Joyride

When is the last time you had a perfect day? Not just a pretty awesome day. And not a really badass, but i wish i hadn't forgotten my water bottle sort of day.

This is what a perfect February day in the Pacific Northwest looks like. At least to me, and about 40 people i know who don't have an awesome pal who needs help "borrowing a friend's boat".

The perfect day started with butterflies in the stomach, and thoughts of "So...I wonder HOW MUCH she leaks. She is an old wooden boat. Hmmm. Oh well, better get used to it..." and progressed to coffee and scones. Next came trailer wrangling, launching from a very shallow beach, and subaru near sinkings associated with such low launching angles. The low launching angle also accounted for Liz's wet jeans and socks, but forethought was on our side, and we both brought dry clothes in a fancy dry bag. Very high rent.

We left the dock in a peaceful 1kt breeze, got the boat rigged, and sailed around Port Hadlock harbor for our "shake down cruise". This also gave us time to gauge how much water was coming in at an alarming rate. We figured about 5 gallons every ten minutes was "normal", or at least why we both had enough sense to wear rubber boots. After pumping like hell, we agreed that we would not sail further away from land than we could swim in the 10 minute hypothermic window. Good Plan.

The wind picked up, offering some exhilirating small boat sailing, especially for Liz who's experience is mostly on tall ships. It takes about 2 days for a tall ship to lay over far enough to necessitate "going high", or shifting your weight to the high side of the boat. It takes about 2 seconds in a leaky 14' day sailer, so i hopped around a bit and sat on the rail as required to keep the slick side down while Cap'n Liz steered.

Our intention was to sail to Chimacum Creek for a picnic, but the picnic happened en route, punctuated by our pumping. The boat started taking up about halfway thru, and the leaking stopped considerably. So did the worrying about hypothermia. We made a landfall at the mouth of the creek, put on more clothes, and caught the fair wind back home. About 2 hours tacking out, and about 15 minutes wing and wing on the way back. Down wind sailing is also very useful for drying your wet Hello Kitty socks.

The wind really got rollin as we got back to the dock, and we managed to get her back on the trailer in a virtual seaway. We also managed to do it without getting the boat stove in, or the Liz sopping wet. (I'm too old for that shit, and aint jumpin' off a trailer into waist deep 50 degree water for anybody's boat).

We declared it the perfect day, and decided that after such an epic, we definitely deserved tortilla chips. We hit the local mexican joint, recounted the trials of our expedition, and made our way home.

Mt. Rainier came out to say "well done" and we rode off into the sunset, dreaming of our next voyage.

And this was 50 degrees in February. I can't WAIT for spring.