Nautical Nonsense - Boating, Adventures, and Life inbetween...

May 2007 - Back at Fern Ridge!

2007-06-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here's our McGregor 26, waiting to get back in the water. Is'n't she a beauty? We finally got her in the water at Fern Ridge in May. We only have a slot through June. We plan to take her to Odell Lake for the 4th of July. Yahoo - it's boating season!

We are on A dock this year, which makes it much easier to load our camping gear. We spent the night out on the lake and there was a beautiful lightning storm to the east.

What a great start to our boating season.

Here's the boat at Richardson Marina on A dock. See Tom and Marti's boat, the Maluhai? We hope to have a few BBQ's and get some great sailing with them soon.

Here's Captain Nick. We spent the week-end again and he slept in the front berth. It actually worked out pretty good. He thought he would be up for it again. It won't be long before Craig has him sailing.

Our boating adventures have started. Now we'll see how much we can squeeze into this summer!

Christmas 2006 "Nautical Nonsense in the Caribbean"

2006-12-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

We're back, with tales of nautical nonsense of our whole family.
Sorry for the big lapse in entries but we haven't been boating, but instead have been working - TOO MUCH! This trip was a God-send for us and our family. We had the greatest time, my Mom and Dad, Craig and me, Katie and Dominic, Kimberly and Dusty, Sydney and Nick. Yep, 10 of us ventured out on a very stormy December, just praying our flight from Portland, Oregon would not be cancelled or delayed too much to meet the ship in Miami for our cruise. Somehow we managed to get out on time with no problems!

If you've never been on a cruise be prepared to stand in long lines for a long time. It was exhausting but worth it! The Royal Caribbean ship, Navigator of the Seas, was our nautical escape vessel and playground for the next 7 days. Welcome to Nautical Nonsense in the Caribbean!

It took us all day to fly to Miami, with a lay-over in Ft. Worth/Dallas. We had to stay at a hotel that night and then board the ship on Saturday. We were so exhausted and had to wait in long lines just to get on the ship that we forgot to take pictures of it at that point. Once we got on the ship we went straight to the Windjammer buffet to eat. As I'm sure you've all heard, eating is what you excel in on a cruise, and we didn't waste any time getting excellent at it!

The Windjammer had windows looking out over the front of the ship. We ate breakfast and lunch there most of the time because it was fast and we didn't have to dress up!

We left Miami Saturday at 5pm, just as it was getting dark. Mom and Dad had a suite on the 9th floor, while the rest of us had balcony rooms next to each other on the 8th floor. Here are Craig and the kids watching us leave. The other pic shows the kids in their life jackets doing a drill. We all had to do this before we could leave port. It was pretty amusing! We felt so much safer. right.

So we spent the next day at sea. So what did we do? EAT, EAT, EAT, and celebrated Sydney's 14th birthday.

And took lots of pictures...............

San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and more to come.....

Newport, Oregon Sailing Regatta

2006-10-16T16:43:00.000-07:00

We started the weekend out sitting around the campfire at South Beach State Park. Tom and Marti and Bob and Lydia both had campsites there. We thought we were going to have our boat at the marina and stay on it, but we just pooped out and got a hotel. Craig was still trying to recover from jetlag after returning from Shanghai. Also, Tom's brother, Terry, and his friend Cathy showed up too! They brought the most awesome steaks and fed us well.

The next morning was so beautiful that Craig and I decided we would walk across the bridge. Here are pictures of South Beach Marina and Newport Bay. The weather was perfect!

Well, as you can see the weather changed a little. The sun was still out but during the sailing races we had to bundle up.

After the races we decided to drive up to Depot Bay, where there was a Pirate Treasure Hunt competition. This is where they were supposed to be celebrating. I really wanted a picture of a pirate to put on my blog. I think we managed to get there between the hunt and the awards ceremony. We didn't see very many pirates. I was bummed.

Labor Day weekend - Newport, Oregon

2006-09-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

We actually didn't get to Newport until Sunday. The weather was nice but the winds were cold. We went without our boats, just played with the kids in the pool at the hotel. Monday morning we went down to South Beach Marina to check out the boats. Here's some people getting ready to take a spin up to Toledo for lunch. They had a really neat boat that, of course, Craig was drooling over.

Here Nick and Dominic are admiring a local fisherman's catch of Albacore tuna. They were getting their limits on crab too!

Here the boys are rough housing on the bed while Sydney reads in the background at La Quinta in Newport. On the right Nick and Sydney are teaching Dominic to swim. He's had some swimming lessons but he sure improved in just the 2 days we were there. They kids did really well with him and he trusts them completely. We really had a good time, even without going on a boat!

Shelter Cove at Odell Lake, Oregon - Lots of Wind!

2006-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

As the summer comes to an end, we are frantically sqeezing in every chance possible to play on our MacGregor Motorsailor. Check out our boat on Odell Lake, with Willamette Pass in the background! Shelter Cove Resort and Marina had everything, including free internet. Check out their link ^ and look at the cabins and camping area and boat moorage and rentals. The owners were very nice and it was fun watching all the fishermen.

We've been looking forward to this trip with Tom and Marti, and their friends, Bob and Lydia, and Mike and Julie, at a lake we've never been to. We also ran into Patti and her husband from B3 cafeteria at HP. We decided that we should all go say hi to her and hopefully not embarass her too much. The reason the picture looks weird is because of the dust we kicked up.....

We have already made reservations for a cabin in July since this Labor Day and Labor Day 2007 is already booked full! Here's the cabin we reserved. It has 2 bedrooms downstairs with double beds and 4 twin beds in the loft. We can't wait to go and hopefully will find someone to go with us!

Here's Bob and Lydia, on the bow, while Craig, Tom and Marti held down the stern. I just jump around, taking pictures!

Inside the Kokanee Lodge...........it says it sleeps 10 but you could easily get around 25 people! Remember, this is available year round!

We had such a great time...

Exploring the Columbia/Willamette Rivers around Portland, Oregon

2006-08-22T11:52:00.000-07:00

So there we were, at McCuddy's Landing in Scappose, Oregon. Our boat finally in the slip and showers calling our names after a long day exploring the Columbia River, Willamette River, and Multnomath Channel, all around Portland, Oregon.

