The
day went mostly according to the cruise plan, leaving Seattle at 5am to get the
ebb tide and arriving at Jakle Cove just after 2pm. The low clouds never
really became fog with visibility down to one mile passing Port Townsend, but up
to five miles before and as much as fifty miles after. We got a hellacious
push through Admiralty Inlet with speed-over-ground near 10kts. The outlet
into the Straight of Juan de Fuca was wicked with 10-12 foot swells in multiple
directions. Tranquility handled that no problem including not losing the
water tank fill cap I left loose on the deck. She didn't really even take
on any water. After Smith Island the wind picked up to 15-20kts SW.
The boat was overpowered with both sails up and she wallowed and rolled terribly
with just the main while still making 6+kts. We were an hour ahead of plan
at Smith Island but lost half of that with counter-current up to Cattle Point.
It was still a very nice couple of hours sailing. We pulled into Jakle
Cove - only the second boat - anchored, ate lunch then napped in the cockpit.
Later I set up the outboard motor for the first time and we went ashore for a
hike and a long chat sitting in the grass looking at Cattle Point, Middle
Channel and the Straight. We
finished the day with salmon done on the grill and a glorious sunset.
The
day went mostly according to the cruise plan, leaving Seattle at 5am to get the
ebb tide and arriving at Jakle Cove just after 2pm. The low clouds never
really became fog with visibility down to one mile passing Port Townsend, but up
to five miles before and as much as fifty miles after. We got a hellacious
push through Admiralty Inlet with speed-over-ground near 10kts. The outlet
into the Straight of Juan de Fuca was wicked with 10-12 foot swells in multiple
directions. Tranquility handled that no problem including not losing the
water tank fill cap I left loose on the deck. She didn't really even take
on any water. After Smith Island the wind picked up to 15-20kts SW.
The boat was overpowered with both sails up and she wallowed and rolled terribly
with just the main while still making 6+kts. We were an hour ahead of plan
at Smith Island but lost half of that with counter-current up to Cattle Point.
It was still a very nice couple of hours sailing. We pulled into Jakle
Cove - only the second boat - anchored, ate lunch then napped in the cockpit.
Later I set up the outboard motor for the first time and we went ashore for a
hike and a long chat sitting in the grass looking at Cattle Point, Middle
Channel and the Straight. We
finished the day with salmon done on the grill and a glorious sunset.