Back to Sailing – Turnstone in the Salish Sea

Getting our focus back on sailing, since while not always inexpensive it’s pretty cheap compared to traveling to New Zealand!!!

We took Turnstone, our Nimble 20 yawl to the Pacific Northwest for two fun weeks of sailing, our first experience on that boat in salt water. We had a blast, learned a lot, and worked through some glitches that we’ll solve the next time around. Some good days of wind, a few long motoring days and a couple of truly squally days that kept us dock bound (blowing mid high 30’s on Bellingham Bay!!). We decided on the baby step approach and did not head out to the San Juan Islands proper… we decided there was plenty of fun and challenges on the mainland shore without crossing the Rosario Strait.

Sailing the Salish Sea (12min 50sec):

A few things we learned:

• Yes, it does rain here! While Bass built a big Sunbrella shade wing for the cockpit this year, a simple quick-to-set cockpit tarp is a must for next time to be able to at least step in and out of the cabin without getting the cabin itself wet.
• Don’t care how calm it is, a boat this size needs to be in a very protected anchorage at night or the rolling can be tough. Just the regular ebb and flood currents – no wind required – is enough to set up some serious rocking unless we’re tucked away in a very protected spot.
• Small solar panel with a small battery makes for a hugely more comfortable boat at night… big fans. Lights and a small propane heater, combined with the plexiglass hatch boards made for a cozy but not dark and scary cabin below at night.
• We definitely enjoyed playing to our strengths when we could… it’s nice to be able to tuck into corners of anchorages deeper drafted boats can’t fit in, then deploy our two oversized anchors and sleep (reasonably) soundly…
• … because sometimes you have to acknowledge your weaknesses… while I’m reasonably sure we wouldn’t sink in 35 knot winds, I have no desire to be out in them in a 20′ centerboarder that is also my summer cabin.
• Smart phones sure make sailing easier… along with surviving a few work related emergencies, my Droid served up its own version of AIS, tide tables, current forecasts and obsessively checked weather forecasts. Very nice info to have in hand without having to have anything more high tech, although we of course always kept the VHF on when out on the water.
• Anthony’s at the Squalicum Harbor is fantastic… cozy, great food, Chuckanut Pilsner… what more do you need? Anthony’s Homeport disappointed hugely, though.
• When things get too cozy or stormy on the boat, the Fairhaven Village Inn is a great retreat, right in downtown Fairhaven across from Village Books – one of the better bookstores we’ve seen in a while, and you get a $5 gift cert to Village Books when you check into the hotel – and about a block from Fairhaven Pizza & Prawns… so you can imagine how our downtime was spent!

Our approximate travels went:

• Squalicum Marina, Bellingham with a few days of shakedown day sailing in the bay, spending too much time and money at Anthony’s
• Inati Bay on Lummi Island… a little rolly in the northwest corner of the bay, at least in our craft… I think tucked into the southeast corner would be best, but when we arrived we felt we would be crowding another boat that was already in that part of the bay… knowing that others were going to pack in there anyway we probably should have gone for it.
• Back to Squalicum to weather a stormy weekend (brief retreat to a night at the Hotel Bellwether)
• Bellingham to Anacortes under power, and basically straight to the Brown Lantern when we go to Cap Sante Marina!
• Anacortes to Bowman Bay just north of Deception Pass
• Bowman Bay to Cypress Island under power… great hike to Eagle Cliffs then rolly night at exposed roadstead anchorage at Pelican Beach