History 6: Delivery from Anacortes to Semiahmoo

by J.

21 March 2010

Now that we got the engine going, an anchor that attaches to the chain, how wonderful it felt to now have crew, too! Dad joined me on Saturday night. We settled down and prepared to leave Sunday morning.
We awoke to a calm drizzle. I walked up and paid the slip bill - yikes, it had been almost a month! But we were on our way. We decided that although the dipping the tanks registered 15 gallons or so, it might not be a bad idea to get another 5 in a Jerry jug, just in case. The engine isn't supposed to burn more than 1-2 pints and hour, but if the engine needed a tune up and was burning more for some reason, we thought it was better to be prepared than sorry. Both of us saw this as a delivery, so we decided that we were going to keep the engine on the entire time, and hopefully motor-sail if a wind picked up. It was a dead calm as we wrapped the boat out of the slip. I knew the prop walk was going to pull us the other direction, and not knowing how the boat was going to go, we decided this was the best option. Besides, this was the Anacortes Boat Show weekend, and we didn't want any witnesses or spectators see us bungle something up. That's why we aimed to leave early!
She wrapped out just fine. I turned the key to the "glow plug" position, and started counting, looked up and noticed that Dad was aboard. "Aren't you going to start the engine?" "I'm warming it up. Glad there is virtually no current. And that there is no one around to watch us!" My fault. I should have explained to him what I was planning on doing. Oh, well. No harm done and the engine started right up. [From here on out, we always start the engine first and then wrap out (if necessary). I'm not sure what I was thinking. Just nervous I guess.] We slowly powered out of the marina and were on our way!
Meanwhile, L. had checked with NOAA and heard that there was a Small Craft Advisory in effect for the Straight of Georgia (north of Lummi Island). She asked for prayers at church. This, of course, elicited quite a few chuckles. As it turns out - you can see from the pictures - we had hardly any wind until we got to the Straight of Georgia. Then we finally could see what she would do under sail power. We did keep the engine on, but we did experiment a little with powering down. We had a great time. The wind died, of course, as soon as we entered Boundary Bay, entering the last stretch.
Here is a photo essay of our delivery from Anacortes to Semiahmoo. Thanks for the photo's, Dad. It was an enjoyable time to spend with you.
 Enjoy.

Here's an overview of our route

Just prior to departure.

Our voyage starts with a hazy horizon.

Cap Sante Marina, Anacortes, astern

One of the tankers, anchored off the refinery.

Up goes the Staysail

Hat and SaddleBag Islands

Refinery at Anacortes

Sleeping seals on Saddlebag Island (to our East)

Sailboat off Guemes Island (to our west)

And the Main raises

Vendovi Island (to our West)

Samish Island and Samish Bay

Looking back at the Anacortes Refinery, Hat Island in foreground

Looking West into the San Juans

Heading into the straight between Lummi Island (left) and Portage & Eliza  Islands (right)

Eliza Island astern

Lummi Island

Lummi Island

Edge of Portage Island, looking into Bellingham Bay

Bellingham

See, I really did let Dad take the helm!

And we finally get some wind as we enter the Straight of Georgia. Lummi Island astern.

Looking out at Orcas Island

Sandy Point to Starboard

Sun setting over Vancouver Island

Notice how the waves were coming broadside on? You could feel the motion down below, but it was very comfortable. She has a very comfortable motion.

Sunset over Vancouver Island

Cherry Point refinery

Our last pictures are of the Cherry Point Refinery as it soon got dark and the camera ended up below.
When we entered the marina, we tied up at the fuel dock - down towards the end out of everyone's way until our slip became available.
Dad stayed aboard that night, while I joined the family on our Balboa 26. As I left for work the next morning, Dad and the family enjoyed breakfast and exploring the boat. Looking back, it's amazing how small the kids look.
Thanks, Dad, for the enjoyable and uneventful trip.
Oh, I should mention that we didn't fly the jib that trip, as we only had one jib sheet, something it didn't take too long to rectify.

Breakfast with Grampa the next morning