Dunno what planet these guys are on, but it's a balmy 40F at my house here.
They lure me to the USA and then send me home!
I left Friday Harbor at 0940 and got back to my slip at 1640, includes a quick check-in back in to Canada at Tsehum.
John and Les at the brewery in Friday Harbor. In addition to solar flares, Les also grows light poles off his dome.
The Xmas present was the binoculars. Seems the WM binoculars I started buying in 1492 had repeated internal seal failures, so I kept returning them and getting new ones. The manager at Friday Harbor began by asserting I had been mistreating them and her starting offer was "No replacements for you, my computer says you've done this many times before, it MUST be you!" To which I replied, "Hmm, perhaps you don't see a pattern of poor quality in the product, and my disappointment over the years as your customer." John ambled over and lied through his teeth about what a perfect boat I keep!
She then backed off and said, "I can offer you a replacement at half price ($55 US)." I declined.
She said, "You have to see it from my point of view."
"You're right, I completely understand, but I have been having to repeatedly return this defective product over the years and have been very honest and up-front with you about how many times I've had to do it."
"Yes, but my computer shows this anyway."
"But that's not the point, I mentioned it first and brought you the tons of my return receipts and one of the older binoc manuals with the lifetime warranty and never had an issue with any other associates, they ALL understood."
Turns out in retrospect that her real issue was that they'd finally discontinued the old models (guess why?!?) and she hadn't been able to figure out how to do a replacement swap on her computer. Once we gave her time to figure it out by being the incredibly patient sailors that we are, she relented and I got the new ones. Then she told us they are closing that store in early April. Guess they hadn't sold enough shirts & shorts!
Notice the really good pizza, BUT the two DARK filled glasses. Porter on the left and stout. Real "he-man" drinks!
Getting flushed out of Speiden Channel, but I was headed coming north up San Juan Channel. Essentially no wind all the way home, but the weather got warmer by the hour all day long. The other half of the pastrami sandwich I'd saved from the day before was superb.
Mahalo departing Roche for Friday:
Great times, too short. John is a genius when it comes to telephony issues. We wished, though, he never learned how to use a phone so his clients couldn't find him!
Nice shots, Terry. Hope to meet you soon.
Travel Tip for anyone planning to cruise with John: Never go to Friday Harbor with him, he tends to leave the very next day even if
you have an open ended itinerary!!!
Looking forward to seeing y'all again in May in Roche Harbor for the Catalina Rendezvous.
Today I get to go back to the boat to remove that huge gaggle of food and clothes I bought for a much longer cruise.
If you follow their cruise, you'll notice they had FOLLOWING winds BOTH coming and going home. That means what, students? Yes, Stu had the wind on his nose both ways because was coming from the other direction!!! Some guys have all the luck.
