Adventure Begins...Sailing S/V ORCA From California to Alaska.....

Spinner1

Spinner1

Joined
Jan 3, 2009
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I'm leaving home (Alaska) this Wednesday and driving to San Francisco Bay to outfit our ORCA for the trip. Husband & crew members flying in on 31st.

She will come home with us by sail or motor. Please know that we put SAFETY FIRST as without safety, there is nothing.....

S/V ORCA is a 38' wooden classic, 1959 Herreshoff ketch. We bought her in 2008 and though we live in Alaska, she has been berthed in Sausalito. My husband is a marine mechanic and re-powered her with new engine and did a lot of other things to get her ready to go.


We attempted to bring her home last year, but the weather was not co-operating. We ended up sailing her on the bay and lived on board for a month, then left her there.


This is ORCA for your viewing pleasure...:p:D

Orcasmall.jpg




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SVORCA.jpg




orcasternfullshot.jpg



Cabin colors now.....

OrcaCabin.jpg




Cabin colors before....

lookingforward.jpg


FEEL FREE TO COMMENT ANYTIME. I LIKE THE INTER-ACTION WITH YOU AND IT MAKES THIS YOUR THREAD TOO.....:p:D

Will keep you posted....
 
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WOW, what a beauty!!! That sounds like it is going to be some adventure getting her back to AK. Good luck and stay safe!!
 
Spinner1 - That boat is a beauty. Looking forward to following your progress. I wish you calm seas when you set sail!

Mete - I was following the young woman from Australia on her journey. So much accomplished for such a young woman. I hope her efforts encourage other young folks to turn off the video games and challenge themselves.
 
Spinner1 - I'm just so flattered that you named your boat after me. I'm just . . . speechless . . . just don't know what to say . . .





:p





Congrats on the boat, and great job getting her ready for the trip. She's purty. :thumbup:

thx - cpr
 
Lovely boat! I'm hoping to do something similar in the not-to-distant future, but I'll probably stick with a plastic boat. Those old wood ones just make me too nervous. :o
 
T.K.C. said:
WOW, what a beauty!!! That sounds like it is going to be some adventure getting her back to AK. Good luck and stay safe!!
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Thanks Suz....She is a beauty. I love her lines and her cabin is beautiful with all the bright work of mahogany, teak and yellow cedar...and she's cozy too.... :p

Staying a month on board last summer was wonderful... I loved the gentle rocking and the sounds of the halyards flapping in the wind on the next boat...The wind whistling through the standing rigging and the creaking noises of the wood and the mooring lines...

I actually cried when we had to leave her there...

.
 
PorcupineMtns66 said:
Spinner1 - That boat is a beauty. Looking forward to following your progress. I wish you calm seas when you set sail!

Mete - I was following the young woman from Australia on her journey. So much accomplished for such a young woman. I hope her efforts encourage other young folks to turn off the video games and challenge themselves.
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Thanks....
A little about the seas where we sail.... The ocean between San Francisco and the Seattle is said to be one of the most dangerous on the planet. The fetch (the distance the winds travels from Asia to US Pacific coast) has nothing to stop the wind so it builds and builds until it reaches the Pacific coast. There are only a couple places we can possibly go to take shelter in a storm....and the infamous Cape Mendocino is another story all together...

Excerpt from http://www.oceannavigator.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=B2A08E72854D49259B37CF9C18205DED

"Cape Mendocino is well known — infamous, in fact — for its complex weather patterns and equally complex wave sets that finish their long ride across the fetch of the North Pacific, only to reflect back off its massive, projecting headland. This is an area of volatility. Its sphere of influence may extend for hundreds of miles offshore. Serious weather systems develop here when a deep inland low-pressure zone to the east of Cape Mendocino collides with a strong, relatively stationary North Pacific high. In the mild summer month of July, the pilot charts for the North Pacific Ocean indicate that there is only one area, in the entire North Pacific that has a greater than 10 percent chance of gale-force conditions. On the chart, it is defined by a conspicuous, red oval contour line — extending 50 to 250 nm offshore — off Cape Mendocino. "

That link makes interesting reading...

