In Between the Trips

Doesn't look like rainy or snowy weather to me!

3/1/11

While Blue Bossa is safely (I hope) sheltered in Friday Harbor in either snowy conditions or continuous rain (from looking at the Friday Harbor weather report through the internet), I’ve taken a last dive (drive) down to California to finalize a lot of personal stuff (financial, taxes, health, storage, and music). For example, I took a bunch of clothes and shoes from my hanging locker that I never use, but don’t want to get rid of…to my little 5x5 storage locker in Santa Cruz! Sadly, I brought my long board down too, since I don’t think I’ll be doing any surfing going thru the inland waterways of Canada and Alaska.  I may regret it.  Maybe I should at least have a boogie or knee board on on the boat, just in case.

My current thinking is that I’m going to store my car at a friend’s property.  I just didn’t have enough time to sell the car for the money that it’s worth; besides, I’ll need something to drive when I get back in October/November while wintering BB in Alaska (Hey, here's a goofy thought: because of the heavily raising of gas prices, maybe my Prius will actually gain value....nah!) Of course, if a buyer should pop out of the woodwork, I would sell it in an instance (anyone interested?).  

After getting two bouts of bronchial infections and living in a constant cold and wet environment, my current thinking of wintering on the boat in Alaska has dried up.  What I’ll probably do (and this can change with the wind) is store the boat in a reliable port in Alaska and either come down to Santa Cruz, Friday Harbor, or….some place like Costa Rica to winter. Hmmm, maybe New Zealand. That’s the beauty of being retired…flexibility is everything, just so long as you can afford it.

Rich Barker sitting in and swinging!

Me on the left, Thor on bass, David George playing trumpet

February was a great month for playing music.  Though not many gigs, what I have had has been very high quality.  I was invited to play with Seattle’s David George (a great trumpet player, a true professional who has played 15 years in Europe, and another 5 years in Japan, both areas that seem to appreciate good jazz performances a lot more than the US) and Debbie Bevins, a very dynamic jazz vocalist - (the “Delta Diva” who has since moved up from Alabama to Seattle).  Along with Thor Hansen playing creative but steady bass, I had a tremendously good time, playing both Friday and Saturday.  Saturday was even more fun as we got Joe to play some good drums so that Thor and I could lay back a little.  Plus Friday Harbor’s Rich Barker sat in to play some smooth but inspired sax.  And Friday Harbor had a ton of people cheering us on.  Very memorable!  Thanks to George Scott for supplying the pics for our gig!

Debbie Bevins singing to the crowd

So what am I doing now?  It’s the second week being down in Santa Cruz with a lot of meetings and a big gig still to come.  Right now, I’m crashing up at the Fuhrman’s house in Bonnie Doone (a nifty community perched on top of the Santa Cruz Mountains) watching “I Shouldn’t Be Alive” on TV, where a sailboat loses it’s keel in the Gulf of Mexico, and immediately sinks, not giving enough time to setting the EPIRB or grabbing a ditch bag, which is a good cautionary note (to keep emergency stuff close by). The result is a group of 6 guys floating in a circle with pfd's (lifejackets) trying to stay alive for 24 hours and not get eaten by sharks or dying through hypothermia.  Animal Planet grinds the drama of the situation for a whole hour, with lots of repeats! In the very last second, the helicopter finds them and they’re saved.  Hooray for Hollywood!

Deer Harbor/Stuart Island/Roche Harbor

2/7/11

Glad I'm not doing this again!  Going south from Bend.

I can always tell if my boat has been docked too long in one place by how hard it is to undo the dock lines from the cleats.  The 5/8” braided lines were stiff and slightly worn and there was no doubt that it took a bit of extra time and effort to untie Blue Bossa from her Friday Harbor berth to take off on my next cruise.  I was anxious to try out my new anchoring system as well as get away from the relative noise and bustle of Friday Harbor (relative in the aspect that Friday Harbor is a veritable graveyard compared to Lake Union in Seattle).

Deer Harbor

Since the time was 4pm, I just zipped right across the channel to stay at Parks Bay, which was, as usual, calm and glassy.  I was delighted to see how quickly the anchor dropped without any help from the windlass, and after a very quiet but cold night at anchor, the windlass pulled the anchor back up and the chain stacked nice and neatly in the big 12” drainage pipe that I installed.

