Seattle and Port Townsend 2023

 The first week in June we headed west as we are want to do every other year. The goal as always was to pack as much as we could in just a few days. A few repeat experiences and some new ones. Dan was along for the trip and we left super early. Seven hours later found us in Issaquah, Washington and the Cougar Mountain Zoo. After a quick trip to see the animals we checked into our hotel, Comfort Inn SeaTac and took the light rail into town. We had a schooner to catch. 

 Readers of the blog will remember last time we sailed in Seattle the SV Obsession was fired upon by a schooner in Elliot Bay. This time we took the schooner, Bay Lady out for a cruise. It was my first time on a schooner and was everything I hopped it would be. Here is that story in pictures.

Bay Lady in Bell Harbor Marina

Helping haul the mainsail

Deckhand

At the Helm

 

Down the deck

Raising the head sails

 Bay Lady was custom built for charter sailing in 1989 and runs 85' in length. Her hull and rig are steel with wooden spars. On our sailing day both head sails, fore and main sails were used. It was an amazing feeling standing next the the helm, hands behind my back and looking down the sweep of the vessel. I understand a bit more now about standing an officers watch in my Napoleonic naval fiction books. We also spent a bit of time examining the gaff rig and how we can improve our own. The captain was kind enough to offer some advice on that as well. Seattle's Tall Ship is most certainly worth a trip. We may well go again next time we are in the area and sight seeing.

 The next day it was up early and on to Port Townsend. But first I wanted to stop at the US Undersea Museum in Portsbo, something I've been meaning to do. It was awesome and we'll have to go back to get it all. Wonderfully done. 

USS Montana License Plate

"Damn it Bill! Slow Down!" DSRV Mystic

"Target Subaru Impreza! Speed 0! Range 75 Yards! Angle on the bow 20! Match sonar bearings and shoot!"

 We had a day sail planned with Left Coast Charters, something we've done in the past. I never pass up an opportunity to sail a catboat. Certainly not a wooden one built where it sails. Katie M. is a Crosby inspired cruising catboat, ~23' in length depending on what measurement you want. She was built at the wooden boat building school in Port Haddock, WA and was purchased after only a few times out. Eric Brown and Alyce Flanagan rebuilt the boat and now sail it on a charter basis out of the Point Hudson Marina. She's a cool boat with a custom electric drive and fresh flowers on board. Eric called us and let us know the winds were due up and if wanted to move our sail back a few hours. We did and it was well worth it. There is nothing like an almost hull speed sail on a well reefed cat. I would know.

Alyce and Eric with my CBA Burgee

Heading for the bell buoy

Dan and Kat enjoying the ride

Triple reefed new sail and logo

 

 All to soon we were reaching back into town. Eric gave us a quick waterfront sail by and then it was down with the rig. The electric motor brought us smoothly back to the dock and with a slick docking maneuver it was over. I can't speak highly enough of the whole operation. A true class act in every way. The best way to see a Victorian sea port is in a Victorian era working boat and Left Coast Charters will let you do just that.

 The next day we woke up early to ensure a spot in line for breakfast at the Point Hudson Cafe. I had the same meal I had the first time I wandered in back in 2019, Raisin French Toast and eggs. 

 

Food art

 

 After breakfast we needed some help with our Bobcat sail from The Artful Sailor. To work with a master sail maker was a joy and a pleasure and Salty Sue is wonderful. Sadly our schedule meant leaving the sail and we look forward to seeing the finished project. Worth a stop for sure.

Emiliano and Kat

 After a day of sightseeing in Port Townsend it was another night at the Fort Worden campground and then back to Seattle. In Seattle we stopped by the Center for Wooden Boats and I took some photos there.

Dan and a schooner

Chewbacco?

Kitten Bow

Kitten at rest

 All in all it was a wonderful trip. The sailing was excellent and was good to be near the salt water again. Right now we are planning a return trip in 2024 for the Pocket Yacht Palooza and Crooza. But more on that later.

Pocket Yacht Palooza 2021 or That Time We Were in Washington for a Year One Weekend (Part I)

S/V Kat Boat at the PYP21. What's that in the background?

 The Kat Boat returned once more to the Pocket Yacht Palooza, held over the the third weekend of July in Port Townsend, Washington. The whole process took quite a lot of planning and logistics. The Navigator got our campground at Fort Worden State Park back in December. We did not manage a beach spot, good news as it turned out, so we got the final RV spot in the forest section. Kat Boat with the tow vehicle is 40' long so that's a must. Galen of the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters was a great help getting news out and ensuring things happen when they need to. We packed up on Thursday the 15th of July and ensured we went to bed early.

