Our First Voyage: Port Ludlow

This past weekend was fantastic - definitely the best sailing of the year, and probably the best weekend of the year so far. It was a weekend full of firsts:

• First time setting sail for a destination
• First time sailing out of sight of Seattle
• First time docking in a different marina
• First time cooking a meal on the boat
• First time sleeping on the boat
• First time sailing Ripley in 20kts of wind

We left Saturday. We intended to leave early in the morning so that we could sail the whole way, but it ended up being closer to 11am by the time we finally were fueled up and outside the marina. This was okay though, because the wind was calm, so we motored north to where Puget Sound meets Admiralty Inlet. The wind picked up to about 10kts there, and we were able to sail from there all the way to Port Ludlow, arriving shortly after 4pm.

It turns out that, while it’s pretty, there isn’t much to do in Port Ludlow - so we walked to the convenience store, bought some beer, and drank that while making dinner and playing cards. We got to bed early (we were pretty tired), and although it wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had, it wasn’t bad at all.

We woke up to a blanket of fog, and were glad for our diesel heater. I made breakfast burritos, and by the time we’d finished those and cleaned up, the fog was just about burnt off.

A neighbor from our home marina in Seattle noticed our boat and came by to introduce himself. He mentioned that he was there with a yacht club, and they had a fleet of about 10 boats that were planning a casual race back to Seattle that day. As we left, we found ourselves in the midst of them all.

We motored out past the shallow banks that border the bay at Port Ludlow, then raised our sails. Shortly thereafter, the wind picked up, and before we knew it, we were cruising along at 7kts on a beam reach in 20kts of wind. It was exhilarating - seeing the water rushing by, dodging all the other boat traffic. Shane and I make a good sailing team - he’d call out obstacles and boats in my blind spots, and I’d call out sail trim adjustments.

We kept ahead of the fleet until we reached Puget Sound again, at which point everyone with spinnakers pulled ahead. We technically have a spinnaker, but we don’t know how to fly it yet, so we just casually sailed back home.

We successfully dodged the ferry traffic, and sailed all the way home! We were both exhausted by the time we finally got home, but all in all, this was a great experience. I’m already planning the next one!