A Good Day At Blanchard 4/22/07

Noah posted to the list Saturday projecting soarable weather for Sunday. Patti, when asked, sent her research, and TJ Olney's Blanchard weather web site (http://olneytj.home.comcast .net/blanchard.html) also seemed promising, so we went. We got there just in time to see Matty climb out just after others landed in a rain of ripstop. We loaded C.J. and Patti into the front seat, and Noah, Andy and TJ into the back and drove up.
On launch 45 minutes later pilots were using both the west and the south launch but soon enough only the west was working. C.J. got off cleanly, followed by Delvin, then me, with Murdock already soaring around above. Feiser launched his rigid but did not stick around so it was only paragliders soaring. I had trouble getting up with C.J. and it took 20 minutes before I had enough confidence to go farther N and find some good lift. Eventually I was able to climb to 1300 over launch (2500 msl) and head back to the Oyster Dome. It reminded me of the hiker's lookout on Tiger with all the foot travelers enjoying the sunshine on the rocks. At one point I watched Steve Pieniak, who had crossed to Chuckanut, working his way slowly back up from 600 msl. He not only got up but was able to return to launch. Matty Senior, meanwhile had gone up along the coast almost to Bellingham, turned around and made a good attempt at making it back to the LZ.
Later C.J. called to say she had landed and was getting a ride back up. I went back toward launch thinking about toplanding, but never having seen anyone do that, I decided to head to the LZ myself.

Orcas Island

17 April 2007

C.J. booked a three-night midweek exchange through WorldMark at their newly acquired property at Deer Harbor for about 3375 points. We loaded up the kayak gear, the flying gear and filled the cartop carrier with camping gear. The plan was to do two kayak day trips then join the Rainier Paragliding Club at Fort Ebey for a campout and fly-in weekend.

We were right on time for the ferry and only had to wait a few minutes. With a kayak on the Outback, our height was close to the maximum of 7 ft 6 in, after which the price for car and driver essentially doubles. Since the ferry was half empty they parked us in the center so there was no problem. On the way we watched the scenery from the upper front deck and realized that we had not been to the San Juans for probably twenty years. Actually not much appeared changed – going in April meant that there were relatively few tourists, so no crowds. The only excitement was when what we thought was a whale showed itself for a moment. We decided later that it was more likely a dolphin. The weather was cooperating nicely with sunshine, light wind and scattered clouds We got to the Resort at Deer Harbor around 1630 or so and checked in to a small, “historic” cabin – one big room with the bed, TV cabinet and a couple of chairs; there was a small table on the porch along with the private hot tub. After a walk around the area and up to the Deer Harbor Inn, we used one of the gas barbecue grills to prepare mahi-mahi for dinner.

18 April 2007

Wednesday morning looked promising with sun painting the rocks across the harbor. We took advantage of the “extended” continental breakfast in the lobby so as to avoid having to prepare our own with the microwave in the cabin. By 10:30 we had gotten our gear ready to go, used the kayak cart to roll down to the dock, paid the $5 launch fee, and carried on to the sandy beach…uh oh, the tide is way low and the sand becomes slimy mud near the waters edge. We strap the wheels back on and roll under the pier to a sandier area and launch there. Our goal is Jones Island State Park and we hug the shore of Orcas before making the 0.4 mi crossing of Spring Passage in flatwater conditions (Not sure about the current predictions here but it’s probably still ebbing which means a south flow). Along the way we see what appear to be rusty red squirrels on the shore rocks, but on closer inspection look more weasel-y. (Later we ask around and everyone says that what we saw was a mink.) Jones Island has lots of beaches with two major coves one on the south and the other on the north. We paddle around the island clockwise and have a close up view of a bald eagle on a nearby rock. Just as we enter the north cove, we paddle close to a sea otter (or he swims close to us) who swims, dives and crunches his catch right in front of us. A gravel beach makes it easy to pull out near a dock with a couple of big powerboats. We take a bathroom break in the flush toilet-equipped restrooms and have lunch in the sun since it is pretty chilly in the shade. We’re both wearing drytops and I’m trying out the shorty wetsuit under it. C.J. says her combination is just right but I’m a bit hot. Paddling out of the bay and rounding the point we pass near a rocky islet where the tan-gray rocks turn out to be sea lions. They are spooked and slip into the water. As we start back to the Orcas side of Spring Passage we note that the water is not as calm as before but there is hardly any wind. We don’t have any problem with the flood tide although inspecting the GPS track later shows that we were pushed a bit to the north. We are back to Deer Harbor around 14:00 with plenty of time to do something additional, so we roll the kayak up next to the cabin, change clothes, and head off the enjoy the sun while it lasts. The view from Mt. Constitution is excellent missing only the highest peaks which are obscured by the clouds. We stop at an obvious paraglider launch with the wind blowing right “in”, but even though we are tempted (our wings are with us in the car), we don’t know how welcome we would be landing in the fields we can see toward Olga. Anyway, we are starving and ready to try acting like real tourists by eating at a local restaurant. Who of us children of the 60’s could resist a restaurant named Bilbo’s Festivo? The plates are hot and the meals are huge. We don’t need any dessert.

