If "B.O.A.T." means Bring On Another Thousand ($), I guess my theory known
to the crew of Windsong as "A.H. - B.A.D." is not so far off. It stands for
A Hundred Bucks A Day! ;-)
Actually, we had a GREAT 3 days of sailing last weekend. We didn't break
anything! Had an opportunity to practice navigating in 0-visibility in fog,
crossing a narrow shipping lane, dealing 5 knot currents, with the local
sport salmon fishing fleet and the autumn whale watching boats all around.
Local Northwest sailors will know this area between Coronet Bay, Deception
Pass, and La Connor on the Swinomish channel. Wife and I spent a fanatastic
morning on Windsong celebrating the 23rd anniversary of our first date (any
excuse to celebrate). And the lunch of salmon baked over an outdoor
alderwood fire in La Connor was too good for words! The only boat expenses
amounted to things we added to the 'wish list' such as a GPS, and replacing
our horn which has run low on compressed air. We decided that the next
great advancement in GPS technology will be when you can locate other
vessels in the fog based on their GPS receiver signals. S'pose the military
already have it.
Got a chuckle out of 3 navy boys on a Catalina 22 obviously borrowed from
the Naval Air Station at Oak Harbor (instead of the usual boat numbers on
either side of the bow, were the words "exempt"). They decided to follow us
through the fog, mistakenly (I think) believing we were heading south
towards Oak Harbor - but when we made our predetermined 90-degree port turn
across the channel they got really confused, finally abandoning us. An hour
later as the fog lifted we saw them crawling along the shore on the far
side of the channel. Hope they made it home ok. Probably used to the more
sophisticated navigation controls on the EA-6B, and A-6 jets they fly at
Oak Harbor.
Looking forward to our next sail...
Tom
Windsong
P19 #352
Whidbey Island Washington