South Sound Women's Sailing Group (SSWSG) meet at Jarrell Cove State Park

Jeanne on Grace was the last to arrive.

There were five (5) SSWSG boats at the Jarrell Cove State Park on Saturday evening.  Mary, Terri, Deanna and I drove up to join them for their potluck at 6pm.
Clara Mcdougal - Captain Mary F. *** Liberte - Skipper Debra
Argos - Skipper Maryann  *** Swirl - Skipper Jo ***  Grace - Skipper Jeanne

When we got there, several of them were rigging their dinghies for a short sail in the cove.  There was next to no wind, but there were still able to get around some in the Mintos.

Jo rigging her Minto

Debra

Micki

Deanna, Micki, Debra

There was plenty of food and libations, although darkness made it difficult to see towards the end.  There were several head lamps around and other flashlights to help with the selection, but it was interesting.  One person in fact started to eat some soup and I heard her exclaim, "Oh, this is the hot apple cider not soup......"  Several people brought fire wood which was great for gathering around the campfire and sharing stories.

San Francisco weekend October 7th-9th - Tamara Lee Ann crew reunion

What a great weekend in San Francisco; it was sunny the entire time! On Saturday, October 8th, both the outbound and inbound Hawaii crew from the Tamara Lee Ann gathered on TLA for a great day on San Francisco bay. It was Fleet Week in San Francisco which meant the bay was busy with sailing and boating, and the star attraction was the air show with the Blue Angels, the Canadian Snow Birds, and other cool, fast, and loud aircraft. We didn't do any sailing but anchored out to watch the air show.  After a great day on the water we went to the St. Francis Yacht Club for dinner.  It just happened to be 3 months after the departure from Honolulu (July 8th), wow, time flies.  And Captain Doug presented all the crew members with Certifications of Appreciation, and Bravery (okay, I made up the bravery part).......

Then Sunday, Lorraine introduced me to Marty and we went sailing from Sausalito on her Islander 36 sailboat, Wind Catcher, with Julia and Robert also. We sailed some, but apparently it was one of the rare days on the bay when there wasn't really much wind. (Lorraine kept apologizing - LOL) We also saw Dennis on his boat Valhalla heading out the gate with some friends.

It was fun weekend hanging out with Lorraine and seeing everyone again.  Here's a few photos.
Cheers!
Barbara

Point Reyes Park - Gorgeous view of the Pacific

Umm, the Golden Gate Bridge

Watching the air show; Canadian Snowbirds

Lorraine and I (doofy smile)

Tammy relaxing

Motoring out to anchor to watch the air show

Jason, Doug, and Poul

Captain Doug and Tammy 

Just in case the Captain got thirsty

Sunday sailing

Look who we saw, Valhalla, Dennis's boat

Dennis and some guests

Windcatcher - Marty's boat - beautiful Islander 36

Sailing on Liberte

Saturday, I joined Debra and Rob on Debra's boat Liberte for a gentle slow sail, uh, not much wind in the late afternoon.  But the weather in general was gorgeous and a dolphin entertained us for a while in the middle of Budd Bay.  Wonderful day to be on the water.

 

 

Boat shopping - just looking for now

I went to the Boats Afloat Show in Seattle last Saturday, 17th.  There are always more motor boats than sail there, but there was enough sailboats to get the salt water in my blood moving.  I also looked at a few boats at a couple yacht brokers on Lake Union.
My 'plan' is to find something in the spring 2012; but as they say in the cruising world, plans are written in the sand at low tide.  Some favorites, yesterday and today anyway, are Tartan 3800, Island Packet 380 or 350..... previous favorites are Pacific Seacraft 37 or Crealock, Westerly Sealord 39, Freedom 36, Valiant 40, Passport 40 (need to look at some of these somewhere).
And when I checked with the local marina where I would want to keep it, and live aboard, the waiting list is a year out, yikes.  So I will get on the list soon and then keep looking for the right boat.

