What's in her name?

What's in her name (Salish Aire)?

Salish
from her new home the Salish Sea

Aire as in a melody of song.

Salish + Aire = The melody of the Salish Sea.

Salish Sea:
In the late 1700's Captain George Vancouver wandered around the waters of what are now known as British Columbia, Canada and Washington State, USA. He did the usual 1700's explorer thing and put names he chose on everything he saw. The names stuck and are recognized and used to this day.

New lines were added to Captain Vancouver's charts in 1872 (after a near war with Great Britain over a pig) which made waters on one side of the line Canadian and those on the other side of the line American.

It wasn't until 1988 (officiated in 2009) that someone finally realized that fish and various critters, (to say nothing of the water itself) were never involved in the boundary treaties and really ignored them completely. (This is best illustrated by the problems that Homeland Security has with Canadian Canada Geese and American Canadian Geese - it seems they refuse to carry passports and have been known to poop on the head of any border patrol person who tries to challenge their right to cross the border when and where they choose!) In reality the waters from Olympia to the well up the East side of Vancouver Island are pretty much one ecosystem.

The Coast Salish are the indigenous peoples who live in southwest British Columbia and northwest Washington state along the Salish Sea and share a common linguistic and cultural origin. The Salish Sea is named in honor of the earliest recorded peoples who plied her waters and learned to live in harmony with her.


Sunday, June 19, 2016

Father's Day Weekend Outing

Clarice was pretty adamant that we were going to get away from our home marina for Father's Day Weekend.  In the end, she was right and we had a wonderful time.

Goal number 1 was to install and try out our new solar array. Salish Aire originally came to us with solar panels installed which were a really BIG selling point especially to Clarice as her dream has always been quiet anchorages with NO GENERATOR NOISE.  We knew when we bought the boat that the panels were likely at or near the end of their life but recognized that at least we had a solar infrastructure in place (controller, wiring, etc.).  With some repairs we have managed to get the old panels to limp along but when we met John (AKA "Solar Guru") at http://www.rainshadowsolar.com/ while visiting Orcas Island a couple of months ago he supported our belief that it was time to change out the panels.  He also indicated that whomever had installed the panels had put in an excellent ("way ahead of its time") solar controller that was well worth keeping. He recommended very high-end panels by Sunpower company ( https://us.sunpower.com/solar-panels-technology/x-series-solar-panels/ ) because of their higher watt density, tolerance for heat variation as we plan to travel from upper latitudes to lower latitudes in the future, ability to continue power production while partially shaded, and general durability.

New Sunpower Solar Panels (we mounted then 18" above deck  to allow for storage under them)


We were able to meet up with John and install the panels between Thursday and Friday so our plan was to find a nice anchorage and see what happened.

Our initial plan was to go to Ft. Flagler State Park ( http://parks.state.wa.us/508/Fort-Flagler ) but while we were underway Clarice did some research and asked if we should instead travel down Hood Canal (not really a canal but rather a natural fjord in the Puget Sound section of the Salish Sea) to Pleasant Harbor where the guidebook indicated we could anchor out and pay a fee to the marina ( http://pleasantharbormarina.com/ ) to use their pool and hot tub.  The guidebook turned out to be outdated in its information as the marina has not been able to address legal concerns related to making their hot tub and pool public.  They did offer that for a minimum $35 moorage fee (normal fee $1.50/ft = $69 for Salish Aire or the $35 minimum for our dingy) we could use the facilities.  One of the few things I have really missed after moving aboard is having a hot tub.  I have some minor neural damage in my spine that irritates my legs frequently and heat seems to be the best medicine.  With this in mind we decided our "Father's Day Splurge" would be to pay $35 for the dingy.  Clarice got to talking with the proprietor who asked if we were yacht club members.  In the end we were able to use our reciprocal moorage for $5/day and enjoyed their very nice facilities (including a live concert Saturday evening).

Hood Canal looking South with Bangor Naval Submarine Base on the west shore


 We had clouds for most of the weekend with some rain and thundershowers but despite the less than ideal solar conditions we were able to "make" 1.2 kw yesterday and to replace losses from our overnight power use!!  Woohoo, this gives us hope that we should be able to sit an anchor without using our generator for purposes other than watermaking and using the washer/dryer.

Solar Controller showing panels are actually making power
Our maintenance frustrations for the weekend were the Hurricane Furnace (which I thought had agreed to a truce of sorts) decided to have a flame-out issue that I haven't figured out yet and the wing engine still doesn't start perfectly each and every time I ask it to.  I think that both of these devices conspire together keep me humble about my mechanical troubleshooting ability.  It seems that every time I dare brag about my prowess in having conquered their idiosyncrasies they put me back in my place.  Oh well - it's a boat.

Clarice did make a lovely breakfast for Father's Day while we were underway. She discovered a waffle bar maker that makes waffles in a form where they can be dipped if one chooses to eat them that way.  She then added homemade strawberry jam and dark amber maple syrup that our daughter buys us direct from a farm near her home in Ontario.

Father's Day Breakfast (the string from the lantern keeps in from swinging under way, a chrome screw hides the hole in the table when the eye screw is removed)
We are now on our way home which took us back under the Hood Canal Floating Bridge (trivia:  Washington State is famous for having some of the world's longest and oldest floating bridges AND for having 2 of them sink in storms (which is a cleaver way to get Federal funding for replacing them!)).

Hood Canal Floating Bridge looking from the south (it had just closed after opening for a sailboat but we fit under the Eastern High-rise section so we don't require it to open much to the appreciation of the folks in cars)