Logbook Day
126, 127, 128, 129
6/24/2009 - 6/27/2009
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Thirteen Days in the North Sound
A Great Summer Outing
6/24/2009
Kingston Marina
Dawn and I left the house at 11:15am to setup and
launch the boat. The parking lot was empty and after a quick mast
raising we had the boat floating before noon. Mike and Nick are at
home missing the last couple snow makeup days of school. With the
boat launched I left Dawn to finish the other setup details and took
the truck and trailer back to the house. We called Michelle,
Dylan's mom, and she came to pick up the boys, the dogs and me for
the quick trip back to the boat at just after 12:30.
We got under way at 1:00 and after ducking under
the I-90 bridge we sped up to 18 knots for a quick run across the lake.
Once we hit the slow zone we cut back speed to 7 knots and made our way
into Lake Union. We arrived at the Fremont bridge just as it was
being opened for a boat coming the other way so we scooted through and
were at the locks at 2:15. We tied up to the small lock wall for
the short wait as one of the Goodtime tour boats came up. Once
clear we followed a sailboat in and tied up at button #1 all the way in
on the starboard wall. There are only 3 boats in the lock for the
ride down.
The tide is very low so we had quite a drop to make
before we could exit. They had us go out first and we were on our
way out into the Sound at 3:00. The wind began to build as we
crossed the Sound and soon the ride became uncomfortable with some large
following seas from the aft port quarter. We are rigged for speed
so we do not have any ballast in. After fighting it for a while at
a speed of 7 knots, as
the wind built to 25 knots, we pulled up the fins and sped up to 12
knots. Going faster helped some and at least we made it across to
the shelter of President Point sooner. We still had to fight some
extreme rolling at times which Dawn and Mike did not appreciate.
Nick is oblivious down below reading.
In the calmer waters north of the point we made our
way into the Kingston Marina right next to the Kingston ferry dock.
We have been assigned slip 21 which is a bow in starboard tie, but the
wind made it impossible to get to the dock. We should have used a
spring line but didn't think far enough ahead. On our approach in no time the bow
had blown down wind and we were headed for slip 20, thankfully empty.
With the port side canvas still zipped up I was trapped in the cockpit
but Dawn jumped off to fend off most of the fenderless impact with the
dock. We climbed out and put fenders and lines on the port side.
Preferring to not sit pinned against the dock all
night, we extended out starboard side lines with more line so we could
reach to the upwind dock in slip 21. We released the port side
lines and pulled the boat across the slip upwind to #21 by hand.
With all the wind I doubled the dock lines from our stanchions in case a
cleat happened to fail.
We cleaned things up from the crossing, stowed the
gear that never got put in the right place during packing and relaxed
after a somewhat stressful crossing. Dawn took the dogs and went up
into town to get movie info. The new "Transformers" movie is
opening today and the boys want to see it. Around 5 she and I went
up to the local pub for a pitcher and some dinner. We ordered take out
burgers for the boys who were back in the boat watching "Office, Season
2" videos.
A bit past 7 Dawn and the boys went into town for the
movie which is at 8:30. I stayed in the boat with the dogs.
They boys showed back up at the boat just before 8:30. It turns
out the info Dawn was given was wrong and the show really isn't until
9:15. They all took a nap until 9, then headed back up to the
theater. They returned at midnight and we quickly turned in.
Nick is pleased that he has been upgraded from the cockpit to a real
berth now that Sam is not along in the boat for this trip. Sam
left yesterday with 5 of his friends for a post graduation 10 day road
trip to California. He will join us for the 4th in Port Ludlow.
6/25/2009
Point Wilson Marina
I was up at 8 and took the dogs to shore. The
wind is down to 10 - 15, still from the south. We decided to get
going and take advantage of a strong ebb current. After a simple
oatmeal breakfast we got under way at 9:30. The following 2' - 3'
sea made going a bit tough until we rounded Point No Point. The
ride was better than yesterday as we now have full ballast. Dawn went
below to read just before Point No Point and the boys are still in bed.
I set the autopilot for Admiralty Inlet's mouth and
relaxed on a easy watch. Traffic is light and the ride was smooth
as we went up the east side of Morrowstone Island and rounded the point
at Fort Flaggler. This is the first time we have gone up the
outside route instead of using the Port Townsend Canal. We are doing
turns for 7 knots and are getting 10 - 11 on the GPS with a strong north
ebb current. As we went past Fort Flaggler I made a mental note
that we should visit the east side of the park when we stay there next
week.
We arrived at the
Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend
at 12:15 and pulled into our slip 1A. It is at the outer end of
the first 70' dock. The marina is nearly empty as the Rendezvous
has reserved every slip and we are one of the first to arrive. Dawn went to the beach with the dogs while I
secured the boat and went to the office to register. We spent the
afternoon greeting folks as other Macs arrived while the boys dived back
into the "Office" DVDs. The wind is back up this afternoon gusting
to 25 knots again. With the rough conditions Gail has received
quite a few cancelations and there may be less than 40 boats this year.
