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| The crew - Tracy, Bill & Scott |
For the record, I do not like the term "mancation". It's rather silly, but, I'm sticking with it because that's what my friends call it and it's their tradition. I was lucky to be invited on this one because of my sailing experience so I'm just grateful.
It's nice to be able to post about a sailing trip that doesn't involve the same tired photos of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Mt. Rainier (as amazing as they are in real life). This trip was a milestone in a couple of ways.
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| Rosy clouds over Seattle. |
- first voyage longer than 2 days.
- first experience cooking and sleeping on a boat
- largest boat being responsible for
- multiple destinations
- achievement if a long-time aspiration
- first time doing an activity voluntarily with a small group of men in an intimate venue.
Anyway, I had fun and I'm glad I got to go and without further ado, here's a rundown of the voyage.
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| A breakfast feast. |
I've mentioned Blake Island several times before. We visited as a family a couple of times and once my daughter and I took a couple of friends there. It's a beautiful state park and well worth a visit. It's fun to explore and the campground area is nice.
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| This is what a mancation is all about. |
I especially enjoyed simply pulling into the Marina and being done. There was no unloading and hauling of camping equipment. We hung a barbeque off the back rail and broiled some delicious steaks for dinner. The clouds were especially pretty over Seattle.
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This photo illustrates the extreme heeling of the
boat. I suppose it shows Scott too. |
The next day began with a delicious, over the top, breakfast because, let's be honest, it's not a "mancation" if it doesn't involve lots of good food. After breakfast we packed up and headed toward Seattle.
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The submarine. As you would expect, there's
not a lot to see. |
The wind in Elliot Bay was excellent and we spent several hours enjoying the exhilaration of a good sail. Something about the surge of the wind against the sail, the heeling of the boat, the hiss and bubble of water along the hull speaks to me. I was in my element. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have my family there enjoying it with me.
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| Me at the height of happiness. |
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| Sun bathing sea lions. |
During our sail we saw some large sea lions basking in the sun on a buoy and we were passed by a large ferry headed toward Bremerton. We even saw a naval submarine being escorted by two coast guard cutters. It's forbidden to get too close to one, and since we weren't sure what the distance was, we stayed nice and clear. It was neat to see. You don't see a submarine out in the water every day.
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| Our only obstacle to Poulsbo - a bridge. |
As the afternoon grew late, we knew it was time to head to Poulsbo. Poulsbo is a quaint little village at the tip of Liberty Bay that has a Scandanavian history to it (up until the point when the native americans used to live there). It's well kept and has lots of interesting little shops to see. The marina was nice and had a pleasant little park. I believe we ate at a restaurant for dinner.
One of the more anxious moments of sailing for me is arriving at a Marina. One never knows if there will be a spot available at which to tie up. And, if there is a spot, how difficult will it be to get into it. You just never know until you get there.
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| Poulsbo |
The guys in our group were not drinkers or smokers which was really nice and it led to some creative activities for entertainment. Mind you, this is before the explosion of hand-held phone devices, apps, games, streaming media, etc... For instance, one night, we tied balloons for fun and another night we played some kind of board/card game.
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| ummmm. Fun and games? |
After Poulsbo, we were off to Dockton. We had little wind that day and ended up motoring most of the way; unfortunate but typical. We went down along the east side of Vashon/Maury island which gave us a spectacular view of Mt. Rainier so, yes, I did take another picture of the mountain. It's just so dang impressive.
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| Mt. Rainier |
Just like Blake Island, I've mentioned Dockton before. I've sailed there once or twice with the family. It's a nice little Marina that has been almost empty every time I've been there. There is a nice little park and restrooms that are always locked.
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| My bed such as it was. |
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| Hanging it up in Dockton. |
I mentioned at the beginning that this was the first time I slept on a boat and I have to give it mixed reviews. I slept in the middle berth, where the table drops down to form a bed. The leg room was a little short, but I was grateful for the high ceiling after seeing the other berths. The "master" bed in the stern was joke. The ceiling was only maybe 18-24 inches above the bed. It looked extremely claustrophobic. The bow berth wasn't much better. The head room was a little better, but the shape of the bed was basically a rectangle. So unless you are short and squat like a toad, it probably is not comfortable. I did not find the sound of water lapping against the hull in any way relaxing. On the contrary, I was very grateful for my earplugs.
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| Finding perspective. |
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Pleasant, but not exactly sailing
weather. |
We're close to the end of the journey now. The last day broke beautiful and calm. Not even a hint of a breeze. The rest of the crew humored me and we explored deeper into the harbor than I'd ever been before. It was interesting and we used the calm and space to practice doing sharp turns by combining the help and screw creep (I can't remember the term for it). After that short distraction we headed out toward home.
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| Me. |
As we approached Gig Harbor the wind picked up. We had a couple of extra hours so we hoisted the sails and sped about the narrows for a while before finally going home. It was a fun trip.
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| The manly men return home. |
