It begins again

Jane's blackberry crisp, already sampled

The great wheel of the seasons continues to turn, bringing us now to the time when the blackberries ripen.  Last nite, Jane made the first blackberry crisp of this year.  As we sampled it (with ice cream, of course!), a warm memory came to me.

It was a little later in the year - the blackberries were ripe and plentiful, especially at the head of Blakely Harbor, back by the concrete boiler pillbox that is all that remains of the old Blakely sawmill.  We had dinghied thru the opening into the millpond, and Jane went ashore to pick those berries.  It was one of those days where it is warm when the sun is up, but quite cool after sundown.

And as the sun went down, Jane fired up the oven and made a blackberry crisp using those freshly picked berries. 

Only a little later the sun was gone.  But the residual heat from the oven  kept the cabin cozy while we enjoyed that crisp, watching the stars come out.

It begins again

Memorial Day, with Annie

First of all, I must apologize to my hundreds 40 two regular blog readers for letting you go so long without writing.  My only excuse is the Memorial Day weekend, which rolls over into Monday.  Then followed by all the stuff that it takes to move...  when you live on a boat, moving the boat to a new location has all the same little niggling tasks associated with it that moving to a new house does.  With the added complexity of the logistics of things such as making sure that there is a car waiting for us at the new location (you Narrow Boat folks will understand this better than most).

So.  For the Memorial Day weekend, Adam, Kaci, and Annie joined us for a cruise over to Poulsbo.   The weather was forecast to be cold and rainy (well it was Memorial Day in Seattle...), meaning that this cruise would be like every other cruise we've had Kaci on, unfortunately.  But as the picture above shows, it turned out way better than the forecast.

We needed to top off with diesel, so while Jane watched Annie sleep, I ferried Adam & Kaci to shore and gave them walking directions to the Valholl brewery.  And then I schlepped 5 gallon diesel jerry cans back and forth from the fuel dock ($3.89/gal) until we had 3/4 tank on one side and 1/2 on the other.

And then, with perfect timing, I got the call that A & K were ready to return to Eolian.  On the dinghy ride back out, I learned that they had run into one of Adam's co-workers who just coincidentally happens to be one of those two regular blog readers I mentioned.   As it turned out, they were on the docks at Poulsbo with their yacht club.  So, shortly here came a dinghy  and we were graced by a visit from Chris and Deb of m/v C-Shel!  And more brews were consumed, of course.

The next morning is a tradition aboard Eolian:  we watched the Indianapolis 500 mile race.  And as is also part of the tradition, now that we have digital TV, it was almost a stop-action viewing, since the tide had turned the boat so that reception was marginal.  (I much preferred the old analog TV - when reception was poor, the images degraded gracefully with increasing fuzz.  Not this perfect or nothing, with digital garbage thrown in.   Because of the poor reception, we always take our audio feed from the AM radio.)  It was an exciting race, and went 149 laps before the first yellow flag - unheard of!

Then the weather decided to comply with the forecast and the drizzle started.  For a change of scenary, we motored over to Manzanita Bay on the west side of Bainbridge Island and spent the rest of the day and night there.  It was a good, cozy, family time, with the talking in the cockpit going far into the nite - to far, in fact, for this old geezer, who retired early.

We returned to the dock at Shilshole the next morning at the slack at 10:00.  Adam pointed out that this would be the last time we would dock the boat here...  and I was hit with a wave of nostalgia.

Able Bodied Seaman Annie steering a course of sou' sou'west with a firm hand on the wheel

Memorial Day, with Annie

That's a wrap

It's not warm here in Port Madison this morning. In fact, at 11:00 the temperature outside has just barely managed to climb above 50° F.

All good things must come to an end; Seattle's most amazing Endless Summer is no exception.  I think we have reached it: The End.  We have had the Dickenson running ever since I got up this morning and the temperature here in the cabin is 68°, so we are comfortable.  The NOAA marine forecast is telling us that we should dock tomorrow (and as always, at slack water, which occurs at 11:37 and 17:32 - we'll take the 11:37 one):

PZZ135-260100-
PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL-
900 AM PDT WED SEP 25 2013

TODAY...N WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING. SCATTERED SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. TONIGHT...N WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. AREAS OF FOG AFTER MIDNIGHT.
THU...S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING.
THU NIGHT...LIGHT WIND...BECOMING S 10 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS.
FRI...S WIND 10 TO 20 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT.
FRI NIGHT...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.
SAT...S WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS.
SUN...S WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT.

