Land of Aaahs Opening Day

We left Thursday to head off to Queen City Yacht Club for Opening Day of Boating Season. We planned to leave at 7:00am but when we got to the marina we were completely fogged in. We talked to Al and Sue who were planning to cruise with us and we agreed we should wait awhile and let the fog clear.  Eventually we thought it had lifted enough and would then burn off so we headed out. Unfortunately, the fog got thicker and we were cruising in weather we try to avoid. Al and Sue were right behind us and it was still hard to see them - if I could at all.

The one thing I don't like about going to Opening Day is going through the locks in Ballard. If you are sitting on the lawn and watching the boats go through it is a lot of fun. When you are on a boat and have to tie to the sides then adjust your lines as you are lifted up to lake level, it is not so much fun. We have been tied to the side and also rafted to other boats (which is much easier since you are just along for the ride) but since this is the first time through with Synnova we assumed we would be tied to the side because of her length. As it turned out, when we arrived we realized that our kayak racks probably stuck out further than our fenders. The lock attendant let us raft to another boat since we were not sure. The following pictures show us waiting to enter the locks, our entry and then as we exited into Lake Washington.

When we arrived at Queen City, rafted to the other boats and then took our dinghies to head on over to the log boom to see the other EYC members. The third picture shows our fleet boats at QCYC when we returned.

Saturday was officially Opening Day so we dressed for the parade and headed out on Brian and Kira McLauchlan's boat, Nelliott.  We had plenty of time to relax on their boat, eat lunch and then practice our saluting.

As we went by the log boom we were able to grab a couple of pictures before we staged for the return trip back. We watched as the decorated boats turned around at the end and then enjoyed seeing the Seattle Fire Boat bring up the end of the parade.

While we were staged waiting to return to QCYC we conducted a small memorial service to commemorate the one year anniversary of Dick Potter passing away. He had been a long term member of EYC and his son, Jeff, and Daughter, Susan Romei, are still members. They were on the boat so we all moved to the stern where Susan said some words to remember her dad and then Jeff through a bouquet of red roses out on the water. I concluded with a prayer.  It was a very moving service and it meant a lot to Jeff and Susan. I'm so glad we were there for it.

It was a fun weekend and we are looking forward to next year when we can be out on the log boom.