Tag Archives: hobie

Lake Union for the the 4th of July

Posted on by
Reply

We decided to try something new this year for the Fourth of July. We decided to watch the fireworks on Lake Union. We usually avoid crowds and especially crowds of boats. But for some unknown reason, we threw caution to the wind this year. The challenge for us is that we can’t see the north half of the lake from our slip so we had to venture out into the fray and anchor in the melee of boats. This year we were feeling brave.

mv Archimedes Lake Union Fireworks 8

The fireworks are fantastic, but the “pre show” on the lake is equally entertaining.

Continue reading →

Kayaking Montague Harbour

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s a video I put together from our trip in the Gulf Islands this last September. We broke out the kayaks and took a spin around Montague Harbour on a fine, fine day.

Fair warning. This is not a great video. You may regret the 13+ minutes you spend here … if you sit through the whole thing. It’s shot entirely handheld on my iPhone. The horizons are crooked. It’s not particularly exciting. And I’m not much an editor.

But … the weather was so fantastic that day, and the water so amazingly calm. And it was such a spectacular trip around the harbor, and just so damn nice to be there. That’s why I posted it. 4:50-8:00 is probably the best part.


Continue reading →

Jen and Joseph

Posted on by
1

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.

RKL_5480 Continue reading →

Blake Island without friends

Posted on by
2

As avid readers of this site (if there are any other than close relatives (and I am not sure about them)) will note, we’ve been to Blake Island an awful lot lately. In our defense, sans windlass, we are currently limited to marinas and mooring buoys. We choose mooring buoys over marinas any day. That limits us to relatively few places close to Seattle.

So that’s how Kim and I ended up at Blake Island all by ourselves (but by no means alone) this weekend.

RKL_5019
Continue reading →

Blake Island with Friends

Posted on by
4

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.

IMG_0014

Continue reading →

Nifty new kayaks

Posted on by
4

Our most recent acquisition for fun on the water is a pair of Hobie Revolution 11 kayaks. The Mirage drive is the appealing feature for us. Pedaling instead of paddling. Having both hands free is great for me. I like to take photographs of things while I kayak around.

As luck would have it, Hobiecat Northwest, the Seattle Hobie dealer is about 300 feet from our slip. Dan was very helpful getting what we needed. We looked at both the Hobie Revolution 11 and the Sport. At 9’7″ the Sport was a better fit on the boat, but just not as much fun to use. For me, it felt pretty small. The 11 is actually 11’6″ and kinda big on our our boat, but faster and more fun to peddle around.

RKL_3695

Continue reading →

Some gain, not all pain

Posted on by
Reply

Besides untangling anchor chain last weekend, I was able to get a few additional projects completed … and squeeze in some actual fun as well. The details of these projects are not entirely interesting so I’ll stick to the highlights.

I installed a second chartplotter. A Garmin 7212. With Garmin’s release of the new 8000 series chartplotters, the cost of the 7212 has come way down. Down to the point of affordability … at least for us.

RKL_3252 Continue reading →