We had just finished eating at "Mark's on the Channel" and were ready for a quiet evening. Since Craig is faster at showering, he went first, while I cleaned up the boat, getting stuff out of the bed so we could sleep in it. As I was putting our computer bags under the table I thought I heard someone yelling.

Since we were in a marina with lots of slips and people milling around, making lots of strange noises, I didn't pay much attention at first. But for some reason it started sounding familiar. Like a flashback of a bad experience I had hoped to forget, the yelling brought chills to my spine. It couldn't be? Could it? I jumped up to look.....

"Chuckie, Chuckie, open up the gate. Chuckie, let me in. Chuckie, answer me!" Pause for silence, "CHUCKIE, ANSWER ME, I'M AFRAID YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A HEART ATTACK AND I'M SCARED. CHUCKIE, YOU ANSWER ME! I'M THINKING YOU MIGHT BE DEAD! CHUCKIE!!!"

OK, unless you've been reading this blog for a while that isn't going to make sense. (check out previous post "Fern Ridge Sailing Regatta and the Posers") Seems that wacky husband of mine was trying to get my attention, and of course, being the clown that he can be, did it in hilarious fashion. Craig had forgotten the code to the gate and was yelling and shaking the locked gate to the marina slips. I thought I was going to pee my pants laughing so hard. That joker!

Here are just a few of the houses along the Columbia River and Multnomath Channel. We hope to retire and live on a house like this someday. For now we can only dreammmmm.....

The picture on the left is showing how shallow it was going around Government Island. (That island is right across from the Portland Airport, which is why that plane looks like it's going to land on those cars). We actually got high-centered on our keel. Our depth finder was showing 2 1/2 to 3 feet and then it went blank. Startled us to say the least! Thankfully our MacGregor Motorsailor has a keel that can be pulled up. We kept it up most of the time since we only motored that weekend. We wanted to cover a lot of territory while exploring and that is the best way to get around fast. Also the currents were pretty wild and seemed to be going against the wind most of the time, which made for some pretty interesting boating!

We ended the weekend by going up the Multnomath Channel to St. Helens, Oregon. Here's the Courthouse Docks and as you can see the winds are whipping up the water. We were told it was one of their low wind days. We decided that wouldn't be one of the places we would like to settle down in.

We had a great weekend and are sure sad to see the summer coming to an end. As you can see not everyone has a great time on this river???

As we were waiting to get our boat out at the boat launch look what came motoring over. Craig yelled at me to get my camera since he knew what they were going to do. I had a hard time running to get my camera because I was so shocked it was heading straight for the launch. Thankfully I snapped out of it and got these pictures.

Next posting will be from Odell Lake, where we are camping with our friends Tom and Marti and some other people we haven't met yet. I can't wait!

Green Peter Lake, Oregon - Camping with the kids...

2006-08-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Here's Nick on Saturday, waterskiing for the first time at Green Peter Reservoir. He got up pretty easy and within an hour was talking about trying one ski. Sunday he gave one ski a couple tries but got frustrated and just wanted to get up. He did so good!

Then Sydney tried it and after a couple awful crashes she did it too! They both did very good for their first times trying!

The helicopter you see over Syd's head is a Erickson Sky Crane. They were using it to fight forest fires to the northeast of us. There were also a couple other helicopters with huge buckets, dipping into the lake for water to dump on the fires. We couldn't catch that happening to take pictures of. Bummer!

Blue Angels, Boats, Friends, Boats, Bill Gates House, Boats...

2006-08-06T21:50:00.000-07:00

Seattle Seafair 2006 - Ohhhhh Boy

More pictures of boats. The picture on the left shows boats on Lake Union, racing to see the Blue Angels. The one on the right is in the Mountlake Cut, again racing to see the Blue Angels.

Here are two really cool pictures. The reason the air is smokey looking is because of all the contrails left by the jets. We were so surprised at how much "smoke" the Blue Angels left in the air. I have to say, I liked the air show better from dry land where you can hear an announcer and music with the show. Think of the song "Danger Zone" while they are zooming overhead. It was so cool!

Here's an interesting boat. They said it was amphibious. I can't even imagine what it is used for.
On the right is a picture of a big boat that came up behind us and literally pushed us aside in the narrow Mountlake Cut. We were constantly amazed at the rudeness of the boaters that weekend. It all seemed very dangerous and I sure hope no one was hurt. Here's a few more pictures...

Here I am, happy to be coming into Fisherman's Marina to get some dinner. The restaurant here was wonderful and I had to take a picture of the salads she was making right in front of us. Also if you can read the card in that picture you can see that peach desserts were their specialty at that time. We had a scrumptious mini peach pie, hot with ice cream melting on it. I should have taken a picture of it but I was grabbing my spoon and digging in! It was so good!

Here's a picture of Bill Gates house on Lake Washington. I really love the woodwork and was so impressed that he didn't flaunt his money like a lot of the houses, excuse me, mansions, on the lakes in Seattle.
The picture on the left is, of course, more boats, more Blue Angels!

Finally, the day of the Hydroplane races. We weren't able to get real close to the races since there were boatloads of people surrounding them. There was supposed to be a log boom there for watching the race up close but we weren't that brave and were not going to pay that much. The other picture shows a live band on top of a boat platform. They were actually pretty good.
It turns out that Seafair at the races, was like Mardi Gras, only on water, in big fancy boats, with lots of alcohol and nearly naked bodies. We were a little out of place to say the least. But we got lots of pictures. Here's a few more....

Seattle Seafair - Big Boats, Little Boats, Boats Galore!

2006-08-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOSH! I have never seen so many boats, in so many sizes, all in the water, racing to the same destination. It was incredible and scary at the same time!

