The First Sea Trial

I recognize that I’m posting this slightly out of order. This took place in June of 2020. After buying the boat, we took it for a short sail around the southern point of Puget Sound. The boat was moored in Gig Harbor. Gig Harbor has a very narrow, very shallow entrance. Honestly, we are lucky that we just happened to do the first sail during high tide. I didn’t even think to check.

The first sail was pretty slow and calm. There wasn’t a lot of wind, and mostly I just wanted to get a feel for the boat. Backing out of the slip proved to be nerve wracking. No matter how many videos you watch online, nothing prepares you for the actual experience. There’s something about the process that draws bystanders to the area, just to watch you mess up. I could feel their judgement. It’s not like driving a car. A lot of boat movement is based on momentum, rather than force. You’ve got to take into consideration the current, prop walk, wind, and the Fates.

After successfully making a 36 point turn, we were off. We left Gig Harbor and headed towards the southern tip of Vashon Island. With just the mainsail up, we were making around 3 knots. Perfect for beginners. We floated around for a bit. We saw a few boats in the distance, but for the most part, it was just us. After a couple of hours, the wind died down to nothing, and the sun was getting lower. I didn’t want to park the boat in the dark, so we headed back in.

Parking was still hard, but we managed. Locked everything back up, and went home.

While Gig Harbor was cheaper, it’s also far away from Seattle, where we both work and live. Sure, I could have saved money, but it’s an hour drive even in the best conditions. On average, it would be an hour and a half to two hours. That means we wouldn’t be able to actually work on the boat very often. So I decided to move Polerys to Seattle. I found a marina about 5 minutes from my apartment. Perfect. Twice as expensive, but perfect location.

Thus we embarked on a 25 nautical mile journey up the Colvos Passage. Just two people who had 2 hours worth of sailing experience. We like to live on the wild side.

Finding the right weather window was kind of a pain. I have a normal Monday through Friday job. So I needed north bound wind that wasn’t too strong, on a Saturday or Sunday, during high tide. Then I gave up and was willing to take a Monday off. Then I was willing to accept a day with no wind. Luckily, the current in the Colvos Passage always travels north. So as long as the wind wasn’t completely against us, it would work. I also had given notice to terminate my moorage in Gig Harbor, so I only had a few weeks worth of wiggle room.

We settled on a Saturday where the wind would be light, but with us in the morning, while the tide was still high enough to get out of Gig Harbor.

The first half of the sail was uneventful. I think we were averaging about 4 knots, but calm seas. It was sunny. There were very few boats. It was a very relaxing sail. Until we exited Colvos. Then the wind changed directions, and the current decided to attack.

Suddenly we are making zero progress. We could see Alki. It was right there. And stayed RIGHT THERE for an hour. Now there were a lot more boats. We tried to tack. But we’re new at this. We hadn’t figured out the right way to set a sail. We ended up turning all the way around. If someone was watching us, I’m sure they had a jolly laugh at our expense.

We fought this for 3 more hours. I was getting frustrated. I could see the masts of the boats at our destination. Yet I couldn’t get there. As a precaution, I had added 5 gallons of diesel into the tanks. I tried to math in my head. I knew there was fuel already in the tanks, plus my 5 gallons. Did I have enough to make it to the marina? I decided to go for it. We dropped the sails, which was a lot harder, now that the wind had picked up. The shock of jumping from 0 knots to 5 knots was exciting.

We go for about half an hour, and now we’re nearing the entrance to the marina. I had stopped by earlier to get a feel for where everything was. They offer line assistance, if you give them 15 minutes notice. I just didn’t know how far away 15 minutes was. I guessed as best as I could. We were closer to 20 minutes away, but the person helping was running late too, so it worked out perfectly. We docked pretty well (out of pure luck, and not talent). We left around 8 am, and arrived at 6 pm. Now with tens of hours of experience beneath our belts.

Safe and sound.