The Shakedown

We are spending a few days at home to recover from our shakedown cruise down to Seattle. Remarkably, nothing went wrong and we forgot nothing major. We met up with some friends in Friday Harbor and sailed down to Port Susan together, in tribute to Bob Perry's son Spike, who had passed away unexpectedly a couple of years ago. The "Spike Sailpast" drew many people by land and sea for the occasion, a good time was had by all and the singing and playing went well into the night.

We spent the night on Bob's mooring ball, and next day went to Blakely Harbor, where we met up with Kim Bottles, who is building a boat which Bob designed for him. He drove us up to Port Hadlock so we could see the build in progress. It was very impressive even as a shell, 62 feet of skinny double-ender...strip-planked with cedar and finished with epoxy and glass, it is a maximum day-sailer. Kim is threatening to bring her up to Victoria and is mad enough to say I can drive. I can hardly wait.
You can see many photos of the boat in all stages of construction; go to The Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building and check out not only this project but all the impressive things they are doing there.

 

From there, we went to Bell Harbor Marina in Seattle, and did Tourist for a couple of days. We walked the Pike Place Market and bought a few necessities, like Blood and Tongue Sausage and some buns. We saw some friends and met some new ones. And most of all, we went to see the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit at the Seattle Center.

It was phenomenal. The incredible vison and artistry in glass was truly mindblowing. We could have walked through there for days.We were lucky (we'll call it good planning) to be there for the daylight and for the evening, the outside changes by the second at sundown.

A couple of days in the heart of Seattle just before July 4 was enough for us, we needed a breather. We headed back north, through Port Townsend and back up to Sidney. There was a gale forecast for the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we got ourselves ready with a reef ready to be put in, jacklines to clip to on deck, and our harnesses/PFD's and tethers were ready.

Nada. No wind, lots of leftover lumpy water and a nice sunny day. What's not to like?

Now we're getting the last things done on the boat. Today I finished the cockpit, redoing the non-skid on the floor and the seats with Kiwi Grip, an acrylic coating with lots of grip. I custom-tinted the Kiwi Grip to match the existing fiberglass, and it looks great. As a bonus, we will no longer slide to the lowest point in the cockpit regardless of footwear. We could wear bananas on our feet and not move an inch. We won't try that, it's a waste of bananas and they squish between your toes.

We should be leaving on Tuesday morning, providing everything goes smoothly. We are pretty well prepared, so we aren't expecting a lot of drama, at least for the first couple of hours. After that, all bets are off. Something critical could be missing, like scotch. We'll hope for the best.