My first port of call was to be at Deer Harbor, on Orcas Island, which is a quaint resort with a nice marina.  I opted to take a slip.  I had a nice hike down the road, not seeing any great landmarks, but passing some quaint farms. 

Blue Bossa in Deer Harbor

Fancy business in Deer Harbor

When I was registering the boat at the marina, I wrote in my name Howard Wright; everyone in the store looked at each other with a funny look and just laughed. There is a Howard Wright, who owns a huge commercial construction company in Seattle, who is super rich, and has a huge estate on Orcas Island…ha ha! 

Amazing place to visit

While I was there, I talked to a guy who is a builder/re-modeler/finish carpenter (he was really into talking) – he said that the San Juan Islands are crawling with ex-movie stars, musicians, and other celebrities that he has met.  For example, Gene Hackman had apparently owned one of the islands just offshore from Deer Harbor, Al Gore was a visitor for awhile, as well as some old guitar player for the Rolling Stones.  The guy had a ton of stories!  I had to use a crowbar to pry myself away from talking to him all day.

Provost Harbor in Stuart Island

Provost Harbor from Farm

A could southerly with a bit of rain greeted the next day and I decided to go up to Stuart Island for a couple of days.  Instead of going to Reid Harbor as I did last time, I went to Provost Harbor on the other side of the island.  It is an almost completely protected natural bay.  I picked what I considered a good spot in the bay anchoring at 25 feet.  Satellite Island would protect me from any easterly winds, and Stuart from south and west winds.  As it turns out, it didn’t blow as hard as I thought, but it did rain hard that night.

Stuart Island

In the morning (Friday), it still blew out of the south with rain, so I spent the morning catching up with updating filing and expenses, cleaning the study out a bit and generally neatening up the boat.  Towards noon, it cleared and started blowing out of the west pretty hard.  Not very far to leeward were some nasty reefs, so I opted to up-anchor and move towards the NW end of Provost Harbor, where I re-anchored.  It was a breeze with my 12” diameter tube …the anchor and chain pays out really quickly and there have been no snags.  That is a great relief for me as a single handed sailor, not having to flake the chain by hand in the locker.

Turn Pt w/Lighthouse and "Mansion"

The next morning it was overcast, no wind, and cold.  After listening to the weather report, I decided that this would be a good time to finally visit Roche Harbor, a totally enclosed natural bay NW of San Juan Island.  So at about 8:30, we (Blue Bossa and I) left Provost Harbor, heading northwest to get around Turn Pt, which had a beautiful lighthouse with a nice mansion in the back…they must have treated their lighthouse people really well.  Then we headed southwest along the coast of Stuart Island to Roche Harbor.

Olympic Mountains behind Vancouver

It was a high overcast, but clear; so while we were going across the 5 mile channel to San Juan Island, to my right I could clearly see Vancouver Island, and even further, jutting a above cloud cover, I could see the snow covered Olympic Mountains.  All the while, there was not a breath of wind.

Once in Roche Harbor, I found a slip and tied up.  Wouldn’t you know it, Roche Harbor was sponsoring a salmon derby there!  Hey, didn’t I already have one in November at Friday Harbor?  But everyone there was very pleasant, and I didn’t see one camouflaged outfit!

Spike Africa next to Blue Bossa

Much to my surprise, Blue Bossa was tied up next to Spike Africa, a beautifully classic schooner built in the early ‘70’s in San Francisco Bay.  I remember Latitude 38 (a San Francisco sailing rag) doing some big write-ups about this boat.  Currently, it’s in the middle of replacing some deck planking and had a tent over the front third of the boat.  Apparently it does a lot of chartering in these waters.

I had a chance to cruise around there in my little inflatable, checking out these really nice and enclosed anchorages south of Roche Harbor – West Cott Bay and Garrison Bay.  I liked Garrison the best and I think I’ll stop there overnight before registering with Sydney when I enter Canada for my trip north in March.

NW San Juan Island w/Roche Hrbr

I’m back now in Friday Harbor, paying bills and setting up appointments for me with my late February visit to Santa Cruz…last one for awhile as I’m planning on taking off to Alaska come March.

That’s it for now.  More later.

Tripping South for the month

1/31/11           

Well, long time, no write. 

The last 4 weeks have been uneventful as far as Blue Bossa exploration is concerned, with lots of driving, and lots of time in my bunk. 

