My Sailing Memories

Hello dear readers!  A few of you asked to hear more about my adventures on the high seas.. :-)  This was Stargazer, our 26 foot Ranger 26 sailboat.  This photo was taken by me while swimming while we were at anchor in Government Cove, just east of Cascade Locks.  I had an underwater camera which I used to get this shot.

We bought Stargazer in Seattle in 1993.  It’s name was “Sandbagger”.  I did not like the name and began working on a new name.. due to the star on the rudder, I thought of “Star” names and came up with “Stargazer”.

Our first marina was at Cascade Locks, OR, where we learned all about our new boat.  We had it there a 2nd year, too – 1994 and 1995.  The 3rd year was at Hood River in 1996.

1997 we had Stargazer moored at the Embarcadero Marina in Newport, OR.

In 1998 Dayle hauled Stargazer on her trailer on a ferry up to the Friday Harbor and I lived on her near the ferry dock for 4 months and did my first solo sailing there, also many people crewed/sailed with me while I lived there.  I sailed to Orcas Island to Rosario Resort with one visitor as crew and spent the night in the boat and sailed back to Friday Harbor the next day.  Below is a story I wrote of my first solo sail in San Juan Channel off Friday Harbor.

MY SOLO SAIL

By Teresa Kasner – August 1998

On Wednesday, I had finally made up my mind, I would not spend another perfect day off wishing I could find someone to crew with me. So I decided I would go out alone. 

I worked until noon, hosting for a chat community online, then stowed all my gear, unplugged the shore-power, and the phone, started up my trusty Yamaha 9.9... then I hanked on the staysail and raised it at the dock, so I'd have only to leave the helm while raising the main. I then untied the bowlines, and then rushed back to untie the sternline, the wind caught the staysail and Stargazer started to move away from the dock, so I pushed her out of the slip a bit, hopped on and quickly put her in reverse, we were free of the dock and heading out.. ALONE!!

I headed past the anchored boats, and pointed into the wind, and went up and raised the mainsail. I pulled it almost all the way up, then used the winch to tighten it up. I was all set!!

I had decided I could do fine by myself just using the staysail, and not using the roller furling genoa. I could sail safely without worrying about the genoa getting hung up, or the roller fouling. It was a good decision, sailing with the staysail and main is a SNAP!! Tacking is a breeze. I got the staysail adjusted so I could tack back and forth without adjusting it at all.

I sailed out of the harbor, and headed west, up the San Juan Passage towards the top of the island. I was treated to very favorable winds, and got up to 4.8 knots, heeling at 15°. Stargazer and I were grooooovin'!! I let go of the tiller to see what would happen and lo and behold... she sailed herself!! I experimented, to see how long she'd keep it up, and it was amazing!!

At one point I wanted to free up my little twirling windsock, so I hopped up on the back bench in the cockpit, held on to the backstay & freed it up. Then I looked around and enjoyed my new viewpoint, while Stargazer stayed on course perfectly. The sun was sparkling on the water, and I SMILED really big, and realized, "This is one of the happiest moments of my life!"

At 5 pm I reluctantly turned back, and sailed with the main out wing on wing. I was doing 2-3 knots that way, but the wind died down so I dropped the mainsail, threw a couple bungees on it, dropped the staysail onto the deck, folded it up and powered up the motor and headed "home".

I stopped in the side of the mouth of the harbor to drop my fenders over, so I would be ready to bring her in to her slip - the ferry blew it's horn to warn everyone that it was ready to head out, and I was sure I was out of it's way... but it headed towards me!! Then I heard 2 short blasts of it's horn, and the door of the pilothouse opened, and a man leaned out and waved at me!! I was thinking OOPS!! maybe I wasn't clear of their course!! But everyone on the ferry was waving at me, so I stood tall and waved back and SMILED big!

Then I steeled myself for my entry into my slip. I carefully headed in, put the motor in neutral and let her ever so slowly inch towards her berth, when I was close, I clambered up on the portside cockpit bench and grabbed the teak rail and VOILA~ -- stepped right onto the dock, quickly tied up the sternline, ran forward and grabbed the bowline and tied her up!

Then I stepped back into the cockpit, collapsed and drew a HUGE breath of relief!! I DID IT!! Why did I wait so long? It was GREAT! I loved it!! I cannot WAIT until my next time out alone!

A side note: The next day my boat-neighbor, Terry the Ferry Guy greeted me on the deck, as we passed, and asked me if I saw him wave at me yesterday. Huh? What? OH!!!!!!! You were the guy waving at me from the ferry?? YES!! :-) He told the captain to pass near me and honk, so he could wave at his neighbor! I wasn't in the way after all! Cracked me up!!

In parting, I have a quote to share.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream."

Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens]

1835-1910)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1999 I bought a houseboat near Portland Yacht Club and had Stargazer moored outside the front door for almost 5 years.  While there I took women that wanted to learn to sail out many times to teach sailing.  I joined PYC and took Stargazer on several “Ladies Cruises” to different locations each year.  I took Stargazer on an Opening Day Parade with PYC that was very memorable.

While with PYC I chaired many committees and was Chair of the Memorial Day Cruise to the PYC outstation on Sauvie Island.  I also chaired the Roster Committee for several years.  We were members until 2014 when we sold Stargazer.

Click on the link below to see photos from my years on the boat.

My story of the Stargazer and her sale.

Well.. time to pack my bag for swimming.. have a wonderful day!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)