinn Shaw, mentions it yet doesn’t point me out specifically. As I commit countless more mistakes over the next couple of days, mostly just by being in the way, I am astounded at the patience and grace offered. There is no shame, no blame. Just a lot of gentle ways of saying you can do better, and let me show you how.
This is no pleasure cruise, however. It is up to us to scrub the deck and clean up below deck including the head.
“That’s so important on a ship because dirt accumulates, and then holds moisture, and then that causes rot,” explains David Jackson. A marine surveyor, Jackson is a board member who knew Cap Raynaud when Cap was still alive. He tells us about Raynaud’s last marine survey on Adventuress at age 90 and her most recent major rebuild in 2010 at the Boat Haven, where she received a new deck and hull, among other things.
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Each day, everyone was expected to pitch in and do chores including "swabbing the deck." [/caption]
Collins speaks about the financial challenges of running a nonprofit organization. “This ship needs an endowment to stay on top of everything for the future. It costs $100 to 200K a year for maintenance alone,” she tells everyone. “A ten million endowment in the next five years can secure this vessel in perpetuity for the youth and the environment of the Puget Sound region.
While Collins and Hali figure out how to raise $10M for the future, everyone’s job today is to handle the sails for the race. Our captain shares that we have a couple of options to reach today’s finish line at Sucia Island; a lot of our choices depend upon the wind and the current. Shaw is not especially encouraging when she addresses our chances of winning. She says she’s not really a racer; she’s a sailor.
The competition for our division is the 160-foot-long Zodiac out of Bellingham, launched in 1924 from East Boothbay, ME, the same port as Adventuress.
But while she shares a lot of similarities with Adventuress, she is also quite different. Zodiac was built for two brothers, heirs to the dysfunctional Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical family of fortune – Robert Wood Johnson and J. Seward Johnson – expressly for racing. In 1928, the brothers raced from New York to Spain and finished fourth among the large yachts.
Also, unlike Adventuress, Zodiac is owned by a group of shipwrights, sailors, and historians who operate her as a charter vessel. Alcohol is allowed. Meat gets eaten. They even have their own brand of beer and a live-aboard tuxedo cat.
We are a bit of a motley crew, a group of all ages and experience levels. Calvin is a park aide at Lime Kiln State Park who grew up in Bremerton, so we swap stories about growing up there about 30 years apart. Jack, the youngest crew member at 18, grew up in Poulsbo and knew college wasn’t for him. Jaden is 12 years old. He’s one who sailed Adventuress before, loved it so much, that his dad brought him back for another trip. Elizabeth is a crew member who grew up sailing in Sweden. Maridee is a writer who lives on Vashon Island with her partner, Martha, who is also aboard.
Many of this trip's crew members are related, and I think of family I’d like to experience this with me.
This, of course, is pulling “sheets,” the heavy ropes, in unison while we sing shanties as we “halyard the main,” and then, finally, “dig in and hold!!” when I think I can’t tug on that sheet any longer. I’m not sure it’s the best use of my, um, “talents,” but I do my best. Sometimes I grunt at the end. It is a remarkable exercise in living in the present moment.
If that doesn’t sound appealing, a mention of the whales I saw on the trip might sound more enticing. Soon after we begin the race, someone spots a whale “spouting” the air out of its blowhole in the distance. We never saw the entire mammal below; those more knowledgeable than I tried to surmise what type it was – a minke, a gray, or a humpback.
To convince us to sign up for anchor watch, we’re told about the time a whale breached about 20 times in the middle of the night for some lucky person.
As the day wore on, I could not tell you where we were on the racecourse. The islands and water were unfamiliar, with nothing but trees on land, shoreline and water surrounding us. Lunchtime came and mid-afternoon we heard a horn blast, and ‘lo and behold, we’ve crossed the finish line before Zodiac! Adventuress has won this day’s leg of the race!
Captain Katelinn debriefs us on our day after a lasagna dinner. Again, someone sings us to sleep, and Catherine is right. The boat rocks me. In one blink, I am instantly within a blissful slumber, not to awaken until dawn.