Lindsay, Tyler, and Ryan, the newest member of the Wright clan

Yes, I did visit the beautiful desert mountains of Bend, enjoying Christmas with my brother Rick and all of his family, going to Santa Cruz to visit friends and celebrate New Years and play a little music with the my old WAMO group, and drive down to Long Beach, for the last labors of dealing with what was in my parents house, which was in the last week of escrow.  During that whole time, plus the last week back in Friday Harbor, I had a good case of bronchitis, which refused to go away until I finally had a doc prescribe me some antibiotics to make it go away.

The old man, catching his breath

What stands out on my tripping south was mainly in Bend.  Beside enjoying the Christmas celebration with all of Rick and Chris’s relatives and friends, I had a wonderful day with my niece Maryn, first getting sort of lost trying to find a waterfall, then having a great hike in a desert canyon (which name completely escapes me - I swear I should keep a daily journal...).  Watching rock climbers pulling themselves up 90 degree cliffs was thrilling and scary, since I’m such a wuss when it comes to heights.

Bend Guide: Maryn

Just hanging around

After a big snowfall the day before (I was actually going to go skiing that day, but it was canceled due to bad weather), I headed my “anti-SUV” Prius south to Santa Cruz…but very shortly ran into another snow storm which cruelly tested my ability to drive in extreme snowy weather in an urban vehicle with no chains.  The visibility was almost zero with the white-out, the temperature was such that the snow would hit the windshield, melt, then turn to ice, firmly sticking to the windshield.  That meant that driving was hazardous at best, if not suicidal; some of the times I would be sticking my head out of the side windows just to see where I was going, and, when I could, stopping the car to scrape the ice off.  Most of the time, the speed was less than 20mph.  I found the best way to keep going was to hang out in back of a semi and just let it guide me.  I wouldn’t want to do that again, although amazingly, I still got 51 miles per gallon during that whole trip!

One other spot on my trip stood out, stopping by on my way back to Friday Harbor, to Bill and Kathy Cole’s house in Seabeck, Washington, to spend the night.  They had just completed building a beautiful house on the Hood Canal looking out at the Olympic Mountains.  A most majestic view and a great visit.  I was sorry that I didn't have a camera for my visit.

So here I’m back in Friday Harbor, having spent the last 2 weeks on my back and finally feeling better…enough that last Friday I did a gig at the Rumour Mill playing piano with the San Juan big band, feeling good about some good solos that I was able to punch out, and feeling good about sight-reading some difficult charts – big band is much harder than the normal small combo bands, as the arrangements are much more complicated and controlled.

Today I was able to have enough energy to install a big 12” x 3 foot pipe in my anchor locker, where I’m hoping that this will solve my chain from getting snagged.  Doing some anchoring drills will tell. It felt good finally getting some work done on the boat.  I think tomorrow I’ll do a major cleanup for BB.

I’ve also finally received an EPIRB and a satellite phone which significantly but a dent in my finances.  I will let everyone know what my sat phone number will be as soon as I figure it out and register.  Suffice to say, when I talk on it, it will have to be short and sweet, since it costs $1.60 per minute.  But, I can talk anywhere in the world, so it’s a great safety item. I'm also hoping that I can use it to receive and send e-mails as well as get weather reports. 

The EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) is a great safety tool too.  When I register it, I will give a telephone number for the Coast Guard to call.  If I have to set it off, it will give out a message of where I’m at (it has a GPS built into it), as well as the telephone number I register with so the the CG can confirm that it’s not a false alarm, and then they will come and rescue me.

My friend Tom Moellering sent me an e-mail today with some great pictures of his trip to New Zealand.  That’s a place definitely on my bucket list, and I am definitely jealous.  It would be sweet to sail Blue Bossa to New Zealand…maybe someday, although most likely it’ll be an airplane flight that gets me there.

Blue Bossa's Interior

12/23/10

I'm always amazed how quickly one can go from one environment to another: in just a day's driving, I have gone from a sometime rolly floating sailboat anchored amongst green islands with beautiful tree-filled scenery to a house next to a high desert mountain range, built only a few yards from a dramatic white-water river.  Another days drive and I will be in a coastal town right next to open ocean with big ocean swell, crashing waves dotted with surfers.  And, gee, in another days drive, I will go to an overly large, crowded, ugly and polluted city.

