February Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm
Return: 5:00pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: Slack tide??
Boat: Club Boat
Crew: 4 (Woody, Tom, Paul & Carol)

OK folks. I think this picture of me at the tiller demonstrates the level of commitment I have to sailing, and especially this blog. This is not a flattering picture; it doesn't look like me at all. And yet, I"m posting it because a) I don't have any interesting pictures, and b) ... well, I don't have any interesting pictures. For the record, in real life, I come across much more manly. Tall and powerfully built with my masculine visage piercing the horizon, I'm the epitome of a sailor. And what's more manly than sailing (no offense to all the lady sailors I know). So, with the record straight, and a shared laugh at my misrepresentation, let's move on.

Terry and her friend.

Honestly, I don't remember many of the details of this trip. Not many members came. In fact technically, there were only two members; Terry and I. The 3rd crew member was a guest of Terry's whose name I can't remember. There was room for me to bring someone as well, but I couldn't find anyone to go with me at the last minute. To be honest it felt a little awkward to be the only guy on board.

An interesting "thingy" being moved by a tug.

The weather was fantastic. In the harbor the wind was mild, luring us into choosing the #2 jib, but outside the harbor in the sound, it was probably 12-15 knots. Maybe it was even more because we eventually reefed and put up the smaller jib. It never rained; though, it was overcast, and it wasn't super cold.



After changing sails, the boat handled well and made for a fun trip. The tides were such that we thought we should head toward Tacoma. I wanted to see how far we could get in the time allotted; we made it quite far. I used Google earth to estimate the distance, and I'd say it was about 5.2 miles. That means we traveled a total of 11.4 miles; 5.2 + 5.2 + 1 (for inside the harbor). That's pretty good.

And that, my friends, is about it.

Photo #4: Leaving the mouth of commencement bay.

January Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm 1/7/2008
Return: 4:00pm 1/7/2008
Weather conditions: Heavy Cloud cover, windy w/ Gusts
Tide: Flood then Ebb
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 3 (Woody, Paul & Terry)

Me, your personal navigator and guide through the waters of Puget Sound.

Stormy waters under the bridge.  I continue to fail to capture wave size.

This is the 4th blog entry I've written in less than two days so if it's a little less witty than you've come to expect, a little less philosophical, a little less brilliant, you'll understand why. One good thing about this entry is it's recent - as in yesterday.

Train tunnels are always cool.

It must be that the January club sail is reserved only for toughest, most brave sailors, or maybe it's just for the most foolhardy. In either case, the turnout was not great; not even Dave, the manager joined us. We had three crew in all including myself. I'm thinking this is the ideal number for a club sail because everyone has a task on board; helms person, main sheet and jib sheets.


The weather was cold and the clouds were dark and stormy looking and the wind blew with gusto, but it never rained or in any way precipitated. The light on these winter sails is never that great. I'm getting tired of murky blue/gray photos of my sailing trips. I guess it can't be helped, but it it tiresome. There wasn't a single other boat out on the water; not even powerboats. We did see a barge trudging up the narrows as we were heading home, but that was it.


The wind was quite strong and the gusts were unnerving. We ended up reefing the main which helped a lot. With the tides in our favor, and the wind blowing strong, we were able to set a new club record. At least, it's a record since the time I've been in the club. We were able to sail to the Tacoma Narrows bridge, circle it's west pylon, and sail back to the mouth of the harbor and still dock on time. It was great.

I also have to say something about the waves. They have to have been the biggest I've ever sailed in; they were even bigger than the ones we had on our August sail with our friends (see blog). I would guess, from trough to peak, that the waves were 3.5 to 4 feet in height. The boat dropped off the top of a couple of the bigger ones, and when they crashed across our bow, the spray carried clear into the cockpit. It was quite exhilarating.

My crew-mates Paul and Terry. They aren't a couple.

