The Sailing Vessel Apropos
Blake Island Trip
August 19-20, 2005
Destination: Blake Island
Crew: Jim (Captain), Jim (Greenhorn,dad)
Day 1:
Left
Lake Union at
10am and
motored to the Ballard locks, then out to Puget
Sound. Right out from Shilshole it was very
foggy with visibility only about 50 feet so we motored slowly in
a 
southerly
direction. Deckhand 'Greenhorn'
kept watch from the bowsprit as Captain 'Foghorn'
steered the boat through the pea soup while
periodically checking the
radar and chartplotter down below
at the nav station. The 
fog
finally lifted
as we got near Seattle so we raised the sails and had a nice
sail to Blake
Island. We spotted a harbor seal sitting on a buoy as Greenhorn
was checking in with the boss
(mom). Since we had plenty of wind,
we sailed towards West Seattle 
where
a friend on shore snapped some
pictures. A beam reach took us back across the sound
to the south end of Blake
Island and we lowered the sails, then motored to
the north-end marina. The docks were completely full but a
couple from
Olympia let us tie up to their 40 foot sailboat. We had bbq
chicken and corn for
dinner and stayed up well into the evening (9pm) before going to
sleep.
Day 2:
After
breakfast, we set sails and headed for Elliot Bay on the Seattle
waterfront. 
Greenhorn
was in his usual perch out on the bowsprit like a figurehead at
the
prow of a ship. From there we sailed most of the
way back to
Shilshole in light winds between 5-10 knots. Greenhorn also
performed the function of galley rat and prepared Dagwood
sandwiches
for lunch. Inside the locks, Greenhorn
had the task of manning the bow line and was instructed by the
lockmaster to loop the line around the lock cleat that was 4 feet
away. The pressure was on with hundreds of tourists watching
from the viewing area above. On his third attempt,
cowboy
Greenhorn
successfully
lassoed the cleat and got a nice applause 
from
the
crowd! Must have done his ego some good because the
rest of the way he stood triumphantly on the sprit shirtless .
Motored back to Lake Union going under the Ballard and
Fremont drawbridges
along the way. It was
Greenhorns
first time sailing at the age of 71 and he did great! His
entry into the logbook read "Great weather, was somewhat overwhelmed
with what
you need to do to catch winds and try to increase
speed. Very enjoyable weekend". Back at the dock he
didn't want to give up the helm-seat!