After arriving at Seattle and checking the Internet for boat launches, we ended up launching at Bellevue 40th Street Boat Launch. Even on a Thursday night at 9:30 we had to get in line and it was chaos (very nice boat launch though!). It's run by Seattle Parks and Rec and they have a slight flaw in their system of charging fees. It seems that you can only buy a one day parking pass, no ifs, ands, or butts. :-)
We know this because on Friday night there were Parks and Rec officials at the launch, directing traffic, and they told us there was no other way to pay, but by day-to-day, since the date and time are on each ticket. It really stinks because it makes it impossible to go out the Ballard Locks and into the Puget Sound area. We wouldn't have any time to look around before we would have to head back and pay for another day. I sent them an e-mail about that!
Here's Craig checking our boat Friday morning at the Kirkland Marina. We pulled in at midnight and tied up toward the end of the dock because that was the only vacant area we could find. The next morning we found out the other boats closer in were going to be towed if they didn't move soon, because they had big charter boats coming in. We were ok though, being so far out. Lucky!
We walked right off the docks into downtown Kirkland that morning. It's a very cute little town with lots of shops and restaurants. We had a great breakfast at George's Place, a Greek restaurant that Mike, the Kirkland Marina manager told us about.
Next we headed out to see the Blue Angels perform over Lake Washington. As you can see behind Craig, we weren't alone. As you will see in coming pictures, we were NEVER alone. I thought Lake Shasta was bad for so many boaters. They don't hold a candle to Lake Union or Lake Washington during Seafair! The weird thing is that they have very few marinas with gas and supplies on either of these lakes. Most of the shoreline is privately owned and it makes the lake seem very inhospitable to visistors.
Here it's a race to the get under the 520 bridge, heading for the north side of the I-90 bridge, where the Blue Angels supposedly center their performance. The reason I say supposedly is because they always seemed to be doing the really cool stunts on the south side of the I-90. Since Friday and Saturday were just practice from 1:30 to 2:30, we had to stay Sunday to see the actual performance of not just the Blue Angels, but of the hydroplane races too. Check out the next posting to see all the boats we've seen. And though we haven't taken our wonderful MacGregor Motorsailor to the ocean, it sure felt like we were on one most of the time.....you'll see why!

Whiskeytown Lake, 7 miles west of Redding, CA - A sailing lake - finally...Yahoo!

2006-07-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

PART 3 OF SUMMER BOAT CAMPING VACATION:
After 3 days of wandering Lake Shasta, never seeing another sailboat, we took the advice from a kid working at one of the marinas, and pulled out of Shasta Lake and went to Whiskeytown Lake, just west of Redding.
What a blessing that was! Whiskeytown Lake does not allow houseboats or personal water craft (jet skis to us ole' folks), and this is where the sailboats were.
The water was so much cleaner and it was a few degrees cooler (only 105 or so most days) that we thought we were in heaven! The wildlife there was so awesome. We actually saw lots of cranes, ducks with babies, geese, pigeons, eagles, deer, turtles, and yes, bears. There are two cranes in this picture.
Also we had the privilege of coming in close contact with not just a bear, but a momma bear and her cub. Unlike the lone bear at Shasta Lake, it did not get scared and run away.

Instead it seemed to charge us, mad as a mother.....bear!
Here's a picture of the very narrow cove that we anchored in that evening for dinner. We had just finished dinner when we heard the rustling in the bushes. Craig got the flashlight and found eyes staring at us, then another pair of eyes below the first set. He thought if we started the motor it would scare the bears away but it seemed to irritate her instead and she started coming closer into the cove and toward the back of our boat. It was then that we thought it was best to move out of the cove, in case she decided she could swim to us and get on board. Craig quickly untied the rope that he used to tether us to a tree stump, while I pulled up the anchor to get the heck out of there.
Needless to say we were a little scared.
Here you can see the cove as we were returning to get our rope that we left tied to a tree for the rear anchor.
I think we were supposed to report any bear sitings, but we never saw a Ranger to report it to. This was definitely a vacation we would never forget.
We took the next weekend off and hung out with our kids. Next weekend, Seattle Seafair; fireworks, boat camping, the Blue Angels, hydroplane races, lots of food, YAAAAAHOOOOO! Sure hope Dennis and Izzy are around to come see our new boat! Check in next week to find out how the Seafair went......Jannie

Summer Boating Vacation 2006 - Yahoo!

2006-07-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

First stop, Lorene's Cafe, in beautiful downtown Lebanon, Oregon. After years of taste testing we are convinced Lorene has the best breakfast in the world, especially the BATS omelet (bacon, avocado, tomato and Swiss cheese). OK, maybe it's not the best in the world but just the United States and China. We will keep tasting for something that can compete and keep you informed. :-)
After breakfast we headed south, hoping for hot weather (be careful what you hope for!).
Here's Craig checking the battery after going over the Siskyous in 100 degree weather. Thankfully all was ok, but just to be safe we drove without the air conditioner (unbelievable torture!).
The weather was so hot we decided we would drop in on Lake Shasta. We launched at Antlers Boat Ramp, which was a nightmare and we will never use it again. The place was a zoo and very difficult to launch our boat due to the jet skis and power boats zooming back and forth by the launch, causing huge wakes. There was a very nice lady working there who tried to keep things in order but she needed a bullhorn and stick to wallop some of the people along side their heads. Oh well, we won't be back there.
Here's one of many Relief Stations on the lake. They were kept pretty clean and they were very much appreciated on this very busy lake! As you will see in coming pictures, the State of California has a sense of humor when it comes to potty talk....or what they call Relief Stations. It sure was a relief to know people were using them!
Here's a deer that came down to watch us anchor our boat, in a cove on Shasta Lake. It was very friendly and posed for many pictures. It was kind of freaky because it wasn't afraid and kept getting closer to Craig as he was tying up our boat. About 15 minutes after this critter left, another came to visit. It was too dark to get a good picture, but not too dark for us to see the black bear that was drinking from the lake, about 15' from our boat. I tried to get a picture but it was too dark and the flash scared it off. I guarantee neither Craig nor I slept much that night!
Here's a great picture of us sailing on Shasta Lake. Yes, I said sailing. We traveled every arm of that lake and never saw another sailboat, so we thought it wasn't a good lake for sailing. Here we can prove that the sailing can be good, it's just awkward trying to dodge all the houseboats and jet skis. This picture was taken on the McCloud arm of Shasta Lake, with Holiday Harbor in the background.

As you may have guessed we are home now, and tonight will be our first night trying to sleep without bees, bats, bears, or boneheads trying to wake us or keep us awake. I have lots more to tell about our adventures and will share more with you all tomorrow night! Good night!

