We’ve been back almost a month, so I thought I should actually get off my butt and put something up here about the trip.
Last year Tawn’s parents came with us on the trip, this year one of my nephews, Cleveland, came out from Pennsylvania to visit and go on the trip with us. He got here on August 9th and we showed him the sights around Seattle.
This is Cleve:
We spent the day on Friday running last minute errands and getting the boat ready to go, so the second Tawn got home from work we could take off. Which is exactly what we did. The engine was running and all but two dock lines were untied when she came walking down the dock from work.
We took a number of pictures on the trip, all of which can be found here: www.flickr.com/chickenbone
The first destination of the trip was a short 12 mile hop west thru Agate Passage to Poulsbo for the annual Lats and Atts party. We’ve been going to this party every August for the last four years and most of our friends have as well. So it’s usually a pretty good time. This year was no exception.
Not a lot of wind and since we got such a late start we wanted to get there as quickly as we could so we motored the entire way. Tawn slept…..
I’ve mentioned this before, and if you’ve ever driven a boat yourself you know first hand that the hardest part of boat handling is docking and/or manuevering the boat in a tight space. It’s not at all like parking a car. It’s not impossible and for the most part everyone, myself included, does a pretty good job of it. There are alot of things at play that can make it difficult, but the three biggest factors, in my book at least, that make docking(parking) a boat alot harder are:
- Wind
- Current
- Witnesses
On a perfectly calm day, with no current and no one standing around on the docks watching you. It is practically impossible to fuck up a docking procedure. Add a little wind and things get a little harder, but with time and practice, it is easily mastered. The same goes with current. Combined those two and the problems are doubled but again, easily overcome with practice and confidence. Add in that third factor (Witnesses) and everything seems to go out the window. It’s just like anything else, if you screw something up, there is always someone there to see you do it. :)
Now I’m not setting this up to tell you a story of me screwing up docking the boat. I simply wanted to put that info out there so I could describe the scene at the dock at the Poulsbo Marina when we got there on Friday evening for the Lats and Atts Party. As we were motoring in to Liberty Bay, we called my buddy Scotty, who was gonna try and save us a spot on the docks. The reason being, the party was expected to have over 100 boats show up and we wanted to make sure we could get in.
Scotty tells us that they have a spot for us, right on the end of the dock, tieing up along side another friend of ours boat.
“Cool” I think to myself. End of the dock means, no tight space maneuvering required. Just line it up and slide along side the other boat and stop. Easy cheesy!
As we approach the marina I can hear music and see all the flags flying….looks like another big party!
“Oh look!” Says Tawn, “Music man Dave is playing on the deck of the that big Catamaran!”
And of course if Dave is playing, then of there is gonna be a crowd watching. But I can’t be bothered with that right now. I need to find Lorien (The boat we are supposed to be trying up to). So I scan the dock ends, looking for Lorien…….shit!….I see her. Right there, tied up directly in front of the Catamaran that the Band is playing on. Which is right in front of 50+ people (witnesses) watching the band play on the catamaran, directly behind the boat I am supposed to tie up too.
Luckily for me, there is no wind, no current. So with the exception of 50+ witnesses this should be easy. Standing on the deck of Lorien ready to catch our lines is Rich, Dave, Rhonda & Echo. This will be easy. I do a quick circle to get the boat lined up better and slowed down, ready to dock.
Friends are waving, calling out to say hi. Dave is playing a Jimmy Buffett song, everyone is watching him play as I slowly glide up to the dock. I half hear the song, but my full attention is on the task at hand. “Please, don’t screw up” I tell myself. Just then, just as I’m on final approach the song ends, and so, with nothing else to do, the crowd stops watching Dave and turns their attention to my boat. No Pressure….NO PRESSURE!!
I stuck the landing, perfect 10! But damn, I was sweating a little bit. :) hehehe, sorry for the tease.
Anyway, the party was great and we had an awesome time. We got up early on Sunday and headed north towards the San Juan Islands.
I’ll post again with the details of the trip later.