Memorial sailing

Saturday I left for Quartermaster harbor. It was a grey morning and I didn't get away from the dock until 11:30. There was a decent wind - S10 and so I started sailing upwind. It was pretty slow progress and as I made my way past Alki point at 3pm I was wondering when I would need to turn the engine on and motor to the harbor. I kept on trying and at around 5 the wind improved toward the south end of Vashon Island and I started making better progress. By 8:30 I was approx 5 miles from the anchorage and I brought in my genoa and started motoring. I set the anchor at 9:30, just as it was starting to really get dark. The moon was almost full on Saturday - but it didn't rise until later that night.  The clouds had been clearing for the previous few hours and I made dinner and ate beneath the stars in an anchorage where my anchor light was the only one visible.

Sunday's VHF weather report was not encouraging. The stations they list describing the current conditions progress from north to south in the Sound. Seattle was 5 knots, Alki Point was 0.8 and Point Robertson reported 'winds calm.' This didn't change and I decided to stay at Quartermaster rather than motoring to some other anchorage. So I read for a while, worked on a few projects, read some more, worked on the boat some more. It would rain off and on all day.  It was a pretty productive and relaxing day.

Monday morning I woke at 6am to dead calm in the anchorage, so I went back to sleep. Woke at 8, no wind, slept again. Finally got up at 9:30 and left by 10:30. The wind reports for the south sound were light - 6 knots at Point Robertson when I left but there was stronger winds up north - 13 knots at West Point where I was going. As I left the anchorage and turned a corner toward the sound the winds strengthened and I was able to leave the harbor under sail. That lasted for about an hour at which point it died and I motored up Calvos passage on the west side of Vashon for an hour or so. Suddenly - the wind started to arrive. Within the span of a few minutes I had what seemed like 10 - 15 knots of south wind. I brought out the Genoa, shut down the motor and was able to sail the rest of the way back to Shilshole. The grey and cold of the morning was replaced with blue skies and warmth.

Another beautiful weekend of sailing. I'm looking forward to picking up the dinghy this week - for one thing it will make taking pictures of Luckness much easier.