Boating Lake Shasta, Vacation Part 2

2006-07-18T22:49:00.000-07:00

Look at this happy man. Yes, it was a relief to find another one of these stations on Shasta Lake and the number of this station, 104, was 5 degrees less than what it was that day. The highest that it got while we were at Shasta Lake was 117 degrees. HOT!!!!
We originally planned to go to Whidbey Island, in the Puget Sound, to watch Race Week with our friends Tom and Marti, but due to the weather predictions of 60s to 70s we opted for going south. I'm truly sorry Tom and Marti, we'll make it up to you with a great steak BBQ (ok, we've already done that, but this time we'll have dessert too!). Our intentions were to explore Lake Tahoe, (highly recommended for a sailing vacation, again by my coworker, George Radominski, a very well traveled sailing man!). But after driving forever, (well, it seemed like forever due to the 100 degree weather by the time we got to Grants Pass,) we decided to drop in at Lake Shasta, since it was 7:00 pm and we were roasting and it was wet.
Lake Shasta is actually more than just warm water filled with houseboats, jet boats, and jet skis. It has lots of wildlife too. In this picture you can see a lizard that swam out to meet Craig and tried to climb up our boat. Needless to say it was exhausted in no time so Craig caught it in a bucket and let it out on a tree nearby. It was so tired it didn't even try to fight him.

Here's Craig filling our gas tank at Shasta Marina. We did actually see a sailboat docked at this marina, the only one we saw on Shasta Lake. It was about 110 degrees on this day. This was when we were talking to the marina folk about where the sailboats usually go. Thank God for Whiskeytown Lake!

Wow! Detroit Lake, Oregon!

2006-07-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Now, here's my happy, boating man! What a great weekend! The weather couldn't have been better, and the water at this lake was beautiful. Now the winds weren't quite so nice, meaning they were very unpredictable. They would get us going, slam us over, then die. It got very frustrating, so we just motored around most of the time, enjoying the awesome scenery.

Here's Craig, holding this 7-month-old Corgie puppy. She belonged to the family of the Oregon Pro Rodeo Teen Queen, who was at the lake for some fun. Isn't she cute? She was running all over the docks, with no fear of the water, but she can't swim! Not with those little legs.....so she was being watched closely, and yes, she's wet, from jumping in already.
Here's a waterfall we were told to check out by my coworker, George Radominski. He has very fond memories of Detroit Lake, and he was right, it's as beautiful as he said. The waterfall was in a little cove that we had hoped to stay in one night. We didn't make it though, because it was always occupied. It also had some horseflies that tried to carry us away so we didn't try too hard either.

Now isn't this a beautiful boat? MacGregor Motorsailor 26', in case you have forgot, or are just starting to read this blog. We sure love it and can't wait to take it out again. This picture shows it at Kane's Marina, on Detroit Lake. We spent a lot of time there and plan on going back. The owners were very nice and hospitable, and it's also very close to town. It was fun walking around the town, checking out the little stores and restaurants. They even had an outdoor park called "The Meadows" where you can get a BBQ'd dinner or buffet breakfast. Also on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and for some reason on Friday, the weekend we were there they sang karaoke. Craig and I sang one song, and then ran to the store before it closed so we could take some ice back for the cooler in our boat. By the time we got back, they were closing down. That was ok since it was getting late, and we were pretty tired from being on the lake all day.

Check out this classy house boat. Craig was so enthrawlled with it that we had to get close and take pictures. It's a camper on pontoons, and very patriotic, don't you think? This was at Detroit Marina which was on the other side of the Hwy. 22 bridge. We actually took down our mast so we could check it all out. It seems that's where a lot of the boats were sitting in the sun, out of the crazy winds. It was funny that all the arms of the lake were full of boats getting out of the wind. But it was still beautiful!

More boats at the Detroit Marina. Look at how glassy the water was, and you can see the bottom, it's so clear and clean looking. Can you tell we are in love with this lake? Hope you get a chance to check it out sometime. We are planning on going the weekend of Labor Day, if we can get reservations! (Not that you need them when you are camping in your boat.)
Stay tuned for more Nautical Nonsense. We are leaving on vacation Saturday. Where? We really don't know yet since it depends on the weather. But I guarantee it will be somewhere on the water with our boat and more NAUTICAL NONSENSE!

Foster Lake and the 4th of July at Fern Ridge Lake, Eugene, Oregon

2006-07-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Well, so far this spring and summer, we have had some great boating adventures. With this being a 4-day weekend for us, we thought we would boat as much as possible.
Now, we bought our MacGregor Motorsailor to take the place of our West White Potter and our little runabout motorboat. Well, if you've read my beginning posting (The Beginning of Nautical Nonsense), you know that Craig was very attached to his little runabout motorboat. So for some reason it's still sitting in our pole barn, always ready and waiting for us to take it out.

So July 1st, we took the little gem up to Foster Lake with our younger kids, Sydney and Nick, and our grandson, Dominic. We played on the lake, puttered up the arm where the North Santiam River feeds into the lake, and Craig pulled us all on water tubes.

As you can see, our 4-year-old grandson had all he could take and Syd thought she'd get a little shut eye too. He even slept through Craig pulling Nick on the tube, out in the main lake, where the waves were big and choppy and we were being tossed all over the boat.

It was a great, hot, day and we were worn out by Saturday night. We had to have Dominic back to Katie by 1:00 PM on Sunday and Sydney and Nick to their mom by 6:00 PM that night so it was pretty much a lazy day between trips.

When we got to Fern Ridge later Sunday night after dropping off Sydney, Nick and Dominic, it was still pretty hot (it had been in the 90s that day). The boat was covered with the usual spiders and cobwebs and bird poop, so we started cleaning it up. After getting everything cleaned and put away, we made a trip to our favorite grocery store, Ray's Market, in Veneeta, and got some goodies and a movie. When we got back and it had cooled off enough we just watched our movie and relaxed with our goodies. Life is good....

