Helios Aweigh

Sailing in the Salish Sea of Washington and British Columbia

21 July 2018 | North Harbor Diesel
13 July 2018 | Des Moines Marina
10 June 2018 | North Tacoma
29 July 2016 | Turtle Bay, Inner Broken Islands group, Barkley Sound, British Columbia
04 January 2016 | Wollochet Bay outstation
12 October 2015 | TYC Wollochet Outstation
26 March 2015 | Tacoma
09 August 2014 | Pender Harbour
30 June 2014 | TYC Wollochet Outstation
22 June 2014 | Tacoma
16 June 2014 | Public dock Gig Harbor
11 June 2014 | Tacoma & Bainbridge Island
11 June 2014 | Breakwater Marina
20 April 2014 | TYC Wollochet Outstation
08 April 2014 | Poulsbo
07 April 2014 | Poulsbo, WA
29 March 2014 | Tacoma, WA

Anacortes on the hard

21 July 2018 | North Harbor Diesel
Bruce-sunny 70's
We have made to Anacortes and Helios is on the hard having the maintenance done, to include a scrape on the starboard keel with a rock in Barkley Sound, new bottom paint and prop speed for the saildrives and propellers. There were a couple of small holes from bubbles underneath the gelcoat that were filled and fared. We are hoping to be back in the water by July 26th. Kelsey, our granddaughter, is flying in on Kenmore Air on the 29th to Roche Harbor and we are going to the Gulf Islands for a week until she has to fly home to get ready to head off to college. Then Linda and I will cross the border and head a little farther north for a month before turning south.

Des Moines

13 July 2018 | Des Moines Marina
Bruce/bright sunshine this morning mid 80's for a high later
A short 10 mile trip from Tacoma to Des Moines was our start. The reason being I needed a little tutoring on the OCENS system, which uses Iridium satellites for worldwide communication. The tech spent part of the afternoon with me and I think I'm semi competent. We are going to spend another night and use the day to wash Helios, and install all the lines I took off and cleaned last fall. We will head to Eagle Harbor tomorrow

Starting Preparation

10 June 2018 | North Tacoma
Bruce/spring weather sunshine and showers
We are moving aboard Helios the first of July for the summer, and moving out of the house. Since we are getting a late start this year, we probably won't go to far north in British Columbia. Our communication has been upgraded with an irridium go system from OCENS. This is a satellite system that will give us voice and email anywhere we sail. It will be nice to not have any timeline to meet, other than a couple at the start. We are stopping at Elliot Bay Marina to have Emerald Harbor Marine perform annual maintenance on our SPECTRA watermaker, and follow that with a haulout in Anacortes. We don't have to be back in Tacoma for medical appointments until the latter part of September.

2016 Summer Trip

29 July 2016 | Turtle Bay, Inner Broken Islands group, Barkley Sound, British Columbia
Bruce Kilen - clear, light wind 65 degrees
I have posted our trip with pictures on our website, www.heliosaweigh.com and if you click on 2016 summer trip to Barkley Sound you can read about it, and see some pictures.

New Year's weekend

04 January 2016 | Wollochet Bay outstation
Bruce Kilen- clear and cold
Linda had to take a vacation day or lose it, so we left our slip at Breakwater on December 31st for the TYC outstation at Wollochet. There were 3 other boats already tied up when we arrived. I backed Helios between Phoebe and the shore to tie up on the inside. Hank from Phoebe and Paul from Grand Larsony took the lines from Linda. We had run the diesel heater on the way over and once the power cords were plugged in used the reverse cycle on the air conditioners to keep the temperature in the low 70s with humidity below 20%. We chatted a bit with the other folks then retired to Helios. The temperature outside was in the low 20s, with skim ice on some of the bay, as can be seen in the picture. It had been clear and cold, so all of the white is frost and ice. At midnight 3 of the houses on the bay put on quite a fireworks show to bring in the New Year. We slept in late and spent the day reading, and walking the docks to visit. The other boats left Saturday morning, so we were the only boat. Our friends, Donna and Dan live nearby and Dan came down and picked us up Saturday after dinner so we could play pinochle. The girls beat Dan and me two games to one, same result as usual. We are thinking about flying down to visit them in April in their winter home in Chandler, Arizona. We left the dock a little before noon to take advantage of the start of the ebb through the Narrows. We were home in our slip in 75 minutes. It was a very nice get away for the long New Year’s weekend.

Columbus Day Weekend

12 October 2015 | TYC Wollochet Outstation
Bruce Kilen/rain, wind, sun and calm
We had a three day weekend with Columbus Day being a federal holiday, so the bank would be closed and Linda would have the day off. I went to the store on Friday morning to gather supplies for the weekend trip, and then motored over to Wollochet as there was no wind to speak of, and having the current helping through the Narrows made the trip just over an hour. I tied up on the inside of the dock, and was the only boat there. I put my foul weather gear on and rinsed off the dock from the party results of the birds; mussel and clam shells along with guano. Linda got off work a little early and I walked up to unlock the gate and let her in to park her car, then locking the gate back up. The new locking gate on the ramp to the docks adds security. We debated going out for dinner, but decided that sandwiches and chip would be fine, since it was nice and cozy aboard Helios. We had another boat come in, Columbia, with Cliff Johnson and family. They had just purchased the Ocean Alexander used and joined TYC. I walked them through the sign in procedure and turning on the power, unlocking the gate, restrooms, and kitchen. They were only spending one night then off to Olympia. Saturday saw the rains come in force, along with some wind. We were tucked in between the dock and shore, and the trees on shore blocked the southerly wind, although Helios and the dock were covered in fir needles. The wind coming up the bay formed waves, however, the curve in the shoreline allowed Helios to remain in calm flat water. Sunday after breakfast it was time to put on the foul weather gear and rinse all the needles off Helios, which took quite awhile and we only got 98% of them. We did a lot of reading and watching movies, and then Monday around noon we locked up the outstation and I headed home and Linda came down to the slip to help me tie up, so we were back home by three in the afternoon well rested and relaxed.
Vessel Name: Helios
Vessel Make/Model: 2008 Manta MkIV 42' catamaran
Hailing Port: Tacoma, WA
Crew: Bruce & Linda Kilen
About: We were born and raised in the State of Washington, and worked in the banking field. Bruce bought his first sailboat in the early 80's and is currently sailing his 4th. He has a 50 ton Captain's License. They met in 1997, married in 1999. They had Helios built as their retirement boat.
Extra: We sail in Washington and British Columbia. In a couple of years we will sail to Alaska and continue to explore British Columbia north of Vancouver Island www.heliosaweigh.com (our website)
Helios's Photos - Main
4 Photos
Created 14 June 2018
Wollochet Outstation
2 Photos
Created 17 January 2016
At Citadel Marine in Tacoma for bottom paint and repairs.
7 Photos
Created 26 June 2014
Paxton (grandson) & Vern with Grandpa in Poulsbo
5 Photos
Created 26 June 2014
Sailing Rally from TYC to Wollochet Outstation
2 Photos
Created 21 June 2014