(After all, no one wants to try to dock in 25 kt if it can be avoided...)

I still have to change out the propnut zinc, and Thursday afternoon's weather looks like it is as good as it will get for that task, for the rest of the year.

I have a bittersweet feeling.  It is the end.  But at the same time I am full of the memories of the most wonderful summer ever.  We are out here trying to eke out just one more day, but at the same time, the subconscious nesting impulses are getting nearly irresistible - for us that means that we need to button the boat up for the winter, to get the extra fenders out for the coming winter storms.

I think I am ready.

That's a wrap

More than a month without a saltwater fix

June 28.

That was the date we returned to the dock from our previous little cruise.  And now it is August 16^th.

Those intervening weeks were filled with travel, a family reunion, a wedding, and the Dude Drive - all wonderful fun and very fulfilling.  But no saltwater.

Ah, but this morning we woke up at anchor in Port Madison - woke up to the smell of the sea, absolute calm, and a fuzzy layer of fog that filtered in and out as I sat in the cockpit, drinking my Coast Guard-required latte.

It is so good to be home.

More than a month without a saltwater fix

That magical time

Here in Seattle it has rained for the last five days.   And yes, we are accustomed to this.   Everyone makes fun of us having 20 different words for 'rain'. 

But the next few days are going to be a magical time.  The temps are forecasted to be in the 80's - we expect to be sunny and warm.

Tonite, here at anchor in Port Madison, we are treated to a harbinger.  Late in the evening, the clouds parted and the sun peeked out underneath them, illuminating the world with a magical, golden light.  And here at the far western end of the timezone, so far north that we are within shouting distance of Canada, and within a few days of the summer solstice, it is still light enough to read outside at 10 PM.

Life is good, and it is only going to get better!

Port Madison, 9:45 PM

That magical time

Twenty five days

As I type this on Sunday, we are at anchor in Port Blakely, on our 25^th day off the dock so far this year.

That's an amazing statistic.  On most any other year, a review of our log would show a little more than 40 days off the dock for the entire year.  Yet here we are, only 8 days into June, with almost the entire summer and fall ahead of us.

How has this happened?

• Spectacular weather.  Instead of our normal season of Woebegone, we have actually had summer start this year with the beginning of May, instead of July 5^th. 
• My three-day work schedule.  I am, and have been for some time, working 3 ten-hour days (yes, that's a 75% schedule).  This makes for a wonderful 4-day weekend every week - more time for sailing!
• Jane has essentially retired.  This means that she can take care of things at the cabin during the week (laundry, gardening, etc), freeing the weekends for boating.
• A focused determination to use the boat.  This is a big factor.  Without this, we would have taken each rainy forecast as a reason to leave the boat at the dock.  It also means that I have put boating above car maintenance.  At the moment we have but one running vehicle - a situation that, given the nature of our car fleet, is very risky.  

But I said above that we were in Port Blakely.  I checked back thru the log and found that the last time we were here was 5/14/2010, and in years going back before 2010, Blakely Harbor was featured quite frequently.  And as I recall, this harbor was often so crowded that it was not easy to find a spot for the anchor.  Not so this weekend.

I have to wonder.  One thing that has changed between then and now is that Eagle Harbor has cleaned up their moorage field, getting rid of all the permanently moored floating collections of "boats".  This has made Eagle Harbor available as a destination again, perhaps taking some of the load off of Port Blakely, just around the corner.

Not much has changed here in our three-year absence.  The ferry wakes still roll thru here with regularity.  There are no new houses on the shoreline (although the last remaining double-wide on the south shore is now a giant hole in the ground).  The old sawmill log impoundment pond at the very end of the bay is still a park, and the old boiler house is still covered with graffiti.  It is still much quieter here, compared to the hustle and bustle of Eagle Harbor.  And the view of Seattle at nite is still spectacular, undimmed by shoreline lites.

Twenty five days

Magical

Eolian has spent the last 3 days anchored here in Eagle Harbor.  It has been a wonderful, relaxing time, capped with being able to watch the Indy 500 yesterday morning (congratulations TK!) - it's because Eagle Harbor has a clear view of Seattle - and their TV antennae - that we chose to spend this particular weekend here.

But last nite, at sunset we were treated to something very special.  As the sun dropped low enough in the sky to shine underneath the rain clouds that had blanketed us all day, the lighting turned magical.  The contrast between the white boats lit up with the bright golden light and the ominous dark rain clouds was gorgeous.  I hope this photo gives some impression of the experience:

And of course, whenever you have sunshine and rain, there is a rainbow...

