The sailing adventures of SV Meriwether and her crew
Visiting the south Puget Sound in a sail boat means the amount of sailing one will be doing is very much in question. The water ways are squeezed between numerous landmasses, each of which will either block wind all together or cause the wind to blow in a completely different direction (and force) than advertised. With that in mind, I...
Our short time at Eagle Island State Marine Park consisted only of two real happenings; First was our attempt to hike the trail system on the 5 acre island only to be met with hostility. The trees and bushes have well and thoroughly retaken the island, leaving very little trail left to walk. We bushwhacked as far as we could,...
We stayed in Quartermaster Harbor for only a single night. There wasn’t much left to see here as it were, and we still had two work free days that we could either sit around or sail. Our next destination was a good distance further into the south sound – about 20 nautical miles – on the other side of the...
Leaving the marina felt amazing, and it was one helluva confidence booster, but our day on the water would be the cherry on top of one of our best sailing days to date. It started with the simple act of pulling the knob to kill the motor after only a few minutes of use to exit the marina break wall....
Seven weeks ago we left the marina in Bellingham. We have not been back to one since. It feels good to be self sufficient enough to effectively never need a slip again – this in large part to the composting toilet and the water maker. However, some weeks back – before the resurgence in COVID cases around the world –...
Before the decision was made [by the Canadian border closure] to head into the South Sound this year, I had heard from other more experienced sailors about Blake Island. It is the closest marine state park to Seattle, so it gets it fair share of boater traffic. Everyone spoke highly of it, and I was excited to put it on...
While docked at Port Townsend last August, only two months into our sailing lives, we met John and Kate on their beautiful 43 foot Hans Christian, Stardust. The Hans Christian is a second-cousin to our Baba. Not directly related but you can see a lot of similarities thanks to good genes in the early line of Hans’ which was a...
Although the forecast showed we would have a nice breeze coming from the North East for this day’s sail, the actual wind would be nothing of the sort. I do not even get all that bothered by it anymore. The unpredictability of the wind in the Puget Sound is just reality, and it either gets accepted or becomes an ulcer....
It took some convincing, but Kerri did eventually agree to leave Port Gamble and continue on to new adventures in the south Sound. Liberty Bay outside of Poulsbo was our destination. Liberty Bay is only 10 miles away as the crow flies, but the route to sail there is more than 30. And to make matters worse, the weekend –...
With the clam season open – Kerri with license in hand thanks to our stop in Ludlow – and a huge trail system nearby I knew this was going to be a week of early starts and some proper exercise. Kerri isn’t known for her early rising, but something about bi-valves and fungi would get her moving this week. And...
