whats up......the deadline looms.

Blaze is at anchor in the free anchorage of Bellingham. Mark is home and Devon and the crew are working on the short list that remains. Mark returns to Blaze Wednesday and the boat moves on.

The Hydrovane self steering gear is up and running. The watermaker, refridgeration and electrical systems all work well. The satelite weather system is working fine.

All anchor systems work.

All emergency equipment is ready.

The boat will return to Port Townsend next week and replace th erudder cable and take care of some loose ends.

The deadline has been issued to Captain and crew.........

"Be on your way to Hawaii by July 9, 2007 or return to Boulder City."

Stay tuned................

what we came for

Bellingham means showers!

Did you know that at the marina in Bellingham a four minute shower in a spotless restroom is only one dollar?

Did you know Bellingham has a Costco?

Did you know the damn sun doesn't really set until nearlyt 10:00 PM?

Did you know that seaweed can get caught in the sea strainer?

On to Bellingham

We sail east thru the Harney Channel on a raining, but windy morning.

Very peacful and nice.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=lopez+island,+wa&ie=UTF8&ll=48.605674,-122.89856&spn=0.103747,0.2314&z=12&om=1

West Sound and Massacre Bay

The boat continues north to the aptly named "West Sound" We are all really getting into the boat work. Nicki has become the "Polishing Wench" as she dilligently and repatedly applies Flitz Polish to the neglected stainless steel. The unusual title is given with respect and thanks. The boat is starting to look "Yacht Like".

Dusty takes advantage of the calm morning to attach leather chafe guards to the ends of the spreaders. He hung in his rock climbing harness for nearly two hours...35 ft in the air as he hand stiched the leather to the stainless wire and aluminum (new ) spreaders.

Devon opts to take a break and sort all the stainless fasteners.

Lopez Island and Blind Island

WOW!

This weather is beautiful. Debbie hangs the laudry to air and we have a very lazy sail to a small bay on the north side of Shaw Island.

The weather is warm and the new anchorage at Blind Island is as calm as the come....it is also really shallow. We enterted on the western edge of the bay and the depth alarm let us know we could go that way. After a very quick "hard over" U turn. (britt's fault) the boat entered Blind Bay on the eastern side. Nudging along at 1/2 half knot so we dont ground at the low tide. Other boats join us for a peaceful night.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=blind+island,+wa&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=31.839416,59.238281&ie=UTF8&ll=48.576721,-122.943964&spn=0.103806,0.2314&z=12&om=1

Moving the boat north

As we leave Port Townsend and head into the San Juans we all recognize this is the first real "cruise" with the crew. Each takes a rapid interest in the GPS chartplotter as we cross the first shipping lane. The chartplotter also shows tidal flows and curent predictions as well as "speed over ground". SO we could compare boat speed with SOG speed and determine current strength. The Charplotter was surprisingly accurate in its current predictions.

As we reached the first "waves" of note we were in the portion of the islands that was open to a direct sea. The boat performed well as a motorsailer (the mainsail was up) as was moved along well with the Perkins 6 cylinder turning about 15o0 RPM. Occassional bow waves wetted the deck. Swell was 4-6'

Soon, in the protection of Lopez Island....the boat settled down as we searched for a place to set at anchor for the night. Chartplotter was helpful in finding a private cove on the east side with southern protection.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=port+townsend,+WA&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=48.351686,-122.88208&spn=0.834145,1.851196&z=9