WEEKEND UPDATE

Could the boat really accommodate 3 guests? The answer, I think, is yes.


Friday Jodi’s parents and sister came up from Portland. The weekend agenda was a little loose, but Jodi learned that there was a Puget Sound Cruising Club get together at Blake Island, which meant that Blake was likely full. So we motored over to Port Madison for the evening.

Chef Jodi prepared shrimp tacos. They took a while to prepare, but the results were well worth the wait.  We enjoyed a great sunset during dinner.

Saturday morning included a walk to a nearby park and a decent row in the shell for me and a long kayak outing for Ken and Jodi.

After lunch we motored back across the sound and locked through to the lake.  Mount Rainier was out.

We went through the large locks which enabled me to demonstrate my method of offering words of encouragement to the crew. I’d prefer to characterize it as ‘helpful hints’. The crew disagreed and called it shouting. Given that this is my blog, I’ll just say I really wasn’t yelling, just trying to point out that the fenders were a little high. In sort of a hurried, forceful way…..

We locked through without incident (other than the above), and wound up at the center for wooden boats, where we had arranged for moorage.

Saturday night’s dinner was “Serious Pie” (thank you, Ken).

Sunday morning dawned glorious and showcased just how busy Lake Union can be. It was the ‘Tail of The Lake’ regatta and over two hundred shells of all configurations were competing in the first race of the Fall. Singles, pairs, doubles, 4’s with, 4’s without, quads and eights all were going around lake union. There were spectators, lots of them by rowing standards, on the hill at Gas Works park.

The club names speak to the popularity of rowing. The old standbys as well as newer clubs. Green Lake Crew, Sammamish Rowing Club, Pocock Rowing Center, Vashon Island Rowing Club, Conibear Rowing Club, Seattle Rowing Center, Ancient Mariners Rowing Club, Martha’s Mom’s, Mt. Baker Crew, Lake Washington Rowing Club, Lake Union Rowing Club, Commencement Bay Rowing Club, Olympia Area Rowing Assn (O.A.R. – clever), the Anchorage Rowing club, North Cascades Crew, and the Kenai Crewsers (also clever).

Rowing has grown quite a bit since the early masters rowing programs of ‘Dicks Chicks’ and the ‘Ancient Mariners’.

Later that day Ken, Judy, Jodi, and Juli all went to Pike Place Market and Rex and I took a bullfrog ride to see the 2nd annual “Norm Blanchard Regatta”. There was a Blanchard Sr, a couple of Beetle Cats, and two old Dragons in the field. US 10 and and US 35 were the Dragons.

The ‘classic plastic’ fleet of San Juan 21’s were also on the course and on a different part of the lake, several El Toro’s were racing.

While the boats were racing, seaplanes had to pick and choose where to land. Rex and I got real up close and personal with a de Havilland landing.

The ‘Queen of Seattle’ was out as well.

Back near the center for wooden boats, a manmade pond was used for small pond boats and aspiring skippers.

In the afternoon we took the small locks back to the salt water. As we approached I gargled with honey and lemon, tuning up the pipes so that I could precisely express my instructions to the crew, but the earlier verbal lashings had their intended result. The crew performed flawlessly, and let the record state there were no raised voices during the return trip.

All and all a great weekend to be on the water.