The Light Speed

My good friends and fellow cruisers, Dave and Kathy Kane were in Astoria re-powering their Chris White Atlantic 42 catamaran.Kathy was off for a job interview and a window developed to move Light Speed from Astoria , Oregon to the Seattle vicinity.Dave was looking for crew and I made myself available.

It was like old homecoming as Todd Cordill, a cruiser I knew from the South Pacific was along as well.In addition Collin a Puget Sound sailor was along for the ride. The trip from the mouth of the Columbia to the Straits of Juan De Fuca is usually a challenging sail. As it turned out we were only able to sail about 6 hours with a storm spinnaker. The rest was a fast (9-10 knots) under power. Lightspeeds new 30 hp yanmars pushed us along on the the flat but very foggy seas. We made it to Port Angeles in 20 hours! About an 8+ knot pace. We refueled then set off for Port Townsend and tied up in the Port Hudson Marina. Unlike most passages this one I did with three others so standing 3 hour watches meant there was 9 hours between watches. Very Luxurious!!! The following day we set off at 0700 headed for Seattle but decided Edmonds would be the final stop for the crew. Dave had a friend who lived in Edmonds and was loaning him a vehicle to drive back to Oregon

.Light Speed is a fast cat and the pilot house configuration sure worked well on this trip as it was foggy and cold all but the last 3 hours. I was impressed with the speed under power and the comfort of the pilot house in the Pacific Northwest cannot be overstated.

Next week will be the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend and there was some early arrivals during our stay. Took this picture of three wooden boats/ship outside the marina. Double click to get a bigger and better picture.