Gotta tell this story

[Lootas1]

It seems Clint and I, owners of Skagit 17s were the only ones to make it to lunch at La Conner. Okay, the rest of the story. Clint drove there. I put my boat in the water on Lummi Island last night because of a minus tide around 9:30 this morning. I looked out at 2-3 foot rollers breaking in front of my house this morning, still determined to lunch with the gang. All right, Becky and I met the Stroebels at the La Conner Pub about noon. The only boat ride we had today was on the 100 foot long ferry from Lummi Island.
Got to hand it to the intrepid boaters who made it away from the ramp at Cornet Bay and as far, I was told, as Hope Island. Sorry we didn't get to see the rest of the gang but have to credit you with getting as far as you did.
Had fresh crab for the first time this year. Nope, didn't come home and go crabbing. Went to pull Rosario out of the water and some friends came in with a couple of 5 gallon buckets filled with crab. I drooled over them (the crab, not the friends) until they (the friends, not the crab) gave us two of their largest for dinner.
And Melanie, sorry to hear you were having outboard problems. I still have the box of distributor parts for you.
Jerry

[bham-rick]

Perfect Storm

It was quite a day - Chuck and Sheila got there first and were out in the water waiting for us . Got my boat in the water and had a hard time getting it started. Cranked but did not seem to have spark. Hit it with some starting fluid and it would hit but not enough to go. Melanie has had problems with her motor ( Merc - idis ) and wanted to start it on the trailer before she let it go. It fired off and then she came over and gave me a hand . Checked for spark and had some, Hit the starting fluid while I was cranking and it finally fired off . We took off from the dock and I had two crab pots I wanted to drop off so I went ahead and set my pots and Melanie was nowhere to be found. Chuck went back to see what happened and came back to say "She had problems with the engine missing and went back to the dock to call it a day". It was raining , windy and little foggy. Chuck wanted to go for it so we took off toward our com-padres waiting for us at the LaConnor Tavern- We got to Hope Island and the wind and waves , Rip tides got a little worse , Fog toward the hole was looking pretty bad and the rain was coming down harder . We decided to turn around and head for the trailers , we made it to Seal Rocks . Sorry guys just was not worth the risk for Fish & Chips and Pints :Shocked: Pulled my pots and got skunked - I guess 45 Minutes was not enough soak time . I tell ya - this weather has no concept of when my days off are ! Screwy1

[Lootas1]

I've come to the conclusion that any boating trip is one where everyone comes back alive. Sorry you guys didn't make it to La Conner but we left some fish and chips as well as beer for some future visit.

[bham-rick]

August 11th

Hope you saved us enough Beer ? I know you only had one order of Fish :fishing:
We'll knock some down in a couple weeks during the Boat show - Hope we have a good turn out . Boats are welcome in all stages of restoration. I plan to debut the Larson project so people can see what they look like during construction. :Underconstruction1: Hope we get some good weather for this event !!

There was not threat of losing our lives just was not fun , When it's not fun it's also time to turn around -

[Skagitguy]

Yesterday , It started out not REAL bad, but after going around the first point and heading toward Hope island things got not so very pretty. The rip tides were not the only thing going on,but those big 40' plus boats were speeding by us like there was no tomorrow. After having water dumping on me over the bow and having to wipe my face quite a few times with a beach towel every few minutes, Sheila and I decided that it was time to call it a day and not knowing what to expect on the return trip. My speed went from 16 knots down to 7 knots on the return trip to keep the pounding to a minimum. Sheila did tell me she thinks she might be a "jinks" and of course i told her she was not and beside do you think i'am crazy to agreed with her on that ? She would never go for a ride again ! but for the last three years something comes up like yesterday and the same thing last year and in 2010 had to be tow back with the Farallon from Bainbridge Island to Edmonds.When we go to a "mud puddle" size lake....no problem. To bad she is not going to South Sound in a few weeks as that might restore her faith in boating. Only two pictures as i had to hang onto the wheel. That's Rick in one of those putting his crab pot in the water before the " perfect storm ". Rick, had a Skagit cap on ...hummm.. maybe that was the problem in starting his Dorsett. Got Bainbridge home and gave her , her bubble bath / wipe down and a little pat on the hull and some praise on how well she did considering. Chuck