Halloween Afloat

Guy stood watch between Capaz and Tosca

He even sometimes danced and sang when his motion sensor was working

October 24-26, 2008

We kicked off our Halloween season with a family Halloween event (or “non-event” – as we prefer to think of it) at Port Madison on Bainbridge Island. There was pumpkin carving, a haunted house, trick-or-treating from boat to boat, a fantastic potluck and just general good company. We had two pirates again this year. The boys put in some time helping to set-up the haunted house and building stuff with legos (of course).

Our two "2-year" pumpkins all carved and decorating the boat

We had two huge “2-year” pumpkins. By the way, a “2-year” pumpkin is the biggest pumpkin that you can find on the farm that Grandma Ellie buys for you just in case you don’t celebrate Halloween wherever you will be this time next year. The plan is to be in San Diego or maybe even a little farther south (Mexico). The first of which is still in the US, so my guess is that they celebrate Halloween and the second, Mexico, has a very similar huge holiday celebrated on the first of November called “Dia de los Muertos” – or Day of the Dead! I think we will have it covered!!

Back to this weekend. We arrived Friday afternoon and in time for the cocktail hour pu pu’s. The new barbeque set-up works just great – tried it out with some chicken for dinner. The Tolands and their shipmates, Chris and Skip joined us for night caps after the kids went to bed. Laurian was very slow out of the starting gates Saturday morning. The new oven is performing well giving us fresh baked muffins for breakfast. Austin was so sure he did not like blueberry muffins until he was told to eat half of one, then he immediately ordered up MORE! I wonder if this is related to the number of times that he was read “Green Eggs and Ham” when he was smaller.

Family Pumpkin Carving

Many, many pumpkins were carved on the fishing dock. I think this is first time in memory that our fishing poles have not come out at Port Madison. We carved several pumpkins including the 2-year pumpkins and the ones that we had “tried” to grow in our garden. With the weird weather we had this year, our pumpkins didn’t pollinate or ripen very well so we had two out of the three orange ones rot on us and the other three that matured were green with just a little orange starting. We carved up all the pumpkins that were not mushy!

As it darkened, the anticipation heightened for both the run(s) through the haunted house and trick-or-treating. The potluck food was varied and all yummy, though the kids hoovered it down, so that they could get on with the next thing. I manned the boat while Brad accompanied the boys through the haunted house. Austin decided last year, that the haunted house was not his thing. This year, after helping put it together, he went through it twice. Afterwards, it was down to the dock with all the kids in the costumes which become mostly covered when they don their life jackets!

Thanks to Olinda for taking some pictures since we forgot our camera!!!!

It was a full day, so everyone was to bed pretty early. We all got a good night’s sleep because brunch wasn’t until 10am. Another fantastic spread appeared and was promptly devoured. All in all, the weekend was a smashing success. We had a full house, I mean, dock with many of the families who participate in Potlatch.

We lounged about most of Sunday, though the boys did take a break from the legos and take down the decorations that were left after I took a bunch down at 5am when the wind piped up. Around 3:00 we headed back to Shilshole on the engine as we have already taken the genoa off the furler in preparation for the boat going into the yard. What a shame too! Today was sunny (and cold) with a nice northerly, perfect for a nice sail on Capaz home. Oh well, I am sure there will be many more chances in our future.

Even though it was pretty windy, Brad wanted to try backing the boat into our slip. Thank Posiden that we reside on a wonderful dock with awesome neighbors. A big thanks to Douglas and Barry who made our first back-in of boat a success on this first try. (Brad and I were prepared for several attempts if need be.) The kids are looking forward to trick-or-treating down our dock on Halloween with a couple of other boat kids from a boat that is called "Ghost"! More on that next week (I will remember the camera!!!)

Australian Influence

October 3-5, 2008
"Scootering" is a verb

Wow, it has been quite a fall thus far! It was so great to get away (all the way to Bainbridge Island) on Capaz. The weekend was made even better by the company of our good friends visiting from Australia, the Harangs.

The Harangs returned from a short visit to Hood River and decided that the easiest route was to join us on the boat Friday night and then we would set off at some time on Saturday morning. I unfortunately, was not able to join the party on the boat til late because I was attending the SYC Annual Meeting. I do believe that Chef Brad prepared some sort of a meal. I can guess that the boys played legos, because, well that’s what they do!!!!

