Today We Raise All of the Sails!
Today we raise all of our sails! Wooohoooo! Going sailing! The riggers, Dylan and Quinn, will show us how to use all of our new lines, pole, sails, and furlers. My label maker is at the ready! We had a new main sail made. It rolls up inside the boom and the operation of raising and lowering can be done from the cockpit. That is much safer than going out on deck to pull lines. We have read about our new Leisure Furl system. We know, for example, that the boom must be a specific angle in order for the big sail to roll up neat and flat inside the boom but we have never seen nor performed the task yet. In other words, we have no clue how to actually do it. We had a new stay sail made that will wrap up around itself by pulling a line from inside the cockpit. This line is a continuous loop, which one to pull? The stay sail can also can be detached and move out of the way so that we can hang up the hammock, an invaluable feature, I think. Our genoa sail, also called the jib or head sail, also wraps around itself. This sail is the original that came with the boat. We had it cleaned and evaluated by the sail maker and it is still in excellent condition. We totally have this sail figured out. We have used it more than 3 times I would say! We designed the sail plan so that all of our sails could be raised and lowered from the safety of the cockpit and all can be made smaller (called reefing). If the wind starts coming up too strong we can just make the sail smaller or if the wind is getting too light we can put them all up. Today the wind is forecast to be light, about 6 to 8 miles per hour. We are putting them all up! But, it will be a good idea to practice reefing today as well.
We have friends aboard for the next two weeks! Yesterday we drove to Seattle while the solar power installer, Bob, was trying to figure out why the brand new install wasn’t working. Newly installed systems not working is now a normal thing to me, no panic, not even concern. Anyway, Jeff and Adrienne are here from Florida. They own a 45 foot Lagoon catamaran called Wind Therapy. Definitely check out their web site (www.svwindtherapy.com). They have videos with music and everything, very professional! By the way, we all got COVID tested a few days before. In addition to being happy to see them, we are happy to have sailing friends aboard for our first weeks out to help pull lines, help trouble shoot, and help remember.
The plan (ha ha ha): Eat breakfast early to be ready for the check sail. Do the check sail for about 2 to 3 hours with the rigger guys, drop them off at the fuel dock, fuel up 180 gallons (we think) to top off all three tanks (we can carry 270 gallons of diesel), have lunch while sailing off into the islands, sail in the San Juan Islands for a week, take a week to head south to Seattle and stay in Bell Harbor Marina right in downtown the last two nights. Our friends can walk up the hill and hop on the light link rail to catch their flight home. We will make our way back north to Cap Sante Marina for more work still not done. The jobs still to be done: water maker testing, replace the wire life lines with stern rails, repair the stereo and the wifi extender, mount the Serius XM, I feel like I am forgetting something. Anyway, more stuff.
Well, how did it go you ask? Fantastic! Not quite to plan of course. We had to check out from the marina by 11am like a hotel. When the riggers weren’t there by 10:55 we called. They said they were on their way. Good! Their shop is 3 minutes by car. 20 min later we called again and stated we were leaving the marina today and we were supposed to be out 15 minutes ago. They said they were on the way and the marina is usually tolerant. They arrived around 11:45. We went out. It was fabulous! I stood alone on the bowsprit as Bill navigated the twists and turns out of the channel from the marina. It was sunny and truly, I couldn’t have hoped for a more perfect day. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. I was giggling then crying, realizing I had made it to my dream!
HI THERE DEAR HEARTS…….THANKS FOR THE UPDATES…..AS A FORMER SAILOR, MY JUICES ARE FLOWING TO GET BACK TO THIS GLORIOUS SPORT………UNFORTUNATELY AT MY AGE, IT AIN”T GONNA HAPPEN…..ENJOY THE SAN JUANS…..OUR FAVORITE WAS FRIDAY HARBOR…….WE HAD GOOD FRIENDS THERE………..SPOKE TO KAREN TODAY, SHE IS FINE AND OUT TO DINNER TONIGHT WITH FRIENDS………..WE ARE STILL LOCKED IN AND TRYING TO SURVIVE THIS TROUBLED TIME…….STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY……..SMOOTH SAILS………AND, EVEN WINDS……….KEEP THE UPDATES COMING……BIG HUGS
Thanks so much for the well-wishes and encouraging words! We hope you stay healthy as well, and promise to keep the adventure chronicled. We are in southern Puget Sound now, headed back to the San Juans after Labor Day. Possibly a Friday Harbor stop then…
Ahh, that last statement brought tears to my eyes too, you made it to your dream! You so deserve it. Enjoy the islands!
Thanks! We look forward to seeing you in November, and hope you can visit us in the islands next year!
I did read a part of your adventure, so I can understand you better now: you’re dreaming!!!!
I am happy to have meet you as you start your dream.
I wish you the best possible time on Sacagawea .
Alaska first and….
Cheers
Joël
ps: my little blog too : myjade.fr in French unfortunately ! The photos don’t speak!
We really enjoyed meeting you and hope we see more of you before October!! Possibly race you to Alaska in the spring? Lol! We will definitely enjoy seeing your photos on your website. Thanks so much for your hospitality and advice!
We’re so happy for you guys, and we had a fantastic time. Even that whole monohull thing was cool. Your boat sails so beautifully. Can’t wait to meet up with you in the Med in a few years. Lots of love!
Wow, I had been lucky to locate this website when I was looking for some information on Bing! Keep up the great work!
I cant identify your rss button, how do you sign up with it?
Not sure about what the “rss button” is, but to follow our page simply goto the home page and enter your email just below the banner. There’s no spam or ads, you will simply get an email message anytime we post an update. 🙂 More posts coming soon, we promise! Lots of boat work right now to prep for May…
Please tell me that youre going to keep this up! Its so great and so important. I cant wait to read more from you. I just feel like you know so a lot and know how to make people listen to what youve to say. This weblog is just too cool to be missed. Wonderful things, definitely. Please, PLEASE keep it up!