Patrick's Sailing Blog

How did this thing sneak up on me? I don't know but with a boat in the water I'm ready to gather info and buy some goodies. I'm very interested in looking into instrumentation packages and interop between vendors. I think I'm going to be going with TackTick up the masts and then routing all of that into a NMEA 2000 network. Not as many manufacturers are as on site as the Seattle Boat Show, but this will be a good getting started event. Pics and write-ups to come fore sure.

Here's the standard press release from Michael:

The 2008 Lake Union Boats Afloat Show, September 10-14, opens one week from today!

Nearly 300 power and sail boats will be on display in the water, and accessories, electronics and more will be available shore side. From the small dinghies to a 143 ft megayacht, this show has cruisers, trawlers, sail boats and more!

When you buy e-tickets online at www.BoatsAfloatShow.com, you'll receive a free pass on the Seattle Street Car to ride to the show, plus a $25 off coupon at the Sky City restaurant at the Space Needle.

The Lake Union Boats Afloat Show is presented by Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.

Also on the website is a complete list of exhibitors, as well as the boats that will be in the show. And, the first 400 kids will receive a free Personal Flotation Device (PFD), sponsored by BECU, when attending the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show.

I look forward to seeing you at the show.

Michael Campbell
President, NMTA
michaelc@seattleboatshow.com

If you're a MAC (not me) or an iPhone (me) user you should head over and check out MacSailing.Net. It's a good forum about sailing software for the MAC and iPhone including Mr. Tides and iNavX the iPhone version of GPS NavX.

Only about 800 users, but nonetheless if your a MAC or iPhone user who sails it seems like the place to be.

Image via Wikipedia

This is direct from the Port of Seattle

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008, 11 a.m. - 6:30 p.m
Where: Fishermen's Terminal

The 20th Annual Fishermen's Fall Festival is a free, fun, family-oriented event celebrating the return of the North Pacific Fishing Fleet. There's something for everyone...two stages operating throughout the day with live music, demonstrations, a fantastic salmon BBQ, educational booths, lots of fun kids' activities and a beer garden. Other activities include bouncy pirate ship, boat building, trout pond, oyster art, fish prints and face painting.

Morning Light is a movie about a bunch of 20' something inexperienced sailors who are picked to train and race in the TRANSPAC from LA to Honolulu aboard a 52 sloop. The trailer looks pretty good and the movie opens in theaters 18 October 2008.

IMDB Link

If you're looking for a pedal boat here's your chance. You'll have to go over to Bainbridge to pick it up. Here's the info from Tami...

IMPOUND & AUCTION & DISPOSAL

Impound/Public Auction

Pelican Pedal boat

Sealed bid. Deadline 4pm 09/22/08. 2

Bainbridge Harbor Master
80 Madison Ave. N.
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110

206.780.3733. tallen@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us

Notice to owner: to settle moorage and/or impound, contact Harbormaster. 206.780.37363

I'll keep my smart ass remarks to myself, but check out the CYC's recent restaurant inspection.

While Tropical Storm Fay is being tracked and predicted to grow into a Hurricane in the Gulf; Nuri, a full blown Typhoon, is headed towards the Philippines and currently looks as thought Manilla will take a direct hit. Depending on what happens after that it could head to Taiwan and China north of Hong Kong. That would couple of days away, we'll see what takes place in the Philippines first.

Typhoon Nuri - Western Pacific


Wind: 74 MPH | Location: 16.4N 230.1E | Movement: W
More Information:
Tracking Map | Public Advisory | Discussion | Coordinates | Computer Models

This is another unnamed storm on the W Coast of Japan. So far it seems like the Pacific gets more smaller storms but they don't seem to strike land as often or grow as large as the Atlantic or gulf storms.

Tropical Storm 12W - Western Pacific

Updated:

Wind: 51 MPH | Location: 29.1N 225.6E | Movement: N
More Information:
Tracking Map | Public Advisory | Discussion | Coordinates

We've an officially named storm which is headed out to sea off the coast of Mexico

Tropical Storm Iselle - East Pacific | Updated: 5pm EDT Wed Aug 13 2008

Wind: 40 MPH | Location: 16.6N 106.7W | Movement: WNW
More Information:
Tracking Map | Public Advisory | Discussion | Coordinates | Computer Models

And a tropical depression in the west pacific headed between South Korea and Japan.

