Sundown Sailing Adventures

Clay on Sundown. Compliments of our friend April.

Happy New Year! The past several weeks have flown by and now we find ourselves on the light side of the Solstice, anticipating spring and another sailing season.

Anacortes, Wash., has proven to be a wonderful winter home base. It’s a friendly community with many amenities that we enjoy, like good restaurants, parks, recreation trails and locally sourced groceries. I’m also happy it has a wonderful yarn/knitting store (Fidalgo Artisan Yarn Company) where I get my fiber fix, and a fitness center where I swim laps and stretch out in yoga classes. Anacortes also is a good source of boat work for Clay and has solid WiFi for my web-based work. Plus, we’ve made good friends here.

So how long will we stay? That’s a great question and one we’ve been contemplating. Right now, we’re thinking we’ll work on our boat in May and take off for another adventure in British Columbia by June. We’d like to visit the international heritage center on Haida Gwaii (also called the Queen Charlotte Islands) and then sail down the west coast of Vancouver Island. Both destinations mean bigger water, open to or in the actual ocean, which makes me a little nervous, but Sundown is a Hans Christian 33t solid blue-water cruiser and Clay’s a great captain, so I’m sure we’ll be fine. By the end of August, we’ll probably come back to our slip at the Anacortes Marina to spend another winter. But stay tuned! Plans can change.

Here are some photos of Thanksgiving with Gina and Alan who we met as they were taking a selfie on the dinghy dock near Cap Sante Marina; Sundown in the snow we woke to on morning in the beginning of Dec.; and Christmas at home in Fort Collins with family and friends. Hopefully the next photos we share will include sea spray and billowing sails!