Month: June 2020

We’ve been back on Scooter for 5 days, so there is a LOT of time for things to go wrong this summer. That being said, we had a GREAT week.

Things got started when we visited our favorite boat thrift/consignment store. Sadly we learned they are going out of business but happily, they are heavily discounting old items.

First and foremost we got the sink we had our eye on since last August. We also got a downrigger. I will elaborate on the enormity of that purchase in a sad fishing post about the lack of salmon we caught last year, but I’ll spare you for now. They were selling 3 seat cushions for $40 each, which is about $40 more than I’ve ever paid for a chair in my life, let alone a cushion (they weren’t overpriced considering they’re $109 at WestMarine). But sitting on fiberglass is very uncomfortable, and they let them go for $10 per. Scooter is now the epitome of luxury.

Two small sinks doesn’t make any sense. They did it because there is supposed to be a saltwater pump, so you could rinse, and then keep fresh, soapy water in the other… idk apparently the designer hadn’t heard of dishes larger than 6 inches or of plastic bins…anyway, our new GIGANTIC (16 inch by 12 inch) sink is amazing.

I started calling every marine related business in the area to see about buying an outboard for our dinghy. Craigslist and FB marketplace were unfruitful. The first business I called was a yacht broker, but he was listed as a Tohatsu dealer so I tried.

“Hi do you sell outboards by chance”

“NO gaddammit!”

“Ok, great, does anyone in the area”

“I dunno, call Kitsap, I just sell boats!”

*30 seconds pass * phone rings*

“Well hi, ya know, I do have two 5 horse kickers in my garage I need to get rid of, come by tomorrow”

We purchased a 2 stroke, 5 horsepower, Suzuki dinghy motor, for the low low price of $300, a full thousand cheaper than we had budgeted, although we’re one horsepower shy of our goal. Something about a 6 horse team pulling your carriage is appealing. (yes I know horses and Hp are a loose relationship and that a dinghy motor pushes, relax). The cherry on top is the dark, damp, cave of a storage unit the outboard came out of also contained … drumroll please… The 4th matching seat to the set purchased earlier! Tay asked if he would sell it to us and the owner just GAVE it to us! (Apparently he wasn’t aware they were worth at least $10).

Also the old codger who sold us the outboard lives in our marina, has owned half the boats in the place, knows EVERYONE here, can hook us up with every type of project specialist, and seems to like us. (You’re a hard guy to read Rich, if you’re reading this).

The outboard starts and runs, but definitely a few kinks to work out there, (like the stop button doesn’t work) but for the price, we’re ecstatic. Scootie (the dinghy) can get on plane at 12-14 knots which makes her about twice as fast as Scooter.

And finally the real highlight of the week:

Jeff, with whom we had one 15 second conversation (less of a conversation more shouting across the docks about how weird our boat design was) invited us over to have drinks with his friends. His friends turned out to be: most of the board of directors of a yacht club, fantastic at preparing Hors d’oeuvres, immensely knowledgable about sailing, and really friendly. Plus one of them was childhood pals with my high school econ teacher & personal hero!

So as of tonight:

We know all of the important people in this marina.

We have a wealth of information to consume. (They never stopped recommending books)

We are being initiated as members of their Yacht Club.

We have comfy chairs, a giant sink, a fast dinghy, and hope that we may actually have some things go in our favor this year.

A throwback to Summer 2019

Scooter sitting seductively in the San Juan slack tide

This summer we made 2 trips to the San Juan Islands. Both times they made us question how much we actually wanted to sail south. We could be happy catching salmon, drinking in sunsets, fighting currents, and enjoying the views.

So far I reeled in the first and the most salmons caught by Scooter’s Crew.

Taylor, with this 11 pounder takes the cake for largest.

We spent 60 days with fishing lures in the water, and we finally start catching fish. Probably the reason the San Juan Islands were so special to us.

Big Shoutout to Troy Fields. The best best-man ever.

Despite how rural some of the islands felt, we still found a way into a hipster gastro-bistro with excellent martinis and an open mic night. When a back-woods bar on an island does open-mic nights, you’d expect humble music. Not the case this evening.

Screaming Folk sounds like an oxymoron but this guy made it work.

The first artist was an older man who’s voice would give Chris Stapleton a run for his money (maybe not but a few martini’s in and who could tell). Followed by a 20 something girl who could shred on the mandolin. Third up was the highlight of the evening. A man in his 60’s who had recently taken up the flute. The skills similar to a middle school recital, but the man was so full of joy and passion. It was contagious for the entire bar, and he received a standing ovation. Last up was a young singer songwriter who combined folk, bluegrass, and heavy metal into a high energy, joy filled, singalong. I’d pick that 20-seat bar, isolated on an island, over any place in Nashville on any given night.

Taylor enjoying a Rope Swing

Another highlight of the San Juan Islands was stumbling upon the best rope swing I’ve ever seen. Made from a ship’s rope designed to wrangle hundreds of tons of tanker, and hung high on a bluff overlooking the straights of Juan de Fuca.

Retired and feeling like a kid again.

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Amid a pandemic that cant decide if it refuses to go away or is perpetually beginning the ‘second wave’ and protests and riots and autonomous zones, it feels like a valuable time to return to the sailboat.

Something I love about expeditions, however great or small, is the reduction of the mental capacity. When your next meal and the next day’s safety are the only concerns, the mind is able to block out the distant future worries of health insurance, or the little anxieties of an interaction. Even a 4 hour round of golf gives you rest from the wandering mind, but a long backpacking trip or a life on a sailboat is a little more prolonged.

Enough about the philosophy of the boat, it’s time to grind.

In the next 72 days, we need to: fix our overheating engine, mount a radar dome, outfit our dinghy to be a functional life boat, re-wire the electrical system, install solar panels, remove – sand- buff – reinstall and seal our windows, sand and paint the hull, replace our two tiny sinks, build an onboard computer, wire said computer to run our home-made chart plotter, buy a dinghy motor, and fix the boat’s steering mechanism.

All the while, we need to build a life on the boat, get back into the tiny-house movement, learn to fish, continue our sailing skill education, clean 8 months of mold off the boat, and hopefully make friends.

It’s been daunting, to be honest. Fortunately we have a haul-out scheduled, where we hoist Scooter out of the water, plop her on some jacks, and let the professionals repaint the hull. We can’t mess with the engine too much, cause we need to limp down to the haul-out facility. We also cant mess with the rudder too much, because we hope everything will be easier out of the water. So this week is about moving in, and tackling the small projects we can handle. It’ll be a nice break to get back into the swing of things.

The conclusion is, we’re so happy to be back on the boat. Scooter feels like home. It’s the only place Tay and I haven’t had roommates since we got married, plus it’s the physical embodiment of the life we chose. Although the boat life is full of projects, and failures, it is amazing. Every day is a new adventure with (mostly) low consequences.

I hope I get the chance to look back on this blog post in 2 months or 2 years and miss the way I feel now. I’m happy and overwhelmed and anxious and absolutely STOKED.

-Hank

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