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Winter Cruising "Alaska Style"Story and Photos by Ted Mattson |
Back to Civilization
All good things always seem to come to an end. Our time alone in the wilderness was drawing to a close. We had made the decision before we left the dock that we would come back by Christmas but moving around with a boat in Alaska in the winter isn’t something that happens on preprinted schedules. We now had to start watching the weather even more closely because our route home would take us out into the open ocean once again. From experience, I knew it was not a place to be careless. Time to button things down on the deck and stow everything inside that might roll off a shelf or the table. Drawers and doors were latched shut. The engine and transmission oils were checked as was the water/antifreeze level. We were ready. We would call Cindy’s sister and brother in law on the Iridium to let them know we would be leaving as soon as we got a weather window. Probably in the next couple of days. Our departure morning had us once again shoveling snow off the decks with snow thick in the water all around. A cold snap during the night could have easily turned the whole bay into ice. It was definitely time to go. We wanted to be sure the tide was rising before we ventured out among the rocks of the narrow opening through which we had come into this place almost two months before. We had about 5 hours of open ocean to deal with after we made it through the rocks and we still needed enough light to get into another anchorage come evening. As the anchor came up through the slushy water and was locked into place, I wondered what the rest of the day would bring. As we slowly motored away from what had become our home away from home, we turned to have one last look at the wilderness paradise we were leaving behind. The trail the boat made through the slush filled water left no doubt that we were leaving none too soon. Our bay would surely freeze closed at some point during the winter if not that very night. It would take us nearly a week to get back to the dock but it was only the open ocean that concerned us for now. As it turned out, the ocean was flat calm. Neptune had smiled kindly on us that day. A couple of years prior, it had greeted us with northwest 45 knot winds and 14 foot breaking seas. The down wind following sea run went very well until the jerking of the tow line of the skiff broke a weld on the aluminum rack I had on Skookumchuck’s stern. The rack held the fishing rods and pot hauler and also served as the usual storage rack for the skiff when we were in port. In seconds, things went from bad to worse. One broken weld led to two, then three and before I could react the whole rack was slipping over the side and into the ocean. Hydraulic pot hauler and all. We had a sail up which had to come down as we turned up into the wind. The only thing keeping our skiff still attached to the boat and what was left of the rack were the two hydraulic lines coming out of the deck. Had one of those broken, I’m sure I would have been in the ocean as well. There would have been no way to stay on a slippery oily deck with the boat pitching and rolling as it was. Luckily I managed to grab part of the 100 foot floating tow line of the skiff and got it tied on to a cleat on the deck. It was another three miles of very tense towing before we got into protected waters where we could do something about all the stuff hanging in the water. Had the tow line got sucked down into the propeller, we would have been in a very bad way. As it turned out, Neptune smiled on us that day as well. This year everything went like clock work and we made our anchorage just as the short December day closed down. The big worry was behind us. We had nearly a week to go before we had to be to the dock. There were a couple of bays we still wanted to check out. We knew we had it made now that we were back on the inside and into protected waters. To celebrate I said to Cindy, “Let’s go catch some shrimp!” Christmas presents that year were vacuum packed, nicely frozen and less than a week old. Winter Cruising l
Starting Out l
We Get Visitors l
Winter Comes l
A Windy Night l
A Special Day Skipper Ted Mattson is an Alaska sailor with broad experience in Bristol Bay and especially his home, the Alexander Archipelago, Alaska's panhandle. Ted operates popular adventure sailing cruises with guests in the summer months aboard the Skookumchuck.
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