Mid Winter Cruise

Karma will begin her Mid Winter Cruise tomorrow morning (12/26) with a departure from Stimsons Marina at 5:00 am. We will cruise to Anacortes via LaConner with an ETA of 3:00 pm. Karma will be joined by Gail and Patrick aboard "Thats It" for a cruise through the outer San Juan Islands.

We will depart Anacortes on Tuesday morning.

You can follow Karma and That's It by logging into our "Spot".

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... OFk0OXhNZU

Anyone else wishing to join us is welcome!
 
Merry Christmas to all of you. As much as I would love to be on the Mid Winter cruise I need to be with Gill during this time.

Barry
 
The Red Ranger isn't going to be able to join you good folks, as it turns out, but we'll be with you in spirit.

Small craft advisories with southerly winds up to 25 knots today, lowering to 10-15 knots tomorrow. So please be careful out there.

Have a terrific and safe cruise, everyone, and here's hoping for a wonderful new year of boating.

JtheK
 
Weather, what an amazing thing it is. Yesterday morning, i checked the NOAA website, it appeared we had a clear window for making the run north. By the time we touched down in Seattle last evening things were going down hill.

I climbed out of bed on schedule this morning at 4:30. Turned on the radio and I-Pad to check the weather. Here in Seattle we have a great tool you can use to check real time condition all over the sound. It is the Washington State Ferry service. They post true wind speed and directions all the way across the sound.

NOAA was calling for small craft warnings and the ferry was showing them with a steady wind of 23 knots. We will postpone our departure for at least a day and see what the weather gods deliver tomorrow.
 
If nothing else, the weather in the upper left corner is challenging. The past two weeks the conditions have been perfect. Cold, clear, and almost windless. But Christmas morning things really fell apart. NWS called for 10-25 knot wind, but readings from Oak Harbor to Bellingham recorded 56 knots. Lots of damage, trees down, power outages, and one tragic death. NWS is calling for a series of brief storms coming in at 24-48 hour intervals. (google, washington marine forcast) Scroll down to "Northern Inland Waters" to see the pattern develop.
 
We are here in Anacortes...left Ganges harbour at 7:45 and reached Anacortes at 12:30. No real wind or waves except it was a little lumpy crossing Rosario . Small issue with the Wallas stove in that it does not seem to have any power.


Gail and Patrick

That's It
 
While the weather has not cooperated with our intended trip north, we still had a great time visiting with fellow Tugnutters last evening in the lovely home of Bob and Nita in Anacortes. Our Trip just had to be done at 70 MPH on the interstate.

Joining us were:
Gail and Patrick of "That's It"
Jim and Buzzy of "Carpe Diem"
Cary and Pat of "Auklet"
Randy and Ida of "Adventurer"

Thank you Bob and Nita for having us all to your home for a great evening!

David and Maureen
 
Karma":2dlhj25g said:
While the weather has not cooperated with our intended trip north, we still had a great time visiting with fellow Tugnutters last evening in the lovely home of Bob and Nita in Anacortes. Our Trip just had to be done at 70 MPH on the interstate.

Joining us were:
Gail and Patrick of "That's It"
Jim and Buzzy of "Carpe Diem"
Cary and Pat of "Auklet"
Randy and Ida of "Adventurer"

Thank you Bob and Nita for having us all to your home for a great evening!

David and Maureen
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great party...great hosts.
 
We are still here at Cap Sante in Anacortes....the wind is howling and the rain is pelting sideways. Other than that we are having a great time!! We had a wonderful visit last night with David and Maureen, Bob and Nita, Buzzy and Jim, Cary and Pat and Randy and Ida. We have seen both Bob and Nita today....The assistant harbor manager at Cap Sante recommended North Harbor Yacht Services for our Wallas problem. They sent Joe over about 20 mins after Patrick called, and he took over where Pat had left off troubleshooting. With power to the stove, we knew the problem had to be internal, and Joe discovered an internal fuse had blown. That being said, he knew it should not blow, so there was a bigger problem. Sure enough, the unit fired up with the replacement fuse, but it blew again when the igniter kicked in. Taking the unit apart further he quickly identified the blown glow plug. A replacement part has been ordered from Seattle and should be here tomorrow and Joe will be back to put it in. We would not have gone anywhere today with this wind anyhow, so it was the perfect excuse for a relaxing day. We have a small electric heater to keep the boat warm, and we purchased an electric kettle so we can at least make coffee in the morning. Restaurants are close by - we had breakfast at the Calico Cupboard Bakery this morning and dinner at Anthony's tonight - no cooking and no dishes!!! We walked to the other end of Anacortes today and Pat got to visit his favorite chandlery and I got to visit a new scrapbook store!! We browsed in West Marine and a few other spots, but purchased nothing but coffee at Starbucks and the aforementioned electric kettle which will now remain on the boat for use when we are plugged in at a dock!!! Provided that the replaced glow plug solves the Wallas stove problem, our plan is to depart Anacortes on Thursday morning (there is a break in the weather forecast) and get to the other side of Rosario Strait. From there we can poke around the San Juans for a few days , but we will likely stay at marinas because of the wind and the fact that we are on our own. From there we can easily get home without any real open stretches of water but we will watch the weather and head home early if one day looks better than another.

