We planned on shoving off around 10 o’clock after spending a leisurely morning getting ready. Today was yet another nice day, but the forecast was for the good weather to end, with rain and cooler temperatures to prevail the remainder of the week. The front bringing this change in the weather arrived a little early, with the winds picking up quite a bit just ahead of our planned departure. We watched as some other boats had trouble getting away from the dock in the wind, and decided we’d wait a bit to see what developed. We were moored stern in on a 40’ dock, and had about 14’ of our bow sticking out beyond the dock straining against the wind. Out in the bay just beyond the log breakwater, where a group of sea lions continued to make a fuss, we could see whitecaps developing.
Liberty Bay and Agate Pass are well protected by Bainbridge Island, even in stormy weather. Our only rough patch would be crossing the Sound over to Shilshole and the locks once we were out of the lee of Bainbridge. I turned on the weather radio, and wind speeds in nearby areas ranged from 10 mph to 24 mph, with seas at about 4 feet. Our anemometer was registering about 16 mph at the time, here at the dock. The forecast was for the winds and seas to increase after noon, so it didn’t sound like any respite would be coming soon.
We had a short lull where the wind dropped to 12 mph or so, so we rearranged our lines for a quick departure, fired up the engines and pulled away from the dock. Even in Liberty Bay the wind was pulling on our new CYA burgee enough to bend our antenna way over, so Erin went out and removed it. We followed the Scaup, another old wooden boat at the show, out of the bay and around the corner to Agate Pass. We had a very smooth ride, with just the flapping of the flags on our mast to tell us it was blowing out. All our windows up on the bridge were in except for the mid window on the lee side for ventilation, so we were well protected from the weather.
Once we passed Port Madison we headed out beyond Bainbridge Island and got into the wind and rough water, both of which were approaching from the south. We quartered the waves for the best ride. It didn’t take long for the salt spray to come over the canvas, but the wind was blowing hard enough that the brunt of the water flying up was blown away before it reached the bridge area. It was a good test to see how many leaks had been sealed by our recent paint job and caulking and we fared very well in that department.
Our course quartering into the waves was taking us a bit south of our target, so I turned 90 degrees or so for a downwind run to get squared away. With the wind at our back we weren’t continually bathed in salt water, but the following seas would push the stern this way and that. At what looked like an opportune time I came about again to head towards Shilshole. As it turned out my timing wasn’t all that good and we caught one of the waves sideways, giving us quite a tilt and sending stuff flying, including all the contents in the cupboard under the sink. Erin claimed I did that just to have something to write about in the log. Tribble probably didn’t know what to think, but she stayed in her hiding spot under the couch for the entire crossing.
Soon we were in the lee of Discovery Point and then headed into the channel leading past Shilshole and towards the locks. As an added hazard there were several gill nets strung along either side of the fairway. They were clearly marked, and unlike some times in the past, didn’t protrude into our course. There was one boat ahead of us, and we both tied up to the waiting wall on the south side of the channel. It wasn’t even 10 minutes before the green light came on, indicating we could enter the small lock. The boat ahead of us proceeded so slowly, at about 2 knots, that I had to drift behind him while in neutral most of the time, as we cruise at about 5 knots at idle.
We eventually made it into the lock, with Erin handling the line at t
he bow and Trav and Barb manning the stern line. There were no other boats behind us, and we locked through without incident. The viewing area was lined on either side by a large contingency of schoolgirls from Japan or China. They all wore the same style and color of blouse, skirt and knee sox, and were greatly amused when Trav bowed to them.
As we cruised towards the Foss Tug yards on the south side of the channel, we came upon one of the floating dry docks out in mid channel. They had just launched what appeared to be a small car ferry. It had a narrow bridge structure with one car lane on either side. It appeared to be freshly painted, and was being towed by a small tug. The floating dry dock was still partially submerged mid channel, and we could see some lines securing it to the south side of the cut. They probably had to wait for it to be fully refloating before reeling it in. The same boat that had entered the locks at a painfully slow speed came to a stop in the narrowest part of the channel to consider which way to go. We waited as well, as there was only room for one boat at a time past the dry dock. He was eventually coaxed to proceed and we followed, passing an oncoming patrol boat that had to wait for the lane to clear.
We passed under the Fremont Bridge and headed for the home stretch around the corner at Gasworks Park, where another spate of gill nets had been placed. We wended our way through and headed for our moorage at the north end of Lake Union. Erin and Barb had gone below and prepared egg salad sandwiches for all and we had an enjoyable lunch at the dock before any unloading chores.
