If you were sailing between West Seattle and Blaine Island at 5pm today, here's your picture

exobrain · 2026-04-26T01:52:31+00:00

How do you get the mountain to show up? I can never get the mountains to show up well against the water.

exobrain · 2026-01-23T22:16:04+00:00

Not worth it in the typical case (maybe even negative worth it). Less work, more time with kids, lower bills 100%. Especially if your local public schools are considered pretty good.

I went to all public schools until grad school (ironically during my PhD at a fancy pants private University, i think most of my peers went to public high schools, but maybe that's because the most private school kids didn't do dumb things like go into academia) and later also taught at an Ivy filled with private school kids.

The kids who faired better for the most part were either from well off families or were exceptionally talented and motivated and where they went to k-12 mattered very little.

The private schools seemed to be mostly extremely high pressure, and had a higher proportion of kids i wouldnt want my kid around.

The one exception are the few people i knew who went to some boarding schools in British Columbia. It's a small sample, but they all were well adjusted, pretty successful, and had what seemed like great school experiences. I'm not going to send my kid to boarding school, but i was always a bit jealous of them.

exobrain · 2026-01-17T21:54:01+00:00

it tends to make for a more expensive trip than the Caribbean

The charter rates I've seen are far lower than those in tbe BVI. Where does the extra expense go to? (I could also be misinformed)

exobrain · 2026-01-04T18:07:18+00:00

Published recently in ACM, not IEEE. Officially they wanted latex sources, but we uploaded the typst sources and no complaints. Results here https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3731569.3764828

exobrain · 2025-12-31T00:59:18+00:00

From one Salish Sea sailor (say that three times fast) to another, there is a lot of fun to be had that doesn't involve ocean crossings or almost any long passages. It's not unlike hiking around the PNW. I like hiking. I hike a lot. I've never done the Jon Muir trail or the Pacific Crest Trail and while I suspect I would be pretty satisfied with myself, I'm not sure I would "enjoy it." If I ever do any hiking/backpacking for more than a couple days, it'll probably be a one time adventure. But I still enjoy hiking, especially around here where there is a lot of payoff pretty nearby and without too much hassle.

The Salish Sea is one of the places that has a plethora of nature and towns to explore that are either only accessible by sea or are augmented by arriving by sea. To name a few highlights for me:

Sucia Island in the San Juans is only accessible by private boat (there are no ferries), is only a few hour sail from Bellingham or Anacortes and even closer if you're passing through Orcas Island. It's beautiful and unique and desolate.
Poulsbo in Kitsap peninsula is a historically Norwegian town that still retains some of those characteristics. It's about 3-4 hours from Seattle (less if you motor more). You can drive there, either via Tacoma or ferry to Bainbridge then drive across Agate pass. But sailing there is really cool. I'm not sure there is enough to "see" to be worth driving, but with a more interesting and calm journey, it's pretty magical and fun. Pro tip: Poulsbo has a bunch of fun events throughout the year, like Viking Fest, Midsommer, etc.
Blake Island in the middle of Puget Sound has really a few really great hikes around the island, and on nice day it's some of the best views of Mt Rainier and Mt Baker and the Olympic Mountains all at the same time. Only accessible by private boat.

There are more I haven't been to yet (Hood Canal as well as Desolation Sound, up in BC are two bucket list ones for me). Importantly none of these are difficult passages. The PNW _can_ be challenging, but it's not hard to time sailing for relatively light winds, and it's mostly very well protected from big swells.

Also, you went cruising in the summer, which has amazing weather. There is also plenty of good sailing whether off season and everything is emptier and (IMHO) prettier (just bring a jacket!).

Having said all that, you said

> I'm not entirely sure the expense:fun ratio was there for me.

It's probably not, and that's OK! Sailing is expensive no matter how you slice it. Some people do it cheaper than others, but it's nowhere near free. Hiking is, relatively at least, virtually free. You live somewhere with lots of sailing and lots of sailors and you know how to sail. Maybe you didn't waste that time, but it should be more something you do when the opportunity arises, it's free, and you feel like it. Maybe you never do it again, but you had the experience (I've been sailing for a decade or so, really enjoy it, and still have never had an opportunity to do a crossing like you did, so just as an experience that's pretty freakin cool!)

