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

Dinner Cruise with Neighbors

The weather has been so nice that I invited my neighbors for a dinner cruise. Kitty and Mike brought pizza and chocolate chip homemade cookies and Diane brought wine. Hira supplied the boat.  It turns out the largest container ship ever to come to Tacoma had anchored. The next day they took her into the Blair waterway to unload it 10,000 containers. It is documented out of Monrovia. Her name: Zim Djibouti, her length is 1145 ft, beam is 151 ft. She is larger than the USS Nimitz, an aircraft carrier.

                                                                                                                                                                                                 











                                                                                                   



We did a nice loop of Commencement Bay, traveling from 40 ft of water in my slip to over 500 ft in the bay. Later, we ran across a school of Dall Porpoises and they were having a wild time swimming circles around us. It was exciting as in the 2 years I have been in these waters none have ever ventured close to Shatoosh.

Dall's_porpoise  click here for more information

It was a great evening and as we pulled into my slip, Mt. Rainier started to become it beautiful pink color.
Thanks Kitty, Mike and Diane for a fun time.

Odds and Ends on My Cruise

I was gone for 5 weeks starting in May and ending 1 July 2013. I logged in 412 nm starting from the South Sound and going as far as Newcastle Island in BC and returning to Tacoma Wa. I was fortunate  that my timing coincided with an Albineers of BC  Rendezvous in Telegraph Harbor, Thetis Island. I towed Pashmina the whole way. Fuel: 37 gallons @ 412nm = 11.13 miles/gal.

My stops along the way:
1. Gig Harbor, Wa USA
2. Blake Island, Wa
3. Langley, Whidbey Island, Wa
4. La Conner, Wa
5. Bedwell Harbor, Pender Island, BC
6. Annette Cove, Prevost Island
7. Montegue Harbor, Galiano Island
8. Telegraph Harbor, Thetis Island
9. Nanaimo, Vancouver Island
10. Newcastle Island
11. Pirates Cove, De Coursey Island
12. Conover Cove, Wallace Island
13. Winter Cove, Saturna Island
14. Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Wa USA
15. Parks Bay, Shaw Island, Wa
16. Jones Island, Wa
17. Blind Bay, Shaw Island, Wa
18. West Sound, Orcas Island, Wa
19. Spencer Spit, Lopez Island, Wa
20. Cypress Island, Wa
21. Vendovi Island, Wa
22. La Conner, WA
23. Langley, Whidbey Island
24. Kingston Harbor, Wa
25. Blake Island, Wa
26. Gig Harbor, Wa
27. Foss Harbor Marina, Tacoma, Wa.

The San Juan Preservation Trust liked my posting on Vendovi Island and posted it to their Facebook Page.

I met so many wonderful people, who have inspired me and I have inspired them, as well. I have received many emails lately thanking me for keeping up the blog and keeping up my travels. I had the best time and thanks to Joyce, my crew who shared in the rowing, the steering, the cooking, the docking, the navigation and the fun. Blog readers have viewed over, 60,000 pages as of this morning. Thank you all for continuing to read, dream and boating.

Life Along the Foss Waterway

I have met several of my Dock Mates, made an evening run up and down the waterway and am enjoying the simple 9 mile trip to my new boat slip at the Foss Harbor Marina. This will be my shortest commute to Shatoosh in 13 years and I am liking it.

Yesterday while tinkering with my projects, the 11th St Bridge sounded its horn to open her lift up. Wow, something big is coming or going, as sailboats pass freely under her. What it be?  Finally we see the newly built vessel, outbound for Alaska. I had seen her the other evening on my run up the waterway.

A flock of marina Geese cruise by looking for a hand out. This boater doesn't feed, I tell them and they turned and departed.

Securing Pashmina to the Hardtop

This past week I have been tinkering and contemplating a simple way to stow Pashmina on the hardtop. I don't want to put any holes in the hardtop, so this is my first prototype, after talking it over with several people.

I bought some swim noodles, as they are called. Then put  PVC piping down the center of them. An image came to mind as I slowly moved the tube along the piping; it was like working a leg into a tight panty-hose. It would have been good to grease the pipe first, in hind sight. The PVC then would prevent the noodle from being compressed. I still need to run a line through the PVC tubing to tie and secure the  tubing to the grab bars.

Thoughts on the lift and getting Pashmina on to the hardtop. This all started when I first bought Pashmina, a much larger dinghy than I had previously owned. With P1, I could get her up on the hardtop by myself. I always cruised with her on top, rarely, towing her. My mantra was I'd rather "Stow than Tow".

With P2, my mantra changed to I'd rather "Tow than Stow", after P2 got swept away off the swim platform during a storm. She tows really well in rough water so far. If I was to cross a large body of water here in the NW, like the Strait of Juan de Fuca or the Strait of Georgia, then I would have to have her on the hardtop. My friend Jim from Orcas, being the innovative guy that he is, dreaded the thought of me crossing the Strait towing Pashmina and went to work building a lift. While this needs some tweaking still, I am happy to be able to lift her up on the hardtop, especially for stowing during the winter months while under a covered slip. While it is cruising season, I will continue to have her stowed on the swim platform while dock-side and towing her in the water while cruising. She tows really easily and she is easy to get on and off the swim platform. I can rest assured that I have enough options to handle several  situations. When "Mother Nature" kicks up her heels, my other mantra will be,  Don't Stow, Don't Tow, Don't Go.

Shatoosh's New Home: The Foss Harbor Marina, Tacoma Washington

www.fossharbormarina.com

More, coming soon, but for now click on link above for web site and click on map location below.
The Foss Waterway is in Downtown Tacoma and my slip is outbound of the 11th St. Bridge, which has recently reopened after a long and historic refitting.

I depart Gig Harbor at 1000 hrs and make the flat water run to the Tacoma Foss Harbor Marina and arrive
1130 hrs in my new covered slip, J 20.
Days run 8nm
Total run: 412 nm.