I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge.
Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey.
I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around.
My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between.
I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist.
After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life.
Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal.
Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit.
But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally.
I’ve had a revelation. Life is easier on land! Who knew😊
I still have many things to do, some things to fix, some things to maintain, but I’m not whacking my elbows and shins to do so.
Turning the page.
As Dauntless sits in Seattle, under contract with an excited couple who may even finish the circumnavigation that was started 7 years ago, Ti and I started a new chapter. We are living in Texas, about 25 WSW of Austin, in Texas Hill Country, whose topography is dominated by rolling hills, Live Oak trees, some Cactus and Agave plants. It’s beautiful and with no other houses around, it feels as nature filled as Alaska did.
A nearby creek
When we want the advantages of smaller towns, Marble Falls is about 20 miles to the NW, with a great Walmart and Home Depot, while Austin offers all the rest like Costco, H-Mart (a Korean supermarket) and a really nice, large Vietnamese supermarket. Even the day before Thanksgiving, the stores while crowded, were not unreasonable.
View from the house
The people are also great, and I’ve found them more helpful than in some other places I’ve lived.
I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. If you are interested, here is a link to the video Ti and I made of our Thanksgiving dinner. And if you are wondering how we made this video so quickly today, let’s just say it’s the miracle of time displacement.
Our dinner
Making a video like this is very time consuming and is Ti’s main work. She loves cooking and showing people what she does. I can honestly say, she has a cooking skill that I’ve never seen before. In our early days, when I was still cooking a bit, she would just watch me cook, without really asking any questions. Then, some days later, she would surprise me, my making the same dish I had made the week before and it was always as good as mine ever was.
Then in subsequent weeks, she would do it again and it was better than I ever did!
She’d do the same if we out to eat. We hardly go out anymore because even I feel it’s a waste of money (she pretty much always felt that way).
For her, the YouTube gig gives her the ability to do what she really likes and still be flexible with her time, allowing us to travel. I didn’t retire to sit in the house!
Once you understand the YouTube algorithms, it is clear why vloggers are always asking viewers to Like, Comment, Subscribe and Share. Those four actions make a big difference in overall viewers since the key to success is how YT recommends the video to others.
We’re back on the ranch, after our two-month odyssey that consisted of:
dropping Thien off at Oregon State,
flying to Wrangell to Dauntless,
the 15-day cruise of bringing Dauntless down to Seattle,
unloading Dauntless,
getting all our personal stuff off,
Cleaning her
Packing the truck for the trip back to Texas
The 2,000 mile, 6-day drive from Seattle, via Corvallis to Austin
It’s been a busy two months. The easiest part was the drive back to Texas, in part because all the other stuff was already done. And I think we only lost one container of who knows what on the trip back!
The packed truck
I admit I came to tears a few times on Dauntless. Here is a link to the latest pictures and how she looks now: Dauntless Today Insides
Was I giving up my dream too soon? Was I not strong enough to fight for what I believe in?? Was I just being a coward, like other times in my life when I ran away???
I quite enjoyed the drive from Oregon to Texas. The most direct route is mostly Interstate-free which I strive for anywhere west of Chicago. Out west, I’ve found that the old US highways are not only more interesting in that they actually go thru towns and don’t have the 1/8th of a mile set-backs, than the Interstates, but they are not significantly slower. They have 10%, if that, of the traffic on the Interstate and almost no police presence, so one can set their speed as conditions allow.
The route I took was the blue and light blue thru “B”
Clearly, for someone who is willing to cast off the lines and be on the open ocean for three weeks, I like travelling be it by car or boat. It allows one to see the scenery go by, as opposed to flying which has become such a chore from the first security checkpoint to wondering when your bags will show up on the baggage carousel.
Oregon State campus in the fall
Yes, I love travelling. In certain aspects, I like driving even more than cruising, at least in the sense that while driving the scenery does change if not by the hour, at least by the day. Cruising on Dauntless on the other hand, once you are 30 miles off the coast it looks the same until you are 30 miles from the next continent. But, it also has the advantage that one is cruising from their living room. I loved living and cruising on Dauntless. How else can one move from one spectacular view to another, all the while living, eating, and sleeping in nature!!
The downside for me of driving is the reflection time it forces upon me. Unlike cruising, I can’t do anything else. I can’t cook dinner nor watch a Korean drama. I must keep my attention at the highest of levels for whatever time I am at the wheel. Back in the day, when I was driving my Alfa Romeo Montreal from Germany to Italy every two weeks, to see my Italian girlfriend, I can still remember arriving in her parking lot after 8 hours and 550 miles and having to peel my fingers off the steering wheel. Averaging almost 70 mph for 8 hours through cities, mountains and fields was not for the faint of heart. But just as now, I liked pushing myself.
One time due to breakdown in the Italian train service, I ended up driving to Milan just to pickup my girlfriend from the train station and turn around to head back home since I had to work that day. It was an overnight trip thru the Alps of Italy and Switzerland. I even came across a broken down car that was stranded in the middle of the St. Bernard tunnel and towed him out of the tunnel. That thankful driver rewarded me with a bottle of Slivovitz.
The best part of the whole trip as when it was over my girlfriend turned to me and told me she never realized how hard the trip was for me to come see her and how much she appreciated it.
I miss those days, mostly because I miss Europe. Europe has changed. It’s not the car friendly place it was 40 years ago, but in many aspects, it’s still great and offers a variety of conditions in relatively small distances.
The only downside of all this driving is that I end up laying relentless Do-Loops, of what I should have, could have done in every aspect of my life. From leaving good jobs for bad ones to investments bought high and sold low. My only solace is that I can’t be the only person who managed to lose money on Amazon, Tesla, and Microsoft, when they were 1/100th of todays price. At least I tell myself that.
The worst aspect of this constant self-reflection is that there are really no solutions. In particular I think of a couple of women that I should have held on to as hard as they were holding me. I hurt them because I was a coward.
I avoided conflict, even minor conflict. Other men would “go out for cigarettes;” I’d start a whole new life over minor conflicts that would be forgotten in a day.
