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Who had the most fun? Was it my family,
as the guests of the Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club, or was it the
members' kids, or was it the members themselves, some of whom
have been members for more than thirty years. In fact wait til
you get to the salmon roast. The exact same three members who
roasted that salmon over the wood fire have been doing it for
30 years and that is why the trophies are being awarded by gentlemen
in chef's hats. Each trophy was named after one of the three members
who have been in charge of roasting the salmon for all these years.
It is a science as well as an art. They have taken meticulous
notes each year about the weight of the fish, the time the fires
have been started, what type of wood has been burned, the temperature
and weather conditions, when the coals were ready to start roasting
the fish and how long they roasted it. The secret is in the spices
that Jack has in his pocket, and nobody knows what goes into those
spices. But we better start at the beginning of our story. I met
Dedee a number of years ago at the Bellevue Art Show where we
had a booth for many years. She bought some of our boats for the
ship's store at the Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club in Bellevue on
Lake Washington. Those first boats sold pretty quickly, so she
kept ordering more. Dedee owns a T-Class Racing Sloop herself,
so she knows how well they sail. She and Del Hoffman came up with
a great idea. Why not get a lot of kits for the Memorial Day Cruise?
The parents and kids could build the boats and paint or varnish
them over the weekend and then on Sunday, there would be a great
race. The idea was launched and more than 50 families reserved
boat kits for the weekend. I had to work pretty hard to get so
many boats ready and almost every boat had a different sail color.
There were T12s, T15s and T-Class. Dedee encouraged me to come
down for the race, and then I got a call from Del, the sailing
master for the cruise, and he invited us all to the salmon roast.
I knew the next week I had to ship 100 boats to the Marblehead
Festival of the Arts, but with such a warm invitation and an event
that sounded so much fun, I couldn't quite refuse. I got out an
atlas of Washington State. Port Ludlow was a little farther than
I realized, a good 60 miles by sail from Bellingham, but we wouldn't
miss this. It was a lot closer than going to Marblehead, Massachusetts,
to see our boats being used there!
And so here we are sailing down to Port Ludlow. The nearer point
behind us is the tip of Guemes Island and in the distance behind
us is Lummi Island.
Ahead is Lopez
Island, where we spent the first night
The currents were sometheing amazing with a negative 4 foot low
tide happening at about 3 pm. We made sure we were traveling with
the current, not against it. It makes a difference with a boat
speed of 7 knots and a current of 3-4 knots.
Between the islands the wind conditions vary a lot. Here the sailing
was quite moderate, but at other times we were at hull speed and
ready to reef if the wind picked up any more.
Saturday afternooon we arrived in Port Ludlow and were instantly
greeted and welcomed. It was a good feeling. And everywhere there
were our boats! Some beautifully finished and some still being
built. And what a friendly group. People kept coming up and introducing
themselves and telling us how much they liked the boats. It made
us feel honored to be there. We played some good bocce ball and
enjoyed some very interesting conversations with some very interesting
people.
The
Yacht Club Out Station is beautiful with several small buildings
and a large lawn, all overlooking the dock. We met Greg early,
he was the designated Admiral in charge of running the races on
Sunday. Here he is explaining a rigging detail on the T-Class
Sloop.
Boats
were everywhere.
And here's Del, gluing in his keel. He must have done a good
job since his boat turned out to be fast.
There
was no lack of design innovation in this fleet, and every boat
was unique. The Jessie-Moo was definitely one of the favorites.
See the Boat Races and continue on the Meydenbauer Bay Yacht Club Rendezvous by clicking here.
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