Will have to change the name of this blog if I buy a boat, right?

Fisheries Supply Swap Meet and Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival

It was a busy, and hot Saturday, yesterday here in the Pacific Northwest.  Up early and drove to Seattle for the fall Fisheries Supply swap meet.  Lots of people with spaces and tons of good boat stuff (well mostly it was) to sell.  Since I don't have a boat, there wasn't anything for me to 'need' but Terri found a few good deals.
Then we headed to Port Townsend for the 35th Wooden Boat Festival.  What a great day looking at boats and boat stuff.  A friend, Jeanne Rhynne, has her boat Grace in the show, so we certainly looked her up.  We also ran into lots of Olympia sailor friends, Mary F., Micki & Rob, Maria & Bryon, Jo & Scotty.
And what a surprise when I also ran into some sailor/cruisers I met over 3 years ago in Mexico.  (I thought she looked familiar.....)  Ewona & Arek (hope I got the spelling right); they used to have a large sailboat named Ariel and sailed to the South Pacific in 2008.  And they were here with Rich on Jazz, a Beneteau 38 sailboat. He's here in the northwest now but has done lots of cruising since I last saw him over 3 years ago.  What a small world.

Ariel - Arek & Ewona's boat - they sold her in New Caledona a couple years ago.  This photo was taken in  the Barra de Navidad Lagoon.  Did I mention she makes delicious cinnamon rolls......

I met Rich from Jazz, first in San Diego in the fall of 2007 and this photo was from Turtle Bay, Mexico.

Labor Day Weekend on the Water

We found Mary C.  Well actually she wasn't lost (she would never get lost on the water) but she probably wants to be.  Anyway, Terri and I left on Saturday morning from Swantown Marina on her Catalina 30, Gratitude, in search of Mary.  We headed north towards the Narrows.  We sailed for a few hours from McNeil Island to the Narrows Bridge, and then headed into Gig Harbor to check it out. As always there were quite a few boats already at anchor. Our first attempt put us way too close to another boat, so we weighed anchor and moved forward.  (Terri really needs to get an anchor windlass…..)  The second try was good although we were a little concerned about being close to another sailboat.  We finally got their attention and they were not concerned, so we stayed put . My back and hamstrings were thanking me…..

We found Mary that evening in Gig Harbor, or rather, she found us at anchor there.  (Okay, so she may have given me a few hints about where to find them…)  They came over in the dinghy and we went to the Tides for a beer with them.  They have been out cruising for a couple weeks and were looking forward to some Tides Tavern food.  

The next day Terri and I headed for Filucy Bay for Sunday night.  We found lots of room there and dropped the anchor in about 25 feet of water.  First time was a charm there (whew).  We rowed over to the Longbranch Marina, or I should say Terri rowed us over there and back, to check out the facilities (hey, I was the human anchor windlass); she hadn't been there before.  The way there was upwind, and the trip back was downwind.

Lots of sun all weekend.  We left Filucy Bay on Monday morning and motored back to Olympia.  We tried sailing for about an hour, but there just wasn't enough wind to make it worth keeping the sails up.

Great weekend on the water!

This tug was heading north; see the sailboat on the aft 'deck'; very cool.

Terri was trying to get better sail shape but notice the smooth water.

Okay, just posing on the bow.

NEW Photos from my Honolulu to San Francisco trip

I added at least 50 new photos over the last couple days to my photo album from this trip.  Some really cool ones from crew of the SSV Robert C. Seamans, the ship that gave us some water in the middle of the ocean.  Here's just one.

Dennis, Captain Doug, Barbara at the helm, and Jason

And lots from my Captain and other crew mates also........  great photos - THANKS GUYS!

Photos posted in the photos section of this blog.
https://picasaweb.google.com/114745983068697533979/July4282011HonoluluToSanFrancisco

Here's the trip shown on a global scale.............