Which brings me to Dauntless. Am I treating her like I treated these other past loves? I can see why people don’t mind paying the 10% broker fee, so they don’t have to answer those mundane questions that I end up taking so personally.
I have a couple of people really interested in Dauntless in the last months. I need to be less of a coward when it comes to talking about her and what I’ve done or not done. I also need to remind them that as I wrote the blog, there was some dramatic effect involved. I’m not saying I exaggerated events or crises, but I often did not mention how easy the solution was or how few issues I really had.
I am going to try to continue this blog. I’ll just be writing about different types of travels. I would also like to start filming these car trips, since there is some interest in that.
On that note, here is a glimpse of my new life this morning.
sunrise at the ranchThe moon and Venus a few nights agoSunrise on the ranch
The clean up has been going better than expected. Even stains that I thought would never be gone have disappeared with a little elbow grease and pressure wash. I finally took down the large, Lexan storm windows that covered the 7-foot salon windows yesterday. They had been in place 7 years, 3 months, and 4 days, buts whose counting.
I also removed the newer 1/10” acrylic panels over the pilot house windows. Getting up this morning, the boat is noticeably cooler. While I never needed the storm windows for storm or wave protection, this boat is designed too well for that, as insulation, they were great, stopping all condensation on the inner windows no matter how much cooking was going on, as well as keeping the boat warmer, allowing us to keep the Wallas diesel heater on minimum pretty much all the time when it was on at all.
As I thought about how the “storm” windows were never needed for their intended purpose, I was reminded of a story Thien (our son) related to me about a talk he had with his mother who had been terrified of the first waves (2 to 3 feet) she had encountered on Dauntless. He told me that in trying to comfort his mother he had cupped his hands together and rolled them back and forth, pointing out to Ti that his hands represented the boat, and we were nestled inside. That rolling of the boat was how the boat protected us from the seas and the boat was like our mother protecting us from the dangerous things in the outside world, just as she had protected him growing up.
Just as our mothers protect us, Dauntless does the same.
And maybe sometimes we get a kick in the ass.
As I was finishing taking pictures of the outside yesterday and most of the inside, since I had promised pictures to one and all, I slipped on the swim platform, which is about two feet from the dock. Into the water I went, cell phone and all. I wasn’t worried about getting crushed by the boat since I had tied her in a way so that she could not move further back (or forward for that matter). TI came out and pulled my cell phone from my pocket and then helped me out.
In the eight and a half years of having Dauntless, I have never fallen in the ocean. Never. Too many times to count, I have ventured out on deck to take a comfort break, holding on for dear life literally.
Once out and clearly uninjured the only damage having been done to my 3-month-old Samsung S21 which is now DOA, Ti spent the rest of the day muttering to herself in Vietnamese as to what a stupid husband she has. No translation was needed. She had told me numerous times this week not to get on or off that boat
So here I am waiting for daylight so I can take pictures again with Ti’s phone, which I am normally not allowed to touch.
It’s been a hard two-week cruise from Wrangell to Seattle . 15 days at the end of fall are prime season for Gulf of Alaska storms to bring strong southeast winds and rain to the entire SE AK panhandle and British Columbia almost continuously.
Dauntless’ Pilot House underway south
And they did.
The Infamous Dixon Entrance. We had to do an overnight since the winds were westerly and northwesterly and needed to take advantage of that
So being on a boat trying to go southeast is problematic, as one would say when they do not want to sound too negative. Needless to say, we only saw one day with winds of less than 15 knots.
Waking up in Friday Harbor this morning as the winds howled to 30 knots, sure made our decision to push press on to Northwest Bay at midnight a couple of nights ago a sound choice. Even though we were surrounded by barking sealions all night.
It was windy
This all started even before I left Wrangell because I ruined my laptop and thus had no easy way to write. But not being able to write enabled me, no, forced me to reflect on a whole litany of things. The equipment list below was pretty much complete before my laptop debacle. That I had spent almost $60,000 on upgrades was not so much a surprise, as it had been in the original plan, but I needed the reminder that the money was not wasted and in fact, 8 years later is still paying for itself in spades.
Roll before and after paravane deployment
That sum does not include the money for spares and expendables, so that’s probably another $ 8 -10k.
Ti at the helm with moonrise and the moon
Having been two weeks underway, 10 days through Canada, with no contact allowed, remined me what a proven worldwide cruiser is really about. While in this case, we could anchor at night, we made no stops for food, fuel, water or anything else. We didn’t need to. And we didn’t need to because of how that money had been spent before we crossed the Atlantic for the first time seven years ago.
A true world cruising boat is about Simplicity & Independence.
The idea of keeping it simple was the foundation. It has paid off numerous times. On this trip alone, we’ve met two American boats going south like us:
One was a smaller boat, with a Yanmar engine, which was stuck in Thorne Bay Alaska for 4 months!!! Waiting for a fan belt. I carry two, but more importantly, I’ve never needed them.
Second was a Nordhavn 62, limping along at 2 knots. I asked him if he needed anything. He had a fuel leak too his main engine, so was motoring south with his wing engine. He said he tightened the fitting, but it wouldn’t stop.
A friend, also with a KK needed a damper plate while passing through Mexico on the way to the east coast. We met in the Panama Canal in fact, as I was going west and he, east. He had spent a month in Mexico waiting for his part to clear customs. I’ve lived in Europe long enough to know that even with a boat, you can never depend on getting anything in a timely manner through customs. It’s been that way forever. After trying with UPS and then Fed EX, both promising delivery, he finally got on a plane, flew to the US, got the part and put it in his suitcase. Just like I did when I brought parts for Dauntless while in Ireland or needed stuff in Vietnam.
The three above examples show why it’s important to keep it simple and having the right spares. I can repair or replace any fuel hose or fitting on the boat. I chose an older KK42 because I wanted the simplicity of the Ford Lehman, no electronics, no special fuel hoses. I do have a spare set of injector pipes, but I don’t have an injector pump. So, I carry the spares that I think may be needed for repair or for those items that just may eventually need to be replaced while . Thus, my spare parts were not so much in anticipation of needing them in the middle of the Atlantic, but needing them while in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Riga or even Wrangell.
