If you have photos you’d like to share with the club, please email the Webmaster with either a link to where the photos are stored (such as OneDrive, Flickr, etc.), or, if you have only a few photos, you can attach them to your email, either one by one, or as a .zip archive. Please be sure to tell us what event or race was photographed, the date, and who should be given credit for the photos.
Stiff Wind Flings Spring Cruisers to McMicken
Everyone arrived by sail to this year’s Spring Fling Cruise. Stiff and gusty winds drove all four boats to McMicken Island in short order No spars were lost, but a few stories were told. Vessels in attendance were Pleiades, Skye, Traveller, and Liberte. In deference to the breezy conditions on the cove and the marshy conditions ashore, dinner was held aboard the Pleiades. A good time was had by all.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
Photos:
Salty Sailor Cruise, February
The Salty Sailor Cruise was another pleasant weekend spent on the water. After a run up and down Dana Passage on cooperative tides with steady winds, the Pleiades crew was joined by recent members Carlos, Georgia and Megan on Full Moon. Commodore Campbell lent a hand on the Full Moon’s trip to and from Raccoon Cove and spent an anchorage-worry free night aboard the Pleiades.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
Joint OYC/SYC/SSSS Island Home Cruise
Island Home Cruise in January was a pleasant weekend with an island flavor. A mix of SSSS and OYC sailing boats attended, including Nightwind, Passages, Grendel, and Cygnet. We want to thank OYC for hosting us.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
photos by Mike Gowrylow
Joyce facing a jenga pile right before it came crashing down.
Susan Hardin won/lost the Lei contest and had to wear all the leis. Mark Welpman officiated.
Another Quiet Percival New Years Eve
Pleiades warmly welcomed a handful of shore-based guests to Percival Landing’s F-dock. A pleasant time was had by all. On New Year’s morning, Fran and I took the medium-long way home; motoring out to the Olympia Shoal and riding a stiff and chilly Northeasterly back home to the marina.
Judgments Delivered at Wine Tasting Cruise Draw December Auction Largesse
A quiet but earnest group of 17 SSSS cruisers showed up at Tugboat Annies on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for the 2016 annual SSSS Wine Tasting and Bottle Judging Cruise. Stories were told. Bottles were judged and preparations were made to present the contestant displays for the SSSS December Food Bank Benefit auction. Commodore Campbell’s sculptured Ariel display deservedly received both First Place at the November Cruise and the Peoples’ Choice award at the December potluck. Ariel brought top dollar at the auction, helping SSSS deliver another $12,000 donation to the Thurston County Food Bank.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
Halloween Cruise
Another spooky season has come and gone. Costumes were donned, gourds were disemboweled. A good time was had by all. 16 boats made it to Longbranch Marina this year, with 36 partiers attending. The weather was pleasant, with just barely sailable SSW breezes providing just enough reason to unfurl jibs and raise mains for an hour or two. There was just enough rain to remind sailors of last years� torrents, and to provide some real pretty rainbows. Mt. Rainier highlighted the sunsets and sunrises in the clear air. Photos were taken, some of which are posted on the SSSS Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/SSSSClub and on the SSSS website.
Throughout Saturday, as cruisers drifted, motored, in. Stern to docking methods were perfected, boats were toured and stories were told. The pleasant weather kept SSSS Sailors out on the docks and on the decks. Crews scrambled around their cockpits setting up for the boat decoration competition to take place that evening.
Sunday brought a big breakfast, headlined by another of Susan and Rod�s famed raised-batter Belgian waffles extravaganza. Fair, though light, Northerlies gently eased Olympians� journey south and home.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
Oysterfest Cruise: Wet and Mild
Shelton YC, Hammersley Inlet
Shelton Yacht Club�s Oysterfest invitation to SSSS cruisers is becoming a traditional early-season bonus Cruise. The 6.5 NM motor through winding and narrow Hammersley Inlet is a unique not-to-be missed South Sound adventure. It is sort of like taking an autumn motorcycle ride along a hilly, leaf-strewn two-lane highway. It is real pretty, but you’ve got to watch the road!
For yours truly, the journey began off Hope Island a couple of hours before low tide on Saturday morning. Trying to thread the itinerary needle between a sunrise departure and a post lunch arrival, I decided on a rendezvous of 1000 off Hope Island. We arrived promptly at 1000 to find Martin and Susan Raphael on Terra Nova and Mike and Margie Carlson on Dawn Cloud ready to get going. After waiting a few minutes to see if any surprise, and more Hammersley-seasoned, cruisers my round a point, we decided to race the falling tide sooner rather than later.
Martin kindly offered the services of his Navionics-charted course and and 6.5 foot draft to break the trail for Dawn Cloud and Pleiades and we started up stream toward Shelton.
We arrived at SYC after a long, slow uphill ride spiced with a proper downpour as Saturday’s cloudburst rolled over us. The weather cleared a bit after docking. Fran and I decided to brave the weather at Sanderson Field and take in Oysterfest proper. There was plenty of space on the shuttle. There were a surprisingly large number of people at the Fest. We dodged a cloudburst by dashing in to the wine-tasting tent and enjoyed surprisingly good, loud, straight-ahead Rock ’en Roll in the beer garden.
Along the way we met up with a pair of boaters who decided not to push the tide and came in on Friday; Jim and Diana Findley in Nightwind and Nick and Gail Wigen in Ursa Minor. Kyle Reese-Casal and family also came by in Carpy their 22’ C-Dory.
On our return to the clubhouse SYC had set up snacks, opened an open bar and organized a Bunko dice tournament. The following morning, we were regaled with a great eggs and hashbrowns breakfast and joined in the benefit raffles. Thank-yous were exchanged all around and invitations were forwarded for cruises to come.
Thank you to Linda Shrum and the Shelton Yacht Club for their invitation and hospitality!
Marvin Young, Pleiades
Commodores’ Cruise
Location: Vaughn Bay
Over now.
Marvin Young, Pleiades
2016 Maclean Memorial Race
Race/Cruise to Narrows Marina
We were doing 6 to 6.5; knots in a close reach in the sunshine approaching Toliva Shoal. Enough to make any SSSS racer’s heart beat faster. Even though this wasn’t the Toliva Shoal Race, it still felt good to be out in that area with some nice wind for a change. I looked back South and saw a sailboat near the South end of Anderson, still in the doldrums. We found out later that it was Nauti Dog and shortly after that they also got into the good wind.
This was the MacLean Memorial Race/Cruise and we joined in, representing the cruisers. Since we started from Jarrells Cove, only sailed about half the way and took the short cut through Balch Passage, we weren’t actually racing, just enjoying a very nice day.
After arriving at the marina, we got our slip sorted out and settled back for a rest and a beer. About an hour later Nauti Dog, with Michael Farley and his crew Rob, came into the marina and eventually settled into the slip next to us. I tried to explain to them that we were actually racing but they couldn’t be convinced since they knew there was no one else doing the correct course. Which of course makes Nauti Dog the winner of the MacLean Memorial Race/Cruise, and good for them because I know that they spent at least two hours near Nisqually Reach, just sitting there drifting while we had good wind on the North side of Anderson.
I had enticed Diana to go on this Cruise by telling her that there was a very nice restaurant near the marina. Thank goodness it turned out that I didn’t lie. We had a very enjoyable dinner at the Boathouse 19. One thing: if you stay at the Narrows Marina it would be best if you like the sound of trains. If you live there I suppose you’d get used to it after a while.
Sunday was not a sailing day. Michael left about 0700 to catch the good incoming tide. We left about 0900 and caught the tail end of it and had to motor all the way back to Jarrells Cove. Even so, it was a beautiful weekend to be on the water.
Jim Findley, Nightwind
An oft-repeated axiom faults recorded history for being written only by the winners. That fault is unavoidable in the description of the 2016 Maclean Memorial Race; I was the only Member to participate in the race and the only witness to the entire event.
Choosing to believe the weather forecasts, the triumph of hope over experience, I eagerly anticipated riding a ten knot beam wind from Johnson Point down to the foot of Anderson Island. The fact that winds were light at the beginning, Nauti Dog only crossed the start line at 0902, wasn’t discouraging since that was somewhat in accord with the forecast. Unfortunately, the winds continued to be very light the rest of the way to Johnson Point.
We had a nice conversation with a guy on a paddle board off Boston Harbor. He suggested that if we wanted to continue watching the pod of dolphins, who were apparently chasing a school of salmon, we could steer off toward Eld Inlet where he’fd seen them last. We thanked him for the information, but explained that we were in a race. He looked around and, not seeing any other sailboats, paddled nervously away from the two obviously-deranged characters in the sailboat. But I digress.
We reached the short course line off Johnson Point at 1150 and, following race directions, duly recorded the time and the fact that there were no boats ahead of us and none that were identifiable behind. Lacking any other activity, other than bringing the main around for the occasional change from wing-on-wing to broad run, I calculated our average course speed so far: 2.6 knots. Had it not been for the ebb current, our speed would have undoubtedly been even less.
My somewhat Micawberish faith in the wind prediction was rewarded by a brief and refreshing increase in wind from Johnson Point past the entrance to Drayton Passage, but once we began the run toward Nisqually Reach, with Anderson Island on our port side, the wind slacked off yet again and we resumed alternating between wing-on-wing and a broad run from either port or starboard. Experimenting with various jibes and sail positions, I concluded that the mainsail was actually detracting from the boat’fs performance by shadowing the 163 Genoa, so I furled the main and was at least able to maintain an uninterrupted run.
About a mile from Lyle Point, we began to pick up a good breeze coming off the Nisqually Delta. That provided a refreshing beam reach until we made the turn up channel toward the finish line and changed to a broad reach. This lasted until we were past the entrance to Oro Bay at which point the wind shifted toward the West, eventually giving us five miles of a glorious close reach which put Nauti Dog over the finish line at her maximum hull speed.
Crossing the finish line at Toliva Shoal at 1544, we had completed the course with an average speed of almost exactly three knots. Finishing at all was probably less a result of seamanship skills than a tolerance for frustration, plus a certain amount of “there’s got to be pony in here somewhere” optimism.
Later that evening, the participating race skippers, me, held a meeting with Race Chair, Jeff Johnson, and we arrived at a consensus decision that because Sunday was predicted to have mostly adverse currents and little if any wind, that the race would be called as of Saturday’s finish. Also considered was the fact that Nauti Dog was the only participating boat and, therefore, even if we were to continue the following day, the final standings were unlikely to change.
That decision was validated the next morning in that the water between Toliva Shoal and Balch Passage, or at least what small portion of it could be seen between fog banks, was calm and glassy.
On several occasions, Jeff asked the question as to what alternative courses might restore the Club’s participation in the Maclean Memorial. It’s a question that I think deserves inputs from many more of the Members. On my part, I have to wonder if the lack of participation is not as much a function of course layout as it might be from staging the race at a time of year in which winds have proven to be unreliable. It may be worth considering moving the race either forward or backward by two months.
Mike Farley, Nauti Dog
photos by: Jim Findley and Mike Farley