74 boats and over 200 people attended the annual Puget Sound Grand Banks Owners Association Rendezvous in fantastic Roche Harbor this last weekend. This is the reason we were in the San Juans. This was our second Grand Banks rendezvous.
The day started out pretty nice at Prevost Harbor. Almost no one around. Still and quiet. Cindy was leaving us so we needed to get to Deer Harbor in time for her flight back to Seattle. We left about 9:00.
I am going to try and get caught up. I am still a few days behind what’s going on. We left Spencer Spit late morning headed for Stuart Island. Still no rain, but plenty of clouds. We let Cindy do the driving.
I had an idea that I would more or less live blog the trip north to the San Juan Islands. Look! Passing Point No Point and so on. Instead I did nothing. That was five days ago now and I am just getting around to posting something. It’s probably good that I didn’t blog along the way. At eight knots it would not have made for exciting reading.
We left Seattle early Sunday morning and headed north on the outgoing tide. It was wet when we went through the locks.
Jen and Joseph, friends from San Francisco, joined us for a weekend trip on the boat. Our goal was to show them just how fantastic boating in the Northwest is. That, and relax and have a nice time. I think we were successful.
We headed for the locks early on Friday morning. It was a beautiful day. Clear and calm. As we approached the locks, we could see fog spilling over the locks into Salmon Bay.
Warning. Spoiler alert! This post contains descriptions and photos of actual boat use. Not the usual fix this, untangle that, install something sort of project post that has bogged this site down recently. Read on if you dare …
Our friends Tim and Carmel, and Cindy came up from Southern California for a day on the boat. The weekend before the Fourth of July was amazingly warm and perfect. People in California think it rains all the time in Seattle. It was nice to show them how wonderful it can really be here. We swore them to secrecy upon their return to California.
They only had one day with us so I picked them up from a dock on south Lake Union in the dinghy bright and early Saturday morning. Kim had breakfast waiting when we arrived. After a quick tour and orientation, we headed for the locks eating breakfast along the way Surprisingly, there was no wait at the locks. We motored in behind one boat and two smaller boats followed us in. We popped out through the locks and headed for Blake Island.
On the way over, Tim and Cindy were playing with the flybridge intercom. Tim ordered up a couple of Vodka Tonics. I called their bluff and produced two high quality drinks. They were surprised and somewhat appreciative. It was 10:30 in the morning. I think they liked them.
Don and Debbie are doing what I can only dream of at this point. They are off to Alaska for the next four months aboard their wonderful Grand Banks 42, Change of Latitude. You can follow their adventure at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/col/ or subscribe to their RSS feed at www.sailblogs.com/member/col/XJ12007_rss.xml.