Magical

Cozy

Raining at anchor in Port Madison

When you live aboard, you live aboard in the sunshine, and you live aboard in the rain.  It isn't all sundowners in the cockpit in the cooling evening after a warm day, although it sure has been that way here in Seattle for the last couple of weeks.

Back to normal

Seattle weather has regained its senses.  And all the plants out there, burgeoning away greenly, are thankful.  It's been a long time since they got a drink.

For us, out here at anchor?  It's a time of coziness, corn bread and reading.

And the rain has washed the salt from the windows.

Cozy

You know it was a good sail if...

Windows frosted with salt

Frosted old salt

With the wonderfully warm weather forecast, we got off the dock as soon as we could Thursday evening, heading across the Sound towards Port Madison on a close reach in 15 kt.  We were so glad to be out on the water!  In fact, we kind of prolonged the journey by raising only the mainsail - with this rig we made less than 4 kt, and that was perfect for our laid back attitude Thursday evening.  And adding to our joy, we had the privilege of being escorted most of the way across by a pod of dolphins!  Could it have been more perfect?  Well maybe it could have been a touch warmer.  Regardless of the air temperature, the water is still 51°, and the air blowing across it takes on that temperature close to the water's surface...  where we are.

Port Madison sunset

Putting the anchor down in Port Madison felt like returning home after a long trip.  Wonderful!  We grilled some cheeseburgers out on the stern for dinner - cheeseburgers have truly never tasted better.

Friday morning we left at 10:00 to make the tide in Agate Pass.  It was pretty gusty inside Port Madison, but when we got outside we were met with 30+ kt right on the nose!  Looking out on the Sound, as best we could tell, this wind was localized where we were.  I have come to believe that the configuration of the land at Indianola acts as a funnel that concentrates the wind - this isn't the first time we seen unusually strong and localized winds here.

Once we were in Agate Pass there was essentially no wind, so we continued with the engine.  In fact, we really didn't see any wind to speak of until we reached Liberty Bay.  There of course, with the large open area, we were seeing 15-25 kt.  This is enough to keep us swinging around on the anchor, so we put the anchor down kind of in the lee of the breakwater for the Poulsbo Marina.  It helped, in fact we were quite comfortable.

After a leisurely lunch, I put the dinghy into the water and we headed into town to one of our traditional Poulsbo haunts: the Valhöll brewery.  They have moved to new digs, and very nice they are!   The new facility is Viking-themed and has a great view of Liberty Bay (we could see Eolian while sipping!).  It is located just up the hill from Tizley's, kind of behind the new grandiose (well, maybe not for a town of 100,000... but Poulsbo?) City Hall.  Jeff has also substantially enlarged his brewing capacity and is now branching out...  keep an eye open for one of Valhöll's great brews in a store or taproom near you!

I blame the blurriness on the camera

In the evening, we spotted s/v Ghost coming thru the narrow little hole-in-the-wall at Keyport.  It was great to see Scott and Angela out on the water again after last year's troubles with their prop shaft.  We dinghied over to share a congratulatory glass of wine with them in the evening.

Saturday morning we dinghied into town once more, this time for another ritual:  breakfast at Tizley's.  Tizley's is a European-style second story restaurant with seating available on a narrow little balcony outside over the sidewalk.  In nice weather (and yes, it continues...), it's a lovely place to dine.  But the thing that keeps us coming back is their famous Bloody Marys.  This time they even came with bacon!  All the important food groups represented in one glass!

Then some walking around to the marine consignment store and some of the art galleries, and then back out to Eolian.

About lunchtime, we pulled the anchor (The mud in Liberty Bay is just amazing!  Because of a failed washdown hose, we ended up with mud all over everything in the forward quarter of the boat...) and sailed over to Manzanita Bay and anchored for a quiet, warm evening.  We were anchored quite a bit further back in the cove than usual, and as a result got an occasional whiff of hay and horses coming in from the land.  It was another wonderful warm evening!

Next morning (Sunday, if you're keeping track... we weren't), we hoisted anchor early so that we could ride the tide thru Agate Pass and back to Port Madison.  We spent the entire day there, lazing about and eventually trying to keep cool!  In Seattle!  In May!  On our evening wine cruise, we met a young man who had just acquired an Islander 37 pilothouse - I'd never seen one of these and Jane and I were debating what it was.  He had just gotten it to Port Madison from Lake Union in what was apparently quite an ordeal - the boat is named Chaos, appropriately enough.  He spent the day tearing out a lot of hacked interior joinery.  "Not appropriate for a boat," he said.  All I know for sure is that in the evening he left with an amazing load of scrap wood on his dinghy.

