October in Seattle 2016

October in Seattle 2016
The rainiest October in recorded history in the PNW. But it was still warm by Seattle standards. The sun did shine and on those moments and even in the rain we got out and enjoyed October. We continued our boat hunt but after the disappointment of "Felicity" we have slowed down on that front and keep it from dominating our time. The anticipation of our 4th grandchild is taking over. Clara is due soon and so the nest is being made ready by the Peanuts crew. Drew has named us all Peanut characters, I am Linus and the Admiral is Lucy, Mom is Charlie Brown and Dad is Sally, Drew is Snoopy. His about to be born sister is Woodstock.

Seattle building Boom has not stopped, still going strong the three years we have been here..

Some of Seattle's finest musicians are born at Cornish college, need to make time to see some free concerts.

Ships have been coming into the harbor regularly to load up on gravel.

So many different views of Mt. Rainier

The alasken fishing fleet is returning to Seattle for the winter.

Dreaming of being right there soon.

One last in the water boat show on Lake Union.

This is the best part.

This famous trawler is still for sale, first noticed it two years ago at the Seattle Boat Show.

Should just sell everything and buy this Kady Krogen.

Another unexpected opportunity to see George Winston performing his timeless compositions at Benaroya Hall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKmqyQUDehs 

Big D goes to music class at the EMP, a great place to hang out for the mornings.

Ships from all over the world coming in for USA grain. this empty bulk cargo carrier is waiting for its turn at the grain dock.

Still hard to imagine that it takes about 50,000 acres just to fill one up.

Foss Tug pushing a loaded vessel off the grain dock.

The Seattle Art Museum, always free on first Thursday's.

Great Boat name

Who needs a job?

The main reason the $15.00 minimum pay passed so easily here in Seattle is the pay was already heading in that direction due to the extreme need for help in Seattle.why bother with $15 an hour when you can make well over $100K a year writing code?

Fall is real here

Makes the Mural at Seattle Center.

The biggest storm since the 60's was forecast to hit Seattle

It was windy

and all the stores were cleared of batteries, flashlights

and candles.

Even extreme high tides, but the storm veered to the North sparing widespread distruction.

October is the best time to see the salmon return to spawn. The closest place is the Cedar River just South of Seattle. The salmon return from the Pacific Ocean, swim through the lake Washington ship canal to Lake Washington and then up the Cedar River. Seattle Aquarium post staff at four different areas along the river to inform and guide the public through this incredible season of spawning: http://www.seattleaquarium.org/salmon-journey

The male stands guard as the female clears off a spot to lay her eggs. He then fertilizes the eggs. Out of approx. 3000 eggs.less than 4% return to spawn abut 7 years later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_run

and then their life's work is done and they both die off and float back down the river to provide nourishment to trees, other sea life and the natural habitat.

The Washington State fisheries collect truckloads of salmon to insure that a certain percentage of the eggs survive. A few years back some major floods destroyed a years worth of eggs. So now they are proactively protecting the sport fisherman and commercial fisherman as well. 

Two guys net the male/female pairs

See: https://youtu.be/h1mLleIVRXM

They pass them off to other crew in boot shaped containers.

They are then placed in to seperate tanks, one for males, one for females and then hurriedly taken off to man made spawning tanks.

Our boat search has been narrowed to 35'-37' sailboats. After viewing "Leap of Faith" we crossed off 35' vessels.

The Salon area  could accommodate for perhaps a weekend or even a week.

But this 35 was a bit roomier, I really liked it.

But it had a Volvo Penta Sail drive. After some research we learned they are a bit more maintenance needy and ;every few years require replacement of the rubber  boot/gasket that surrounds the lower unit. It is a very big hole in the bottom of the vessel that you would never want to hit something.

Martti and Cookie stop by for a quick visit on the waty to Friday Harbor, San Juan Isl.

The veggies are in credible up here.

Mt. Rainier and the Cascades are always inspirational.