The small crew, the open waters, strong wind, big waves, and distance covered, I'd rank this as one of the nicest sails I've had in a while. I only wish there was something new to photograph. My pictures of each trip are about the same.

Enjoy them for what they are.

Rebates and Retards

Departure: 1:00 pm
Return: 5:00pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: Ebb Tide
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 4 (Woody, Joe & Jack)

"What's up with the title?" I know you're asking that. Barnacles! I'm asking that as well. I suppose I'm thinking about how silly people can be and I'm going to try and say something about it. I'm thinking of rebates; the significant savings one can make by simply mailing in a receipt. Simple, and yet...

How many times have you failed to collect on a rebate because of the "effort" involved. I know I've let my fair share slide by. Something similar has happened to me in the sailing club, and I know it's happened to others. Each member of the club receives 4 free sailing days to use each year. They can't be used consecutively and they can't be carried over into the next year. Last year, I was left trying to use my last free sailng day on the last day of the year. This year, I had two. Can you believe it? Two free days that I hadn't used. I think I must be retarded. Anyway, this already overly long post, is about cashing in on one of those days.

I invited a friend of mine and his son to go sailing the day after Chistmas which turned out to be the only nice day to do so. There isn't much to report about it really. We had a nice breeze. We zipped down toward the bridge and then came back. We enjoyed talking and viewing scenery.

My goal next year is to use every single free day.

Decembers Race w/ Holbrooks

Picture 1: (Click for large version) Many of the sailboats at the start. I couldn't capture them all.
Departure: 8:00am 12/1/2007
Return: 5:00pm
Weather conditions: Rain, snow, high winds, freezing cold
Boat: 40' CNC
Crew: 6 (Connie, Ron, Woody, Chris, Dave, ??)

Avast there matey's! That means listen up in pirate talk (By the way, "Talk Like a Pirate Day" is September 19th). This was the most extreme sailing experience I've had thus far in my career. I'd say it qualifies me to talk like a pirate, or at least write my own near death memoir.

The crew included Connie, Ron, myself, Dave B (yes, the one and only from the sailing club), Chris and another guy who didn't sail on the last race. I don't recall his name.


Picture 2: This has nothing to do with the race, but I enjoy taking pictures of the interesting sites. This is a cargo ship loading in Commencement bay.
I need to confess up front that I was hoping this would be an extreme experience so you can't feel too sorry for me. I purposely chose this as the next race because it was the longest (around Vashon Island) and involved the most boats (80). As the race approached, the forecast looked gloomier and gloomier as well which also worked into my calculations.

I'll skip the departure routine except for one honorable mention; my friend Dave B. from the Gig Harbor Sailing club was also crewing and so we carpooled to the race. The rest is the usual - meeting, leaving, parking, waiting, getting ready and casting off bilge. So, to the race...


Did I mention the weather? It was lousy. Very overcast and sprinkling with a forecast for snow. Ohhhh but what a glorious site to arrive at the starting point and to see all those sailboats getting ready to race. About 80 boats were milling about waiting for the start. I'd never seen so many boats. I think the picture will say more than I can.

Picture 3: Many boats milling about at the start line.
This time I was much more aware of the start, and I think the captain was satisfied with it. After the start he tried a different tack than the rest of the crowd to see if he could get to the wind first, but alas, it didn't work and we fell quite a bit behind. The nice thing about a 7 hour race like this is there is time to fix one's mistakes and we spent the next several hours working hard to gain our lost position...and we did. By the time we rounded the first mark at the point of Vashon, we were looking much better and feeling great about our performance. We were also quite cold. I should mention that we were all using spinnakers up to this point. As we rounded the point, we dropped the big sails and raised the Jibs, and that's when things got ugly.


One uses spinnakers when going downwind and the jib when working upwind; we were now working upwind which is a colder, wetter business altogether. And, the weather turned so foul. It started to snow! That's right snow! Big fat heavy white flakes smacked us in the face as we worked our way up wind. And now with the wind driving in our faces it was cold. I was soon soaked to the skin and quite cold. It had been about 5 hours at this point and I was starting to wish for the end. It was still beautiful though.