Heading for Seattle in the morning sunshine

Finally, on Monday morning, early, we left Port Madison to return to Seattle.  It was so warm at 08:00 that all I had on was an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt and a pair of shorts. Our early summer continues!

One measure boaters use to measure the success of a voyage is by what broke.  For us, the washdown hose was it, so I'd have to call this a successful trip!

You know it was a good sail if...

Anticipation

Fuel tank repaired?  Check.

Oil changed?  Check.

Battery water topped off?  Check

Anchor windlass tested?  Check.

Engine zincs changed?  Check.

Prop nut zinc changed?  Check.

Batteries reinstalled? Check.

Weather?  Oh my...

82°?  Holy cow!

We are going off the dock for the first time this year on Thursday nite or Friday morning, depending on when provisioning for 4 days or so is complete.  This is when the work pays off...

Oh yeah.

Anticipation

A complete contrast

This year's summer is the complete opposite of last year's.  Last year, I was struggling (and not really succeeding) to keep a positive mental attitude here on the blog.   Considering that if you measure summer as that time above 80°, last year it was measured in hours - for the entire year.

Ah, but not this year!  Here's a paragraph from our local weather blogger (and fellow UW employee), Cliff Mass:

"Seattle residents unaccustomed to a record-breaking stretch of sun and warmth are reacting with guilt, anxiety, and discomfort.  I cannot count the number of emails I have received by folks asking when the accustomed clouds and rain will return."

Next week we have the chance to break an all-time record of consecutive days without rain (51) , if the forecast disturbance on Monday fails to appear, or misses the official weather station at Sea-Tac airport.

And amazingly, we are in the middle of what may be the longest recorded run of consecutive pleasant day.  According to Scott Sistek, meterologist for KOMO TV,

"... Seattle is amidst the longest stretch of pleasant temperatures in decades, perhaps in its history. Believe it or not, Monday marked the 17th day in a row Seattle has had a high temperature in the 70s with Tuesday well on its way to make it 18.

We hit a high of 91 degrees on August 17. The next day, the high was 71 and ever since, the afternoons haven't been hotter than 79 nor cooler than 70. And of course, it hasn't rained in the stretch either. What's more, 12 of those 17 days have had a high between 70 and 73, including the entire Labor Day Weekend.

Seattle has never had such a streak of 70s before and in fact, it really hasn't been all that close."

It has been a wonderful summer.

 And it is still continuing!  Tonite after work, Jane and I will take Eolian over to Port Madison, Then to Poulsbo on Friday, Manzanita Bay on Saturday and back to Shilshole on Sunday.  It's a great 3-day loop, and one that the weather will only make more pleasant.

A complete contrast

On little cat feet

Nothing existential this morning...

We sailed down to Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island yesterday evening and anchored.  Here's the view back towards Seattle at dusk:

Sadly, this was before the city lights were on. Also sadly, I have found that I cannot successfully take pictures of the cityscape at night from a moving boat.

And this morning, foghorns are moaning out on the Sound:

(and we have the Dickenson heater lit too)

On little cat feet

Four days of vagabonding: Day 3-4

After four days and several grazing encounters with crowds, we found tranquility at last, in Port Madison once again. This is a picture of my Port Madison state of mind.

Four days of vagabonding: Day 3-4

Four days of vagabonding: Day 2-3

With Liberty Bay filling up, it was time for us to escape. We hoisted anchor and threaded the needle at Keyport and then over to Manzanita Bay on the West side of Bainbridge Island.

The plan was a good one. When we arrived, there were only a few boats at anchor and we were able to choose a good spot. With the anchor down, we settled in for a perfectly relaxing day at anchor: reading, guitar, and watching the other boats coming in.  And there were a lot of them.  Enough so that we began to doubt the plan, actually. But then we realized that if it was getting crowded here, it could only be worse over in Poulsbo.

Over night there was rain, and this morning it is cloudy and much cooler. Jane observed that this temperature downturn probably will have the effect of holding down the consumption of cold, refreshing adult beverages - a good thing for Liberty Bay given the crowding.

In a little while, after breakfast of course, we will hoist anchor and head thru Agate Pass again on our way back to Port Madison. The wind has turned to the South and is plenty sting enough, so we will make this passage under sail.