19 April 2007

Thursday looked just as good. We were left wondering how we had lucked out on the weather. After breakfast we got a slow start around 11:00 and paddled out towards the Wasp Island group taking a snaky route north of Fawn, south of Reef and north of McConnell with a detour south (with the ebb current pushing us to 5-plus mph) to check out the sea lions on Bird Rock. Rounding the northern tip of Mc Connell we could see our goal for the day, Yellow Island, owned by the Nature Conservancy. We made the half-mile crossing and continued around the north side of the island, then between the island and some rocks crowded with sea lions. There were numerous signs indicating that landing was permitted only at the SE cove where the caretaker’s cottage is located. On this minus tide the shore was covered with seaweed and rocks but we managed to get the kayak out of the water and tied it with a long line to a concrete block way up on the beach. We had smartened up since yesterday and had brought our sneakers so we could hike around the island so we pried off our wetsuit boots and headed up the trail. The island is only 100 yards or so long but every yard of its meadows seems crammed with wildflowers. A signboard with a register book identified the flowers and C.J. used our camera to get a bunch of flower pictures. We had the place to ourselves with the caretaker gone for the day. Only one boat and one kayaker cruised past while we were on the island. It would have been easy to stay longer but we were getting hungry and the Nature Conservancy prohibits camping, picnicking, just about everything, so we put the boat back in the water. McConnell had a nice little beach just across from Coon Island and we landed there for lunch ignoring the “no trespassing” sign which we assumed meant that we couldn’t leave the beach to hike around on the rest of the island. Sure enough, as we headed on to the east, just around the next point was a house. This time we went around the north side of Reef and then the south side of Fawn and then to the south shore of Deer Harbor back to our takeout point at around 15:30. After wheeling the boat back up to near the cabin, we cleaned out the accumulated mud and sand and heaved it back on the car so we could be ready to leave on the (relatively) early ferry the next day. I was thinking about dinner already and thought that we ought to buy a pint of Ben and Jerry’s for dessert from the dock store since we had not had to pay a launch fee today. Unfortunately we were about 10 minutes too late – the store closed at five during the off season. Not to be disappointed, we drove the short distance in to Eastsound to the big market and found Hagen Dazs on sale, plus a mango. I used the barbecue back at the resort to cook up some chicken tenders while C.J. heated the leftover rice and made a salad. Later we watched “8 Below” on C.J.’s computer – couldn’t get the DVD player to produce a picture on the TV.

20 April 2007

We checked with the desk and were told that we should get to the ferry dock an hour before the departure time since we were leaving on a Friday. So we had an early breakfast, packed up the last of our stuff and got to the ferry landing shortly after 0900 for the 1020 sailing. We killed time by wandering around looking through the village shops. One kayak tour operator advertised 2-hr trips but charged $15 per kayak launch fee if you brought your own boat ($25/kayak if you weren’t taking his tour!)

From Anacortes we drove south to Mt. Erie where we listened to the weather radio and decided to go to Blanchard (We had already checked with Kim Smith at Ft. Ebey where the wind was too light). Members of the RPC and others were either just landing from sledders, or just arriving and we got a ride up with Rick, a hang glider pilot. Conditions looked pretty good, although crossed from the north. We both got above launch for a short time and then sank to the LZ for twenty-minute flights. It looked possible that Blanchard might turn on but we decided to head down to Ft. Ebey just to see if it would be worthwhile camping and flying there. We hung out with Kim and Kathy, Scott and Jim Baldo for an hour or so while the wind blew lightly and cross from the north. Finally, after the RPCers who had been at Blanchard arrived and reported no further good flights, we decided to head for home.