Monday we walked over to Orchard Point, a marina and park on the other side of Fern Ridge Dam. (The dam is in the background of this picture, with Orchard Point to the right.) (Oh, that thing in the water is an amphibious crawler, well, that's what we called it anyway!) It was a long walk and we were beat by the time we got back, but we found out there was going to be a live band, BBQ, and fireworks on the 4th! We had no idea they celebrated at the lake, so we were pretty excited. Later, while we were out on the lake, we saw our friends, Tom and Marti, out sailing their boat. We invited them to share our BBQ'd steaks and spinach salad for dinner, while giving us some pointers on sailing our new boat. We had a great time and the winds were awesome!
We had it heeled over and it even dumped our ice chest on the floor. I've been spending a lot of time inside the boat, making sure everything was in its place so it wouldn't get dumped, but these winds were the best we've had yet!
We really had a great time. I don't think Tom and Marti left until after midnight, and they had to drive back to Corvallis! I hear they slept in the next morning to recuperate! :-)

Tuesday we took the boat out to do the jungle cruise, that Tom had told Craig about. There's a canal that runs along Highway 26, about 12' deep and it goes thru some wetlands and a little stand of trees. It's kind of narrow when you get in the trees and does kind of look like a jungle cruise and because it's a wetland you can see and hear all kinds of birds, which added to the jungle feel.

It was something different and we were loving it, but a few trees were laying over the canal and we couldn't get our mast to clear it, so we had to turn back.....
Well, we're not the kind to give up, so we came around the other way, so we didn't miss anything. And of course, I got some great pictures of the birds that live in the grasses and dead trees and water.

After that, we headed back to Richardson Marina to take showers before the fireworks started. It was fun to see all the boats anchoring out, to be in position when the fireworks started. As you can see, some of the boats were very patriotic.

I was so mad we didn't have our flags too! As we were watching the fireworks and seeing the boats scattered all over the lake, we felt very proud to live in a land of the free, home of the brave! I'm going to have a flag on our mast by the time we go on vacation. Yep, we're PROUD AND BLESSED to be AMERICANS!

Fern Ridge Sailing Regatta and the "Posers"

2006-06-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Posers, that's what Craig called us, hanging out with a bunch of sailboat racers, posing like we could be one of them. But our big, fat, MacGregor Motorsailor wouldn't stand a chance against those slim and trim racing sailboats! It was fun hanging out with them and hearing the stories, and we hope to do it again.

Remember how in my last posting I said it was supposed to be in the 80's the coming weekend? WRONG! It was in the 90s and 100s!!!
It was a weekend of constant heat, wind, and oddball stuff that usually only happens on Mondays! Watching the races was a lot of fun though and we got to do our first hookup with the racers the night before (that's where boats tie up to each other and then everyone can walk from one boat to the other, visiting). We met some great people who are lovers of sailing and racing. Our hookup didn't last long though because the winds were so strong we couldn't hold it all together.
The winds also kept us from docking in our slip and we got run off of the guest dock since no one is supposed to spend the night there. We ended up motoring around the corner and anchoring there. The next morning our oil light came on and we were in a panic that somehow we had run the motor out of oil. Thankfully it turned out that it was just a maintenance reminder. During the time that Craig was stressing about the oil light, I noticed blue stuff behind the toilet, leaking down both sides to the carpet. Turns out I didn't screw the lid on tight enough after my first time of dumping the porta potty. Thankfully, we hardly used it and it seemed to be just the blue treatment liquid!
So, before the races started on Saturday we invited Marti, one of our new sailing buddies, to come watch the race from our boat. It was really fun to watch them up close and I took a ton of pictures. Hukilau was the boat that Tom, Marti's husband, was team member of, along with the boat owners Bob and Lydia. I think their main goal was to win, but second best was beating their friends in the boat, Ohana.

After hours of taking pictures Craig and I took Marti back to the docks so she could go have dinner with Tom and the other racers. Since it was still so windy we decided we'd tie up again to the guest dock and BBQ there.
We got our steaks from Ray's Market in Veneeta, a cute little town by Fern Ridge. They were having a meat sale and had fixed up flat iron chuck steaks that were so scrumptious we were drooling every time we opened the ice chest and smelled them. If you ever see flatiron chuck steak for sale you really ought to try it!
Later that night Kim and Dusty came by and visited. They had been at the Secret House Winery for a concert and dropped off some chairs they had borrowed. They had never been on our boat so I was glad they came by to see it. As they were getting ready to go back to their car, a man was on the dock loading big red cushions into a little Santana sailboat, right across from our boat. He was obviously not very sober, but seemed friendly enough. On their way back to their car in the parking lot, we noticed someone sitting quietly in the car next to theirs just watching us. After saying goodbye we headed back to the boat to watch a DVD we rented from Ray's Market, not giving much more thought to the two people. Well, about midnight we were woken up by some lady yelling "Chuckie, open up the gate. Chuckie, let me in. Chuckie, answer me!" Pause for silence, "CHUCKIE, ANSWER ME, I'M AFRAID YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A HEART ATTACK AND I'M SCARED. CHUCKIE, YOU ANSWER ME! I'M THINKING YOU MIGHT BE DEAD! CHUCKIE!!!" All this time she was shaking and banging on the locked gate to our dock. So of course we were wide awake and wondering what to do. It was obvious this guy Chuckie was not worried about letting her in and was probably just asleep in his boat after a few too many drinks. The girl had gone away for a few moments and then came back, all excited and yelling that she had just talked to his family and his Dad just had a heart attack and was dying, so could he please let her in? She yelled that a couple more times, with a little variation, and was again banging on the dock gate. Craig finally decided to let her in, just in case his Dad did have a heart attack or in case there was something wrong with Chuckie. Now I didn't see what happened, but as Craig was getting back in our boat there was a crash and I thought one of them had fallen into the lake. Next I could hear her yelling at Chuckie and he was groggily telling her to be quiet and shut up because she was waking up the whole marina. He got that right, but was a little too late in telling her to stop. So she proceeded to yell at Chuckie, "Chuckie, I was just worried, why didn't you answer me and let me in? I thought you had died in the marina." So he tiredly replied, "Yeah, people come to the marina to die @$)@*$(! At some point here she started swinging a six pack cooler at Chuckie and they started yelling more at each other. She had lost her keys when she fell into the boat and wanted them back but he wasn't helping her find them. We were sure glad when the Lane County Sheriff showed up and broke it up. We were very impressed with how they handled the two and never heard another word. Boy, was that an unusual weekend!
Oh yeah, here's Craig and Marti and her two dogs.

Father's Day with the Hornby's

2006-06-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

OK , I'm a little behind on the Hornby adventures. Better late than never!

