Every February the Northwest San Francisco Pelican Fleet sailors schedule a day trip to Skagit Island in Deception Pass State Park. Some years we look at the swirling waters of the windswept bay and take our picnic lunch off to a sheltered shore.
The year 2000 edition of the Skagit Island Sail was a classic. Eleven Pelicans and one committee boat, about 30 people, converged on Cornet Bay. The instructions were to launch around ten and plan to clear Yokeko Point by eleven, before the current change made it likely to be slurped into Deception Pass and spun out into Rosario Strait.
The committee boat went ahead with wood for a campfire, a stove, and water jugs to prepare hot drinks for all hands. We started, crews of two and three and four. The Pelican is a rare 12 foot boat because it can comfortably sail with four adults lounging around the cockpit.
Aboard Chop Chop we headed right across the pass, picking up an eastbound current about midstream. The light easterly wind propelled us northward, the current swept us east. We sailed out of the current, tacked back in, and as it slacked off of the point, tacked northward again, picked up a southerly wind which carried us on a close reach, right to the steep little beach on the north side of Skagit Island.
Several boats had alternately motored and sailed, more directly to the beach. Their crews welcomed us ashore and helped pull the boat up above the tide line. We secured the painter to a large log. Soon we had steaming mugs and were greeting friends from north and south, even from as far away as snowy Utah.
Skagit Island is a gem of the Northwest. We can only be grateful that it is part of our State Park system. We hiked clear around the island. First noting that the wild current was just starting to bloom. On the eastern shore, amid crumbling shale from the cliffs are lots of well populated tide pools. We stopped to inspect a few, then carefully climbed the disintegrating rocks and padded through Madrona woods, up into a steep grass covered slope on the south side. Fine leaves from bulbs were coming up through the grass and a few small purple flowers sprinkled the hillside. Around to the west the bank is high and the forest is more fir than Madrona. The understory is mostly salal. The path is a bit slick from fallen needles and leaves. A misstep over the edge would result in a long drop ending in swirling tides over a rock strewn bottom We were very careful.
Sliding down the final slope to the beach, we shipped the rudder, got the painter aboard and the centerboard ready to drop. Two aboard, one in the water to spin the boat and leap into the cockpit as the mainsail filled. With a general hubbub of “drop the board”, “put down the rudder”, “sheet in the main”, “unfurl the jib”, and we were off in a rush. Settling down to the long reach home, we raised he board and sat back to appreciate the views: forward spectacular Deception Pass, aft Mt. Baker, the nearer Cascades, the green of the islands and the blue and white swirls of the water. A seal came up to look us over, then slipped down into the water. An eagle soared overhead.
All too soon, we swept into Cornet Bay. We luffed briefly to drop the main and followed the jib up to the dock. With two of us working, the boat was partly unrigged before the trailer arrived on the ramp. It took only a few minutes to slip it onto the trailer and prepare it for the road.
What better use of a sunny Saturday in midwinter than making a successful voyage in a really small boat. Some day we may even go to Skagit island in the summer!!
Good Sailing
Jean Gosse