March Tides Bring #1711 to Puget Sound

It's All About the Tides

It's All about the tides. When you live in an environment like the Pacific Northwest you begin to feel the incredible influences of nature upon human life. One of those forces, the ebb and flow of the tides are ever present, yet not even considered in the flatland of middle America. The influence reaches across continents whether you think about it or not.  Those who live in coastal areas are more or less aware. The tides along the Gulf or Mexico are generally in the one to three foot range, but here in the Northwest you experience tides in the -3 to 12 foot or more range. The Moon is largely responsible but even the rotation of the planet plays a roll. Full Moon means a wider range of tides on those days. I'm thinking tides even affect human behavior, they certainly determine timing to depart and  arrival at your favorite harbors. But I think the influence goes way beyond even our scientific understanding. This article https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moon-life-tides/  provides a bit on support for this idea but sometimes I wonder if tides even influence much more of our lives than we currently imagine.
Unable to find our next boat in the Puget Sound Area we turned to California and brought #1711 to our home Port of Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island.

#1711 waiting patiently at Emeryville Marina, CA

At KKMI Boat Yard for decommissioning in Point Richmond, CA. The mast going up!

I did as much as the work as possible to save some coins. The two riggers that showed up to unstep the mast were fast and efficient, Always an opportunity to learn a few new tricks!

They took the time to explain how I should wrape the mast for shipping.

Almost finished. The project manager offered me a job when I was done!

The stem fitting AKA the bow chain plate had a crack so I had them remove it so I could send it to Catalina to have a new one made. They are so unique they need the old one to copy.

Pacific Trade and Transport out of Gig Harbor had the low bid and the best reviews so he got the job and the vessel arrived safely without any issues and on time!

More work to do ...

Texas?

Sean operates the Travel lift and quickly unloads the vessel and puts her on the hard at Hybelos Yard in Tacoma. 

Michael Joudeh, He IS Pacific Trade and Transport. A good man, got the job done and he is a Pro!

OK, now lots of work to do. Spot paint the bottom paint, wax and coat the rigging, prepare rig to be stepped, and sand and paint the shaft, prop, and strut, put on new zincs, re-install steering wheel, auto pilot, and pedestal guard and load lots of gear on board and stow. Then help Step the mast. 

If this stuff works so well around the Gulf of Mexico, it will be outstanding in this environment!

All the outdoor work had to be done between showers, Still the rainiest winter/spring in 150 years. All the rigging got a cleaning with a 3M pad, a coat of the above Metal wax, and then a coat of the Insulator wax. So that meant 4 passes on all the rigging.

Part I

And with this 

Part II

The old name has to go so I measured for the new lettering. And with a heat gun the old came off without to much fuss.

Sean is a one man show at Hybelos, sometimes he has an assistant but just as often he does all this single handed, the crane, Travel lift, fork lift and much more in a very busy yard. This guy never stops moving.

Steve and Glenn are Something Special Yacht riggers. They worked for Catalina for years troubleshooting warranty claims in the Pacific Northwest before venturing out on their own. I was very lucky to get this very busy crew, definitely none better in the Puget Sound Region.

This 1970'S Roughwater Trawler was right next to me and the owner was doing a complete topside and bottom paint job. You make friends in the boat yard the same as on the docks. 

I served as a deck hand to help him off the docks after he splashed.

Telling you it's all about the Tides! Due to weather and tides I would have to hang out on this dock for three days waiting for calm weather and favorable tides to make the 5 hour trip to Eagle Harbor.

The Admiral dropped me off at Hybelos the night before so I could wake up early and take advantage of the tide. here I am heading Westward exiting Hybelos Waterway into Commencement Bay, Just beyond the anchored ship in the distance I will make the turn North down East Passage. The Stem fitting is not due for another couple of weeks so the Forstay/roller furling is lashed to the bow pulpit and two halyards are taking the place of the forstay for the trip. I am so lucky to have this one sunny calm water day for the trip.

Just after making the turn to East Passage after passing the Browns Point Light house.

Four hours later after passimg Vashon and Blake Islands Seattle is in view. I saw 3 harbor seals 4 big seals, and TWO ORCAS! 

The approach to Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island. Famous rock just ahead to the right.

Very little traffic on the way, just had to slow down shortly for a couple of ferries. Securely moored in B10 at Eagle Harbor Marina. The Garmin that came with the boat was not operating properly. I had a Portable Garmin but the battery was on the fritz so I just used my iPhones Navions App and I had my laptop in the cockpit running SeaClear II with a GPS puck. This is the first time I had ever used SeaClear as a Chartplotter and it worked flawlessly. Since I could plug the laptop into a cigarette lighter type plug no power problems. 

The Marina has just finished a complete make over and it is said to be the most advanced marina on the Sound now. The last time we were here it was an old funky marina that time had forgotten, but the new owners changed all that.

Celebration

You know how the saying goes " the happiest day in a boaters life is when he buys a boat and when they sell a boat." The Journey to get to this point is especially Sweet.