Docking

Another sailing story. Written in 2002. Jenne, mentioned here, was age 5. Lynn is her mother.

Today (Saturday) it wasn't nearly as warm. It was cloudy all morning and into the afternoon - just like the weatherman said it would be. That's our air conditioning kicking in. Whenever Seattle gets hot weather for a few days, the flow reverses and we get the cool moist air off the ocean, which cuts the sun's intensity in the morning so we won't get so hot. As we're near the summer solstice and the sun is high in the sky for many hours, it almost always burns through in the afternoon so we get a sunny day that's just comfortable. And, so it was today. We (Lynn, Jenne, and I) got on the boat at about 2:15 this afternoon. The sun was moderately filtered - you know what I mean, perfect picture taking lighting. Not bright sun, but bright enough that there are definite shadows. In fact, I was thinking I should have a tripod there and take some pictures of the marina. It was a very low tide, so standing at the top of the ramp down to the docks you seemed to be about mid-height on many of the sailboat masts. It would have been perfect angles and lighting for a panoramic shot of the whole marina. I'll keep that lighting and tide in mind for the future. But, on to the boat. Headed out, and had full sun by the time we were 5 minutes out of the marina. Light breeze at about 8 knots. Just perfect for a relaxing sail with a 5-year-old on board. Especially one that wants to steer part of the time.

Got the main sail up. Got the jib deployed. Doing fine, moving about 4-5 knots. But, the wind is tapering off as we head further out. At 3-4 knots of wind we're moving along at 2 knots (not bad!). Finally, the wind is just kind of whispering at us from various directions. We're almost dead in the water. So, drop the jib and start the engine. Plan B is in effect. We'll motor over to Blake Island (about 5 or 6 miles), and check out the mooring buoy situation on the back side. We're planning a trip in late July with some of Jenne's "China friends" to Blake Island, and just in case the dock and mooring buoys on the front are filled up, we want to know what our options are. My, but the island is busy today. All of the mooring buoys on the NW end are taken, as are the ones on the east side. On the south side, just across the point from the dock, there is an available mooring buoy. Wish we'd come prepared to spend the night. It would be a perfect night to sleep on the boat.

Head back to the marina. Jenne steers the last 15 minutes toward the marina.She's really getting the hang of this. Last year, she understood about turning the wheel in the direction she wanted to go, but didn't understand about straightening the wheel (OK, that word picture isn't right) once you were pointed in the right direction. But, she understood the important things. Once, when Lynn was below decks and Jenne was steering  (assisted), she asked if she could turn the boat in a circle so she could see Mama's reaction. Of course I said yes... And we hadn't made more than a third of a circle when Lynn's head popped up asking what was going on, much to Jenne's delight. This year Jenne understands how to steer. Her concentration often lapses and she needs to be reminded where she's heading, but hey, I know adults that need that!

Again, perfect weather. With the light breezes and sunshine, it's another T-shirt, shorts, and Tevas day. I did put a sweatshirt on after 6:00 PM out on the water. Took it off when we got in the marina.

Back into the marina, where the tensions normally mount. Gee, I must be getting the hang of this - and I haven't even been a boat owner for 4 years yet! No stress. Of course, the winds are light at about 6 knots, and they're coming from the right direction. We'll be heading almost straight into the wind coming into the slip. Lynn agrees to handle the lines and get the fenders out, and I'll just stay on the helm. Turn at the right channel (I've almost screwed that up in the past - quite embarrassing). Head up the channel and spot our boat's slip (it used to be hard for me to pick that slip out - there are a lot of slips in this marina - we're slip 63, and just over half way out). Swing the bow toward the slip - hey, it's looking like I turned at the right time. Ease it around, pop it in reverse. Rev the engine, and the boat slows nicely. Serenity "walks" left when in reverse (normal for single-engine boats - the physics of the prop and all), and we have a bow-in port-tie slip. Wonderful - the stern sucks nicely up against the pier, and I step over the lifeline, hop off the boat (almost tripping over the dock line that's wrapped around my foot, but no one notices), and secure the stern line while Lynn is handling the bow line. Jenne now gets to shut down the engine (it's a diesel - you don't shut off the key until you've starved the engine of fuel so the engine dies), which she thinks is a cool job. We're back. Just pick up all the stuff we brought on board, close up the boat, hose off the salt spray (we didn't do that after our ride Thursday night), and go for Chicken Teriyaki.

An Evening Sail

It has been much too long since I posted. This is a (true) story I wrote back in 2002. First of three stories.

Thursday I went out after work (temperature on land was above 90 degrees) with the one and only lessee, Joe, on Serenity (my sailboat). Had stiff winds when we left - highest I saw was 19 knots. Had full mainsail and jib up, and we were hauling ass out there. Got her up above 6 knots. We headed N, tacking upwind. Got across the little bay (you know - to the other side of the water over by the north end of Bainbridge Island), and the wind dropped off to a measly 8 knots.

