October 1, 2014

September 27th, Sailing Party!

October 1, 2014

We had a wonderful time on this week’s sailing. Joe invited two friends, Carla and Matt Jr., and I invited Laura and husband John, and Tammy and husband Cory. Adding everyone up, there was a total of 9 people on the boat. It worked out well because we had nine life jackets. Four life vests came with the sailboat and we have purchased five.

The I Love Sailing, Pirate, and Wine Glass Pennants were proudly flying to welcome our guests. One of sea lions was holding court sunning himself on the buoy to introduce himself to some of the guests that hadn’t met him before.

The temperature hovered around 70 degrees. It had rained all week so Mother Nature kindly let the sun come out to shine for us on Saturday. There was also a brisk wind, ideal for sailing. Mark had Tammy take the helm and she did a fantastic job of steering a close hauled tack to the northwest. I think she may have fallen in love with sailing. When we were heeling, the sailboat was at 20% and going 5 knots per hour. Junior and Corey also had turns at the helm too. We had a perfect day for sailing. We didn’t have a direction for our sail planned out in advance, but then found ourselves sailing towards Mukilteo and then the southern tip of Whidbey Island. Our sailing ended when the clew attachment broke on the boom. We had to take the sails down and start up the motor. Our quiet peacefulness without the motor ended. There were so many individual conversations going on that everyone still had a great time.

There was cuisine galore at this sailboat party. We served lunch while underway and then dinner while at the dock. Laura and Tammy both brought items to contribute. Next time we are going to have to take pictures of the food. I need to come up with a better way of serving food while underway. It is too hard for me to place items in the refrigerator and find them later. They get mixed up with the drinks and I can’t reach them. Hmmm. Maybe coolers will be the way to go. Mark did an excellent job on the bbq as usual. His regular sliders and fish sliders were fantastic. He has perfected the recipes for both of them.

Menu

Patata Tortilla

Salmon Puffs

Deviled Eggs

Turkey Sandwiches

Ham Sandwiches
Potato Salad

Cole Slaw

Various Chips

Hamburger Sliders
Fish Sliders

Coconut Macaroons (Laura)

Lemon Bars (Laura)

Bruschetta (Tammy)

Wine, beer, soda, and a little bit of water flowed, tummies were full, excellent conversations, nice weather, and a beautiful boat. Our sea life count today included one sea lion on the buoy and one harbor seal! We contributed one plastic wine glass to the flotsam! Laura was horrified that her wine glass rolled off while we were taking pictures.

In the latter half of the day, Joe placed the telephoto lens on his camera. This allowed him to get some fantastic pictures of the Everett Naval Base and the USS Nimitz which is docked there. I’m pretty sure all the white covers on the secret equipment were because of the top secret codes Joe and the sea lions have been passing each other in the past month! 😉

Joe was worried we would be too crowded. There was enough space for everyone. I was against purchasing such a large sailboat in the beginning. Glad I was wrong! Going from a 24 ft to a 37.5 ft boat had a large learning curve. But I think the three of us are enjoying the fruits of our labor. It is FUN to have a boat where you can relax if it’s just a few people or have a party if you want to invite more.