Tag: Sails

No Lions, No Tigers, but Bears. Oh My! and Wolves.

5-JUN-2017, K’tzim-a-deem Grizzly Bear Sanctuary – It has been a very different trip this year.

I find myself thinking that the lack of things breaking has decreased the excitement of the trip: There is little adversity to overcome.

Jennifer often points out that we’ve been here before. The continual acknowledgement that this is as far north as we have ever been is also missing.

Things are different. Hilary is a much larger burden and we have no guests to look forward to. Continue reading “No Lions, No Tigers, but Bears. Oh My! and Wolves.”

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”

Five weeks on the hard in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven

Rather than the write book that is the five weeks in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven, here is a gallery of pictures. Much of what was done wasn’t photographed, so I guess the book is on the way.

Caro Babbo is due to go back into the water tomorrow – we’re on standby. And then to be sailed back to Lake union on the weekend. There is no mass transit in Jefferson County on Sundays, so we’ll be in Seattle until Monday.

There is still much work to be done: replacing coolant hoses, installed new fuel filter, replacing heater fan, to name three. Continue reading “Five weeks on the hard in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven”

There are no sailing seasons in the PNW, but there is sure a lot to buy before springtime arrives.

I don’t like to think of sailing as seasonal. Being seasonal is what I think of as differentiating east coast sailors from west coast sailor – 3000 miles, notwithstanding. We keep Caro Babbo in the water 12-months a year and enjoy winter sailing.

This year and last we decamped to Phoenix to work on a house there, making sailing seasonal, even if that was not our intent. Three months prepping a house, only to return to Seattle to spend months prepping the boat, delineates boating seasons as much as I would rather have sailed continuously. Continue reading “There are no sailing seasons in the PNW, but there is sure a lot to buy before springtime arrives.”

2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker

The boat show was very different for me this year. It was Hilary and me alone. I went to learn about water makers, to see my sail maker, and to meet with Jesús and Zoë, who are friends from the newspaper industry who are planning on calling it quits and move onto a trawler.

Hilary and I are staying full time in the Port Townsend house. It has been very cold (to my PNW/South-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line self): Highs in the low forties, lows around freezing. It is also 2-1/2 hours from Port Townsend to Seattle. Continue reading “2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker”