Fall Sail

The fog lifted just after noon and the day turned into a bright blue-sky gift. So we called Jack's cousin Rich and all went down to the boat for a quick sail in the bay. There was a nice breeze and not too much chop. With the Staysail, Main, & Mizzen all up we even were pushing four knots (which is remarkable for our boat)! Straight out and back in for a two hour tour. Here is a shot that Colin took from the deck looking up at the Main (notice the top of the Staysail in the shot too).

Freewind's Main (10/16/10) by Colin

2010 Boat Trip Journal Entries

Here are some journal entries from the kids during our 2010 boat trip:

Caleb (14)

8/15/10

This morning we started off normally, with eating breakfast, Dad starting the engine, and me and mom raising the anchor (where I got to remove a crab clinging to a strip of seaweed stuck on the chain), and waking everybody up. After we left Nanaimo I drove the boat for about an hour,then Emma got to drive. Afterwords we did some filming with the digital camera,in Emma and Colin (act out) arguing about cushions, bed and such. Now that we have crossed the Canadian border, all signs are written in English and the in French, and the same goes for the weather radio.We have just anchored in quiet bay of Grace harbor. The stream on the map in the head of the bay had dried up, apparently it's been a dry month here. This was disappointing as we were planing on playing in the freshwater. Luckily there were other things there instead. Jellyfish from 1-5 inches wide were floating around, one was close to shore, so I got to test the "Tops Won't Sting You" theory. But the best part was the snakes. The snakes were about a foot and a half long, had two yellow stripes down it's back, which was colored black. They would slither around the rocks and then slide into the water, skim around the surface then dive down until we couldn't see them anymore. Most surprising of all was when we figured out that they were ordinary Gardener Snakes!!(of course Rilla and Cian still freaked out when one came towards them.)

Emma (12)
Day 13 Sunday the 22 Nanaimo Harbor 8:45 p.m.
Since today was Cian's birthday he opened some presents before we started the day. After taking a walk to the park we went to two bookstores and a bakery. At the bakery I got a cinnamon bun that was very good. After leaving the bakery we hiked to the Nanaimo Museum and had a Blast! There was a cave exhibit with "rock" walls and a mine cart. There was also a Education exibit with a classroom and very old books that were lying around for you to read. After leaving the museum we went to a suviniershop called "Newfoundland to Nanaimo" to buy t-shirts for our christmas photo and gifts for friends. After heading back to the boat we went to the library again for wifi but we was only there for a little while before it closed. For dinner we went out for burgers at a resterant called Mrs. Ritchies diner. After eating we headed back to the park to play. Back at the boat we let Cian open the rest of his presents after having cupcakes and wishing him a Happy Birthday. -Emma

Colin (10)
My favorite things I did were seeing Orcas and swimming in the bays and lakes. Next, was seeing a false killer whale, and staying in Nanaimo, One time, we ate at a buffet. I also liked playing at a park in Nanaimo, and my grandpa gave me a camera, so I go a lot of pictures too. I had fun sailing on the Freewinds.

(This is a picture of the false killer whale)

Rilla (7)
Here is a picture that Rilla drew of the killer whales:

Boat Trip 2010

Freewinds 8.10.10

This year the goal for our annual boat trip was to explore Desolation Sound which is about a 150 kilometers north of Vancouver. Since our boat is slow it took us five days just to get there - we were out for eighteen days total! Here is the link to last year's account which was only ten days.

Here was our 2010 itinerary starting from Everett, WA:
8/10/10 Port Townsend, WA
8/11/10 Bedwell Harbor, BC
8/12/10 Nanaimo, BC
8/14/10 Pender Harbour, BC
8/15/10 Grace Harbour, Desolation Sound, BC
8/16/10 Squirrel Cove, Desolation Sound, BC
8/17/10 Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound, BC
8/18/10 Gorge Harbour, Desolation Sound, BC
8/19/10 Secret Cove, BC
8/20/10 Nanaimo, BC
8/23/10 Montague Harbour, Galiano Island, BC
8/24/10 American Camp, San Juan Island, WA
8/25/10 Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, WA
8/27/10 Everett, WA

Here are the stopping points on GoogleMaps.

Click here for some highlights from the kid's journals.

Sailing with the Smiths

Took the Brent & Joanne Smith Family out on the boat this afternoon after church. Put up staysail & main for a nice 3 knot sail in Port Gardner bay! Here is an image of Kate and Rilla on the boat.

Kate & Rilla 9.20.09

Boat Trip 2009

Freewinds 8.12.09

We had an awesome cruise - and after two years of working on the boat it was indeed a joyous occasion. The first real voyage was a ten-day excursion into Canada. We left Everett on Tuesday after a two-day turn-around. Here was our itinerary:

8/4/09 Goodbeach, Whidbey Island
8/5/09 Cornet Bay, Whidbey Island
8/6/09 Sucia Island
8/7/09 Montague Harbour, Galiano Island, BC
8/8/09 Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC
8/10/09 Maple Bay, Vancouver Island, BC
8/11/09 Fulford Harbour, Salt Spring Island, BC
8/12/09 Wescott Bay, San Juan Island
8/13/09 Goodbeach, Whidbey Island
8/14/09 Everett

Being former teachers and running a tight ship, we forced the crew to keep journals. Here are some picks from the kid's journals:
8/12/09 Caleb (13)
Today we set off again and this time I got to lift the anchor! The white button brings it up automatically and the black button brings it up manually.You have to make sure to not hit the figurehead. We did three things, we went through customs and are now in the U.S.A. again! Second Garrison (Wescott) bay, a place with hiking and forts from the pig war. This was where British and American's could not decide who owned the San June islands. A man shot a "trespassing" pig, the nations sent up there troops,but there was no fighting. Instead the troops got along very well and celebrated holidays like Christmas together.

