Book Signing Party at the Tides Tavern Gig Harbor WA

The newly published Puget Sound Boating Guide, by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones from Vancouver BC, Canada made its debut in Gig Harbor last evening with an enthusiastic group of boaters. Anne and Laurence have been on a whirlwind tour showing off their new publication. Even if you are not a boater you might be interested in visiting the over 100 destinations by car and see the variety of interesting locations that Puget Sound holds within its shores. If you missed the party, you may purchase the book at their website,
www.dreamspeakerguides.com

The Vanbergs of Gig Harbor join us

Which Twin has the Toni?

A beautiful Sparkman Stephens Design

Dreamspeaker and Tink wait for their owners to return

Hira and Her Twin, Jean Swing Through Commencement Bay

Friday the weather was picture perfect for an afternoon cruise across the bay. We had a nice waterfront lunch with friends and then headed down the Foss Waterway to Shatoosh's new berth J20 at the Foss Harbor Marina. Jean got to see Pashmina sitting nicely on her winter berth on the cabin top.

Jean took the helm and was happy as a clam.

Browns Point Light House

Mt Rainier

I get excited whenever I see this beautiful mountain.

The Glass Museum from the Foss Waterway.

A nice quiet afternoon on the Tacoma Waterfront. Perfect.

9.9 nmiles

A Sun Break

Yesterday was gorgeous in the afternoon. A half day is better than no day of sun. One of my dock buddies helped me load Pashmina on the cabin hardtop for her winter home. There are 3 things wrong with my new lift; one is the upright pole too short, and the second thing is the lifting arm is also too short and the third is since the entire pole rotates 180 degrees to get the dinghy on top, that also means the winch rotates as well. This places the winch is an awkward place to lower the boat down. Night before last I awoke at 0130 hrs with a solution to the problems. More on this subject on another posting.

My crew person, Linda returned from several road trips, so I called her and she arrived with pizza in hand, just in time for a dinner, sunset cruise. Boy, the mountain was out crystal clear with the sun glowing on her in strawberry fashion, the city lights came on, The Glass Museum and the mega Yachts in the Foss Waterway is making Tacoma quite a fashionable destination.

Back and forth to my car and boat yesterday I ran across some other unique creatures that caught my eye.

Rent a goat to clear out blackberry bushes

A 8 foot creature scary as heck
Getting a jump on his Halloween outfit.

A Band of Girls on Blake Island---An Army Reunion

In July 1966, I was a 2nd Lt and recently graduated from Physical Therapy School, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas. The Viet Nam War was already well underway and my first assignment was Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis(Tacoma) Washington.  My sponsor was Captain Mary Huston and my immediate supervisor was Captain Ann Ward Jenkins. I was 23 years old, Mary and Ann were much older I thought. They taught me many things as they were both wonderful Therapists and we had lots of fun climbing mountains, skiing, fishing, clamming, and all things "northwest". Later on I was stationed with Mary 2 other times and Ann and were in hospitals in Japan and saw each other often. Over the years, we get together and since we are all getting older, older, we thought it would be good to have a little get together on Blake Island. Ann had never been and it had been years since Mary had been. Mary and her friend, Lois were coming over from the Olympic Peninsula in their RV.

We had a plan,  Ann and I would travel on Friday from Tacoma to Blake Island via Colvos Passage and take Vashon Island to starboard. On Saturday, we would pick up Mary and Lois at a launching ramp in a community called Manchester, 2nm  away and bring them to Blake. We would attend the big Salmon Bake and program. We could have time to visit and then take them back to the launching ramp in the afternoon.

As usually, there was stormy weather taking place, but it was supposed to clear. Ann and I departed with rain, light fog, no wind and flat seas. The farther we got towards Vashon the worse the fog became.

Friday route

This funny route depicts our route waiting for the Vashon
Ferry to cross from Pt Defiance and back.

The Tellaquah Ferry heads for Pt Defiance, Tacoma

Colvos Passage Fog

No Fog on Blake
Ann is happy

Driftwood on the Eastern Shore

Sunset
Olympic Mtns in Background

Mary, Lois and Ann

Old Soldiers
 All of us Retired

Wood Carver

Looking older than us

Mask Representing the Spirit World

Dancer with his 45 # Head Mask

Dancer with his 60# Head Mask

Our Lunch is Cooking

After lunch we cruise along the west shore to see the
Campsites and buoys.

Swedie and Albin 25 joins us at the dock.
I have run across her numerous times since I have been in WA.

We pull in close to shore at Pt. Robinson Lighthouse on Maury island.
Maury Island is really attached to Vashon by a narrow spit.

Sunday Ann and I wait out the fog and depart at noon
following Captain Vancouver's route to Browns Point
and back to my marina

Captain Vancouver has his famous venison meal with the Puyallup Indian
Tribe at Browns Pt. Today there were only fishermen and picnickers.