Picture 4: Behind us as we headed up Colvos Passage. I have no idea whose boat that is.

The cloud's were so low they touched the tops of the trees on Vashon; trees that were dusted white. If I hadn't been so cold, it would have been very pleasant. If only I could hang on...

And then it happened. A big mistake.

We decided to change to a smaller jib because the gusts of wind were alarming. While we were unpacking the smaller jib, the pilot turned us across the wind at the same moment a gust hit and we were knocked sideways.

I always tell my guests that "This boat will not tip over, but you can fall out. As long as you hang on tight, remember that the boat will right itself". Well today, I had my own advice served to me on a silver platter. The boat heeled over hard and I found myself standing on the lifelines with my feet under the rushing water while I hung to the boom for dear life. Others were tossed about the cockpit and had the same "deer in the headlights" look on their faces that I probably had on mine. Of course, my advice is correct, and the boat did right itself and we got back on track.

Picture 5: Chris, Ron & Dave (left to right) looking cold.

It took us a while though. The sail bag for the small jib had fallen off the boat and I'd used every last ounce of strength to hang on to one end of it so we wouldn't lose it. It took 3 of us to drag it back on the boat because it had filled with water. I was exhausted after this and extremely cold. I entered a sort of dazed state of mind. Several times I thought we were close to the finish when really it was only another point we had to pass.

By this time, we were last, but I didn't care. I just wanted to finish and get home and eventually we did. It was dark, but calm as we pulled into the dock.

And that was that. One of the greatest adventures I've had in many years.

November Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm
Return: 4:00pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: ??
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: Woody & ??

Okay, this truly is a short entry because I can hardly remember anything about it. I do remember that I went on the club sail for the month, but I didn't take pictures and I can't remember anything about it. There you go. Short or what?

Until next time.

Playing with the Big Boys

Departure: 8:00am
Return: 1:00pm
Weather conditions: foggy then clearing
Tide: High/Low
Boat: 40' CNC
Crew: 7 (Ron, Connie, Dan, Marvin, Chris, Lisa & Woody)

The weather ahead looks ominous

Just for the record, it is now January 2008, and quite a bit of time has passed since the next few entries happened. I've been reticent to sit down and write for some reason. Anyway, I'm back, and I need to catch up. As usual, I claim this will be a short entry, but make not promises.








I was introduced to Ron and Connie by an acquaintance from the Gig Harbor Sailing Club (Steve). Steve is what I'd call an honorary instructor or manager or owner - something like that. He shows up at odd times and teaches a class here and there or does some racing with the club. It was during one such race that we got to know each other and he said he'd hook me up with the Holbrooks.

Scary visibility

Ron and Connie Holbrook own, and race, their own 40' CNC. They are very enthusiastic and very friendly and welcoming. True to his promise, Steve did tell them about me, and they were kind enough to contact me and invite me to join them for a race. How could I say no?

Probably the most gloomy weather I've ever sailed in. Very ominous.

Two nameless individuals (to me) prepare for the race.

The fog lifts a little as the race begins.

The morning of the race broke gray and somber with no wind, and I left the house anxious that they wouldn't cancel. I did and felt the usual excited thing; I left the house way to early, packed everything I could think of and used the restroom about a hundred times (okay, maybe you didn't need to know that). I want to get to the race, so lets skip ahead past the waiting, past the gloomy morning, past the wondering if I was waiting at the right marina, past the friendly introductions, and past the non-eventful departure. We were off.

One can never capture the thrill of heeling in a photo.

The morning had gone from gray to foggy. I have to confess something very foolish; I've always wanted to see what it's like on a boat in the fog. It was cool! Of course, it's more dangerous to be on the water in the fog. Not all boats have radar, and not all sailors are careful and so it's much more easy to strike an object in the water, lose one's bearings, or crash into another boat in the fog. Nevertheless, it was quite pretty.




