It feels like late November even though it is late October. Overnight temps at or below freezing, clear skies, no rain and daytime temps 40/50 degrees.
It is much easier to stay comfortable when it isn’t raining. It isn’t damp and humid so things are not to bad in SWALLOW.
Stopping in Olympia for a few days to collect boat stores and do the laundry. Found that the hardware store in old-downtown, near the water, no longer carries the ‘sawdust wood-product’ I like. A second choice is Presto-Log and they only had two packs … I wanted four! They recommend I go to the larger store … 1.6 miles away. The Thriftway right next to the Percival Landing docks doesn’t have Presto-Logs – first grocery store I’ve visited that doesn’t carry them! Frustrating!!
The prior owners/builders of SWALLOW stopped by to say “hi” and drop off a few things: old boat logs (great history!), a few spare parts and firewood (yeah for wood heat)!
On one of the Facebook groups I frequent a person new to the Salish Sea asked about obtaining reliable wind forecasts. The NOAA forecasts cover a large area, the Puget Sound zone goes from Olympia to Admiralty Inlet – an area 100 miles long (North to South).
For example the NOAA forecast Tuesday 10/28/19 is east 20-30kts shifting NE 15-25. Here in the far south of South Puget Sound it is calm with two private forecasting apps, Sailflow and WindFinder, are showing a forecast of NE 5-10kts. This shows a couple of things:
- In general the NOAA zone forecast focuses on the Puget Sound north or Tacoma Narrows.
- NOAA will report the highest wind for the zone – I’ve experienced where South Puget Sound will have high winds where the northern and central parts will not and NOAA reports the high wind forecast to be experienced south.
I remember back in the pre-smartphone era having no idea what wind to expect when sailing Puget Sound. When cellphone data is available it is nice to to access a forecast more localized. I use WindFinder and Sailflow.
Even so I think NOAA should have at least two or maybe three zones for Puget Sound forecasts: south of Tacoma Narrows, Tacoma Narrows to just south of Seattle and north from Seattle to Admiralty Inlet.
S/V Swallow 