In
early September 2008, Inga and I cruised "Astrolabe",
our Surf Scoter 22, the entire length of Puget Sound, from Olympia to Port
Townsend and back again, for a distance of approximately 200 nautical
miles. It was a six day adventure and the objective was to attend the
32nd Annual Wooden Boat
Festival in Port Townsend. Getting there comfortably and safely in a boat like ours is purely up to Mother Nature. Despite being a
protected body of water, Puget Sound can turn decidedly nasty, if not
treacherous. But we must be living right because we were absolutely
blessed with divine Summer weather and a safe, fun passage.
We
departed Olympia on our boat, followed by Don, a fellow
Devlin Boat owner, who had just
launched his brand new Devlin the day before. He christened his 22 foot boat
"Dunlin", after a type of
sandpiper. That morning, we wound our way through the
inlets, passages and islands of South Puget
Sound and headed through the
Tacoma Narrows, the gateway to Central
Puget Sound. As we emerged from the Narrows, we spotted the opening
to Gig Harbor and the thought of good coffee lured us off our course. We
tied up at the town dock and walked a couple of blocks to a cafe we like
to frequent for lunch. As we left Gig Harbor, we found two tall ships
engaged in a mock cannon battle off Point Defiance, complete with loud
booms, great clouds of smoke and cheering tourists
on board.
We continued North up the West side of
Vashon Island
through the
Colvos Passage and
made our way into the tiny harbor at
Blake Island State Park to spend the night. After dinner, we hiked
around the island's five mile shoreline and returned
as darkness fell. Looking East, we could see the
lights of downtown Seattle, some eight miles
distance across the Sound.
The next morning, we safely dodged three of the
massive car ferries that travel back and forth between Seattle and ports on
the West side of Puget Sound while heading over to a fuel dock at
Shilshole Marina, North of
Seattle. From there, we crossed back over to the West side of the Sound and
continued our journey North until we finally entered the
infamous Admiralty Inlet, known for its tide rips, wind, current and
choppy waves. We entered on a fairly calm, sunny day with two foot
waves
only to encounter a broad fog bank. We hugged the West shore of the
Inlet
with approximately quarter mile visibility and we could see nothing
except Dunlin nearby. But our GPS enabled us to navigate precisely and
we soon emerged back into the sunshine as we left the Inlet and headed up the
West side of Marrowstone
and Indian Islands into Port Townsend Bay, a
shortcut that bypasses most of Admiralty Inlet.
Once we were outside the
Point Hudson Marina, we hailed the Harbormaster
by VHF radio, asked for our slip
assignment, bobbed around with other wooden boats awaiting their number, and then slipped inside
once we received it. In the marina, we found a giant jigsaw puzzle being
assembled using every kind and size of wooden boat imaginable. Our boat was one of 146 wooden
vessels on display and every possible spot, and then some, was filled.
One could literally step from boat to boat and never touch water. Once
we were all properly moored, we got busy tidying up
our boats so they would be suitable for display. There were
at least 11 Devlin boats on display that I was aware
of:
- Surf Scoter 22
(power)
- "Astrolabe", Scott Duncan & Inga
Thornell of Burien, WA
- "Whistler", Peter Buck & Susan
Tchelebi of Portland, OR
-
"Island Spirit",
a homebuilt Scoter by Jim Griffing of
Mountlake Terrace, WA
- Black Crown 25 (power)
- "Tuffy", Scott Sloan of Portland, OR
- Black
Crown 29 (power)
- "Wood Duck", Robin & Paul Dye of Port
Madison, WA
- Kokanee 38 (power)
- "Ellie K", piloted by Sam and Soitza Devlin
- Dunlin 22 (a brand new design; see
photos below)
-
Godzilla 22 (power)
- John Heater of Port Madison, WA
- Candlefish 16 (power)
- "Qua Hog 2", Ken Hooley of Tillamook Bay
- Eider (sail)
- Kirk Gresham of Port Townsend, WA
-
Nancy's China (sail)
We spent the next four days and three nights living
on our boat at the dock in the midst of this big,
colorful, festive event. It was quite remarkable and
a lot of fun. A Devlin tradition is to gather up all
the Devlin owners for Thai food in the old town
section of Port Townsend which was absolutely
delicious and a great way to get to meet everyone.