Four days of vagabonding: Day 2-3

Four days of vagabonding: Day 1-2

META: Well now that was interesting.  The profound difficulties of typing on an iPhone keypad changed my writing style!  Looking back at yesterday's post, I see short sentences (where normally I have to carefully guard against overly-complex, parenthesized, run-on sentences, like this one) and a seeming majority of words with only one syllable.  This morning, while Jane has her weekly two-hour telephone conversation with her mother (who is, incidentally, 97 years young), I am typing on the computer because we have an internet connection here in Poulsbo.

Picking up where I left off on Vagabonding Day 1 (Friday): Following the consumption of our morning lattes and enjoying the peaceful morning in Port Madison, Jane rigged our new crab ring (Deluxe! Glow-in-the-dark harness!) and put it over the side - July 1 is the first day of crabbing season here. Within an hour or so, we had lunch: steamed crab and drawn butter. YUM! While I was cleaning the crabs, I took some pictures of the process because my little three-part series on crabs did not provide detailed enough information on just how to do that. Look for an upcoming addendum to the "Crab" series.

Following the leisurely lunch, when the tide had turned and would be with us going thru Agate Pass, we hoisted anchor and headed out. The warm, calm weather continued, so we traveled using the motor. By 14:45 we were anchored in Liberty Bay, in front of Poulsbo, relaxing and reading in the warm sunshine.

And the Bay was already filling up. Once we were settled, we watched a steady stream of boats enter the Bay and put down anchors, including s/v Ambition, who share our slip with us. We hailed them and set up to meet at the Hare and Hounds for a pub dinner.

We put the dinghy down and went into town. And then here came s/v Ghost, from across the dock! Scott grabbed this picture as we idled along side of Ghost, welcoming them as they entered the anchorage. He even managed to get Eolian in the picture!

There was only enough time to browse the used book store (must remember: bring chocolate for the proprietress!) before it was time to walk to the pub. After a great dinner sitting outside on the roof with Brent and Jill, sampling many beers, it was starting to cool off - my Hawaiian shirt was beginning to feel a little thin. So we stopped at Eolian and grabbed flannel shirts and fleece and a couple of glasses of wine to take over to Ghost as a sundowner. One common topic of conversation among anchored boaters is how close others have anchored. and with the continuing stream of boats entering the bay, we had no shortage of opportunities to discuss this. Two boats had anchored between Eolian and Ghost, where one perhaps would have been appropriate. I know I didn't sleep well, wondering what the boats would do at slack water when there is nothing to keep their anchor chains stretched out going in the same direction. Needless worry, it turns out. There were no bumps in the night.

This morning is one of those warm summer mornings that we all want. It is warm - all the hatches and ports on Eolian are open - and it is calm. It is gorgeous! And the bay is even fuller. Two large circle raft-ups are forming. (For those of you not familiar with this, perhaps 30 large boats will tie up together with their sterns in, forming a large circle. I am sure these are fun, but they are not for us. And they are noisy to be anchored near.) Later today we will leave Liberty Bay and go across to Manzanita Bay on the back side of Bainbridge Island where we expect to find peace and solitude.

Back to typing on the iPhone tomorrow.

Four days of vagabonding: Day 1-2

Four days of vagabonding: Day 0-1

(This is an experiment. I am going to do all four days blogging on my iPhone, typing on its the tiny keypad)

Thursday
When I got home from work, Jane had the boat ready to go. We left immediately. Since it was pretty late, we needed to be destination-oriented (a curse, I know). The wind was out of the NW and strong at 20+ kt, so pure sailing was not in the cards. Instead, we motor-sailed under a reefed main, almost directly into the wind, and anchored in Port Madison. We had a dinner of BBQ beef and corn on the cob, read for a while, and went to bed.

Friday
Sleeping at anchor is so peaceful. It is absolutely silent, and the gentle motion of the boat lulls you into the deepest sleep you'll ever have.

I awoke this morning with sunlight streaming thru the hatch above our berth. I think there is scarcely a better way to be awakened. It is warm in the cabin, 60 degrees, and comfortable sitting outside here in the cockpit, where I am picking this out with a single finger.

It is now 07:15, and boats are beginning to move, trailing silvery ribbons of wake behind. They are heading to what will be a huge gathering in Liberty Bay at Poulsbo. You see, in order to avoid competition with Seattle, Poulsbo does their July 4th fireworks on July 3rd. And tho we are also going to Poulsbo, I intend to be out of there before Sunday evening - all the crowding and craziness is not appealing.

