Blake Island Camping: Day 2

Ahhhh. A fresh new day. Last nights sleep was probably the best I've ever had on a campout, and to awaken and an inflated air-mattress with my family snuggled close around me, really couldn't be beat. I was the first to awaken, and I enjoyed laying there listening to the tiny little snores that filled the tent. We had bought the tent especially for this trip so we could all be together and it was worth every penny. Eventually, nature called, and the moment was lost, but it was a good moment.

Picture 1: The same view from our campsite, but where are we now?

Picture 2: A foggy moorage.

It had been a very wet evening. The blankets and pillows in the tent were damp, and outside a thick layer of moisture had soaked everything. Heavy fog rolled around the island carrying us along on our adventure. It felt like we were truly roughing it on some uncharted island. It burned away as gently as it came.

Picture 3: Tiffany lit the morning fire with no matches; only old coals from the previous night.

Pictures 4& 5: The racoon in the tree and the racoon on the trial. Click the picture to see a larger version.

The think Monica and I love so much about the 2nd day on the island is probably what the kids don't - there isn't much to do if you don't want to. We cooked a fancy breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, juice, pancakes and fruit.

Picture 6: New found friends on the beach.

The younger girls and I took a brief hike up one of the trails. I don't think we went very far, but we still had fun. We visited the old ruins of the mansion that used to be on the island. A fat old racoon escorted us along the path (about 50 yards in front of us) and we stopped to watch another one eat wild cherries in a tree just overhead. I tried the cherries but they were much too tart.

Picture 7: Building forts in the driftwood was a favorite pasttime.

The older girls and Monica stayed in camp. I think they got a little bored; though, eventually in the late afternoon they met another girl and played on the beach for a while.

We enjoyed more walks and more good meals; BBQ beef sandwiches & baked beans, foil dinners, roasted marshmallows, s'mores. Of course, we made a run on the concession stand for ice cream cones, and Camille played on the play set A LOT. Monica even ran into one of her old friends from long ago. It was a very pleasant, mellow day. I think our oldest struggles to find things to do in a nature environment; she was ready to go home.

Picture 8: Still playing with friends.

And so, we went to bed, dreaming of clean clothes, cushy beds and nintendo.

Picture 9: We quickly slide into an animal state when we camp.

Blake Island Camping: Day 1

Departure: 11:30am August 23rd, 2007
Return: 3:30pm Auguest 25th, 2007
Weather conditions: Sunny, cloudy, windy, calm, foggy, overcast, you name it
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 6 (Woody& Family)

So sit right and I'll tell a tale
a tale of a fateful trip,
that started on these tropic shores
aboard this tiny ship....

Figure 1: Strange Tall ship

I'm not sure why the Gilligans Island theme song runs through my mind as I prepare to share our latest family adventure. Maybe it's the size of the boat, or the length of the stay, or maybe it's the simple madness of press-ganging one's family onto a long voyage along with all the gear and supplies requisite for family camping.

This was our 2nd "annual" Blake Island camping trip. "Annual" has such a nice ring to it doesn't it? Like it's a tradition. And yet, it's not quite a tradition. I think there is a threshold that must be passed before a regular even becomes a true tradition. I don't know what that is, but we're not there yet. It takes more than 2 times; I know that. The real question is, will we do it next year?



The adventure entails "sailing" from Gig Harbor to Blake Island and camping for two nights - returning on the third day. I'm going to break my report on the trip into 3 entries. This first entry describes the preparations and trip on the first day.

Figure 2: Wow! A lot of stuff.

Preparations
If I had a strength, I would say it is the ability to make a plan. I like to plan and organize, and so planning a trip like this is almost fun for me. It's still work though! Last year when we went, I created a document that described everything we needed so I was able to leverage from that to create a new one this year. HEre's a link if you are curious
Blake Island Excursion 2007.pdf

It's a working document so I won't make any apologies about layout, organization or syntax. It was useful to have. It has a menu, packing list, 3 day agenda and travel plan, activities we can do, tides, weather forecasts and maps of the island and harbor. I'll let you link to it if you care.



Okay, this is getting boring, I'll speed up. We packed, we packed and we packed some more. Six people need a lot of junk for a trip like this. It got a little stressful at the end. One of the other adults in our group "checked out" because of the stress and a couple of work assignments popped up at the last minute. Still, it eventually started coming together. Our AWOL member revived, I finished my work tasks and we got the boat packed and ourselves ready.

A part of our tradition for this trip is completely calm waters when we leave, and this time was no different. We had no illusions, we rigged the sails, but we immediately fired up the iron genny and motored out of the harbor.

Immediately outside the harbor we saw an interesting tall ship. It was larger than the Amazing grace. It had two masts, but I don't think it was a schooner as both masts appeared to be the same size. A stream if thick black smoke was streaming away from their smokestack (yes a smokestack on a sailboat) as they motored across the narrows. We entertained the idea of motoring closer, but they really took off and were gone. It was amazing to see an old ship like that move so quickly. After that we continued north up Colvos Passage.



Time passes.

WE finally hit a good patch of wind off Richmond Pt., or maybe it's Pt. Richmond, so we turned off the motor. We had a very pleasant sail for probably about two hours as we sailed from Pt. Richmond almost to the end of the passage. At that point we realized we needed to just get there. Everyone was tired of being on the boat, and the final straw, was the departure of the wind itself.

