How a Boat is Pulled

I feel like I'm belaboring this whole boat sale thing. But, I promise that other than funny stories from the past, I will not be making any more entries about selling this boat. In my defense, I do claim that part of my purpose in making this entry is to show my landlubber families and friends how a sailboat is pulled out of the water. I think the pictures say it all.

First, the boat is prepared. In this case, we lowered the mast (a story in itself) and secured all lines, etc... We also moved the boat into position to be placed in the crane (cradle? I don't know what it was called). Here my faithful crew, poses with the prepared boat.






Next, the boat was positioned under the crane, and over the straps of the crane. Compared to taking down the mast, this was relatively quick.




Finally, the boat was lifted out, pressure washed and lowered onto the cradle.



The bottom of the boat wasn't nearly as dirty as I thought.

And that my friends, is truly the end of an era. But not!! Not, the end of our sailing adventures. This is only the beginning....

What Irreantum looked like

I have had a request to post some pictures of what our little sailboat looked like. You'll notice that it is laid out like a daysailor, but remember that it is just under 20' long and has a fixed lead filled keel. It handles like a large boat, and stores like a large boat, but it has all the comforts and limitations of a small boat.


You'll notice the film close to the water line. That is growth. If we had not sold the boat, we would have had it pulled out, pressure washed and repainted this fall. We hadn't done it for over 2 years.

The cubby (covered area in the front) was very handy for stowing gear and whatnot. There is also room under the benches and in the stern. Even with all the room, it's amazing how small a boat can start to feel after 4 or 5 hours in it. Our trip to Blake Island was like that.









The boom tent (tarp hanging over boom with water filled milk jugs) was something I wanted to experiment with more. I really wanted to try out boat camping. This is where you go exploring and just sleep in the boat. I never got a chance because I never got around to getting the anchor light working.

It really is a great boat. I wish we had handled our ownership differently (like fixing some things right away, or paying for moorage sooner, or thinking of the boom tent earlier).

Oh well. It was a good learning process.

My Final Sale with the Irreantum

What's the Irreantum? The boat we owned. I know it's a strange name. It comes from the Book of Mormon (yes I'm LDS) and it means "many waters". I named it that because I hoped to sail many waters. But I digress. I just wanted to explain the name.

I sold the boat on ebay. It's a great little boat, but it didn't sell for much. I think the fact that it didn't come with a trailer, and has the fixed keel scared a lot of people off. I think the new owner will be very pleased with her.

AFter cleaning her out, I decided I had, ahem, better take her out for one last shakedown cruise to make sure everything was okay right? And besides, it was my birthday on Wednesday; what better present to sailor than to go sailing. So....

I took the afternoon off. The weather had been mixed all morning with scattered sunshine, clouds and even some rain. I expected to get rained on so I dressed dry and warm, taking my stocking hat instead of my aussie hat (such a mistake). The wind was also quite calm, and I anticipated drifting and bobbing around for a while and then just coming in.

It only took me a bit to get things ready and off I went. This was the first time I'd taken her out of the slip by myself, but with the winds calm, and the currents light, it went really well. I decided to motor out of the harbor and then to set the sails and see what came.

(photo1 - Looking back at Gig Harbor)

I motored out, put up the sails and drifted for a while, but I was in no hurry. It gave me time to think and to enjoy. The sky cleared and the sun stayed out, and after about 30 minutes, the wind started sputtering and coughing and I was able to start moving about.

I had left just before high tide so the currents were heading south. I decided to head that way as well and then use the returning currents to help me on my way back. As I headed towards the bridge, the winds picked up and I had some nice spots of sailing. I also had some visitors. Several seals were bobbing around and swimming in my direction. In fact, I have never noticed seals swimming along the surface. Usually they just look around and then disappear. A couple of them even barked and that was unusual in my experience as well. In the lame picture, I circled the head of one of the swimming seals. I was sailing closer to get a better picture and he dived.

(photo2 - Friendly seals)

With better winds I made it to a point where I could see the Tacoma Narrows bridge. The winds were light again and the current was changing so I started north. It is so amazing to see the land sweeping by when you think you aren't moving (at least from the wind). Tides and their affects never cease to amaze me.