As we always say the worst day on the boat is better than the best day at work....so we will enjoy.


Patrick and Gail
That's It
2008 R-25 Classic
 
patrick":2loisyoo said:
We are still here at Cap Sante in Anacortes....the wind is howling and the rain is pelting sideways. Other than that we are having a great time!! We had a wonderful visit last night with David and Maureen, Bob and Nita, Buzzy and Jim, Cary and Pat and Randy and Ida. We have seen both Bob and Nita today....The assistant harbor manager at Cap Sante recommended North Harbor Yacht Services for our Wallas problem. They sent Joe over about 20 mins after Patrick called, and he took over where Pat had left off troubleshooting. With power to the stove, we knew the problem had to be internal, and Joe discovered an internal fuse had blown. That being said, he knew it should not blow, so there was a bigger problem. Sure enough, the unit fired up with the replacement fuse, but it blew again when the igniter kicked in. Taking the unit apart further he quickly identified the blown glow plug. A replacement part has been ordered from Seattle and should be here tomorrow and Joe will be back to put it in. We would not have gone anywhere today with this wind anyhow, so it was the perfect excuse for a relaxing day. We have a small electric heater to keep the boat warm, and we purchased an electric kettle so we can at least make coffee in the morning. Restaurants are close by - we had breakfast at the Calico Cupboard Bakery this morning and dinner at Anthony's tonight - no cooking and no dishes!!! We walked to the other end of Anacortes today and Pat got to visit his favorite chandlery and I got to visit a new scrapbook store!! We browsed in West Marine and a few other spots, but purchased nothing but coffee at Starbucks and the aforementioned electric kettle which will now remain on the boat for use when we are plugged in at a dock!!! Provided that the replaced glow plug solves the Wallas stove problem, our plan is to depart Anacortes on Thursday morning (there is a break in the weather forecast) and get to the other side of Rosario Strait. From there we can poke around the San Juans for a few days , but we will likely stay at marinas because of the wind and the fact that we are on our own. From there we can easily get home without any real open stretches of water but we will watch the weather and head home early if one day looks better than another.

As we always say the worst day on the boat is better than the best day at work....so we will enjoy.


Patrick and Gail
That's It
2008 R-25 Classic
Click to expand...

We talked to Bob last night, he told us you guys were hanging out at Cap Sante. Glad to see you are staying warm and dry. Maybe your weather there will turn good as quickly as ours has turned. Stay safe.
 
Well, its mid winter but there is not much "cruise" happening. We are still in Anacortes , waiting for the stove part. We are hoping it will arrive and solve the problem in the morning, then our plan is to get back across Rosario Strait during the break in the wind and head up East Sound to Rosario Marina....to hide out from the next batch of wind. We are amusing ourselves with learning about Pat's new Ipad and figuring out the Navionics App.

Gail and Patrick
That's It
2008 R-25 Classic
 
Yea --- the weather is keeping me in port as well in Edmonds. I'm waiting for a break in the weather so I can take family members over to Poulsbo for a short trip. Tried today, but too rainy, windy etc. 🙁 Hopefully will get a break in next day or so...

I'm glad you guys were able to get together and I hope the Wallas stove part arrives soon for you. Can you say if the fix is a DIY or not, given you had the part on hand ?
 
Yes once I figured out the problem the fix is easy. The manual that comes with the stove is not much help.
 
That's it is safe and sound at Rosario resort will post more this evening.
 
I tried to post this last night but could not keep an internet connection long enough!!

