The wet way to Kingston

It didn't really get super-wet until we got here, actually... our timing was nearly impeccable in that respect. But it's sure pouring out now! We're thrilled to be tucked up in one of the two reciprocal mooring slips kept by the Kingston Cove Yacht Club at the Port of Kingston, with the electric heater blasting and the hatches dogged down tight. I am doubly glad I finished caulking the toe-rail at the bow a few weeks ago, too; persistent, nagging leaks in the v-berth have all but stopped, even in the heaviest weather.

We pulled out of Eagle Harbor this morning just after the showers stopped there and right as the sun started to put in an appearance. The clouds and rain were still low and swirling off to our east, folding Seattle in an amorphous blanket of glowing gloom. Sunlight reflected through the swirls off the top of Qwest Field and some of the taller office towers poked out through, but with the sun coming from behind the cloud banks, the city was mostly erased from view. We raised sail just inside the #2 buoy and headed north in about 8 knots of wind out of the southeast.

The sun stayed with us most of the way and the winds were fairly light and of course on a rainy Wednesday there was no traffic to speak of outside the ferry and shipping lanes. It stayed that way until I went off-watch three hours later; as soon as Mandy got on deck the sun disappeared, the rain started, and the wind kicked up. We were just off Jefferson Point by then, though, and the additional burst of speed put us into Appletree Cove in no time. We got the sail down and tucked in to the marina with no trouble, happy to see that a reciprocal slip was open. KCYC maintains two here, and although there probably was never much likelihood of finding anyone in them this time of year in the middle of the week, my fear was that we would, and would then either have to pay for a regular slip or have to look elsewhere. We've been itching to use our WSYC membership to stay cheap or free at a another club, and with a series of storms coming in, this seemed like a perfect opportunity. There isn't really a particularly safe anchorage here, so the marina is the only good option.

So now we're drying out and catching up on work. We'll stay for a couple of days, and most likely head back to Shilshole after that. Our ambitions to visit the south Sound may be quashed until spring. But we'll have an opportunity to explore Kingston, previously a place that has simply been another quaint town to pass by on the way to a ferry terminal.