 The goal was to "search and destroy" on the way out of town. It's a ten hour drive from Missoula to PT so we left at 0400ish. The Lady and I picked up The Navigator and The Typesetter at their respective abodes and after ensuring everyone's comfort and safety we hit the road. Ahead of us were 566 miles, four mountain passes, two invasive species checks, and the section between Spokane and Ellensburg (The worst!) The drive thankfully was relatively uneventful and we made good time. There were almost no stops or slow downs for road construction, rare on I-90, and the only real sticking point was the slog through Tacoma. The Lady and I had a sailing charter on a catboat at 1700 and were projected to arrive at 1300. It looked like all was going to plan. Famous last words. A restroom stop was needed outside of Silverdale, WA and we dismounted the rig. That's when we found out what the odd metal screeching noise we were hearing intermittently was. The right side bearing. Except there was no bearing there anymore. 

 All that was left was the gaping maw of the hub and the naked stub of the axle. How the wheel didn't fall off we don't know but suddenly things got a whole lot worse in a very few seconds. The Typesetter quickly and correctly identified the problem and the prognosis was not good. At the minimum new bearings at the worst a new axle. I called Galen to let him know we were going to be late and if it was alright if I dropped the boat in the morning. He thanked me for the call and said that was fine. That out of the way we could move on to trying to fix the issue at hand. There were a few RV/trailer dealers nearby but no one had the needed parts and if they did or could get them they were three weeks out on openings. With nothing to loose we headed to the Silverdale NAPA to see what we could find there. It was the longest two mile drive of my life. It's sorta like the cartoons and walking off a cliff. You're all fat and happy until you look down. Well we had looked down and I certainly had my little sign up that said "%#!$@". 

  I can't say enough good things about the store or it's employees. Without them the whole trip would have been done with. We couldn't park with the trailer so we separated the units and got to work. The Typesetter is amazing in these circumstances. His knowledge of a wide range of mechanical skills are impressive. We needed to remove the remnants of the old bearing to ensure we could even attempt to get new bearings on. The entire hub and spindle had been red hot at one point during the debacle so things were not moving easy. We lost the head of a hammer trying to pound it off. The replacement bearing ended up being free due to scratch and dent so that was a minor miracle, not that it needed to be mind you. The tools we could buy and borrow. And that which we couldn't get was nearby. It was the most fortuitous circumstance in the near worst circumstances we could be in. We bought everyone lunch at the golden arches and a faint glimmer of hope was setting in.  It was getting on time wise and the Lady and I needed to head out for our charter about an hour way.  We left the boys to finish up and made the delightful drive to Port Townsend, a Victorian seaport and arts community.

 Early in the spring I learned that there was an honest to goodness catboat sailing out of Port Townsend. All I knew was I had to see her. I reached out to Left Coast Charters on Instagram and asked if I could come down and see the boat. This turned into a two hour charter. And it turned to be worth every cent paid. We arrived at the Port Townsend Boat Haven on time and met Erik, the day's captain and one of the boats owners. His wife Alyce Flanagan is the other owner. We were directed down the boat and climbed aboard. Katie M. was built in 2000 at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. She's a Crosby design, a sister to the Breck Marshall of Mystic Seaport fame. 20' long and around 6,000lbs displacement. She's optimized for the day sailing trade and is kept in immaculate condition. When Erik purchased her in March 2021 she could not float. But several weeks of work and the boat is the equal of any cat on the water. 

Katie M.

 The most interesting thing about the boat was it's electric propulsion system. The system was by Torqeedo and Erik had set it up to be perfect for the type of work he does on the boat. The spinning prop charges the battery while underway and I can attest to it's ability to maneuver the boat equal of any diesel engine. After a short safety brief we were underway. This was the same route The Navigator and I took when we sailed at the 2019 PYP in Kat Boat. This time it was just in a much bigger catboat! Soon it was time to raise sail and I jumped at the chance. It was just like on my boat and even with the greater amount of canvas and much larger spars it was easy enough to hoist the peak and throat by hand, belay the throat and top off the peak. I don't think it's any more difficult on my boat actually. It was all so familiar but vastly different, if that makes any sense. We nosed off the wind and were off. I was offered the tiller and spent most of the voyage there. I should not I forgot how to sail for a bit but it came back soon enough. Katie M. responds as any boat does but I could not feel the legendary push and pull of the barndoor rudder. It wasn't near as bad as people make it out to be and once comfortable the boat was a dream to steer. Erik manned the mainsheet and put up with my occasionally lubberly handling of his boat. We took her as close as she'd lay to the winds and never once did she exhibit bad manners. I tacked, gybed, took power boat wakes, and attempted to avoid the ever present navigational hazards of crab pots, giant bull kelp and state ferries. It was a great time.

