The trip was enjoyable and uneventful. I had a weather window that cooperated pretty well. By far the roughest weather on the whole trip south was what I experienced on the south side of Lopez. It is about one hour from Friday Harbor down to Cattle Pass, and with the currents being in my favor I did so quite easily. I then turned into the maze of islands that make up the area on the southern tip of Lopez and soon dealt with the remnants of a strong west wind going against a strong ebb. It was a typical confused bit of heaven and hell on the water. Bouncing clapotis of about 3-4 feet, which is just enough to make any boat plunge and hop. As always, Aeolus puts her shoulder down and handles it very gracefully, despite the conditions being pretty unpleasant. I surely wouldn't have wanted to be out in a flat bottom Hunter or power boat in those conditions.
After a while I got out of that and was able to power on smooth seas right past Smith Island and down past Port Townsend to Port Ludlow for the night.
I grabbed a slip because I was honestly too tired to lift the dinghy off the deck to deal with the anchor rode. The "resort" at Port Ludlow is nice enough, though I have to wonder about the environmental effects of such a place at that spot. Dinner was quite nice. I guess Port Ludlow is a popular get away from Seattle.
The next day I made the quick hop to Shilshole and tucked Aeolus into her new home. Quite a change from the relatively small size of the port at FH to the gigantic marina at Shilshole. There are various nice things about Shilshole, however, and among them is the number of sailboats. For a guy like me, it's just fun to see so many boats at the docks and to see how someone else has dealt with a problem.
The page has turned.
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