Way Before the Mast: Getting Wet

This weekend we'll have a 'soft launch' of the PMD. I will attempt to reach many goals:

-- maneuver the car and trailer without the need for an insurance claim
-- get to the launch area without forgetting anything critical
-- rig the boat in less than 72 hours
-- use the launch ramp without also launching the car, or annoying another boater, or slipping on water-slime, etc.
-- get in and out of the boat without completely immersing myself in our local 50-degree waters
-- get some practice rowing, which I can't recall ever doing, ever
-- sail around without capsizing
-- and do all of this without boring Sooz and the dogs, who will go with but who won't embark, to death.

I'm doing all of this on the QT -- only you know about it -- so that when I have the official launch, complete with sparkling bubbles and a sacrifice to the Norse gods, I will not make those particular mistakes in front of the large crowd that's sure to gather. (Sure, I'll make other mistakes, but not those).

All of which brings me to this week's chief conundrum: where will I sail?

Yes, I have it good, when it comes to watery choices -- I live in western Washington. There are numerous lakes and a big body of water called Puget Sound nearby, and I think I counted eight launch ramps within a half-hour's drive of my home. In fact my back yard fronts the part of Puget Sound where Port Orchard meets Agate Passage. Yeah, I know, where the heck is that? Well, let's leave it at a 35-minute ferry ride and a 13-minute drive from downtown Seattle.

But getting the boat to the water in my back yard involves two flights of stairs, usually partly overrun with vicious blackberry vines, and Sooz and I could probably do it, but at least one of us would strain a muscle or tendon and whine about it for weeks. Better to wait until one of my sailing pals comes over for that adventure. In the meantime, I gotta use a ramp.

Yesterday, after allergy shots and in between the shots and the weekly Costco run, we checked out three likely places.

This is after ruling out two other likely places earlier in the week. Oyster Plant Park, in Poulsbo and on LIberty bay, is lovely, but there's not a ramp. I could possibly use the trailer as a cart of sorts, and take the boat down a gravel path meant for hand-launching, and I might try it some time, but why add more complications for this first outing?

I also ruled out the Port of Poulsbo launch ramp. There's no parking for cars with trailers! What were they thinking?

So yesterday we looked at three more places. Here's the Brownsville Marina, located on Port Orchard in Puget Sound. The ramp is serviceable, but it's a bit of a row through a narrow channel to get out to clear sailing. I'll probably try this ramp some time, but not tomorrow.

Then there's the Port of Keyport ramp. You can see that the lower part of this ramp is generously coated in green slime, which would cause me to break my tailbone for the second time, and that sounds unappealing. Easy row out to clear water, and that's tempting Libery Bay in the distance on the left.

But ...the facilities for spouse and canine companions are limited ...

... and parking is literally non-existant:

So, to put it in nautical terms, screw that.

At last, and, hey, conveniently close to my allergy shots venue, is the Silverdale Park at the north end of Dyes Inlet (yet another part of Puget Sound).

The photo above is looking south, so in the winter, when the winds come from that direction, that's a long fetch -- and it gets bumpy around here. But tomorrow's forecast is for light north winds, 5 - 15.