So the time has come to move to a new home. I was pretty anxious about this. a lot could go wrong, and my inexperience could work against me. well no time to think about that. we had to move, and that was that. I had secured a new slip at Foss Harbor Marina. Although it was originally my second choice, mainly because was about 3 miles further from my house than my number one choice, the breakwater Marina, it is quickly growing on me as a favorite, despite the extra distance. Foss Harbor Marina is very clean and well maintained. there are many amenities such as Bathroom and showers, a meeting room with a big TV that you can even reserve to use after hours, a nice marina store with a VERY friendly Staff, a barbecue area with picnic tables, a fuel dock, and free pump out service. The Staff makes you feel very comfortable. Even though I am new to this, they are always patient with me, and explain things step by step. they have never looked down on me for being a newbie, and I truly appreciate that. The will even come down to my slip to help me get out and in if I call them. Very Cool. If you are looking for a place to berth your boat... I Highly recommend Foss Harbor!
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| My Sister Jean, left, and Workout buddy Colleen, right |
So anyway, My sister, Jean, and Friend, Colleen volunteered to help me move the boat. I was grateful for this as I really needed the extra hands. Jean drove us over to Gig Harbor, and helped us Shove Off and then would drive to Foss harbor to pick us up, while Colleen came on board to help me during the trip. Lord knows I needed a lot of it.
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| Jean is saying... wow, this is BIG! |
The trip was slated to take about an hour and a half, but what do I know? Not a great deal It turned out. Read on...
We started out getting warmed up on the bow with a few deep body squats... well, not really but it seemed appropriate to spoof it, since we all work out or work, in my sister's case, at Vision Quest Gym...
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| Deep Body Squats, ready, BEGIN! |
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| One! |
Then it was off with the shore power and bow, Spring and stern lines to get out the the slip, and hopefully not sink the dinghy or hit any other boats in the process.
That being done it was a simple process of just motoring out to commencement bay, and crossing it to Foss Harbor. Simple, Right? Riiiiiiiiigggggghhhhhhtttt! Read on....
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| Jean throws the Bow Line to Colleen |
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| Out of the slip, with no damage to anything! Phew! |
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| On our way out of Gig Harbor |
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| Ahhh... HERE's the exit! |
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| Entering Commencement bay |
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| Point Defiance, soon to be the Bane of my Existance... |
A simple process that is, until I decided to pull out just the Jib, and sail around for a little bit on my way to Foss Harbor.... the only problem was to catch the wind, I ended up sailing down the Narrows channel towards the narrows bridge. Now I have lived here a good portion of my life, and everyone knows of the swift currents that go under the Narrows Bridge. I neglected to realize that the currents also exist in the channnel it is in as well.....
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| I just couldn't resist pulling out the Jib... and that is where the challenge began... |
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| This is soooo Cool!!!!!!! Little did I know... |
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| Sailing down the Narrows Channel... NOT where you want to be at this time of day... |
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| Hey there's the Narrows bridge... Let's Turn around... hey, why aren't we moving anymore? |
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| Let's Trim that Jib, eh? |
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| OK... OK... The current is too strong, time to motor up! |
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| it took FOREVER to get back around Pt. Defiance... |
By the time we could see the Narrows bridge it was really too late... we turned around, and consequently started going.... NOWHERE... Time to turn the engine back on and begin to motor... It is a good thing that I have a bigger than usual engine in this Catalina 30... a 27 HP Yanmar. as it was it took a LONG time to get back to Point Defiance, and even longer to finally get around it.
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| Uhh, Jean is on the Phone? wants to know How much longer? ummm. .. I have no idea, tell her 20 minutes.... |
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| Towing the Dinghy... man I gotta get that out of the water and clean the underside.... |
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| Is that the sun starting to set? Uh oh... |
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| Sunset, and STILL not close to getting back... Tell Jean 20 more minutes... |
To conclude this tale, We finally got to Foss Harbor Marina around 9 PM.... and got it docked, in the dark, without TOO much of a problem... I did have to back up and go forward a couple of times.... but all is well that ends well, albeit LATE... We were starving, so it was off to subway for some sustenance, then home to pass out!
Phew! What a day!
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