Tropical Depression 11W - Western Pacific

Wind: 28 MPH | Location: 30.7N 233.6E | Movement: N
More Information:
Tracking Map | Public Advisory |Discussion | Coordinates

The Lake Union Boats Afloat show tickets went on sale today and the web site launched. The seminars aren't posted yet but the Exhibitors list is there (although not working well due to a page layout issue).

The Lake Union show is good to crawl around mostly new power boats and sailboats. There are occasionally a few used boats onsite but the brokers have their pictures posted of their full inventory and you can talk to the brokers as well. I would say that if you're in the market for a used boat, go down and talk to the brokers and use it as a networking opportunity.

As for the exhibitors its mostly systems, insurance and boat loans. Not much for sale on site to take away (compared to the bigger Seattle Boat Show), but a good chance to talk to manufacturers about their gear as well as prices.

I'm waiting to hear more about the seminars before I make my plans, but I'll definitely head down to talk to a view vendors.

The SSCA's web sites have been down for a few days and are now back online. Apparently they have been moving servers. There's a small mention of this on the home page:

In order to serve you better we have been changing servers for this website.
We apologize for the extended downtime.
We are continuing to bring features back online and we thank you for your patience.

I knew that the show was only going to have trailerable (red power) boats, but the exhibitor list on the web site said they would be in the exhibition center AND they had a vendor list which included all the local chandleries and nautical stores so I figured there might be some goodies to be had. Well, the show is not in the exhibition center its only in a portion of the North Parking lot and there were only about 15 booths not related to boat sales. I was pretty disappointed but mostly I felt lied to. Its clear the Boat Show folks just re-posted the full winter show exhibitors list, bad execution.

It wasn't a complete waste of time though, besides picking up a new Seahawks hat at the Pro Shop I also talked to Bill from Island Marine Instrument Co. about the pinnacle mounted compass in on Deep Playa. Its off by about 20-30 degrees. We have a bulk head mounted compass below that is accurate but eventually I want to fix the cockpit compass as well. He talked to me about what to look for in determining if it needs repair (bubbles, crazing, etc) and also showed me a quick test you can do to get a feel for if the internal mechanism is ok (I'll do a video of that soon) and then talked to me about the process to adjust the compass which is a service they offer as well. He was a great guy, very helpful and I appreciated him taking the time to educate me. He also told me to finish all my electrical work, especially any wiring in the cockpit before getting any work done because all of that can affect the adjustments. I'll definitely be giving him a call when we're ready to have the compass dialed in!

The Annual L&A Party is this weekend in Port Townsend. They're press release claims 500 boats are scheduled to show-up. The main festivities are at the Point Hudson facilities, but I'm pretty sure that means a lot of anchoring out because that marina isn't that large. Still it sounds like a great party and one of these years I definitely want to sail up and partake.  You can find out all the details in the L&A Forum.

I have my own boat projects going on right now so I think I'll be at the Summer Sale.

This is late breaking news, well ok I just learned about it today, so its news to me anyway....

The same folks who run the Seattle Boat Show have put together a summer sale for this weekend 8-10 August 2008. According to the press release the emphasis will be on new and used trailerable boats. The list of exhibitors includes all the usually chandlery and supply stories too so it looks to be a great stop to check out what's on sale!

The best apart about it is that it's free! Check out the all details on the Seattle Boat Show web site.

This is your one month warning about the Portland Pirate Festival. I've never been but it looks like a good time. At a minimum you have to appreciate all the effort people put into getting 'geared up' for their pirate weekend.

I'm kind of intrigued so there's a chance I may even make it down from Seattle. Have you been? Should I make the big trip?

The official site is here 2008 PORTLAND PIRATE FESTIVAL SEPT. 20TH & 21ST CATHEDRAL PARK, ST. JOHNS, OREGON - Home