Walk Around Downtown Bremerton

Today was kind of a rainy lazy day, so I put on a light raincoat and took a walk through downtown Bremerton. I started in Manette and walked over the Manette Bridge stopping to watch the construction on the new Manette Bridge. Then I walked around the boardwalk, parks and through the "artsy" district of downtown. When I worked, my lunch time walk was often around the same downtown route and I saw the progress of the parks and fountains while they were being built. Construction on the new Manette Bridge alongside the old bridge.

This is one of the foundations for the towers that will support the bridge. The bridge was closed to vehicle traffic so concrete could be poured in these pipes.

The "jumping fish" fountain. This seems to represent fish jumping upstream. It is usually pulsed and not continuous flow like in this picture.

The Boardwalk and Marina.
The fountains next to the Ferry Terminal. The designer made this fountain look like sails of a submarine lined up going to sea. It is hard to see, but the water shoots in the air every couple of minutes.

The Navy Museum. This is Building 50 from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and was the original administration building.

The sail from the USS Parche in front of the Navy Museum. And oops, the building where I used to work in the background.

The new water works/historical park between Pacific Ave and the shipyard fence. It includes the bow from the USS South Carolina. This was completed after I retired.

This sculpture was put up by the city in the in the "artsy" district. Seems that there was some leftover grant money from the construction of the tunnel and parks. This fish has a fishing rod and reel.

And this sculpture is on the opposite corner from the fish. And the fisherman has a lure in his mouth. Go figure!

Is it better to be good or lucky?

Tonight was the second sailboat race of the 4 race Six Pack series in Port Orchard. Like last week, we did not have a race committee. Again one boat sounded the starting signals. I had a great start on the left side, but did not hug the marina like I usually do. Because the wind was so skewed to the left, I thought I could work up on the boats to weather without overstanding the mark.

No sooner did the start happen when the wind shifted about 70 degrees to the right making starboard tack favored to the first mark. I tacked to starboard and found I could lay the mark. I got up to speed and was soon leading the fleet. The wind lifted more and soon I was close reaching to the first mark.

Now I had a dilemma. The spinnaker and pole was set up for a starboard set and the wind was now a direction which meant the pole needed to be on port. No problem, I tacked around the mark and set the spinnaker on the weather side of the jib and pulled it around the jib to the leeward side, set the pole and off we went!

The wind was quite far forward and puffy making control interesting. I did round up a few times. So, before I got too close to the leeward mark I headed down wind some to blanket the spinnaker and then we took down the spinnaker with a perfect letterbox takedown. Did not even get the sail wet.

The rest of the race was a close reach to the finish because of the unusual wind direction. I won my class, but one or more boats in the second class could have corrected on us. It is hard to save your time over smaller boats when the course is all reaching.

After the race I was talking to a friend. His normal ride did not show, so he got a ride on another boat in my class. He was telling me that the owner/skipper of the boat he sailed on was always making comments that my success in this race was all luck? LUCK?

So lets review the important parts:
1. The start-I stayed close to the line and was up to speed at the start. Luck or skill?

2. Picking up the wind shift at the start- everyone got the shift at the same time. Luck or skill?

3. Setting the spinnaker and getting it around the jib. Luck or skill?

4. Executing a great letterbox spinnaker takedown without getting the sail wet. Luck or skill?

Maybe the wind shift was the closest thing to being luck. Everything else was a well thought out maneuver.

So I guess if my success tonight was luck, then the following quote may be applicable:

"Luck is where opportunity meets preparation. "

I can accept that!

Green Mountain Mountain Bike Ride

I used to ride a lot on Green Mountain. Almost 40 years ago I rode motorcycles there and then more recently I rode mountain bikes up and down the mountain. But it has been several years since I have ridden there. After I moved to East Bremerton, there is just something about hauling the bicycle somewhere to go riding. Most of my off road riding has been in Illahee Preserve which has a lot of fun trails, but not much climbing and is only a mile and a half away.

So today, I found my Camelback hydration pack, cleaned and filled it and loaded the bicycle on the roof rack of the Bronco and headed to the Wildcat Trailhead. The Wildcat Trail seems to be my favorite. It is about 9.5 mile round trip to the summit and about 1100 ft of climbing. The day was great for a ride like this. The weather was cool and overcast and the ground wet, NO DUST! There was some water on the trail, but nothing you could drown in.

I started up the trail and realized how rusty I am. The rocky sections were probably no harder than they ever were, but it took me a while to get comfortable attacking the ridges and overhangs. One thing I noticed was how wide most of the trail was. When I started riding motorcycles there, all there was was motorcycles. Now Quads have become popular and they need a wider trail. Also, there has been a lot of trail maintenance and a lot of logs placed across the trail for erosion control. These gave me fits on some climbs when I could not get enough momentum to clear them.

I made it to the summit without a lot of walking. After a short rest, I started down. By now, I felt more comfortable and rolled attacked the downhill sections. I also felt better on some of the uphill sections and was able to clean some technical parts.

It was fun and I really need to get out and visit some other areas like Newberry Park, Banner Forrest and Port Gamble. The Kitsap Mountain Biking Club ( http://www.kitsapmtb.com/ ) has been working on a lot of new trail systems.

I feel like a kid again!

The Wildcat Trailhead.
The summit of Green Mountain.

Looking toward Bremerton.

Bremerton Blackberry Festival and Car Show

Labor is the time for the annual Blackberry Festival. It is a time for the downtown and boardwalk areas of Bremerton to be inundated with vendors booths, kids rides and a stage for entertainments. There are also fun runs, special displays and a car show a few miles away at the Bremerton National Airport.

