Narrative: Derek Jensen
For the first time since I’ve owned
Hamada,
I finally had a start to the season that didn’t
include a massive refit to systems, so as a result I
was actually ready to roll on Friday April 8th with
time to wash and pack the boat! I picked up my sailing
buddy Rick Dalman, and we hit I-5 just in time for the
Friday rush hour. Once the traffic started to really
clear past Vancouver WA, I saw the highly recognizable
stern of a p19 as it was pulled onto the highway from
a rest stop. Pulling up along side, we saw that it was
Charlie and Sandy with “Candide”, their highly
modified P19. This is the boat all of our boats
strive to be when they grow up!
Forming a convoy, we peeled the miles off quickly and
arrived at Zittels Marina in Olympia around 6pm. Pulling
down the steep driveway to the staging area for the
launch, we saw Tim and Mark Spofford from Inochi, along
with skipper Jim
Sinclair of Second Wind heading out to dinner in
Olympia. We stopped for a brief update, and found that
many potters had already launched.
I had warned Rick that once parked, the race to rig
was on. I didn’t warn anyone else, however, and
apparently rigging dual
roller furling headsails and a host of other custom
details slowed Charlie and Sandy down, so we easily
dropped Hamada in the water before they finished rigging.
Total rig and launch time: Just over 20 minutes. Not
bad for the first launch of the year! We found a protected
spot to moor the boat, and chatted with a few of the
other potters that had already settled in. I have a
friend who lives out on Johnson Point, so Rick and I
headed over there for BBQ before returning to the boat
late that night. Many of the potter’ers headed
down to Olympia for dinner organized by Barbara
Keller, where their performance of the ritual Thai
Sun Dance had amazing results for the whole weekend.
The excitement of a looming cruise was too much for
me, not to mention nearly 3 years of waking up early
with little kids, and I awoke
at sunrise to see that we were in for a crystal
clear day! The magic of Olympia weather was working
again. It had been raining steadily for weeks leading
up to the Adventure, but somehow Neptune had seen fit
to grant us a reprieve that would last nearly exactly
the duration of our trip. The water was calm, but wind
was coming. Potter skippers were already milling
about, sipping
steaming mugs of coffee and preparing for the days
sail.
Brennan Jones on “Gypsy” and Ed
Geis on “CeeBee” were soon in the parking
lot, rigging their p15’s in the early morning sunshine.
A
short skippers meeting at about 9:30am concluded
with Ed and “CeeBee” opting out of the cruise.
Ed decided that given his a limited experience, he didn’t
feel comfortable making the journey. Having driven up
and rigged, I encouraged him to launch and sail around
the marina area for the saltwater experience. As it
turned out, Ed made a very wise decision, as later in
the afternoon we were in for some exciting sailing.
Just as boats were pulling out of the Marina, Skipper
Bill Velez and his son hove
into sight on “Day Tripper”, having sailed
up from Swantown that morning. The potters all raised
sail right off the Zittels breakwater and jockeyed for
position to catch the light zephyrs that were ghosting
around the peninsula. Our sails would hang limp,
while a boat 30 yards away would be making way in a
patch of riffled water. Once out of the lee of Johnson
Point, a gentle wind settled in and the potter pod moved
off on a broad
reach under puffy clouds. The cruise was on, and
the boats looked great. The entire pack stayed amazingly
close for much of the sail the entire day, a rare
occurrence with so many boats out on the water. So close,
in fact, that it was possible to have conversations
with fellow boats sailing only yards away. As the
pack rounded Lyle Point on Anderson Island, headsails
were poled out and boats ran wing-a-wing
in the building breeze. Rick and I decided to be
clever and headed a little further out into the center
of the Nisqually Reach to catch more of the breeze and
the last of the ebb. Surely the wind would die as the
pack rounded Anderson into the Balch Passage, and we
would rip past them out in the center of the channel.
As often happens in the Sound, the wind follows the
shape of the island, and we ended up headed by a breeze
that favored the inside track, and we found ourselves
several tacks behind the pack. We got the stronger breeze,
but now it was on the nose! Oh well, I never claimed
to know anything about racing tactics, so we sheeted
in hard and started a romping beat towards Eagle
Island. The breeze gusted, laying the now overcanvased
Hamada on her beams ends and causing her to round up
abruptly while tossing any carelessly stowed items on
the cabin sole. Unwilling to lose more ground for a
headsail change, we slogged on with a fisherman’s
reef in the main during gusts and gained back most of
the ground we had lost during our tactical lapse.
