If all goes well, sometime around 5 a.m. on Saturday, we’ll be easing our of our slip at Elliott Bay Marina and pointing our bow toward the South Sound for a weeklong cruise.

But that is a big “if.”

As I write this, there is a growing, nagging anxiety that something is about to go wrong. This isn’t based on superstition, a bad forecast or fear of unfamiliar cruising grounds. It is based on experience.

At the start of just about every cruise I’ve undertaken, something unfortunate takes place.

Anyone who followed our Sailboat Search Chronicles knows that we ran into a bit of trouble trying to take our recently purchased Island Packet 38 on a planned week-long cruise of the Sea of Cortez. We were foiled by a bad shaft seal and a holding tank that just about exploded, and ended up spending our time getting to know the marina at San Carlos very well.   

I should have expected something like that would happen. After all, it was one of my major trips aboard our previous boat Camelot, an Islander 38C, that set the pattern. I was aboard with my parents and we had just cleared the Ballard Locks on our way to the San Juan Islands. The boat was still relatively new to me at the time, and I was very diligent about closing blow-water sea cocks.

My mom called up from the cabin to ask why the galley sink wasn’t draining. So I jumped down below, lifted the floor board up and grabbed the handle of the closed thru-hull, which proceeded to break off cleanly in my hand.

I sat there for a minute looking dumbly at the now useless piece of Marelon in my hand. I thought about the possibility of spending a week in the San Juans without a working galley sink. And then called up to my father on the helm to take a hard right into Shilshole.

The good folks at Seaview West boatyard hauled us out, replaced the thru-hull and had us on our way the next morning.

A few years later, on another cruise bound for the San Juan and Gulf islands, the damage and the fix were a little more expensive.

On the way north via the Swinomish Channel, again with my parents on board, we decided to tie up at La Conner for the night. Anyone who has spent time at this marina knows how wicked the currents can flow through there. As we motored up to the linear dock, I saw two possible locations to land – one a tight fit between two boats and the other a relatively easy approach near the end of the dock, just south of the pumpout station.

My dad egged me on to tie up between the boats. But I looked at the current and decided it was safer for everyone involved if we landed near the pumpout. And I was right. I nestled the boat right up on the dock like a pro. Within 15 minutes, we were tied up and enjoying a happy hour rum and coke in the cockpit. 

A few sips into my cocktail, I noticed a large cabin cruiser angling toward the pumpout dock. He seemed a bit close, but then I saw the Coast Guard Auxiliary burgee flying from his bridge deck and relaxed. Obviously, he knew how to handle that boat in a current, and his wife was ready at the stern with a line.

Moments later, I heard the woman’s increasingly frantic shouts of warning as the boat’s stern swung toward the bow of my boat. As the skipper goosed his engine, I jumped up just in time to see the boat’s stern cleat catch the fluke of my bow anchor, twisting our entire anchor platform 25 degrees to starboard. Our beautiful boat now looked like a prize fighter with a broken nose.

After the commotion died down and the boats were safely secured, the skipper and I traded insurance info. We all make mistakes, and I’m not one to judge another’s misjudged landing. So my folks and I settled back into the cockpit to finish our cocktails before the ice fully melted.

During the hubbub, the boat moored behind us had left. I didn’t even see it take off because the Zodiac dinghy we had slung on the pair of newly installed stern davits blocked my view.

But I did notice the small cabin cruiser heading south take the turn sharply and angle in toward the recently vacated spot behind us. With the current rushing him forward, he was coming in hot. Too hot. In a dispirited attempt not to slam into the boat in front of him, he threw his engine in reverse.

By this time I was again on my feet, drink still in my hand. I remember watching the boat as it seemed to come to a sudden stop in the water and then leap backward. He succeeded in avoiding the boat in front of him by inches. However, he slammed full force into our Zodiac. The highly polished stainless steel tubes of the davits wrenched under the force of the blow, leaving them lamely twisted 25 degrees to port.

In a matter of a few minutes, my boat had been hit twice while tied up to a dock, causing thousands of dollars in damage. As a second cocktail was served to help deaden the pain of this realization, my dad said, “See, son, I told you we should have taken that other space.”

He very nearly wore my rum and Coke.

We ended up motoring on to Anacortes, where the fine folks at the Cap Sante Marine handled the repairs.

I’m not typically a fatalist. And I’m hopeful that on this trip, anyway, we will get away unscathed and enjoy the entire week trouble-free in the South Sound. Maybe all that good Champagne we poured in the drink during our renaming ceremony will help. But I’m not going to bet on it. 

Would you?

Tell us about your worst start to a cruise in the comments section below.

Weather

Well, one thing is looking relatively certain for our trip — the weather is going to disappoint. A series of troughs are likely to bring clouds, showers and maybe a little bit of rain over the waters this weekend, said Danny Mercer, a marine forecaster at the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Don’t expect big winds anywhere on Puget Sound, although winds will likely build in the late afternoons (mostly out of the north in the north part of the Sound and south or southwest in the South Sound). There may be some small craft advisories in the eastern and central Strait of Juan de Fuca as some marine air pushes through this weekend.

So when is this cruddy weather going to end?

“I don’t see any change in this over the next 10 days,” Mercer said. “It is looking like one of those summers that is going to take its time to arrive.”

Weekend Events

A little Bocce rounds out the fun at last year’s Islander Rendezvous. (Photo courtesy of Islander Yacht Club Northwest)

The Islander Yacht Club Northwest will be holding its annual rendezvous at Port Ludlow this weekend. All Islander owners are welcome and so are other boats just interested in taking part in the program. It’s a fun group and a great place to meet up (we used to go when we owned the above-mentioned Islander 38C). 

In honor of the longest day of the year, sailors around Puget Sound will be celebrating Sailstice, a worldwide celebration of sailing. One of the events going around here is hosted by Windworks Sailing Center at Shilshole. The folks there will be hosting a BBQ and offering some sailing rides. Let’s hope the sun shows up.

The Three Tree Point Yacht Club hosts the annual The Minto Mingle on Quartermaster Harbor this weekend. This classic Northwest skiff is still going strong after nearly a half-century. We ran a story about the wonderful little Minto recently. Stop by if you are in the area.

Windworks Sailing Club members celebrate the longest day of the year during 2008's Summer Sailstice.

The Sloop Tavern Yacht Club, Seattle Yacht Club, Shilshole Bay Yacht Club and Corinthinan Yacht Club of Seattle host the Puget Sound Puget Sound Jack & Jill Championship Series at Shilshole this weekend.  Look for lots of happy couples!

Thanks for reading. Now, get out on there on your boats.

Do you have a news tip? A boating experience you want to write about? An event you think we should cover? A great photo or video you’d like to share? If so, we want to hear from you. We know there’s a lot happening on the water that we might not know about, and we’re always looking to add other boaters’ voices to the mix. So if you have an interest in becoming a Three Sheets contributor, or have a tip or story idea, check here.

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