Sail plan included a rendezvous with a Friday Harbor sailing buddy from this past season, Tom Burgess, He lives aboard a Dana 24, very nicely equipped with all the comforts of home and cozy. Also brought along my Dad's very old eight bell cast brass ships clock for my clock repair guy from Anacortes to fix the time barrel pall ratchet spring that broke.
Drove to the boat Friday night with a plan to set sail Saturday morning. A reasonable forecast for a change. No gales and minimal rain expected for the weekend. Woohoo! Early ebb out of Shelter Bay (cast off at 0700) in order to catch a nice current push out of the channel, but absent any wind, period.
Arrived at Cap Sante marina around 0830 with a two hour transit moorage on C-4. Marina staff always very courteous and helpful. My clock guy arrives shortly after, and does his repair. He brings along his tools and parts container and goes to task while on the boat. Takes him about an hour to disassemble the clock, replace the spring and put it all back together. Test run checks out good.
Felt a nice SE breeze as Belle-Vie clears the Cap Sante channel entrance, so skipper sets the genoa and off we go towards the east side of Guemes Island on a starboard tack. SPOG ranges from 3.5 to 5.5 all the way to Jack Island. Then it is time to change to a port tack and head towards Clark point, the north end of Guemes.
Sail across Bellingham Channel then time to stow the sail and grab an available mooring ball. Of the fifteen available, Tom has one and I grab almost the last one next to him. That was close; of course we're the only ones there, then settle in for the afternoon and evening. Skipper serves chili for a late afternoon lunch with ample treats afterward. Beer flows freely.
Lazy weekend. Then the big, once in a lifetime, show starts Sunday night. Rowed back from a hamburger, with spinach and mashed potato dinner on Tom's boat to see the full moon amongst the few clouds. Looked odd, as if there was an eclipse starting. So it was to become; a super (32K miles closer to the earth than normal), wolf (January), blood (earth crosses a full path between the sun and the moon) eclipse. This triad will never happen again in our lifetime.
Amazingly clear night, clouds have moved away, and here is the enlarged moon with a soft rose red glow. What an event. Watched almost the entire process from the cold cockpit. Binoculars really put an eery view of the whole spectacle.
Slept well with the Wallas on low during the night to keep the chill at bay. Then this morning, time to head for home in windless flat calm waters. So, I cast off at 1015 to follow the remaining ebb through Bellingham Channel to Guemes Channel west entrance where the flood begins. As Belle-Vie approaches the swinging bridge, the tender decides to close the bridge for a long petroleum tank train. Then on the way through the ditch where the 2.5 mph current pushes us along at a blistering 8+ knots, SPOG.
Sorry no pics, but had a great time with several hours of sailing under our belt. Caught up on the latest happenings with our families, reminisced our cruising this past season and planned for the next get away, which will be next month.
Drove to the boat Friday night with a plan to set sail Saturday morning. A reasonable forecast for a change. No gales and minimal rain expected for the weekend. Woohoo! Early ebb out of Shelter Bay (cast off at 0700) in order to catch a nice current push out of the channel, but absent any wind, period.
Arrived at Cap Sante marina around 0830 with a two hour transit moorage on C-4. Marina staff always very courteous and helpful. My clock guy arrives shortly after, and does his repair. He brings along his tools and parts container and goes to task while on the boat. Takes him about an hour to disassemble the clock, replace the spring and put it all back together. Test run checks out good.
Felt a nice SE breeze as Belle-Vie clears the Cap Sante channel entrance, so skipper sets the genoa and off we go towards the east side of Guemes Island on a starboard tack. SPOG ranges from 3.5 to 5.5 all the way to Jack Island. Then it is time to change to a port tack and head towards Clark point, the north end of Guemes.
Sail across Bellingham Channel then time to stow the sail and grab an available mooring ball. Of the fifteen available, Tom has one and I grab almost the last one next to him. That was close; of course we're the only ones there, then settle in for the afternoon and evening. Skipper serves chili for a late afternoon lunch with ample treats afterward. Beer flows freely.
Lazy weekend. Then the big, once in a lifetime, show starts Sunday night. Rowed back from a hamburger, with spinach and mashed potato dinner on Tom's boat to see the full moon amongst the few clouds. Looked odd, as if there was an eclipse starting. So it was to become; a super (32K miles closer to the earth than normal), wolf (January), blood (earth crosses a full path between the sun and the moon) eclipse. This triad will never happen again in our lifetime.
Amazingly clear night, clouds have moved away, and here is the enlarged moon with a soft rose red glow. What an event. Watched almost the entire process from the cold cockpit. Binoculars really put an eery view of the whole spectacle.
Slept well with the Wallas on low during the night to keep the chill at bay. Then this morning, time to head for home in windless flat calm waters. So, I cast off at 1015 to follow the remaining ebb through Bellingham Channel to Guemes Channel west entrance where the flood begins. As Belle-Vie approaches the swinging bridge, the tender decides to close the bridge for a long petroleum tank train. Then on the way through the ditch where the 2.5 mph current pushes us along at a blistering 8+ knots, SPOG.
Sorry no pics, but had a great time with several hours of sailing under our belt. Caught up on the latest happenings with our families, reminisced our cruising this past season and planned for the next get away, which will be next month.