Mechanically she’s in great shape and one could set across the Pacific tomorrow or more likely down the coast to Mexico tomorrow if one so desired.
Cosmetically, on the outside, she needs a lot of elbow grease and paint. Something I don’t like doing and it shows. All the outside teak needs work. Thankfully, the foredeck was replaced in 2012, so it’s just the side and aft decks that are teak. While the teak itself is in good shape, it clearly has leaks, as water makes it down into the engine room on rainy days. The cap rail and bow pulpit are two teak pieces that don’t paint well. The new owner needs to decide the look they want. Same goes for hull color, though overall the paint, in my mind, could happily get by with touch up, filling scrapes, light sanding and a few new coats, without having to go all the way to the base.
If I were to keep her, I’d probably bring her down to Ensenada where such work will cost a quarter of what we’d pay here and probably be better quality.
I’ve vacillated greatly on the asking price these last few months. I see her flaws and strengths so well. We pressure washed her in June, yet when we got back to her a couple of weeks ago, one would think her color is green.
I’m not so much selling my baby, as much as selling a product I believe in with life and limb.
Sad to say, not being blocked ashore, but literally, on the auction block.
Last week I attended the Pacific NW Kadey Krogen Rendezvous. At great time was had by all. It was really nice being around a lot of down to earth & friendly KK people. I will continue my association with that group, as I truly enjoy being around people who understand the capabilities of our marvelously designed and built boats.
And I found a connection to Burl Ives, that I would never have guessed as I watched him 60 years ago on TV that our lives would one day be linked. Here is a little summary I found someplace:
Naval Architect, James S. Krogen (1928 – 1994) followed a design trail that was off-the-beaten-path when compared to the general evolution of contemporary yachts. For example, in the mid-1960s, Jim Krogen designed a Navy whaleboat-to-motorsailer conversion for folk singer-songwriter-actor, Burl Ives. The relatively small yacht was the epitome of utilitarianism and set a philosophical undertone for what was to follow.
Overall, Krogen yachts exhibit an unabashed commitment to the principle that form should follow function. They are known as no-nonsense, able cruising yachts of a type that is today in serious danger of extinction.
Following the formation of a partnership between naval architect, Jim Krogen, and Florida yacht broker, Art Kadey, in 1976, Krogen yachts became known as Kadey-Krogen. By 2014, the 600th Kadey-Krogen had been built and delivered.
One of the earliest yachts produced under the Kadey-Krogen partnership was a 42-foot, full displacement cruiser that was powered by a single 135-hp Lehman diesel which drove her at an economical cruising speed of 7 knots. With 700 gallons of fuel aboard, her range was in excess of 3,000 nautical miles. And if her speed was dropped to 6 knots, her range was extended to almost 5,000 nm. Because the Krogen 42 was intended for offshore passagemaking, she could be fitted with paravane stabilizers.
The Kadey-Krogen signature profile has a swept, unbroken sheer that rises from moderate freeboard aft to a very high bow in the tradition of commercial offshore trawlers. This also meant even in large seas, no waves break over the rails.
The Kadey-Krogen trawler-yacht hull form is a genuine round bottom (or soft chine) full-displacement form that is both soft-riding and extremely efficient, averaging about 1.6 gallons/hr. at 6.8 knots (with Dauntless’ 4 bladed prop).
Below decks, the layouts of Krogen yachts are generally practical and usable, without any attempts to squeeze a quart of contents into a pint jar.
From the very beginning and continuing to this very day, Kadey Krogens of any size have been about efficiency, both inside and out.
This is how this efficiency has manifested itself for our last 8 years:
Inside Storage. This past summer, thinking it was time to “declutter” Dauntless, we shipped 1,000 pounds of stuff in 15 boxes on a 4’ x 3.5’ pallet stacked 6 feet high. When we were done, Dauntless looked as cluttered as ever. A testament to the vast amount of out of sight storage available on this KK42.
Running Costs. With fuel averaging $4 s gallon for me the last 8 years, with almost 30,000 nm under the keel, we have averaged $1 per nautical mile in total running costs (fuel, oil, expendable supplies). I would be very happy to compare this Kadey Krogen’s running costs with any other motor yacht out there. I believe our costs are half of the major competition. I wish this was a better-known fact. I’ve kept meticulous records from beginning to end, here is a summary of the first 4 years and 4,000 engine hours:
The table above reflects the number of engine hours, fuel use and distance travelled for each cruising season. Thus, The first Atlantic Passage from Cape Cod to Ireland via the Azores, took 638 engine hours, 1013 gallons of diesel and was 3624 nautical miles (nm) for an average of 1.6 gal/hr and 3.6 nm/gal.
From Gibraltar to Martinique, a distance of about 3,500nm required only 700 gallons of fuel and 6 gallons of oil costing me less than $1400. Now I know 99% of Krogen owners will not make the trips that I have, but at least they have that option. On the other hand, if you have a boat that is not as efficient, a $10,000 ocean passage becomes truly daunting.
While I have a written log of every event on the boat, as you can see from the above numbers, they were consistent enough, that I got lazy and stopped entering every day into my spreadsheet from which I obtained these numbers.
As for other information on the boat, I know what temperatures everything runs at: Engine coolant tank, as measured at top of tank 158°, oil filter 161°, transmission 131°and stuffing box 100° (this depends on sea water temperature and is normally 15° above sea water temperature).
So, my reality has been that over 8 years these numbers vary so little, I am able to spot issues immediately, should they arise, which they never do.
