It's Saturday, April 19th and we are slowly getting closer to the West Coast. We've been heading about 050 for the past few days with pretty good weather and winds/swells off our port quarter, helping to push us along at a pretty steady 10.5 knots. As we approach the coastline, we will have to head a bit more north, so we could lose some speed depending on the wind and waves.
Tomorrow is Easter, and once again, I'm not home for the annual Upchurch Easter Egg hunt. I think the kids are probably growing a little old for that, but it's still nice to get up and lounge around the house in full holiday fashion.
To keep occupied out here, I've read about 30 magazines, watched numerous TV series and ridden the recumbent bike quite a bit. We decided to keep a running tally of our miles for the trip home and collectively we've pedaled a few hundred miles. I've put in about 50 and have been slacking a bit. After getting off of watch, I typically just want to chill and relax. It's easy to get lazy out here, especially when your confined to a 30'x60' steel box with a few portholes. I go out on the upper deck when it's nice and do push-ups or just zone out on the seas... Or think about home a projects and things I want to tackle when I get there.
I got sucked into a few TV series that I friend of mine gave me. One is Shameless and the other is Deadwood. Both pretty good shows and to be honest, I have no idea if they are still on the air, but it doesn't really matter as I've got e few seasons to keep me entertained while I'm bored.
I also watch Mini-series, The Pacific, which was awesome. That kept me busy for quite a few nights with all 10 episodes. I thought it was ironic that was sucked into this show, while transiting the Pacific.
At any rate, nothing really new going on out here... Just plugging away, mile after mile and counting the hours until were done with this hitch. We have seen a few rogue boats floating around out here, partially submerged (abandoned or washed out to sea from a nearby shoreline). The Captain said he saw about a 30' fiberglass boat floating partially under water this morning. It's amazing how much trash you can find out here, 1000 miles from shore.
I stared out at the water one day and counted a piece of trash (mostly small plastic pieces) roughly every 45 seconds. We see lost fishing bouys constantly, and occasionally they are attached to large tangled masses of nets, which can foul a prop extremely easy.
We've sucked a few things into the prop on the starboard side on 2 occasions so far, each time taking us a good 15-20 minutes to free up. All we can do is back down on it and run her back and forth until she frees up. The last one killed the starboard engine instantly and was a bear to free up, but eventually it did. You need to keep a sharp eye on the water, or plan on dealing with fouled props on a regular basis. Up in Southeast Alaska, you'll find huge logs in the middle of the waterways, some of which can do some serious damage. Occasionally we will hit them are awakened by the large bang against the hull. Other times we'll take on into the nozzle (prop) and stall the engine. It's all part of the game, and each time we find a way to free it up and carry on with the job of getting cargo to port.
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