Well, Patrick has asked me to post more to update you all, but I am not sure what more there is to say.....Wallas stove is fixed, we left Anacortes about 11:30 and crossed an almost perfectly flat Rosario Strait, cruised up East Sound, stopped to have a peek at the Village of Olga (don't go there, they have taken the dock away for the winter....) and tied up tucked in a corner at the marina at Rosario on Orcas Island.The Resort is beautiful and the mansion that houses the restaurant and museum is gracious and elegant!! The marina is showing its age, but moorage includes 30 amp power - no water at this time. Rates are cheap and include access to the indoor pool, hot tub and excercise room. Do not be fooled though, there is no "spa" here like at Poet's Cove! The washrooms are spotless and the showers are free!

Once again this evening the wind is howling and the rain is pelting....we are snug and warm in That's It and very grateful for our electronic devices - Pat watched a movie this afternoon on his Ipad while I read my Kindle!! Although the Wallas is fixed we are enjoying the convenience of the electric kettle and electric heater since we have shore power!!

If the wind allows, our plan is to go to Friday Harbour tomorrow.

Gail and Patrick
 
Glad to hear all is well with "That's It" and yourselves. 🙂 Yes, Rosario is a very nice place -- my daughter #1 got married there on a grassy knoll over looking the Rosario Straits...

Take care and post back how your cruise proceeds.
 
Today (Friday)'s weather report. Windy.....so what else is new!! Today the sun is shining brightly although the wind is gusting to 40!! It was relatively calm this morning so we decided to head out of Rosario right after coffee. We had not been that comfortable there, with spotty cell service, poor internet and the dock is not as protected as you might think it would be.

We had plotted a course back down East Sound, across Harney Channel, down the East side of Shaw Island and across San Juan Channel into Friday Harbor. It was moderately lumpy down the channel between Shaw and Lopez and when we rounded the corner into San Juan Channel we found ourselves in very sharp 6 ft waves. Skipper Patrick promptly brought That's It around and we surfed back up beside Shaw, and ducked into Picnic Cove to make a new plan. We considered returning to Rosario, but that was not the ideal solution. We figured we would be better off at either West Sound Marina or Deer Harbor on Orcas . We proceeded back down Harney Channel where it was considerably calmer and decided to stick our noses back into San Juan Channel around the West side of Shaw. It did not look nearly as bad, so we decided to go for it ! By noon we were safe and sound tied up in Friday Harbor, with excellent cell and internet service and headed for burgers and coffee at Rock Bay Cafe!!!

We hear that David and Maureen tied up Karma back at Stimpsons and headed inland to land cruise with Lyman and Janeane of Zuma! We are with them in spirit!

Not quite sure when we will be able to get home, but we are safe, warm and happy here and will continue to watch the weather.
 
Thursday:

We spent two nights at Blake Island listening to the driving wind and rain beating down on Karma, the wind has finally let up and the rain has stopped. We make the decision to try going north one more time. I check the Washington State Ferry Weather which shows you up to date winds and temp. All looks good! 8 to 10 knot winds out of the south.

We depart Blake at 7:30 am headed for Hat Island to hook up with John and Laurie Gray. As we approached West Point, the winds begin to build as well as the seas. By the time we were just north of West Point the winds were back up to 20+ knots with a forecast indicating continued strengthening through out the day. Going north is no longer an option. We make the decision to try to get to Poulsbo and spend a couple of days there. Crossing from the Shilshole to Port Madison was very lumpy and rolly. Just as we approached Port Madison a text come's in from Lyman, "come to Leavenworth and play with Boomer" it says. I look at Maureen and make a turn to starboard. It is back across the shipping lanes to the lock and onto Stimsons.

After getting Karma settled and all of the salt washed off, it was off by land yacht (one way to describe a one ton Dodge Dually....) to Lake Wenachee! We spent two night with the Boyds at their cabin on the Lake watching the snow fall! What a great two days.

While we were unable to actually "cruise" with fellow Tugnutters this week, we were actually able to hook up with more than a dozen by land! What a great week it really turned out to be.

Today (Sunday), weather permitting, we are going to take Karma and cruise over to Andrew Bay on Lake Washington to spend the night on the hook. Tomorrow, Maureen is off to Denver.

Happy New Year to all of our Fellow Tugnutters! It has been another great year living in the PNW! See you out on the water in 2012!

David and Maureen
 
Happy New Year to all of you.... glad all are safe and sound... and it does sound that you all had adventures 🙂 Will be looking forward to hooking up with you as the new year unrolls... All the best... Barry & Gill.
 
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