CHRISTMAS KAYAKING

Where else but Seattle?  A few kayakers nutty enough to brave a cold, brisk wind, lots of boat traffic and the inky blackness to follow the Christmas ships.  Much fun!!!

NIGHT HIKE

Wednesday night, wrapping up work.  I don't want to go hiking.  I'm tired.  Justin seems to agree.  Do we really want to do this?  We waver, but remember that Marc is coming as well.  He's been looking forward to this.  We have no choice.

We meet Marc at the trailhead.  It's cold, the wind is blowing.  It's also dark.  Really, really dark.  Headlamps on, we set out across the paraglider landing strip and into the woods.  The cold, very dark woods.  The only light is from our headlamps as we weave up the mountain.

A conversation sets up, I warm up, and the familiar feeling of exertion takes over.  Breathing hard, the conversation flows and we climb.  Up. Up.  The trail to Poo Poo point isn't as hard as Cableline, but it's UP.  About 1,700 feet of vertical elevation gain in just under 2 miles.  Justin is in the lead and he hikes eerily and sometimes annoyingly fast.  His natural gait doesn't look fast, but try to follow him and it's a work out.

We're all huffing and puffing and finally we get to the top.  We stop.  It's quiet. There's no one else up here.  It's not only quiet, but it's warm -- much warmer at the top than the start at the trailhead.   The temperature inversion that has hit the Northwest is still in effect.  No wind.

And the view!  We can see all of Issaquah below us and the major roads twinkle with movement.  Each road has a blur of white on one side and red on the other.  From our vantage point we can see thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of commuters getting home.  The tall buildings of Bellevue glisten in the distance.   Who ever thought Bellevue would have a skyline??

The lights are concentrated in patterns, our view is bracketed by the dark Sauk mountain on the left and the equally dark lake Samammish on the right with bright and busy Issaquah directly  below.

There's no place I'd rather be.  Legs have a nice burn after  a quick hike up.  We quietly chat, marvel at our good fortune to be able to experience this, and then we hike back down.  In less than 2 hours we've had a good chat, great exercise, and were able to take in a breathtaking view.

Nice evening.

RACE YOUR HOUSE and FALL REGATTA

A well run race committee is fun to watch.  Cambria served as the platform for the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club’s Fall Regatta as well as the ‘Race Your House’ race.  It was a complicated affair.  35 boats for the Fall Regatta in 6 classes and another 35 boats in the Race Your House race, also in 6 classes.  The intent was to run 3 races for the Fall regatta while only one for the ‘Race Your House’ race.  If my math holds up that’s 24 starts.

The result was a near non stop start sequence of flags, horns and course instructions re-iterated over the VHF radio.  All of which was confusing to the uninformed viewer, but made perfect sense to the committee and to most of the race boats around us.

The committee itself was made up of experienced racers.  These folks knew their stuff and it showed.  The wind didn’t pan out as hoped and as a result the course needed to be modified mid race, but it was all done pretty well.

With light winds and a fair ebb, milling around the committee boat made for some interesting moments.  One boat was successfully fended off and missed us, but another tacked up wind and up current from us and as soon as the tack was made the more experienced folks on Cambria reacted and moved forward.  It was a slow motion collision.

At the end of the day boating is a humbling sport.  What may be clear to an observer isn’t necessarily clear to the person at the helm and if you’ve spent enough time on the water, you’ve been in positions of making moves that in retrospect could have been better executed.

In any case, we got hit.  Scott fended off, but the pulpit took the brunt of the impact.  Bent.

Not much we could do about it and the race needed to go on (except for the boat that hit us.  Hitting the committee boat automatically disqualifies you for the race).

All and all a good day on the water — and for picture taking.

Sailing in Style

Mike and Maurisa's boat 'Arrow'

Hi Sarah!

Trey looking rather preppy, overalls and a button down shirt

Amy learned some sailing skills on Joe's boat

We're going to race!

Dana on Rubigale

Andy on Yahtzee

Dan had quite the crew

Dan and close in racing at the start

Fenders?

Michele

Another shot of Michele

Yahtzee

Bow watch on Grayling

Andy edging out Dan at the finish.  Good fun!

Mark pumping his fist as Cliff, Julia, Dan and crew finish

Andy and 'Twisted Journey" followed by Grayling

Mikey and Mindy

Dan signaling a first to finish

Go Mike

Go Dana