Time out from sailing for Father's Day on Saturday with a breakfast of Oslakrinkla and scrambled eggs and lots of butter! Ymmm....
Mom and Dad came and after breakfast Katie and Dominic and Kim and Chloe showed up. We had a good time visiting but Mom and Dad had to get home. Check out my Mom's birthday present! They love their Saturn Vue!

Later we BBQ'd and ate steak and Caesar salad. Dominic helped Papa Craig do the BBQing.

On Sunday we actually went to Fern Ridge Lake and boated around for a while. It wasn't very warm so we didn't stay too long. Next week we will take the boat out and it's supposed to be in the 80's. We will be taking our MacGregor motorsailor somewhere for vacation with the kids. We're not sure where yet. It needs to be close since we only have 5 days.....
We might check out the Columbia River in Portland. We'll keep you posted!

Sailing back at Fern Ridge Lake, Oregon

2006-06-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Well, after our adventures in Shanghai we definitely needed some rest and relaxation and what better way than a weekend sailing. Since it had been over 3 weeks since we'd been to the boat it took us an hour of clean up of all the spiders and cobwebs and bird poop and lake slime. With that done we were out in the lake, sails up and gliding thru the wind. Our MacGregor Motorsailer served us well this weekend with the relaxation of sailing and the fun of speeding thru the waves when the winds died. This boat is the best of both worlds for us!

Later we BBQ'd our steaks and watched our movie while rocking gently in the waves. I would have blogged on the boat but I was too busy down-loading pictures from the night before. We can't geek out too much, it's supposed to be relaxing. I swear, if you can't decide on a motor boat or sail boat, the MacGregor Motorsailer is the way to go.
One of my favorite things about it is the space it has for the main bed. We can sit up and read or stretch out and relax.

Craig even took a nap on the couch next to the movable kitchen, with a breeze coming in the front hatch, cooling him off. I love the Magma BBQ, which is extremely efficient with instant heat up time, so be careful! Also the wing seats on both sides of the Captain are a great place to perch while enjoying the ride. (These are extras that we got from Blue Water Yachts.)

We love our boat, can you tell!?

Willamette Queen Sternwheeler Adventure

2006-06-11T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Captain Craig and I are back in Oregon one week and already we are on another adventure. This one is only for a night, teambuilding with my HP team, having dinner, drinks, and solving a murder mystery on the Willamette Queen Sternwheeler. As you can tell in the picture he loves being at the wheel, operating the 87 foot, 86 ton, twin paddle-wheeler. From Riverfront Park in downtown Salem, Oregon, up the river and back down, the whole group of us drank, ate and participated in a saloon reenactment of an attempted murder. Craig got to play Boone, a gun-slinger who kept yelling "He's only got one eye!" (You had to be there.) This show was during dinner and all of us participated by yelling our parts when we got the que. Then when the show was over we all voted on who we thought tried to kill the star of the show. Turns out it was the star of our party, TDO General Manager Sam Angelos. And I think about half our group voted for him! Anyway we had lots of laughs and I think they had a hard time getting us all off the boat!
"He's only got one eye!"

We're back from Shanghai!

2006-06-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

Though we are having a terrible time getting acclimated to the Pacific Northwest, we are back on our jobs and can't wait for the weekend to go out on the boat. Shanghai was a trip that everyone should do at least once! I've talked about it on my other blog, http://hpadminlaughs.blogspot.com/
and will be posting another website with pictures and learnings of our travel there. Here, just get ready for more great pictures and stories of the Hornby sailing adventures!
Here's the link to Shanghai Learnings. http://hornbyshanghaitravel.blogspot.com/

Shanghai China travels and adventures....

2006-05-25T03:39:00.000-07:00

OK, here's the interruption. Craig's job sent him for 3 weeks to Shanghai China and I got lucky enough to be able to join him for one of those weeks. I'm definitely out of my league here since I've never been to a foreign country before, except Canada. So click in when you have time and enjoy (or be terrified) with us while we are in Shanghai China.
http://hpadminlaughs.blogspot.com/
Thanks Tom for watching our boat!

Sailing Interruption - Traveling to China

2006-05-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

I warned you that there would be interruptions to our life of sailing. Yes, life stepped in and sent Craig traveling to Shanghai, China. That's where some of the Hewlett Packard laptops are made, well, in that area. Craig gets to go there every time they launch a new version of the laptop that he supports.
Me, being the administrative assistant extraordinaire, and wife extraordinaire, will be meeting him there soon, to experience cultures in other lands. Now remember, this country bumpkin turned Grandma Geek, is still a native of Oregon and the west coast and basically has never been anywhere you couldn't drive to if you wanted. Getting a passport and visa was an experience in itself. It was actually weird because as an admin I do this for my managers, not for myself! So soon I will be traveling all by myself from PDX to Tokyo and from there to Shanghai. In case you can't tell I'm a little nervous about this. I just know my plane is going to crash and I'll be lost on an island with scary monsters and polar bears! (We just finished watching the whole first season of LOST, can you tell?) So there won't be any sailing stories for about a month, unless we get to sail in Shanghai. I will however be sharing with you all about what a Grandma Geek does in China. Until then, maybe I share some of our past sailing travels. We do have some great ones! Until later....Jannie

Fern Ridge Lake, Boating, Lazy, and Loving It!

