Heidi
September 24, 2008, 3:12 pm, CL & HR

Photo of Aquarius at the guest dock in Hood River before heading back to Cascade Locks.

We had a couple more weekends in August and early September for sailing including one memorable one for Mark and Pierre. But, well, looks like it is that time of year again! Mark and I have been cleaning up the boat, and getting her ready for the winter. First thing I did was take off all the FOOOOOD.... can you imagine how much stuff was on the boat? A lot. It seems that every trip someone went on, they thought we needed MORE SOY sauce or more WASABI.... and HOW MANY cans of things (tuna... on a boat... in MEXICO where we can catch FRESH tuna?) does one actually need?? AND how MANY packages of EARL GREY TEA? And we have enough ziploc bags to outfit several boats... I got such a laugh going through it all.

Gotta do it sometime, right?

Happy Fall... more sailing adventures await us in the spring.

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Heidi
August 18, 2008, 12:35 am, Hood River...

We had the best weekend! On Friday afternoon, Mark and I shoehorned ourselves OUT of the marina at Cascade Locks... there was an east wind and NO ROOM to spare to get out but Mark did it! I continue to be impressed at the way he can maneuver the boat. The next time I can, I'll get a photo so you can see just how teeny that marina is for a 47' boat! Most people we know can't believe there was a slip big enough for us there.

ANYway, back to the weekend... Mark and I enjoyed Friday night aboard in the marina at Hood River with a wonderful almost full moon. Then Saturday morning motored out to Wells Island, found a spot a little ways out and anchored. We swam and relaxed and later on notices that another fellow Hood River boat was anchored nearby but close in on the island. We swam over, Mark dove around and we got the inside scoop about where to get in to get close to the beach. So look at the photo above and see where we ended up! We had boats on either side of us, Trent's boat Felicity and another small sailboat owned by a kiter that Mark knows. It was a snug little spot.

What an evening. Our friends Cathy and John came over for cocktails (thanks Cathy, they were GOOD) with their daughter Alicia, their exchange student, Terese PLUS Jessica, her boyfriend Louy and then to top it off another 2 friends of Jess and Louy's came aboard. Dinner and a quick game of scrabble followed. The kids went to bowl in town (Jess was happy to tear off in the dinghy) and later in the evening after John & Cathy left we were visited by a group of midnight Kayakers with glow sticks aboard! They were out for a full moon paddle. Quite interesting to see about 8-10 kayaks come out of the darkness towards shore. Kind of eerie.

Later on Jess, Louy and Alicia came back and camped on Wells, enjoying a camp-fire and midnight swim and later on Smores while Mark and I enjoyed the peace and quiet aboard Aquarius....

After a morning swim, we motored over to the Hood River marina as the winds were set to return.... and return they did. I recorded a top windspeed of 36 knots... IN the marina! Wow.

We are staying on at Hood River for a few days to enjoy Aquarius before motoring back to Cascade Locks.

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Heidi
August 10, 2008, 1:50 pm, Hood River

Photo.... silly shot of me last night hamming it up for the camera "dancing". And NO, I hadn't had too much to drink! And I am in COSTUME...

A fun time was had by all last night at our "Age of Aquarius" party at the Hood River guest dock! We had a record number of people aboard and some people actually dressed up... and since it is Olympics Time we awarded Best Dressed Couple, Best Dressed Male and Best Dressed Female. Best Dressed Couple went to our good friends, Kristin and Mark. They looked MAHVELOUS.

Luckily we brought our BBQ from home to augment the BBQ aboard Aquarius since there was lots to grill. There was tons of delicious salads, special homemade quiches from Bob and lots of great conversation.

Hmm, maybe it should be an annual tradition...

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Heidi
August 7, 2008, 8:59 pm, Hood River/Cascade Locks...

Tomorrow Mark & I will be sailing Aquarius (it is supposed to be windy, so a nice down-winder is hoped for) from Cascade Locks to Hood River for the weekend.... and our party!

Invited are all past & present crew members and wish-they-could-have-been crew. Friends who have been wondering what this darned boat really looks like are going to be able to come aboard and have some fun.

It is a 70's themed party (Age of Aquarius...) and I am hoping that Tie-Dye and bell-bottoms will rule the day, er... night!

I plan on taking lots of photos... so stay tuned...

UPDATE: photo is of the great downwind, upriver sail Mark and I had from CL to HR.... it was WINDY with top gusts reaching 37 knots and we enjoyed sailing through the Hatchery and seeing friends windsurfing by us...

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