Day 5, Headed Home

admin June 30, 2024 0 Comments

Day five and it was time to head home. I had originally planned one more day, but for the last two day’s I’d been watching a storm brewing and based on what I was seeing, it seemed like something I did not want to be out in.

I was a little disappointed to be leaving early, but after seeing the storm building on my way back, I was sure that it was the right call. And I was happy to see that what I’ve learned over the last year about reading marine weather, wind predictions, etc paid off and translated into making a good decision and not finding myself in weather that was more than I could handle.

I left Fishermans Bay about 5am to take advantage of the high tides to get out and the smooth water before waves increased later in the day. By the time I’d made it to Bellingham Bay, the waves were enough that the boat was riding waves and the stern was being tossed around pretty well. Not so much that I was uncomfortable with the conditions, but enough that it confirmed I was right to call the trip a bit early!

Along the way in the morning, I saw seals, a beautiful sunrise, and spent a little time traveling alongside one of the Washington State ferries.

I feel like I’ve come a long way in the last year! A year ago at this time I barely knew how to raise a sail. And this week I visited four different islands and did nearly 100 nautical miles of solo ocean sailing. It’s been an adventure and I’m looking forward to learning so much more!

Day 4, Lopez Island

admin June 29, 2024 0 Comments

Day 4 was a short hop from Friday Harbor to Fishermans Bay on Lopez Island. It was only about a hour sail across the bay and the weather was beautiful in spite of it getting ready to turn bad the next day. The entry into this bay is tricky and has to be done at just to right time of day when the tide is high to avoid grounding. But all went well, and by noon I was set up and ready to explore the island.

I brought an electric scooter and it was the perfect way to tool around the sleepy little island. There are just a few country roads, one small grocery store, 2 gas pumps, a town library. But I had a great time over a few hours (until my battery ran out) exploring. I’d read that Lopez is know for everyone being so friendly and waving as they passed each other. I didn’t realize how true it was. EVERYONE drove around with their car windows down, and I don’t think a single one passed me with out waving. The grocery store even sells t-shirts that mention the “Lopez Wave” so I had to pick one up.

I had dinner at the marina restaurant and on my way back to the boat for the night stopped to look at a beautiful catamaran that was docked near me. As I was looking at it, the owner stepped out to see if I needed anything. I told her I was just looking at the boat, and she invited me in for a tour. They spent the next hour showing me all around every nook and cranny. I’ve been very impressed with how incredibly friendly and welcoming all of the folks in this boating community have been.

I ended the night sitting on the dock watching the float planes come and go, and taking in another beautiful sunset.

Day 3, Next Stop Friday Harbor

admin June 28, 2024 0 Comments

Day three was an easy day, with the destination being Friday Harbor. After a few hours of sailing and some motoring (I had to time my trip to avoid some very strong currents between some of the islands), I was definitely ready for a shower, some reliable internet service, and a real meal at a restaurant.

I had the new experience of calling into the marina on the radio to arrange a slip as I got close. When the marina is talking to you, they refer to you as “Captain” and “Skipper”. I feel like this experience definitely increased my street cred, and you know I’ll be placing my Amazon order for a captain hat very soon! 🙂

I had the afternoon to wander the town, had dinner while watching the float planes take off and land, and picked up a few supplies. Friday Harbor is definitely worth a return visit!

Stuart Island

admin June 27, 2024 0 Comments

I spent the night on a mooring ball in Prevost Harbor, Stuart Island, and arrived early enough to visit the island for a few hours. So I took the dinghy to shore and spent time hiking the island and seeing a couple of the highlights.

Stuart Island only has a handful of residents, and a one-room schoolhouse is the only public building on the island. One of the highlights of the day’s hike was coming across the “treasure chest.” It’s a few boxes full of shirts, hats, and postcards which visitors can buy. Nobody works at the store, it’s all based on the honor system. You take what you’d like, and each item has a note included with the price and instructions on how to mail payment back when you return home. It is run by a family on the island that has an embroidery business. The island gets mail delivered by plane 3 times a week, and because of this, they are able to ship their products out and make a living this way. So cool to see this operated as an honor system and that it has been this way for years.

Day Two in the San Juan Islands

admin June 25, 2024 0 Comments

I ended my first day on Susia wandering the island a bit and chatting with others folks who were there for the night. I was invited to several campfires and got some great advice about my route from others who had been there before. I’ve been so impressed with how friendly and willing to share other boaters are!

Day two turned out to be more exciting than I had expected in several ways. The plan was for 14 miles of sailing to Stuart Island along the Canadian border (a portion of which has several big currents that meet). I did my final weather check (which looked OK) and headed out.

I wasn’t 10 minutes out of the harbor when I heard a mayday call from another boat about two miles away. They had hit a drifting log and the boat was taking on water with 5 people and a dog on board. I had my first experience talking with the Coast Guard on the radio getting their coordinates so I could go to them (check that off the to-do list!). I was about 15 minutes away, but fortunately, someone else was closer and arrived before I did. Based on what I heard on the radio, the boat sank completely in under 5 minutes but everyone (including the dog) on the boat was OK. Over the course of the day, I heard 4 other mayday calls for boats that were either sinking or needed help in some way (hint: this is foreshadowing, turns out that the weather report WAS NOT very accurate this day…).

My next hour was beautiful, and the highlight was when a pod of dolphins showed up and swam along with me for about half an hour. Such a cool experience!

It was about the time that the dolphins swam away that I entered the area where currents were merging and the wind also increased significantly (and pretty suddenly, and much more than the forecast showed). I’ll just say that the combination of wind and waves that came on so quickly created some “challenging” conditions for me. I had far too much sail up, and trying to reduce sails in waves and wind had me spending the next 30 minutes wondering if I’d bitten off more than I should have. When I’m up on deck I wear a harness that attaches me to the boat in case a wave comes over the bow and tries to knock me overboard, but it turns out that was very little comfort. 🙂 Based on what I heard on the radio I was not the only person that did not expect these winds, and in the end it all worked out and the whole thing was another learning experience.

The wind cleared out as quickly as it arrived, and after things settled down the rest of the day was “smooth sailing” and beautiful. And Stuart Island was a great stop! I’ll post something else about it later, but it’s a can’t miss if you are ever in the area!

Sailing the San Juan Islands

admin June 24, 2024 0 Comments

For years I’ve been interested in the idea of sailing, so last year about this time I decided it was time to get this out of my system one way or another. I’d never been on a sailboat, and only ever been on little recreational boats a couple of times in my life. So I took a couple sailing classes down on the river to figure out how to put a sail up and what all the different ropes do, and then bought a sailboat with the idea that I would try it out and if it wasn’t for me, put it right back on Facebook Marketplace and sell it.

Well, as it turns out, I loved it! And I’ve spent the last year learning everything I can about sailing, navigation, weather, and all the other things it takes to do this safely. Most of my sailing so far has been on the Columbia River.  But this week I’m trying my hand at ocean sailing for the first time and headed up to the San Juan Islands for a week of single-handed sailing near the Canadian border.  The plan is about 100 miles over 5 days.

Day one did not disappoint!!!  I put in the water at Bellingham and sailed to Sucia Island.  It’s a Washington State Marine Park, and only accessible by boat.  Along the way I passed freighters, sea lions, and saw an incredible sunset!

No major mishaps, 20 miles of sailing, and I arrived in one piece. Success for day one!