Hello! I hope this little missive finds you safe and happy! I have been meaning to get this letter out all week, but I came down with a bit of a head cold on Sunday afternoon that has laid me pretty low. I am finally starting to feel like I have my mojo back! There has been a fair amount of stuff that has happened since Alex and I got back from Race week. From Tom and Helen's 40th wedding anniversary, to Alex doing a double handed race to Tacoma and back, Victoria racing in a Triathlon, seeing Odyssey, our friend Boyd's new book signing, fishing with Chris and his brother-in-law, and last, but not least, our annual pig roast.
The pig roast is always such a crescendo in our life. We have been doing it so long, and taking such copious notes, that while it is not "easy," it is no longer a source of anxiety. Every year we make little tweaks and changes, and every year it just gets better and better.
Tom and Helen's 40th wedding anniversary
I've been sailing with Tom for a long time, but not as long as he and Helen have been married. My dad bought trucks from Tom back in the day, and introduced me to him, and we have been sailing together ever since. We had a wonderful lunch with so many people that we have sailed with over the years for their 40th Anniversary. Thank you, Tom and Helen, for being a part of our lives.
So So many years of sailing together in this picture!Victoria, Tom and Alex - I've been sailing with Tom longer than Alex has even been alive.Kat and Tom - I've been sailing with Kat for 25 years.Diane, Helen and Kyle. I've been sailing with Diane for almost 20 years, and racing cars with Kyle for 15 years.Something that we have learned over the years is to get the pit set up early. Donellow came over on Friday, the week before the roast, to help me set up the pit.
Down the Sound race
Alex and his buddy Carter did the double-handed race on Corvo from Shilshole to Tacoma and back. It was quite the experience - starting with Carter dropping his phone overboard before the start on Saturday, Alex's phone not taking a charge, and then, to top it all off, the fuel tank got water in it, and on Sunday the boat wouldn't run, so they missed the start. I drove down to Tacoma to see if I could help them, but by the time I got down there, they had sailed away. They had an uneventful sail home and sailed the boat right into her slip.
I watched the start of the Race from Sunset Park.When I got to Tacoma to see if I could help, they were gone. Fortunately, they have a VHF on board, and Carter is in the Coast Guard and knows how to use it. Here is the Petroclean company cleaning all of the water out of the fuel tank. Our working theory is that I didn't tighten the deck fill fitting after I filled the boat in Bellingham, and between me washing the boat and the amount of water they were taking over the deck heading down to Tacoma, enough water got into the tank to overwhelm the water-separating fuel filter.While Alex and Carter were sailing to Tacoma, Victoria was competing in a triathlon. At the book signing event for Boyd and Beth Morrison's 4th book together. Beth is the Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where she has worked since 1996.
Fishing and night out.
Chris's brother-in-law was in town from Japan, and he lives to fish, so Chris organized a chartered fishing trip on the sound. We got to the docks at 5:30, ran up to just south of Whidbey Island, and spent most of the morning trying to figure out where the dogfish weren't. We probably hooked three dogfish for every salmon we hooked.
Our guide and Jacob. This was a wild King salmon. So we weren't able to keep it for two reasons. 1. Fishing wasn't open for Kings. 2. It was a wild, not hatchery, fish. But it was fun to land it anyway!It was such a nice day to be on the water, with some cool people.Tuesday night was "Night out," and our neighborhood hired a band, so we did that instead of soup night.Back at Chris's house with the fisherman, on Wednesday, for a salmon BBQ
Pig Roast
This is the fifth year in a row that Jack has come into town to roast the pig with Alex. This one was the best one yet. (Actually, we do a pretty good job of making each one a bit better than the last one :) ). Next year we will be developing the group of folks that will help us with the 2028 roast, as Catherine and I will be off on our road trip. The part we will really need help with is getting the beer brewed ;)
Me and JackJack getting the pig brined and rubbed.Starting the warm up process for the pit. The way we run our pit is with a small charcoal briquette fire in each corner, and about every 20 minutes between two and three fresh briquettes are added to each corner through a block turned sideways.Time to make the beans. I make a 6x batch of beans every year, and they come out really really well.Sun's up - adding some pork shoulders. The year before last, we got a pig big enough to feed everyone. Turns out that a 220-pound pig is hard to manage and ends up not tasting as good. So last year we switched to a smaller pig (110-120 pounds) and picked up some pork butts to roast so that we would have enough meat to feed everyone. It's working great!Alex and Jack putting the lid back on after adding the pork buttsOur crew that we hired to help keep the party going. Ben, Twanda, Lula, and Donellow (not pictured) have been lifesavers. They give Catherine and me the chance to enjoy the party, confident that everything is staying tidy and people are getting fed.Getting ready for the presentation of the roasted pig.This year we eliminated seating from the east and south side of the pig pit, and it was a welcome change, as people had a much easier time circulating.Me and Joe, My last boss, and his partner Michelle.Jonathan was one of the first guys I ever hired when I was a manager back in the mid 90's.Gotta love the babies!Tory and Me.This is what I get for leaving my phone unattended :) Jack's getting silly!Not even 11:30 in the morning on Sunday, and the crew is heading in after finishing the cleanup.
The rest of the week
I was feeling well enough to meet Brian down at the Market and go for lunch. We were going to have lunch at the Pike Market, but no sooner had we sat down than the fire alarm went off, so we ended up at the Pink Door.Wednesday night sailing with the CrewSo this was pretty special.- Thursday is our normal Happy Hour night, where we all get together. This week we went to a place that just opened called The Crown. Had a couple of beers. Kai joined us straight from the airport after flying in from the eclipse in Spain. When we were done at The Crown, some of us headed to Kai's house on Dibble Street, and what did we find? There was a party going on next door in the alley!So it turns out that the series is called Coachellard Music Fest. (A mashup of Coachella and Ballard) and it's every Thursday night in Ballard.
Well, that pretty much wraps things up for this report. Coming up this week, Kai and I are heading down to San Francisco to hang out with George, Alex is doing sailfest tonight, and I am planning on doing a single handed race tomorrow.