On Saturday after the rain stopped mid morning, I went to the car show. There was quite a number of restored and custom cars. I am always impressed with the talents of the car owners who customize and restore their rides.

In addition there were several 60's and 70's vintage dragsters. They fired them up one at a time. The noise was tremendous and the smell of the fuel was still on me when I got home. Of course this was a big fan favorite.

On the way home I stopped for a short time in Bremerton and walked through the booths on the boardwalk. It was very crowded. The festival continues through Monday.

The cars were lined up along the taxiway at Bremerton National Airport.
Another 60's vintage dragster.

Herm Petersons "Northwest Terror". A famous top fuel dragster from the 60's. Herm fired it up and wowed the spectators.

This car is on fire!

The Bremerton boardwalk.

Busy Friday and Friday Night Boat Races

Today was a busy day. I suppose this is what most people think us retirees do every day!

I was up at 0600, made breakfast and read the newspaper. Following breakfast I spent some time on the computer working on some sailboat handicapping stuff. Then off to the home gym and weight trained for an hour. Finally off on one of the road bicycle for a 19.5 mile ride.

I returned in time for lunch and since I was going sailboat racing at Port Orchard, made some eats for later in the evening. I left the house about 1330 and went to the boat. I spent some time cleaning the boat and was underway by 1500 for the 1-1/2 hour delivery to Port Orchard for a 1800 race.

The racers started arriving and it became quickly apparent that the race committee was not going to show. So, a start/finish line was established and one boat sounded the starting signals.

I had a great start and tried to navigate the calm areas on the way to the first mark. I held the lead although "Falcon" was close to me at the first mark. I was not worried about them as they are in a different class. "Tantrum II" and "Tantalus" rounded the weather mark several minutes behind me.

I set the spinnaker and had a fast run even though the wind was only about 6 knots. I worked on sailing at the boats "target speeds" and gained more on the field. At the leeward mark, I had a clean spinnaker takedown and had a easy beat to the finish. Since I was the first boat to finish, I had to take my time and the times of the boats behind. I easily saved my time on "Tantrum II" and was ahead of "Tantalus" (we rate the same). I probably saved my time on "Falcon" and was 1st overall.

I managed to get away from Port Orchard at about 2030 and was back to Brownsville at 2100 after a nice motor back in the dark., arriving back home at about 2130.

Now, does that sound like I stayed busy enough? Oh, and tomorrow I will probably go to the car show/flyin at the Bremerton Airport.

Friday the 13th.

Yeah, so what. It is Friday the 13th. Just another day. But today I felt well enough after three weeks of coughing, congestion, ear aches and sore throat to get out and go for a bicycle ride to the boat and back. And then cut some brush back from the neighbors property line. We are into a stretch of warm weather now and it really is too hot to work out side very long.

But the real reason for this post is that I have past two years since my first post in this blog. I say past, because the actual anniversary date was yesterday August 12th.

40th Shaw Island Classic

So, what defines a "classic"? Longevity? Uniqueness? The San Juan Island Island Yacht Club call their around Shaw Island Race a "classic". I suspect that more than just the longevity of the race, the unigueness of the race and the suprise outcome has a lot to do with the title "classic".

To get to the start of the "classic", I left Brownsville early on Thursday with my destination of Port Townsend. I left early to avoid the worst of the currents. It was a sunny day and I motored to Boat Haven Marina on the west end of Port Townsend. To avoid adverse currents in Admiralty Inlet and to shorten my course some, I went through the Port Townsend Canal between Hadlock and Indian Island. I rarely go through this canal and it always makes me nervous going under the bridge even though I have several feet of clearance with my mast. I walked uptown to the used book store and found a couple of books.

Friday, I was underway at 0600 to take advantage of favorable currents. It was fogging in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and I could hear the fog horn of an outbound container ship. I picked him up on radar and when he passed ahead, I could visually see him. It was very rough for the first few miles with the strong ebb current against the swells in the strait. The wind came up after about an hour and I put up some sails and secured the diesel. The jib got stuck in the prefeeder and it took me about an hour to free it up and finish hoisting the sail. I sailed all the way into busy Friday Harbor where I tied up in my reserved slip at 1100.

On saturday, my start for the "classic" was 1215. There was virtually no wind, constant rain and of course strong adverse current. I chose to go counterclockwise around Shaw Island. Almost all the boats chose that direction. I hugged the shore until I finally got flushed passed Turn Island and remarkably, there was wind and I was able to get across San Juan channel and entered Upright Channel with about six other boats. Boats had started dropping out as soon as 15 minutes after the start, so the few of us in Upright Channel were the remaiders of the 65 starters. The wind died again and we short tacked up the Shaw Island shore. A shortened course finish was set up at the halfway point on the northeast shore of Shaw Island. Unfortunatly, even though I was leading my class, the time limit expired with about 300 yards to go. One boat that sailed clockwise did make the finish before the time limit expired.

I motored back to the Friday Harbor marina and found my reserved/paid for slip occupied by a large powerboat. I called the Port on the VHF and they moved the boat out and I got my spot back. I was cold, soaked through and hungrey. The nice people at the port refunded my entire two nights of moorage fees and the reservation fee. I was totally shocked and thought that was way beyond what they should do. At least now I could afford breakfast again!

After a early breakfast at the Rocky Bay Cafe, I was underway at 0700. The wind came up some in the straits and I got a couple of hours of sailing in before the wind died. I motored the rest of the way home arriving home at 1600.

Total distance for the weekend: 154.7 NM

Going through the Port Townsend Canal.

Moored in Friday Harbor
I wonder if Guiness knows about this?

Not much wider than a doorway.

Mainstreet Friday Harbor

Port of Friday Harbor marina.

Course for Saturday from the start at Browns Island untill the time limit expired at 1700.