On Saturday we made a run down the river to Ballard Park for an ECSA weekend cruise. Didn't matter that it was cold. Didn't matter that the wind was too light. Didn't matter that we had to run the motor the whole way there. It just felt good to be on the water.
This was the first time we arrived at the Ballard Park cruise by boat. It is a really neat little cove that surrounds a state park. The boats nestle in the mud right along the banks and tie to shore onto trees. Joe C was such a gentleman to go around in his dingy and set everyone's stern anchor. We had 12 boats in the anchorage and another on the outside.
At some point during the night the wind picked up and a few boats were playing bumper boats. There was a flury of dingies just before dawn, as boats came unhooked from eachother and resituated. The wind continued to build and everyone was a bit uneasy at departure time. Once out of the protected cove, the river was a tempest. The wind was blowing steady at 25 knots out of the north (on the nose of course)and we saw gusts up to 30 knots. There were actual waves on the river. The water was so choppy that our depth sounder went wacky. A few of the smaller boats were not able to make any headway and had to tuck in for the night. LaLeLu pushed along at a respectable 6 knots. Chris and I were cozy under the canvas with jackets, coffee and blankets.
To top it all off, we had a dolphin escort us all the way down the barge canal on our way home. Park and I hung our feet over the side and ohhh/ahhh'd.
