We raised the sails on Polar Mist yesterday for the first time after almost a year of boat yards and boat projects! John, Karen and I left the slip at Salmon Bay yesterday morning, headed out the Ballard Locks, and found a nice northerly blowing in Puget Sound. We had a great sail south, took a detour through Elliot Bay to look at the Seattle skyline, managed not to run aground at Blake Island (we somehow had the depth sounder on meters instead of feet, which explains why nothing crunched when we hit "5" while drawing 9 feet), and then motored inside Bainbridge Island to arrive in Poulsbo in the pitch-black darkness of standard time at 6 PM).

We're finding a few glitches in the new systems, but today's breakfast of Viking Doughnuts and apple fritters more than makes up for it! We'll be headed out later today--it's great to have the boat working and being back out on the water!

Humbly submitted,

Capt. Rick

John and I had a smooth run yesterday, bringing Polar Mist from the Delta Boatyard back to our slip in Salmon Bay (just inside the locks in Ballard). Everything went well--we left at high tide, so were able to lower our keel for the run to Shilshole Bay Marina. We had to open three bridges along the "scenic" Duwamish River on our way to Elliot Bay, but the longest we had to wait was 5 minutes (our apologies to all the motorists!). The new engine, shaft, and prop worked great--very smooth and quiet. At Shilshole, we picked up Doug (our John Deere mechanic) for a quick sea trial. Doug verified that all was in order and on we went through the Ballard Locks. We were tied up at the slip by 3 PM.

All is well aboard Polar Mist and it's great to be back in the water!

Humbly submitted,

Capt. Rick

We're back in the water, the mast is up, and tomorrow we see if the new engine will start up!

After months and months (and months) of hard work in Seattle's Delta yard, Polar Mist is scheduled to be launched tomorrow morning! Of course, it's a boat, so there's still lots left to be done, but the list is getting pretty short. We hope to have the mast stepped and rigged, the new engine running, and be back in our slip at Salmon Bay by the weekend. Who knows, maybe we'll even be able to take it sailing before too long!

The new paint job and hard dodger turned out great and the boat looks fantastic! If you look closely, you'll see that Capt. Rick is standing behind the new dodger for scale.

If you think Polar Mist looks good, you should see the 150 yacht that John was standing on to take this photo!

Humbly submitted,

Capt. Rick

Polar Mist's seemingly endless stay in Seattle's Delta boatyard continues! The boat is now in the paint shed with the new hard dodger installed. The dodger looks great--it matches the lines of the boat perfectly!

The decks and dodger will be painted and we hope to have the boat in the water the first week of July. The mast will be stepped a few days later, and we should be ready for a sea trial by the middle of the month.

August will be busy recommissioning the boat and doing some shake-down cruises around Seattle.

We're making forward progress on Polar Mist!

Humbly submitted,

Capt. Rick

Late May is the time in the Pacific Northwest when boats are finishing up last minute projects in preparation for the start of the cruising season. It looks like Polar Mist is going to miss the early season--the boat just went into the paint shed in Seattle's Delta boatyard and will be there for a few weeks.

There is lots left to finish up on the boat before it goes back into the water. It's been a busy winter with a long boat list. Some of the major projects this year were to take the main engine and auxiliary out of the boat. The engine room has been completely cleaned up and painted. The Yanmar auxiliary was rebuilt and a new John Deere main engine is being installed. A custom hard dodger (seen in the photo above) is being fitted to the boat and the decks are being repainted. New hatches for the lazarette, a new hydronic heating system, a new shaft and 4-blade max prop along with all the regular winter maintenance have kept John busy while he's been in and out of Seattle this winter.

We hope to have the boat back in the water in July and will spend the rest of the summer fine tuning and shaking down all the new systems before next summer's exploration of Alaska and the Northwest Passage the following summer.

Humbly submitted,

Capt. Rick