The Puget Sound Cruising Club often schedules a dessert potluck for the November trip. The weather report wasn't very promising, (dark, wet and 20-30kts.) We thought we might be the only ones going, got a late start, and motored over to Liberty Bay. We only saw one boat on the way over. Turned out we were not the only boat there - all three boats at the November raft-up, between the docks in Poulsbo, were C&C’s! Doug brought his big C&C Landfall 39 s/v Rebecca Leah up from Port Orchard, Natalie and Patrick were anchored on Violet Hour a C&C Landfall 38, and we were there on Simplicity the 35-II. We put out a stern anchor, ate leftovers, and had a fine desert potluck on Doug's boat with his cat named Dinghy. Natalie made a bright Key Lime Pie and Kathleen made a dense Amaretti Chocolate Torte.

Of course, there were adventures. I woke up about 6Am when a big gust, probably 30-40kts healed the boat, then it sounded like chain running out! Turns out we flipped the raft 180 degrees, and were hanging by my anchor. Kathleen had asked me how much chain we had out, and I had checked the ties and knew we had 140’ in the 24’ of water. Not really planned, but I dropped early - better than late, and had to let out that much to get back to the raft. Violet Hour had a big Rocna and chain out up-wind, but I hadn’t checked how much chain he had out, oops. Hum, maybe 58,000 lbs. of boats in 30-40kt gusts, no surprise we dragged the Rocna through the mud. We got Doug off as soon as possible, and separated worried about catching anchors. I was stuck solid, thought I had snagged the heavy chain of the nearby Ingrid, and tried grappling with my small anchor, but couldn't budge it. Finally we moved forward enough to pop the anchor out - whew. Thank you Patrick for rowing out to stand by and be supportive. Despite the weather warnings and great dark clouds, we had an easy motor sail home, saw Orcas working a current line, and stopped at the pump-out. Note the high tide coming into Shilshole. We had a couple 15-20kt puffs as another front blew through, and got back to our slip just before the real downpour - yea! Another great trip - thanks all! (Click on a image below for a larger image "slide show" - arrow keys work well.)