The good--This weekend started out in pure, spontaneous Powers fashion. We got underway Friday after work and quickly decided to head south, drop our crab pot outside of Agate Pass, then anchor in Liberty Bay, Poulsbo. It was a late night for mom & dad, but it was pretty nice motoring to anchorage under the stars and full moon. Peaceful...
In the morning we shifted anchorage to be closer to the town dock and headed into town. We walked Front Street before hitting Sheila's for a hearty breakfast, then walked around some more while we waited for the Marine Science Center to open. While Frank was heading into a nautical gifts shop, a necklace caught my eye in the window of the Blue Heron Jewelry Co. It looked like a wave made of blue glass and mounted in a silver setting. It was a very good day for me! I tried it on and Frank must have liked it because he got it for me! I love it. It's so reminiscint of our life on the water. After picking up snacks at the famous Sluys Bakery we put the kids down for nap and got underway to return to Everett. Still good... Managed to get one keeper in our pot, too!
The bad--Winds were favorable for using the spinnaker, so we let it fly. It took us several attempts to get all the lines run correctly. We were also trying to cross the traffic seperation scheme amongst 3 jumbo cruise ships and the ferries. Stressful!
The VERY ugly--As we tacked one time, the spinnaker slipped behind the genoa and got all twisted around. That wasn't entirely bad, but once I got that worked out and she filled with wind, I noticed a problem--the lazy sheet was on the wrong side of the boat, like it had gotten too much slack and slipped under the bow. I wish! As I tried to walk it back around the bow with the boat hook it became clear that the whole line had been in the water and was now twisting, alot. Frank had had the engine on in the attempt to clear the traffic lane and somehow the knot tied in the end of the sheet had come out and it had become wrapped around our prop. Very bad. We made a questionable decision to start the engine and put it in reverse while I pulled to see if we could unwrap it. Amazingly, it worked! We were EXTREMELY lucky. There could have been major damage, but somehow we got out of it.
Lessons learned:
- If it's sailing, sail it. Don't turn on the engine.
- Make sure GOOD knots are in the end of lines. Figure-8 is much better than an overhand knot.
- Always be ready to get wet. Time to get the wetsuit and mask onboard!
And back to the bad--The rest of the return trip was amazingly uneventful. Around 9pm we pulled into the marina. As we rounded the corner to our slip, I was shocked to see a boat in our spot! Thankfully someone was on deck so I yelled to him that he was in our slip. These guys didn't exactly jump to get out of our way and even kept kind of waving us off. After a few minutes of them trying to get their power boat out of our slip, he waved me off again, to which I responded, "Hey, take your time. We're only paying for it!" I was getting annoyed. They finally inched their way out and to my complete surprise, headed for the boat house 2 slips down from us--it was our neighbor (whom we've never met). After we got in and were tying up, Frank was out on the pier when the 2 guys came out of the boat house. They didn't say a damn thing to us! No sorry, no introduction, nothing. Just looked at Frank then turned away. I said, "Gee, good night!" and could swear I got flipped the bird. Sure hope I'm wrong on that one. Totally not like any other boaters we've met and certainly not neighborly.
And one more very ugly--we had some kind of short in our shore power connection and it's fried. Frank is trying to fix it now. Still a pretty good weekend overall, and we had a great time in Poulsbo, but man that's more "downs" than I'm used to!
I'll add my comments for the weekend, too!
ReplyDeleteFriday night was long but nice- it would have been shorter if someone (hehe) didn't go 3 kts over Humpy Alley on the way to Liberty Bay, but hey, I was the one driving anyway! It was an awesome full moon night. It did make me tired of motoring so much on a sailboat, though!
The next day was very nice- this was my first time in Poulsbo, and it really is a fun little town. We took the dinghy in and got breakfast and saw the sights. There was a big Latitudes and Attitudes gathering, and everyone was in pirate regalia! Every so often, a big cannon would shoot off. I bet it got rowdy that night! We got Jody some bling, and took the kids to the marine science center there. It was nice, and the kids loved the touch pool. Then we headed back to the boat and got underway.
We transited Agate Pass easily under motor, and saw one hardcore guy beating into the wind (which was directly up the pass) and against current under sail at low tide. He sailed his boat with a lotta skill! AND, that's the difference between someone sailing for excitement and fun, and someone sailing their home! After picking up the crab pot and clearing Port Madison(?), the wind picked up a little- sweet! I want to get better with the spinnaker, and there's only one way to do that- use it!
I personally think we got the spinnaker up easier than last time (which was the first time we used it), it was just that we still hadn't got the whole gybing bit down. A series of three cruise liners were transiting the scheme- and the Edmonds ferry was underway also heading toward us. I decided to gybe in order to miss the last cruise liner and give us some room for the ferry. Although I had gybed successfully a few times prior, the wind shifted just enough to mess a rookie spinnaker sailor up, and it tucked inside the furled genoa. In retrospect, there was no need to start the motor since the 2 ships were passing clear of us as we were at a dead stop, but I just had to reach for the security blankey! We were fortunate to be able to put the motor in reverse to free the line. I think this is only because I put it in drive for 2-3 seconds, just enough to swing the boat to complete the gybe. Lesson learned! I poured some out to King Neptune just to be safe!
After that, we sailed a few more hours under spinnaker until the winds died. We got back at night, about 30 minutes after sunset. Honestly, what annoyed me more about someone being in our slip was the fact that it was our "neighbor" and he didn't even come over and say "My bad, we thought you were out for the weekend, and we were leaving tomorrow.." or something to that effect. Of course, this is the same guy who doesn't return dock carts and is too good to say hi or even smile when passing on the dock. Oh well, ya can't like everybody, or else you'd just be a pushover!
Ahh yes- the shore power! What a pain, but isn't every repair on the boat a pain? I swear if I was on land this would have taken 2 hours MAX. Instead, there has to be multiple climbing in and out of bilges, dropping stuff down the bilge never to be seen again, taking junk out of bilge to work, finding another problem in the bilge to fix, hitting head, going to the marine store to find half-way fixes, etc etc- at least it is fixed now, back on shore power! And I thought it was gonna be relaxing to come back on Saturday instead of Sunday!! :)
And yes, we're still having fun!