Related to all of the above is my hoard of spare parts for Dauntless. Basically, all they did for me was take up space in the engine room, but they did give me piece of mind and have pretty much been untouched for 8 years. My boat maintenance has been for the routine stuff, oil change every 200 to 300 hours, fuel filters every 50 hours unless a problem is noted. The Ford Lehman SP135 does not eat impellers nor do anything else. It just drones on until not needed anymore. I had 4 or 5 impellers when I left for the first passage and have needed none. I do change them every couple of years, but the old ones look as good as new. The engine will drone on and on for weeks on end with never a hiccup. One realizes how comforting that is when occasionally miles from land, I would reach for something on the helm and inadvertently hit the throttle causing a dip in RPMs. Your heart goes to your throat for that instant before you realize that it was just you. Readers of my blog will know that virtually everything that has broken on the boat was broken by operator error, me!
Lastly, James Krogen designed and built a boat that could handle the North Atlantic. In hindsight, I love this boat more than ever because she kept me safe and sound in spite of some of my dubious decisions. Look at the fishing boat in Ireland next to Dauntless. Our lines, roof, bow rise, etc. are within inches of each other. James Krogen knew how to design and build a boat that would keep you safe no matter what or where. We ended up with a safe, secure, and cost-efficient boat.
Docked next to a fishing boat in Ireland15+ foot seas Mid-Atlantic, August 2014. Waves this boat would just laugh at; me not so much!
While I have been meticulous in maintenance, my attention to her cosmetics have been lacking. My focus has always been on cruising, but I know a new owner will want a pretty boat. So I will discount that in the price, so the new owner can make her look as she should. On the other hand, should the new owner be ready to cross the Pacific tomorrow or go down the coast to Mexico, she’s willing and able to do so right now.
She’s not pretty, she’s fucking gorgeous, because we can actually afford to go places.
Coming up.
In the next week, I will post Dauntless for Sale here, with a list of equipment, some pictures (though most new pictures will have to wait until we get to Seattle, and we can get all our stuff off the boat and clean her up). I would love to sell her to someone who at least dreams about crossing oceans. I would also be happy to help in any delivery anywhere, I’d love to return to northern Europe one more time!
If you are interested in an iconic ocean crosser, contact me sooner rather than later, as I am willing to discount for the outside paint that must be redone, the teak on the gunnel which has not been touched since I bought her and the savings from sale by owner.
Dauntless in Horta, Azores on the one day of the year that the moon rises directly over Mt. Pico
Don’t look at the crabs, or Ti, look at that ugly gunnel teak.
Everyone says that it’s best to return the boat to as close to original, especially when it comes to electrics, for a good survey. But I’m not sure I can do that.
We are cleaning her bottom as Dauntless is out on the “grid” in Wrangell
No, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to do that. Why? Because this boat has gotten me where we are as she is. She’s been nothing but reliable. Many of my additions are just to make my life a little easier.
For example, when I upgraded the fridge/freezer in 2014 to the Vitrifrigos, they were very professionally wired and installed. They can use any voltage and frequency, from 240v/50hz, 120v/60hz to 12v d.c. While the 120v power goes through a breaker on the salon distribution panel, the 12v power came directly from the engine room distribution panel. I had no easy way to totally isolate the fridge or freezer. So, I added a 4-gang switch, with circuit breakers, so I had an easy way to turn off the power if need be.
Now, in the four years since I did this, I’ve probably only turned the 12v power off two times, the last one being a few months ago, when I was trying to determine my mysterious electrical draw (See Sense of Smell). So why undo something like that? Does that really increase value?
But there are a lot of cosmetic things that do need to be taken care of. Truth be told, as I’ve cruised up and down the east coast, across the Atlantic, through the Baltic and North Seas, back across the Atlantic and the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and the long, hard slog up the west coast of North America, I didn’t find much time to do those cosmetic jobs that make boats look so pretty.
The beautiful grey paint job that I think makes Dauntless lo so determined is now five years old. Time for a refresh. The cap rail in particular looked great for two years, then showed the first bubble (it’s hard to paint teak no matter how good the preparation) at year three and looks really bad now. I may try AWL wood.
Also, the inside walls have too much evidence of botched jobs, etc. So, Dauntless needs some of that tender care that I have been so negligent in giving her over the last 30, 000 miles.
But I love her. She has been such a reliable vessel, The $10+ value of spares in half a dozen containers of spare parts have almost never been opened. All that money! But I was preparing for cruising the world and I was as afraid of getting a required part through customs in a timely manner or actually needing those spare injector tubes in the middle of the Atlantic.
As I’ve said, I never needed any of it. Even the two long term cruising spare kits from American Diesel went unused.
But the teak on the gunnel looks like hell or in reality, just untouched for 8 years! What can I expect? Eek
Right now, the plan is sort of tentative. It depends on where in Washington state I find on the hard storage for the winter. I also want to be able to do some work on her to prepare her for sale. If I can’t do that because of restrictions on working on the boat, then does it make sense to bring her down for the winter? Maybe wait until spring??
Let’s see what I learn a the Northwest Kadey Krogen rendezvous. Umm, maybe this is starting to look like Afghanistan.
It is. I can’t refute that. Basically, we each see Dauntless in a vastly different light.
Dauntless in Gdansk Poland
My light started in 2011, when my then wife (Julie) and I first saw the Kadey Krogen that would be renamed Dauntless two years later when we bought her.
Julie and I talked and planned for four years before even stepping on the decks of Dauntless. We had a single vision: being able to travel anyplace, affordably, and safely in our own boat.
As a reader of this blog, you know the story, the mission I have been on for the last 10 years, so I don’t need to repeat it here, but without Julie, there is no Dauntless, no Atlantic crossing, no nothing.
In 2014 we planned and even a map, showing our route for the next four or five years, ending in Korea, a special place for both of us. Our planning gave us a confidence that enabled us to leave Cape Cod one morning in mid-summer and head due east into the unknown.
Both of us were explorers with the curiosity that comes with seeing, doing new things. We weren’t fearless, far from it, we both could and did get scared in the dark. But being in the cocoon of Dauntless somehow made us not fear the darkness, the ocean or anything else.
We both decided that we would fear what we could see. Thus, full AIS to avoid getting run over by a big ship, but don’t worry about the semi-submerged container that we can’t see in the middle of the night. The seas of the North Atlantic at summer’s end are still tame yet will show us why we don’t do this in October. It also gave us the confidence by seeing how well we did in 15-to-25-foot seas for days on end.
