Actually, we had several "winners" of the Various Dubious Awards. Bones was awarded an umbrella for being this being his first time sailing the San Juans. Gary Hyde won the first time navigator award, an eraser. Randy Graves was awarded the box of Nerds for being caught sailing with his fenders out, and Fred Shelly was awarded the Sailor of the Year Award for sailing the most days over the last year; a job application form. You guys will be envious of the mugs that Mark and Roberta Dvorscak gave me for coordinating the trip. A pair of heavy glass mugs etched with a drawing of a M17. Really cool. There will be a picture of them in the trip photos. Larry On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 00:13:05 -0400 <htmills@bright.net> writes:

Super, Larry! Thanks for taking the time to write that up. I'm looking forward to the pics.

I like that "can of sardines" award!

Tod

-----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com

[mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+htmills=bright.net@mailman.xmission.com]

On Behalf Of Larry E Yake Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 10:47 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: M_Boats: San Juan / Gulf Islands Trip Report (long)

The San Juan / Gulf Island cruise came to an end June 18th after 2 weeks of good fun and great sailing. To tell all that happened would take a book (each day was worth it's own report), so I'll just touch on the highlights.

Most of last years group returned and it felt like a family reunion. Those of you who haven't cruised with a group have to try it. You won't believe how much fun it is.

Attendees:

Gary Hyde M15 Pullman, Wa. David Barnhart M15 Port Townsend, Wa. Randy Graves M17 Post Falls, Id. Dik and Ann Lang M17 Vashon Island, Wa. Larry Yake M17 Deer Park, Wa. Mark and Roberta Dvorscak M23 Roseburg, Or. Fred and Lilly Shelley M23 Green Valley, Az. Dick Lane NS26 Port Townsend, Wa. (former M23 owner) Michael "Bones" Bowden BCC28 Minn., Mn. (M17 & M23 owner) Theo Petron BCC28 crew Minn, Mn. (M23 owner)

We travelled about 200 miles in the 2 weeks, some a little more or less depending on side trips and if they forgot their kayak at the last marina (oops!), and sailed at least 75% of the time. 150 miles or more of sailing! The weather was mixed, mostly cloudy and cool, but that's what gave us the wind, so there wasn't much complaining. Conditions varied from barely enough wind to hold the sails open, to 2 days with Small Craft Advisories for 25 knot winds. Winds 10 to 15 knots were the norm.

We spent 15 nights aboard, stayed at 13 different harbors or anchorages on 9 different islands, and sailed through and around dozens more. With the poor weather, we spent more nights at marinas this year. A hot shower and a cooked meal were always welcome at the end of the day.

One of the real highlights of the trip was sailing aboard the Bristol Channel Cutter that Bones had chartered for the trip. A few of us had the chance to join him and Theo for an afternoon of sailing in the Haro Strait and watching for whales. What a great boat and to top it off, we got right into a big pod of killer whales. That's a memory that'll last a lifetime. Bones and Theo had to leave after the first week, but it was great having them along for the San Juan portion of the trip.

Dik and Ann Lang choose to spend their second week exploring the San Juans further at a more relaxed pace while the rest of us headed for Canada. Not a bad choice. The San Juans are worth it, and having 2 people aboard a 17 for 2 weeks makes extra time ashore more appealing. (They got the symbolic can of sardines award, at the get-acquainted dinner, for the most crowded boat.)

Seven boats sailed to "foreign lands" for the second week of the cruise to explore the Gulf Islands. We would have needed a month to really see them, but we got a taste of the more popular destinations like "Sidney by the Sea", Tod Inlet, Genoa Bay, Ganges, Montegue Harbor, and others. We also got into some really good sailing (if you like a LOT of wind). These Montys are real impressive boats and carried us through some rough conditions. We had bail-out options, harbors to duck into if things got too hairy, but we never needed to. Even the 15 footers handled the big seas well. Fortunately the biggest were following or on the stern quarter. It would have been rough to have to beat into waves like that.

The foul weather gear was worn more than shorts this year, but we had a great time, got to spend a couple weeks aboard our boats, explored new destinations with friends, and made many new sailing memories. As always, it's the people you're with that make the trip a success and this years group was great.

Randy Graves has agreed to consolidate our pictures and put them on his web site so you'll all be able to see what you missed. We'll let you know when it's up an running.

Larry Yake M17 #200 Tullamore

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