A tug was coming up from the south pulling a large barge with a crane on top. I wasn't really moving much, and I wasn't sure how to let him know my intentions. Technically, I have the right of way, but as a rule, I like to give large ships a wide berth. I was also getting antsy because by this time the current at swept me north past the point and it was time to start heading towards the harbor. What to do what to do. At the last moment, a really nice wind drew up and blew out of the way toward the harbor. I think the tug was relieved because they immediately changed course to where I was (in his desired path past the point).

(photo3 - Point Defiance)

It was a beautiful fall day to have my final sail on the boat. I"m anxious for the buyer to pick it up so I can move on to the next phase of my sailing adventure.

Woody

Bon Voyage

No, don't panic (all my imaginary readers), it's not the end of the blog. But it is the end of an era. I'm selling the boat.

They say the two happiest days of a boat owners life are when he buys the boat and when he sells the boat. But I think it's not quite accurate. They are actually the happiest days of the boat owners wife. By association, this makes the boat owner happier on those two days. In reality, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic and sentimental. We have owned this boat for 3 years. We have had many adventures with it. Though we have had our challenges with it as well, I have never regretted buying. I will probably be sharing some stories about the boat from the earlier years over the next couple of days. HOpefully I won't bore you. :)

So if I'm selling the boat, but not shutting down the blog, what's going to happen you might ask? I am excited to tell you that I plan to join the Gig Harbor sailing club. After comparing the cost of mooring our own boat, and the cost of doing the same amount of sailing with the club, I felt the club was a better deal. With the club I can take classes at a discount, charter a wider array of boats, participate in monthly club activities & mingle with other like minded individuals. I am very excited. In that sense, I have been happy to sell the boat.

Happy sailing to all.
Regards
Woody

My First Evening Sail

We had a neat experience on September 9th. We were invited to join the Gig Harbor Sailing club on an evening sail out of Seattle. We sailed on a boat call Obsession with a company called 'Emerald City Charters'. I think the boat was around 70' long. It is a retired racing sailboat so the accomodations were simple. All of us stayed on deck to enjoy the show. And what a show. It went something like this...

We began boarding around 5:45pm. Introductions were made, and places were found. Everyone ended up staying seated in the same spot for the entire trip. Monica and I sat up front on the Bow. Promptly at 6:00pm we were under way. We left under motor power, but as soon as we were clear of the city, the sails were hoisted and power was cut.

They really have the boat nicely rigged. The jib automatically furls and unfurls. They also have a power winch to raise the main. This allows the boat to be crewed by only two sailors.

It was so amazing to feel a boat the large, grab the wind and move along. The wind was more like a nice breeze. We didn't find ourselves heeled over, and clinging on for dear life, but we still moved along at a nice clip. There were no large swells so it was a smooth ride.


Dinner was served probably around 6:30. It was a homeade dinner of tasty pastries, fresh fruit and vegetables and yummy sandwiches and wraps. It was all prepared by Dave B.'s (I can't spell his last name) family. Which, I have to nice, is a very nice family. Dave is the chief instructor and manager of the Gig Harbor Sailing Club. He is the club I suppose. He's a very nice guy.

The weather was the best we could have asked for in an early fall evening. What started out as a stormy dark day, cleared off into a darkening blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. We watched the rise and fall of a brilliant sunset in the west, followed by the lighting of Seattle city lights for the night.

It was fun to see Blake Island off to the west about 2 miles away (maybe a mile, it's hard to tell on the water), and to know we'd been there, and conquered. After dark, we passed a large buoy with two great sea lions on it. Not intending to, I startled them with my camera flash. This set them barking at us.

There were other sailboats in the bay including Neptunes Car, another racing/sailing charter sailboat from the same company. We had fun unofficially racing.

We met a lot of nice people from the club, and had a great time. We're hoping now more than ever to sell our current boat and join the club. Don't be alarmed though. This would not be the end of the Blog. My hope is to expand my rovings, and adventures. Eventually, I'd like to charter boats for my family in various parts of the world. And even further down the road, I hope to someday take and extended leave and explore the world for a while by boat.

Here are some links from this entry that might be interesting.
Gig Harbor Sailing Club
Emerald City Charters

Sail on and prosper.
Woody Anderson

Taking Friends out

For me, there is nothing more fun that sharing sailing with friends. It's never easy because it's so hard to plan a good sail ahead of time, but it's been my goal to take more friends out this year.

