This weekend we were planning to attend the boat show in Seattle. Seattle has a huge boat show every winter and you can go from booth to booth seeing all the new technology available for boats of all kinds. You can also go on new sailboats and see what the designers have been up to lately. That part is fun as long you you avoid looking at the  prices. The danger of shows like the boat show is that you can walk away feeling as though sailing is a sport for the rich only. What is the solution to that problem?

Go sailing, of course! So that’s what we did. We skipped the boat show entirely this year and instead we spent the weekend on Moonrise. We had an unseasonably ‘warm’ (a word which here means 50 degrees) and sunny weekend so, despite the probability of no wind, we took Moonrise and headed south to Anderson Island. We got lucky and there was enough of a breeze to actually do some sailing. Lest people forget why we do this, here are some photo reminders.

Only one other boat on the water, and it was a sailboat. A sailboat which overtook our boat and passed us smartly, making us feel like novices. Actually, he just stayed in the middle of the channel rounding Pt. Defiance, so he kept the wind.

Drinking hot tea, under a blanket, to stay warm. Thank goodness for the sunshine.

Mt. Rainier, as seen from our quiet anchorage. The water was as still as a lake.

Sailing home under jib alone, into the ubiquitous Pacific Northwest photo of the ferry with the mountain in the background. Sorry it's fuzzy. I had one hand on the wheel.

Final shot of the mountain as we approach the marina.