Larrabee State Park to Eliza Island, WA, USA
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Larrabee State Park to Eliza Island, WA, USA
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On Sunday I took Lilac out on Puget Sound. I departed from Larrabee State Park near Bellingham, WA, and headed west. It was an educational trip.
There was a light breeze from the south, the sky had turned fairly cloudy, and the water had a light chop. The waves were typically no more than half a foot or so from crest to trough, with an occasional set reaching a foot in height. As expected from my initial tests on Lake Sammamish, Lilac is a wet ride. This time I got fairly soaked from my waist and lower arms downward.
What was unexpected, though, was the amount of weed interference encountered between the mainland and the first little island due west of the park. There were some light floating patches on the surface here and there drifting with the wind and tides, but otherwise the bottom was so deep as to apparently not be the source of the fouling.
In my first test runs last week at Lake Sammamish I had a bit of trouble extracting the drive unit while in the water due to a missing limiter block for the propeller positioning detector. To remedy this I made a new one and duct taped it to the SpinFin. This helped a lot, particularly since in some areas the drive unit had to be pulled up every couple of minutes or so to remove sea grass accumulations.
Otherwise, when positioned properly for balance the "flying amas" did manage for the most part to stay out of the water. Lilac moved quite well through the water. About midway to the unnamed island just east of Lummi Island I found a couple of curious seals poking their heads out of the water and gazing at me. Otherwise, with the exception of a few seagulls, and a couple of boats at the far distant horizon, I was alone on the water.
Having forgotten at what time I was to return to the park and get picked up by my family, I decided to turn back after getting to within about half a mile of the island. 'Tis better to have a happy family! Besides, they were busy tearing down camp while I was out playing, er, performing sea trials.
My hat was more of a detriment than a help in this part of the voyage. The sun was obscured by a layer of low clouds that ended a couple of miles to the northwest. The breeze kept threatening to blow it from my head, and the hat was no real protection from the spray, either. Oh, well. It *was* sunny when I left camp that morning!
Returning to the mainland I was able to make radio contact with my wife, who reminded me as to when we were to meet. It turned out I had returned with over 45 minutes to spare, so off I headed north towards Bellingham to investigate some rocks and a point of land that looked interesting.
The sun finally did appear, so I was happy to have worn my hat after all. The seas were sparkling, Lilac was cruising rapidly through the waves with the wind at my back, and it was time to get some exercise!
Throughout the estimated 11 miles to near the island and back, and along the mainland coast I had pretty much been cruising. No real "speed runs" had been attempted until now. I especially pushed hard when I came upon a few sea kayaks which I found puttering, umm, paddling, near the shore. :-)
I managed to be a couple of minutes late for my rendezvous anyway, having not factored in the headwind adequately. Still for an estimated 11 miles of mostly leisurely travel in about 2 hours, this was a thoroughly enjoyable, though very wet, day on the water.
Depending on the weather next weekend, I'm planning to take Lilac on the Sound Rowers Manchester race. To be honest, if it is anything more significant than the small waves and winds encountered yesterday, I would really be hesitant to use Lilac. My confidence in my abilities to pilot her in moderately heavy seas is not very high. Yes, she will probably stay upright, but I would be kept fairly busy bailing! Also, unless I find some good, cheap means of keeping my digital camera dry and still be able to take reasonably good pictures, I won't be able to record the race very well.
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