I hiked up on the steep chairs to “uptown” to attend the 8.15 a.m. mass at Our Lady Star of the Seas. Very appropriate. I have been to a number of them in my travels, in Georgetown, Bermuda, in the Chesapeake Bay on Solomons Island in Maryland. The Latin version Stella Maris is a popular boat name.
The couple behind me Vincent and Mary Anne gave me a ride back to the Wooden Boat Show. I shook hands with well known world sailor Larry Pardey and ran into Jim Whittaker the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest. I had met him once before in Port Townsend. He is also an avid blue water sailor. He is 88 but he still walks faster than most people run. I used to see his twin brother Lou on occasions since his wife and my (last) ex wife are long time friends. I also managed to meet up with Jim Ferris popularly known as “Kiwi”. I had met Jim in 1980. He responded to an ad I had placed for race crew. He had just delivered a large schooner built in New Zealand. He got into wooden boat building in Port Townsend and started with a Mighty Might portable sawmill and now owns one of the largest hardwood distribution businesses in the North West. I left Port Townsend at noon and had a favorable flood current most of the way. Sailed a good part of it. The wind came and went, as is power for the course in the N.W. summers here. I anchored for the night at Blake Island and got back into Gig Harbor in the afternoon. I discovered half way through Colvos passage that my exhaust was steaming and just a trickle of water was coming through. The first thing I did was to clean the seagrass from the intake filter. But that did not do the trick. So, it had to be a broken impeller. There are not many places to anchor in Colvos Passage and the current was swift. I tried motor sailing against the wind and throttle the ;power back. Then the wind died. I slowly made my way to an anchorage. Taking the impeller out is a major operation. The flywheel has to come off. There was nothing wrong with the impeller. I attached a hose to the inlet valve and blew hard and it did break open. I thought. Still just a trickle more water. I was only two miles form the marina. I slowly made it to my berth. I then used the pump to blow up the inflatable and that finally did the trick. Obviously a better tool than my lungs. Another trick learned. I hope that Robert Redford reads my blogs, for his sequel to “All is Lost”. Shoot!, I should have asked Larry Pardey what he thinks of the movie, he was used as an expert on the subject by the producer…..