2006-05-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

We got to the boat early this Friday, around 3pm, and only had to make a couple loads this time. On our way here we stopped at Safeway in Junction City to stock up on beer, steak and salad makings. We are simple folk and to us that's a dinner for royalty (and we really love our Magnum BBQ!) The winds were fairly mild and we were out on the lake before you could say "Aye Aye Captain!" Craig got the sails up and we did some tacking and jibing and split sailing, a term we've been using because we can't remember what it's really called. It's when you have your main sail sucking wind from one direction and the jib sucking wind from another. This was done with the wind at our backs, going straight down wind. Craig made me steer a few times, tacking and jibing and learning how to handle the boat in case he fell over-board and I needed to save him. Probably a great idea but I pray to God it never happens! It's our past experience that if one of us falls over-board the other goes with them. That's another story that happened at Green Peter Lake, by Sweet Home, Oregon. Maybe I'll share that one some time.
Anyway, Friday night after sailing up and down the lake we finally headed in to dock our boat. Craig got the BBQ fired up and we ate some scrumptious BBQ'd steaks with Caesar Salad, tomatoes, olives and an avocado. See the picture of our cool little dinner on the lake. Also, check out the roses from one of my fellow admins at work who was wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. Pretty cool HUH? It's the simple things in life that make it all worth while.
So after dinner we clean up (basically dumping the paper plates in the garbage) and headed to the restrooms for a shower and our jammies. Thankfully the ladies side had water pressure this time and was almost hot. I showered and shaved as fast as I could without cutting myself up and got back to the boat. The weather had been nice and sunny but the winds were still cold so I was bundled up in my jammies and sweats and fuzzy socks and had my blanket ready for the night's finale!
What could I possibly be planning on doing in that much clothes you ask? Watching movies. Remember, we are Hewlett Packard geeks and every night on our boat we have at least one movie. Just a tip, don't rent "The Sound of Thunder". It's a futuristic movie of time travel that reeked of B flick.
After about a half hour of that torture we put on "Rumor has it" with Jennifer Aniston. It was pretty cute and I would highly recommend it for adults who remember "The Graduate". It's rated PG-13 but unless you and your 13-year-old are having conversations about sex and the variety of partners one could or should have then I might wait to show it to them when they are say, 30 something.
Oh yeah, it was still so cold that we had our little candle going during the movie, trying to warm up.
The next morning we were up and ready for breakfast at a new restaurant in the area. We headed toward the town of Veneta, well, it does have a post office and some small stores. Anyway we found this really cute restaurant called "Our Daily Bread". I would highly recommend this place for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The building is an old church fixed up and the food was very good. Next time you head to the Eugene area or just want to take a Sunday drive, head to Veneta and check out this quaint place. You won't regret it!
So after a great breakfast we got back to the boat and headed out to do a little more sailing and motor boating and just hanging around. I actually took a nap while Craig played around with his boat. Pretty soon I had lured him into taking a nap while we just floated around, rocking with the waves from the wind and other boats. It's unbelievable how you can get used to all the noises that come with a sailboat. I call it Nautical White Noise and it lulls us every night. All good things must come to an end and so we headed back to dock the boat and get home in time to wash and iron and pack for Craig since he's leaving for China tomorrow morning. Since he'll be gone for 3 weeks at least I'm going to meet him for one of those weeks. Oregon Country Granny Geek in China.....This could be very scary.....
So I think I'll catch you all up with our past travels while Craig is out saving the world from evil computers that don't work like they should.....Later gators ......Jannie

MacGregor Motorsailor to the Rescue at Fern Ridge Lake

2006-05-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

We sailed for the first time on Friday, April 28th, at Fern Ridge Lake. The weather was beautiful and the winds were constant, which meant we were pretty much leaning over most of the afternoon. The wind was so cold I stayed in the cabin, reading and watching to see what might go crashing to the floor. We had bought a roll of the rubbery non-slip stuff and it worked great! I think only one tote took a dive. The winds were really gusty on Saturday and we had to take our sails down or get totally dumped over. We were at the other end of the lake so we decided to anchor down and wait out the wind (yeah right). That lasted about 10 minutes when we saw these two little sailing boats from the Yacht club. They use these little boats to teach people how to sail and I think there's a college team that races them. Anyway, they both capsized while we were watching. We decided we better go help since every time they got the boat and sails up they would get slapped back down into the water. When we tried to bring up the anchor it wouldn't budge due to the wind blowing the boat so hard it was dug in tight. I was trying to inch the boat forward to loosen the line while Craig tried to pull it up. That took us at least 5 minutes, all the while these little boats were struggling. When we finally got the anchor up one of the little boats was off and sailing for the other end of the lake. Craig got in the Captains seat and gave it the gas. The first wave he hit threw a wall of water on him which looked actually hilarious! I was laughing and holding on as we slowly made our way to the capsized boat. It turned out this grey haired guy was struggling just to hold on. He was tired and probably getting hypothermia. The keel to the boat kept going in and out and even when he got the boat right side up, he didn't have the energy to climb in. He said if we could just get him in our boat and take him to the docks he would come back to get the boat. Because the winds were so gusty and the waves so high (due to the shallowness of the lake, about 10 - 15 feet deep) we had to back up to him while I held out our extension pole for him to grab on. Once he got hold Craig shut off the motor and put down the swim ladder for the first time. We pulled this poor soaked man to the boat and he climbed in by the motor on our little ladder. The poor guy was in jeans and a sweatshirt and thankfully a life jacket. He said the other boat was full of three 15-year-olds, his son and two friends. We headed to the other end of the lake where the kids were and the yacht club where they all came from. (This is right next to Richardson Park where we keep our boat so that worked for us too). We caught up with the kids and threw them one of our 25' ropes, told them to drop their sail and tie the rope to the bottom of their mast. Those poor kids were freezing and the one was a girl in shorts and a tank top so she was hunkered down in the front of the boat, trying to stay out of the wind. You can see the boys in the picture but not the girl since she was way down in there. So we dragged them all to the docks and said our good-byes. Our first rescue was a total success and our MacGregor sailboat did wonderful! After dropping them off we tied our boat up to the loading dock next tothe slips and waited for the wind to die down before we tried to put it in the slip. Thankfully we had bought some salad and steak and so we got our new Magnum BBQ out and Craig attached it to the rail and we had our first BBQ'd steaks. IT WAS WONDERFUL! The last picture is of an amphibious thing. It would drive into the water and drive around in the water and then back up on the bank. Pretty entertaining. Our weekend of firsts turned out to be a great weekend that we will never forget!

Jump Ahead to now - 2006

2006-04-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

OK, First I have to explain that Craig thought it was too weird for me to be writing in 3rd person. Why was I doing that? I think it was just because it didn't feel so self-centered, talking about somebody else. It was a little confusing though and I've been advised to be myself and think of this as a journal that reaches out to others.

SO I've jumped ahead to now, this Easter weekend, where we had pelting rain, snow, sleet and a great day on Fern Ridge Reservoir, just west of Eugene.
THIS weekend was too important not to document now, since we spent our first night in our MacGregor 26 motorsailor on waters that could rival the waves of an ocean any day. (ok, maybe I'm embellishing a little but this boat was tossing me around just a little more than I wanted to be tossed!)

