Thankful

1500 position 3916 Benson St., Gig Harbor, WA

Vicki was waiting as the mighty Thankful pulled into her slip in Gig Harbor yesterday at 230PM.  We immediately got to work unloading food, voyage supplies, and personal gear from the boat.  Vicki wisely had son Noel help her stage two vehicles at the marina to carry all the materials home.

We made it home to the Dyer residence on the hill overlooking Gig Harbor at 4PM, and got all the food and gear away put away.

Team Thankful met with pals of the Dyers at their favorite Mexican restaurant last night where we celebrated a successful summer of voyaging.

This morning Matt and I went back to the boat to finish unloading and give the old girl a good scrubbing.  Thankful loves to cruise, but she also loves a little TLC.

Looking back, we had remarkably few problems during the voyage, a testament to Matt's preparation and skill.  Besides the tempermental windlass, which seems to have sorted itself out, we only had one other boat problem, our black water discharge pump stopped working, but that just happened yesterday so it had no impact on the trip.

By my calculations, I travelled about 2,500 miles aboard Thankful.  It has been a fantastic two months of exploring the nooks and crannies of the Pacific Northwest with great friends.  Lori and I were lucky to be invited, and we are grateful to the Dyers for sharing the experience with us.

Lori is driving up from Portland tomorrow.  We will say goodby to Matt and Vicki and head to Seattle to visit with Don and Sharry Stabbert, who we spent the first half of the summer with aboard Starr.  We'll fly home to Hawaii sometime next week and the planning will start for the next adventure.  There are rumors of a potential catamaran cruise in the Caribbean this winter....

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Homeward Bound

1000 position 47-53N 122-29W.  Powering south in Admiralty Inlet

Thankful arrived in Point Hudson Harbor in Port Townsend at 11AM yesterday and found a slip in the small marina.

Port Townsend is the wooden boat capital of the Pacific coast, and it is like a second home for Matt.   He went to school there thirty five years ago to learn the craft of building wooden boats, and lived in the town for more than a year.  It is the site of the annual wooden boat festival, which was held a couple of weekends ago.  There were still a couple of classic boats in the harbor, left over from the festival.

It was a beautiful day, so after getting Thankful secured we took a walking tour of the main drag, marinas, and haul out facilities.  Matt still knows a lot of the craftsmen in town, so we dropped into a couple of shops to chat and inspect the ongoing projects.

At 5PM we wandered up to one of Matt's favorite watering holes, The Uptown Tavern, where we had dinner and watched Monday Night Football.  Local interest was high because the Sea Hawks were playing, but folks weren't too pleased when the Bears came out on top.  It was good fun, but I don't need to watch any more football until the Super Bowl.

We departed at 730 this morning to catch the flood tide on the final leg of the voyage to Gig Harbor, Thankful's home port.  It is a beautiful sunny day and the breeze is from behind us.  We should be back in Thankful's slip by 2PM.

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Tom’s Project

0900 position 48-18N 122-55W.  Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca

Tom picked us up at 9AM yesterday and drove us up to have a look at his current construction project, a $7M, 7,000 SF home up near the highest peak on San Juan Island.  It was Sunday, so there was no work going on which gave us free reign to explore the construction site.

The house is perched on the edge of a cliff, and will have a cantilevered infinity pool that overhangs the edge.  Most of the site work is done, the concrete and steel framing is nearing completion, and they are just about to get started on framing the home.  Moving materials is one of the challenges on the steep site, so Tom purchased and installed a tower crane to make this job easier.

They had already finished the $1M guest house/garage which was completed first to try out some finishes and construction techniques being considered for the main house.

It was a very impressive project, and fun to see how the 1/2 of 1% live.

Tom came out for a tour of Thankful and then Matt and I departed for the south end of Lopez Island. The Strait of Juan de Fuca was not cooperating yesterday, so we planned to wait for better weather today to make the crossing.  We anchored in Mackaye Harbor right at the south end of the island and had a pleasant evening.

We departed for Port Townsend at 730AM this morning.  Team Thankful is about half way across the strait now, and the weather is perfect.  There is no wind and the sea is calm.  We should get there by 10AM.

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Westcott Bay

0900 position 48-36N 123-08W.  At anchor in Westcott Bay

The pace slowed down a bit after yesterday's harbor cruise.  It had been raining since just after sunset the day before, but things started drying out about noon, and by 2PM, wedding time, it had turned into a beautiful day.  Good thing, it was an outdoor wedding with no Plan B.  Nothing beats a little bit of good luck.

Matt returned from his shopping expedition and we headed for San Juan Island, dropping the hook in Westcott Bay at 2PM.  We both took a nap as a part of our recovery plan from the night before.  By 5PM the geriatrics of Team Thankful were raring to go and dinghied ashore where we met Tom Nolan.

Tom and his wife Deb are college pals of Matt's who live on San Juan Island.  Tom is a contractor who builds high end homes here on the island and Deb is a caterer.  Their own home is a beautiful example of Tom's work, mostly made of old growth wood, a lot of which was salvaged.  Deb cooked us a fabulous meal, and there were a lot of laughs as the three of them caught up.

This morning Tom is taking us up to see his current project, a new home on the highest point of the island.  They have just finished the concrete and steel work and are getting ready to start framing.  The project includes a cantilevered infinity pool hanging out over a cliff - it's that kind of house.  This should be fun.