Drive panel and mainsheet. The panels stows completely when not in use.

Heading out in a bigger catboat

 

 

The Lady enjoying her cruise. I'm told the goal is to keep the flowers on the table.

Taking the helm. Not a fan of the tiller extension.

Tiller in hand and looking ahead. What a great sail!

It was race night and the schooner Martha was in fine form

Can't wait to sail again.

 While underway we got news the boys had succeeded in their task and were ready for pickup when we were done. We sadly said good bye to Erik and Katie M. and headed back to Silverdale. The bearings had been successfully applied and the would most likely get us home. If we were near the bottom of the barrel we were now on our way upward. It was a great feeling of relief. We made it to the campsite at duck, recreating the last time we were in town in 2019. The forest side of the Fort Warden campground was wonderful. Shaded and secluded it made for a wonderful place to fall asleep. Whatever tomorrow may bring we were in town, with a boat ready for a show and the entire weekend in front of us. 

-Information on some of this entry was taken from the Port Report Summer Fall 2021 Newsletter of the Port of Port Townsend. I'll update this entry once it becomes available online.

A July 4th to Remember

At Rest in Finley Point

 One thing I adore is having a boat that is not just functional, but beautiful too. I get questions and stares everywhere I go. From the Yacht Harbor to the gas station, everyone seems drawn to my little boat. The most asked question is "Did you build it yourself?" At this point I'm really close to answering yes. Because it sure feels that way.

 Over the beginning of the summer we've had quite a few days on the water. I sailed from Big Arm to Finley Point, a bucket list sail I've wanted to do for awhile. Spent the night on board with The Lady, and spend a fine 4th of July weekend out at Dayton. I've also lost one anchor, broken the lazy jacks, and seen what fine manners the boat has when sailed close hauled. And in front of me this week I have work. But more on that later.

Replaced the halyard cam cleats with horn cleats.

 The fact is we're still spending money at a decent rate to get the boat to the proper condition. And a lot of the work can only be found through empirical testing. This last weekend is a good example of that. My main ground tackle for the last few years has been 100' of nylon rode, backed with 10' of 1/4" chain and a Mantus Dingy Anchor. Other then a want to not stay put this has been a tried and true anchor system for awhile now on my boat. Never drug, reset with wind changes and reliable. On Independence Day however that was not the case.

 The forecast for the whole weekend was perfect sailing weather. The sun would be out to power the thermals that make the Big Arm/Dayton area some of the finest and most predictable sailing in the northwest. And if the morning of the 4th was any indication then that would be the case. I ended up overnighting in Dayton Bay after failing to make Cedar Island from Big Arm. I woke up and spend a wonderful day sailing to Wildhorse and back. By my count we had 17 sailboats out on the bay, enough for me to have to try and remember my rules of the road. That's rare.

Didn't quite make that Cedar Island on the 3rd

Hot breakfast=Luxury on a small boat

Sailed all the way to the beach

Wild Horse Island was very busy

Anchor down for the evening

 Recently I've been playing around with a stern anchor to stop the boat from dancing. Seemed to work well. With the usual solar easterlies blowing I dropped my bow anchor and set the stern one as well and got to work making dinner. Unbeknownst to me the wind has shifted 180 degrees and picked up. Dayton, unlike Big Arm is very deceiving when it comes to wind strength and apparent effects. Whereas Big Arm will become a churning mess of whitecaps and obvious doom, Dayton simply gets a touch lumpy. It took me a few minutes to figure out why my stern anchor was suddenly taut and my bow anchor line was slack. And then my sense of time goes out a bit as tends to happen when things happen rapidly. I let out all the scope to my rear anchor and that held for a bit. But as I watched the parallel shoreline it started to move. My first anchor dragging event. Knowing I could not reset as I drifted closer to the massed boats at the dock I tied the end of the stern rode to a fender and tossed it over board. Firing up the electric spanker I managed to work my way upwind and into the Bay. I reset my bow anchor and felt it bite. But the boat, true to it's nature swung broadside to the wind and took the full force beam on. That was enough for my hook to start dragging once more. I was again headed for a wall of docked boats. The hook reset temporarily and I thought "The hell with it!" hauled in the anchor and made a beeline for the service dock at the Dayton Yacht Harbor. I just needed to attached to something with no chance of movement. A fellow sailor caught my lines and helped make me fast. Everyone I spoke to up at Harbor House told me to get a slip. I spoke with one of the owners and secured an offer for a slip. I mistakenly tied up in the pump out dock but made sure to get out early in the morning.