Yes, we sold our West Wight Potter this last December, the second day it was listed on craigslist.org. We were so shocked that it went so fast and the guy didn't even dicker on the price. It was a great deal and a great boat so we all felt good about it. We had been looking for a boat that could serve all our purposes. Of course there isn't such a thing since we have so many purposes. Anyway, we wanted a boat we could sail, sleep in comfortably and have room for at least 2 more people to sleep too and be able to pull our kids on inner tubes or skis or whatever.

The MacGregor 26 Motorsailor fit the bill and after much shopping around we ended up buying from Blue Water Yachts in Seattle. The people we dealt with were very nice and made us feel very comfortable. Captain Ray took us out for our demo the weekend we picked it up and believe it or not the evening was beautiful. There we were on a February evening getting a demo on Ray's boat while looking at the awesome Seattle skyline all lit up. We brought the boat home that weekend and it sat in our front driveway for a month! At one point it even had snow on it. (a very sad sight for Captain Craig).
Finally we got it in the water on Easter weekend and actually slept in it that Friday night. Now I'm not saying we sailed or even motored that weekend since the weather was so nasty it felt like Christmas, not Easter. But we had a great time getting our stuff from the 19' boat put away in our new 26' boat and the main bed was excellent for sleeping. And being the geeks that we are we even watched a movie while being rocked from side to side by the winds. It may have been nasty weather but it rocked us to sleep and made our first night very memorable.....

Their First Sailboat and the San Juan Islands

2006-04-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so they didn't have a sailboat yet, but Craig had to make sure that Jannie was the adventurer he had hoped she would be. The San Juan Islands turned out to be a great test of the type of nautical nonsense Jannie would be up for. They took their car on the ferry out of Port Angeles, Washington to the port of Friday Harbor on the island of San Juan. It was May and the weather turned out to be beautiful.
SO the hotel Craig found on-line turned out to be a big disappointment since it advertised a hot tub. But when they checked in it seemed that it had a leak, and it takes weeks to get someone to come to the islands to fix anything so of course it wasn't working.
Oh well, off they went to check out the harbor, drooling over all the boats and wishing they had one. Next they drove around the whole island, walked around Roche Harbor Resort, hiking down to Wescott Bay and all around Posey Island State Park. The history of this island alone was awesome and of course with water everywhere you look there were boats, who could ask for more....
BY the time Craig and Jannie got home they were planning their next trip to the San Juan's in a boat of their own.
Craig didn't waste any time searching for the right boat and soon they were the proud owners of a 19' West Wight Potter. Their first excursion was to South Beach Marina in Newport, Oregon. There they sailed their new baby up the bay, getting used to the boat. Now keep in mind this was in December, and although Jannie loved boats too, camping in the cold was not her idea of a fun time. Actually being in the coastal winds was only better than being in the winds with pelting rain. Fortunately the weather that day was calm, and though the night was cold, they just buttoned up the hatch and snuggled in their sleeping bag. (Truthfully I doubt either got much sleep since the lapping of the water on the boat and the clanging of the sail lines going down the middle of the mast, and the halyards clanging on the mast kept Jannie awake, while Captain Craig's visions, sailing his majestic West Wight Potter, danced like visions of sailing dreams come true.) The next morning they pulled the boat out and went back to work in Corvallis. Yeah, they took their boat to the coast for an evening sail and drove it back to work the next day. There is a lot to be said about having a trailerable boat!!! (And according to Captain Craig, Jannie was being a great sport, camping with him on a cold December work night!)

The Beginning of Nautical Nonsense - Visiting the San Juan Islands, Washington

2006-04-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so don't freak out and think this is just a romance blog. Yes, I'm going to talk about my soulmate, Craig, who has been a blessing to me for a little over 7 years now. But, this is really about our sailing experiences here on the west coast of the good ole USA.
OK, the truth is Craig is the sailor, I'm just the tag-along, country-bumpkin, hillbilly-hick wife, who thinks she has married her knight in shining armor....I mean Captain in shining Fiberglass. He's not just a Captain, he's also my IT support! Did I do good or what?
SO, just to get you all up to speed in the love-affair of the city boy and county girl and their sailing adventures here's how it all started............

CRAIG was divorced for about 2 months and feeling kinda resentful of women, pretty sure he'd never marry again and pretty sure all women were evil witches.
Jannie had been divorced for 5 years and wasted it all on the spawn of Satan, who was getting divorced when the time was right. (pretty sure now that the anti-Christ wannabe was feeding that line to many women).
Somehow (by the grace of God) Jannie got a job offer at a local global computer company (Hewlett Packard) as an administrative assistant to the division that Craig worked for.
March 9th she started her job, depressed and miserable and met the depressed and miserable divorced guy who a month later proposed marriage. (April 1st was their first date, an indicator I'm sure of the humor that would keep their marriage alive.) It was love at first site and neither one would have believed it if it hadn't actually happened to them. It still seems so hard to believe after 7 years they are still crazy in love, spending all day at the job together and all night sharing their home life (actually they work there too).
SO what does this have to do with Sailing?
WELL, Craig loves boats. And I mean all boats. If he were a rich man he would have one of every boat. No boat is a bad boat, no matter what it looks like or whether it floats, as long as it's a boat. We're talking pontoon boats, speed boats, fishing boats, row boats, boats in yards, boats half sunk, dinghy boats to yachats to freighters. (As you will see in coming blogs, even shipwrecked boats make him tremble with excitement and you would never believe his true dream boat!)
WHEN Craig met Jannie he had a little runabout boat, 16 feet of fun. It was a used boat that always ran and he spent the summer of his divorce healing in it. There were some pretty amazing adventures too, that summer, where the adrenalin rush from being chased by a bear along the Umpqua River sobered him up really fast to the death-defying jump over the boom of Green Peter Dam, which left him with a bloody lip and awe that his boat was still in one piece. (problem was how would he get back on the other side of the boom where the boats were supposed to be before daylight?...See Boom Jumping by Boat)
Because Craig could tell Jannie hadn't got to travel much while raising her daughters, and learning she loved water like he did, he wanted to take her somewhere special she had never been. When he asked her if she would like to go to the San Juan Islands for a weekend he had no idea how he was sealing their fate as sailing buddies for life.......