Finally \u2013 the weather was right, we had time to go, and the boat was ready. And it wasn\u2019t a Friday \u2013 you know it\u2019s bad luck to start a trip on a Friday, as we found out when we tried an overnight a while back and our alternator failed. So this time we left on a Saturday.<\/p>\n
We went to Mystery Bay, which is between Indian Island and Marrowstone Island at the north end of Admiralty inlet. Some people don\u2019t like to go there because of the serpentine channel to get between the two islands, which offers many places to run aground. But by paying close attention to the charts, and with the aid of our GPS that interfaces with the charts that Van\u2019s has loaded on his laptop, we made it through the channel without any problems. Shallowest spot is around Green #13, where the depth appears to be only about 7\u2019 at 0 tide. Stray from the channel by but a little, and you\u2019ll definitely go aground. That laptop \u201cchart plotter\u201d sure was cool in helping me know right where I was at with respect to all the sand bars and shallow spots. The channel markers are rather far apart for comfort.<\/p>\n
Mystery Bay is a lovely marine state park. We actually didn\u2019t go ashore, but the water setting is very beautiful and well protected. There are 7 mooring buoys and none of them were taken so we had our pick. Good thing, as we had to try 3 times to pick one up. We\u2019ve not done that maneuver since our ASA certification course about 2 years ago, so we needed a little practice. Maybe I should say I needed the practice at the helm, because Van picked up the chain without problems once I got him close enough and stopped the boat correctly. We tied off just as Mary, our ASA instructor, taught us, using one line with a loop to hold the boat with minimal chafe, and\u00a0 second loose line as a backup and a way to pull up the chain in the morning when ready to release the loop from the chain.<\/p>\n
We had just enough wind to sail most the way there, though the wind did die down while we were in the shipping lanes on Saturday so we started the engine and motored out of harms way. Those cargo ships can really move fast \u2013though none were in sight, I didn\u2019t want to whistle for wind in the shipping lanes. On Sunday, there was enough wind for us to sail all the way home, though it was very light at the start. If it weren\u2019t for the 2-3 knot current pushing us along, it would have been a very slow trip home. Or said another way, if the current had been opposite our direction, we would have had to motor to stop from going backwards because our forward motion from sailing was less than the current speed at first. Later the wind picked up and we were doing pretty well on a run by then. It was a very nice relaxing sail home. We went through some exciting rip tides off the north end of Marrowstone \u2013 they are always so interesting to observe.<\/p>\n
So that\u2019s it – we\u2019ve had our first shakedown cruise, and everything worked well. I have to say, I\u2019m really liking this boat and all its creature comforts!
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