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Reunions

1140 position 48-31 N 122-55W.  In the marina at Fisherman's Bay, Lopez Island

Yesterday turned in to a day of reunions with old friends.  First my cell phone rang and I was surprised to hear Cliff Cisco's voice.  Cliff is a Hawaii sailing pal dating back to the '70s, who I hadn't seen in years.  Turns out he moved up here to Anacortes after retiring, has been reading this blog, and wondered if we were headed his way.  Cliff has also gone over to the dark side of the force and cruises the Pacific Northwest on a trawler similar to Thankful.  It was great to talk to him.  Unfortunately, we won't be going by Anacortes this trip.

Bo, Marcy, Jessie and Shelly Andrews came down to Thankful at 4PM.  The four of them flew up from Hawaii together for the wedding.  We had a cocktail on Thankful and then all piled into their rental car and headed up to Tom and Beth Andrewes' house a mile away.

Tom and Beth moved to Lopez Island from Kaneohe ten or fifteen years ago, and I don't think I've seen them since.  They have a beautiful home here and it was great to see them again and catch up.

The ever expanding group of revelers migrated to the Fleeler/Andrewes vacation rental for pupus and more cocktails.  Kara and Sean arrived after being delayed by a late ferry departure and joined the fun.

The party then moved to a restaurant a quarter mile away where we had dinner.  The bride and groom even made a surprise appearance after the bachelor party ended.  At 10PM folks stated wandering off.  Matt and I walked back to Thankful where we met a sailing pal of his, Doug Peterson, who is in the same harbor on a friend's boat.  They caught up over a final beer and we called it a night.

Team Thankful was remarkably spy this morning, all things considered.  Maybe us old guys can keep up with the kids?

At 8AM Kara, Sean, Marcy, Bo, Jessie, and Shelly arrived at the boat bearing pastries and coffee.  They climbed aboard and Thankful cast off for a morning tour of the San Juan Islands.  We checked out Friday Harbor and circumnavigated Shaw Island before returning to Fisherman's Bay and our slip in the marina at 11AM.  Our passengers departed to get ready for this afternoon's wedding, and Matt headed into town to do some shopping.

We will be heading back to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island, where we checked into the US a couple of days ago, as soon as Matt returns.  We are meeting a pal of his there for dinner tonight.

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Fisherman’s Bay

1200 position 48-31N 122-55W.  At anchor in Fisherman's Bay, Lopez Island

Thankful made a tour through the San Juans yesterday after departing Sucia Island, and ended up at Orcas Island.  We tied to the public pier at Olga, a cute little town, and went ashore for a look around.  There were only two commercial establishments in town, a store/gas station that was closed, and a cafe.  we had a leisurely lunch at the cafe and then powered up into West Sound where we anchored for the night.

In Olga we saw an interesting looking boat (photo attached).  The owner appears to be a conflicted one-time sailor that is headed towards the dark side of the force, kind of like me.  I'm not sure his conversion is the right approach though.  I wonder how Moku pe'a would look with a pilot house?

Vicky had some unexpected family medical issues she needed to attend to, so this morning we dropped her off at the village in West Sound where she caught a cab to the airport.  After breakfast there, Matt and I powered the few miles to Fisherman's Bay on Lopez Island where we dropped the hook at 11AM.

There is lots going in in Lopez Island right now.  Ian Andrewes, son of my high school classmate Beth, and sailing pal Tom Andrewes is getting married here tomorrow. My daughter, Kara, will be at the wedding and since Thankful is in the area we thought we'd meet up with her and her boyfriend Sean for dinner or drinks tonight.  I am also hoping to be able to say hello to Beth and Tom sometime today.  I understand they live pretty close to this harbor.

I just found out pals Marcy Fleming and Bo Wheeler will also be at the wedding and are catching the same ferry Kara and Sean are to Lopez Island this afternoon.  There may be a party tonight....

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Back in the USA

0800 position 48-45N 122-56W. At anchor in Fox Cove, Sucia Island

Thankful zipped across the border and into the USA yesterday morning, clearing customs in Roche Harbor on San Juan Island.  Lots of boats clear in here, and US Customs has a 100 yard long pier and office there to handle all the traffic.  We pulled into the pier right behind a very nice Jeanneau 45 foot sailboat, and as I was securing the bow line to the cleat on the pier I noticed that her home port was Haliewa.  I walked the few steps to speak to the owner in the cockpit.  "Are you really from Haliewa?" I asked.

"Waialua, actually," he called back.  I didn't recognize the boat or the sailors.

At this point the customs officer admonished me "Please get back on your boat, sir!"  Whoops, we hadn't cleared customs yet.

The Hawaii sailors departed before we cleared and I never got a chance to talk to them again.  Small world.

After the quick clearing in process we departed and powered north to Sucia Island, a two mile diameter marine park.  There are a bunch of hidey holes on this beautiful island and Matt picked Fox Cove to moor in.  We picked up a mooring and went ashore for a hike.

The park is very well built and maintained with moorings in all of the bays, hiking trails cris crossing the island, restrooms, camping areas, and picnic shelters.  We had a great three hour hike and returned to Thankful just in time for happy hour. 

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