Felicity Ain't Happy No More

 Felicity Ain't Happy No More

Felicity: the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss:

The Listing broker wrote this description on Yachtworld:
Pride of ownership shows in this 2002 Catalina 36 that has been well maintained and kept in excellent condition throughout the vessel inside and out. She is a capable cruiser and well equipped with Diesel Heat, Dodger and Bimini cover on cockpit with full navigation package and seating at helm station with plenty of room for crew.  She is very clean and her cabin is spacious with a large fold down table in the salon and plenty of seating for quests, full galley,nav station and plenty of storage. There is a large double cabin aft and a forward owners cabin with separate entrance to a spacious head. She is priced to sell and like new condition and if your looking to start cruising now come take a look you will not be disappointed.

Tuesday we drove down to Tacoma to go on the Sea Trial and Survey. We met the Broker, the Owner, and the Surveyor at Tyee Marina on a fine October Morning 

Tyee Marina was described to us as the Marina Time forgot. An old school place where the moorage was cheap.

 Felicity, a 2002 Catalina 36. We were cautiously excited as this sailboat appeared to be in perfect shape and had very little to do to make her our own.

 We motored down the channel early that morning to have the boat hauled out at Hybelos Marina and boat yard. We had to slow down and wait for a tug pulling a log boom.

We squeaked by the log boom, amazing that they have been transporting logs like this for nearly 200 years.

While I was in the cockpit with the brokers and owner, The Admiral was down below with the surveyor. They called me down to see some Cracked fiberglass laminate in forward keel sump (starboard side to).

Along with unexplained weeping abaft the mast step potentially caused by owner reported grounding.

Just as we approached the haul out channel I said "Stop the boat and turn around, we are done". The soft groundings the owner told us about were obviously not so soft. An undetermined amount of work would be required to do this and most likely the keel would have to be removed. A job that cost $20,000- $30,000 or more. John the Surveyor told us that every vessel system on a boat is guilty until proven innocent!

The owner apologized and began to process his own misfortune. We discussed his making a claim with his insurance company and I was very glad it would be a very short motor trip back to the marina. The bridge we had to clear opened immediately and we were soon docked. The Admiral and I wasted no time collecting our stuff and exiting the drama.

On the way home the Admiral mentioned that Felicity is not so happy anymore. I guess that sort of stuck with me. Countless hours spent researching this vessel on the internet, trying to make sure we had all of our questions answered, notepads full of notes, lots of emails, text and calls, scheduling the surveyor and making arrangements with the haul our yard. We were numb to say the least as our third attempt to buy a boat had failed.

About two in the morning my mind would not let me sleep, I decided to turn my stress into a Blues Song. I went into the living room, turned on a light and wrote the following lyrics.

Felicity Ain't Happy No More

Felicity ain't happy

Felicity Ain't happy no more
Felicity Ain't happy

Cause on four dark sailings

Her captain sailed her to close to shore
Sailed her on the rocks once more.

Felicity ain't happy
She's gone away from me
Felicity Ain't happy no more
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I will still sail on
For I will never
Take Felicity to Sea

Felicity aint happy no more
The Broker aint happy no more
Her captain aint happy no more
Felicity, the Admiral
and I shall sail no more
The thrill is gone

You know I'm free, free now Felicity
I'm free from your spell
Oh free, free, free now baby
I'm Free from your spell
And now that it's over
All we can do is wish you well

Felicity ain't happy

Felicity Ain't happy no more
Felicity Ain't happy no more

Cause on four dark sailings

Her captain sailed her to close to shore
and sailed her on the rocks once more

The lyrics are sung to B.B. King's The Thrill is Gone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPlsqo2bk2M

Felicity was our third time to make an offer on a vessel here in the Pacific Northwest, and the third vessel to fail. We are certainly learning a lot about all this, one thing is for sure, a lot of people run their boats into the Rocks!

This pic shows a couple of spiral notebooks and couple of small note pads each full of notes from researching the three vessels. Several yacht listings from various brokerages, and other miscellaneous stuff we put together to try hard as we may to learn the history of the vessels as well as all other data including scheduling surveyors and boat yards for haul outs requiring hundreds of emails and text messages. Fortunately in each case we were able to reveal the structural problems just before hauling the boat out. This saved us the expense of hauling the boat out and who knows what all drama that would have brought?

We will take a mental break before getting all worked up to the point of making another offer. But the hunt continues for the "Most Perfect" Pacific Northwest boat.

There is a 38' Ericson in Anacortes, a 37' Jeaneau on Lake Union and a Mainship also on Lake Union. These are our next targets.