Come along with meeeeeee on the night cruiser.....

This little 28 foot boat can really haul butt!!! I was running with the tide and set a personal boat speed record of 9.4 knots over the ground!!!!!!! heeee haaaaa! And that's with 1800 rpm's on the engine (just putt'n along) If you look at the photo, you can see the radar image in red superimposed over the map. It took me a bit of trial and error to calibrate the system, but when it works... it works great!

I had an awesome night cruise lastnight back to Gig Harbor!!! What a great experience to be out under the stars, so peaceful and yet very nerve racking! Everything looks totally different at night!

I decide to head back to Gig Harbor early because of a big storm that was heading to the Pacific Northwest Friday thru the weekend, plus the freshwater pump on the engine is ready to crap out. It was making all kinds of nasty noises from a worn out bearing... So.. I ordered a repair kit for the pump, which should be in Monday!



The propeller puts out this really pretty blue streak out the back of the boat (I couldn't fully capture it with my camera), I couldn't help looking at it... soooooo cool!!!! The photo shows the American flag fluttering in the wind, the dingy to the top left and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge overhead. The city lights were pretty neat to try to photograph as well. It's pretty darn hard to get a steady shot on a rolling and moving boat!



Talk about hairy getting thru Gig Harbor at night! There are boats anchored all along one side of the harbor and I went right by one and didn't see it until I passed it... Yicks!!!!! I was feeling pretty cocky when I was making my final turn into the slip... I decided to make the hard right turn just as the tip of my bowsprit was even with my slip... well, I ALMOST hit the $250,000 Pacific Seacreast sailboat next to me!!!! The current was favoring toward his boat and I was moving a bit slow, so I was sliding toward his boat. REVERSE!!!!! REVERSE!!!!! I was almost in deep do-do, but I gave it a couple good pulses of power in forward with the helm hard over and I was able to slide right into my spot without damaging ANYTHING!!!! wheoooo close call!

Before I forget... I told you in the previous blog about the CAUTION: DO NOT PUT CONDITIONER DIRECTLY INTO CRAPPER HOLE on the porta-john... well, I was cleaning up the boat and decided to empty the holding tank on the porta-john, I lifted the lid/seat and noticed some water in the bowl.... 'strange.. I don't recall leaving any water there'... so, I bend over to pull the flushing lever (you pull this lever and a little slider lets STUFF fall down into the holding tank) and POW! I get sprayed all over my face and hair and shirt with STUFF!!!! I had to run to the sink and rinse my face for a good 5 minutes to get the stink off me! Lesson Learned: READ DIRECTIONS BEFORE, BEFORE, BEFORE MESSING WITH CHEMICALS!!!!

Cheers from dockside!