I don't even recall the first day we left the dock at Delta Marine; I was petrified. Dwight was driving, which was the only thing that made this bearable. It was after we splashed on October 3, 2004 and before we took an overnight trip to Poulsbo on October 16th, but the rest is a blur. My only memory was turning the boat using only throttle controls, and then promptly forgetting how that worked. The good news: I didn't ground the boat, strip the gears, or run into anything. Woo-hoo! Thankfully, Dwight docked the boat and declared the bow thruster "incredible!"
October 2004 Following our splash on 10/5, Dwight practiced docking with the new bow thruster (and he declares it’s worth every one of the 5 million pennies it cost...) and Gail had her first driving lesson on 10/10. She didn't sink the boat, which was an incredible accomplishment! On October 16, 2004 We took a "sea trial" from Delta Marine to Poulsbo, WA. We hadn't called ahead for reservations, and found that to be a mistake: there were no available slips. We anchored out in Liberty Bay, and discovered that our 12v battery bankd would not hold a charge. We also discover that our two depth sounders have different reference points. Then, on the passage across Puget Sound to Seattle, we discovered that the cable form the autopilot compass had been disconnected. :-( Couldn't find the other end, so added to the punch list. We stopped at Shilshole Bay Marina to check out the pump-out and other facilities, then returned to Delta Marine. Whew! Gail drove most of the way and declared new windshield wiper motors an absolute necessity. Isabelle spent much of the ride to Poulsbo hiding under the sofa in the salon until Gail carried her up to the helm station. She made the rest of the trip on the seat of the captain's chair while Gail drove standing up. Dwight still has the more difficult job of docking, but it's a team effort and so far it's working.
November 2004 We arrived at our first permanent moorage on Sunday, November 7th. Gail's daughter, Sarah, and her boyfriend, Nate, helped us with line handling through the locks and other fun tasks as we moved from Delta Marine to the slip at Marina Mart. No one was more grateful for their help than Isabelle, for Sarah rescued her from beneath the sofa on more than one occasion. It was frustrating having to navigate through numerous fishing nets strung across the entire width of the Duwamish River, but those setting the nets quickly learned that we intended to go through and they stayed ahead of us to make sure we had room to pass. It slowed us down considerably, but we eventually made it to open water across Elliott Bay. The Ballard Locks were exciting, as always. They opened the large locks for us after making us wait for various smaller boats to transit through. Gail had to be at work at 1:00 p.m., and with those two delays the crew had to make do with peanut butter sandwiches instead of Gail's gourmet stew. What was important, however, was that we made it safely "home.”
Friends Brigitte, Brian, Jacob, daughter Sarah and her friend Abby were our inaugural guests on November 15th. We are learning how to allocate our 50 amps of shore power, however, to avoid trips to the circuit breaker.
On Thanksgiving we cruised Lake Washington with six people (sister and brother-in-law, Wendy and Mike Holland, friends Brian and Philamina, and us), one dog (Isabelle, of course), and a 20# turkey. We cruised during daylight hours around Mercer Island, ate dinner and watched movies at dock at Carillon Point. Phil and Brian returned shoreside, and the rest of us anchored out overnight in Juanita Bay. We were awakened early Friday morning, though, as the fog started rolling in and the radar alarm sounded: we were surrounded. By DUCKS, hundreds of ducks!