This is the first part of a 4 part series of our sailing trip to the San Juan Islands over Memorial Day weekend.

Day 1 – Launch, Bellingham to Matia Island
Day 2 – Matia Island to Friday Harbor
Day 3 – Friday Harbor to Rosario, Orcas Island
Day 4 – Rosario, Orcas Island to Clark Island

We towed Webfoot up to Bellingham from Portland, this being our third trip (second with this boat) to the islands one would think not too much could go wrong…

We left Wednesday after work with a fully loaded boat and truck. On the way we pulled off at a closed truck scale. Even when closed they usually don’t turn off the scales and it’s good to know we aren’t nearing the truck’s towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. The boat weighed in at just under 3,500 pounds with most of our gear on board – save the cooler, some food, and tools which were in the truck.When we arrived all we needed was fuel for the boat. As of last weekend, Bellingham gas stations still have ethanol free gas which is a big bonus!

We got to Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham just before midnight, parked in the trailer lot, and went to sleep in our cozy aft berth. The new curtains really came in handy in the well-lit parking lot. In the morning we got some quick coffee and breakfast at that famous Seattle coffee shop and started getting the boat ready to launch. I was below organizing the items we had just brought in from the truck while Captain Mike was getting ready to raise the mast when I heard him exclaim: “OH NO!”. So I popped my head out and after quickly analyzing the situation realized our biggest mistake to date: We had left the jib and its furling system hanging on the garage ceiling. So much for my detailed checklists… It’s a long drive to Bellingham so going home to pick it up was out of the question. We had to come to terms with the fact that we would not be doing much sailing on this trip. We used the line to lift the mast as a fore-stay and added an extra line for safety. We weren’t about to lose another mast, but that’s another story….

After everything was ready to go we drove to the ramp to put Webfoot into the water. The aft end was floating just fine; only the boat wouldn’t budge from the trailer. We pushed and pulled to no avail. No matter how far we backed into the water the bow kept resting on the V-shaped cushion that stops the boat from moving farther forward. The entire boat was off the trailer except the upper bow section. Captain Mike did a sort of backwards “mac-bump” (a real “mac-bump” is done by driving forwards with the boat on the trailer and then slamming on the brakes to slide the boat forward on the trailer). After several “bumps” we were finally able to launch and ready to go by noon!

We high-tailed it out of Bellingham on a cloudy day headed for Matia Island (pronounced: MAH-tea-ah). We arrived on Matia in the late afternoon – plenty of time to explore the island thanks to our long summer days in the Pacific Northwest. Matia Island is a state park and must hold the record for the most slugs per square foot. They are taking over! We anchored at the head of a huge cove on the east side of the island and had it all to ourselves! Despite it being Memorial Day weekend it appears that most people stayed home due to an unpleasant weather forecast. While hiking around the island on the roughly one mile long trail we passed by Rolfe Cove which had just two boats in it. We had stayed there last year waiting for weather to pass before heading back across Rosario Strait and found it to be very well protected – so well that we were unable to tell when the weather had improved. Rolfe Cove has a small dock, several mooring buoys, a bathroom, and a long beach.

After our hike around the island we cooked up some dinner, enjoyed a nice glass of wine with our Wild Salmon over Penne (see recipe here) and relaxed in our cozy cabin (it had started to rain and it lasted all night and most of the next day…).

PASSAGE NOTES AND PHOTOS

Squalicum Harbor Launch Ramp, $5 to launch and park for free up to 5 days, longer if you call ahead

The temporary forestay

Rolfe Cove with dock and mooring buoys