Kathryn drives Capaz

Saturday morning dawned with kinda gray skies and some showers. Kathryn got a run in and she and Mark made a quick trip to the store to supplement the provisions that I already had on the boat, making sure that we were well stocked in the fruit and milk departments (those things that are easily put in front of growing boys that are consumed without much fuss either in preparation or consumption). As we prepared to leave the dock, the boys got in some time with the legos, some breakfast, and even a little bit of scootering.

Our crew assembled and all back aboard, we left the dock and headed around the breakwater down towards Blake Island before coming back toward Port Madison where we hoped to rendez-vous with Garth Wilcox and Wendy Hinman. The logic was to go upwind a bit and then have a quick down-wind leg. Good logic considering that we saw some gusts of 30+ knots once we had reached about Blakely Harbor and turned to get to lunch at the dock in Port Madison.

It was even blowing pretty hard at the dock where thankfully Garth and Wendy were waiting to catch us. A big gust of wind right as we were about half way into the slip made for some serious excitement. It all ended well with Capaz secured to the dock. Since our friends had ridden their bikes up from Eagle Harbor, we decided to just have our meal mid afternoonand then we could have snacky food later in the day and they wouldn’t be pressured to stay late and ride back in the dark.

"Legoing" also a verb - results shown below

My pressure cooker does a most excellent job on ribs. We took our whole meal up to the clubhouse and finished the cooking on the grill. We enjoyed being out of the wind that kept howling til after dark. It seemed that the showers were missing Port Madison. The lights only flickered a couple of times. The kids played more legos and created some Spore creatures.

We eventually, migrated back to the boat where we enjoyed some dessert and good company. As the sun set Wendy and Garth decided that it would be a good idea to get their bikes headed in a homeward direction back to their boat. The boys decided that they wanted to watch “Atlantis” and the grown-ups played a rousing game of Hearts. Brad was the champion and PJ was about as far from that position as she could be. The glass of port followed by a fantastic coffee drink concocted by Brad took the sting out of the loss.

Look who is in the lead - it's all OK with Austin now

Beautiful calm and even some spots of sun welcomed our Sunday morning. There was more legoing in the aft cabin. The boys were finally coaxed out with some food. I tried out the single kayak and explored all the way to the end of Port Madison (Hidden Cove). Kathryn got the boys out into the fresh air with a kayak trip. Austin was not sure that he wanted to go in the double with her (rather than with another kid), until he realized just how much faster the two of the them could go than Bryce and Erik. It was all good. Kathryn tried out all the various forms of kayak that we had available (inflatable double with skeg, inflatable single without skeg, and hard single that we borrowed from the Club.) Mark also did a little comparing.

There must be something interesting they have discovered

Once back at the boat, the fishing poles came out and the carnage began. It was all catch and release, but the critters on the dock (being used as bait) didn’t fare quite as well as a the fish being caught and released. Hopefully, the population will rebound by the end of the month when we hope to return for the Halloween Non-Event. Mark kept trying to head up the dock for a shower, but every time I looked out to check on the boys, there he was again, helping bait a hook or looking over the edge of the dock at a particularly interesting find or trying to avoid the hooks from "the casting" poles. The dock is usually way too crowded to allow for safe casting, so this was a quite welcome opportunity!!!

Austin gives the thumbs up from the tip top

Erik reminded Brad of his promise to send those little pirates up the mast and so that's what Brad did. Erik led the charge, going right to the top! Bryce followed suit. Not be outdone, Austin made it way past his personal best of the the first spreader all the way to the top. He gave me a thumb's up for a picture and then promptly asked to be let down.

A little lunch and clean-up, then it was time to point Capaz back toward Shilshole. We sailed right across and it is amazing with a little help (from our sons also - who has stolen my children and replaced them with alien look-alikes??????) how quickly the boat can be cleaned up and put away. The Harangs headed off to their next destination in Blue Ridge. Luckily, the next time we see them, it will be because they have moved back to Seattle. It will be so nice to have them in the same hemisphere . . . . . . country . . . . . state. . . . . . . maybe even in the same county!!!!

After Saturday's blow, we decided that since there won't be really any sailing until after Capaz returns from her trip to the spa (that would be the boatyard), that we should take down the roller furling genoa. We have the greatest neighbors on F Dock. Erin and Brian were walking by and stopped to talk and even helped us fold up the sail. Thanks!!!! What a great weekend.

Sometimes they even let me drive

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walter Roger Baker 1933-2008

Note: While Bryce, Austin and I were having our little kayak adventure last weekend, Brad was down in Portland helping his step-mom, Sue, with his father, Walt’s, hospice care. Over the last couple of months Walt’s MS had quickly progressed to a point at which he had long ago decided that he would be done fighting. He submitted and passed away last Monday. The boys and I joined Brad and Sue’s family in Portland on Tuesday for a couple of days. To those of you who knew and sent condolences, thoughts and prayers, we are again reminded of the sincerity and love of our circle of family and friends – Thank you.

