Has it really been two weeks since I posted anything here? If it’s been that long, it must be because we were sailing! Looking back it feels as though we crammed a full month’s worth of adventure into what was really a rather short 8 days and 460 miles. While we had one or two hiccups, overall the trip was fabulous and we found ourselves really falling for this boat that we’ve worked so hard on for the past few months. We were certainly not ready for the trip to end.
Mike checking out the rain. Can’t say enough good things about this cockpit and hard dodger with the canvas enclosure. We love it.
We waved goodbye to Astoria the morning of July 4, crossed the Columbia River Bar into the Pacific, and turned right. We had our first overnight passage on the ocean and watched dozens of 4th of July fireworks displays from our position off the coast of Washington State. We anchored out every night starting in Neah Bay and by the time we had worked ourselves over to Bellingham, we had the routine down, the communications signals worked out, and had begun to trust our anchor and chain to hold us tight. We sailed under ‘jib and jigger’ as well as under full sail and under genoa alone; discovering to our glee that Galapagos sails well even in light wind. What a gift. We discovered cockpit dancing as the sun goes down. We began to know our boat and how to live on her. She began to come alive to us.
Relaxing in the Strait of Juan de fuca. This was the best day ever.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.
Sunset over Vancouver Island close to Victoria. Can you hear the music playing in the cockpit? Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.
Schooner Zodiac from Bellingham.
Mike and Andrew in the bay.
Hand made dinghy. A work of art.
Raising the main.
Crossing the strait under full sail in light wind. She may be heavy, but she’s light on her feet.
We’re working on several posts about this trip. Mike is working on some film footage he took, and I’m just processing what’s worth writing up and what isn’t.
After what looked like it would be a false start due to the height of our main mast/antennae combination and the height of the Murrey Morgan bridge (apparently our ketch rig has a taller main mast than most) we are finally settled in a good slip in Tacoma at Foss Harbor where we moored Moonrise for 5 years. We’re so excited to have Galapagos close to home. We can close the curtain on Little Cunning Plan, Part 1: Buy a boat and bring her home.
Little gaff rig.
Congratulations on your shakedown cruise. Great pix of your journey north. Can’t wait to hear about the exhaust job.
Sorry we missed meeting the two of you in Bellingham. 57 nm / day. Too fast for us.
Yes, sorry we missed you, although it does look like we were close! You saw our anchor dance with the Bruce anchor. Think we’ll put the CQR back on the boat. We never had trouble with holding with the CQR on Moonrise. Mike will do a post about the exhaust so look for that. We have photos and everything!
I am so excited for you both! Very happy to hear that Galapagos is such a pleasure to sail and that you had the opportunity to take her out for a bit.
Thank you. We are very please with her thus far. It was a fun trip.
Wow! Awesome.
Love the pics.
Mark and Cindy
s/v Cream Puff
http://www.creampuff.us
Thanks! We are glad to be back on the water again.
Congratulations, what a great milestone!
It does feel like one! Looking forward to the rest of the boating season now.
Thrilled for you 🙂 can’t wait to hear more about your adventures aboard Galapagos! Welcome back to WA! ~Jessie
Many thanks, Jessie. We are working on several more posts about this excellent adventure.
OHH!! I was wondering what you guys were up too. You pictures are AWESOME. Wow, how do you make them look so clear and defined? I’m super duper excited for you two, finally-i think- having your boat back home. Can’t wait to read more.
Thank you, Dani! I’m always worried about the photos for the blog because sometime wordpress gets goofy and they look wrong. I love my camera snd am learning to use some of the special functions on it. Some of these photos were taken with one of the special features.
Fabulous website! Love the video! Hope it’s ok for me to borrow the sped up idea for our website!
Sure! That’s not our idea. It’s a Go Pro thing. Glad you visited the website.
Love you posts and beautiful pictures. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us.
When you get tired of the amateurs working on your exhaust, contact Clay Broomfield at Broomfields Marine Exhaust in Ballard. (broomweld@aol.com) Great guy and VERY knowledgeable.
Fair winds.
thom
MV Rula M
Thank you for the referral! We are certainly looking for names at this point. I’ll be sure Mike sees this.