The Last Age of Sail

I awoke to a generous amount of wake as fishermen were coming and going from the Kingston Marina. No matter though, I was not interested in hanging out. I weighed anchor at 8:35am and with a light SE breeze and sailed from of the anchorage. I tacked out of the cove against the waning flood and sailed east toward Point Wells. The going was slow and 3 hrs later, just as I had reached the Point, the wind went calm. An ebb was on and so at 11:50, I turned on the outboard and made a bee line for Shilshole. In the good light of the morning I had checked my fuel level and was convinced I had much more than enough for the trip to Seattle. The day was very nice, the Sound was calm. I had made a good go of the sailing earlier, but it was obvious we were done with that for the day and the trip. It was a Wakesville day too, so my journey had a series of bouncy sessions. Wakesville is what I call a day when the wind is calm and the water is flat except for other boats’ wakes, which can at times, be quite substantial. Dependent on which direction they come from will determine whether it’s a roll, a yaw or a pitch.

Blurry Eyed at Shilshole Channel

Circling at the Locks

After a couple of hours of droning along, I reached Shilshole Channel and headed up to the small lock waiting area. On a Thursday before the 4th of July weekend, outbound traffic was heavy, while inbound traffic was light. I waited through two lock cycles as the Argosy tour boat had also arrived. Their transit took priority as they live higher up on the maritime locking through hierarchy.  In the mean time, there was a small fishing boat coming and going and setting nets. A tug with a gravel barge also came through for the large lock, so I timed my circles accordingly. I was taken aback at how stressful it was to be in an urban waterworld with so many hazards around.

Alas, my turn arrived and I piloted through the locks uneventfully and on to my home slip in Ballard. It was 3pm and an undramatic ending to a great adventure. The boat was unkept as the last 3 days were more focused on home port fever than domestic chores. That would change over the next 2 days. I had plenty of time to do some tidying and cleaning now, adjusting to the home port life again.

This concludes an epic adventure and even more epic posting of the adventure. Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are also considering an adventure of your own.

Stats: TO – 14.30NM, MS – 4.8kt, MA – 2.4kt, TT – 6hr, 57min, Motor on – 190min.

June on the Hook Summary

Departure – June 6th, 2017                      Return – June 29th, 2017

20 evenings on the hook                          3 evenings tied to a dock

19 days traveling                                       5 layover days

Total Expenditures – $218.33 (this only includes expenses incurred after departure and does not include preparatory expenses)

Moorage – $44.40 – 3 nights

Fuel – $27.86 – 3 top offs

Provisions – $48.95

Entertainment – $92.87

Showers./Misc. – $4.25