This time it is I who is the teller of tales and hopefully inspiring the next long distance passage maker. I was asked to give a presentation on my voyage and I jumped at the chance. This is like preaching to the choir, talking passage making to those who all aspire to dreams of long voyages.
I offered to take one of the brokerage boats up to the event and called a potential findacrew crew member in San Diego to come along. Marissa was very interested in joining our crew so a chance to meet and ride in a similar boat was a great opportunity for her. She will be a great crew member and I look forward to seeing her in a few months.
We arrived in Anacortes as a flood of trawlers all packed into the marina. We came up through the LaConner slew which had been neglected for some years and was much shallower that I remembered. I hear the Corp of Engineers is planning on doing the overdue dredging soon. This is a very picturesque passage through the slew and into the fishing village of La Conner. I have always loved this part of the trip. We stopped at LaConner for lunch and watched the steady parade of trawlers heading to TF.
I spent the first days of TF seeing old friends who were very happy to hear of my successful voyages. I was beseeched by comments like “you look great”, “you are so relaxed” “ wow, you have changed” and “you are living the life”. It is rewarding to receive so many warm welcomes from those in the boating industry. I got caught up on the buzz in the biz and who was where and sadly those who had not survived the economic down turn. It was also good to see my friends from Passagemaker Magazine who sponsor the event, especially my good friend John Wooldridge the editor. John has joined me for three trips on Furthur.
do not have the draw to return. I will leave with a bit of remorse and a ton of excitement about future adventures.Look for some real interesting news as the new crew joins Furthur