A Nice Little Cruise

The stars were aligning.  Tom and Tessa had a friend flying in from Australia and wanted to show him the islands.  Gordy and Mona, Tracy and Janet, and Bruce and Carol were all looking to get out boating. Dave and his wife were also looking to get out.  For a mid April weekend, the weather forecast was looking up, bordering on stunning.   Our constant winter cruising companion, Gale (force) was nowhere to be seen.  And it was the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

The destination was Sucia, so after helping to resolve the great mailbox disaster and assisting with cleaning the deck at the cabin, we were off.  A Friday evening cocktail cruise from Friday Harbor to Fossil Bay.  15 nautical miles, flat calm water.  It took us about 3 hours owing to a strong ebb.  We were down to only 4 knots at times, but we didn’t care.  The weather was gorgeous, we were on the boat, and everything was working.

Just as we approached fossil bay, an ultralight on floats buzzed us.  Cool way to see the islands.

About half the group was already at the dock.  Jodi made a fantastic dinner and we happily resolved to make to make it an early evening.  It had been a long week and a good nights sleep was needed.

Saturday we had planned on walking around Sucia, but Gordy was pretty enthusiastic about going over to Matia, so we loaded up the dinghies and bombed over to Matia, just over a mile away from Sucia.  Pretty calm water, but Rex didn’t seem to care for the occasional jarring of the skiff ride. 

In 50 some years of boating around the islands, I’d never been to Matia.  Cool little island.  Nice trail down the center of the island, with old growth trees.  Nice little dock, a bit exposed, but in stable weather this could be a nice place to come back to.  The only downside is that dogs aren’t allowed on the trail.    The cove at the east end is very picturesque. 

Back to sucia for a nap.  Bruce and Carol arrived and later Tom, Tessa and Shane arrived.  Let the party begin.  Jodi made her sausage arugula appetizer to kick things off and we ended up on Tom’s boat with Tessa’s home made nettle pasta.  Wonderful.

A few of the Bellingham folks scooted back to Bellingham for a memorial service for a couple killed on their boat during a very tragic fire a week earlier, but they arrived back at the dock and we all had a beach fire at the head of the dock to conclude the evening.  While Gordy was gone at the service, his dog Bo waited patiently for his return.

Sunday morning dawned a bit breezy and while Bruce wanted to race, we decided to go for a hike instead.  We ended up at the ‘China Caves’ on Shallow Bay.  Very pretty hike.

The weekend was coming to a close way too soon, but with Monday off, we cruised over to Henry Island.   We went north of Waldron trying to catch the better part of the ebb, but the extra distance probably wasn’t worth it.  Nearly hit 10 knots through Spieden channel, a nice plus!

Pleasant dinner at Roche and Sunday came to a very pleasant close.

Monday would have been a normal ‘clean up and go’ day had it not been for a chance encounter.  The wind was hitting 25 or more knots straight off the land as we approached Friday Harbor.  We decided to simply land the boat on the inside part of the breakwater and not try to squeeze Cambria into her normal slip with that type of wind.  Maybe we could have gotten her in, but it’s the ‘maybe’ that we didn’t need to deal with.  We spun the boat, the wind assisted the docking and we were set.  In the wrong place, but secure.

About that time we noticed a 3 masted ‘modern’ schooner trying to land on the other side of the breakwater – with the wind pushing them away from the dock.  They missed their first approach, but then the skipper started to back stern first into the dock.  There were two people aboard, and we found out the skippers name was Ralph when the first mate kept on yelling “Ralph, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!” 

We ambled over to help and we were able to get a stern line to the dock with the schooner facing perpendicularly away from the dock.  We then got a mid ships spring line to the dock and with Ralph powering against it we finally secured the boat against the dock.   But not before the first mate, Ruth, took a tumble off the bow and made an awkward landing falling on the dock.   For someone in her 70’s, Ruth was pretty athletic and bounced up fast.

Turns out they have been around the globe nearly 3 times, cruising since the mid 80’s.  Ralph designed and built the boat from what I think are still considered high tech materials.  The masts were Boeing surplus graphite.  3 unstayed masts supporting a junk rig.  Wonderfully laid out with a nice, protected cockpit they have roamed the Pacific for 25 something years.  We shared some wine then a light dinner.  Really wonderful people, with a lifestyle that makes you think.