Where is Home?

Brigadoon is our home. It’s been our home for the last five years. Over those five years we have been fortunate enough to live on Lake Union, here in Seattle. We have a great spot on the end of the dock, our marina is old but run well, we get along well with the owner, and our neighbors have (mostly) been good neighbors. They’re definitely a mixed bag. There was the guy who rode his motorcycle down the dock to park it next to his boat. There was the crazy cat lady who had flower pots all over her side of the dock for her cats to shit in. Entertaining us was the drunk Aussie who was offensive at times but overall a really nice guy. But they were all nice people – truly.

Then, there’s the shipyard…

Where is home? It’s where the boat is moored.

That is about to change.

A couple weeks ago, we were out on the Sound, returning from a friend’s place up north. Another friend was headed south also. As we sailed away, we had a nice northerly at 8-10, which made our asymmetrical spinnaker pull us along at a good 6 knots. Everything was going superb as we worked our way from Port Susan down past Hat Island, just off Everett. Our good friend, Kim, was sailing ahead of us about 3 nautical miles. The forecast was for possible dry lightning in the afternoon. We did get some, with flashes happening over the Cascades to the east, along with some between clouds. 

It wasn’t that severe and it wasn’t close, so we sailed on.

We had planned well for this trip, deciding to set watches for ourselves. This was the suggestion of my lovely and very smart First Mate. Kerry thought it would make for good practice. I agreed. So, we set watches of one hour on and one hour off. This kept us from standing around, fidgeting together, not resting, and basically not getting any time off. Kerry was below, off watch, when I saw the black line on the water.

It was about 5 nautical miles away.

I walked to the foredeck to get a better look. It was closer now. I could see black water, with ever increasing white caps behind it, like white horses climbing out of the Sound. Then I looked up. I looked up at our brand new spinnaker, full with only eight knots of wind filling it from behind. I knew that spinnaker had to come down right now. “Kerry! I need you on deck now!” I shouted as I moved forward to douse the spinnaker. The dark line on the horizon was now less than a mile away. 

There was a wall of wind coming at us, a squall, if you will, and it was going to hit us right on the nose. I completed the fastest spinnaker douse in my entire sailing career. Thank god I had an ATN sock on that spinnaker. It was doused and then down on deck in less than 2 minutes. And that’s when the storm hit us. Looking back I could see Kerry in the cockpit at the wheel.  She yelled out “What course should I take?” I looked over at Kim’s boat. I saw what he was doing. Turning back to Kerry, I shouted “Do you see Kim? Do exactly what he is doing!”

And she did.

We were fine. The winds were 25-30 knots. The seas were very confused. But we were just fine. We didn’t make any big mistakes and no one was hurt. The thing that most comes to mind is that, while not completely incompetent, we weren’t exactly relaxed in the process. Because, we should have been. We were in solid boat with good gear and enough experience where we should have been comfortable.

That’s the lesson. We need more of this. We need to be out there in the Puget Sound sailing in salt water and running into storms. Right now, we have a minimum of three drawbridges and the Ballard Locks to transit just to go sailing in Puget Sound. It’s a two hour trip on a good day. Lake Union is a little small and busy sometimes for Brigadoon. All this adds up to; We don’t get out often enough.

As of August 1^st, we’ll be in our new slip on the Sound. We looked at many different marinas, some of them quite shabby but endearing nonetheless. Which begs the question – why would anyone, no matter how beautiful the marina might be, live in such a place with a dirty rundown bathroom and no laundry facilities anywhere in town? Three other marinas we researched were all in close proximity to each other.  Two of those were within walking distance of the Bainbridge Island Ferry.  We would have access to the Sound, a manageable commute, and a nice, modern, rich, town. Why didn’t we choose Bainbridge?

We found a better marina in Commencement Bay on the edges of the city of Tacoma. One cannot deny that Tacoma has revitalized the waterfront and, excepting its reputation, it’s actually quite a pleasant neighborhood. Oh, and the paper mill smell seems to have gone. The Foss Harbor Marina is clean, modern, well managed, amenity rich, and populated by some really nice people. There is a large liveaboard population, which is to our advantage.

This puts us within 200 yards from the entrance of Commencement Bay. At that point, we are in the South Puget Sound. We will have the time, the access, the desire, and the wherewithal to actually sail this boat as much as we need. The South Sound awaits us. We’re gonna do some sailing.

