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You are welcome to apply any part of this article to your own personal use. Please do NOT publish any part of the article or apply any part of it to any non-personal use without the express written concent of the author.
Finally, on the early afternoon of May 1, exactly eleven years to the day since Volant acquired us, we started out in earnest on our cruise.
One of the first things I always do before starting out is to give the bow-thruster a quick test. This time the thruster ran as if there were no propeller to push the water. Bummers! But there's no stopping our trip because of this. It's not a critical item. We'll check it out later. I'll either have to hire a diver to check it out, dive it myself or put Volant on a tidal grid and wait for the tide to go out then look at the thruster while staying dry.
There was no wind, so we motored northward. The waterways in this area have a number of possible routes to explore. We elected to go up along the eastern shore of Whidbey Island.
The cruising guides had an entry for the town of Langley, where it was claimed that they always had room for one more boat.
We believe it! We got in close enough to see that there was absolutely no room for another boat so were heading out to anchor when we were hailed from ashore, "Keep her coming, I've got a place for her!" So I turned her around and followed the excellent directions of the harbormaster. We nosed our way in a narrow fairway, turned hard to port within inches of several boats, stopped within inches of others, then backed up next to a sailboat. The harbormaster then tied our bow to one dock and our stern to another, and we were in. And, there was room for at least one more boat next to us!
Langley was a nice, artsy-craftsy village. The one-block-long downtown area probably had a dozen galleries. That night was their "Art Walk" evening, so all the galleries were open and serving wine, cheese and hors d'oeuvres. After sampling a few wines and enjoying the atmosphere we decided to take in a movie. The price was about half the price in Seattle, and was definitely a community affair. Someone was having a birthday and the entire audience joined in the singing of "Happy Birthday to You."
The folks in the boat next to us wanted to leave by 0700. The way the harbormaster packed the boats in, we'd have to leave before they could get out. So we set an early alarm and were ready at the appointed hour.
Leaving was a piece of cake. There was no wind and no current to contend with. Kit cast off the bow line and I cast off the stern line. Before stepping aboard I pushed Volant a bit to port to line her up with the way I wanted to go. At the right moment I jumped aboard from the stern ladder and put her in gear at idle speed. When the bow was inches from the boat ahead, I gave a quick shot of reverse to stop forward progress. With a hard port rudder I gave a quick shot of forward to begin a turn to port without forward momentum, then continued at idle speed. The boat turned, just missing several boats forward and two boats on the starboard stern. We were then in the middle of the very narrow fairway, and made our way out of the marina.
There was little wind, and it was right on the nose. So we motored.
It was a beautiful, balmy day with blue skies and white clouds, and hardly any traffic. So our erstwhile autopilot, "Otto von Steerer" took over steering duties leaving us to enjoy the protection of the pilothouse while we piloted our way.
Noon found us at the village of Coupeville on Whidbey Island. As it turned out, Kit's great-grandparents had lived in the town in the days when it was being electrified. Her great-grandfather was an engineer and, among other claims to fame, electrified that town in the early 1900s. Kit had some idea as to where they had lived during that time and found the house. The current residents, apparently only the second owners since Kit's great-grandparents lived there, graciously invited us in to see the home. The current owner is a former sailor, and really enjoyed sharing his home with us.
After that visit we went straight back to the boat to get underway again. Our next destination was Deception Pass State Park where there's an anchorage. The pass is a challenge to negotiate due to the high current that runs through, oft times in the 7 knot range with lots of dangerous whirlpools and rips. But running the pass at slack water is straight forward. We were in by 1700, and immediately poured over the tide and current tables to come up with tomorrow's plan. At 0900 we head through the cut then turn northward into Burrows Bay, cut between Allan Island and Burrows Island into Rosario Straight, then into Bellingham Channel into Bellingham Bay.
It's really good to be out and in the rhythm of cruising again, being so very different from shore bound life. It's always a shock to find out how much we've forgotten in such a short time. But it also comes back to us again just as fast.
For now, it's a quiet evening of reading and writing.
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