{"id":764,"date":"2007-05-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-05-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2009-04-15T08:56:07","modified_gmt":"2009-04-15T13:56:07","slug":"s_logs-dashew-dashew371","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/s_logs-dashew-dashew371\/","title":{"rendered":"Ketchikan"},"content":{"rendered":"
Ketchikan, Alaska – Clearing in, tidal grids, and meeting the Baileys aboard the fascinating 1930s survey vessel Catalyst.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

By Alaskan standards Ketchikan is a big, busy city. There are cruise ships, an airport across from the marina, lots of government offices, and supplies of all sorts. The marina is older than a lot of the other "big" cities hereabouts, but filled with interesting boats and people nonetheless.<\/p>\n

We would have preferred to go direct from Canada to Sitka, on the edge of the Gulf of Alaska. However, we thought US Customs required us to stop here first. Our boarding officer told us this is not the case and we could indeed clear in at Sitka.<\/p>\n

"What if weather forced us to anchor somewhere along the route in U.S. waters before clearing in?," we asked.<\/p>\n

"No problem," was the reply, "As long as you notify us or the Coast Guard you have stopped and the reason for this."<\/p>\n

We are currently on spring tides, the highest of the month. In Ketchikan this means 21-foot (6.8m) tidal range. This makes for strong currents, steeply inclined gangways, and easy use of tidal grids.<\/p>\n

\"Tidal<\/div>\n

Tidal grids are a great way to do maintenance. This fisherman is cleaning his bottom prior to painting. Depending on the tidal cycle you can have as much as six hours of dry time to work on the bottom.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

We mentioned previously the weather had been really nice. This is an indicator of the situation. The sun load on our windows was such that we decided to unfurl the starboard side awning – a first for us on any of our trips to Alaska.<\/p>\n

We do not generally like marinas, as you already know. However, one of the big advantages is the people you meet – that you otherwise would miss.<\/p>\n

\"Bailey<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

You will recall from a previous posting photos of Catalyst<\/em>, a really interesting looking vessel we passed coming up the inside passage. They pulled into the marina as we were getting ready to head out. This is the Bailey family, Bill and Shannon, and their son. They run Catalyst<\/em> as a working vessel, taking adventure charters between Juneau and Petersburg ( www.pacificcatalyst.com<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

Their yacht has a wonderful history. She was built in the 1930s as a survey vessel for the state of Washington. She has had many, many thousands of hours of sea duty, and still has much of her original gear aboard.<\/p>\n

\"Washington<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

This includes the original Washington diesel engine, one of only six still in running. We were privileged to watch the engine being started using its traditional compressed air system. The starting process takes a while…<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

…and involves a page-long check list. Spare parts have not been available for many years, so when something breaks or wears out, it has to be rebuilt from scratch. If a cylinder goes bad it can be taken off line while the other five continue to work.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

How is this for engine gauges? Note the RPM meter upper right. They turn 360 RPM at cruise (which is 7.5 knots). The engine can burn anything from heavy crude oil to regular diesel – and maybe even a bit of road tar in a pinch (just kidding). They turn a 47" (1.2m) diameter prop with 32" (.8m) pitch. What would you guess the fuel consumption is at cruise? Would you believe 2.5 US Gallons per hour (9.5L)?<\/p>\n

\"Catalyst<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

We did not have a lot of time to take photos as they and we were both getting ready to leave. But here are a couple to give you some feel for the interior. This is a working galley, used to prepare meals for up to eight guests and crew.<\/p>\n

\"Catalyst<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Supplies and warmth-giving liquids are close at hand and easy to access. Fiddle rails are used to keep things in place and hang onto.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

We’ll leave you with this photo of their bow. That is a 750-pound (320kg) anchor on a 75-foot (23m) vessel with relatively low windage by modern standards. That tells you she is set up for less than ideal anchorages. Note the abrasion timber on the hull side. Also, there is an iron ice\/wood catcher on the stem (sort of like a cow catcher on a train). Many of the commercial boats in this part of the world have these.<\/p>\n

The sun is still shining, the tide is about to turn, and we’re out of here, heading north.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ketchikan, Alaska – Clearing in, tidal grids, and meeting the Baileys aboard the fascinating 1930s survey vessel Catalyst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dashew-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/setsail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}