Day Three – Sucia Island to Lopez Island
Sunday morning, we are told there were no whales last night, but the sound of Purple Martins at dawn was quite nice to witness. According to Jaden, they sounded like “laser guns.” Someone calls up a Purple Martin on their phone, and it does sound like “phew! phew!” Jaden liked anchor watch so much, that he asks his dad if he can do it again.
Today, the weather is not as kind as the day before. Honestly, as the race wears on, so does my body. I start to feel useless on the sheets for a couple of physical reasons, so I slack off when I can.
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After the sails come down, they must be furled into place. [/caption]
I ask Catherine how she became involved with Sound Experience. Her godson came home from a “transformative” experience aboard Adventuress. Catherine has been executive director for 18 years now. Her enthusiasm for what she does is like she just got the job.
As for the race itself, it’s a head-to-head competition, but Zodiac outmaneuvers us, takes the day, and the race itself. We’re all winners in the end as we go ashore to Spencer Spit to share dinner with everyone involved. George, our chef in the galley, made a “mountain of macaroni and cheese,” while Zodiac brought pulled pork sandwiches and a couple of pony kegs of beer.
I met the new owners of Pleiades, who told us they struggled a bit with the 27-knot winds. I also reconnect with Holly Kays D’Arcy of Martha, who was a rowing coach for Tuff as Nails when I was a coxswain. Mary, the D’Arcy’s daughter, was about three years old back then. Now, she teaches sailing in Bellingham.
Next to Holly, I’m introduced to Captain Emma Gunn of Martha.
“Helen Gunn’s daughter?”
You know you’re from a small town when you know the names of people without actually knowing those people. Yes, Emma is a true Port Townsend local, born and raised. I figure Emma must have grown up on Martha to become a captain (she did). How cool is that?
I’m intrigued by Martha. She is designed by B.B. Crowninshield, as is Adventuress, and is also a teaching vessel run as a nonprofit. For this race though, it’s invitation only to be aboard. Crowninshield was one of America’s premier yacht designers during the golden era of American wooden yacht design. There seem to be only three Crowninshield boat designs still afloat today. The other is the yacht Witchcraft, owned by the Calvert Marine Museum Society, which sails on Chesapeake Bay.
Day Four – Lopez Island to Friday Harbor
It is another fine morning as we muster for one final time on deck. We are asked for a “takeaway,” what we’d be taking home with us. It gets emotional sometimes, because family connections are stronger now.
I feel incredibly charmed and lucky to have had this experience, which I tell them.
With the wind as it is, or isn’t, Captain Katelinn says it will take us seven hours to get to Friday Harbor where we will disperse back to where we came from, so the engine is fired up to get us all home sooner. It’s also time for the guests to sign up for a turn at the helm. Shaw guides us on what to do.
“I’m sure glad you know what you’re doing,” I say to her.
“It’s my job,” she responds as she grins widely.
Why captain this and not, for example, a ferryboat, I ask, and she explains that being a ferry captain is “piloting,” and this is “sailing.” You can tell she feels it’s a lot more special.
It’s definitely more adventuresome. As we gather our things, leave the ship, and walk down the dock a ways, I realize it’s truly done, and I feel my heart sink a little tiny bit.
Epilogue
Maybe my shoulder was a little worse for the wear, but my back actually felt better, I assume from exercise. I cleaned things at home I should have cleaned a long time ago, and I’m trying to be neater about the way I coil the garden hose. I might eat better – a more-vegetarian, less-burger kind of life, at least for a while. The idea that teamwork can be fun sticks with me when I go to my day job. The underlying sense of accomplishment and boost in self-confidence feels pretty damn invaluable too. My head is clear, and I don’t want to clutter it up with national politics, so I turn off the TV and build a fire outside. I look at the stars.
I can still hear Mallory’s laugh and some of the other crew’s voices, recall the singing, and I don’t want that to fade. I think about Catherine back on Zoom instead of on deck, figuring out how to secure a future of sailing for thousands more kids like her own.
I see Adventuress at summer’s end, as I dream about Wooden Boat Festival, Sept. 6-8, which I haven’t been to in years.
This year? I wouldn’t miss it.
All photos are by Kathie Meyer for The Beacon.
This is part two! Miss part one of Kathie Meyer’s high-seas adventure? You can find it here.