When we looked at Dauntless, we saw Adventure & Travel, in a safe, economic package. A boat that we could afford to run across oceans and that was truly at home in any sea. The Kadey Krogen was the prefect boat for us.
When my life’s path changed in 2016, with our divorce, I kept going on the momentum of the plan. But the cruising became less and less fun. It became more of getting from point A to B. For the slog up the west coast, I had the help of some good friends who came to help at various times. That made it tolerable, but the fun and adventure were missing in action.
I didn’t really understand this as well then as I do today. My mission had changed or more likely, I had added another mission. In 2017, while Dauntless was in Costa Rica I went to Viet Nam for the first time. Military history has always been a passion of mine, especially after my first tour in Europe when I joined the USAF. So, I knew more than most our squalid history of the Viet Nam war. While I did participate in one march against the war in Seattle in 1970, it was also clear to me, unlike others, that Jane Fonda was a propaganda tool of the North Viet Nam government.
But I had learned a lot more since then and was looking forward to this new adventure. Having been in a virtually every country, except Hungary, in Europe over the last 40 years, I knew Americans were liked more the further east one went. In other words, ex-communist places appreciate the USA more than most and far more than is portrayed in the American press.
Long story short, I loved Viet Nam and I have never been in a country where Americans were loved more. When a store would want to promote a new product, they would display a giant American flag, or better yet just paint the wall of the store with the stars and stripes. With Ti and Thien in my life my mission had changed.
Trump on cover of school notebook (blank). Yes, He is more popular than Lincoln. Why? Because he stands up to the Chinese, unlike Lincoln. !
This explanation is to let you, the loyal folks who have followed my travels for so long, in time and distance, understand that this is not simply because my current partner sees Dauntless differently, as a depreciating asset.
And to be clear, once and for all, our divorce was not because of the boat, but simply because Julie had started a school and that school needed her more than Dauntless or I did. It was a sentiment that I fully understood for I lived by the same creed. Whether it was the USAF or the NYC DOE by job, my mission came first. I could expect Julie to do no less and I always loved her and respected it for it.
That was five years ago. As I said, the momentum of the plan got me back across the Atlantic and into the Pacific Ocean. Two years of a sedentary life in Wrangell have helped me to understand that Dauntless wasn’t made to sit. She likes going new places and seeing new faces. I’m also not suited to be a snowbird. I’m a gypsy. In Ireland, gypsies are called ‘Travellers”. that’s an apt name, maybe even a better name, since gypsy implies homeless, while traveller, which brings to mind, Lee Marvin’s hit song from Paint Your Wagon, https://youtu.be/-jYk5u9vKfA
As said in my last blog, we’ll all three be heading to the PAC NW next month, while Dauntless is in Wrangell with my brother, who will take her out on his own over the next two months. I’m looking forward to the Northwest Kadey Krogen rendezvous. I’ll meet a bunch of great people, some of whom I have known only by email in the past years.
I’m also planning for the winter and getting Dauntless ready. I’m thinking now of bringing her down to Seattle. But if I do that, it’s backtracking and that means it will be a one-way trip.
If you are interested in the Viet Nam war, two books and lectures you may find interesting are:
In 2018, I moved to Alaska, then a year later, I brought Ti and Thien to join me for our Dauntless in Alaska adventure. Those regular readers of this blog and my friends who follow just to keep up, know I like to keep it simple.
Dauntless in Horta, Azores with the moon rising over Mt. Pico
Make the Plan; Do the Plan.
Dauntless in Spain 2016
For the past 10 years, the plan has been simple, keep moving forward:
In 2011, it was to acquire an affordable ocean crossing boat, which meant a Kadey Krogen.
In 2013, we acquired Dauntless and outfitted her to cross oceans and gain experience to do so.
2014 was the first Atlantic Passage, England to Ireland via the Azores,
2015 was the Baltic & North Sea adventure, showing the flag from eastern Finland thru Scotland,
2016 exploring the west coast of Europe, from Scotland to NW Africa, coming west again at year’s end
2017 the Panama Canal, Central America, Mexico and finally,
2018-2019 the long, hard, never to do again, slog up the west coast of North America to Alaska.
But it’s now 2021 and Dauntless has become restless. Two years in the same port is not something we are accustomed to, though Alaska is a great place to live and boat.
Looking back at the original plan of 2013 and 2014, would have put Dauntless in Korea by now. That was always the near time goal from the inception of the idea to its realization. Having done the hard work of coming north along the west coast, it would be relatively easy to head west into the Aleutians. Then, it’s a short step, 1200 miles, 9 days to Japan. So close and yet so far.
But the air smells different.
Last summer, my brother, a long time Alaskan, who retired to Las Vegas a few years ago finally realized the fishing sucked in Vegas, at least for the aquatic kind. So, he came up with the idea of joining us on Dauntless for the summer 2021. Now, I love my brother, I grew up with him, so the idea of spending months with him, left a lot to be desired.
Thus, I figured it would be a perfect time for a vacation away from the boat. We planned for this summer and fall. He would be on Dauntless, while the three of us, would be visiting our friends in Texas on their beautiful ranch about 20 miles WSW of Austin. Texas Hill Country.
Texas Hill Country with pool !
We spent June showing him how to run Dauntless without hitting anything. It also gave me the opportunity to go through all the boat systems to make sure everything would run smoothly for him. Other than the watermaker and bow thruster, all systems were doing well. I made a few check lists for him, or I think I did, or at least I thought about making some checklists, but as I sit here, I am not so sure.
A nearby creek
We ended up flying down to Texas the very end of June. We are doing an opposite “Snowbird” (many “Alaskans” fly south when the first snow flies in October until May).
More hill country
Thien will be going to Oregon State University this fall. Ti and I will drive him out to the PAC NW in September. We’ll also visit friends along the way and in Seattle. Then at the end of the month, I’ll attend the Northwest Kadey Krogen rendezvous, a first for me. I’m looking forward to meeting a whole new bunch of Krogenites.