The main concern was whether the race would be canceled, but I needn't have worried. Sailing may be an outward expression of some sort of insanity because there were about 12 of us congregated at Brown's point to race. Clearly, it wasn't cancelled.

The race was a lot of fun. The start snuck up on me. I didn't realize we'd started until about 5 minutes after the start. We started by flying the spinnaker which is the large, colorful, balloon-sized sail one usually see's in pictures of sailboats. This was a learning experience for me as I'd never flown a spinnaker. It about 5 of us to manage it. There were a couple of times that I screwed up, but I started getting the hang of it after a while.

A beautiful start to the second leg of the race.

The race course was to start at Brown's point, circle a buoy off the mouth of Gig Harbor, then circle another buoy off Dash point and then finish back at Brown's point. We used the spinnaker all the way to Gig Harbor, then switched to Jib from Gig Harbor, and finally back to Spinnaker at the end.

Back at the starting point- Browns point. Is it really the same place?

The fog cleared after a while and the sun even peeped out a couple of times. The wind kicked up for the first leg, almost completely died in the middle of the second and then picked up again during the third.

Totally random, but strangely appealing photo of the paper mill.

All in all it was a fantastic day of new experiences, new friends, and new sites. I will definately be sailing with them again.

Until then.
Bon Voyage

October Club Sail

Departure: 1:00pm 9/10/2007
Return: 4:30pm
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and windy
Tide: Flood tide
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 3 (Woody, Terry & Greg)

I read the online weather forecast with a heavy heart - 4 mph with gusts up to 7. I had hoped for a more exciting sail today; especially after the great winds we had the day before. Still, the club sails are a chance to go sailing for "free" so I can never not go.

Arriving at the dock promptly at 1pm, it was immediately clear to me that the weather forecast was wrong. There was a nice strong breeze blowing in the harbor, with the promise of more in the sound.

I had thought I would be late since the other regulars usually show up early, but no one was there. I was kind of excited to get a chance to rig the boat alone. I jumped in with gusto, hoping to have it all done before anyone else arrived. And I did get most if it done, but Greg eventually arrived followed by Dave. Greg is a fairly new member, but is quickly becoming and old hand. He's been on 3 club sails.

Another new member, Terry, was on her way so we waited a while at the dock for her to arrive. I didn't mind waiting too much, but it did deflate my pride in getting ready so efficiently.

Terry arrived and we left. Greg was at the helm and took us straight to the public dock for a pit stop. This is probably more than you want to know, but I have a bladder the size of a thimble; that is, if I have a bladder at all. I've often wondered if I just have a stretched out spot for, ahem, collection, somewhere in my urinary tract. Anyway, it was the men that needed the restroom.

I have to say something about Greg's docking skills; they're amazing! He came in faster than I ever would, took a quick turn and then stopped us at the last minute with reverse. He also did this when we came back in. I thought we were going to make a new slip, but we didn't crash. I'll have something more to say about this in a minute.

We decided to head straight into the sound to see what the conditions there were. We didn't need to motor too far out of the mouth before we hoisted sails and we were on our way.

It really was a glorious day for sailing. True, it was cold, but it was windy and clear and we had the water to ourselves. I found it interesting sailing with newbies. When it came to steering the boat, or trimming the sails, I had to bite my tongue to give them time to work it out themselves. In fact it's still sore. We chose to head across Pt. Defiance toward Tacoma. And here's where it gets a little embarrassing.

We just weren't making very good progress. The winds were plenty strong, and we hadn't reefed yet. We were sailing upwind sometimes, and sometimes more on a beam reach. We even hove-to at one point. Finally Greg realized what was wrong. The boom was still clipped to the backstay above his head. We were lucky a big gust didn't knock us down up until then. After unclipping the boom, we immediately felt an improved performance.