The seas, currents and coastal fog are also against us, as are the winds coming from North, NW and NE. We will most likely have to motor a lot....

Ah well, onward we go....:eek:;)
 
orca8589 said:
Spinner1 - I'm just so flattered that you named your boat after me. I'm just . . . speechless . . . just don't know what to say . . .

:p

Congrats on the boat, and great job getting her ready for the trip. She's purty. :thumbup:

thx - cpr
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Thanks....and we look forward to meeting you and yours when we are at SF Bay. :p:D

You read this repowering link. :) There was a lot of work done...
http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=89805

Here is couple of more links if you are interested...One is about few surprises when re-powering her...

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=89240

Here is a "new" update and photos of ORCA...

http://forum.woodenboat.com/showthread.php?t=89571
 
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FoxholeAtheist said:
Lovely boat! I'm hoping to do something similar in the not-to-distant future, but I'll probably stick with a plastic boat. Those old wood ones just make me too nervous. :o
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Thanks....

I can't imagine why be nervous if the wooden boat is sound.....:eek:;)
 
Although I prefer power to sail, I must say that I wish I was going along. I love the sea and that is a dream.
Beautiful boat. I hope the weather cooperates.
 
Wow?! She is magnificent! I owned a little 22' 'glass boat and crewed a 26' on the calm waters and predictable winds of the Gulf of Mexico. The difference between the 'glass boats and that beauty of yours are analogous to a new Accord and a gorgeous, classic muscle car. I'm jealous! ;)

Congratulations and safe voyage!
 
What an incredible undertaking. The end result is a beauty....

Your trip should be quite an adventure. I like water but I'm not sure I would have the "stones" to do a trip like yours :D

Look forward to seeing your updates.

Almost forgot, what does a surveyor do pertaining to boats ?
 
The cabin is gorgeous, and that vessel is a traditional classic. You should have this thread in Traditional slipjoints. May God give you maritime traveling mercies. Please be safe, glad to hear that is #1. Sausalito is gorgeous, it always looks like a 2000 piece puzzle picture. That bay is puzzle picture worthy, and your ship fits in perfectly. Thanks for the pictures...
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
I don't know enough about them to tell if they're sound (or to tell if the surveyor is doing his job right), nor enough to keep them sound. :D
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LOL.....Now I understand your uneasiness. It's good to know about the boat you're sailing...

.

My husband knows wooden boats very well. He's been going to sea with them for twenty years and he was also a commercial fisherman here in Alaska. He's been also fishing down the Aleutian chain....

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Here is some interesting info about them

Aleutian Islands
Volcanic island chain in the North Pacific, stretching 1,900 km/1,200 mi southwest of Alaska, of which it forms part, towards Kamchatka; population in Aleutians East Borough (2000 est) 2,700; in Aleutians West Census Area (2000 est) 5,500. There are 14 large and more than 100 small islands running along the Aleutian Trench; the largest island is Unimak (with an area of 3,500 sq km/1,360 sq mi), which contains two active volcanoes. The islands are divided into four groups: the Fox Islands, the Andreanof Islands, the Rat Islands, and the Near Islands. They are mountainous, barren, and almost treeless; they are ice-free all year but are often foggy, with only about 25 days of sunshine recorded annually. The only industries are fishing, seal hunting, and sheep and reindeer farming; the main exports are fish and furs. Unalaska is the chief island for trade as it has a good harbour. Most of the islands lie within the Aleutians National Wildlife Reserve.

The islands were settled by the Aleuts around 1000 BC and visited by a Russian expedition in 1741; led by the Danish explorer Vitus Bering. They passed to the USA with the purchase of Alaska in 1867.
 
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