Great trip up river

Last Sunday, Glen and Jon reached Arlington, OR after a four day trip up the Columbia from Cape D.  Doug & Murna Marshall, Bob Meneghini and Jon Fisher joined him for various legs of the trip.

Jon enjoying the view steering from the lazarette

They stopped at Astoria and were greeted by the Astoria Regatta committee, which presented Glen with a "Best of" class plaque.  We are so awed by all the people who have gone out of their way to meet us, greet us and share the adventure.

Happy, surprised Glen with Tom Condit, Ryan Smith and committee members

Photo by Mrs. Elly Condit, wife of LCDR Tom Condit, Commanding Officer, Station Cape Disappointment.  
 
We also had a great stop in The Dalles, with an interview with The Dalles Chronicle arranged by Ron Vergeer, and a chance meeting with Jerry Ostermiller, former director of the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  Pics to come later....

The crew made a mad dash home this week, jumping from Bandon to Florence, to Depot Bay, then Garibaldi and back to Astoria today.  Today was the best weather day of the whole trip.  Quietest water Glen's seen on the Columbia Bar yet.


...and now on to a quiet night at home

sunset in Astoria      (c) Naomi Fisher 2013

Killing time in Bandon (a great place to be stuck)

So, with five days of small craft advisory wind and gale warnings at our destinations, we've had a wonderful, unexpected vacation at Bandon during the Cranberry festival.  Enjoying music, good food, and seeing the sights.

Here're Doug and Fred checking out the marine traffic through the scopes at the station:

and Glen talking with visitors at the marina:

Wind and Waves....

Weather is fickle, and the 25+knot winds are making the waters unsafe for our intrepid travelers. Some areas they expected to travel to Wednesday and Thursday are seeing 14 to 20 foot seas.  So, they are staying safely in port.  (Smart, even for "stubborn old guys"!)

But they are making the best of it, and while holed up in Bandon, will have an open house (open boat?) at the Cranberry Festival!

They're getting the royal treatment by locals, and will enjoy a river cruise tomorrow on the Coquille River.  They got a tour of a local museum today.

Unfortunately, the two day weather delay means they won't make Eureka.  Sunday they're changing a crew member, and will be headed back north by Monday.  Stations are being notified.  We'll keep everyone posted.

  -Naomi

Newport and Umpqua stations

The transit to Newport from Garibaldi was a little less bumpy than the first run, and everyone arrived in fine condition to enjoy the welcome of the Newport station crews and our friends, Cliff and Cheri.

entering Newport Sept 3rd  (c) photo by Frank Benetka III

Cliff and Cheri spied the MLB36391 from Depot Bay, and followed down the coast to Newport.  They got some good photos I hear, and hope to see soon.  The above photo was taken from the 47-footer that accompanied them into port.

After an evening of visiting until their voices went hoarse, Glen, Doug and Fred rested up for the next leg of the journey, Umpqua station at Winchester Bay, OR. 

Leaving at 6am to catch the Umpqua River bar at slack water, they enjoyed good weather and rolling swells, arriving mid-afternoon at Winchester Bay.  The station was hopping, with a Search and Rescue run about 30 miles out to tow in a boat.  So, with a holiday weekend skeleton crew and a bunch of them out doing real work, our "boys" got to enjoy a somewhat quieter evening and rest their voices.  

Glen tells me he discovered a great ice cream shop.  When last we talked, chocolate chip-mint was running down his arm....

Hey, I just created a Facebook Page for the MLB36391.  Check it out at:
https://www.facebook.com/mlb36391/

So now, an easier way to see what's going on with The Point Adams!

  -Naomi

Garibaldi

Two fantastic days in Garibaldi.  Thanks, Oly Olsen and all the great folks who greeted (and hosted) us with such enthusiasm.  We visited both the station and the marina, and over 70 people came to visit the boat! 

Photos to follow.  Here's one from an earlier Garibaldi visit (2013)

Next stop, Yaquina Bay station and Newport.

The next Coast Adventure begins!

...and they're off!

The MLB36391 departed Cape D this morning at 6:30am with 7 aboard: Cap'n Glen, mates Doug and Fred Bowers, Gordon, Bob and two Coasties from Cape D.

Astoria Regatta 2016

Gordon Huggins on the MLB36391

We were honored to be asked to participate
in the 2016 Astoria Regatta this past weekend.
We were joined by Kevin Clark and Gordon
Huggins on the MLB36391, and ran with the
Triumph and the 47208 from the Cape D
Lifeboat School.

Gordon, Glen, Kevin, Frank and Bob

Before the parade, we were joined by Bob and Frank__, who were on the Triumph during the Regatta.





Afterward, three visitors from the Mexican Navy Search and Rescue joined us for the return trip to Cape D.

Wrapping up the San Juans tour

Two incredible days in Friday Harbor.  Overall on this trip, we've talked with over 100 people about the boat and its history.  It's been very gratifying.  We visited all three major islands, and many smaller ones.  Lopez, Orcas, San Juan, Stuart, Sucia, Clark, Jones, James and more.  It's totally unpredictable how many people will come by to ask about the boat.  Some major ports we'll get just a handful, then have nearly 20 at a small state park dock.  It's a fabulous experience.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and expressed interest in the motor lifeboats and their history!

  -Glen and Naomi

Another day in paradise

A beautiful day on Sucia Island.

We had a fabulous day yesterday visiting with folks (another 12 visitors) from West Sound to Rosario and Obstruction Pass.

A place for the boat this month

Hooray! 

The 36391 will get to hang out with Coasties this month!  

The Port Townsend folks have invited us to moor the boat near their station while we take a break and get back home for awhile.  Tomorrow, we'll head over and give them a tour of the boat.

