Marianita's overnight "cruise"

Building a house has pretty much consumed my life for the past 2.5 years, but we finally got moved in about a month ago. No respite for this weary soul, I still had two years of deferred boat maintenance to catch up on before the WBF in Port Townsend...which of course got cancelled. But I still had rigging to deal with, topside and bottom paint that needed renovation and a stuck bilgeboard. With the boat back in the water (many thanks for your assistance Jeff) I realized my window of opportunity to sail without getting rained on was closing. What better shakedown cruise than a quick overnighter? I can see Clam Bay from one of the windows in the new house, it seemed like a perfect destination.

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Tacking out of Eagle Harbor, pointed towards our local Superfund site, a former creosote plant. The buildings house pumps that are trying to suck the sticky residue out of the ground. Timing the currents are critical to getting anywhere by sailboat in the Salish Sea, I launched about 1430 to catch a ride through Rich Passage.

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Fortunately I only aroused moderate interest from this fellow.

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A glorious sight after so long away. Backlit sail in a blue sky...so glad I didn't go for the tanbark when I sewed these up.

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Light wind but with the current slack we were running 3+ knots according the GPS. Clean bottom good...
Bremerton is to port, our destination to starboard.

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Anchor down. My house is way back in the woods towards the right side of the picture.

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Dinner with a view of Mt Rainier. I actually really enjoy cooking, just not while on the boat. Turns out stout kept in the bilge is just about the perfect temperature, cheese too.

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Ferry coming through from Bremerton, I was a bit worried about their wake but they are running pretty slow to keep erosion down.

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Strafed by a local in the morning. There is a bakery over there, next time I'll bring the dinghy and row in for breakfast.

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A little coffee and a bit of reading while we wait for a favorable current home. Goddard and Weldon are a real pair of crusty old coots.

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One of my neighbors was out on her morning bike ride and caught us off South Beach. The wind was lighter than forecast but I had all day so wasn't too upset. Iended up motoring a bit to get through a hole in the wind as it switched around from a northerly to southerly. Dead calm where I was but I could see a spinnaker flying to the south so I just had to best the counter current I was stuck in.



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It eventually filled in enough for a nice 3-4 knot downwind run back to Eagle Harbor. The harbor can act like a wind tunnel and true to form as I came in we went from relaxed sailing conditions to a touch over canvased. Went reaching past the 5 knot speed limit buoy with the rail down and closer to 6 but the marine patrol was elsewhere so no performance awards.

Dock to dock it was a 28 hour "cruise" but packed with an awful lot of enjoyment. You don't have to go far, you just have to go.

Looks like a great trip. Nice spot for your new house!

A good read, thanks.

Nice break from construction :) Thanks...I needed that!

Nice little Puget Sound cruise!

Nice tale. Thanks for posting

So happy that you've gotten back on the water, Steve. And more than happy to have done my small part. Marianita is looking fine again!

(and the new house is also pretty nice)

Jeff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stromborg

Anchor down. My house is way back in the woods towards the right side of the picture.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Boats/Eun...IMG_1085-L.jpg
Dinner with a view of Mt Rainier. I actually really enjoy cooking, just not while on the boat. Turns out stout kept in the bilge is just about the perfect temperature, cheese too.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by stromborg

You don't have to go far, you just have to go.

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A great photo, and a great motto.

During my self-inflicted house arrest for construction and COVID lockdowns I became much more appreciative of the restorative qualities even a brief time away than I had in the "before times". The San Juans and Inside Passage still wait but in the meantime I've got an awful lot of adventuring available to me within a day or two sailing from my home port. One of the truly enjoyable aspects of the PTWBF for me has been sailing to Port Ludlow on the first leg, getting a berth and having my wife join me for a nice dinner at the Inn. We've come to the conclusion she just isn't what she calls "a sailors wife" much less a first mate, though she does like boats and the water so having me go off adventuring all day an meeting up for dinner at a marina someplace is a happy compromise for us.

The first big rain system of the season is rolling in today, by mid-October there isn't much daylight around here and I do still have a job to go and do so I might get one more adventure in this year. Maybe Blake Island or Kingston....?

I went out last year for a couple of days in early October. A fine time of the year. It was foggy, but there were few other boats around, and I had a very nice time.

October, if you watch the weather, can be a wonderful time for boating in Puget Sound

Nice read, and love the galley photo.

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. Sounds like a great day & a sixth!