We eventually did reef when we started seeing white caps. Greg, the man who played chicken with the dock with no fear, did not like heeling. Here we had great winds and seas and we had the sails depowered to where it felt like we had half the wind we really did. Still, it was fun, and in a club sail, we need to cater to everyone's comfort. We still zipped around and had a nice time.

And that's it. Another great sail.

Early morning sail

Departure: 7:30 am
Return: 8:30 am
Weather conditions: Partly Cloudy and breezy
Tide: ??
Boat: Wee Blow
Crew: 1 Me

The other morning, I had a yearning to be on the water. I woke up bright and early on a Saturday morning, bundled up and motored to the water. The morning was gray, and cool, and the harbor was just waking up. The wind scattered little dimples across the water like morning goosebumps.

Originally I'd planned on just going for a quick row. But, I needed to get the rudder and leeboard back on the boat and it seemed a good time to do so. Then it was a short jump in logic to rigging the sails, and well, then I was sailing.

After sailing about a bit, I got the idea to row upwind and sail back. After that, I had to rush to get back to the family and soccer games and Saturday chores.

Friends at Sea

Departure: 2:30pm Sept 8, 2007
Return: 6:30pm
Weather conditions: Sunny with 17+ mph winds
Tide: flood tide
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: 6 (Andersons, Davis' & Brewers)

Isn't it interesting how no two people have the same experience in life. For instance, one person on a boat can be screaming with joy and exhilaration, while one person next to him (or her) is puking over the side and another is cowering in the cabin or frozen, white-knuckled on the lifelines. We're all on the same boat, in the same winds doing the same thing, but having completely different experiences.

I've been putting off writing this entry because I really wanted to do it justice, but now time has passed, and my memory has faded and I'd better just write something so it's not lost.

We had a full complement of guests on this outing. We had three couples including my wife and I. The other two couples were friends from church who purchased the "Adventure" in a fund-raising auction. In other words we had a full boat.

We also had clear skies and a stiff breeze - stiff enough that the club manager said he'd reefed his sails earlier that day during a class. It really couldn't be better. Everyone arrived on time, and the boat was already set up for us because Dave (the manager) had had it out earlier. All we had to do was climb aboard, stow our gear and take off.

The wind was everything that Dave said it would be. It was quite strong, and we had fewer people, I'm pretty sure, I'd have reefed the sails right away. As it was, we managed okay with full sails. The waves were probably the largest I've ever sailed in which made for quite a bit of excitement. Most of the guests were thrilled; my wife was scared to death. I felt bad, but there wasn't much I could do.

The passage across the mouth of Colvos passage was the roughest. Once we were in the lee of Vashon Island, the winds lightened up. We figured that was the best place to eat our dinner so we hove-to and enjoyed some nice finger foods. Being stationary in the large swells made one of the guests sick. The swells were still large even though the winds were light in that spot and this made her very queasy. She ended up pumping her bilge over the stern. After we ate, we got back to more sailing.

Our sick guest did best when we were sailing to windward so we tried to do that the most, but it was still dampening her experience. At the four hour mark, I confessed to them that I had the boat until dusk (another 2 hours) and that one of them would have to be the "party-pooper" and say it was time to go in. Immediately the ill guest said it was time; and it had been a nice long afternoon.

After bringing the boat in, we enjoyed more of our meal, and a sunset, at a table on the dock.

It really was a great day of sailing. Even our the guest that got sick said she had a good time.

And that's it.

Blake Island Camping: Day 3

Departure: 11:30 am
Return: 3:30 pm
Weather conditions: Cloudy and calm
Tide: flood tide
Boat: Blue Club Boat
Crew: Family (6)

This is it! D-day. Departure day. Our oldest is anxious to get going and really jumps in to help. She folded up all the bedding deflated the mattresses and swept out the tent. She was in a hurry, but not the rest of us.