But in the meantime, the air smells different, I smell dirt!
But now I have a mutiny on my hands. The plan was to stay here until Thien goes off to school this fall. My brother would be on the boat in any case, so no worries there. But now, Ti likes it here and says there is more opportunity for her here (That’s certainly true). Best of all, she loves the kitchen in the very big house.
For when it comes to Dauntless, Ti can only see a “Depreciating Asset”. Now, I love Ti and the Vietnamese in general for their hard work, pragmatism, and ingenuity, being able to make do with what they have. But Depreciating Asset is a bit harsh.
Bringing Cari, a KK42,from Bodega Bay CA to Gig Harbor, WA Part II
Cari docked in her slip (second boat from right). the finger is on the starboard side, with a sailboat on the port side.
After that first 24 hours, winds and seas became more southerly and lessened in strength. So, the rolling slowly subsided over the next four days until we rounded the corner for the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
We have about 15 hours left to Gig Harbor, but this would be our last night out. It did cause a little excitement for me.
On Dauntless, I understand my Raymarine E-80 radar very well. Since the first day, back in March 2013, when I turn on the engine, I also turn on:
Radar,
Navigation lights,
VHF radio,
AIS transponder,
Horn,
Auto pilot,
I’ve just found it best practice to always have all equipment powered and running when underway, day or night. This precludes forgetting to turn on Navigation Lights when it gets dark and most importantly, allows me to always see what the radar sees in good visibility and even more critical, to investigate items it’s not seeing (no returns), but are obvious enough looking out the pilot house windows that there is an object I certainly want to avoid.
When that happens, I just re-adjust the radar’s gain and filter, so that it shows me what it should for the current sea state.
This allows me to have total confidence at night and in poor visibility situations. Obviously, on a different boat, with a different radar, that is not the case.
So far on this trip, I found the radar somewhat typical, in that it seemed to work pretty well, but at times, it either showed too much sea clutter or not enough. Something to keep in mind.
Thus, that last night, being off the ocean and now in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, there was other traffic, navigation markers, etc. to deal with.
As we passed as few miles off of Port Angeles at Oh-Dark-Thirty, I saw a white light ahead, seemingly very close. I checked the chart, there should be nothing ahead for three miles, more than 30 minutes away. But there was a note about log booms in the Port Angeles harbor. We were near the harbor entrance, could this light denote a log boom?
Looking at the radar, I saw nothing, but as I said, I did not trust this particular radar that much to rely on it. That left my eyes and brain. As we know, our eyes and brain coupled with a vivid imagination, can do wonders at night. In particular, almost everything looks closer.
My brain was telling me that this flashing white light was close, almost too close.
Being responsible for someone else’ boat, made me even more cautious than usual. I decided that caution was called for and turned the boat 90° to the north. At worst, I’d waste a little time, but at best I would avoid imminent disaster.
After turning and heading north for 5 minutes, as I watched the light (that I had turned to avoid), its bearing had hardly changed. Umm, that meant that this light was not close at all but far way. Confirming what the radar had been telling me all along. I felt a bit embarrassed, but there were no witnesses and I felt good that I had chosen the safer choice, even if I wasted some time.
The rest of the morning was uneventful. Our ETA to Gig Harbor was about 13:00 and we decided that I would pilot the boat into the harbor and dock her, since I had a few dockings under my belt.
I decided that this was not the moment to recount the story of my first docking in Poland, where after docked, my friend said to me, “It’s a rub rail, not a crash rail”.
I was a bit nervous, never having seen the slip before and knowing it would be very narrow, at the almost end of the channel, leaving one with few options in case of a missed approach.
As you can see from the attached pictures, one from land looking at Cari in her slip, with a sailboat on her port side, the finger pier being on the right or starboard side and the overhead google shot, it is a narrow fairway.
Overhead Google view of Gig Harbor and I have put pin over the spot we would dock in
In spite of my nervousness, I decided I just had to dock as if it was Dauntless. I stayed to the right as we entered the fairway, trying to give myself as much room as possible for the left turn into the slip. I knew there was a sailboat docked on the left, with the narrow finger on the right.
With the Kadey Krogen’s high bow rise blocking the near forward view, I knew I had to trust my instincts. As I turned sharply left, I put her in neutral to reduce our forward speed of 3 knots. Seems fast, but steerage below two knots becomes problematic. The KK will turn very sharply, with a single screw and even without bow thruster. At full left rudder the bow pulpit was swinging over the finger. I knew to let it go well over the dock, in spite of appearances. Finally, with about 10 feet to spare forward to the dock, I put her in reverse and gave her a shot of power to kill our forward momentum. This also adds a kick to the stern to the right. The KK42 has a left-handed prop, so the stern is always trying to walk to the starboard, whether going forward or reverse.
Normally, I would have the person on the lines, put a line on the first cleat possible, then tie off at the midships cleat on the boat. Then use that with full left rudder and forward gear to push the stern against the dock finger. But in this case, it wasn’t needed. The surge of reverse, put the stern again the finger, stopped our forward way and the boat was perfectly parallel to the dock as it came to a stop, with the bow 6 feet from the forward dock. We hadn’t touched the sailboat to the left, only a few feet away and we hadn’t bounced off the finger.
I was a bit astonished. As it was by far one of my best dockings ever.
Thank God for small favors.
I could finally relax for the first time in the days and weeks leading up to this trip.
I know I haven’t written very much, because not much has happened being somewhat stationary for the last two years and unlike the Discovery Channel, I can’t make drama out of nothing.
My amp meter showing a +4 amp draw
During the last dozen years, I’ve seen more and more cruisers adding a video surveillance system to their boats. Being able to see the engine room at all times from the pilot house, certainly looks attractive, but I feel it can provide a false sense of security.
My brother will be on Dauntless for the summer. Last week, we took Dauntless out to show him some of our favorite fishing sites. In getting ready for his arrival, we did a real spring cleaning. Dauntless has never been a smelly boat. In large part because the second owner replaced all the non-copper hoses on the boat’s sanitation system and engine. That makes a big difference.
