Fremont Oktoberfest

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  This was the sky on Friday night and we decided to take advantage of a beautiful Saturday by sailing over to Seattle and taking in the sights and sounds at the Fremont Oktoberfest.  Fremont is a Seattle neighborhood where the residents pride themselves on being unconventional.  "De Libertas Quirkus"  (Freedom to be Peculiar) is the unofficial motto of the area, borne out at several annual events and festivals, none the least of which is the Summer Solstice Pageant featuring nude cyclists (sorry, no pictures).  We had high hopes for a fun event and we were not disappointed.

After a great sail over that required reefed sails due to 20-23 kt. winds, we settled into a slip at Shilshole Bay Marina.  Shilshole is the largest facility in Seattle for recreational boats.  This is only half of the marina.

That's a lot of masts. 

As part of a tribute to the Scandinavian-American community, there is a  large statue of Leif Erikson on the the marina grounds.  Plaques on upright stones around the base have names of Scandinavian immigrants, their hometowns, and years of immigration.

After a good walk from Ballard, we arrived at the festival.

To start, we checked out the the handiwork of the pumpkin carving contest.

We thought the ones that the children did were, well, cuter.

Several kids were also participating in the zucchini derby with their handmade zucchini cars.  We decided we'd like to use some of our zucchini as cars.

Next up was some beer tasting.  Dozens of offerings throughout. We stuck with the German style beers.  And both East and West German beers were available.

This "keg" was a unique and appropriate way to serve beer.

This fun duo posed for a picture for us.  They were really nice and had authentic looking costumes, too.

Later on, a band took the stage.  They even had a tuba player.

On our way home, we walked along the Burke-Gilman Trail.  We used to ride our bikes here a lot (before we had the boat).  It brought back memories.

We were happy to see the boat again after the walk back.  Over 6 miles total for the day!  It was worth it, we had a great time!

A nice and easy sail back to Poulsbo on Sunday was a great conclusion to the weekend. 

 

Keyport Centennial Plus

The weather was a hodge podge this weekend.  The forecast said it was going to be soggy, but it turned out to be very nice during the daylight hours with rain coming in Saturday night.  We did some volunteer hours on Saturday morning at the neighborhood P-Patch where we've had a vegetable plot this summer.  Then we headed to the Keyport Centennial Plus Festival. 

Keyport is located just south of Poulsbo and accessible by water so we motored over and anchored, then took the dinghy over to the Keyport pier.

This was the view from the anchorage. No rain.  At least not yet.

Ready to go in the dinghy.

Our welcome at Keyport's pier.

Here were some of the catches of the day by some kids at the pier.

A small shark?  Yikes!

It may look like a small festival, and it was. But Keyport is a small town.

The heart of the little town.

Further down the street was the car show.  There were lots of neat  looking vehicles.

Keyport is home to the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a research and development center for submarines and torpedoes.  The Naval Undersea Museum is also in Keyport. 

These are a couple of deep submergence vehicles on display outside of the museum.

We didn't go inside the museum. We'll save that for a rainy day. We headed back to the boat and got a little bit of light-wind sailing in and caught sight of the schooner Lavengro, which we learned is the official tall ship of Kitsap County.

A few minutes later, the expected rain did materilize. We were happy it held off as long as it did.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Boats, Boats, Everywhere

We got to see a lot of pretty boats this past weekend with trips to the Wooden Boat Festival and also the Beneteau Rendezvous.  From beautifully restored old wooden boats, to a shiny fiberglass yacht outfitted and recently sailed offshore to Hawaii, and there was a lot in between.  Looking around at boats is something we never seem to tire of, so it was a really fun weekend.

Friday evening we drove to Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival where hundreds of boats, some new, some restored,  filled the harbor.  We were amazed at the incredible craftsmanship as well as the wide range of designs on display.  Everything from kayaks, to working vessels, to schooners, and much more.  

Small harbor. Lots of boats.

Small boat.  Lots of wood.

All different shapes and sizes.

This one had some interesting decorations.

This wooden boat had room for a wooden chair.

Labors of love, all. 

On Saturday, we headed out on Sun Break to Port Ludlow for our first Beneteau Rendezvous.  Thirty other Beneteaus (with owners) were there. 

We arrived just in time for the margarita party.

A local marine service company provided a unique "blender" for the margaritas.  It was fashioned from a marine bow thruster.  It made great margaritas! 

We made a lot of new friends at dinner on Saturday night.

After dinner, there was a slide show presentation by the crew of Red Sheilla, a Beneteau 49, who recently returned from completing an offshore race from Victoria, B.C. to Maui. 

We picked up the 2010 Beneteau Rendezvous burgee and a couple of T-shirts as souvenirs.

There is just no better way to spend a weekend then to spend it in and around boats!

Labor Day

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer and it certainly felt that way this weekend. Friday was beautiful and warm, but by Monday, fall was definitely in the air.

We started the weekend with a trip to Seattle. We did a little shopping in the downtown stores and then headed to Pike Market for lunch.  We grabbed a spot on the patio of a bistro overlooking Elliot Bay and enjoyed the sunshine. There were a lot of tourists who had the same idea.

The weather was dreary on Sunday morning, but we had plans to join a group from the Poulsbo Yacht Club for a Labor Day cruise to Kingston, Washington. We waited out the weather and it eventually turned into a nice autumn afternoon.

Once we cleared Agate Pass we set the sails. There was a steady breeze from the south and we sailed all the way to the breakwater in Kingston (with only one intentional  jibe).

In addition to the ferries and float planes, we saw a blimp cruising over the Puget Sound.  We've learned that in addition to doing promotion for the sponsor, scientists use it to study the orcas.

 And Carol got to try out her new sailing shoes.

Once in Kingston, we attended a yacht club party. Here was our table, with Bill, Susan, Linda, Tom, Phil and Carol.

Tom is a professional photographer and took this photo of us (with our cell phone).

Soon the dancing started. We made it out to the dance floor once, but spent a lot more time socializing.

Monday was cold, cloudy, and blustery, a true Northwest fall sailing day, with 20-25 knots of wind and a steady chop.

After bouncing around for awhile, we set the mainsail and cruised toward home, making good time.

The trawlers got started a little later so we ended up leading the parade back to the yacht club marina.

Now that fall is here, we are looking forward to more wind and good sailing. 

Have a great (short) week!