Brigadoon's 2012 Summer Cruise

Stats:

• 300 nautical miles
• 16 days
• 10 ports
• First Canadian crossing and back.
• Deepest anchor to date 50+ feet
• Fastest true boatspeed @8kts
• Fastest GPS speed (tide helping) of @10+ kts
• 30% sailing and 70% motoring is my guess -- winds started out great but calmed out the last week.
• The new sails are great and the engine ran like a champ.
• Longest passage under sail - Pt Townsend to Victoria.
• Longest day on the water -- about 12 hours
• First trip to the Gulf Islands, Victoria, Sidney, and San Juans by boat.

Highlights of the trip:

Perry Rendezvous: The trip there was great.  No hassles whatsoever.  We didn't have any failures in anything.  We had a great time there.  Kerry got to see a dingy she is enamored with (Portland Pudgy -- to which Bob responded with, "Ehhhhh!  It's nerdy. However, it has a certain dignity.")  I also had fun playing for the dinner crowd before the real band started up.  Pt. Ludlow marina staff are awesome. It was a blast.

Pt Townsend to Victoria:  We had a great crossing.  Our trip planning is really getting good.  Usually Kerry creates the route and I check it.  Sometimes I create the route and she checks it.  Either way, it's working out great.  We made the crossing on one port tack the whole way.  The only casualty was a smashed lamp globe and some paraffin oil on the pilothouse sole because things weren't secured properly.  That was my fault and a good lesson in rigging the boat for sail.  Winds were stiff and so were the seas but it was blast crossing the strait.  Our old autopilot worked really well too.  We spent a couple nights in Victoria.  It's a nice place and all, though we are unlikely to return by boat anytime soon.  The town is too touristy for us.  The marina staff was really friendly and helpful.

Victoria to Sidney:  Another great sail, where I also discovered I'm not correctly rigged to reef my mainsail.  That shouldn't be hard to fix.  I also got to rig Brigadoon to run wing on wing with a correct preventer on the boom and the Genoa poled out for the first time.  It worked great.  Sidney is a nice enough town and the marina was very clean. Two notes: they will put your 30 amp boat in a 50 amp slip then tell you you have to walk to the office and back for an adapter that they provide.  Then they will tell you you need Loonies for the showers and only give you one key to share between you for the Men's and Women's showers. They are very professional and a little brusque.  Did I mention that the marina docs are such that it's one very long walk to the office/showers and back?  It's even longer when you are beat from being on the boat all day and it's two trips because they don't tell you everything you need to know at first.  I'll chalk up my lack of patience to being tired, grumpy and needing a shower.  

I have to learn to rest on longer sails.  I walk and stand around too much.

Sidney to Poet's Cove on Pender Island:  We motored here in a couple hours.  This was our first Gulf Island.  Poets Cove is a bit resorty, but it's pretty nice.  Great restaurant, nice bar, spa, and docks.  The bay is really easy to access, the staff is great.

Poet's Cove to Otter Pay on Pender Island:  We motored there too under very light winds and the fact it was so short a distance.  The place is very nice, if a bit tight to get into.   Imagine the most beautiful little trailer park -- nice pool, great little store, nice staff, great buildings.  There are even the old guys, locals, sitting about in the morning, complaining about local politics.  We were entertained.

Otter Bay to Stuart Island (Reid Harbor):  on the advice of Boomberries (I think) we chose this over Sucia Island.  We didn't regret this a bit. Our Nexus cards worked great for returning back to the States.  As soon as we crossed the border, mid sound, and had good cell service, Kerry called Customs and, after a five minute phone call, we were cleared.  We sailed into Reid Harbor, picked up a buoy and had a great time hiking about this small island.

Reid Harbor to Deer Harbor on Orcas:  I've always wanted to anchor near Doe Bay but, there really isn't good shelter, so we picked Deer Harbor on the west end of Orcas.  It's a great place, with good docs, a great store, nice people and great service.  We even rented a convertible Mustang to run around Orcas for the day.  They deliver it right to you, with paperwork and keys, you drive it, and leave it where you found it.  It wasn't cheap but it was a great way for us to drive to Doe Bay and confirm that, indeed, you can anchor there.  We will do that next time, I think.

Deer Harbor to Friday Harbor: another motor but, a short trip and a great place to recharge and get ready to cross the strait again.  Our goal was back to Pt. Ludlow.  We left before sunrise to catch the tides and get a good push.  

Pt.  Ludlow:  There were no slips to be had so we decided to anchor.  The bay is pretty deep in most places to so we dropped the hook in 48 feet of water. It was our deepest set yet. It worked great, though the manual windless, dependable as it is, is a bit of work lifting 200' of rode and chain.