But a Wrangell winter is an incubator for mold and mildew. We run an Invation Dehumidifier all winter, on high at night, it would warm the salon to high 60’s and lower the humidity to mid-30%. During the day, we run it on low. I plumbed it into our gallery sink drain, so I never have to empty the water container.
So Dauntless smells pretty sweet, even before the spring cleaning.
Thus a few days later, after my brother’s arrival, the boat was permeated by a new odor.
And no, I did not think it was my brother! Because it was clear that it was coming from the engine room. My first thought was that during the spring cleaning the previous week, we had even cleaned and organized the lazzerette. Because of a loose drain hose, there was a large container in the lazzerette that was full of water, maybe 20+ gallons of smelly water. To heavy to lift out, I decided to just empty it and it would run into the engine room and be pumped out. I then hosed down the lazzerette and really didn’t smell any thing foul anymore.
But now a week later, I was wondering if that smelly water, had found a space to fester. Also, the previous week, we had anchored in a place that while hauling the anchor, a significant amount of seaweed and kelp was on the chain. We pulled most of it all as the chain come up but didn’t wash the chain.
So, I wondered if the odor was being caused by organic material.
Between the stanky lazzerette water and the chain locker, I thought it was possible this was the cause. I ran all the chain out in about 15 feet of water int eh harbor. We also took soap and bucket and scrubbed the bilge and chain locker. While all the chain was out, I decided to also put a small plastic basket on the bottom, that once crushed by 500 pounds of chains, would still provide a few inches of clearance keeping the chain locker drain clear of line and chain. In 8 years of Dauntless life, our chain locker has never had a strong odor and wanted to keep it that way.
Half a day later, all done, the engine room did smell better, but the malorious odor was still noticeable.
We’d be going out the next day. Maybe the engine room just needed an airing out?
That next evening, while on the hook, the odor was back, as bad as ever.
The odor had a strange aspect to it, almost organic, like something dead, but also a bit like plastic.
This same evening, the first one away from the dock and shore power, I noticed a 5 to 10 amp draw that was unaccountable. I turned everything off, finally even going to the extreme of turning off the boat computer, something I never do while away from the dock, as it is provides my primary navigation, GPS and AIS.
With the boat dead quiet, nothing on, the current draw was now almost 8 amps, 96 watts. This meant that someplace on this boat, I had the equivalent of a 100-watt bulb burning and that produces a significant amount of heat. It should be noticeable.
Ah ha. I had it. I must be one of the house bank batteries. They were 5 years old and already shot. 90% of the house bank was powered by my one LiFePO4 battery of 200 amp-hours, while the three old lead acid batteries were providing about 30 amp-hours in total. So, it made sense to me that one of the batteries was bad, shorted out and pulling power from the good batteries.
This was confirmed when I checked the current draw with a clamp on amp meter and sure enough, I could see 6 amps coming out of the house bank.
With much anticipation, I was sure I found the problem. I got my IR temperature gun, opened up the two battery compartments and expected to see the problem.
First battery, the only one on the port side, sharing the box with the Li battery was 84°, that seemed ok, since the Li battery was warm as it was doing most of the work. OK, then it must be one of the batteries in the starboard box.
Opened the starboard battery box with even greater anticipation, both batteries were cool, only 74° and the current running thru each battery was less than one amp.
There is also a Perko switch in the engine room electrical distribution panel. This allows me to switch from the start battery to house bank to start the engine. I’ve never used it. And when I did switch it, the draw remained the same.
Stumped again.
There is also a similar Perko switch in the salon distribution panel. It allows me to switch the house bank source from the house bank to the start battery (a relic of the old system, which had no start battery, but used the house bank to start the engine).
Stumped yet again.
Back to the engine room distribution panel.
Using my trusty amp meter again, I noticed a 5 amp draw that ran to an isolator, then a 100-amp fuse. This isolator is not to be confused with the two 120-volt isolators I have on each of the 120 circuits. This was on the 12-volt system and frankly, I was unclear what its purpose was.
Returning back to Wrangell the next day, I was egger to call my friend and electrical genius and Kadey Krogen guru, Dave Arnold in Fort Pierce. He’d help me figure it out.
And he did.
I knew my start battery and house bank batteries were separated and sort of knew they were charged separately, but not was well as I had thought.
David asked me if I had checked the current in the negative start battery cable. I hadn’t. He explained to me that the 12v isolator was how I charged by start battery. In simple terms, it lets a small amount of power go to the start battery as needed, but won’t pull power from the start battery, no matter the state of charge of the house bank.
My 12 volt Engine Room Distribution cabinet
My start battery, installed by David in fact, was now 8 years old. It had to be the culprit. Simply put, it had an internal short and was draining the house bank at 5 to 8 amps continuously.
As I opened the battery box cover for the start battery, the heat and bad smell hit me. The battery top was 154°F. I disconnected it; we pulled it out and put it on the dock. Two hours later it was still 100 degrees.
Video surveillance wouldn’t have smelled that until it went up in flames.
It’s been a quiet winter. Covid-19 or not, winter in Wrangell, Alaska is quiet. It’s possible to go weeks, without talking to anyone, other than the cashier at the grocery store.
Coupled with the fact, that until summer 2019, I had spent most of my winters overseas, my friends got accustomed to not calling. No cards, no letters, no nuthin., Great for hermits, not so great for a kid born in Greenwich Village, in what seemed like the center of the world.
Sometime in February, I was contacted by a new Kadey Krogen 42 owner, who had bought the boat located just north of San Francisco and was looking for advice on bringing it up the coast to his home in Gig Harbor, Washington, just northwest of Tacoma. After a couple of emails and conversations, I offered to help the new owner, Ole, bring the boat up north.
We made some tentative plans to try to do this in April, as I needed to get Dauntless ready for its busy summer with my brother coming up to go fishing and cruising for the summer. That will be the topic of another blog.
So, I was committed to this delivery from Bodega Bay to Gig Harbor. The owner, Ole, had extensive sailing experience, even building boats, but this was his first power boat.