So, just to see how it would work, we put up the asymmetrical spinnaker (sometimes known as a geniker, or a drifter). That's a lot of sail! Headed mostly downwind - straight for downtown Seattle, aimed right at the Smith Tower, and she performed beautifully. We were doing 5+ knots. As we got closer to Seattle - sort of back where we came from - the wind started picking up. Once the winds got around 12 knots, Serenity got real squirrelly. If I let her bow come up at all, she'd catch the wind and try to turn into the wind. Normally, you'd think that would be good - into the wind spills the wind out of the sails and lets the boat come more upright. However, when you're heading downwind to begin with... into the wind puts you more broadside to the wind. With that much sail out there, she really heeled under those conditions. I was afraid at one point I was going to lose control - the helm didn't respond and I was just about standing on the side of the cockpit. (Who needs drugs when you've got that much adrenalin?) Hit 6.5 knots at one point. That may be the fastest I've ever had Serenity moving.

I wore a short sleeved T-shirt, shorts, and boating Tevas the whole evening. In the middle of the sound with a 15+ knot breeze, I considered adding a sweatshirt. Then we'd get close to the shore and the wind felt like a blowtorch coming off the land. It was great!

As we got close to Seattle, the wind tapered a bit (and so did I). We were almost dead square in front of the incoming Bremerton Ferry, so we moved north a bit so as to not block the dock. We were going to drop the Geniker, but decided to leave it up until the ferry passed us - it is a beautiful rainbow-colored sail - for the enjoyment of the ferry passengers. Then we headed north again back to the Marina. A very successful evening.

Seattle signage not very clear!

While waiting for the bus in Seattle on Third near Pine yesterday, I noticed this sign, and wondered what the hell it means!

The top part seem clear - from 6 to 9 in the morning and 3 to 6 in the afternoon buses come here. I'm trying to catch a bus here, so that's a good thing. 

But what's this "EVERYDAY" stuff? I think of the word "everyday" as an adjective, although dictionary.com says it can be a noun (it has three definitions for use as an adjective and one for use as a noun). Synonyms include "workday" and "common". To me, "everyday" means "common". As in, "Today I'm wearing my everyday shoes." 

So is this where the Common bus stops? (The Fancy bus must stop somewhere else.)

Then there's the bottom portion of the sign. Wow. Seattle, are you sure? It's clear that your car will be towed. But when? Apparently, just "all other times". So does that mean you won't be towed from 6 to 9 in the morning and 3 to 6 in the afternoon? (And, is that Every Day? or just the Everyday Days?)

At least they have a phone number you can call if this is confusing. 206-684-5444. (But don't bother - it wasn't helpful.)

A few fixes for the Kawasaki Versys

I bought my Kawasaki Versys new in 2009. It's been a great motorcycle, but it didn't take long to discover a few things that needed improving or a few problems to be solved. Here are three of the fixes I've done.

• The mirrors were terrible. First, they're too short (or not set far enough out). When you look in the mirrors, all you see is your shoulders. And they vibrate like crazy, making it impossible to see details of what's going on behind you! Early on I bought a couple of mirror extenders from http://www.motowerk.com/. That fixed it so I could see traffic behind me and not just my shoulders, but the vibration problem still was there. The solution for the vibration was to replace the mirrors. I picked up a pair of Aprilia mirrors locally for about $24 each (a real deal - way less than Kawasaki wanted for mirrors for any model motorcycle). 
• After the first season of riding my Versys it developed a terrible buzz/vibration coming from somewhere up front. Reading the forums, it was apparent this was "normal" for this bike. I found that pressing on the cowling around the headlight reduced it (which was one of the commonly mentioned buzz points). Again, at the recommendation of several riders on the forums, I took all the cowling off and put a thin self-sticking foam insulation (picked up from the local hardware store) everywhere the cowling touched or almost touched the frame or another piece of cowling. Buzz fixed!
• The reset button in the instrument cluster is another failure point. Very frustrating to not be able to reset my trip odometer or set the clock! Again, the forums identified the problem (or multiple problems) - and had a solution. Take the instrument cluster off the bike, dismantle it enough to get to the bottom of the circuit board, and then use contact cleaner on the switches. It looks like they're enclosed and the contact cleaner won't get into the switch, but apparently it does get into the right area and doing this solved my problem. A year later, and the switches still work reliably. 

There are more things on my list I'd like to do, but these were the frustrating little design flaws that were easy to resolve. (I hope Kawasaki is listening.)

Gary

You're kidding, right?

Auto tabs in Washington used to all expire on December 31 every year. I remember my dad getting the new tabs in December and thinking the DOL was completely crazy when he read the instructions, which were similar to these on the back of my recent tabs:

Especially “DO NOT APPLY IN FREEZING WEATHER!”. We lived in Colville. In December in the 1960’s it rarely was above freezing. There was snow on the ground. We had an unheated garage. I recall watching him use a blowtorch to warm the license plate up to get it warm enough so the tabs would stick!

Five days, 1364 miles

Over the Memorial Day weekend I went on a little trip...

