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Monthly Archives: April 2016

Boathouse

Yes Please parked in her new Boathouse.

Yes Please parked in her new Boathouse.

Yes Please moved into her new boathouse this past weekend. It was a very tight fit, with the anchor only six inches from tagging the plate glass window, but she fits like a glove.

One of the big factors in deciding to purchase the boat was the availability of boat houses in Olympia. I did not want a boat that had so much beautiful teak on the outside without the benefit of covered storage. Parking her in a house means that she will stay clean when washed and means the varnish on the teak should last about three years rather than being an annual battle.

The anchor is mere inches from tagging the glass window to the boathouse.

The anchor is mere inches from tagging the glass window to the boathouse.

Another big benefit, given the rainy weather here in the Pacific Northwest, is that the boathouse makes winter boat work possible and so much easier. It also gave us a good place to store the kayaks!

All of my trucks have always parked out in the rain, but the boat gets her own garage! I must have my priorities straight!

😉

BoatHouse1175

Spring Break

Yes Please and her fleet of kayaks.

Yes Please and her fleet of kayaks.

Our April Showers abated for most of Spring Break and we were able to spend five days out on Yes Please with some stellar weather. We loaded up all three kayaks and headed back to Jarrell’s Cove for some exploration and vacation! We had two days of 80° sunshine and almost no wind. Can you say heavenly?

Two additional boats showed up at the State Park Dock with friendly dogs about the same age as our puppy. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting around the fire on the docks in the evening while the three puppies wore themselves out playing with each other. I think Yankee slept better than we did!

Yes Please arrived at Island Home, just as the sun was setting.

Yes Please arrived at Island Home, just as the sun was setting.

We ran Lauren back to Olympia, then headed back out to Island Home, the Olympia Yacht Club outstation. It is a beautiful, peaceful and very relaxing marina at the South end of Pickering Passage. After spending a couple of nights at the dock with all of the amenities of home, we did NOT want to head back to civilization and work.

Jarrell’s Cove

Yankee feels right at home in the cockpit.

Yankee feels right at home in the cockpit.

The sun came out and we decided to take our seven month old puppy out on the boat for the first time. He has gone from an eight pound fluff ball in October to a sixty six pound big boy in just five months! Fortunately, he is still very young, which makes getting him used to the boat that much easier!

Yankee was very comfortable on the boat, until the big engines rumbled to life. All the noise and vibration had him concerned for a minute, but he quickly calmed back down and enjoyed our trip from Olympia to Jarrell’s Cove State Park. He likes to sit in the cockpit and watch the water flow by the hull.

Yankee getting some love from Sherri Ernsberger in Pickering Passage.

Yankee getting some love from Sherri Ernsberger in Pickering Passage.

When we arrived at Jarrell’s Cove, there was only one boat on the dock, so we grabbed a choice spot on the end of the dock and secured the boat. The dog had a great time exploring the state park and was easy and comfortable on the boat. It’s almost like he was born to be a boat dog.

I was unsure about the water depths around the dock, since I remembered a lot of shoaling in the area at low tide. However, the park rangers have posted a very nice diagram of both docks, with depths at zero tide, which I will post below. While at the dock, I finally had time to replace the lame Raymarine Depth Sounder Module (DSM) and the re-furbished one that I installed is working like a champ.

Lauren and Yankee soaking up some sun.

Lauren and Yankee soaking up some sun.

Jarrell’s cove state park is a beautiful gem, hidden away at the very North end of Harstine Island. We will be back and so will Yankee. There is plenty of depth at the docks in all but serious minus tides (see below) and the cove is full of new mooring buoys with room for lots of boats.

The cove is also very well protected from the wind and we had friends that were taking a beating down by Hope Island, so we invited them up to enjoy the peaceful serenity at Jarrell’s Cove.

Jarrels.longdock

Jarrels..cove.tdock

AIS tracking

AIS track of Yes Please

AIS track of Yes Please

After updating the Raymarine AIS transceiver with new firmware and modifying the information being broadcast about the boat, I wanted to verify that the unit was working correctly. When we returned from a recent trip to Hope Island, I looked up the boat’s MMSI number via Marine Traffic to see if they had picked up the new boat name.

I was pleasantly surprised that they were tracking the boat so far South in Puget Sound and that they had the new boat name registered. I’m always impressed when new technology works the way it is supposed to!