In preparing for the trip, I started watching the winds of the California, Oregon, and Washington coasts. It was the same old story, northwest winds 90% of the time. Day in and day out, the same thing. The idea of hobby horsing up the coast for a second time was not very appealing. In fact, it made me pretty worried. What happened if Ole wanted to leave under so-so conditions and I didn’t?
As we talked over the coming weeks and months, I felt he was willing to listen to my experience, which made me feel more comfortable about my commitment. (as when I give my word, I keep my word).
The winds were not as cooperative. Over an eight-week period, I saw only one or two decent weather windows, with the NW winds abating for a few days. It’s about 650 nm from Bodega Bay, where the KK was, to Neah Bay (just off the Pacific Ocean in the Straits of Juan de Fuca). That means almost 5 full days on the eastern Pacific with no stops. It’s another day from there to Gig Harbor, but I didn’t worry about that portion of the trip. Once we got off the Pacific, we would be in sheltered waters and better able to deal with whatever Mother Nature threw at us.
The weather window I was looking for, would have a low-pressure area and associated fronts, just off the coast, causing south to west winds at moderate strength. We needed to have a series of these lows, not just one, otherwise, upon frontal passage, with the low moving east, the high-pressure areas would build rapidly off the coast, bringing back the NW winds at 15 to 25+ knots off the coast.
That would be No-Go. My old body wanted no part of bouncing up and down the coast every 6 seconds for any number of days!
A few days before my anticipated flight from Wrangell to Santa Rosa, California, a two-day trip on Alaska Airlines, Ole called me to suggest a delay of 5 days, to better wait for our weather window. I was really happy to hear that, as I was looking at the same forecast conditions and was pleased that we were on the same page.
Looking 7 to 10 days out on Windy.com, it did seem that a weather window was developing for Saturday, April 24th. For the next week, the forecast stayed consistent, one of the best indications of a good forecast that has a good handle on the situation.
Sunday morning 02:00 fcst winds, approx 18 hours after our anticipated departure. We would be just SW of Mendocino, with winds off port quarter.
I arrived in Santa Rosa that Wednesday. The next day, we went to Svendsen’s Marine & Industrial Supply, a massive marine supply place in Alameda, that is worth the visit for anyone in the Bay area.
Sunday morning 08:00 fcst winds, approx 24 hours after our anticipated departure. We would be just W of Mendocino, with winds off port beam. (As fcst, this was our conditions for much of the night, with 12 to 18 knot WSW winds.
Friday, we spent provisioning, Ole was so generous in everything we bought and in fact we ended up buying far more food than we could ever eat, especially on a rolling ocean.
We were planning a Saturday morning departure, but it depended on the winds turning from the NW to the south, southwest or west. While the forecast still called for this big change and had been consistent all week, the proof was going to be Saturday morning.
It was with much relief that I woke Saturday, checked the flags in the marina, and was pleased to see that they were finally streaming northward. Our much-anticipated southern winds had arrived. It was time to go.
Sunday morning 11:00 fcst winds, approx 27 hours after our anticipated departure. We would be just WNW of Mendocino, with light winds off port beam.
We couldn’t wait either, as the forecast winds were to become northerly again north of Eureka, California the following day. This meant we had to be north of that cape by the 24-hour point. It also meant that we would have strong westerly winds this first day, but those winds would become more southerly in subsequent days as long as we made progress north.
Now, a Kadey Krogen will roll on a damp lawn, and this boat had no stabilization. But neither did Dauntless my first year and 5,000 miles. A little rolling is good for the digestion in any case, and I was willing to put up with anything to avoid head seas and the hobby horse ride that entails on a full displacement boat.
As we left the harbor, we first had to go WNW for a few hours and then were able to turn NW to parallel the northern California coast. For much of the day, we had light southwest winds, with smallish seas off the port quarter. Again, this was just as forecast. As the day progressed, the winds were forecast to become stronger and more westerly for the nighttime hours. They did so that evening, so did the amount of our rolling. There was a cold front to our west, which caused the winds to increase to 12 to 18 knots. Seas built from less than one foot to 3 to 5 feet, so we were rolling like a … Kadey Krogen.
Sunday evening, 18:00 fcst winds, approx 45 hours after our anticipated departure. We needed to be off Eureka to stay east of the NW winds that were returning to be off shore.
That first day with any open water passages, when the boat gets rolling, any thing not secured would let its presence be known and they did. But this boat was pretty secured; Ole being an old sea dog. We had a line securing the refrigerator and freezer. The furniture was secured in the salon and we had re-stowed the loose stuff on the salon shelves.
The rolling increased that night, often up to 30° degrees to the lee side, 20° to the windward side, I was wedged into the pilothouse bench seat, having seen this movie before.
A few things got loose anyway and as always; the noise is always worse than the damage (in a well-prepared boat). A small container of fruits having escaped and spread over the floor that took some corralling. But the real damage was unseen for a number of hours.
This depiction for Sunday evening, 21:00, turned out to be reasonably accurate. We did have very light southerly winds that second night
What could that damage be?
As I said, Ole is a real Sea Dog, unlike me, who is just a neophyte in comparison. But the rolling took its toll, and the initial problem was unseen for hours. By the time, Olé did find the problem, it was a real mess.
A real mess.
Inside our refrigerator, a jar of preserves was unended, and horror of horrors, its lid came off, so it rolled around for hours that night with no lid, distributing its sticky contents everywhere over everything in the entire fridge.
It took poor Ole, hours to clean up the next day.
Guiltily, I thought to myself, better him than me, for a change.
I suppose there are upsides to being on someone else’s bottom.
Our anticipated route with no stops in RED. The waypoints (dots) are approximately every 24 hours, so I could get a better idea to correlate the wx fcst by location and time.
The clean up has been going better than expected. Even stains that I thought would never be gone have disappeared with a little elbow grease and pressure wash. I finally took down the large, Lexan storm windows that covered the 7-foot salon windows yesterday. They had been in place 7 years, 3 months, and 4 days, buts whose counting.
Dauntless at Sea 