Emma (10)
After all the preparation and some delays you could imagine our excitement when we finally started our 2 week boat trip.Well, actually, we didn't go for the 2 whole weeks like we'd planned. It was more like 10 days, it just took longer to get ready then we had expected. Papa Ray (our grandpa, Raymond) came to visit from his home in Florida and came with us on the boat trip.Having not sailed on the boat for almost 2 years (because it was in Seattle, being worked on) getting to be back on it was so much fun! and just in the hours to get to Whidbey Island, were our cousins, the Ostlings, were staying to paint the beach house for a week. After staying at Whidbey for a night we set off again. The only part I didn't like was that I didn't have a official place to sleep so I just slept wherever. After the days of waiting we finally got to our destination; Naniamo iland. Being there was my favorite besides zooming around in our new (ish) dinghy and getting to sail without the engine on. Leaving Naniamo was sad but we have fun doing stuff on land (like getting ice cream) just like we did on the way. Even though I had a great time on the boat I still am glad I'm home.

8/12/09 Colin (9)
We went to Roche Harbor. Then we went to Wescott bay. We visited the English camp. Then we went back to Roche Harbor in the dinghy. It was fun! Once we got there we had ice cream! And we went to a sculpture park.

Move to Everett

Moved the sailboat from Lake Union to Everett yesterday (two bridges and the locks to the sound). Just reinforced why sailing is so cool! Here is an image of the Mukilteo Lighthouse as we passed by. Here are some more shots from the 25 nm move at our Photobucket site.

Mukilteo Lighthouse 8.1.09

Freewinds Exterior Completed!

We took possession of the Freewinds today! CSR really did an awesome job! And with the forest green sailcovers from Gordon at Bob Picot we’ve had more folks comment on what a beautiful boat she is! In fact our neighbor at the Everett Marina asked if this was a new moorage for us and stated that the boat before us had been there a long time…Gail tried to persuade him that this was the same boat, but he didn't believe it. Finally his wife point out the masthead and he agreed that it was the same boat! Here is a shot of the CSR crew who worked on her. Thanks to all!

CSR Crew 7.31.09

Freewinds Update

Our boat, the Freewinds, is finishing up a multi-year renovation at the CSR Lake Union yard. Here is today's image (thanks to Emma!) - note the new dodger and initial sailcovers. We're hoping for the current projects to be wrapped up in the next two weeks for a two-week sail to Canada.

Freewinds 7.17.09

Freewinds Haul-in

Today the Freewinds was hoisted back in the water after a six-month out-of-the water, major, extensive, project. She is essentially a new boat! For an idea of what was done and to help define 'extensive,' compare the image of the haul-out back in April. The team at CSR has done a super job. Check out more shots on our Photobucket site.

Freewinds 11.7.08

Freewinds Haulout II

Work has been progressing on the Freewinds. Today they pulled it out at CSR's Lake Union yard in order to finish out the fiberglass on the deck. Since we tip the scales at around 40 tons they had to bring in a moble crane and Jack was able to take some shots as the event proceeded. Yes, that's the actual city backdrop - honestly, it wasn't 'Photoshop'd in.'

Freewinds 4.7.08

Freewinds pull-out voyage

Okay, so a cruise from Everett to Seattle in November may not have been the calmest adventure our family has ever been on, but the boat was in desperate need of deck repairs and today was the day to take her in! Here is a GoogleMap of the adventure.

After a couple of nice, mild days we woke up to some fairly stiff winds at the house. Undaunted, we forged ahead. The marina was fairly calm, and at least it wasn’t raining! Well, it wasn’t the smoothest ride we had. In fact, with 20 mph winds in our face (and gusts up to 30 at times! Hmmm…just below small craft warnings.) and a changing tide, we had plenty of chop and slop with an occasional roll from the Straits. Since we didn’t plan on tacking much we didn’t even put the sails up. Still the boat did great.

The other adventure was navigating through the multitude of gill netters (who else would be out on a choppy/windy day like today?). More than once we had a panicked fisherman come full throttle towards us as we were merrily bouncing along, oblivious that the white caps ahead of us were really net floats. Caleb, who was the undisputed net finder, took the helm for most of this excitement so Dad could stand on deck and make reassuring gestures to the irate fisher folk. Let’s see…that was about when the littles decided to upchuck. But the winds were declining.

As we were coming to Shilshole, the huge mega-yacht Laurel crossed our bow and tied up. We were pretty impressed! Come to find out the Laurel is listed as the 8th largest American-owned yacht and was built right here in the Northwest.

The trip started going pretty fast after that point. The BNSF bridge was up so we scooted right past – good thing – the bridge clearance is 43’ at hightide and our mast is around 50’. Then we were ushered right into the large locks with only a barge and tug and one other small powerboat with us. Pretty good for the first time through the locks in our boat. Exit the locks, veer starboard, and back right into CSR’s travellift.

Freewinds pull-out 11.9.07

Colin on the Bow

Here is a great shot of Colin on the bow of our boat the Freewinds. Caleb took this picture one evening when Dad was working on the boat. See the Seagull too?