Chronicle Two: Port Townsend to Sidney

 After the paravane drill, we dropped Larry off at the marina and headed for Port Townsend, sixteen miles away.  We did tell you that we have until September to make this trip didn’t we?

We were assigned moorage in the Commercial Basin at Port Townsend, which Greywolf loved.  She is a Big-Ship-Wanna-Be and likes to be in the company of work boats.  Shaman was the same. Maybe it is not the boat that wants to be with the commercial vessels.....

A beach; THE BEST!

After a lovely dinner Sunday evening at Bruce and Diana Klock’s house, (Allie was more than a little disappointed that Diana was in England and not there to tell her what a great dog she is) we were set to cross the Straits of Juan de Fuca on Monday morning.  

As we were completing the last part of our pre-sail check, I told Doug I wanted to do the engine room check with him, since I had forgotten what that entailed.  After we checked the vital fluid levels, we looked at the alternators (we had a second one reconnected when Hatton Marine did its annual engine repairs & maintenance). Gremlins of Doubt crawled out of the bilge and slithered around our big (low horsepower) Lugger engine whispering, “Is that going to fry your batteries”?  First owner had said “yes”.  Hatton Marine said “no”.  An expert was required to break the tie. 

Bill on Ava Maria

Instead of starting the engine, we walked over to the boat yard where our friend Bill Turner was working on his boat, Ave Maria.  “Do you know an electrical wizard who might be available to do a consultation?”  Yes, indeed.  At noon Bill and Chris-the-Electron-Man appeared.  Twenty minutes later, the Gremlins of Doubt crawled back into their dark recess after a diagnosis of 

We left Pt. Townsend Tuesday morning with flat seas and sunshine, headed for Friday Harbor, deploying the the paravane poles for practice. Greywolf must have looked apprehensive with her poles out in the calm water. With her poles deployed, Greywolf probably has a 50’ beam.   Hopefully, other boats will give us plenty of room; on this day, it was not an issue.  'Not many pleasure craft in the Straits in mid-May.

At Friday Harbor, we were delighted to see one of the two Juan Island Yacht Club reciprocal (free) guest moorage slips open.  As soon as we tied up,  we got a text message from Jolie.  A friend from Bellingham had just contacted her: “Your parents just took my slip!.”  Bart and his crew on his sailboat, Dreamtime, had followed us into the harbor; he, too, was hoping for the reciprocal moorage. Ack.  After dinner, they came over to meet Greywolf.  She was on her good behavior with two Washington State Troopers and a Whatcom County Prosecuting  Attorney on board.  In case you ever wondered, the ratio of Canadian to US drivers grossly exceeding the I-5 speed limit near the boarder is about 10:1.  They get a lot of them with an airplane; perhaps a “Predator” drone would be equally effective.    

Leaving the Country....

We now take the only minimum alcohol allowed and Absolutely No Produce into Canada.  It got too confusing trying to decide from year to year what allowed. We cleared Customs at the Van Isle Customs Dock by phone in Sidney on Wednesday, May 16th.  No inspection. We COULD have brought that carrot!  Last year, two Customs officials appeared after a 40 minute wait, but quickly cleared us when they learned we were en-route to spend $$$ at Blackline Marine for paravane rigging improvements. Welcome to Canada.

Carol loaned us her car and we went produce shopping in
Sidney.

Our lack of a wind indicator instrument with actual numbers prompted us to call Philbrooks Boatyard in Sidney.  Jamie came down to the boat, shimmied up the mast, and brought down the worn out little guy.  His Smart Phone told him that we could spend a whole bunch of money and have a new one by 

noon on Friday.  Sold

Herself at anchor

We had dinner with Carol, and Don Mossman, and Sybil, the Springer Spaniel, at their home in Sidney. They own Herself,  a splendid Bill Garden designed boat which Don built, launching it ten years ago. We met Carol and Don while cruising in 2007 BD (before Dogzz). The pictures here are from last summer. (I forgot to take my camera.) They don’t show our two canine critters being crazy together, just the aftermath.  

Doggie baths!

Sybil, waiting for Allie