Avocet

Went sailing on Avocet this Wednesday. Had good wind about 10 knots or so out of the North to NW. Cold though. Had great chili type rice and pulled pork dish with some Hot Buttered Rum. Great day. Went out with Z. He got cold but warmed up in the cabin. The stove blew out once but relight itself. Flew the stormjib. Neat little sail. Pictures following later. Forgot my camera on the boat.

Sailing on Saturday Jan 10th

Saturday morning at 10:30 found me in bed nursing a wee headache when I should have been at Seattle Yacht Club helping Chris Carden, Chris Walker and Scott Milne getting Lightning ready to sail. After cursing the inventor of beer, I got in the car and headed to SYC on a 45 degree, slightly overcast day. Scott needed help putting the cover on the boat and also taking down the genoa. But first we sail! We got the Montlake bridge to open even with a slightly defective horn and immediately got caught in the Montlake Cut's version of a traffic jam. The rowing team was holding a practice and they refused to acknowledge Scott's poor driving skills. The fools! After clearing them we headed to Lake Washington. The wind was out of the south at about 10 knots with occasional gusts to 13 or so. After breaking the mainsail free of the track we hoisted and unfurled the sails. Average speed of 7 knots or so and toward the end we were seeing steady 8's. Great day. The rain held off till we got back to the dock. At the dock we had a serious jigsaw puzzle going with the cover. Finally all the pieces came together and Lightning was snug in her slip and ready for her winter slumber. Scott treated us to lunch at SYC. To quote Chris W. "Just another January day in Seattle... Are you kidding me?!?"

Photos of Hooked

These photos are from when I first got the boat and during the haulout. The previous owner bought the boat new and then traded her in on a 2008 Island Packet 45!

News Years Eve

On New Year's Eve, we set out from D dock at Shileshole Bay Marina with Jenny, Jeremy, Max, Benny and myself for Elliot Bay Marina. We had a bottle of Dom, a standing rib roast, mashed potatoes, kale, and the best pecan pie ever made with this rumsoaked glaze. Jeremy is one helluva cook. Made everything on the boat. So we left around 1500 or so after taking the cover off the boat and checking vital fluids. No wind till we rounded West Point. Had full main and the 100% jib up. Wind started to build out of the south to about 25 knots sustained with occasional gusts to 30+. Quite the ride for Jenny and the boys. Benny and Max got seasick but recovered like champs. Jeremy and I got doused by some waves. If you don't know Elliot Bay Marina, their causeways are extremely narrow and run basically north/south. The winds in Seattle are usually north/south. This combo can make for some interesting docking at Elliot Bay. The wind was so strong, we decided to put in at the fuel dock and see if we could get some help docking. They wanted us to dock at N dock at the end, which would have been a great view of the space needle but almost impossible to dock with the wind. We changed slips and had one of the dock guys assist also. After docking we got the libations and the food going. The crew watched movies till the fireworks off the Space Needle. Shortly after that the younger was in their bunks sawing toothpicks. We did dishes and turned in also. Great first day on the boat with Jenny and the boys. Thanks to Jeremy to making it even better.

On New Year's Day, Jenny made eggs with sausage for breakfast as Jeremy and I along with the boys got the boat ready to go back home. The wind was once again honking out of the south and a brief discussion arose about having Jenny take the kids back home via taxi. We decided to poke the boat's nose out and see what it was like. We shoved off around 11am and the wind was out of the south at 22 knots or so with waves around 3 foot. We motored for about 30 minutes and the wind started to switch to the west and die. The waves went down to almost nothing. We had two reefs ready to go and shook them out almost as soon as we got the main up. Little bit of a convergence zone while the wind figured out what it wanted to do and then steadied to 10 knots out of the north. We tacked back and forth couple times and made our way back to Shileshole. Max and Jenny took turns driving. Naturals, both of them. Ben was great also. Helped where he could and never fussed about wearing the lifejacket.

We got back in about 1230 or so. Just in time for Jeremy to jump off the boat and jump in his car to start his new job at "the Jone's". He is their new Chef! Jenny and I went there to eat that night and met up with Brian, Lisa and Benjamin. Good times!