Dayton Winds 7/4/20

 There was an upside to all this. I got to watch the most amazing fireworks display on my literal doorstep. I woke at 0530 to the sound of wavelets on the hull. The wind was still from the west, down a bit from what I remembered but decent sailing. I sailed off the dock around 0610 and figured I'd wait the wind out then anchor. Or I could beach on the dingy dock. But I was hungry and hauled the sails down in preparation for the morning respite.  The electric spanker refused to respond. With appropriate salty language I hauled the sails up and bore away from the boats back into the bay. The original plan was to sail to Big Arm, where my car was waiting, but I had instead asked The Lady to come haul me out at Dayton. I needed to ensure the Yacht Harbor got my payment for services rendered. So I simply sailed around the bay as the sun came up. I attempted to be as technical as I could. Worked on close-hauled sailing a bit, seeing where the luff would ruffle and catch the lifts and the headers. On Kat Boat the 1st reef is a good amount of working sail for all conditions. We chased the puffs as the wind slowly died down. By 0845 it was still again. I dropped my bow anchor on a short scope and waited. And sure enough, like clockwork, at 0900 the easterly solar wind set in. I hauled in the anchor and sailed to where The Lady waited at the new Dayton city dock. Although set up for power boaters it's a fine place to end a trip. It certainly was a 4th of July to remember.

What a display!

Morning rush hours at the dock

Famous Flathead Water

On the way to the dock.

Now sitting at home I can touch on a few things I learned. I lost the mushroom anchor when a powerboat removed my fender, which thankfully was retrieved. I've replaced it with a Danforth and the original 10' of 1/4" chain on a 100' of rode. My bow anchor now sports 20' of chain. I feel better with this tackle. I would like to thank all of my fellow sailors I interacted with on the 4th. My imposter syndrome not withstanding all knew the wind was not in the forecast, was not usual, and wanting to ensure my safety. They made this small boat sailor feel welcome all during the week and that meant a lot. I learned later someone blew a mainsail lug in the blow. And true to form Big Arm was a washing machine during the wind event. I'm not the only sailor who decided not to anchor that evening. We'll go out and anchor again in Dayton Bay I'm sure. But with some knowledge and forethought we'll hopefully be in a better way. And isn't that what this is all about?

My SPOT track.

Way Out West

Virginia V heading out for it's trip at Festival of Sail

 This last weekend we took a normal vacation. Without weapons. Without a tent or the cots. Just a regular old vacation to Seattle. It was wonderful. I'll break down the highlights of the voyage.

Thursday, 15th

 We got out of town relatively early as I wanted to attend the Sierra Silver Mine Tour in Wallace, ID. I went once when I was much younger but wanted to to again so I could more fully experience an appreciate what I was seeing.  Despite our best efforts we arrived an hour early so after a fast food breakfast we attempted the tour. Turns out they had bus tours all morning and the first opening was not until after noon. This would not work for us so we wandered around a rather closed Wallace for a bit. What a great little town.

Kat standing near the Center of the Universe.

Setting up for the Gyro Festival.

The Wallace Depot has an excellent museum inside.

Our docent displaying a trunk with an iron and board.

The Center of the Universe.

 The rest of the day was driving. Oh and I stopped to look at a sailboat I was thinking of purchasing. More on that later. From Wallace we stopped at Ellensburg, crawled over Snoqualmie Pass, and straight away to Everett, where our generous host allowed us some sleep. It was a good day.

Friday, 16th

 With the hour time change we were up quite early. Kat had never been on a train before so we were taking the Sounder south to begin our exploration.

King Street

The restoration of the interior was amazing

Checking out the F59PHI

Chinatown

 The train ride was great. We saw many different shore birds and had a wonderful view of the sound. We arrived at Kings Street and headed to the International District/Chinatown light rail station. Pioneer Square was just a short Link ride away. The ORCA card that Sound Transit uses is really great to have. We kept ours from our last Seattle trip and used it for most of the transit we used. I wondered why we don't have something like this locally then remembered buses around here are free.
I wanted to check a few boxes off so after some absolutely wonderful donuts we stopped at the Seattle Art Museum to see Hammering Man at work, did a whirlwind tour of a mostly closed Pike Place Market, then rode the monorail to the Seattle Center. There we viewed the Space Needle and wished we could see the Terracotta Warriors at the Pacific Science Center.

At least he gets Labor Day off!

The Giant Shoe Museum is fully worth the dollar you spend

The Future of Rapid Transit!

