Preparing

What a treat!  While I was playing with David George’s band that I described last blog, his brother Scott brought out a video recorder and taped a warm-up tune on Saturday called “All Blues”.  And of course, there I was grinning like an idiot because I was having a lot of fun.  Ha ha!  I was able to get this digitally and load it into u-tube so that everyone can take a look. 

Check it out on U-tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOyRdsVSIqg

While I was down in Santa Cruz, my friend Andy Fuhrman, as a going-away present, gave me what looks like a small ipod, but is in reality a movie camera, which takes high-def movies!  Too much to load on this medium, but, I think I've loaded a couple of selections in u-tube, so check it out if you want...there's not much to look at.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOyRdsVSIqg&feature=autoplay&list=ULO0VL1Dyh8cg&index=1&playnext=3

Computer chart at work - the radar in back can also be a chart

After I got to Friday Harbor, there was a constant stream of bad weather, heavy southerlies or south-easterlies, causing me to hang out at FH much longer than I anticipated. Originally my plans were to leave March 1, but, oh well...I will not be a slave to itineraries.

Just three days ago, I took a quick trip on Blue Bossa to Anacortes to get supplies and refueled.  Fuel and food is cheaper than here in FH.  So I filled the tanks with diesel, and bought a ton of food that doesn’t perish over a length of time: rice, pasta, can food – enough that if I was stuck at a lonely cove unable to move because of problems with the weather or boat or whatever, I had at least enough food to carry me over.  When I got back to FH, I spent time storing all of this in all of the hidey holes in BB.  It’s surprising how much storage is in this boat.

omigod!  We're sailing  - going to Anacortes

Anacortes is an interesting town.  I’ve been there a number of times by car, but have never approached it by boat.  It’s not very pretty from the water, as there is a lot of industrial shipping around it, as well as all of the oil refineries in the background.  I’m glad I didn’t winter in Anacortes, as there is much more noise, airplanes taking off from Bellingham, commercial boats coming in and out of the harbor at a fast clip, and much more traffic noise.  But it’s a good place to load up with a Safeway in close walking distance (yes, you too can take advantage of HOT Safeway discounts IF you have a Safeway card!!).

The back side of Anacortes - the harbor is right around the peninsula

After fueling up, I was keen to sail back, as, as usual, I was shocked by the cost of filling up with 74 gallons (I have roughly figured that I burn 1.4 gallons/hour).  Luckily there was a lot of easterly blowing (20-30Kts).  So off I went, winding in between all of the islands, jibing, jumping all over the boat, pulling and letting out sails – so by the time I got to FH, I was exhausted. 

And I guess I didn’t roller-furl the mainsail the right way, because with the heavy wind and the sail flogging in the wind, I ended up with a large rip along the leach of the sail.  After looking at it closely, I realize that it doesn’t look like it had any sunbrella protection along the leach, because the Dacron along there looked rotten. It’s a 12 year old sail that’s been exposed to the sun along the leach (roller furling mast), so I imagine I’ll need a whole new leach. I’ll know more when I get to Sydney, BC, as there is a first-class sail loft.

So this is my last day in FH.  I played music last night at Andy and Jill Urbach’s house – Jill sings with the big band as well as the San Juan Island Quintet – she picked some great tunes for us (myself and Cecil, a great bass player) to accompany, and enjoy some wonderful home-made pizza. And only a few days before that I had a nice dinner at Rich and Margaret Barker’s house, talking, of course, about music and gigging. All of the people that I’ve met in Friday Harbor have been super nice and hospitable.  It’s very easy to see me eventually settling here.  We’ll see…the future looks bright, but very hazy!

So my adventure really starts as we’re (BB and I) leaving to Sydney to check in with customs – we’ll probably be in Canada for 2-3 months until reaching Alaska.  I’ll be a lot more consistent in sending out blogs, as there will be a lot more things to talk about and pictures to take. Stay tuned!