A Winter Sleigh Ride on "Dark Star"

The Winter Vashon Island Race is always held on the first Saturday in December. It is a simple course with the start/finish line just off Tacoma Yacht Club by Point Defiance and then clockwise around Vashon Island. This year I was fortunate to be invited on Jonathan and Libby Mckee's Dark Star, a custom built Riptide 44. It is the only one in existance today, and is essentially a 44 foot International 14, but this one has a galley, a furnace, beautiful wood accents throughout, but it is also almost all carbon fiber, it draws about 10 feet, has water ballast tanks on either side of the boat, and is a rocket ship to sail!

We had a great race and led around the island most of the way, but the smaller boats enjoyed a building afternoon breeze after we finished which helped most of them beat us on corrected time after an adjustment on handicap. A couple of my observations from this unique experience included: 1) An amazing crew with an even better attitude. Everyone on board was the true model of a good shipmate. I think I could sail across an ocean with all of them and I had only sailed previously with a couple of the 10 guys on board. We had some adversity (engine trouble, hit a log at night, fog in the morning, a headsail that would not come down, and more) but most of it was shrugged off, dealt with and solved. 2) The start was at 9am in Tacoma, WA. The crew got on the boat at 5am at Shilshole and delivered the boat down there in the cold, dark night. We finished at sunset and delivered the boat home in the cold dark night. The race was fun, but many on board enjoyed the deliveries just as much or more. 3) With all the talent and experience on board this unique boat, we still had a practice sail prior to the event. 4) Jonathan Mckee doesn't drive the boat that much despite having numerous World Champion titles as a skipper and two Olympic Medals. He coaches the crew and manages the boat, and gets the best out of everybody on board.

You can learn more about this super cool boat and more of the Paul Bieker designs at http://biekerboats.com/Bieker_Boats/Riptide_44.html

Cruising Done Right in Mexico

I met this nice young couple a few years back and they had just finished taking their ASA Certification Sailing/Boating lessons and were looking for a boat to further their interest in Sailing. With a limited budget and it all being really new, they settled on a Catalina 27. The next weekend they were in Sucia with that little boat! Octavia and Petter were ready to go and always seemed to have the right attitude about boating. This is them pictured to the right.

About a year later after looking for houses in overpriced Seattle, they started thinking that they could get a big boat and maybe live on that. They decided on a Hunter 44Deck Saloon which makes a great liveaboard. It also a ton of boat for the money and modestly priced compared to most houses in Seattle. They found an endtie slip on Lake Union, and this became their view:

About two years later I heard that they were provisioning and outfitting the boat to go down the coast to Mexico. I guess it occurred to them that their home was a boat and it might be nice in Mexico for the winter. It can't be that hard to sail a boat down the coast? Right? And it isn't. Check their awesome blog http://svbellamarina.blogspot.com/ for the whole dang thing. They are chillin down some place south of Mazatlan, while us Seattleites are really chillin down with sub freezing temperatures for over a week!

I think their plan is to put the boat on a ship bound for Seattle sometime in the spring. Good On Ya Octavia and Petter!