Free Event: NOAA Science in the Pacific Northwest
This fall, at Pacific Science Center's Eames Theater, discover what NOAA scientists know. Learn more about the important work of NOAA and how it impacts you everyday. October 20th: How Much Will It Snow? October 27th: Healthy Oceans and CoastsNovember 3rd: Ocean MappingNovember 10th: Ocean AcidificationDecember 1st: Oil Spill in Puget Sound? To reserve your FREE tickets and to learn more about the lectures [...]
TIP: WM Low Price Guarantee
While West Marine may have changed their formerly awesome return policy they have not changed their Low Price Guarantee. I recently came across the PFD I've been pining after for nearly one hundred dollars less at Defender! Now I'm going to walk into WM with a print out of the Defender deal and will get the Defender price! And I save the shipping cost! A [...]
Happy Fall or, Time to Check Your Compass
It's officially fall! I just read a great blog post by John Vigor about checking your compass today - on the autumnal equinox.Read this very interesting article by National Geographic about the autumnal equinox.Check out this website to calculate solar position for any time and place on earth:http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/Here it is for my location today. Note that the sun's azimuth at 19:08 (our sunset) is 270° [...]
TIP: Shaken, not stirred
If you don't like clumpy powdered milk just SHAKE IT! A Nalgene bottle is great because it has units on the side making measuring easy when we make our favorite powdered goat milk. It comes in a handy can with pop top and plastic lid which keeps it contained after popping open the can. Of course if you are not lactose intolerant regular powdered milk is a [...]
Sunshiny Seattle Siesta
Our tiny boat doesn't provide much protection from the elements and since the the weather report was calling for rain in Portland we decided to head up to Seattle. We had made appointments with several brokers to look at boats which all turned out being disappointing. But there was also the swap meet, boat show, and farmer's market to entertain us. Trying to be frugal [...]
Government Island Circumnavigation
Summer returned to Portland for the weekend and we had a great time on the boat. After going to the farmer's market Saturday morning we packed up a few things and headed to the marina. We sailed up to the old dock on Government Island and cooked our farmer's market oysters and tuna on the BBQ. On the old dock looking east at sunset On [...]
The motherland
I just got back from a one week trip to my birth-country of Germany. I hadn't been there in 11 years, so my grandmother's 95th birthday celebration was a great excuse for a short vacation across the big pond with my parents. After staying in Oma and Opa's home town Bad Pyrmont for nearly a week we did some quick sightseeing in Düsseldorf before heading [...]
TIP: Laminating made easy… and cheap!
It's always nice to keep things dry on a boat, so if you don't want to buy a laminating machine and the expensive pouches that go with it, go get some clear contact paper. Then simply put the paper you want to protect between two sheets of the sticky stuff. Trim it to leave a quarter to half an inch of contact paper around the [...]
Weekend!
Friday night Just had a wonderful dinner of fresh salmon from the farmers market cooked on the BBQ. Looking forward to a great night's sleep aboard and lots of sailing and swimming the rest of the weekend! Saturday The sun came out fairly early on Sunday. Here's a panorama view of the Columbia River Gorge from our anchorage. Sunday Had some traffic on the river [...]
Not very neighborly
So we were only away from Webfoot for less than a week - five days to be exact - and someone hit our raised outboard and broke a big chunk off our propeller. There is even blue paint on the prop! We just had the prop at the shop to get serviced. Now we have to buy a whole new one. Why would someone hit [...]
We struck Gold!
Well not really, but we harvested our first golden potatoes! Back in March we planted our potatoes in a garbage can. I had nearly forgotten about them, since they are off in a corner of our yard but Captain Mike apparently has been paying attention. This morning he pulled out our first homegrown potatoes!
July 4th Downtown Blues Fest
The past few years we spent the 4th in the San Juan Islands. This year we went to the islands earlier in the year and spent the 4th right here in Portland. From our marina on the Columbia we headed down river and then up the Willamette to downtown Portland. To get there we had to go under a total of TEN bridges! No wonder [...]
Life on the River
I spent my formative years living within a few miles of the ocean in San Diego. In the summer we went to the beach to cool off. Now I live in Portland, Oregon which is a few hours from the ocean. It has been a tough adjustment period and after nearly five years here, there are a few things I still haven't gotten used to. [...]
Our Summer Home
We finally did it! Rather than having to spend 3-4 hours setting up before going sailing we got a slip in a local marina! This summer we will be able to head down to the boat after work and go for a sail - just like all the other people we always envy on those perfect summer evenings. Of course this means we will not [...]
San Juan Islands – Day 4 – Clark Island
This is the last part of a four 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 Our last full day vacation was upon us [...]
San Juan Islands – Day 3 – Rosario, Orcas Island
This is part three of a four 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 Since it seemed like the cold and rain was [...]
San Juan Islands – Day 2 – Friday Harbor
This is part two of a four 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 On Friday I woke up to a wet and cloudy day. Captain Mike [...]
San Juan Islands – Day 1 – Matia Island
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, [...]
Privacy Concerns
We've been sailing aboard Webfoot without any privacy for a year now. At anchor it's not a problem but when we are at a public dock everyone can see inside. Especially at night when the lights are on. I finally replaced my aging sewing machine for a fancy computer-aided model and have been busy sewing. I've never made much more than pillows and the occasional [...]
Nutty Cookies
Beware: These are healthy cookies! Did you think you would ever hear those two words in one sentence? Well, these cookies really are good for you! They are made of nuts and egg-whites. And they even taste good! The other captain requested them to have after dinner tonight, so I figured they must be good enough to post. We use the left-over egg yolks the [...]
