We had a wonderful weekend raft-up with the Puget Sound Cruising Club at Hidden Cove on the north end of Bainbridge Island.  Nice northerly winds both Saturday and Sunday crossing Puget Sound.  Didn’t get very lucky with the Ballard Locks with 1-hour waits both ways, but at least we were in the small lock.

The salmon bake & potluck were great as always.  Unfortunately there were no kids Jacintha’s age, but I helped keep her entertained playing games then letting her swing aloft using her climbing harness and a halyard.

I built a case for my Tahitian ukulele to protect it when I travel and when it’s on the boat. I got the idea on the internet (http://www.instructables.com/id/a-cardboard-ukulele-case) and followed most of the steps for the cardboard case, then tailored the inside to fit my particular uke.

It’s a basic cardboard shaped box. I used heavy duty 3-ply cardboard which I got for free at an appliance store. After building the box and coating it with wood hardener, I filled the voids with wood putty http://thompsonmusicstudio.com/wcal/ol/levitra-prix.html. Next I used a table saw to cut off the lid, then I cut some patterned material we had bought in Fiji, and glued it to the outside of the case using a spray adhesive cheap viagra generic. Next I brushed 4 coats of mod podge onto the material to protect it. I found all the hardware (hinges, latches, handle) at Home Depot and put wood backings on the inside of the case for the screws to bite into. I lined the inside with 1″ foam, then cut some creme colored fleece from an old blanket and glued it onto the foam.  Total cost was about $75 and now my uke will be protected when I travel and when it’s on the boat.

After a few busy weeks provisioning and fixing up our boat for our 3 week journey to Barkley Sound, and Jim running the Rock and Roll half marathon on Saturday morning, the first leg of our trip that afternoon was to Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island, where we rafted up with 27 other boats at the Puget Sound Cruising Club (PSCC) for their annual salmon bake.

This was our first salmon bake and it was a beautiful sunny day with a calm motor sail there (that’s when Jim has both the engine running and the sail up hoping to catch some wind with it!). When we arrived, four other boats had left and there were two groups of boats rafted together with a largish gap between the two groups and some lines between them. We slotted nicely into the gap as did another boat after us and the two groups became a huge raft up of 27 boats.

All the boats in a row!

While the organizers were on shore getting the ovens ready for the salmon bake I was on the boat getting our dish, apple crumble, ready. Around 5pm we got the dinghy out and headed to the beach where everyone was. Everyone brought an appetizer or a dessert and there was salmon and halibut cooking on a mish mash of ovens that some people had brought over earlier in the day. We had a yummy meal. Jacintha ate some dinner but was mainly preoccupied with playing on the beach and although we did tell her not to get her pretty tutu dress wet she did so! She had a great time on the beach and entertained the onlookers with her songs and her cuteness. She was the only child there, as most of the other members of the PSCC are retirees.

Fishing on the beach

After dinner, we returned to our boat where we chatted with our neighbors before turning in early as we were all exhausted! We could hear footsteps on our boat as people would walk over our boat to visit another boat on the other side. It was all very social!

The next morning after breakfast of pancakes on the deck, people started visiting each other again and having sticky beaks at other boats!

We caught up with David on his brand new aluminum boat Barefoot. He’d commissioned her hull to be made then fitted out the interior himself. It was beautiful with all the gadgets and comforts you would need for a long ocean passage. It was useful picking his brain for some of the knowledge from the 50,000 sea miles he had accrued. We met his first mate, Ros from Darwin, Australia. She’d signed up as crew all the way from Oz to sail to the South Pacific with him. It was nice to talk to an Aussie again and we even flew our Aussie flag to celebrate! They’re leaving in September for Mexico and then the south pacific.

David and Ros

After the raft up broke up around 1pm we motored (no wind) all the way up to Port Townsend where we dropped anchor for the night.

We joined the Puget Sound Cruising Club last month!  They are a fun group of cruisers who get together for monthly meetings throughout the year.  They also have an anual dinner/auction that we have been going to for a few years as guests.  We’re looking forward to the raftups and getting to know the other members.