February 13th marked the 3rd weekend out of the last four that Cambria had been out of the slip on the weekend. We had five objectives for the weekend:
- Get to Port Orchard
- Sail as much as possible
- Circumnavigate Bainbridge Island
- Fill up with Fuel
- Put on a dinner for Kristina and Dana
Adam, my temporary roommate aboard Cambria, appears to be at his happiest when sailing. Recently back from a 6 week delivery gig involving taking a Catamaran from Italy through the Med and across the Atlantic, the pursuit of a career on the water is his focus. It’s nice to have a competent sailor onboard and his talents were appreciated on this trip.
The wind was blowing close to 20 knots from the south. A double reefed main went up first shortly after clearing the breakwater. We unfurled the jib, killed the engine, and began to drive to windward. We beat across the sound and found Kristina and Dana on Rubigale near the shore of the peninsula.
Both boats tacked, but while Cambria is faster, Rubigale points higher. We began a long tack towards Seattle, fighting both the wind and the current. Then the heavens opened and it began to rain. Pour.
The text trash talk had begun with Rubigales crew. The gals were decked out in their foulies, fighting the elements in a largely open cockpit. Cold and wet, they were really sailing. Comfortable in a protected cockpit, Adam went below to prepare a hot meal.
We lost them in the rain, but when we crossed tacks with them again, they were slightly ahead. Our speed was not adequately compensating for their pointing ability. The wind appeared to be slacking so we shook the reef out of the main to get more power and at that point we were sailing fairly well.
Then the gusts hit laying us well over on several occasions. Cambria’s rig is plenty strong having replaced all of it last year, but angle of the heel did some un-decorating down below. The bookshelves emptied, the dehumidifier did a dance across the floor and the top of the nav station was suddenly clean. Books and cards littered the floor. It looked worse than it was, but loose stuff was scattered everywhere. All of it, of course, was my fault for treating the boat a bit more like a home then a proper sailing vessel.
We stayed on our ear through out the next hour or so, and as we tacked near Elliot Bay marina, we set up a nice line to clear the southern part of Bainbridge and through Rich passage.
As we entered Rich Passage we cracked off the wind a bit and helped by a little by the current hit just over 8 knots.
As we got further into Rich Passage it was really raining and the wind began to die. We cranked on the engine, furled the jib and an exhilarating sail came to an anti climactic end. Rubigale had called it quits as well and was behind us and followed through the pass.
While it looked like a tornado had spun through the Cambria’s cabin, clean up didn’t take that long and with the boat presentable, dinner preparations had begun.
Earlier in the day we had smoked a pork tenderloin at the dock and that, with garlic mash potatoes and Adams excellent Aspargus, sautéed with Bacon, formed a nice meal. Kristina and Dana came over to get warm and a few others from the cruise dropped in as well and a nice social time ensued.
Sunday morning Dana and Kristina came over to make a great breakfast and we all shared stories. Kristina, in particular, had trekked in the Himalaya, and had worked for several years in Alaska in the fishing business, occasionally commuting to work via helicopter. Great stories and served as inspiration for possible future adventures.
One by one the other boats peeled out of Port Orchard. I walked around the town briefly but was largely disappointed. On that particular grey morning my gaze was drawn to boarded up store fronts, ‘for rent’ signs, and a couple of establishments with ‘liquidation, going out of business’ signs. Aided by the grey rain, Port Orchard, to my eye, looked challenged.
We left the dock, again with two reefs and had a nice downwind romp out of Port Orchard, occasionally hitting above 8 knots.
After encountering Will who had just filled up with fuel, we too filled up with fuel at Brownsville, which for years repeatedly has the lowest diesel prices on the sound, and headed North through Agate passage.
Rounding out over the top end of Bainbridge the breeze freshened so again the jib was unfurled, the engine silenced and we had a great reach across the sound.
As we approached Shilshole, the radio crackled to life and the skipper of a 36 foot boat named the ‘King Gustav’ was reporting high seas and requested coast guard assistance. The boat was about 5 nautical miles south of us. After getting the details of the boat and how many persons aboard, the coast guard asked the skipper to describe the sea state and he responded with “high seas, 5 to 6 feet high”.
Adam and I looked at each other then looked out at our situation. We were having an extraordinarily nice reach with the wind perhaps at 10 knots and our seas were 5 to 6 as well, but measured in inches. The weather, at that point in time, was pleasant in nearly every respect.
The coast guard was professionally incredulous as well, asking the skipper exactly what assistance he was requesting. He responded somewhat hesitantly but appeared to be requesting help without knowing exactly what help he needed. Perhaps an example of someone who has relied on the belief that some authority will come to his rescue at the expense of being personally self sufficient.
A fire station boat was dispatched, at public expense, to check out the situation. We did not hear of the outcome.
What I suspect happened was a neophyte boater had encountered some localized tidal action and panicked.
As we approached dock we received a text message from Will, showing us his welcoming committee on the dock.
A large and either sick or pregnant Sea Lion was on the dock and unwilling to re-enter the water.
We docked without incident.
I reviewed our initial 5 objectives for the weekend and concluded each had been well met. Adam and I clinked glasses at a fine weekend outing.
This week will be a drippy one.....
