A couple of months ago I received a text from Don Stabbert, "Are you interested in helping bring Starr from Seattle to Honolulu in August?" A quick check of the calendar and a consultation with Lori revealed no conflicts. Don was thinking about a direct route home, right through the North Pacific high pressure area. This is where the infamous Pacific garbage patch we are all reading about is supposed to be located. I have been dying to know if it is real. In my dozens of Pacific crossings I have hardly seen any significant garbage, and here is an opportunity to sail right through the reported location of its highest concentration. I responded to Don with a short "Absolutely", and the die was cast.
Clay Hutchinson and Don's wife Sharry will also be aboard for the crossing, so it will be a reunion of the crew from last summer's passage from Hawaii to Dutch Harbor in Alaska. Rounding out the crew is Donna Lee, a friend of the Stabberts from Waikiki Yacht Club.
I'm writing this from Starr's fly bridge on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We are moored at the Salmon Bay Marine Center, a state of the art super yacht marina Don and Sharry built a few years ago on the Union Canal in Seattle. Dozens of pleasure boats are passing behind us as they head up into Lakes Union and Washington or out into Puget Sound for the day.
We've spent the last six days getting Starr ready for the passage. New dinghy, new Bimini, fill fuel and provision, repair the air conditioning system, install new deck monitoring cameras, install new flopper stoppers, install storm windows, etc.... It was a long list and we are down to the last few items. We hope to depart Tuesday.
There has been some time for fun too. Yesterday Ken Hilliard, one of my pre-2011 retirement Navy Drydock coworkers and his team, came over for beers and a boat ride up to Lake Union in Don's Duffy boat. I had breakfast this morning with pal Wendell Gregory who lives on a boat just up the canal from Starr. This afternoon Matt and Vicki Dyer are coming up from Gig Harbor for a visit. Tomorrow we are back to work.
The weather forecast is looking pretty good. There will be a short lived southerly blowing for a few hours Wednesday just outside the Strait of Juan de Fuca. That would be uncomfortable and impossible to avoid so I am hoping that part of the forecast changes. Otherwise it is looking like smooth sailing all the way to Hawaii. Keep your fingers crossed!
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