Thanks to Sr Chief Bromwell for his generosity and special thanks to Kevin Clark for going to bat for us.

It's a relief to know it'll be in a safe place and that more folks will get to see it.

Port Townsend

The weather's lovely today.  It's a great day to explore Port Townsend.

We explored a bit here before sunset last night, found the two marinas and the Coast Guard station, then returned to our mooring.  Not much at the State Park, unfortunately.  No dock to get on shore and see the park, and the moorings are in the same cove as the paper mill.

I understand the paper mill helped save the economy of the city, but it's still no fun to be hanging out next to.  At least we were close enough that the smell drifted over the top of us and was minor.

The mooring was rather bumpy due to the water traffic, so tonight we're staying in the Point Hudson Marina.  Close to old town, lost of cool sail boats to watch, etc.

Fort Townsend, not Port Townsend

On Tuesday morning, we'd planned to move from Coupeville to Port Townsend, but wind and weather prevented.  We got to the south end of Whidbey Island, and Admiralty Strait was just having none of us or any other small boats.  Thankfully, the Everett Marina provided a safe haven for the night, and we ended up having a very peaceful night's rest there.

Wednesday morning we had a great cruise across, and explored Ports Ludlow and Hadlock.  We wanted to see the Wooden Boat school at Port Hadlock, but didn't find it.  So, we went on to Port Townsend. I'm told by folks here that the School is "right there" next to Ajax Cafe.  Well, hopefully we'll have time to cruise by and look at it later.

Tonight we're staying on a mooring buoy at Fort Townsend State Park.

Raining -- inside the cabin!

Alright, people, us dry-siders are not used to this.  Raining outside all day, raining inside all night??!  The humidity and condensation gang up to produce lots of moist droplets on the walls of the cabin.  We have to towel off the inside of the port-lights, and still get dripped on now and again.  But we love her, anyway.  

A Beautiful day in Coupeville

This is one of the most charming places we've been yet.  A lovely historic waterfront, this community is steeped in history and very, very welcoming.  Great coffee at the dock cafe, too!  We've had a number of people come look at the boat, which is always fun.


Tonight, we'll have a cozy evening in cabin, tucked out of the rain.

A chance encounter

You never know who you'll meet....

Having passed up the trek into Lake Union (where we most wanted to visit the Center for Wooden Boats), we didn't expect this:

On our way out of the Camano Island State Park area, where we were on a mooring buoy overnight, we passed an interesting structure at Cama Beach.   Looked through the binoculars, and lo-and-behold, the Center for Wooden Boats livery is there on the shore.

Pulled in a spoke with someone for just a few minutes, and we hope to connect again later!

From Base Seattle onward

We had a great stay at Base Seattle. Thanks to those who hosted us and helped arrange it!

After our initial tours and talks about the boat at the station, we went for a walk through Seattle's Pioneer Square district, then went back to the station and settled in for the evening.  The next morning, we gave a few more tours of the boat.  Because it was Saturday, there weren't many folks left at the station to tour, so we left a bit early and found Illahee State Park for our night moorage.

Sunday we spent lunchtime in Poulsbo, and once again, found a terrific town, with charming, interested people.  Gave about 6 presentations about the boat, had a nice, relaxing lunch, and motored on. 

Once again, we went farther than expected.  We passed a few places we might have stopped, and found Camano State Park on the map.  Well, it has only a fishing boat launch, so we found a mooring buoy and hung out for the night.  We were tired from a long day of running.

The tour so far...

Internet access has been sporadic, so just a quick summary of things so far.  I'll come back and add photos later.

We departed Swantown Marina in Olympia on the 7th, as the boat swelled up satisfactorily in the first 24 hours, and Glen was confident about the way things were looking.

We motored to Jerrell's Cove State Park and had a lovely evening, visited with some folks and enjoyed the peaceful scenery of the forested area, hiked the trails, and relaxed.

The next day we explored a bit, visited Boston Harbor for a break, fueled up, and motored around, eventually making it to Gig Harbor where we found a guest dock for the evening.

We spend most of 6/9 enjoying the amenities of Gig Harbor.  Lovely town, one we'd certainly enjoy seeing more of.  Met a bunch of great people at the marina, and showed to boat to about 10 folks interested enough to hear her story.  Got some fresh food and de-e-e-e-e-licious fireweed honey at the Farmer's Market before taking off for the evening.

We went farther than we expected to that evening, and caught a mooring buoy at the South end of Blake Island across from Seattle that night, just before dark.  The wind came up and it got rather bouncy, stormy, so we moved up to another set of mooring buoys in a little more sheltered area.  Little did we know, that the moorage noted in the gazetteer on the *north* side of the island was actually a very developed, very beautiful park and tourist spot called Tillicum village.  Would have been a terrific place to stay!  But at least we got to explore that this morning before coming over to Seattle. 

We got a great reception at the CG Base Seattle, and met a bunch of helpful and interested young Coast Guardsmen.  They've been very welcoming and helpful.

Back in the water

Off on our 2016 adventures!

After being out of the water all winter for project work, bottom paint and maintenance, we're in the water again.

Thanks, Casey, for doing a terrific job of transport and launch.

We are spending this first night in the Swantown Marina, making sure it doesn't leak too much, and is safe for our trip. 

Love being on the water again!

Visit to San Francisco Maritime NHP

Glen just returned from an exciting trip to San Francisco, where he gave a presentation to a group at the National Historic Park on the history of MLBs and our 36391 in particular. We hope one day our boat will make its home there, where 1000s of visitors will see it, ride on it and read about the history of these great rescuers.

Here he is with Bill and Gordon out on the newly re-engined Point Reyes MLB:

 

Catching up

Well, I guess we have a little catching up to do.  So, you'll be seeing some older posts as I fill in and hopefully add photos from our 2015 adventures and more.