![[Telstar in Alaska]](AlaskaPhotos/Alaska.jpg)
| WEBPAGE | PASSAGE | HIGHLIGHTS |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Home to Prince Rupert | Trip beginning, somewhat boring |
| Part 2 | Prince Rupert to Petersburg | Workstation, potti, spinnaker, bears |
| Part 3 | Petersburg to Skagway | Cool iceberg photos; safety gear discussion |
| Part 4 | Skagway - Glacier Bay - Juneau | More icebergs and yachtie stuff |
| Part 5 | Juneau to Sitka | Outside Passage - lots of yachtie stuff |
| Part 6 | Sitka to Craig | Some more yachtie stuff |
| Part 7 | Craig to Prince Rupert | Nailed by a storm front - yachties read this! |
| Part 8 | Prince Rupert to Port Hardy | Rough night at anchor and other yachtie stuff |
| Part 9 | Home | Trip Statistics and High-Low Points - cute |
This webpage provides the overview, some photos, and the table of contents for Joe Siudzinski's 1998 singlehanded cruise to Alaska and back to Washington on a Telstar trimaran.
In the summer of 1998 I decided to get away for three months and sail up the Inside Passage from Washington in the direction of Alaska, with the goal of photographing my Telstar trimaran next to an iceberg.
The 8-metre Telstar trimaran is trailerable and so I decided to start my trip at the top of the Olympic Peninsula from Sequim, Washington. I've had this Telstar for 15 years and am very comfortable with its seaworthiness - there were two things I did to prepare for the trip -
1. Replaced the all-around windows with new ones (polycarbonate) simply to ensure a leakproof environment because I knew it would be raining much of the time.
2. Purchased a new Yamaha 9.9hp four-stroke outboard. I did this for its high-thrust and fuel economy - the existing (original) Mercury 9.8 two-stroke still worked wonderfully, but I did not fancy carrying virtually twice as much gasoline onboard.
Over the years I had performed very extensive modifications to my Telstar and was quite familiar with it - had stripped the entire interior of the main hull and fibreglassed the hull-to-deck joint for strength and sealing before reupholstering the cabin; had ripped out the head compartment and replaced it with a chart table; had torn out the entire forward bunk area and replaced it with crash bulkheads, a small single bunk convertible into a large double, a water tank, and lots of storage cupboards. In addition, I had structurally strengthened the main bulkheads, put in a new mast support, and made literally hundreds of minor upgrades so it is now a very comfortable and safe conveyance.
This cruise narrative consists of nine Parts which were the e-mails that I sent back home, supplemented by the few photos that I have here with me. Other than some date and format corrections, the trip narrative is unchanged from the original e-mails. At some future date I plan on scanning in and including more photos (they're presently at home in a photo album). I hope you enjoy reading my mini-adventure.
Joe Siudzinski, Australia, October 2001
Click on the small photos to see larger-scale images,
then hit your browser BACK button to return to the small photo.
![[Telstar Sailing]](AlaskaPhotos/TelstarInBay.jpg)
The Telstar sailing on San Francisco Bay on a typical summer afternoon.
![[Telstar towing SeaCycle]](AlaskaPhotos/Codville.jpg)
Full cruise mode.