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May 27, Tuesday: Blake Island through Rich Passage to Port Orchard

Tuesday morning dawned with clearing to the southeast and dark clouds to the north and northwest. About 9:00 am I motored quietly away from the Blake Island docks. Although I had enough fuel to make Port Orchard, there was a very slight breeze, and I was in no hurry. Up went the sails, and they soon filled with a gentle zephyr from the southwest.

Near Restoration Point was a white Coast Guard vessel. Several hundred feet above it was an orange Coast Guard helicopter. As the helicopter continued to orbit around the boat, it descended lower and lower until the downdraft was kicking up swirls of water spray.

(I have to confess I enjoy reading the history of Puget Sound. This trip in May past Restoration Point was a personal mini-celebration of Captain George Vancouver's visit there in May 1792.)

A messenger line was lowered from the helicopter to the boat, and a rescue basket was lowered to the boat. A few moments later, up went the basket, followed by the messenger line. The helicopter moved away, then moved in again and repeated the maneuver. This exercise happened several times, and at one point a second Coast Guard helicopter was orbiting several thousand feet away.

The breeze had died away by this time, so I just sat in Whisper, watching the exercise in fascination. I was so fascinated I took no photographs!

About 30 minutes later, the breeze started to develop again, but it was very light. By this time I had decided I was going to try to sail through Rich Passage, even though the falling tide meant I would be sailing against the current.

Slowly, slowly, Whisper moved into the mouth of Rich Passage, staying near the red navigation buoys to avoid ferry and Navy traffic. The seals and sea lions sunning on the buoys barked their annoyance when Whisper strayed too near.

After a Seattle-to-Bremerton ferry passed, I sailed across the passage to start working the back eddies that develop down-current from points that disrupt the tidal flow. Several hours later, I emerged from Rich Passage into Port Orchard, still under sail. The current against Whisper continued to build all this time, and it took an hour to get clear of the Port Orchard side of the passage.

I continued to slowly sail Whisper down Port Orchard toward the marina and ramp, making long, slow tacks back and forth to move southward. I stopped counting the number of times a ferry passed me at number eight!

I arrived at the marina around 5:00 pm and tied up in a guest moorage slip while I started to prepare the boat for trailering. Jan arrived at 8:30 pm, and the rising tide brought enough water to be able to use the boat ramp. About 45 minutes later, we were on our way home.

Total distance covered was about 64 nautical miles, and I burned about two gallons of fuel. I sailed when I could, and motored quietly the rest of the time. The dinghy towed easily and gave me the ability to explore my destinations.