Several potters headed over to the mooring on Eagle
Island for a lunch break, but the wind was just too
good for the crew on Hamada, so we continued to sail
all the way into Filucy Bay. The excitement of the sail
along with the lack of sleep spurred us to sail deep
into the bay where we dropped and set
the hook in 20 ft. of water, coming to rest without
ever starting the motor. What a sail! Napping with hatches
open and the fresh breeze and sunshine pouring into
the boat is what cruising is all about! I was roused
from my musings by a flyby
from Brennan Jones on Gypsy, and then by the crackling
of channel 71 on my VHF. Bill,
my friend from Johnson Point, had brought his Old
Town 20ft powerboat “Late For Supper” down
for the festivities. He and his girlfriend Michele rafted
off to Hamada, and we loaded up his boat to ferry us
the dock at Longbranch for the IdaSailor sponsored dinner
and to socialize with other potter folk.
The dock at Longbranch was packed with potters, and
“Late For Supper” had to raft as the fourth
boat out from the dock, which made for some interesting
boat-ballet. Margaret
Heidel and company were in the final phases of whipping
up a tasty repast of Chicken Sausage Gumbo, with rolls
and a suite of sweets for desert. Folks were socializing
and visiting and comparing
notes on the vast array of great modifications that
Potter sailors excel in. Charlie and Sandy were disqualified
from any comparisons since their boat is so thoroughly
over
the top! The boats
and sailors were diverse, but the journey around
Anderson had galvanized them into a tight-knit group.
Hungry
sailors gathered under the excellent coverage of
the dockside dining at Longbranch, and swapped tales
of the day while hungrily eating the fine dinner provided
by our dinner sponsor:
IdaSailor Marine. Joel and Co. had foot the bill
for the fine repast, and a good time was had by all.
Thanks IdaSailor
Marine!
Once the daylight had faded, and Barbara Kellers friend
Mike had warmed up the dockside kiosk with his propane
“jet engine”, I setup my InFocus projector,
and struggled to get my video showing on the screen
provided by Mark Jones, the Longbranch dock manager.
Being no stranger to computers and InFocus projectors,
it was much to my chagrin that I struggled to get things
working correctly. Help was on the way, however, as
there were plenty of techies in the crowd to help out,
and the video was eventually shown. I was happy to finally
get an audience for the video, which was made up of
Mini-DV video and digital photos taken on our 2003
“Mothers Day May Madness” cruise, circumnavigating
Hartstene Island. The soundtrack for this video was
provided by our own NWP’ers Rick Brummett and Lloyd
Jones, whom I had videotaped while they entertained
the NWP sailors at Jarrel Cove Marine Park.
After video time, folks broke into small groups again
and socialized. Lloyd
and Rick entertained again, this time on a small
electric guitar and battery powered amp that Lloyd had
brought for the occasion. Things were quieting down
at the dock, so our powerboat taxi took us back to the
snuggly anchored Hamada where we rafted up and talked
late into the night. Rafting out in the bay provided
us a serene backdrop, and spared other potter’ers
the late-night antics of me and my friends. It was all
for the better … trust me!
Waking
early again, it was time to head over to the dock
to socialize and get the obligatory “group
picture”. Folks made breakfast and prepared
to close the loop on Anderson Island and pull their
boats at Zittels. The sky was not really cloudy, but
had a
leaden look that threatened rain later in the day.
Folks slowly made
their way out into the light wind, and stalled out
in the Drayton Passage. Rick and I fired up the trusty
Nissan, and motored out to catch up with the pack. Most
people eventually gave up and motored on back to Zittles.
Once ‘round Devils Head, Hamada dropped all sail
and drifted with the current. Bill and Michele in “Late
For Supper” rafted up for a bit, but approaching
ripples foretold of an approaching wind which filled
in like someone had turned on a light switch. Breaking
up our raft, Hamada
raised sail and sailed for the next 3 or 4 hours
with a steady 8 -10 knots of wind on the beam. What
a weekend! The weather was chilly, but buttoning down
the foul weather gear shielded us from the wind, and
the autopilot once again took over the helm, allowing
us a leisurely sail up to Joemma State Park in the Case
Inlet.
A large halo around the sun and a general leaden sky
hinted that the predicted late afternoon rain was not
far off, so down came the sails and in went the “iron
genny” for a quick motor and fairly painless takeout
at ZIttels. By the time we pulled our boat, only John
Purdy in “Perky” was still in the parking
lot, and Barbara Keller on ? had long since disappeared
down the Dana Passage toward Boston Harbor. The rig
came down in about 25 minutes, and if by providence,
the first raindrops appeared.
Rick and I headed 2 miles down the point to my friend
Bills house, where I flushed the motor and gave the
boat and trailer a good fresh water bath. That night,
sitting in Bill and Michele’s hot tub under a cool
NW rain, we toasted our good luck, great cruise, and
even better sailing friends. Cheers all.
Derek Jensen
p-15 #694 "El Nino"
HMS-18 #11 "Hamada"
Portland, OR
Top || back
|