Map of my 5-day Memorial Weekend trip

If the map looks like I wandered a bit, you might be right. I had a few goals in mind, but I mostly looked at the map each night and decided on a direction for the next day.

I had planned to take a few extra days after Memorial Day and ride down the Oregon Coast. However, as the time to go got closer it became clear the weather was going to be cool and rainy. So I looked at the weather maps, and saw that eastern Washington looked more promising. Slight chance of showers, and temperatures up to mid-80s, depending on where... I was also concerned about the heavy traffic on the roads and availability of camping sites. But that didn't stop me.

I had Friday off, so got everything packed up and loaded onto the motorcycle (a 650cc Kawasaki Versys). Yes, this was a ride, not a drive. At a friend's suggestion, I left town early (before 6am) to beat the traffic across the pass. There are no alternate ways across the pass - just major highways, like I-90 or Stevens Pass. Before Cle Elum I exited I-90 and took side roads, aiming for Ellensburg. However, Highway 10 was closed for construction, and the detour took me on 970 and 97. About 10 miles north of Ellensburg on Highway 97, I saw this:

Scene from Highway 97 about 10 miles north of Ellensburg

Highway 97 is the Blewett Pass highway, and I decided to ride over Blewett Pass. But I needed gas, so dropped down into Ellensburg to fill up. Then headed north over Blewett Pass. Went on up to Highway 2, then U-turned and came south, going over Old Blewett Pass. Nice twisty road! I'll post some video when I get time. Once again into Ellensburg, I took the Canyon Road south to Naches. That was another nice road, and I don't believe I've ever been on it before. From Naches I headed west up 410, hoping for camping. I figured if I didn't find a campground, since this was National Forest Service land, I could head up a road and camp anywhere I could find a flat spot. I got lucky at Little Naches campground. This small campground has about 20 sites, and 4 were empty. Grabbed one before someone else could... (and two sites never filled up that night). When I got up the next morning about 7:30, the thermometer on my bike said 39°. No wonder I was a bit chilly. I didn't leave camp until it warmed up to 50°, which was around 10:00. 

My campsite at Little Naches campground

The next morning (Sunday) I headed further west on 410 just to see the road, then turned around and headed SE. Went through tri-cities, Walla Walla, and into Oregon. When I rode to Crater Lake a couple years ago I found some nice camping east of Weston on the Weston-Elgin road. Air temperature dropped quickly as I went over the 5100'+ pass, and there was lots of snow along the road. I didn't want to camp near there. I continued riding until I dropped down into the lower elevation at Elgin, OR, and the temperatures were back up around 70. I camped at the Elgin Hunaha RV Park, and had the large lawn tent-area and adjacent bathrooms all to myself. For only $1 more than the NFS campground I had running hot water and a hot shower. Temperature the next morning was again in the 30s. I've ordered a warmer sleeping bag...

Monday morning, at the suggestion of the camp host, I headed to Enterprise, OR, then north to Clarkston, WA. That road is one great twisty road with great views along the way. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride (rode parts of it three times to go back and get some photos). My tires' chicken strips got narrower on this road! And it ends up in this great twisty grade down into Asotin, WA. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun riding it that I didn't take any photos. I think that is a reason for another trip there. 

Oregon highway 3 north of Enterprise

Monday night I ended up at the Lyons Ferry Marina KOA near Palouse Falls. Another place where I had the tent area to myself, and a hot shower once again, for a few more bucks ($19.15).


Tuesday I went up the road a short distance to Palouse Falls. I visited here two years ago on a trip to Crater Lake. This photo is taken from the visitor area with a super-wide-angle lens. Everything is so big and close it's hard to get it all in with a regular lens.

Palouse Falls

The Palouse river below Palouse Falls is  also very spectacular-looking. This time of year the green really adds to it. I took a little dirt road just outside the park entrance a half mile or so to get the next couple photos. 

Palouse River below Palouse Falls

Any trip is really just an excuse to take photos of your motorcycle...

After Palouse Falls, I headed toward Grand Coulee Dam to see the Laser Show. I was close to Grand Coulee Dam earlier in the trip, but wanted to avoid the Memorial Day crowds so didn't stop at that time. I went on the Dam tour and watched the laser show. I was unable to get a good photo of the laser show. They weren't spilling water over the dam yet - maybe in another couple weeks. I may go back to see that.

Grand Coulee Dam

After spending the night in the National Parks' Canyon Springs campground, I headed home, stopping only for a few dozen more photos along the way. 



And one other stop on the way. Went to the motorcycle shop to order new tires. The ones on the bike now had over 9,000 miles, and were completely worn out. Need new tires so I can plan a new trip.


Gary

Bloomsday 2012

One more Bloomsday completed. That makes 34 for me, but who's counting?

A perfect day for it. And a perfect weekend visiting friends in Spokane and enjoying the weather and viewing the Spokane River, which is close to the highest I can recall seeing.

I did better than I had a right to expect - 1:10:12 official time. That's 9:24 per mile. I'll take it!

Gary