On Labor DAy, Monday, I took our friends, the Anguiano's, out for a sail. They and all three of their children came along. And, of course, my trusty able seagirl, Sophia came along.

I had worried that we would have foul weather, but it couldn't have been better. The skies were clear blue, and the wind was brisk. In fact, it was probably one of the best sailing days I've had.

The wind was from the north, and the tide had just gone out and was beginning to come in. This meant currents into Colvos passage (my nemesis) were weak. We were able to do a broad reach away from Gig Harbor towards Tacoma, and then turn around and do a broad reach back.

The water was choppy and there were some swells which added to the sense of adventure. Just as we were turning around, we sailed through a large group of seals. We lost count, but I'd estimate there were at least 10 floating about us. Some were quite close. This was a real treat for the Anguiano's especially. This was their first sailing trip, and their first time that far into the sound on a boat as a family.

With the brisk wind, we made better time than I've ever made before. We went halfway past Pt. Defiance and back again, and toured the harbor, and moored the boat, all in two hours.

We took time to motor past the wreckage of the Harborview marina that burned down last week. What a mess. The harbor smells like fuel. They are doing a great job cleaning it up.

We couldn't find our camera to take on the trip, but the Anguiano's took some pictures. If I can, I'll get a few and post them up.

Happy Sailing
Woody

Fire in the Hulls

We had quite a morning yesterday. We woke up to the sound of sirens in the harbor, followed by loud thundering booms. We wondered if they were gunshots, but didn't think much more about it until I left the house for my walk. I was amazed to see a large, thick column of black smoke rising over the trees in front of our house. I thought a home was on fire in the next cul-de-sac and went to go see.


It turns out it wasn't in the next cul-de-sac, and the column of smoke was larger than I thought. It was coming from the Harbor. Some neighbors with a balcony and telescope said some boats were burning in the Harbor. Having a boat in the harbor myself, I was curious, so...

I drove down where I could see the source of the flames. An entire marina was burning. Fifty boats were on fire. The loud booms were the explosions as the boats fuel eruped. It was quite the scene.

Luckily, no one was hurt, but the marina did burn to the ground, er..., the water. It was a big local news story. It even superceded the reporting on the hurricane for a while. We had lots of news helicopters flying around, and fire ships from neighboring cities came to help. I've posted a couple of the pictures I took.

Sailing with the Ladies

More true than you know. I took 3 of my daughters and my wife to go sail past the Lady Washington. Our plan was to pass it while it was docked in the harbor, but while we were preparing our boat, we saw Lady W. go past on it's way out. Naturally, we felt the urge to pursue.

It was an off-on-off again type of sailing day. The wind would pick up and we would kick along, and then after a while, it would die down and we would flap around. Still, we got enough in, that we felt like we had fun.

For one thing, it was fun to pursue the Lady Washington. It took her a while to get her sails out, and to get oriented, and then she just took off. It was fun to watch. We got much closer than our photo indicates, but the batteries in our camera died before that point.

Soon after we left the harbor, a small seal popped up almost right next to the boat. It's the closest I've ever been to one in the wild (and I've seen quite a few). It was cool.

I made sure to check the tides before leaving so I was on top of the tidal current situation. We had not problems on that front. It was a good time to be out. We left at high tide, and the next low tide was not going to be very low. This meant the currents were not going to be very strong.

I can never figure out the wind around here. When we decided to go back in, we were in almost a dead calm. We could see other boats sailing close to the mouth of the harbor though. Sure enough, once we motored in close enough to the bluffs protecting the harbor, we got some very nice wind. It was so nice, we turned off the motor and sailed right into the harbor. I love doing that.

Before we docked the boat, we took a circuit around the harbor. At the north end, we were surprised to find two large seals sunning themselves on a floating pier. That was cool as well. We tried to get as close as we could without scaring them with our motor (trust me, it's scary).

All in all, it was an excellent day. Our 2nd daughter, who likes sailing the least, did not want to come, so rather than force her, we dropped her off at a friends house. We missed her, but I think we were all happier she didn't come. She can be quite grumpy when on the boat when she doestn' want to be.

We're a tired crew. Have a nice weekend.

Visiting Lady Washington

We had a neat opportunity today. Lady Washington, the replica of a 1790's sailing merchant vessage, visited Gig Harbor. This is the ship that was used in the movie Pirates of the Carribean as The Interceptor.