Although we didn’t venture far from home, we had a great weekend with our guests Trav and Barb, and got to see some interesting old boats at the show in Poulsbo, with the tour of the Olympus definitely being a highlight. Tribble earned another stripe as boat cat, and will definitely be prepared for some extended cruising come next summer.
Liberty Bay and Agate Pass are well protected by Bainbridge Island, even in stormy weather. Our only rough patch would be crossing the Sound over to Shilshole and the locks once we were out of the lee of Bainbridge. I turned on the weather radio, and wind speeds in nearby areas ranged from 10 mph to 24 mph, with seas at about 4 feet. Our anemometer was registering about 16 mph at the time, here at the dock. The forecast was for the winds and seas to increase after noon, so it didn’t sound like any respite would be coming soon.
We had a short lull where the wind dropped to 12 mph or so, so we rearranged our lines for a quick departure, fired up the engines and pulled away from the dock. Even in Liberty Bay the wind was pulling on our new CYA burgee enough to bend our antenna way over, so Erin went out and removed it. We followed the Scaup, another old wooden boat at the show, out of the bay and around the corner to Agate Pass. We had a very smooth ride, with just the flapping of the flags on our mast to tell us it was blowing out. All our windows up on the bridge were in except for the mid window on the lee side for ventilation, so we were well protected from the weather.
Once we passed Port Madison we headed out beyond Bainbridge Island and got into the wind and rough water, both of which were approaching from the south. We quartered the waves for the best ride. It didn’t take long for the salt spray to come over the canvas, but the wind was blowing hard enough that the brunt of the water flying up was blown away before it reached the bridge area. It was a good test to see how many leaks had been sealed by our recent paint job and caulking and we fared very well in that department.
Our course quartering into the waves was taking us a bit south of our target, so I turned 90 degrees or so for a downwind run to get squared away. With the wind at our back we weren’t continually bathed in salt water, but the following seas would push the stern this way and that. At what looked like an opportune time I came about again to head towards Shilshole. As it turned out my timing wasn’t all that good and we caught one of the waves sideways, giving us quite a tilt and sending stuff flying, including all the contents in the cupboard under the sink. Erin claimed I did that just to have something to write about in the log. Tribble probably didn’t know what to think, but she stayed in her hiding spot under the couch for the entire crossing.
Soon we were in the lee of Discovery Point and then headed into the channel leading past Shilshole and towards the locks. As an added hazard there were several gill nets strung along either side of the fairway. They were clearly marked, and unlike some times in the past, didn’t protrude into our course. There was one boat ahead of us, and we both tied up to the waiting wall on the south side of the channel. It wasn’t even 10 minutes before the green light came on, indicating we could enter the small lock. The boat ahead of us proceeded so slowly, at about 2 knots, that I had to drift behind him while in neutral most of the time, as we cruise at about 5 knots at idle.
We eventually made it into the lock, with Erin handling the line at t
he bow and Trav and Barb manning the stern line. There were no other boats behind us, and we locked through without incident. The viewing area was lined on either side by a large contingency of schoolgirls from Japan or China. They all wore the same style and color of blouse, skirt and knee sox, and were greatly amused when Trav bowed to them.As we cruised towards the Foss Tug yards on the south side of the channel, we came upon one of the floating dry docks out in mid channel. They had just launched what appeared to be a small car ferry. It had a narrow bridge structure with one car lane on either side. It appeared to be freshly painted, and was being towed by a small tug. The floating dry dock was still partially submerged mid channel, and we could see some lines securing it to the south side of the cut. They probably had to wait for it to be fully refloating before reeling it in. The same boat that had entered the locks at a painfully slow speed came to a stop in the narrowest part of the channel to consider which way to go. We waited as well, as there was only room for one boat at a time past the dry dock. He was eventually coaxed to proceed and we followed, passing an oncoming patrol boat that had to wait for the lane to clear.
We passed under the Fremont Bridge and headed for the home stretch around the corner at Gasworks Park, where another spate of gill nets had been placed. We wended our way through and headed for our moorage at the north end of Lake Union. Erin and Barb had gone below and prepared egg salad sandwiches for all and we had an enjoyable lunch at the dock before any unloading chores.
Although we didn’t venture far from home, we had a great weekend with our guests Trav and Barb, and got to see some interesting old boats at the show in Poulsbo, with the tour of the Olympus definitely being a highlight. Tribble earned another stripe as boat cat, and will definitely be prepared for some extended cruising come next summer.
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