Yes, I'm taking a few weeks off to spend Christmas in Bend, Oregon; then down to Santa Cruz to play New Year's music with friends; then down to "Smell-A" to take care of business crucial to my staying retired.  It's nice to take a break from the boat every now and then; but, like anyone's home, it's nice to get back too.  But, what with the crummy weather that Washington has had, if I'm going to do any visiting and traveling on land, this is the time to do it.  I won't be able to do that when a) I sell the car, and b) I start heading Blue Bossa to Alaska, which I'm planning on doing in March.

Blue Bossa has definitely started feeling like home.  A couple of friends have wanted to see what type of environment I'm living in.  Well if you want to really see what it's like, come on up when I start heading up to Alaska - I'm always open to have some company, especially in an adventurous outing!

Anyway, this blog is just to show you all what the interior looks like after it's been lived into for awhile, especially from someone who (ahem) is not the neatest person around.

Port main cabin

Starboard main cabin w/piano

First off, walking thru the twin sliding doors (now one door with a canvas second door in front to help keep out the cold) is the big pilot house, or main cabin.  Port side (left) is a bench which can double as a single bunk.
On the starboard side (right) is the other bench which can also be a bunk.  This is the side where I put my piano on the table to practice, as it's out of the way of traffic.

Galley, during the night w/o a flash

Forward of the port side is the galley.  You have to step down to get to it, but the same ceiling for the main cabin is also shared with the galley, so you get a strong sense of being out in the open while in the galley, and can socialize with people in the main cabin.  It's not the biggest galley in the world, but it holds everything that I need. It has a big size refrigerator, along with a huge "freezer".  It also has a really old microwave oven that I hope holds together for awhile. 

Pilot house

Forward of the starboard side is the "pilot house", where one can steer, navigate and sit and watch while the boat is on its way.  It has a little foldaway bench where you can sit.  It's got a great view of what's ahead, better than when you're driving in the cockpit, but, obviously not as nice in good weather.

Going forward, the cabin ceiling drops down dramatically and the boat turns more into what most people are used to in sailboats, closed-in and darker.  Not something for claustrophobic tendencies.

Head & shower

Head w/sink

Port side is the bathroom (head), which includes the head (toilet), shower (you sit on the head to take the shower - something that I haven't used yet just because it gets everything around it wet), lots of storage space, and a faucet and basin.  My only regret with this boat is that the bathroom isn't bigger, with a completely separate shower.  Oh well, you can only do so much on a 40' sailboat.

Study

Starboard side is a study, which is completely open, with no door to close off.  It's got a bench which can slide out to accommodate a sleeper, preferably not taller than 5' and change.  I use it to store files and library and where my stereo resides.  I use my computer and sometimes read if I want to be cozy and more private.  It has a tendency to get cluttered, which you will notice with the picture which tends to chase me to the main cabin to read.  I obviously need to change my habits.

forward cabin - small but comfortable

storage locker under bunk

Forward of the head and study is the forward cabin, where I sleep.  The modified queen-size bed has a big thick cushion and I have made it even thicker with a thick pad of "temperpedic"(sp?) foam, which helps my old bones and sore muscles.  Under the bunk is a huge storage area, where I put stuff that I don't want to get wet, such as my piano, guitar, amp, as well as bulky stuff like sails and boat covers.  The forward cabin also has an LCD TV/DVD player facing forward where I can watch from the bed.  Not something that you'd want to use with a lot of people (unless you all are REALLY close friends).  But this boat was never designed to be a social platform and if I wanted to show movies in the main cabin, I'd use the computer.

Anyway, that's my home, and, as I've mentioned, I'm getting used to it.  Hopefully it will become a more emotional connection once I start having some adventures with it.

More blogs later after vacation!

Stuart Island

Stuart Island w/Reid Harbor and Provost Harbor

Reid Harbor - Blue Bossa is that spec next to the trees

 12/10/10
To time the currents right, I had to leave early at 8am to get a faster ride to Stuart Island.  I figured that I would spend the night at Reide Harbor and get an early start to Sydney, BC. 

It was a windless passage to Stuart Island weaving through what looked like inaccessible islands north of San Juan Island. Going by Spieden Island, in between Rouche Harbor which is north of San Juan Island, and Stuart Island, it looked like all cliffs along the sides, yet I saw a few cars there.  I wonder how they get them on there….no sign of docks or piers.

