THE PLAN, 2016
We will leave our home port of Anacortes, Washington at the end of May, Ginger and Frank together. We will meander our way north, stopping in Port Hardy, British Columbia, to pick up our son Collin. Collin will be newly returned from 5 months in South America. Then the 3 of us will head north with Ketchikan as our destination.
Once in Ketchikan, by June 19, Ginger and Collin fly back to Portland, OR and our friend Les Evarts arrives from Polson, MT. Les and Frank will fish and cruise for about 5 days, then Frank returns Les to Ketchikan for the flight home.
Frank will then solo navigate around the north end Prince of Wales Island, picking up our friend Ken MacDonald in Craig. Ken and Frank will fish and cruise their way around the southern end of Prince of Wales, returning to Ketchikan mid-July.
Ken leaves, Ginger comes back, and then we point Gandalf south for the return trip to Anacortes. By then, Frank will be one salty dog. Can't wait!
THE PLAN, 2007
Mid May, Dunvegan will launch at Anacortes, Washington, from Skyline Marina in Flounder Bay.
I would like to head north in a fairly aggressive manner, however, I've found some loose ends with some of the work I had done over the winter. Now I will probably hang around the San Juan Islands for a few days to make sure everything is as it should be. The end of May is still early enough to start a trip north.
I expect this cruise to take from 2,500 to 3,000 miles and about four months. I will be singlehanding for about half that time, my wife/First Mate will fly up to meet me in the third or fourth week and stay with me for seven or eight weeks. A couple friends have expressed interest in doing the same but for maybe a week or so at a time. It should be a good mix of having company and having solitude in one of the most beautiful cruising areas of the world.
I have taken DUNVEGAN on a couple trips north from Anacortes, through the Canadian Gulf Islands, through Desolation Sound, and through the tidal rapids as far north as the Broughton Islands, singlehanding about 60% of the time. I know, that is just a drop in the bucket compared to going all the way up the Inside Passage. But, I'm not getting any younger and everything is as close as it has ever been to being favorable. I will soon be 53 years old and who knows when a person might get sick or worse yet, just loose interest after all the years of getting the cruising fund, the boat, some experience and the time to do it. I want to do this on my own, I'm not interested in paying a big cruise line to do it for me, although it would be a whole lot cheaper.
This adventure is also a part of my decision process which will probably lead to a major career change. More about that later.
For now, the boat is sitting in my driveway in Missoula, Montana, on a hill, without a drop of water in sight. A sad situation for sure, a proper boat should be in the water. I had to bring it home so I could do several final projects in preparation for this cruise and to properly provision it. I hope to have it ready to cruise in a couple weeks and will make the first 600 miles of this adventure on the trailer. Living in Montana and cruising can certainly be a challenge but there are solutions to almost any roadblock. I don't want to be the one to write the book "One Hundred and One Reasons Why I Can't Go Cruising Today".
Saturday, April 28, 2007
MV DUNVEGAN
1984 30' Sundowner Tug
Ford Lehman Super 90 diesel engine
Sitting at anchor in Skeeko Bay on Wildhorse Island in Flathead Lake in western Montana.
DUNVEGAN CASTLE
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