Shilsholed

If you have a boat down here sign up and I’ll make you an admin so that you can add your own events.  I’m hoping people will use this to organize sailing trips with others down here (or just random people looking to get out on boats).  Hopefully it’ll also be a good place to organize dock parties, bar hopping or other live-aboard events.

V-Dock through a party tonight, complete with 3 live bands, free BBQ and BYOB (no-one is dumb enough to offer sailors free booze).  Pretty good turn out.  I’m terrible at meeting people but met a few of them.

A B-17 was flying over… one guy said you can get $300 rides on it while it’s in town (a few weeks)

A few people showed up in dinghies. I kayaked over.

After I left I kayaked along Golden Gardens (a park right next to Shilshole)… lot’s of parties going on there.

And – because they’re not bad enough they’re going to close the one near my dock from 6/19 to 7/11 to retile a shower. The fucking showers/bathrooms (all 8 of them for 300 live-aboard slips – so about 450 people) are cinder block disasters that could be completely rebuilt in 22 days by cub scouts going for their tree-house merit badge. But – 22 days to redo a single shower? What the fuck?

I know I shouldn’t be bitching, I’m living on a boat, but, seriously – who’d they fucking hire? Helen Kellers shower service?

PSSG (Pacific Sound Sailing Group) puts on various sailing events. I joined Ken W, Ken V, Gina and Gianna last night on Vitesse, a 36′ C&C which, for $350/mo is one of many boats you can use when you join Windworks Sailing Center located on I dock in Shilshole.

All pictures from this sail here.

When we left it was dead, glassy calm. We motored down to Elliot Bay to check out the big Thursday night race. There were 20 or so boats drifting about but, one smart ass had all his sails up and was motoring around the course in reverse. It took me a while to understand what I was seeing – a full sail boat goin 5 knots in reverse is a odd site.

Just as the sun was setting the wind kicked in and we had a great sail from around 9 until 11. The C&C 36 is a sweet boat that sails really well.

I went to the quarterly dock meeting at Shilshole tonight just to see what it was all about. This is a lot better than the marina’s back east – where corporations had a very strong “take it or leave it” policy. Shilshole, especially for a government agency, is very reasonable.

Shilshole has one person per dock report in on issues, concerns, whatever. There were about 25 people there. The Port of Seattle managers of Shilshole are there and, overall, it’s a very friendly chat. They discussed minor crime issues in the parking lot, problems with pets on docks, dock party etiquette (invite everyone, not just your dock), bathroom improvements, parking issues, public events planned (in August) and a bunch of other minor issues.

Apparently Anthony’s Home Port will be putting in some kind of restaurant soon and people were kind of bummed that it wasn’t going to be something more affordable/useful (like a coffee shop, sub shop, etc.) There is a definite lack of anything useful down at the marina and it’s a long walk to Ballard (which has no parking).

Bus service should be starting out here in September.

No news on when the road will be fixed – supposedly this fall.

I survived my first week at Shilshole. I’ve only met one person so far (Greg, on his Morgan 38) but it’s been fun so far.

The Good:
* Minimalism – I still have a fair bit of room on the boat
* Sleeping – never slept better
* Cable/Internet – while I don’t know what to do with all the cords, getting high speed internet and cable tv (which I watch on the Mac using EyeTV) was a breeze.
* Parking – I was kind of worried about this – but parking here is a breeze. I even stashed the ‘52 Dodge in long term, none permit parking.
* Bike trails from here to UW (40 minutes), Fremont (20 minutes), Ballard (10 minutes)
* Ballard Farmers Market (Veraci’s Pizza!)

The Bad:
* There’s really nothing around Shilshole… while it’s not far, it’s a 10+ minute bike ride (probably a 30 minute walk) to Ballard, which has no parking, and will be a hassle when bike season ends (if it ever starts – it’s June and still raining)
* The bathrooms/showers leave a lot to be desired.
* Cooking on the boat it more trouble than it’s worth – I might just get a cooking job for meals.
* The commute to the East Side really sucks – took me an hour twenty (1:20) to get to the dentist in Bellevue.

Here’s a pick of Greg (Alaska Air Pilot living on a Morgan 38) and some ducks (probably living the bushes somewhere) ….

Hopefully we’ll get some people from Shilshole marina to blog here about life on the boat, happenings at the marina and all the other stuff dirt-baggers seem to be interested in when they find out we’re boat people. If you live at Shilshole or just have a boat here and would be interested in blogging on this site drop me a message at wiseleyb @ gmail . com or just comment on this post.