Stuart Island is the most northwest of the San Juan Islands, and probably the most isolated.  Apparently there are 40 people who live on the island, but when I was at Reid Harbor, the only people I saw was a crabber pulling up pots.

Testing out my waterproof camera - I need a float for it!

Reide Harbor Park - lots of picnic tables

When I started to anchor, my chain jammed in the anchor locker, forcing me to use the other anchor, which uses a small length of chain and lots of line.  I’ve never had chain pyramiding and then collapsing on itself, causing it to clump, but it sure did it this time.  On Compadre, my parents boat, there was usually a person assigned to flake the chain while the anchor was being pulled up, so that this problem wouldn’t happen.  But for a single-handed person, I would have to pull it up while washing it (smelly mud in the chain locker is no fun), then drop down to flake the chain, then go back up and repeat the process.  Sounds like a future project to figure out how to solve this problem.

I meant to explore Reid Harbor, the south side of Stuart Island, by kayak, so I launched the kayak, and paddled around, not discovering any beaches or rocky shelf to land the kayak.  But there was a nice dock with picnic tables, however it was about 3 feet high, too high for me to get off the kayak, so I paddled back to the Blue Bossa, launched the dinghy, and motored back to the dock to walk around. 

Reid Harbor pier and dock

The island is typical of the northwest, being heavily forested and hard to see around because of all the trees.  I did find a clear spot on top of a hill and took some pictures of the bay.  The dock is situated on a somewhat narrow, but steep isthmus where it is easy to walk over to Prevost Harbor, a beautiful little bay north side of the island where I would like to take another trip– very interesting.  There are also some county roads that I would like to explore, but time didn’t allow me to do it this time.  Stuart Island is very beautiful and I will have to get back to explore it some more when there is a good weather window, which seems few and far between this year.

As the weather forecast was looking pessimistic, I decided not to spend the night at Stuart but to head on over to Sydney.  At the Port of Sydney, I found the customs dock, tied up, and called customs; they just got all of the information and that was that.  The marina assigned me to a really long slip next to a bunch of mega yachts, making me feel like a 2-bedroom single level house nestled in between huge mansions.   

The Port of Sydney is very ordinary; it felt like I was at a high-priced motel with not much amenities but with super modern construction.  I guess the only reason that I would visit this place again would be to enter thru customs in Canada before going north.  Unfortunately, because the weather got crappy with lots of rain and wind, I had to stay there for two nights before zipping back to Friday Harbor. 

As it turns out, I was mislead in thinking that there was a shop in Sydney selling used charts.  Oh well...

Park Bay, Shaw Island and West Sound, Orcas Island

12/8/10

Park Bay "serenity Now!"

Looking out from Park Bay

This last weekend, I decided I needed a break from Friday Harbor.  I zipped across the San Juan channel to Park Bay, which is on the western side of Shaw Island.  It is a scenically beautiful bay, usually very quiet.  I think it’s mostly quiet because the land around it is owned by the Washington Biological Preserve; ie: no trespassing.  That’s kind of a drag as the landscape invites one to go ashore and walk around.  Despite that, the quiet is a nice respite from the relative noise of Friday Harbor, it’s only 3 miles away, and it’s well protected except from winds from the north.  I spent a very quiet day and night doing a lot of reading and fiddling around with the boat.

For those who have never been boat owners, fiddling around a boat is doing whatever to make the boat run better, or make it more comfortable.  In my case, I decided to learn new navigational software that I had just installed on my Mac.  Only until a couple of years ago, if you wanted to do navigation on your computer, you had to own a PC.  Now, with MacENC software and it’s ability to read Navionics charts, I now have all the capabilities of navigation all the way to Glacier Bay in Alaska. 

Not to say that I’m going to totally rely on that – I will also need to pick up paper charts too.  That can get really expensive, and, in fact, Canada stipulates that you need paper charts all the way up the inland passageway, which is at least 30 charts; at $20 a pop equals $600.  But I heard that there’s a book store in Sydney, on Vancouver Island, that has used charts that sell for considerably less, so I am planning next week to journey to Sydney for a couple of days, stopping by hopefully this weekend at Stuart Island, which looks very promising for exploration.  Hope I can find a good weather window.

