Finally Left the Dock!

Sunday marked the first day in a while Geoff and I had off together. We had decided that come hell or high water we were leaving the dock that day. It was overcast but warm and the rain held off. I bent the main sail back on after my stitching spree and Geoff tooled around with our outboard. I stowed all the tools and stuff that had accumulated down below and Geoff was still tooling with the outboard. I started cleaning down below and Geoff was still tooling with the outboard.

After much cursing and swearing and a sputtering engine we decided to get some new fuel as we had no idea how old the stuff onboard was. The engine would start but wouldn’t idle. It worked fine on high throttle but didn’t like being brought down and definitely didn’t like switching from neutral to reverse... which we obviously needed to get off the dock and out of the marina.

After some new gas and a light lunch of pretzel buns and cheeses, hummus and carrots, we readied for a trial run. By now the sun was peaking out of the clouds and ,man, was it humid! Barely a breeze but we didn’t care. It was probably best for a first time out. The new gas agreed with the little Honda outboard and while it still wasn’t working perfectly we felt confident enough in it to cast off our lines.

Main sail up! Ignore the dirt and lack of Battens

All lines off, except for one, which I was holding ready to flick off as we started to reverse out of the marina… then the engine died. It did this a few more times in reverse but we finally made our way out into the open water of Puget Sound. Didn’t even bump into any other boats along the way.

We motored out just past Brown’s Point and saw a few other boats out with their sails full of air. We set our Main and our Jib and found what little wind there was to be found. We found out our depth sounder works (yay) but our knotmeter (Speedometer for nautical miles) was not functioning. We estimated that at our top speed on this day of calm waters and light airs that we maxed out at just under 3 knots. That’s Picton Castle speeds right there! We sailed back and forth not really making any headway as the currents were too strong and the winds were too light. But it didn't matter we were SAILING!

Me on our tiller.

As the sun started to set we decided to take in sail and head home to the marina. The temperature was dropping and I was starting to look silly in all my layers. Wouldn’t you know it! The engine didn’t want to play nice. We slowly drifted while Geoff tooled around with the stubborn machine for a bit. He decided we’d just fix it at the dock and we full throttled it all the way home.

On the breakwater out side our marina there were several large Sea Lions, probably Stellar or Californian Sea Lions. They were lounging on the log booms and barely lifted a head when we came closer for a better look. Geoff took us into the marina and killed the engine just before our slip so we gracefully glided in. I hopped off and made us fast.

Geoff checking out the setting sun.

Back at the dock Geoff took the cover off the engine and played with the idle and throttle a bit. We think it’s fixed enough for now. This coming weekend will see us updating our running lights and sending me up aloft again. We’ll fix a few more details and then the plan is to leave Tyee Marina and head for our slip at Leschi Marina on Lake Washington. Can’t wait!

It was SO nice just to be out on the water again. Feels good. Felt good. And I’m glad that I found someone who feels the same way and wants those same things.

Till next time; fair winds my friends.