Little Beach at Shilshole

Little Beach is kinda little


Brad is out of town and I had a little project that I need to re-measure down on the boat. So I promised the boys that if we went down to the boat to do my measuring. we could blow up the kayaks and go on a little adventure. I figured that we could leave them inflated so that we would have to mess around with re-inflating them next weekend when we are off on a little weekend with the Harangs. It turns out, this was my first time, that getting the inflatable kayaks inflated is really no big deal. I have to figure out how to install the skegs so that we can go straighter. We didn't deflate them anyway, but back to the adventue.
On the west side of the breakwater at Shilshole, at very low tides, there is a small sand beach. The signs say "No Trespassing on the Breakwater", but I am pretty sure that the beach does not count. Once we got the kayaks launched. We headed down the fairway between E and F Docks towards the breakwater and out the south end of the marina. As we rounded the corner, out into Puget Sound, we could almost see our reflection it was so calm. A perfect day for our maiden voyage outside the protection of the breakwater.

The Mighty Kayaker

We got going a little later than I had planned and by the time we made it up-current to "Little Beach" it was very little (about 3 feet wide and 8 feet long). Austin was worried about touching the breakwater and in effect trespassing, so Bryce beached his kayak and we took some pictures. It was a nice trip to the north end of the marina. Bryce even paddled part way back to the dock before he tied on to Austin and I for a tow. We went nice and slow close to the rocks, both boys noticing the huge variety of critters that live in and amongst those rocks.
When we got back to the boat, I did my measuring and the boys went on one short little voyage to retrieve a piece of paper that they have been noticing for about a week on the bulkhead near our dock's ramp. It turned out to be a notice from the marina management that had been laminated which explained why it had not disintegrated submerged in that water. All in all, the kayaking was successful and Capaz now has a flap that we can use instead of hatchboards as the weather gets cooler.

Off to solve the mystery of the piece of submerged paper

Boat Show Done!

Where have we been? Well, we have been Boat Showing: one of the greatest "perks" of the marine industry. At least twice per year, we "get" to participate in the boat shows. The Seattle Boats Afloat Show was last week. We spent the week before that prepping for the show and getting the kids off to their first week of school. Then, we have spent the last week decompressing and cleaning up from the boat show. If you are feeling like this post is laced with sarcasm, you would be correct. Boat Shows are not my favorite thing.
Anyway, we are making progress on Capaz. Brad has almost completed the first new head installation. Beyond that, I have been working on little projects on the boat and at the house trying to prepare for the transition to living on the boat hopefully, around the first of the year. We are not sure what is happening with our live-aboard status as we seem to be moving the wrong way on the waiting list. On August 22, we were #8, then last week we seemed to have moved back to #11 and now as of Friday, we are at #12. It just makes you wonder a little bit about exactly how the Port of Seattle's priority system is set up.
So we hope to make some more progress and spend a little more time on the boat now that the Boat Show is over.

Gig Harbor

Capaz at Anchor in Gig Harbor
August 30 - September 1

So, you have been out in the ocean on a sailboat for 7 days and you are about to fly home and see your family who you miss and your husband says, “Do you want to go out on the boat this weekend?” If you are me, you say, “Sure.” That’s how it is with us. I get off the plane from Oakland, get dinner, stop by the boat to see what we need and drop off my gear. We all got a good night’s sleep at the house and then, packed up and headed off to Gig Harbor. The weather is iffy – a little shower coming down Colvos Passage on the west side of Vashon Island. When we arrived, not only did we see s/v Mentor, but also that the SYC outstation has been full-up of powerboats for the last two days. What were we thinking? Oh, did I mention that Bryce drove most of the way from Seattle while Brad did whatever it was he was doing with a soldering iron and the windlass motor? Also, Austin and I pumped up all of our fenders!!! I am happy to report that after dropping the anchor with a non-functional windlass, we have repositioned ourselves using the now-working windlass. Nothing like the prospect of raising a big, heavy anchor and 120 feet of also big, heavy chain by hand to motivate one into fixing something. Not only that folks, but we also ate our dinner of hotdogs cooked on our now-functional barbecue!!! We are really making great strides here. The boys built “the color fleet” which are a series of lego ships where each one is built using a certain color of lego pieces. The evening was capped off with a glass (or 2) of wine with Cindy and Dick aboard their friends, Jim and Ann’s powerboat.

