Logbook Day
77, 78, 79 and 80
6/22/2006 -
6/25/2006
BlueWater Yachts Rendezvous
Time away, almost.
6/22/2006
Laconner to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Ahh, the best laid plans. We’d been planning on attending the Blue Water
Yachts rendezvous for a couple months. Everything was set, Wednesday
around noon Dawn headed off to my sisters to deposit the boys and we
were ready for our first adult only boat trip. Four days, sun, sea, and
no kids. Then Wednesday evening she called, my sister was at the
hospital with one of her kids, the outlook for a weekend alone looked
bleak.
Thursday morning we switched to plan ‘B’. Sam was to
stay home alone under the care of our neighbor (he is 15 after all), and
the other two were off to the rendezvous with us. We headed off to
LaConner just past noon. We kept the fact that Sam wasn’t coming low key
with the other two and it took almost a half hour before one of them
noticed we had ‘forgot’ Sam at home.
The launch via the La Conner sling went smooth once we
had convinced the operator it was OK and we had launched there before
(technically they don’t do sailboats). This is the first time we have
completely set up the boat including raising the mast on the water. It
also went well and wasn’t really any more difficult than setup on the
trailer.
We were under way at 3:30 headed north through the
Swinomish channel. We motored the whole way and the passage was trouble
free on calm seas. We arrived in Friday harbor at 6:45 and were directed
to slip G52. We backed in without a hitch and settled into the
gathering. There are 45 Macgregor’s present for the rendezvous. The mix
looks evenly split between X’s and M’s and one lone 19. The boys quickly
met the G dock host who’s boat was across the dock from ours. He
directed them to all the sights to see including the marina aquarium and
provided books to study the sea life. There wasn’t a lot going on
besides dessert as part of the rendezvous that evening and we had a
quick dinner and got settled in for the night.
6/23/2006
Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Friday morning brought a pancake and sausage breakfast followed by
seminars for the guys and gals. I attended a portion of the electrical
session but soon found it too basic and limited to only Blue Waters view
of what they install in the latest M’s. I have a different philosophy
about what is required for these boats.
Most everyone disappeared into town for lunch while we
just relaxed and took naps. The afternoon saw the tours where everyone
hosted everyone else showing off their boats. As “The winner of the boat
with the most mods” according to a few guests, Allegro was a popular
destination. We had pictures and music of our Canada trip running on a
PowerPoint loop down below. Our new fender step worked great getting
everyone in and out. Dawn had snacks set up on the dock attracting
people and we saw a lot of traffic through the boat.
Friday evening was the potluck BBQ dinner followed by
a presentation of
Chinooks trip up the inside passage in his X. While the trip looked
quite interesting the presentation lacked the pizzazz needed to keep us
interested. We retired for a movie and a quiet night aboard.
6/24/2006
Friday Harbor to James Island
Saturday morning was lazy without any planned activities other than
preparing the boat to leave. I skipped the skippers meeting for the
‘around Shaw Island sail’ as we were not making the trip with the group.
Once Dawn and the boys were back from were ever they went we headed out
for the 11:00 start.
We left the dock and quickly raised the sails to get
under way. Because of this we ended up in the front group of boats. When
actual starting horn went off we were well on our way. The required
course was almost dead down wind as we made our way to upright channel.
I cheated a bit to port as long as I could on a broad reach but finally
had to turn down wind to clear the south tip of Shaw Island. This left
us to struggle with the headsail as it became blanketed by the main. To
solve this I brought it out wing on wing to the port side. It flew there
reasonably well, but our speed was down and the boats astern were
closing. It was time for the pole. I handed the helm to Nick and went
forward to set up the whisker pole. Yeck, better clean the inside next
time I thought as I extended it. Soon it was set and the sails were once
again pulling hard as we rounded the point and headed up the channel.
The boats that were closing now receded into the distance astern.
The next challenge was a spot of weak wind coupled
with some very confused seas. All the boats were sailing into this hole
and coming to a stop. As it started to get crowded and difficult is was
time for the iron genoa. We quickly lowered the motor and found our way
to clearer air and water. Since we were almost to where everyone was
going to go left and we were going right we went ahead and left the
motor in service motor sailing around Upright Head.
The wind got even less and it was time to abandon the
sailing and move on. We quickly stowed the sails and headed east. Our
first thought was to go to Spencer Spit and we were almost to the Frost
Island cut when we changed our mind and headed for a look at James
Island. We had never stopped there before. To hasten this trip we began
dumping ballast. About half way through this we met up with some strange
wind, wake, and current situation that threw the boat into a strong heel
to starboard. With a half empty ballast tank the weight shift was
accentuated. Dawn and Mike were on the bow at the time along with the
dog and they fought mightily to avoid going over the side. Mike was
wrapped around the lifeline and claims he got his feet wet. Dawn elected
to grab the dog rather than Mike. As quickly as it happened the boat
righted itself and we continued on our way.