Remember that old Honda motorcycle ad campaign from
the early 1960s about how "you
meet the nicest people on a Honda"? Well, it's
also true for the people you meet in a Devlin. Inga
and I had a delightful time getting to know
everyone, comparing cruising experiences and making
plans for future cruises with other "Devlinistas",
as Robin likes to call us Devlin owners. A highlight
for me one evening was an impromptu cigar smoking,
wine drinking and humorous anecdote sharing
session on the dock with Sam and friends. I vaguely
recall Sam telling a hilarious story of raising
goats in the Oregon wilderness. (Yes, you had to be
there.)
The great unraveling of the wooden boat jigsaw
puzzle began Sunday afternoon. On our journey South, we were joined by
Peter and Susan in "Whistler",
their 22 foot Surf Scoter, which bumped the convoy up
to three Devlin 22 footers. We got through Admiralty Inlet without too
much ado with the 10 - 15 knot winds and 2 foot
waves at our backs. We meant to rendezvous with Sam
and Soitza aboard the 38 foot "Ellie
K" at Blake Island, but Sam radioed that Blake
was full. So they spent the night tied to a mooring
buoy off Blake while we stayed overnight at the peaceful
Port of
Brownsville on the Kitsap Peninsula behind Bainbridge Island. We had a wonderful, impromptu dinner on the dock thanks to
all the gourmet treats Peter and Susan had stashed in Whistler. We sat
there until well after dark, sharing stories and drinking wine.
The next
day, we backtracked a bit up to Poulsbo as the fuel dock at Brownsville
was out of gas, required for the two Scoters with
outboard motors. Then we resumed our journey South,
past Bremerton and Port Orchard, out through Rich
Passage, past Blake Island and down Colvos Passsage. We stopped off in
Gig Harbor again for coffee and some minor repairs. Once South of the
Tacoma Narrows, Peter led us on a
different route through the islands of South Puget Sound on a day where
the water was smooth, the air was warm, and the view of Mt. Rainier was
magnificent. All in all, this will be a really hard trip to top due to
all the new friends we made, the amazing journey we took and being
able to spend six sunny days on the water. --- Scott Bruce Duncan */:-) |
Click to enlarge
Astrolabe at One Tree
Marina
in Olympia
Point Hudson Marina,
site of
the Wooden Boat Festival
Gig Harbor
Mt. Rainier from Blake
Island
State Park
Tacoma Narrows |
|
Click to enlarge |
The journey North - Day 1:
Olympia, WA to Blake Island
State Park |
The journey North - Day 2:
Blake Island to Port Townsend,
WA |
The journey South - Day 5:
Port Townsend to Port of
Brownsville |
The journey South - Day 5:
Port of Brownsville to Olympia |
Dunlin motoring North up
Budd Inlet after leaving Olympia
(look for the WA State Capitol
dome in the background) |
Leaving Gig Harbor after lunch |
Upon exiting Gig Harbor, we
found two tall ships engaged
in a mock cannon battle off
Point Defiance near Tacoma, WA |
Spending the night at
Blake
Island State Park |
Heading North through the
wide open Central Puget Sound |
Heading into the infamous
Admiralty Strait on a fairly
calm, bright day only to
find fog ahead |
146 wooden boats of all shapes,
types and sizes
shoehorned into
the
Point Hudson
Marina in
Port Townsend, WA |
Five Devlin 22 footers in a
row at the Wooden Boat
Festival (our boat is 4th
from the left) |
Don proudly displaying his brand
new Devlin to festival
attendees |
Astrolabe & Dunlin following
Peter & Susan in Whistler |
The fleet docked at Brownsville
for the night |
Dinner on the dock at the
Port of
Brownsville on the Kitsap Peninsula
behind Bainbridge
Island |
Astrolabe heading out of Poulsbo
after a fuel run |
Calm waters, a sunny day, a fine
wooden boat and friends
to
cruise with -- priceless! |
Don & Dunlin heading South into
the Tacoma Narrows |
Astrolabe heading for home
in the South Sound on a
glorious September day |
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