The Pierce family recently made their long-awaited trip to the Puget Sound. Robert has been hearing lots about it since he picked up his little sailing hobby, so he was happy to finally check it out. One of the many things that have been going on up there for the last 10 years or so is the Race to Alaska boat race, which starts in Port Townsend and ends in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Robert has mentioned to a few friends how large an area of water the Puget Sound is and how much sailing opportunity it provides. It is hard to describe.
The below photo was taken by Robert from the top of Mt. Erie on Fidalgo Island. It shows a fairly large body of water that is a part of the Puget Sound. It looks pretty big, but given the scale of things, it is proportionately very small.
To demonstrate, looking the below map, you will see a small red dot. EVERYTHING you see in the above photograph is covered by that red dot.
The yellow line is the course of the Race to Alaska.
On December 16 Robert took a sail with Joe Murphy and other South Coast Region members of the DCA on the south coast of England. Here’s a trip report written by the lovely Sarah Sorensen. Thanks to Joe and everyone else for making Robert feel at home and with friends. He hopes he can do it again!
Report: A good turnout on a damp grey midwinter day – eight sailors in six boats. The wind was a useful westerly F4 occasionally gusting to F5, variable in strength but steady in direction. Some of those who came made significantly longer trips than from the suggested launch site. Bob started from San Francisco – no, not in the Wanderer – and crewed with Joe. They launched early from Cobnor to take advantage of the young flood stand in the Chichester Channel and were at East Head before some of us had left home. John also sailed from further afield, launching at Mengeham Rythe SC with Clare as crew in his lovely Smacks Boat.
Steve, Cliff, Alan and I launched at Warblington Road hard, a venue that’s a pleasure to use once again following repairs to the slip earlier this year. We scattered in various directions: Cliff towards Emsworth to take a look at our Westerly, Steve and Alan in the direction of Fowley Island for elevenses, and I headed down the Emsworth Channel to Marker Point. By this time Joe and Bob were already cruising around off Emsworth in Dulcie and they joined Alan and Steve at Fowley. A pale winter sun made a brief appearance before leaden clouds closed over us for the rest of the day. Four Father Christmases passed me, all heading north. A tan sail, well reefed, coming up the Emsworth Channel, was instantly recognisable as likely to be that of a DCA boat – as indeed it was, John and Clare in Leander.
All six boats made for Langstone not long afterwards, beating down Sweare Deep with a fair tide. Some of us stopped on the shoreline at the end of the High Street, others tied up at the quay. We gathered outside The Royal Oak and the worst of the drizzle conveniently stopped for us to enjoy a chat over drinks and mince pies.
Those with furthest to go headed off first but we were all gone not long after HW. Leander and Dulcie both did well to make it home by dark, for Joe and Bob a 19nm round trip at speeds of up to 7 knots. It was a quick downwind sail back to Warblington Rd hard but the daylight was going by the time we were packed up and ready to leave. Not the sort of day you’d necessarily choose to go sailing alone but the company – on the water and the land – as usual turned it into something special. Thank you to everyone who came.
Robert and Mira finished, err, not first in the 2023 Hog Island Race hosted by the Inverness Yacht Club. 17 mile race around the island and back. Thanks to Mira for bearing with it.
Rory had a job waiting tables in San Miguel Allende for 2 weeks. Thanks to Ali Sarraf who took him on at Restaurant Turk! Lots of pizza and a little tennis.Robert worked there too.
Then off to Mexico City to meet Cadie and Mira for a week of sightseeing. Baseball game, wrestling, side trip to Taxco for Mira, Cadie and Rory, and lots of churros and chocolate. Robert worked.