Still there

 By now it was almost time for my lesson at The Center for Wooden Boats. I have always wanted to sail a Beetle Cat and CWB has one. All it took was a brief email exchange, filling out an automated scheduler, and I had my appointment. We arrived early and looked at the docks before checking in. We arrived about a half hour early to check in and I was asked somewhat incredulously "Are you the guy who checked out the Beetle Cat?" I confirmed that it was me and was given the opportunity to start my hour early.  After the necessary paperwork, it was time to get a PFD, and meet my boat. My instructor, Christian Holtz, was a wonder. He was every bit a sailor and his knowledge and congeniality made the whole experience wonderful. I spent the hour getting to know the boat. My previous sailing skills were up to the task and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Kristian took some photos, I did my best to watch out for seaplanes and we spent time on the heel, something I'm not used to. A grand time!

Beetle Cat!

A great day to sail Lake Union

Checking my sail trim

  We had a dinner date with a friend so we hopped the streetcar to Westlake, a very handy option I may add, then Link back to Chinatown. From there we caught the 510 Express Bus back to Everett. We met up with Todo at a wonderful Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya in Northgate. This was our first time having "real" ramen and it was delightful. After dinner we attended Wonder Woman, also awesome, then headed back to our sleep spot for rest. It was a very busy day.

Saturday, 17th

 Kat had a meet up at a horse rescue in Redmond so we were on our own four wheels for most of the day. After an IHOP breakfast we headed into town to hopefully see a nautical only bookstore and the Fremont Troll before her appointment. There was a parade in Fremont and our GPS for the first time had no idea what was happening so both stops ended up being a bust. I decided to salvage the mission since we were already in the area and check out the Hirem M. Chittenden Locks. These are the Ballard Locks and we had seen them the day before from the train. As we turned the corner we were welcomed by the mass of the Bering Titan as made it way to Lake Union. Then we saw some more boats.

Most impressive.

Heading for fresh water

Ballard Bascule Bridge

Chris-Craft locking through

Kat liked this one

 From the locks it was a visit to the horse rescue. I'm not much of a horse person but did get to pet one so that was cool.

Kat making friends

From Redmond it was on to Tacoma and the Festival of Sail. Now I had heard about this event from a customer in my line at work who is involved with the Tacoma Sea Scouts. It was going to be veritable who's who of PNW tall ships. I was needless to say excited. Did I mention The Worlds Largest Rubber Duck was there? And Lucy Bellwood? And the Lady Washington?

 I'm sorry to say it was a great idea on paper. The poor execution of the idea really killed it for us and apparently many others. I can only hope if another Festival of Sail  is held in the future the organizers will learn an listen to the issues that were raised and the event will grow and live up to the promise of such an amazing gathering of ships. I did get some awesome pictures and the Tacoma Maritime Museum is not to be missed.

Lucy Bellwood. I fanboyed hard.

Lady Washington. Smaller then I imagined.

Quite the lineup

Tall ships underway

Adventuress leaves for her daysail

Gig Harbor Melonseed.

Kat and a very big duck

 Sunday, 18th

 Our last full day in Seattle was drizzly. We had a few more things on our list so it was up early and off. We parked the car at the Tukwila Link Station and headed into town on the light rail. This is a great option if you want to see Seattle, don't mind walking and like free parking. Our first stop was Uwajimaya, an asian grocery/bookstore in Chinatown. From there it was off to the Seattle Central Library. Eleven stories of library topped with a glass walled reading room. The two or so hours we spent was amazing.

Reading Room

 With those done it was off for a ferry ride to Bainbridge. I took a lot of boat pictures. I also used a sailing app to see how fast we were going. 17.5kts on the way out, 20kts back. You could feel the difference in the speeds. Was pretty cool. 

Seattle

Seattle Sailing Tours

This one got an "Excuse me?" from the ferry

Our captain. I have a lot to learn about landing boats. 

 We finished our trip at Ivar's, eating the planet's best clam chowder and feeding the seagulls french fries. I also saw one of the yachts from Seattle Sailing Tours back down and parallel park in it's slip. Made it look easy.

Tight Parking

Right from the hand

MV Tacoma departing

 After a quick jaunt around some neighborhoods it was time to rest up four the journey home. We did stop by Fishermen's Terminal briefly. 

Fishing Fleets

Monday, 19th

Up early and headed east. I'll miss BigFoot Java. And Top Pot Donuts. And good sailing water that isn't a half a tank of gas away.  But it was good to make it home. Oh that boat I was buying? Picked it up and The Typesetter and I gave it a maiden voyage at once upon our return. It sails far better then one would give it credit for.

Ghosting

On the water.

 It was a great trip. I saw many things. But now to get back to sailing adventures at the end of the PacNorWest. See you out there!