Picture 1: If you enlarge the photo, you can see the "wildlife cans" near our tent. This is where we kept the raccoons and deer during the night. Okay, actually, that's where we kept our food so they raccoons wouldn't get into it.

We still took time for food. We had a great breakfast of pancakes, sausages and eggs. We also prepared sandwiches, chips and treats for our lunch on the way back. Everything was cleaned and then we were ready to pack.

At least when I pack, I have the excitement of the trip to encourage me. Nothing is more tedious than packing after an adventure to go home. By the time we were done, it was almost lunch time. We left the dock at 11:30.

I should mention that the weather was gray and overcast, but not foggy luckily. There was a slight breeze blowing across the island all morning, but there wasn't much to it when we finally left.

I decided to loop around the western side of the island since we'd never been that way by boat before. I found it interesting, but the others were too busy huddling under blankets and sleeping bags to notice or care. When we rounded the northwester corner of the island we picked up some good wind so we cut the motor and proceeded under sail. This only lasted about a mile however, before we were back to the "iron genny" (sailing slang for a boat motor. A genoa is a large foresail and is sometimes called the genny. Thus, an iron genny would be the motor). It stayed completely calm all the way down colvos passage until we rounded on the entrance to the harbor.

As we rounded on the entrace, we hit a strong westerly, with some large choppy waves. It was exciting, if not brief. By the time we entered the harbor, it was calm again.

Once in the harbor, we were all ready to be finished. We did stop at the public dock to use the restrooms, and to put two of the girls in the dinghy for a tow. Near our dock, we cut them loose and let them row in. It was definately worth the entertainment. We circled around outside the docking area until we could see they were safely in and then we were done. Another adventure.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

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.

Night Sail

Departure: 8:30pm
Return: 10:30pm
Weather conditions: Clear skies & small sniffs of air
Tide: High Flood
Boat: Wee Blow
Crew: Woody

I've heard it said that you can tell a mans true character by what they do when no one is around so you might say this was a test of character. My wife and the girls were out of town for several days and I was on my own. I was still working full days so it wasn't like I had oceans of time. Get it, sailing <-> oceans.... Anyway I still had the evenings so what to do, what to do?

I could choose a task from our endless list of tasks. I could read a book (something I would do regardless), or I could go sailing. Something I've been wanting to do forever is take a boat out at night and watch the lights in the harbor come on as the son sets. I've never gotten to because it feels strange to do so without the family. But, for the family to come it has to get dark early enough. In the summer, it doesn't get dark until very late and in the winter (when it gets dark really early) it's too cold. Now was my chance.

I paid attention to the time of sunset so I wouldn't show up too early and get bored. Eight O'clock looked like a good time. The evening was quite calm when I set out. It didn't look very promising for a sail, but it was beautiful. The sky was clear and the water glassy. I rigged the sail anyway and hoped for the best. I slowly drifted around and enjoyed milking micro-movements from the very VERY light puffs, but after a while that got a little old. I eventually took it back in under oar power and took off the sails. But I wasn't done yet. I headed back out under oar power.

The lights winking awake as the sun set over the hill was everything I'd dreamed it would be. And really, having the calm waters was a lot of fun. The current was coming in just slightly so I'd row up-current and then drift towards my marina. I was very careful to keep an eye out for other boats since I was essentially invisible to everyone.

There is something magical about being on the water at night when there's no wind and the water is glassy. It feels cozy. There was no noise and almost no one about. Everyone once in a while a boat would motor in and tie up for the night. A large crane glided past me in alighted on a nearby piling; it made no sound. Lights were on inside some of the anchored boats and I imagined sailors settling down for the evening in cozy cabins; small beds, dollhouse kitchens and port-a-potties.

And the temperature... did I mention the temperature? It was so nice that I was comfortable the entire evening in my t-shirt and shorts.

I wish I had pictures, but maybe it'll be more fun imagining it for yourselves.

Until next time.