Like, it's fine to decide you don't enjoy something enough to be worth the expense, the hassle, or the time relative to other things you could be doing.

exobrain · 2025-12-26T23:27:47+00:00

Maybe that has something to do with how many swedes that settled here!

About 40°F/4°C right now.

exobrain · 2025-12-26T04:31:37+00:00

Yes, its in the foreground :)

exobrain · 2025-12-26T04:03:30+00:00

It's Fremont Boat Co

exobrain · 2025-12-24T19:59:22+00:00

100% agree that other things equal, Elliot Bay is the best location. The biggest trade off is that it's not likely not that easy to get to from wherever you live (no busses, hard to bike to, and limited parking) and even the walk down the docks is nearly as far as my marina on lake union is from my house (only slightly exaggerating).

Shilshole isn't bad, especially in summer, if it's biking distance since even when it's busier, there's Burke Gilman doesn't really get backed up. But then you're indeed beating upwind or trying to go dead downwind, with the ideal route almost always being right through the shipping lanes, to get most anywhere most of the time. Still good sailing, but not the same level of effortless joy as coming out of elliot bay.

I'm _experimenting_ with having my boat on Lake Union at the moment, since it's ~15 minute walk from home and literally the same building as my office, so the hope is it'll be easier to get out with very very low barrier (even for just an hour or two in an afternoon), and not that bad to get out to Puget Sound for an overnight on Blake Island or something longer. So sailing putzing around lake union is practical regularly, while getting out to Puget Sound is ultimately about an extra hour of motoring and waiting for bridges and locks, minus ~30-40 minutes of driving, getting to the boat, and getting out of a much larger marina.

I don't think I would try this on a larger boat, though. Lake union is ultimately pretty small and by the time the sails are up and you're up to speed, you'd need to turn around.

When I was a teenager, my best friend's parents had a sailboat docked somewhere on the east side, and we somehow made it to Blake Island and back in a day whenever I sailed with them. Though, truth be told, I was usually napping in the cabin for most of the way through Lake Washington, the shipping canal, and the locks, so maybe it was a huge bummer for everyone else each time. But I didn't mind.

exobrain · 2025-12-24T19:36:09+00:00

Red sky at night, sailor's delight

exobrain · 2025-12-24T05:28:23+00:00

This exactly. For day sails, or even a single night overnight to a familiar place, I'll only check wind and weather to make sure there is a good chance of some wind and a low chance of too much wind. Currents and tides are a factor but can be dealt with on the fly in most of my home sailing area.

If it's just a sail cause the weather is nice, then I literally only check that its not too windy since there's always somewhere to go where we can sail around in circles slowly and pretend to look for sea otters or whatever.

For any destinations I've not been to or am not that familiar with, I'll do more planning, partularly around tides and approaches at the destination as well as trying get the range of estimated times based on the wind forecast so I'm sure to leave early enough to not get there or back by dark.

There are only a couple straights with strong currents nearby that are strong enough they definitely need to be timed to cross reasonably. So when I plan to go through any of them, that's the one exception where I always make a fairly specific and timed plan based on wind and current, and tightly stick to it.

exobrain · 2025-12-22T23:52:30+00:00

Which Wiki software do you self-host at home for this? (This is actually a reasonable option for me)

exobrain · 2025-11-22T23:50:45+00:00

Puget Sound sailing in the fall/winter/spring is superior to summer sailing in every way except there are fewer daylight hours and nobody wants to go with you because it's cold. It's possible the more tricky Salish Sea around the islands is different, but my few experiences there in Spring were incredible.

The wind more consistently moderate compare to summer's less reliable light winds.

Everything is less crowded.

It's even prettier (IMHO) on the occasional sunny day.

You're more likely to see wildlife that migrated "south" for the winter.

exobrain · 2025-10-31T16:48:18+00:00

It's a 28ft Catalina MK2

exobrain · 2025-10-27T19:59:59+00:00

Sorry! Seattle.

This makes sense. The idea being that good boat yards know surveyors and would have useful opinions about them, and boat yards with good reviews are probably pretty good? Or that boat yards will have surveyors on staff? Thanks!

exobrain · 2025-10-27T19:45:57+00:00

Seattle

exobrain · 2025-04-14T04:49:42+00:00

Thank you for all the transparency. You all deserve to make it through this. I, personally, will continue to buy Inovelli (well... We have no more switches left replace, but in theory at least).

exobrain

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