Our Round trip was 50+nm. We circumnavigated Vashon and Blake Islands

Our Band of Girl Soldiers had a memorable time and we are really glad we squeezed this in at the end of summer, before we all go our separate ways. Thanks Mary, Ann, Lois for such a fun trip.

My Boating Library is Complete

My new Puget Sound Boating Guide by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones arrived. I have placed my # 4 copy it in my helm bookcase. Easy to grab in a moment's notice. My mouth is still watering as I browse through the over 100 destinations, wondering to myself, how could I have missed this enticing place? I have already jotted a few places that I definitely need to explore before our summer is over. The beautifully hand drawn charts with intricate detailing reflect the authors' attention to great detail, even down to anchorages and placement of buoys.

On page 148, I go to my favorite destination, McMickin State Park and see that Laurence has carefully sketched in a little caricature of Shatoosh with Dreamspeaker and Tink arriving. Later, he will be drawing a larger one for me.

The Guide also comes with a set of planning charts which are laminated and span from Puget Sound to Desolation Sound. They could double as place mats for the galley table. This new Guide is a must for any Puget Sound Cruiser. Go to Dreamspeaker.com to purchase your autographed copy.

In October they will be cruising south from their Home Port of Vancouver, BC to Gig Harbor to promote their book. Mark Your Calendars 7 October at Tides Tavern.

See you there. It is a Must To Do...

A Quick Trip to Cutts Island

I made a quick trip to Cutts Island last Thursday to investigate sites for the Puget Memorial Project. I still had Pashmina on the cabin top, so the first order of the day was to get her into the water so I could have her available to me to travel ashore at Cutts. Since I can't do that at my slip, I found some fellows to help me unload her on to another dock. With P2 in the water we departed the Foss Waterway and set our course to Pt. Defiance, The Tacoma Narrows, Hale Passage, Carr Inlet and destination Cutts Island.

We ran easily with the flooding tide all the way and approached the island in early flooding from a minus tide. The partial tombola connecting Cutts to Raft Island was still visible and ahead was quite the sight. A sea plane had landed and the pilot and his lady were enjoying a lunch break on the tombola. He sat with the plane's bow and stern line in his hand and as the tide came in, they would move farther up to higher land. Finally, they boarded their plane and took off.

I tied up to a buoy but then noticed it was under water, so I started the engine back up and motored up to it to unhook my snap shackle. This took some doing, as the buoy had tipped over and the snap shackle was under water. I used the boat hook to pull the buoy up and got the shackle off just in time for the tide to pull my bow away. Off I went to find another buoy, but one had a crab pot tied to it, so I picked another. I rowed P2 in and explored a bit. There is a trail to the top of the island, but it is very steep and the thought of me sliding down on my butt was not something I wanted to do. I was told there was lots of poison ivy. I could have climbed up but my unstable knee would not have lasted on the steep decline so I opted out.

I had an incredible sunset with the Olympic Mountain range in the background.. Two young ladies appeared from the Raft Island area. It looked like a quiet night but that wasn't the case.

I was awakened at 0130hrs to the sound of P2 pounding into Shatoosh's swim platform. I got up and got dressed, put on my life jacket and climbed out on the aft cabin top. We are bouncing up and down with 3 ft rollers. I grabbed the bowline and with a few flips freed the line off the platform. I really did not want to get down on that bouncing platform. Luckily the moon was shinning and my LED Anchor light shins a bright light around the hull of the boat. Back to bed but sleep was light and the rollers waxed and waned, but returned with a 0430 increase in wind. I got up and dressed for weather, long pants, socks, fleece pullover my silk long sleeve turtleneck. I made coffee and oatmeal and sat up until dawn. At 0700 hrs I was underway with the turn of the tide. I'm still smiling in spite of sleep loss and cloudy weather.

 I head for Gig Harbor to stop for brunch with a friend and re-rig P2 lines for when I get back to our slip. I will keep her on the swim platform while in the slip and then hoist her up topsides for the winter.
40 nm.

The Highest Bidder Goes to...

In May 2013, the Tacoma Waterfront Association had their annual fund raiser at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. I donated a Evening Cruise on Shatoosh with Wine and Cheese. There were quite a few bidders, but my long time sailing friend, Georgia and Sue hung in there for the final accounting and won.

We have been waiting for good weather and on the 3 August I cruised from the Foss Waterway to Gig Harbor outlasting the perimeter of a fog bank and arriving in beautiful sun filled Gig Harbor to pick them up. We had a delightful cruise heading north to Pt. Richardson and then crossing over to Vashon Island and returning to Gig Harbor. This loop offers a nice look at the variety of homes, which Georgia and Sue were interested in seeing.

After a tour of Gig Harbor we returned to the guest dock which was full. We headed to the back end of the harbor and set a lunch hook, but then the Skipper of the Ellie K hailed us and said an opening was available for us behind them.

Wine, cheese and heavy Pupus flowed in the cockpit of Shatoosh. It was a delightful afternoon and evening for all of us.

Georgia on the left and Sue on the right