My first Weekender...

So up to this point, I have done a lot of Day sailing.  This is fun, don't get me wrong, but I wanted to go exploring. it is one of the primary reasons that I bought the boat after all.  But where to go?  so many choices, and so many things i don't know.  Then a perfect situation appeared.  It turns out that the Foss Harbor Club (have I mentioned how much I like Foss Harbor?) was doing a weekend trip to Dockton, which is part of the King County Park system.  If you don't know where Dockton is, it is in Quartermaster harbor, which runs between Vashon and Maury islands.  Well, Technically they are not two individual Islands as they are connected by a small spit of land that has a road on it.  Whether this is natural or man-made I don't know.  It is on the north west corner of Maury Island.
A view of Dockton's many moored boats

    I had been out there once before with my Brother in law, and we had lunch while we moored to what I thought at the tie was a public mooring.  it turns out there are no public moorings there, only private mooring for the island residents.  Oh well.

     We were to leave on Friday afternoon.  As I had to work that day, I was concerned about a couple of things, both involving Time of day.  The first thing was  crabs... Huh? you say? Not THOSE kind of crabs...   you see, it is crabbing season here, and the last time I was in Quartermaster Harbor there were crab pots strewn EVERYWHERE.  You DON'T want a crab pot line stuck in your rudder or wrapped around your prop.

The second thing was that we were going to tie up to a dock.  The docking wasn't the problem, it was the approach... I had never seen the dock there before. I had no idea what shape it was or how to approach it.

For both of these reasons, I HAD to get there before it got dark... It was a work day, so I had to work until 3 pm. THEN I had a couple of errands (Picking up my repaired outboard motor, and provisioning) to do before getting to the boat at about 6 PM.  so now I was in a rush to leave.  I got my bags and the outboard down to the boat, got the outboard on the dingy (this was the first time i was going to take it with me since bringing it to Foss Harbor in April) rigged the towing lines to the Dingy, move the Dingy to the fuel dock where I would pick it up on the way out, then do all of the normal preparations to make way.  I didn't take of the main sail cover since I knew I would have no time to sail... I would have to motor all the way (about 8 NM) AND would be going against the current and Tide, not to mention towing the dingy, I knew it would take me awhile.

  For the most part, the trip was uneventful... I backed out into the Foss Waterway (I have come to the realization that it was much easier to back out going with the port Prop-Walk, than trying to fight it and TRY backing to Starboard, so if you can't beat it... Join it, Right?  Getting out is getting out, doesn't matter if it is forwards or backwards... right?), stopped to tie on the Dingy and then it was off I went... about 7:30 pm...

All Docked Up
I moved it to the other side since the cleats were closer together
   I entered into QM Harbor at sunset.... just what I DIDN'T want... fortunately there were not as many pots as the last time I was here.  and it wasn't dark quite yet so they weren't too hard to see.  I called Lori on the m/v "Road To Oz" as I came around the point to the park.  she said she saw me, but I had a tough time finding her, even though she is in a 48 foot Bayliner... she tried to explain how to enter the docks, but it was getting pretty dark and I had a hard time seeing what she was describing... I was getting worried.... fortunately, I saw a powerboat pass me and enter the docks, so I just followed it, and entered the U-shaped dock area, Found Lori and docked with no problems.  by the time I shut down the boat, and got it buttoned up, it was nearly 11 PM... and I was TIRED, so it was off to bed.  During the night, I kept waking up to a "Bump".  I thought maybe the Dingy was bumping into the boat.  I found out the next morning what was actually happening was I was too close to the front of the dock, so the bow kept bumping into it.  I ended up moving it to finger dock on the other side because the cleats were better placed, and kept the bow away from the dock.

My Favorite breakfast on the Boat... Eggs and (Turkey) Bacon!
  That being taken care of it was back to priorities, that being my favorite breakfast... Eggs and Bacon (ok, Turkey Bacon, but still not too bad, and no grease!).  With some Via coffee (the only "Acceptable" instant coffee I have ever found), things were shaping up to be a great day.  
Let's see, one of the things I need to do is cut up that watermel... CRAP!  the watermelon I was suppose to bring to BBQ that night was in the Car, right behind the driver's seat so they wouldn't roll around... Oh well.

 Then I went to the restroom to wash up, and encountered the Mount Everest of ramps due to the -3 ft low tide we were in at the time... a bit of exercise on the way up, and a whole lot of caution on the way back down!

the Mt. Everest of Dock Ramps... a nice climb first thing in the morning

The same ramp, at high Tide
I met some new friends that weekend.  I met Lori's son, Brandon, and then there was Dave and Jill on their "Houseboat".  well it looked kind of like a houseboat!  Then there was Grant, Tecla, and their son Brandon on the s/v Boca.  and finally, Tony and Theresa arrived on their 50 ft remodeled PT boat, the m/v Sea Monster.

We hung out, and concentrated on just having fun and relaxing.  I hung a Hammock-Chair that I had bought, thinking I could make it work... and after a couple of tries, I got it hung... 

I also took the dingy out, and the engine worked well, although the same couldn't be said of the gas tank and supply line... they leaked pretty badly at the fittings, so it looks like I will need new fittings and probably a new tank, a plastic one this time.  

Barbeque time!
Some of the Peeps on the trip
Sunset at Dockton
We had a great barbecue, despite me not bringing my watermelons, and plenty of delicious food was there.  Oh, and I was presented with a Foss Harbor Club Burgee (I had to have that term explained to me as I had never heard it before... it is basically a Pennant shaped flag with Foss harbor's distinctive design on it) by Lori, who is the Harbor Manager.  I IMMEDIATELY went to find a way to display it in my rigging.  My McGuyvered solution was  pretty good, and will work until I create a better solution.

Day 2 Breakfast... Pancakes!

This ship, Aptly named "Atlantis" is only visible at low tide
I went exploring a little bit, and noticed this wrecked sail boat that you could not see during high tide, but during low tide it is completely exposed. It was aptly named "Atlantis" and was from Seattle as you can see from the stern of the boat.

Kinda sad to see it like this...
A view of the deck
Lots of starfish around, very colorful ones at that!

The remains of a dock...
A view of the Docks where we were tied up

I intended to sail all the way back, and things were pretty good until I got back in commencement bay, and then someone shut off the switch to the wind machine...  that's the way it is in Commencement Bay... Powered up the engine, and motored the rest of the way back.

All in all, a great weekend!

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