The color-coded lego fleet

Sunday was kind of a mixed weather day. Partly cloudy with a shower here and there, but when the sun was out it was nice and warm. There was even one lightening strike mid-afternoon as a particularly dark cloud went over. I went on a bike ride in search of the grocery store to find something to go with the coffee that Lydia was going to pick up at Starbucks and bring out to the boat. Plans changed though as Lydia had hurt her back and getting in and out of the dinghy didn’t sound like much fun. So, we had coffee on land and she unsuccessfully chauffeured me around on a domestic errand. We ended up back at her house where we enjoyed lunch. Back at the boat, Brad worked on lots of little jobs and the huge task of emptying the “garage” which is a cavernous storage locker in the stern of the boat. We needed to get to bottom of it, so that we could figure out what there was, if we wanted to keep that same stuff back and just generally organized it. The boys watched “Jimangi” and later went to the beach at the SYC outstation where they built a rock and seaweed island which they tried to keep above the level of the incoming tide. Bryce and I also played a game of Scrabble in which we used every last tile!!1 Back at the boat, we had dinner and I taught Bryce to play Solitaire and then we played Double-Solitaire.

Sunday morning comics

Austin partway up the mast

Monday’s weather capped off a truly mediocre summer. It wasn’t really warm or sunny but we did have wind most of the way home and sailed from Gig Harbor to West Point up Colvos Passage. With the option of the autopilot back on the table, it was a leisurely trip back to Seattle. We even flew the spinnaker for a couple of hours. Before we used the windlass (that part is very exciting) to raise the anchor, Bryce and Austin had their maiden voyages up the mast in the bosuns chair. Bryce made it all the way to the top on his second hoist and took some pictures. Austin wasn’t so sure about the whole thing, but smiled for a picture. We were also boarded by one of the Gig Harbor water officers. Luckily, he is an old friend of Brad’s and was just saying hi. On the way home, we spotted Ann and Jim who we shared drinks with on Saturday night by their bright green kayaks on the bow and were hailed by Wendy Hinman on Vallela. As we got stuff together on the boat to off-load and head back to the house, Austin asked what was going on. I told him that we were getting ready to go home to which he replied that the boat really felt like “home”!

Looking down at Mom and Dad
Looking South ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Views of Gig Harbor from the top of Capaz's mast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Looking West

ALL "AERIAL" SHOTS COURTESY OF BRYCE BAKER

Alameda, Here We Come!

August 27 -28, 2008
Sat phone call "Safely around Mendocino"



So after I learned and won at Chicago Rummy, we tried to eat at the Chart House, but it was closed. There was a little restaurant called the Bistro that let us order the awesome 4:30-6:00 Special at 6:05 (we were seated at 5:55 after all). Anyway, again, we were all bunked early 8:30ish even though I read for a little while. We were on our way by about 6:15 Wednesday morning and after a quick little touch of the bottom near the gas dock, we headed out from the breakwater. We really saw some great wildlife: more sunfish, whales (almost always while I was asleep, so I feel as though my crewmates may have been pulling my leg), scores of seals, the cutest little birds that were always in pairs, something that jumped in the night - twice, and dolphins. We had about 10 hours til (the dreaded for PJ) Cape Mendocino. At that point, the weather models indicated that we would probably have skirted the worst of the winds that were building steadily off-shore. Well, for anyone who is watching the developments with Hurricane Gustav and New Orleans: weather models are helpful, but aren't a crystal ball. Anyway, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief as we passed the Cape around 4:00 pm. However, maybe because it was late afternoon and the temperatures inland had been high (over 100*), the winds picked up for about 3 or 4 hours. We, and by that I mean Jamie and Behan as I was trying to get some sleep, saw sustained 30 knots of wind with a couple of gusts to 50 from the north. By the time I came on watch at 1:00am, things had started to slack off and continued to do so pretty much for the next 18 hours til we hit the Golden Gate in almost completely calm conditions. What more could you ask for? We came in close around Point Ryes which I have only seen in the dark and in the daytime has to be one of the coolest lighthouses ever.
Point Reyes Lighthouse - How was it built????
It seemed like most of our wildlife sightings were between just off of Point Reyes and the GG. We kept getting confused that we were really in San Diego at Seaworld. Behan was downright giddy, seeing San Francisco (where she spent a sizable portion of her childhood) from a new perspective - the other side of the Golden Gate. Going under said bridge, we toasted Totem with Dark and Stormies. Next we swung in towards the St. Francis Yacht Club where the Gifford children, having just arrived with their grandparents on a flight from Seattle - with just enough time to get the rental car, waved at us from the beach. Niall spotted that bright yellow kayak lashed to the foredeck immediately!!! Then, the real excitement began. We were passing by Alcatraz enjoying the wharfs on the city's waterfront, when from where we had just come horns started blaring. An outgoing tanker was having issues with an incoming freighter who had not left it enough room to get through the Golden Gate. Well, as they honked and belched smoke reversing their engines, from our angle, near disaster was avoided. I must say that I did get out my camera and start filming just in case there was something worthy of U-tube. And there might have been as the Coast Guard bombed out towards the scene. But that wasn't all the excitement, there's more. As we turned our attentions ahead to the Bay Bridge, we noticed a fire boat. It spraying water at Treasure Island. It seems as though there was a brush fire on the cliff where the Bay Bridge comes from SF into Treasure Island before continuing across on the Oakland side. I don't know how it turned out, from our vantage point, it seemed like a pretty stubborn fire with a fire boat that couldn't quite get the water far enough up the cliff and no way to really fight it from above. Remember that freighter who seemed to be at fault under the GG? Well, it was now bearing down on us, so we continued on to Alameda where a slip labeled "Swiftsure" awaited us. It made me feel at home (or work, or something - I believe in signs). Oh, did I mention that in the blazing heat? There were also cold beers and ice packs waiting for us courtesy of the Jessies!!! How could you top that off? Try pizza, green salads and beers at Linguini's. Showers and flights home were all that were left to round out this trip. Oops, I almost neglected to mention a quick visit to the Seattle Embassy - yes, you guessed it: Starbuck's early on Friday morning for lattes before it got too hot!

