Sailing Perception

Perception’s crew has been working hard to prepare themselves and the boat for our upcoming adventures.  Jim’s Christmas wish list was so full of boat gadgets and marine tools that Santa had to send a separate sleigh to carry all the curiosities.  January sent Melinda and Jim off to practice warm climate sailing in the British Virgin Islands, while (Rachel) Grace returned to the University of Utah to begin her final semester of undergrad studies.  In February, the whole crew met up in Sandy, Utah for a rigorous weekend course of Wilderness Medicine.  This is a great class for anyone spending time in remote areas, we all feel better prepared and it hopefully served as another reminder to be extra careful when we are far from PROFESSIONAL medical services.   March brought even more training for Melinda, Grace, and our friends, Tom and Corey Warner.  The four of us took our American Sailing Association classes aboard Perception and earned certifications to skipper a catamaran.  Grace then returned to school and took her PADI Open Water Diver class to learn to SCUBA dive.  (We need SOMEONE to clean the hull!) 

Jim has been staying busy, too!  He’s put lots of those new tools and gadgets to use and installed some very important new features on Perception.  She is now sporting permanent StarLink internet, a combination washer/dryer, and a watermaker.  All will make life aboard more convenient and comfortable.  Melinda has been sourcing spares and safety equipment and optimizing storage areas to keep the boat ship-shape. 

We gave up our moorage slip in Squalicum Harbor, Bellingham to become maritime vagabonds on April 1, 2023.  However, April brought those fabled showers that thwarted some of our plans.  The late arrival of our automatic life raft gave us an excuse to return to the shelter of the marina to pick it up and wait out some nasty gales. Once those storms passed, we cut the docklines once again to return to gunkholing.  We made our way down to the Seattle area, stopping by to spend days in Anacortes, Everett, Poulsbo, and Bainbridge Island.  We turned back north to visit La Conner and the Skagit Valley, Roche Harbor on San Juan Island, then crossed the border into Canada to spend the weekend in Victoria, B.C. 

Melinda has been piloting the boat on weekdays while Jim uses StarLink to Zoom meetings and keep up with his day job. Now we are counting down the days now until our final permanent crew member graduates college and joins us aboard in mid-May when the real adventure begins as we turn north and make for Alaska. (Melinda)