Pt Ludlow to home:  Motor again.  No wind. Our original plan was to overnight in Shilshole on Saturday night and hit the locks early Sunday morning, missing the madness that Monday would be.  As we approached Shilshole, ahead of schedule at 3:00, I asked Kerry about trying for the locks.  She said yes, so we went for it.  I joked that it would be a breeze: railroad bridge up, locks green and clear, Ballard and Fremont bridges opening right away.

"Sure," she said.  "Now visualize that lottery ticket too."

However...the railroad bridge was up, the small lock had just emptied out, and we were the first boat in.  As we left, two larger sailboats were ahead of us, coming out of the large lock and they managed all the bridge notifications.  I never dropped below my comfortable cruising speed of 4kts until we stopped at the dock.  It was great.

Lessons Learned:

• When you are on passage, sit the hell down and relax -- fool.
• *Eat* something goddammit!
• Cross checking the charts worked great.
• Trusting my safety officer worked out well.
• My jacklines work really well.  I trust them.  The tether is easy to use.
• Coastal Explorer navigation software is awesome.
• My new NMEA 2000 network and Garmin GMI10 instruments are just as great.
• I made assumptions about my reefing -- I was wrong.  I have to fix that.
• I need a lot more practice working on deck and moving about.
• Spending too many nights at marinas and eating in restaurants is expen$ive.  Next time, more anchoring out and eating in.
• And finally...

Brigadoon is the right boat for us and Kerry is the best first mate I could ever want. 

More pictures and details of this trip to come...

A night at Blakely Harbor

Brigadoon at Blakely, looking east towards
Seattle.

It was our first outing on the Sound since August of last year.  We have since purchased a new anchor, and a new set of sails for Brigadoon.

The plan was to get under two drawbridges and the locks early Saturday morning, make it out on to the sound with forecasts of very light and variable winds.

We didn't forget how to lock-through and were soon headed out of the channel into the Sound.  The forecast was right.  The winds were light to non-existent.  However, we raised sails anyway and made a go of it.  I didn't buy a sailboat to motor everywhere.

Sure, we only saw 1.2 to 2 knots on the GPS and a baby can crawl that fast but, we were sailing along, headed southwest towards Blakely Rock and the entrance to Blakely Harbor, sitting in the sun, quietly enjoying the Sound.

It took all day but, we made it and, when we arrived, my friend Kim offered his mooring ball and dinner.  We didn't get to use our new anchor *again*, but we did have an evening of great company, conversation and an awesome dinner; not to mention the Blakely Harbor water taxi, courtesy of Kim.

Feliz the harbor seal (apparently they are all called Felix) visited the boat frequently, stopping by the peek at us from time to time.

Blakely Harbor is an amazing place. It's very protected, very quiet peaceful.  That's a big change from it's past as the largest lumber processing facility in the world.

We even got to use the new yacht lamp our friends Greg and Sarah gifted us with a few months ago.

It's warm glow illuminated our cabin as we bobbed quietly on the mooring ball in the middle of the harbor.  At the dock we have almost constant little waves and rocking from the passing boats.  Here, it's like sleeping on a still cloud; quiet, serene and beautiful.  We awoke to grey skies and a typical light drizzle.

We motored back home, taking the opportunity to practice our radar and nav skills.

We'll be returning to Blakely as often as we can.

Global, er, Vashon circumnavigation...

Yes, Brigadoon is capable of going around the world. Maybe she will one day, with Kerry and me at the helm.  But for now, we are content to get to know our boat, out in the salt water again, on our planned 80 mile, two day, circumnavigation of Vashon Island.

We planned this trip for a few weeks. We were to leave early Sunday morning and return early enough on Tuesday to beat the bridge closures between 4:00 and 6:00 PM.  It was to give us more time out on salt water, including more practice of trip planning, navigation, decision making, and to get some helmsmen time for Kerry.

I started the weekend by single-handing Brigadoon off our dock in heavy southerly winds (they pin her to the dock) and motoring down to Duke's Chowder House to pick Kerry up from work.  We spent some time under the main'sl as Kerry practiced sailing her close hauled and drove some tacks while I handed the sheets. Aside from having to dodge out of the way of a Kenmore Air plane on taxi, it was a calm and fun sail.

Leaving on Sunday, instead of Saturday, was a brilliant move.  We were able to attend Folklife on Saturday and, in addition, we missed the chaos and mayhem that can be the locks on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.

The original plan was to sail to Dockton on Vashon, or Tacoma and spend the night.  There was also a  possibility of another night in Gig Harbour.  Over the course of the weekend the plans changed to suit conditions.  This is what happens -- you plan, you change your plans.  Having to make a destination at a certain time leads to "get-there-itis" and bad decisions.  This has killed pilots and sailors for decades. Our plan was to have contingencies, alternatives, and to enjoy our time on the water, knowing we had alternatives.  This trip was an excellent opportunity for that.