We're going to have dinner a bit after 5 and then go
up for the meet and greet at 6:00, then watch Mike Cecka's slide show about their
Sea Of
Cortez trip at 7:30.
Dinner was ham buns and clam chowder and at 6 we
headed up to the meeting room for the evenings events. After
snacks and drinks, we started with some announcements and then moved on to "Chinooks" slide show.
They had many adventures and sights during their 2-1/2
month trip along Baja in their Mac. It is pretty there, but the
area is certainly very barren. Next up was a showing of "Mama Mia,
the sing along version". We skipped out and borrowed a heater from
"Murrelet",
then went back to the boat to rescue the dogs from their captivity.
Dawn took them for a walk and we settled in for the night.
6/26/2009
Point Wilson Marina
We're up early at 8:30 and enjoyed a nice hot shower.
Point Hudson marina has been completely rebuilt and the facilities are
excellent. Dawn went up to the cooking aboard seminar at 10:00.
I worked until noon on my PowerPoint for tonight, I have all the
pictures in but needed to get all the transitions and timings set as
well as write up some speakers notes.
We gave Nick a phone and some money, and he and Mike
went into town to explore. Dawn and I started on boat cleanup getting
ready for the open boat tours this afternoon. The boys got back
around 2 and we had Nick fire up the whirly pop and start making popcorn
for our guests. We're a port tie so we toured other boats until 3
when we were the hosts.
Our last guests left at 4:30 and we got to work on our
contribution to tonight's potluck. We pre-cooked scalloped
potatoes at home and vacuum sealed them with the seal a meal, then froze them.
Unfortunately this early in the trip they were still frozen solid and we
needed much more time to boil the bag than we had. The potluck is
at 5:30 and by 5:15 with little progress we emptied them into our large
pot and began to stir. This turned scalloped potatoes into cheesy
mashed potatoes. At least they got hot this way.
The potluck was actually good with a nice selection of
food. At 6:30 Todd started his question and answer session and I
set up my computer for Ray to use for his presentation ahead of mine.
He is showing the pictures from his one week trip out on the Coast Guard
training tall ship "Eagle".
After a break, I started my presentation, "Allegro's
Northwest Cruising Guide" at 8:30. We cruised through the waters
from the south Sound, north to the islands and up into Canada with
charts, pictures and stories from our 16 years of boating. With a
number of side conversations from others along the way about the destinations, I finished up at 9:45, not bad given I was shooting for one
hour.
By then the boys were back in the boat with the dogs
continuing their journey through the "The Office, season 2". They
were on DVD #3 and we all climbed in our beds at 10:30.
6/27/2009
Point Wilson Marina
We slept late until 10 and then Dawn and I took the
dogs up to the beach. We've met lots of other schnauzers on this
trip. Dawn got a coffee at the Sea View Marine shop and we picked
up a bag of ice for the main cooler as the dry ice we had has barely
lasted 2 days. I doubt we'll use it again.
Back at the boat we talked with Pete next door aboard
"Overtime". He and his wife Grace are from Canada and are out on
their first salt water trip. We went through their options for
getting back to Bellingham tomorrow given the currents and weather.
We also worked out how to access the tide and current info in their Garmin
GPS.
Just after noon we phoned in a last minute breakfast
order to the marina cafe to go. We all then enjoyed a large delicious
breakfast. About 1:30, we all walked up to the beach and then down
to the wooden boat foundation. The two new buildings under
construction just west of the marina are their new wooden boat maritime
centers. The red one will be open for the September wooden boat
festival and the yellow one should open next year.
Dawn and the boys continued into town while I took the dogs
and made my way back to the boat. At 5:15 Dawn returned alone.
They had enjoyed ice cream and had cruised the shops as well as watched
the parade of classic and muscle cars in town. She had left the boys
at the skate park.
Sam sent a text this afternoon at 2:41pm saying that
he and his 5 friends were just now crossing the Golden Gate bridge on
their 10 day driving trip to San Francisco.
Dawn is quickly
decorating the sailboat cookies with white sails and a blue "M" on each.
This is our dessert contribution to the BBQ dinner tonight. BWY is
providing the hamburgers and hotdogs along with all the other food but
the city requires it to be a potluck so all the guests are bringing
small desserts.
We've got the free WiFi up and Nick is getting some of his
games downloaded on the laptop. We finally finished the cookies
and headed up to the meeting room late at 6:15. Everyone was
already in line for the food so we added the cookies to the dessert
table and joined the end of the line. After eating, the live "Jimmy
Buffet" music began and the party started at 7. We mixed up some
margaritas to go with the show and relaxed while the boys went back to
the boat to be with the dogs and play games on the computer.
After the first set, BWY held the raffle drawing and while we didn't win anything directly, Dawn was given a
fleece vest that was too small for the winners. More music,
Margaritas, and a little dancing followed. At 9 I went to the boat
and got the dogs. We hung around the party until 10 then took them
for their walk before returning to the boat. The boys were back
watching "Office" and we finally turned of the DVD at 11:30.
We're getting lots of use out of our new DVD player and 20" screen.
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