Toast to Totem

News from SV Totem

Newport Oregon Bridge

August 24, 2008

Once in Newport, we all enjoyed showers and then visited the Rogue Nation headquarters where we wound our way through the brewery to the eating facilities and had some chow. By 8:30, we were all pretty much in our bunks. Sunday “dawned” overcast and not many sport fishers headed out with the glum forecast. We boarded the new loop bus and on our way to and from Fred Meyer (both the chandlery and Radio Shack were closed on Sundays) saw a decent portion of the greater Newport area. We are guessing that since the gas dock had opened early and there really weren’t many customers and they dwindled to nothing throughout the day as the wind and rain came in, that they decided to close early which made out departure decision easy: Monday after the gas dock opens! Like all good sailors we took the change in plans with a grain of salt (actually glass of wine) and enjoyed a warm dry evening aboard the boat.

August 25, 2008

Two nights in Newport, OR and we awoke this morning to fog and fairly calm winds. Last night we enjoyed watching a Rodin Williams comedy show and The Wedding Crashers. We followed a commercial fishing boat out under the Newport Bridge and the skies immediately began to clear. The bar was a little rough but it was the side swell that almost did me in. I quickly took a Gravol and had luckily had a good breakfast, so I able stay outside for a little while and rack in my bunk, waking up a couple hours later doing much better. We went by the famous dunes midday and had a great view of them because we are staying fairly close to shore so that we can head into Crescent City ahead of some weather tomorrow morning. Behan made some great sandwiches out of the last of the sourdough bread that I made for the trip. We have finally been able to put up the sails and are making good time still motor sailing. Not much wildlife today other than birds. We did see a couple of seals and Jamie and I are pretty sure that we saw some kind of small whale. We hope to hit Crescent City around sunrise tomorrow and wait out the weather, getting an early start for our final push on Wednesday morning.

Crescent City, California

August 26, 2008

A little after sunrise, we rounded the breakwater that protects Crescent City. The gas dock attendant came right down and lower the pump down to us. The gas dock is about fifteen feet above the water. There are some lovely barnacle covered tires strung on a log that you tie up to. Quite an adventure just getting gas. The wind is starting to pick up and there are other boats ducking in here – one from Port Hadlock across the way and Friday Harbor right next to us. Anyway, we got some local knowledge on where to go for breakfast and we all filled up at “Fisherman’s”. We have heard that the Charthouse is where the fishermen go for their fish n chips and so it sounds like that might be our dinner stop. We are thinking about getting a very early start in the AM to take advantage of a supposed lull between here and Cape Mendacino. It looks like we will be staying close in to the coast for the rest of the trip except right before San Francisco where we do not want to be in the Potato Patch if there is wind. I will try to find some pictures to post and hope that my next posting will be from Alameda.