Portland Pudgy – Caro Babbo

Where is Jennifer’s Car and When are we leaving?

Lee’s Landing, Lake Union, Seattle, WA, 14-Aug-2019 – A fast status as we’re finishing up getting ready to leave.

There is a heavy and unrelenting feeling of pressure to get everything done, but as I sit to write this fast and hurried post, I realize that there are five days to go and there is no need to feel this pressure. Everything on critical path is easily accomplished. Yes, the list is unending, but that it is because it is a boat, just like a house, there is always more to do.

What went wrong this year?

Decatur GA, 21-OCT-2018 – A friend from Oregon told us that the only real shakedown for 3000 mile cruise is a 3000 mile cruise.* Our trip in 2016 proved his point; the list of things that broke ran three pages and almost everything on the list was my own fault.

Two years and 6000 miles later we came home from this year’s trip with no serious issues to report.

2018 was the year of leaks: there were four minor water leaks, three freshwater, one salt:

Water where it’s not supposed to be

Bag Harbour, Haida Gwaii, 6-JUN-2018 – It’s been raining in Haida Gwaii. As far as I can tell that’s all it does. The wind is variable: it might be good sailing wind, or 40-50 knots, which sends us and every other boat to find a safe harbor and hunker down. While in the safe harbor we use the dinghy when there are breaks in the wind.

When we first bought Caro Babbo I hadn’t considered a water maker. All the books and long-distance sailors I’d read talked about two things: a mister for rinsing after washing in salt water (everyone washed in their cockpits after stripping off their shorts or bathing suits – they don’t sail the waters we sail in*), and collecting rain water.

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The Less I write, the More I must write

Lee’s Landing Marina, Lake Union, Seattle, WA USA, 22-FEB-2018 – One of the faults I’m least proud of is falling out of touch with friends. I stay in touch with friends generally by writing to them. In this world of instant written communications, a phone call has become too intrusive, and by corollary Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook messenger. So writing is the method through I use to keep in touch with friends.

Keeping in touch with friends is important. When I am overdue to communicate with friends, whether to initiate a written exchange, or respond to a message, I put myself into a spiral: it has been a while since I have written, therefore I can’t write something small. I need to write something that has taken some effort to make up for the amount of time that has passed. But, the amount of time to be put aside never appears, and the amount of effort that should be put into the correspondence grows, and along with it the amount of time necessary to expend that effort.

Recently, this blog is fallen into this trap, only more convoluted. Because, excessively long blog posts are not good either.

So please accept my apologies for the amount of time since the last post and either the large number of things that I leave out of this blog, or its excessive length because of the number of things that I do include.
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Vacation after Adventure; Sailing the Portland Pudgy

1-SEP-2017, Matia Island, WA – Yesterday morning we motored just after sunlight from Port Roberts to Matia Island in the San Juans.

We had spent two nights in Vancouver’s False Creek, where, as we have whenever we are anchored there, we dragged.

The dragging isn’t serious. The bottom is sand. When the tide changes the anchor takes twenty or thirty feet to reset. But, it is tight anchoring and I suspect everyone is as fluid as we are. We powered up the first morning and reset. The second morning, we just raised anchor and left.

We didn’t wander around Vancover, visit museums, or even visit the community centers to shower (we have very good internet onboard, so we don’t need to go ashore for internet).
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Small Inlet, Johnstone Strait, Hilary, Two Whales Feeding and things that work

17-MAY-2017, Johnstone Strait – Yesterday morning we had two conflicting weather reports. Environment Canada said wind on the nose up Straits of Georgia and in to Johnstone Strait.

Our GRIB files said four knots the entire day.

The Strait outside Campbell river was flat and calm. As we made our decision to leave all 100 feet of Discovery, who was docked across the finger dock from us, powered up.

The night had been a real windstorm with moments of driving rain. When on an anchor, the boat general points into the wind. The portion of the cockpit in the dodger’s wind shadow stays dry. Continue reading “Small Inlet, Johnstone Strait, Hilary, Two Whales Feeding and things that work”

Smooth Sailing – Docking most nights

This trip is very different than last year’s in many ways.

Until today, we’ve had great sailing – today is very calm despite initial forecasts of 25 to 35 knot winds.

Yesterday we sailed from Nanaimo to Ford’s Cove on Hornby Island. We ran before the wind almost the entire way, averaging something over 6 knots. We’re practiced now. We don’t feel unwarranted risk when do things, and we don’t second guess our decisions. Continue reading “Smooth Sailing – Docking most nights”

Pudgy Comes Homes, Dehumidifier is a fire hazard

Last week, our friends Jeff Storm and Kimberly Lindberg towed our Pudgy home for us.

Their trip was not uneventful with an engine overheating, and a very long wait for the locks in both directions.

But, they brought the Pudgy to our slip, where it is safe and sound.

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We buy a Portland Pudgy

Yesterday afternoon my Google Alert found a Portland Pudgy for sale in Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island, very near Seattle. It had been posted 33 minutes before. It was listed at $3400, is in new condition and came with a Bermuda sailing rig. I contacted the seller and bought it.

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