Sombra de Luna

I think I'll keep this blog for those times when I do sail with others - what fun that is!  So I have created another blog for my new boat.  The current name is officially Moonshadow but I plan to rename her next spring to Sombra de Luna.  Even though I am only changing the language, Sombra de Luna is Spanish for Moonshadow, I'll probably still do the naming ceremony. No sense getting on the wrong side of any wind or sea gods is there?  Since there are 3 other Moonshadows in Olympia, I just wanted something more unique.  So here is the link to another site that I will start posting some information on soon.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sombradeluna/

Cheers!

Still sailing on others boats

Okay, so I am not boatless anymore but I still like to sail on other people's boats.  This summer I did several of the South Sound Sailing Society's Wednesday night races on Maranatha, a Ranger 33.  But the highlight of the summer racing was on Mako, a Star 22 with Susan Willis.  It was a beautiful day in July and we actually had wind.  We had a blast and nothing broke on the boat.  THANKS Susan.

Here are just a few of the photos:  (the photographers were taking a lot of photos)

SOLD - Dinghy for sale - Walker Bay RIB

I went from boatless to two boats; Moonshadow came with a large dinghy.  However, one of them, the dinghy is just too big for me and one other person to handle and it takes up the whole foredeck if stored up there.  So I am going to sell the dinghy and get one more manageable.  I really wish it were smaller; it looks like a great dinghy.  And I didn't even know Walker Bay made inflatables........

Here's some info.
10 foot 2 inch Walker Bay Genesis RIB - Genesis Lite
2007 in good shape; weighs about 126 lbs; rated to have a 10-15 HP outboard
Comes with 2 wood oars and a 5 gallon gas tank.

Asking $1500 OBO; they are over $3000 new.

If you are interested, give me a call.  (I assume you'll be someone I already know if you are looking at this page so I am not posting my phone number here.)

CHEERS!

Barbara

Boatless Barbara isn't boatless anymore

Joel and I brought the boat down from Bellingham last weekend.  That was my first trip through the Swinomish Channel and when we saw -0.1 on the depth sounder we were sure glad that we didn't touch bottom.....  We had great weather (okay, so another 30 degrees warmer would have been even better), partly cloudy, partly sunny, very little rain.  We only did a little bit of sailing due to either lack of wind or it was from the wrong direction and since the goal for the weekend was to get to Olympia, we just kept motoring.

We arrived at the Swantown Marina around 2:30 pm on Monday, and Mary C. came to greet us at the pump out station.  Then we motored over to the new slip, where Dave K, Erik N. and Eric F. met us.

A great weekend of boating and now the fun begins ----- boat projects!

Okay, so I know I need to change this website sometime, but I am still trying to decide if I want to change the boat name, and may wait until I pick a new name and create a blog for that.

Boatless Barbara - only for another 10 days

So you may have been wondering (or maybe not....) what I have been up to lately.  Well, I haven't been sailing, but I have been looking at sailboats to buy, and............. I found a Morgan 384 in Bellingham that I had surveyed last Friday.  Her name is Moonshadow. (I know I can't get Cat Stevens out of my head.) She is a good solid boat and I am excited about bringing her down to Olympia later this month.  I also have lots of plans for boat projects.  Here are a few of the 'before' photos.

Hope Island SSSS 'cruise' weekend

Oh, the weather outside was frightful........ so we decided not to go to Hope Island on Saturday.  There were gale force winds predicted on the VHF weather channel and the gathering spot on the NW side of the island didn't sound like a good place to be.  We were rocking quite a bit just at the marina.  So we hung out there and pretended we were cruising.... waiting for a better weather window before leaving and making the best of it by inviting good friends over for dinner and drink.  We also had lots of laughs, Mary, Mike, Joel, and I; so glad I got to visit with Mary before she heads back to Mexico and warm weather sailing (I am envious).

The weather was much better on Sunday and so we headed north, not too far behind Terri and Val.  We sailed for a couple hours and it was very enjoyable, although cool.  We rafted up with them and Dave and Micky pn a mooring buoy and made plans for a 6pm dinner.  We were also joined by some new SSSS members, John and Kathleen.  Again, good food, great company, and lots of laughs.  We had a quiet night on the mooring buoy.

Today, Monday, we borrowed Dave and Micky's dinghy and rowed to shore to take a hike around the island.  It was drizzly most of the day and we left Hope Island around 2 pm.  There was next to no wind so we motored back to Percival Landing to put the boat away for now.

Toliva Shoals Race - February 11, 2012

Better than expected.....  We had a great day on south Puget Sound even if we didn't race the entire course.  The race committee shortened it to around 30 nm (at Johnson Point) instead of the full 37.4 race course. The winds were getting light and they probably wanted everyone to have a chance to finish the race.  I was crewing on Maranatha (Ranger 33) with Skipper Joel, and Sandy, Matt, Webb, and John as fellow crew mates.  There was pretty consistent winds the entire time (8-10?+- kn), and I have the usual bruises to prove it............  It was cloudy and overcast all day, but relatively warm, around 50.  It only started to rain on us right after we finished.  We managed to get the sails put away before they got wet.

We placed 3rd out of 15 for our class so that was an additional reward for a great day on the water.  It wasn't sunshine and fast like 2011, but we certainly didn't spend any time just drifting around either.  I think there were 77 boats in all that were out there racing, and I hope they all had a great time.

Maranatha is the small boat in the middle - not as close as it looked...... thank goodness.