a sunny yet cold and blustery day in February

President's Day brought sunshine. It also brought the promise of 48 degree temperature. This is pretty good for February. But the presidents also brought wind, lots of it - white caps and damn big rolling waves that lifted the bow up like a lap dog then dropped that bow down like a hot potato. The boat didn't seem to mind, although, we were momentarily concerned. But then we raised the main sail, ran downwind and the sea seemed to calm for us. All in all - a fine day on the water. Afterward, we crowded in the cabin, smoked cigarettes and got to know our new crew member, Andre. Andre is from Poland. He is very soft spoken so it is hard to be certain, but from what Micah and I can gather: he is living in exile from Poland after dodging a draft, he moved onto his girlfriend's boat last year and, unfortunately, his girlfriend has abandoned him and her boat so that she can work on an oil rig in Texas. Andre seems detached from everything. During small craft advisory conditions, he arrived at my boat, ready to sail, wearing dress pants, loafers and a button down collared shirt. I told him he absolutely had to go find something more to wear. When he returned a few minutes later he had added this tweed sport coat to the mix. It goes without saying, I was a little jealous.

early morning snow sail

After much speculation, Seattle finally got some decent snow. The boat performed well and the diesel engine started up right away - despite the low temperature.

i'm fine

i want everyone to know that i am fine - nothing to worry about, there's this little space heater and it keeps things near comfortable - which is all i need - seriously, I'm fine.

blame canada

a sub-freezing air mass has slid down the fraser river valley in canada and spilled out across the pacific northwest - this is hardly boating weather - it should last all week. I may cave, I may have already caved - tough to say. Brandy, books, blanket. Brandy, books, blanket.

Foulies

the autumn was good, the winter is now here - the air is near freezing again and inches of rain are falling, we have a gale warning all weekend, with snow on the water predicted - this is brandy weather - port wine aft of cabin.

Townes Van Zandt

Townes is often called the songwriter's songwriter.
That seems about right. He's also pretty good at telling stories.

Double-up

This was a cold day. You can sort of tell Federico is a little annoyed to still be out on the water, and this R.Kelly/snoop-dog duet wasn't sweetening the pot at all.

just a couple dudes in a cockpit

barge

Due to low harvest numbers in Marine Area 10, crabbing season has been extended till January.
Lately, we have been baiting the pot with whole chickens. Sometimes when you pull in the pot, it's still just the chickens.

Garrison Keillor adds a warm touch to the liveaboard lifestyle. Before I moved onto the boat - I liked Garrison enough, he was not an unwelcome part of the weekend.

But now it is different.
Garrison and me are like homeboys on the open seas. I now have nothing but time for his long winded stories about a bunch of regular joes holding down stools at a coffee shop in Lake Wobegon. Even the 'Guy Noir' skit seems funnier.

This is the first fish caught while under sail. The fish is a bottom feeder, a starry flounder, caught with a piece of turkey near a sewage outlet in the Piper's Creek watershed of Puget Sound. Steve and I ate this fish because we were hungry. We could have eaten the piece of turkey, but we ate the flounder.
This flounder is a humbling stepping stone on the path towards the real thing. The real thing is to catch a salmon while sailing. That's the real thing -