Arrived Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada

Hello All,
We made it into Canadian waters at 0900 this morning. The trip was a mixed bag of weather and seas. We had light winds leaving Sitka in the Gulf of Alaska and as the trip progressed we got a very good west wind, just enough to sail and run the engine. What I failed to think about was being close to shore there are huge tidal currents that effect our speed and the state of the water. At times we were moving right along and when the tide turned the waves would stack up and made us feel like what it's like to be in a washing machine. We didn't get a lot of sleep needless to say so we are here in Prince Rupert to get fuel and a little rest. We went from Sitka to here in 52.5 hours, seemed like a week.

Jon and I walked into town after getting checked into the country and took a look around. We grabbed some breakfast and did some shopping here for bread and what not. They have a really nice Safeway here so that was a treat to see all the goodies. We also got the boat topped off with fuel and I did some light maintenance this afternoon. My old Yankee sail got ripped the other day so that needs to be repaired as well. I will do that under way tomorrow.

We are going to travel the inside passages all the way down to Port Angles Washington where we will check back into the U.S.A. and plan our trip off shore down the coast to San Francisco. All is subject to change as usual but we won't be effected as much by weather inside so should make good time.

I will be in touch.

PEACE

Sitka Alaska

Hello All,

We arived in Sitka this morning to a beautiful day. Im not sure but I think thats rare here. Its the weekend but everyone was out playing and having a good time. I would love to spend more time here but we are leaving at 5 am in the morning to catch the tide out of here. The weather outside is suppose to be good so we will miss some of the inside to get south as fast as we can.

We did have a nice dinner in town tonight,Jon treated me , it is a very nice place to see and someday I will return but for now I will have to make that wait. All is well here, having the best time we can with the time we have.

I will post more when I can.


PEACE

Leaving Yakutat

Hello All,
It looks like the weather is going to finally let us leave. The weather here in Yakutat has been to bad, rain and sun off and on. when it rains though it pours. We got fuel this morning from the mobile truck and we are waiting for the tide to push us out into the gulf. We didn't meet a lot of people here, seems most are pretty busy working but we always got a wave from everyone that past.

We have a 30 hour crossing ahead of us to get to Cape Spencer and then inside, we hope the weather will treat us better this time around. We have changed our visiting ports plan because of our delay, we don't have any solid plan as of yet but I will let you know when we do.

Well we are going to cast off and get on out of here so I will talk to you soon.

PEACE

Yakutat Alaska

Hello All,
We are still in Yakutat waiting for a weather window to get to Cape Spencer and to the Inside passage. It looks like Thursday afternoon is our chance to get out of here. In the mean time we have walked to town several times. It is about a mile walk from the small boat harbor to the city proper. I will use the word city very loosely. It has 2 very well stocked grocery stores a post office, an Ace hardware store that has just about everything you may need and a bar. The main industry here is Commercial Fishing. It also has a nice size cannery to buy the fish. Everyone has been very friendly and helpful.

Outside of doing some exploring I have been doing a few boat projects that I didn't get done before we left, nothing to major, mostly organizing things inside and maintenance. I got the oil changed yesterday and changed out the fuel filters. I also retightened my rigging for the mast.

It has been raining off and on, mostly on. We did get some sun yesterday afternoon, what a beautiful place when the sun shines.

Well I need to get busy here and make arrangements to get fuel today. They have a fuel dock but they bring the fuel by a truck so I will figure out the program as to how to make that happen.

I will keep in touch and keep you up dated on our plans. Talk to you soon.

PEACE

Tied up in Yakutat

Hello All,
It's been a long time coming but we finally made a port. Not really the one I was thinking of but we will take it. We got in at 10:30 a.m. and walked to the end of the dock and back. It is a little out of town but peaceful and the water is still.

We are going to take a nap so I will keep this short. Just thought I would let everyone know all is well on Freestyle.

PEACE

Retreating to Yakutat

Hello All,
Well we got only 40 miles from going into the inside passage of Alaska when the wind that was suppose to help us ended up turning right on the bow and not just 20 knots like they said it was but 30 knots. So I am back tracking 95 miles to wait for this weather to make up its mind. We have been getting a little beat up the last 12 hours so we just want to stop.

All is well outside of that ,so far anyway I need to get outside and get the boat on coarse, I'll let you know when I get into Yakutat.

PEACE

Gulf of Alaska

Hello All,
We have been out in the Gulf of Alaska for about 36 hours now. The wind has been light thus far so have had to use the engine. The sea and swell has been tolerable with it being mostly calm. I have been watching the weather and it looks like this will hold for the next few days but I will still be holding my breath. Jon and I are making the best of the somewhat comfortable boat motion and getting some good rest. Daren gave us some Sockeye Salmon so I think we will treat ourselves tonight to a good meal.

It has been sunny off and on since we left but completely over cast as of this morning. We have not seen a drop of rain yet but I'm sure we will get our fill down the road. I just checked the temperature this morning and it is 56 degrees. I think yesterday it got to 70.

That's all I know for now, I will keep you posted

PEACE