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West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
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hi folks,
well....we did it!!!
we went out in puget sound...thru the ballard locks...!!!!
Michele Sladko (a former subscriber to this list and potter 15 owner) came
down to visit from whidbey island to sail with me in the lorax. she and i
and another friend put the boat in at sand point on lake washington. and
for the fourth day in a row there was hardly a ghost of a breeze.....boo.
so...being new to the area...i thought, "let's look around..." and i had 2
gallons of gas in the can and what was in my engine tank already...so we
motored into union bay...the "cut", the lake washington ship canal.
this is a very fun experience, sailing right thru the middle of seattle.
all the bridges are high enuf that you don't have to make them open to
pass under. and in this hectic area it is wonderful to be on the water
looking at all those "ants" onshore, rushing around.
we made passage to lake union. not much was going on. we saw the Kalakala,
an old ferry boat a la art deco (looks like something out of buck rogers),
where it is being restored and all the countless boats, houseboats, you
name it, it is there!!!
but really, not much was going on in lake union. no one out and no wind.
so.....we decided to continue west for the ballard locks. Michele thought
we might need 50 foot dock lines...i thought, what the hell, the worst
that can happen is they won't let us into the locks...big deal!!
we passed under the rest of the bridges...then...there we were...at the
traffic light before the locks!!!! behind a big 50 foot chris craft,
belching diesel fumes at us. the folks onboard the chris were smiling and
waving at us. we told them it was our first time...they reassured us and
offered to help.
the lock guys were very helpful. in the small lock there are movable walls
to tie up to (actually you don't tie up, you just put your lines around
the little ball things so just in case the movable walls get hung up you
can let go and not have the boat hanging in the air from the docklines!!!
the only bad thing was having to stay behind the belching chris
craft...yuck!
we motored out of the locks, into the salty brine...vegan lorax's first
saltwater adventure...out the marked channel...and there we were in the
sound!!!! a beautiful afternoon, sun kinda out, light breeze! we hoisted
sails and played around for a short while, then headed in...we had a long
way to go to get back and daylight was getting short.
sure enough...on the way back, who shows up behind us? the chris craft!!!
we started thinking about all their fumes....and...they offered to have us
tie on and come aboard for the return lockage. as we were furling sails,
they even passed us cups of wine and a plate of snacks to celebrate our
maiden salty voyage...how nice!
we tied onto their cleats abeam and clamberedaboard.. what a huge boat!
like a big floating party house!!!!
these folks were so nice...we hung out thru the locks and then they
offered to take us all the way through to lake washington. it was a chilly
evening so..ouch! twist my arm! we hung out with them, drdinking wine,
eating snacks....they even lent michele a pair of warm boots!
they dropped us off where union bay meets lake washington and...finally
there was a good fresh breeze!!! we had a lovely moonlit sail back to sand
point flying the 200% genoa and mainsail...what a night!!! and what a
feeling to sail in the salt...the smell!!! like home really....
and my opinion of power boaters has improved so much...they were really
nice people...
i had to share this experience with you all....thanks!
Ken Silverman, p-15 "vegan lorax", sailing on lake washington and (YES!)
Puget Sound
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 29 2000 - 03:27:08 PST