Some images from Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival below. Last year James McMullen towed a beer dinghy behind his Arctic Tern, ROWAN. This year, the beer dinghy had a tender.
The Edensaw $1,000 challenge gave you 48 hours to build a boat. The two entries were pretty cool. I'd say a tie, and split the prize.
The Wooden Boat Festival concluded with the traditonal "Sail By." WILDFLOWER's crew was Coca and Dana from PT, pretty ladies on a sweet boat.
I hung around this morning until 10:20 a.m., then cast off for Friday Harbor, 30 miles across Straits of Juan de Fuca.
Viz was about 100 yards in fog. So I stuck along the PT shore, passing Fort Worden wharf close aboard.
At Point Wilson I stopped briefly to call Seattle Vessel Traffic Control on VHF Channel 5. They confirmed "all clear" on traffic ahead.
Off we went into the fog, making 7.5 knots. on course 315 degrees magnetic. We were getting a two knot push from the ebbing tide.
After an hour it began to clear, and viz went to 1/4 mile. I felt more relaxed, when 30 minutes later the fog burned off and the sun came out. Nice sailing.
Soon I could see Smith Island to starboard, and San Juan Island ahead.
At 2:15 p.m. we entered Cattle Pass, between San Juan and Lopez Island. The pretty 40' schooner MAGIC was nearby.
MAGIC was at one timed owned by good friends Craig and Vicki, and was home to the beautiful Bengal kitty "Archie."
At 3:45 we tied up to the marina at Friday Harbor. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I will meet my good friend Gary, who is coming over on the ferry from Anacortes. We'll go out at noon to welcome home the CATALYST from SE Alaska. http://www.pacificcatalyst.com/
Pretty awesome pics Skip! The mini-me Beer Tender is a must have. The old school look of the smaller boat in the building competition has my vote... 48hrs... do these people sleep? Oh give me a touch of that mania, I'd like to get the house and garage cleaned.
Great reporting... keep the pics coming!!!!!!
And is the Western Flyer going to get any restoration? Or, is she looking bound for the saws?
Gary and I sailed WILDFLOWER out from Friday Harbor to greet our friends on M/V CATALYST, returning from SE Alaska. A nice morning, we set the spinny. Thanks for the pics, Capt. Bob!
WOW Captain Skip, love that spinnaker! Betcha that was some good wind....Capitola is having their Art and Wine Festival this weekend. The town should back to normal when you get back, and looks forward to the return of WILDFLOWER and Captain Skip.
WILDFLOWER and I are home in Capitola. The hardest part of the drive may have been backing the boat through a narrow slot into the driveway. With it being Art and Wine Festival weekend in Capitola Village, parking spots are tight.
The drive south from Anacortes, 954 miles, took 17 hours, 40 minutes, with two rest stops. Average speed was 54 mph, fuel mileage was 12.9 mpg, average cost of gas about $3.70/gal., with it being $3.51 in WA, $3.80 in Oregon, and $3.90 in CA.
On the final day of the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Fest is the traditional "Sail By." Everyone, from big schooners to kayaks, goes out and parades by the PT Waterfront on a two mile triangular course.
I sympathize with the ferry captain who has to run this gauntlet. His technique that afternoon was full speed ahead. As we on WILDFLOWER sharply altered 90 degrees to pass astern, he gave us five blasts on the ferry whistle. A first.
Not so lucky was a Fisher 25. Four days later this singlehander was runover by the Friday Harbor to Anacortes ferry HYAK and sunk. Luckily, he and his dog survived. Coincidentally, SSS friends Dan and Linda Newland were aboard HYAK when the collision occurred.
Facts are sketchy: there was fog/viz was good. The ferry rescue RIB's engine wouldn't start. The singlehander was not on deck (where do you want to be when you are about to be crushed?) Everyone agrees no horn blasts were given.
Monterey Bay is flush with bait fish, mainly anchovies. Humpback whales, more than in anyone's memory, abound just offshore. Judging by the ginormus splashes , some may be bubble netting. Spouts everywhere. One medium sized puppy, about 30', cruised yesterday for an hour not 50 yards from my cliff lookout. Was he waiting for his Pizza My Heart slice?
Flotillas of kayakers and stand up paddlers are in the middle of the action. The attraction of being upon a giant docile creature is irresistible.
The Santa Cruz Harbor docks and shoreline are lined with fishermen pulling out big salmon. No fishing licenses needed. Every other day kids 16 and under only. Police keeping control. One sea lion, catching a 20 pound salmon, beat it to death against Rainer's Cal 30. Rainer, a liveaboard, was awoken to splashes of water and pieces of fish coming in his open port.
So many birds it is like an out of control rock concert. Hundreds of thousands of sooty shearwaters, pelicans, terns, gulls, cormorants. All with no air traffic control.
The sooty shearwaters are so thick in their quarter mile diameter flock that the inner ones can't take flight until the perimeter birds take off. Sooty shearwaters migrate here from south of Chile and New Zealand, longest migration of any bird, up to 40,000 miles in a season for these pieces of fluff that weigh less than two pounds. http://currents.ucsc.edu/06-07/08-14/shearwaters.asp
Blue Footed Boobys are here. They are tropical birds, from the Galapagos and Hawaii. Local birders are going crazy. One rare blue footed booby was sighted here 42 years ago. Now there are dozens. What's with that?
Some years ago Alfred Hitchcock had a home here. On August 18, 1961, the shearwaters got disoriented and by the thousands crashed into the buildings and homes of Capitola. This rain of birds apparently inspired Hitchcock's movie, "The Birds."
What's with all the SUP's? That's a pastime I don't understand - a canoe or kayak looks far more interesting and capable. The things were clogging the narrow entrance channel and oblivious to our draft concerns. Are there any harbor regulations about that?
Hello BobJ
The SUPs have been reported.
The SUPs, kayaks, and rowboats are asked to keep to the right, but they need constant reminding! The harbor charges $10.00 per launch, and has accepted, and is marketing the harbor as a tourist destination. Ironically it is free to launch off the beach but many choose to enter at the harbor and paddle to a surf spot. Go figure!
cat whisperer
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