It was a fun and interesting visit. I think the kids liked it as well. These ships aren't nearly as big as one thinks they are. Apparently the old merchant sailors were left to fend for themselves in the cargo hold; no galley, no crew's quarters. They made beds where they could, and ate salted meat and hard tack. Or something like that. I'm glad I'm a modern day sailor. I've included a couple of pictures of the ship.

As "luck" would have it, it would have been a great day for us to be out and about. We plan on a family sailing trip tomorrow. We're going to swing past the "Lady" and then head out into the sound.

I'll post more if we survive.

Summer Sail, summer doldrums

I think it's ironic, that the worst sailing usually happens in the nicest weather. At least, in the northwest this seems true. During the summer when the days are warm, and the skies are clear, there is rarely a consistent breeze to catch. Still, I try.

I took some friends out this last saturday for their first ever sail. It was a beautiful day, and there was some wind in some places. I think it is becoming a tradition for me to be sucked into Colvos passage by the tidal currents. This time, I even knew what was going on.

I checked the tides before we left, and realized the currents were going to be at their strongest. To compensate, my plan was to sail towards the Tacoma narrows, against the current. That way, then loop back. This way, any movement by the current would push us back toward Gig Harbor. Ahhh, the best laid plans....

What really happened was no wind. We tried sailing towards the narrows, but could find no wind in that direction. There was wind toward Colvos passage, and as we focused more and more on finding a good channel of breeze, we failed to notice that we were now sailing across the mouth of Colvos passage. It wasn't long before we realized we were being sucked along.

Tidal currents always amaze me. They can be so large, that you can easily fail to notice them. Its only when you watch yourself sailing (or motoring) backwards that you realize they are there. In this case, we were motoring backwards. Very slowly though. And timing was on our side.

We only had to motor for about 15-30 minutes against the current before it slacked off and died. After that we motored in and packed it away.

It is always beautiful out on the water so it was worth it. My passengers had fun.

Happy sailing.

Family Evening Sail

This was a very small trip, but worth noting. It was one of the best sailing trips we've had as a family. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to go after dinner. The breeze was on the light side, but steady. I forgot to check the tide chart before we left and mistakenly decided the tide was going out when, instead, it was coming in.

Our trip was simple. We headed out of the harbor, straight for point defiance. About a half a mile from the point, we turned around and headed back. This is when I realized the current had swept us a bit south. Had I guessed the tide correctly, we would have headed more north to compensate. Oh well.

We ended up motoring back because the winds had also gotten a little light. Everyone did really well, and the length of the entire expedition (from home to home) was 2 hours and 50 minutes. I hope we get to do it again.

A couple of side notes. Sophia fell asleep (something she's never done in a moving vehicle). Tiffany really enjoyed steering the boat, and Aubrey-Anne and Camille kept themselves entertained with a spitting contest. True sailors.

Tall Ship Festival

Well, matey's, it's been too long. Too many great sailing days have come and gone and summer is quickly passing by. It's already been 2 weeks since the Tacoma tall ships festival. What a great event!!!! I only got to see the beginning, but it sounded like every day was fun. At least 10 or more tall wooden ships attended. I was able to sail out in our little boat with a friend and his daughters and watch the tall ships come in up close and personal. I messed up just about every photo (using my new telephoto lens). Only this one turned out okay.


Our route to the parade took us close by Point Defiance which was a big mistake. The tide was going out full force, and that combined with all the wake from other boats, created some pretty squirrelly waves and strong currents. Luckily the parade was delayed an hour or we would have been late. As it turned out, we got there just as it started.

The parade route was marked off by boats with red flags. Hundreds of boats were clusted along the parade route (especially at the starting point). It was quite the experience being amongst all those boats, navigating while trying to watch a parade. It was all worth it though.

The boats were great to see up close, and the wind kicked up as it was time to leave so we had a nice sail home. I should mention that in the morning we had no wind and were reduced to motoring.

Blake Island route

I know it's a little late, but now that I know how to post images, I wanted to put a picture of our route sailing to Blake Island. HOpefully, I'll do it right.

Our route to and from Blake Island from Gig Harbor via Colvos passage. 

The Route. 