The marina at the island was full so we unloaded in the temporary zone before moving the boat out to a mooring ball. It's always a little embarrassing to haul so much stuff out of the boat, but we needed it. What can I say.


Setting up camp is always the fun part for me. I also like moving into a new home, and rearranging the rooms in an old one. Maybe I'm just a homemaker at heart. The girls helped by building a fire and setting up the bedding in the tent. This tent was a brand new 8 person tent. Monica pointed out that it's still a "one man tent". Being traditionalists, we brought 5 bundles of firewood with us ($5 here vs. $9 at the concession stand on the island); one for each meal. The first meal was foil dinners which everyone usually loves. They weren't quite as popular with everyone as last year though.


And that, my friends was Day 1 of our adventure. Stay tuned for Day 2.

Just call me Charlie Brown

Departure: 5:30pm
Return: 8:00pm
Weather conditions: puffy clouds, light winds
Tide: high
Boat: Club Dinghy (Walker Bay)
Crew: 1 (Woody)

Do you remember how Charlie Brown gets suckered into trying to kick the football while Lucy holds it for him? Every time, she pulls the ball away and he flies through the air landing on his back. I'm the Charlie Brown of sailing.

I get ideas from all my reading and daydreaming and they just don't pan out. Take sailboat racing for instance. We all recall the fiasco in May and June when I tried to race my home-built boat in the dinghy races. If you don't, go back and read my posts; I'm not going to waste time here repeating the details.

Well as luck would have it (bad luck), they had another series of races in August. I didn't find out about it until three had passed and I'll miss the last. Not being well served by memory, I got to thinking. I thought that maybe, if I used another boat, I could do better. The only other dinghy I have access to is the club dinghy - an 8' walker bay. Theoretically it should point closer to the wind, and it has a center board instead of a lee-board so both tacks would be equal. Hey! Maybe I could be a bit more competitive so I signed up.

The day of the race was looking really good. The sky was cloudy but there was a good steady wind throughout the day. I didn't care if I won, I just wanted to finish respectfully and with a wind like this and a legitimate boat, I could do it.

Or could I?

The wind dropped off a bit as I motored down to the marina, but it was still blowing and I was still hopeful. However, by the time I'd rigged the boat it was feeling pretty light and looking patchy out on the water. It was downhill from there.

By the time the races started, it was quite calm. The races started later than I'd thought and I was already tired of twisting around in the tiny cockpit of the boat. An 8' dinghy is not a large boat for a man who's 6'5" tall and weighs about 250lbs. Add a sail to that and it's downright awkward. To avoid the boom while taking, I had to double over and my choices for sitting were to sit on my shins with an arm twisted behind my back to guide the tiller or to lay over the thwart on one side. It got old.

The light winds made my start difficult and I was the only 8' dinghy racing. The other boats were all larger lasers or regular sailboats. The wind continued to get lighter until I finally quite and drifted home.

I was very frustrated as you can tell from the tone of the entry (and that's after a day to recover).

38' Charter

Departure: 2:00pm
Return: 4:00pm
Weather conditions: Clear and breezy
Tide: Strong Flood
Boat: Charter Club Boat
Crew: 4 (Tom, Woody, Dave & 6 guests)

Dave (our club manager) invited me to help crew a charter he was doing or a group of 6. It was a chance to get some experience with the big boat that I couldn't pass up.

The winds were light, but we managed to move some. We motored out of the harbor to see if there was anything better and eventually found ourselves downstream (ie in the narrows). A strong flood tide was coming in. We passed within hailing distance of a smaller 22' craft that was struggling in the current. He asked how he could get out of the current. We told him and moved on, but after some discussion with our guests, we went back and towed him out. The guy hadn't done his homework; the boat had a 3hp engine that didn't have a chance of getting him out of trouble.

It was only a 2 hour charter so we were soon back in the harbor where the winds were much better. It was too bad we didn't have time to take advantage, but both Dave and I figure we were probably meant to be out there so we could help that poor little boat.

It sounds like the charters are going to be happening more often. Cool.

July Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm
Return: 5:00pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: Slack tide??
Boat: Club Boat
Crew: 3 (Woody, Tom & Paul)

This was nice club sail thought it felt a little short. The winds were light, and we were all looking for something a little new, so we decided to motor up Colvos Passage a bit before we started sailing.

I don't remember exactly what the tides were doing, but we saw the most amazing rip tides I've seen so far. Lots of clearly defined whirlpools and up swells tried to spin us round and about. I think a high tide was coming in and that northward currents were hitting southward currents. I remember how alarming it was when I first encountered rip tides. To feel the tiller go slack in your hand, and the boat turn of it's own volition is similar to the dropping feeling you get in a small aircraft or a swing.

There isn't much to see up colvos passage, but I did my best to look for something new. I discovered a beautiful home tucked away in it's own valley.
In style, it reminded me of a roman villa, two story with a broad facade, arches and ballistrades. Large potted plants (many flowering) lined the walkways and terraces. The picture doesn't really do it justice. They have a nice situation.

After motoring to Richmond Pt, we killed the motor and practiced our light sailing techniques. It was relaxing and time slipped by faster than the water. A couple of boats motored by included a large transport with dump truck beds fastened to it - very curious. Eventually time got short and we had to start motoring back. A couple of times we killed the motor when we thought the wind was picking up, but for the most part there wasn't much.