Pole Pass

Anyway, getting back to my previous outing, I left Shaw Island the next morning and weaved my way around the Wasp Islands, poked my way up to Deer Harbor to look around, then headed southeast to go through Pole Pass.  This was not planned. I had not looked at any tide charts. But my timing was lucky.  There were no strong currents. so this notable "problem pass" was crossed without any problems.  

 After that, I headed east until I got to West Sound, and headed up, meaning to go to West Sound Village.  The hills behind West Sound Village dip down a bit which allowed a strong and cold NE wind to pipe through.  There didn’t seem to be any anchorages around there and I didn’t want to tie up to the docks, so I went NW, further up the sound, going by "Victim Island", working my way up into "Massacre Bay", and anchoring next to  “Skull Island”. Apparently there had been bloody Indian encounters on Orcas Island, way in the past, with Northern Indian tribes raiding the Lummis Indian Tribe in West Sound.  

Wasp Passage

I spent a couple of hours there exploring in the kayak.  Maybe I was psyched out with it's grisly history, but I decided I didn’t like the anchorage very well and headed back to Friday Harbor.  During that trip, I got to experience another “problem pass” by navigating through the Wasp passage before heading south to Friday Harbor.

I have to correct a mistake on my last blog.  The island that sits across Friday Harbor is Brown Island, not Bear Island.  Oh boy!  What was I smoking?  No wonder I didn’t see any bears!

Kayak!

12/3/10

I just got a kayak. It’s a sit-on-top, 13’ long, relatively skinny, but stable enough for my bulky bod.  I ordered it with a rudder kit installed, which makes a big difference in paddling; no double strokes on one side to keep on a straight line…just adjust by feet and “stay the course” (as Bush Sr. used to say). It has a really comfy seat with a tall back to help support my back on long paddles.

I had sample kayak racks that I absconded from my old job at West Marine and it’s being used to hold the kayak in place, outside of the stanchions towards the stern.  If I decide to go offshore, I would probably have to tie the kayak forward of the shrouds on the deck, but, for now, this configuration gets the kayak out of the way and it’s easier to get it on and off. 

I went for a paddle with it yesterday around the harbor and to Bear Island, a small island with cute houses along the rocks facing the town of Friday Harbor.  I didn’t see any bears, but there were cute houses, along with a cute seal that was playing around nearby.  The weather has warmed up to a fairly tropical high of 44 degrees, with low in the middle to lower 30’s.  With these temperatures in mind, along with future paddles up in Alaska way, I decided to get a dry suit (not the divers kind, which costs thousands of dollars, but a kayak drysuit).  Like wetsuits, it’s hard to get off, but hopefully I’ll get used to it.

Bear island

What I especially like about having a kayak, as well as my stand-up paddleboard, is that it will make going to a beach from the boat very easy.  I have a great inflatable dinghy with an aluminum hull and a 10 hp engine.  It really gets up and goes.  The problem is, as a single-handed sailor, it makes landing on beaches hard, especially with the large tides, as the boat weighs more than I can handle, without gouging the bottom. It’s almost impossible landing on rocky shores. Using a kayak is 1) easier on the ecology, 2) lighter to bring up the beach, 3) and is almost indestructible with it’s polyethylene skin.  Plus, it’s good exercise to paddle back and forth.

 

I finally got my “outside door” completed and installed today.  This is to combat against subfreezing temperatures and wind that I experienced a couple of weeks ago.  The canvas guy here was very clever in designing it.  Hopefully this will work when the next one comes storming along (which everyone says will happen soon).  I wonder if this is the first NE400 that’s had this done.

Not a Boston Whaler, but check out the camo outfits - real Fish hunters!

Today is the start of a salmon derby, similar to the one that happens at Santa Cruz (if the salmon season would actually open there).  The difference is that the Washington State season starts much earlier.  There are about 60 boats that have come into the harbor with lots of guys dressed up in camouflage jackets, really expensive 20-40’ powerboats with lots of downriggers (contraptions that allow the trolling lure to go really deep, where the salmon are). There was even a 35’ Boston Whaler with a trio of 250hp engines on the back and LED underwater lights to make it look jazzy at night.  It had to be at least a $400K boat.  I like Dave Ungerecht's (my old boss from West Marine) idea of fishing on nothing fancier than a kayak.

This weekend promises to be busy, so I think I’m going to leave tonight and cross the channel to anchor at Park Cove, a quiet place with lots of places to paddle.  A great place to read, listen to music and cook up some sort of soup.