And now I must go make Jane a latte. Each of us has his/her alarm clock - mine was sunlight; Jane's is the rushing sound of the steaming milk. And then the day will begin.

Four days of vagabonding: Day 0-1

Chilly this morning

It's cool and kind of misty this morning over here in Port Madison. The eagles have been busy fishing, and now they are just taking turns in the nest - probably babysitting.

We had a spectacular sail over yesterday evening - a close reach in 15 knots apparent wind, right in Eolian's sweet spot. At times we exceeded 8 knots on almost flat water.

Sleeping at anchor is so peaceful.

Chilly this morning

First, a sunset

First, the sunset on Saturday in Eagle Harbor nite was absolutely spectacular.  Because of the locations of the clouds, the sun's reflection on them made it look like there was a ray of light going straight up from the sun.  (I assume they were ice clouds, because ice fog does this, while regular fog does not).

We slept in again, and woke with barely enough time to get another hearty breakfast of sautéed mushrooms and fried eggs into ourselves before the start of the Indy 500.  Of course you watch the Indy 500 don't you?  The largest sporting event in the world, with 500,000 people physically attending and millions more watching all over the world, is something you wouldn't want to miss.  Well at least we didn't want to miss it.  And for a wonderful change, we had excellent TV reception at anchor in Eagle Harbor.  I won't tell you about it - if you saw it, you already know, and if you don't, well then watch it yourself next Memorial Day.  Tough love.

Then it was clean up the boat time, because Kaci and Adam were coming in on the 3:45 ferry to Bainbridge.  We put the dinghy down and made a quick trip to the city dock and up into town to the grocery store for some forgotten items, and then it was time for them to arrive.  Working the visit this way was ideal - it didn't require days of their time, started with a ferry ride (an unusual treat for many folks) to an island (another unusual circumstance).  Then a dingy ride out to Eolian, anchored in the harbor.  I BBQ'd a couple of pork loins on my new grill (it was perfect for this!) while the conversation flowed.  And in fact it flowed until well after dark, with the background of the spectacular city scape of the Seattle nite skyline centered in the harbor.  Unfortunately, I have no good pictures.  First, I suffer from excessive involvement - I participate instead of being the chronicler.  And next, by some rye twist of fate, in the pictures I did manage to get everyone has some weird expression on their face.

This morning, I got up early and lit the cabin heater and started breakfast (cornbread, blue berries and sausages), and then we got under way at 08:30, in order to arrive at Shilshole at slack water, and early enough for Kaci and Adam to have a day left to themselves.

We had another delightful broad reach back, making 3-5 kt, and tied up at 10:45.  So, tho this started out to be a circumnavigation, circumstances dictated that it was not.  But the trip fully satisfied Jane and I, and I think Adam and Kaci were pleased too.  I mean, how can you go wrong when you sail downwind to the North, then downwind to the South, and finally downwind to the North, all in the space of 4 days?  Never sail to weather indeed!

But no rest for the boat owner.  As soon as I am done posting this, we begin work cutting up and removing our old, leaking diesel daytank.  Expect pictures.

First, a sunset

Beautiful, relaxing day

Prudence.

Our original plans to circumnavigate Bainbridge Island clockwise did not work, given the circumstances. When plans and circumstances collide, the prudent mariner revises the plan.  And so we did.

The wind forecast had a South wind yesterday,  North wind this afternoon, and a South wind again tomorrow and Monday.  So we sailed to Port Madison yesterday in a beam to broad reach, and today we sailed South to Eagle Harbor under another broad reach.  When your plans match the wind, the going is easy and relaxing indeed, today being the perfect example. 

Now we are peacefully at anchor out in front of the Harbor House, and I am about to go grill a steak.  In the sun. 

Does it get any better than this?

Well, yes.  Kaci and Adam will  join us tomorrow afternoon.  And the temperature is forecast to reach as high as (hold your breath) normal!  Yes it is possible we will reach 68°!

That will be better.

Beautiful, relaxing day

Honey, I'm home...

Our plan for the holiday weekend has changed. First, Kaci and Adam will now join us on Sunday afternoon, and then Jane was not feeling well and the weather was, well, not optimal. So we delayed leaving the dock until 15:30.

Next, the wind was out of the South, making a trip South difficult. So we took the path of least resistance - and we are home at anchor in Port Madison. Tomorrow? Who knows.

Honey, I'm home...

Honey, I'm home...