Thursday, September 15. Cypress Island
This morning was cloudy and the forecast was calling for rain in Bellingham. As we would find out over the next few weeks, the forecast always called for some percentage of rain in Bellingham. We headed Northeast from Cypress, raising the main sail [Bass: with a single reef, as we were somewhat unsure what the conditions were going to be like] and unfurling the genoa. The wind was very consistent beam/broad reach and Gretel ll wanted to run. Our speed ranged from 3- 6 knots [Top speed through the water was 6.5 knots, although that was still only about 5 knots over the ground as I didn’t time the currents that well] and as the early afternoon progressed the weather got snotty. But all was well as I had a new set of foulies purchased previously in the week at West Marine in Seattle. I was grateful for my deck shoes, wool ski cap and gloves. Bass donned his foulies too and we sailed quickly and comfortably for the next several hours. It is 15 miles from Cypress to Bellingham Bay and the entire trip took about three and a half hours.
Bellingham Bay is one of the busiest bays we have experienced. Coast Guard patrol boats are a common site as are commercial fishing vessels. I knew Bass might be nervous about calling Squalicum Marina in Bellingham Bay to secure a slip for the night and navigation within in the bay [and the marina itself!]. But we were assigned a great slip nearest to the marina entrance. A very nice couple from Victoria Island in a San Juan 24 was docked one slip over. They saw us coming in [with about 10-12 knots breeze right on the beam] and offered to help with our docking lines. Bass docked the Baba perfectly. The nice couple complimented Bass on his docking skills adding they were impressed he did not crash the bowsprit into the wooden electrical box. I silently admonished myself for not even looking at the bowsprit as we were docking. As crew I knew I needed to pay closer attention.
[Bass: No silent admonishment required, just a little reality check ;-) I did, in fact, manage to give the dock box a gentle kiss with the bowsprit… no harm no foul, and looking at the dock box I could see I was not the first to give it a little love. My big mistake was trying to get into an upwind slip so therefore needing some power to make my “move”… should have had bumpers on both sides of the boat and just let ourselves drift down to the downwind pier of the vacant two-wide slip we chose.]
After showers, in the very clean marina bathrooms, Doug, Kate and Judy came down to the Baba for a celebratory cocktail. Judy and Chuck had considered a Baba 40 as a live aboard boat but had never been down below on a Baba. The salon was perfect for entertaining a group and a festive evening [with a beautiful, clearing sunset] was had by all!
Google Earth Tour:
Click the link below to download a Google Earth .kmz file that will take you on a fly-by tour of our sail from Cypress Island to Bellingham:
2) Double click to open in Google Earth
3) Expand the “Cypress_to_Bellingham.kml” tree down and double click “Double Click to View Tour”:
Pictures:
Ah, yes. The perils of docking in an unfamiliar marina slip. I remember it well, and it sounds like you guys are learning all the right things.
So using the dock box to stop is considered standard procedure?
On Company Match, using the dock box to stop was not standard procedure. Using a reef or a sand bar was. Glad to see you’re becoming an old salt. My only exposure to salt was on the rim of a margarita.