First Salmon Ceremony
On their way up river to Portland, the Lady and the Chieftain had a trading fair with the Chinook Tribe that lives at the mouth of the Columbia River. So, on the way back out, we were invited to attend the Chinook's annual First Salmon Ceremony, in which they thank Salmon for giving their lives to feed the Two-legged People. We were invited, and it was a high priority to Captain Evil and Elf that we be there. Unfortunately, the Grey's Harbor Seaport did not give us sufficient time to be there for the whole thing, so Evil did everything he could to get us there as much as possible. For two nights, we motored down river as fast as we could. The first night, we stopped at Rainier, where the Seaport had us scheduled to be open for dockside tours. As soon as tours were done, we shoved off without saying goodbye and motored until 2AM AGAIN, to Chinook Point, where we ANCHORED offshore. This is the first time I have had the pleasure of anchoring. I wasn't needed for the actual operation, but I got myself out of bed, simply because I didn't want to miss it. When you anchor, you have to set a constant anchor watch to make sure that the anchor hasn't come unhooked, and we aren't drifting. So we took turns, one hour each, all night long, taking bearings off of three points, recording the wind and the depth. I was on watch with Sam at 6AM. Since we had light, we studied the charts. She had a "how to read a nautical chart" book, and we figured out our position.
After muster and morning chores, the Chieftain sent out a zodiac to shuttle us to shore for the Ceremony. The Chinook People had set up at the state park that has been established on top of their most sacred spot. The Chinook have no reservation, because they have lost their federal recognition as a tribe twice. That's right, twice the federal government has declared them extinct. Clinton reinstated them, and then W erased them again. But hey! For a reasonable fee, they can reserve their sacred spot for day use. Alright, negative thoughts must be left behind, so here's me taking a deep breath.
Right, I feel better.
Here's the thing, this is only the second time that outsiders have been invited to their ceremony, so it was a high honor. We left as many crew members as we could spare there, and the rest of us shuttled back after about an hour. Once on board, we immediately hauled up the anchor and took off. Hauling up the anchor was some serious team work. We didn't do it the traditional way, which would have involved cranking it up six inches at a time with the windlass. Instead, we just pulled the chain clear across the deck, forty feet at a time. Otis would then hook on a safety line to keep the anchor from falling, and we would hook our line onto a new link, and haul up another forty feet. The traditional way takes hours to raise anchor, but we were underway in 20 minutes. We then set sails and sailed into Astoria for dockside tours. I went aloft to unfurl and to furl the sails. This was my first time to do that without guidance. Same with Sam, Than and Maggie. Evil noticed that, and gave us a clap on the back for it.
That was a damn good day! Two negative things happened. 1 and 2) The Chieftain's generator died and they found out they were due for a Coast Guard inspection both on the same day. So today, they couldn't take passengers, and we were overbooked for a public sail. That is how I end up ashore, sitting in a coffee shop, updating my blog. Can't say I am at all unhappy about it, really.
This morning, Elf took the time to give a lesson in setting and dousing sail to all of us who are new crew. There's at least six of us, so it was pretty critical. I've never had a lesson in this. In the past, all my training was during sails, when I just had to keep up the best I could, so I much appreciate getting an actual lesson with a patient teacher.
After muster and morning chores, the Chieftain sent out a zodiac to shuttle us to shore for the Ceremony. The Chinook People had set up at the state park that has been established on top of their most sacred spot. The Chinook have no reservation, because they have lost their federal recognition as a tribe twice. That's right, twice the federal government has declared them extinct. Clinton reinstated them, and then W erased them again. But hey! For a reasonable fee, they can reserve their sacred spot for day use. Alright, negative thoughts must be left behind, so here's me taking a deep breath.
Right, I feel better.
Here's the thing, this is only the second time that outsiders have been invited to their ceremony, so it was a high honor. We left as many crew members as we could spare there, and the rest of us shuttled back after about an hour. Once on board, we immediately hauled up the anchor and took off. Hauling up the anchor was some serious team work. We didn't do it the traditional way, which would have involved cranking it up six inches at a time with the windlass. Instead, we just pulled the chain clear across the deck, forty feet at a time. Otis would then hook on a safety line to keep the anchor from falling, and we would hook our line onto a new link, and haul up another forty feet. The traditional way takes hours to raise anchor, but we were underway in 20 minutes. We then set sails and sailed into Astoria for dockside tours. I went aloft to unfurl and to furl the sails. This was my first time to do that without guidance. Same with Sam, Than and Maggie. Evil noticed that, and gave us a clap on the back for it.
That was a damn good day! Two negative things happened. 1 and 2) The Chieftain's generator died and they found out they were due for a Coast Guard inspection both on the same day. So today, they couldn't take passengers, and we were overbooked for a public sail. That is how I end up ashore, sitting in a coffee shop, updating my blog. Can't say I am at all unhappy about it, really.
This morning, Elf took the time to give a lesson in setting and dousing sail to all of us who are new crew. There's at least six of us, so it was pretty critical. I've never had a lesson in this. In the past, all my training was during sails, when I just had to keep up the best I could, so I much appreciate getting an actual lesson with a patient teacher.