We pushed off from Tacoma, WA around 10 am, with Pete and Sarah right behind us on s/v Vivacite. Our sail up to Shilshole marina was very smooth with the wind blowing about 3-5knts we were slowly making our way while Vivacite took off in the light winds, they even tacked back around and came back to us to sail side by side (which did not last long). 

We made it to the marina around 6pm grabbed a side tie and started to walk the docks. SO MANY BOATS TO LOOK AT! We walking into a “dock party” and were welcomed in with beer and fresh crab and salmon! Such a better vibe than the power boaters that congregate in Tacoma. We had fun talking with all the sailors there who happen to be friends with s/v Bella Star ( Mine and Jons fav blog to read!) So that was a lot of fun. Pete and Sarah took us out and about in Ballard and to one of the oldest bars in the Seattle area; Hatties Hat, very cool place. 

The following morning we waved good bye to Pete and Sarah as they caught the flood back to Tacoma.  They are the reason we stayed in Tacoma and Jon and I are looking forward to when we will meet with them again. Shortly after saying our good byes I grabbed a cab into town to stock up on food while Jon worked on getting Prism put together. We pushed off at 2pm right before they could charge us for a second day and rode the ebb tide out towards Whidbey island and into Port Ludlow.

We had amazing winds the whole way to Ludlow! Started off with a good 10knts, then 15, then 20 then 25. REEF was the first thing I wanted to do, so we furled in the jib to its first reef point, that was not enough so we reefed the main for the first time and surprisingly it went very well! However  we still had a a little to much canvas up for my liking so we started to bring the jib all the way in. Just like our first sail out on Tara  when we furled the jib in at high winds there was not enough line to get the sail 100% back in. But this time when knew what to do and just used it to our advantage and just left the sliver up. We trucked right along at about 5-6knts! This sail calmed my nerves down ALOT! I think i have fallin in love with this boat all over again! The wind died back down and was at about 10-15 knts. We left the reef in the main but brought the jib back out now doing a consistent 6- 6.5 knts. At this point we thought it would be a good time to try out the windvane which we have named Dwight, for the first time. ( a lot of firsts on this trip). And wouldn’t you know it, it works! Not to shabby for 2 people who have never worked or sailed with a windvane before. We happen to be very proud of our selves!

Needing to make port before our light was gone we fired up the old iron spinnaker and motored sailed the last 6 miles doing about 7.5 to 8.5 knts! oh man were we scootin! We checked our charts and watched the plotter closely dodging the rocks into Port Ludlow and dropped our hook. Made a quick dinner and we hit the sack.

WHAT AN AMAZING ANCHORAGE! We are so happy we made this stop! This morning we hiked up to Ludlow falls, which was so pretty! We kept it pretty relax for the rest of the day knowing we have to wake up early tomorrow morning to time the tides right to sail up to Lopez Island. Its about a 56 mile crossing with tacking, but if there is no wind, it will be about a 30 mile straight line, but where is the fun in that?

Jon took video of the sail to port Ludlow and of our windvane dwight working away, we should have it ready to post for the next update!