R-e-l-a-x-i-n-g . . . .

Nice weather, good meals, wind, and a few fish - does life get much better? The kids and I met Bryant after work in Anchorage on Thursday and we all drove down to Homer for the weekend. After spending much of Friday taking care of boat chores, we sailed downwind in a slow breeze to Halibut Cove where we spent the night. We came back on Saturday beating upwind into what started out as a slight breeze and then increased to 15-20 knots and rolling waves 4-5 feet tall. Saturday night, we spent in the harbor and on Sunday morning, we fished not far from the spit for 2 hours before packing up to come home again.

Homer Small Boat Harbor

I'm on a mission to learn how to operate the boat in tight quarters (i.e. the harbor). Out in the big blue ocean and in relatively calm seas, I'm fine. But get me in the confines of a boat harbor with everyone's expensive toys surrounding me, I get a little bit nervous. For the five summers that we've owned a boat, I've done a great job of avoiding any "Captaining" responsibilities in the boat harbor. I've really had no reason to learn as Bryant is good at docking and I complement his abilities by agilely moving my way around the deck and securing lines so well. Lately though it's been bothering me that I am not competent in docking. If ever I want to take a trip without Bryant, I need get my act together in the docking department, so I decided to designate some time each trip driving the boat in and out of the harbor.

With this newly founded decision implanted in my brain, I started to drive us out of the Homer harbor on our way to Halibut Cove on Friday, but immediately had to call for backup because the boat wasn't steering in the direction I needed it to go. Upon hearing my frantic cries for help, Bryant realized that when I put the motor down, I forgot to hook up the steering linkage, hence no steering capabilities. Even with boats creeping closer than I like them to be, he managed to lift the latch, flick the linkage in place, and get us going in the direction we needed to go. Okay, no problem . . . disaster diverted. One mistake made and one lesson learned that I hopefully won't repeat in the future.

Right after I took control again, I noticed up ahead blocking the exit to the harbor were two huge 100ft + long commercial crabbing boats similar to the ones you see on the Deadliest Catch Discovery Channel TV show. At closer inspection, I realized that initially they were docked side by side and the outside boat had to move its position so the inside boat could make its way to the fuel dock. Just as my heartbeat began to increase and my palms started to sweat, I spotted an esacpe route around this harbor switch-a-roo. They didn't nearly take over the entire exit. Breathing a sign of relief that more drama wasn't about to unfold, I motored around the big boat obstacle and head out into Kachemak Bay.

Halibut Cove Public Dock

I managed to dock the boat in Halibut Cove's Public Dock that evening, but not without anxiety. At first, I didn't tell Bryant to drop the daggerboard halfway and put one rudder down before docking, but I remembered in time and I successfully backed it up until all was in order to go back in. Granted I had a few onlookers jokingly asking why were weren't sailing into our spot. While my gut turned circles on the inside, I casually explained that I was learning how to dock with a motor, forget the sails. They courteously dropped the jokes and added words of encouragement. So in the end, my first day at the controls of Sol Searching in tight quarters didn't cause any new scratches or dings on our boat or any others. However, I hope in the future it evolves into an experience that is a little less tense and aligns itself in familarity with parking a big truck in the crowded grocery store parking lot.

For more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jillcaho/HalibutCove