Our second outbound trip through the locks went spectacularly well. Soon we were entering Shilshole Bay and raising Brigadoon's sails.  The winds were out of the south so we ended up beating our way southward in a series of long tacks (see the map).  That's how you head into the wind when you choose to sail. You have to sneak up on it in 45 degree tacks.

Kerry got to exercise her new sailing skills. She was at the helm the whole way south and steered Brigadoon for every tack, from Shilshole towards Des Moines, until I took over around the east shore of Vashon.  It was at this time that we changed our destination for the night.  Instead of overnighting in Dockton or Tacoma and visiting the museums and restaurants of Dock Street, we chose to head to Des Moines instead.

I spent some time at the helm as we sailed into quieter and quieter air towards Vashon.  Eventually, I dropped sails and started the engine.  The sea was dead calm at this point. The Sound was a quiet surface of ripples.

Des Moines is a lovely marina. It's very modern, and the people running the place are first class.  The only issue we had was one redneck powerboater who, as we were headed towards our assignedslip, cut us off, docked at that slip to unload some people. Then, on the way out, as he was looking at the dock and saying goodbye, he tried to hit Brigadoon as we were maneuvering towards an alternative slip.  I have this feeling that 22,000 lbs of Brigadoon would have made short work of his little 12' power skiff.  If he hadn't heard us yelling at him that he should look where he is going as he leaves his dock, the likely worse damage to us would have been a scuff on the hull and a few tossed life rings in his direction. With the help of the marina staff, were soon tied up. We spent a very quiet evening at the dock, having walked to dinner in town.

The next day we were treated to breakfast on Brigadoon! Some friends who live in the area visited the boat and brought us french toast and all the fixins.  This traveling thing is working out to our advantage.

Casting off at very low tide we headed west into the sound and, discovering no wind and accepted the fact that we would have to motor to our next destination: Blake Island.

This was the perfect opportunity to try out our hammock.  Crusing along at a brisk 5 kts (you all can jog that fast), Kerry got to ride above the deck as we motored over wake induced swells.  Sure, I could have steered the boat over the swells better, but it was more fun to hear her squeal as the hammock swing from side to side, attached between the mast and the stays'l.  Astute readers will note that Kerry is still wearing a PFD and a safety harness, which is attached to the gray jacklines installed after our last adventure on the Sound.

Soon we were docked at Blake Island State Park and having dinner (soy sauce noodles and veggies in the cockpit).  A well fed crew is a happy crew.  I like it when Kerry is happy.

The place is crawling with young bucks at sunset.  They were having dinner too.

And we were told that we may find a fuzzy visitor or two on deck late at night.  However, we found no evidence of bandits on board.

The next day was spent motoring through no wind but plenty of rain. This gave us valuable experience navigating the shipping channel. We got practice using our nav software, radar and GPS to make our way in 3 miles, or less, of visibility.  Here is Kerry, my trusted navigator, calling out radar targets, the large screen in the middle, while I pick them up visually in the lousy weather outside.  Though our radar is very old, it seems to work pretty well.  The ferries are nice big targets.

There are also the bouys and their attendants to ensure we stay on course.  This one was slightly bored but seemed to enjoy a short conversation as we passed by.

Our wait at the locks was pretty long but, from what I heard, nothing like the insanity of the previous day (Monday, Memorial Day).  After a little fiddling about in the outflow current, we were finally invited into the locks.  A lesson learned here is that we will, next time, tie up on the wall. An Argosy cruise boat got to cut in front of us and three other waiting boats.  I guess "commercial traffic" includes tour boats showing tourists what the locks look like from the floaty side.  It was a bit of work keeping Brigadoon in place.  Also, were we to have an engine outage, we would have been screwed as there is the railroad bridge downstream of our position.  Next time we tie up on the wall.

"Blowing the bridges" was a snap as we followed another sailboat.  All we had to do was stay on their tail. We cleared the Ballard and Fremont bridges and, in short order, were tied up on our dock.

Welcomed by our Canadian contingent, I was able to sit on my tired ass, sip a beer and watch the Duck Dodge.

It was a great trip for us.  We accomplished some important goals.  Those included; getting some helm time in for Kerry, finding some new destinations, practicing our navigation, including motoring in really lousy weather and continuing to get a good sense of what a great boat we have.

Thanks, Bob Perry, for designing her and to Bob Berg for building her.  We love traveling in our home on the water.