Here you will find tales of voyages past and present on our trusty Pacific Seacraft Dana 24, "Sockdolager," and our Bigfoot29 powerboat, "Raven," from Port Townsend, Washington, USA. In 2009 we sailed north from Puget Sound up the west coast of Vancouver Island to the Queen Charlotte Islands (now called Haida Gwaii.) In 2010 we went back to the west coast of Vancouver Island. In July 2011 we left the Northwest, sailed to Mexico, and in March 2012 we crossed the Pacific to French Polynesia, then on to the Cooks, Niue and Tonga. We spent several months in New Zealand, and in May 2013 loaded Sockdolager (and ourselves) on a container ship for San Francisco. In June and July 2013 we sailed north along the California, Oregon and Washington coasts, and in August we arrived home. In October 2016, Sockdolager found new owners, and we began cruising on Raven, a unique wooden 29' powerboat. In 2018 we cruised up to Glacier Bay, Alaska, and back. But in 2024 we had the chance to buy Sockdolager back (we missed her), so we sold Raven. We hope you enjoy reading about our adventures as much as we enjoy having them. (And there will be more.)



Monday, May 31, 2010

We're outta here... soon.



It's as good a time as any for our 23 year-old aluminum fuel tank to develop a tiny pinhole leak. The nerve! But it's much better to have it here before we leave for the wilds of western Canada. So, another delay which we hope will be over soon. The new tank will be ready in a day or so and we'll install it, adjust the engine and then go. Our original departure date of May 15 was delayed by the last of Karen's physical therapy for a painful frozen shoulder. Delay is a word we should probably become more comfortable with, especially us Ancient Mariners. Nearly two months in the wilderness is another thing we plan to become comfortable with as soon as possible. We'll be back in late July. The new solar panel and inverter makes us energy-independent and free from the need to run the diesel on our 24-foot boat unless we need to. That feels very, very good.

That name! Sockdolager (sock DOLL-ajur) is an old 1800s word no longer in popular use, so Jim decided to bring it back. It means something outstanding, a knockout. People used to say, "That was a real sockdolager!" It's also the name of a set of rapids in the Grand Canyon's section of the Colorado River. Jim, being an experienced whitewater boatman, found the name irresistible. Some find it incomprehensible--at first. Now you know.

Forewordplay Redux: For new readers, there was a post about this a year ago, but it's worth repeating. We didn't really set out on this blog to advertise a certain, um, "aspect" of our adventure, but there it is, writ large in every email: SEXCELLENT. Well, okay then. A new voyaging concept! Once we got over the astonishment that Google Blogspot would take out all the apostrophes and Spaces of Purity in the title (how dare they!) and make that our email address (shocking!) and once we landed in people's spam files and they had to click to confirm we weren't scumbag spammers and to allow us into their emails, and once Karen realized that not only would it be noticed, it would be VERY noticed (nyuk, nyuk) then we settled down to enjoying the arched eyebrows and winks.

But just so you know, this is still a two-person boat.
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