Out and About

Yesterday I took my father in law out for a sail. He's from New Mexico so sailing isn't something he gets to do very often. And naturally, I'm always looking for an excuse to go. The original plan was to wait until Noon and then go for the afternoon, but I was so excited to go we left early (around 10:00am).

It was nice to be able to walk down to the boat and be pushing off in about 20 minutes. I remind myself of this every time I get my huge bill from the Marina for the slip.

The weather looked a bit iffy with brisk moving cumulus clouds dotting the sky. I knew the forecast was scattered showers so we took some rain gear. The sailboat has no cabin so especially important to be prepared for the weather. We were glad we prepared because we still ended up being cold. The wind was as strong as I've ever dealt with so far and quite gusty. I've never heard the wind whistle through my shrouds before. It's an ominous sound. It's also interesting how the color of the water can affect my perception of the situation. When the sky is clear and the water is blue, things don't seem as scary. When the sea and sky are dark and gray, everything seems more angry and dangerous.

Anyway, back to the trip.

Due to time, we were going to pick our route as we went along and try not to stray too far away. As it turned out, we did stray a little too far. The wind was so strong and from the southwest (behind us), we were able to fly quickly away from Gig Harbor. We made good time past the point (Point Defiance) toward Tacoma. We turned around and found that we had our work cut out for us. I think 3 things contributed to the difficulty we had getting back to the harbor.

1) The tide was going out and the current going into Colvos passage caught us.
2) My tacking skills are weak.
3) The boat does not sail well close to the wind.

Whatever the reason, we tried our best to tack back to the harbor and we couldn't do it. When I saw we were being "sucked" down colvos passage, we dropped sail and started our tiny little motor. Even with the motor it took an hour to get back. It's not a big motor.

All in all a fun sail. I think I'm going to try tuning my rigging to reduce the strong weather helm. Maybe this will improve how close I can sail to the wind.

I'll try posting a picture (my first) of our route.

Our First Voyage of the Summer

Actually this post if full of firsts. It is my first post to this blog. It is my first post to any blog actually. It was our first camping sail trip. It was the longest voyage we've ever taken, and it was the first time we'd included several other people in our adventure. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's back up.

Two weeks ago, we executed our first sailing/camping trip. The plan was to sail from Gig Harbor, WA to Blake Island. We would camp on the island and then sail back the next day.










We invited a friend of mine and his son to accompany myself and my daughter. The kids were 10 & 11 years old and really good friends so I figured it would work out well. And really, it did.

We left Gig Harbor around 10:30am. Temperatures were warm, and the weather was clear and windy which was great. The Wind was from the wrong direction (north) which was unfortunate because we ended up tacking all the way there. We took Colvos passage to the island. It was a beautiful sail despite all the tacking. The only downer was how long it took. We didn't arrive at the island until 5:30pm. That's seven hours in a little boat. We were all very glad to get back on dry land.

"The mate was a mighty sailing man..."

 
 Blake Island is a beautiful spot and we couldn't have asked for a nicer evening. The sky was clear with a beautiful sunset to the west and Seattle city lights to the east. The campground a large grassy area next to the beach with trees all around (except for the view across the water to Seattle). We had a very pleasant evening of good food and fun times. The marina was full so we had to moor our boat after unloading. Luckily, we found a spot off the beach from where we were sleeping.

The next morning we ate, packed up and started back home. Clearly, we hadn't planned a long enough stay. The next time I do it, I plan to stay at least one full day if not more. We didn't get a chance to explore anything the island had to offer. There are nature trails, an indian lodge, beaches, etc...

Crow baiting

The trip back was pretty uneventful. The kids became very comfortable with the boat and its movements. By the end of the trip, we were looking for large wakes and waves to sail over just for the thrill. The biggest bummer of the trip back was the time. It took us from 9:30am to 5:30pm to get home along the same route. We attribute this to two factors. First, the tidal current in Colvos passage is always northerly or weak. We were sailing against the current. Second, the wind was southerly so we were tacking all the way home. We tried using the motor to speed us along while sailing. I"m not convinced it helped.

All in all it was an excellent and successful adventure. We will plan another one for sure, but we may try something a little closer if we can find it.

Woody

Welcome

Hello friends, family, lurkers and riff raff. WElcome to my new blog. What can you find here? Nothing. Absolutely nothing, but the ranting of a half mad sailor.