We headed into the small bay for a look at the west
side of James. The current was running strong with many boils and whirl
pools. As we pulled up to the dock the only open space was out the
outter end behind a larger powerboat. The space wasn’t long enough to go
bow in so we would have had to park cockpit to cockpit which didn’t
appeal to Dawn. We circled briefly surveying our options. The space on
the other side was taken up by a smaller fishing boat toward shore and
two inflatable’s. Seeing us looking at the dock apparently broke up the
picnic and the owners of the two inflatable’s made their way to the dock
and departed. This opened a nice space for use. The current was running
strongly across the dock as it swirled through the small cove. With
better planning we could have executed a neater spring line approach to
the dock, but as it was we still did a pretty good job. Dawn got a line
to our neighbor who tied off the bow well enough but left the line a bit
too short for a good spring line. I had to back out a bit to get the
right angle and was then able to power against the line bring the stern
to the dock into the flowing current.
This is just a lovely little island with a perfect
cove. There is room for 4 boats max at the dock with one buoy at the far
end of the cove. There is one large boat anchored out, but the guide
says the bottom has poor holding. Around the other side exposed to the
Strait are 4 more buoys. It turns out the other boat at the dock is a
Tolly 30 with another family aboard. The smaller fishing boat is a
family that is camping. We quickly met up, the kids headed off to play
on the rock and caves and the dogs went romping on the beach. The power
boat having the largest cockpit meant the happy hour was aboard their
boat. It’s amazing how much more space there is on this boat that is
only 4’ longer than ours.
The one empty space behind the Tolly was filled by
some teens out for a afternoon cruise making the dock look full. A
larger sailboat arrived and indicated they would like to raft to us but
I asked them not to as their load on our light boat with the current
running would be too much. Turns out they went around the other side and
got a buoy there. They later came down for a tour. The island is very
small and it’s a 3 minute walk from one side to the other. The view from
the saddle is great. Check out the mount Baker picture.
We were filled in on the raccoon situation by our
neighbors. Turns out a few years back the island had a real problem and
all the pesky critters were removed. They have since found their way
back and are starting to cause a problem again. We were advised to
secure all our canvas tight and get all food stored inside.
We had a lovely evening with a good meal and retired
for the night. The teens left around dusk leaving one slot at the dock
empty. After dark I heard a small boat arriving. I watched their lights
as they slid into the spot on the opposite side of the dock with no
problems so I didn’t open the boat up to go help. The boat was to small
to stay on and they unloaded their gear to camp. Because they arrived so
late everyone else on the island had turned in so they didn’t get the
word about the raccoons. After their first trip ashore I heard them
talking about something one of them saw on the dock, an otter perhaps
they thought. They got the rest of their gear and set up camp.
6/25/2006
James Island to La Conner
Perhaps this was a good thing as the raccoon party was definitely aboard
their boat that night. I heard the critters board our boat and scramble
around 3 times throughout the night. They never found a way in and only
left muddy little paw prints on the deck and canvas. The boat next door
didn’t fare so well. From what they explained in the morning they had
been out late shrimping and had a big catch of large prawns. They also
had various cat food for use as bait. The raccoons hit the jackpot and
had a midnight feast. I guess the boat was quite a mess in the morning.
They also had food in their tents and the sneaky animals opened the
tents and raided them during the night. They were not impressed with the
wildlife situation on the island.
We headed off fairly early the next morning making our
way south east out of the cove and across Rosario Strait to the
Deception Pass entrance. The flood current was running at about 5 knots
and we easily squirted through the pass into Cornet Bay. We stopped at
the park dock for breakfast and to go to the store. The boys fished from
the dock for a while then we ate. Dawn never made it to the store.
As the time approached noon we left for the last part
of the trip back to La Conner. We have never gone in the Swinomish
Channel from the south end and it was an interesting passage. The tide
was very low still and you have to enter way in the middle of nowhere to
be in the dredged channel. It’s fairly narrow and goes shallow quickly
on both sides. Once you pass all the mud flats you come to ‘Hole In The
Wall’. Approaching it looks like you have run into a dead end. At the
last minute you make a 90 degree turn to the left between two rock
outcroppings. This leads you to a slightly more open area and another
sharp turn to the right into the more recognizable part of the channel
we are used to. From there it is a short ways to the bridge and La
Conner.
We pulled into the first set of guest docks at the
marina and prepared to take the mast down. The wind was really up by
this time and it was quite hot. Lowering the mast went smoothly and
without to much trouble we had everything down and buttoned up for
pulling the boat out.
It was a bit tricky pulling away from the dock with
all the traffic backed up in the channel waiting to pull into the pump
out station. We had to back out and do a loop as the strong wind plays
havoc with the bow in these conditions. From there we made the short
trip to the sling launch. With the boat tied to the dock I headed up to
get the truck. By the time I was parked Dawn had the boat loaded on the
sling and it was flying my way. The trailer loading went slick as can be
and we were ready to leave. Oh wait, one problem. We needed to pay for
the loading. Now we remembered, that’s why Dawn was going to go to the
store, to get some cash. We scrounged up $3, now where to get the other
$7. (We had no checks along and it’s a long walk to an ATM.) Dawn
improvised and started hitting up other boaters for some cash. Boaters
being friendly and all, in no time she had the money and we were on our
way.
It was an un-eventful drive home once where got out of
La Conner where they were having a street fair. All the heat on the
blistering day convinced us to stop at Home Depot on the way home for
refreshments and a portable air conditioner for the house. |