Sailing to Langley

Last weekend Natalie and I made our first overnight trip out to Langley. The town of Langley is located 9 miles away from Everett on Whidbey Island. We set out on Saturday morning at about 11 am with winds forecast at 6 to 11 knots. As we left port the visibility was great, able to see all the way to Mt. Baker. With the great visibility there was no wind. We motored out towards Gedney Island, in the middle of Posession Sound on our course for Langley. There we found wind and made 4 knots in the general direction we wanted to go.

On the way over I got to use my Netbook with OpenCPN and it performed well, plotting our position and changing charts automatically. I will buy paper charts to compliment the areas we'll be sailing for future adventures.

Pulling in to Langley was easy but I was nervous because the guide book said "approach the entrance from the South" and all I could see was island. We actually approach from the West, then turn North. Too far south and there might not have been enough water. I'd arranged mooring before by emailing the harbormaster at PortofSouthWhidbey dot com. Harbormaster Rick assigned us berth B-7 and it was easy to find. When we came in he met us at the slip to help us tie up along with a friendly dog. The cost for overnight moorage was $28 including electric hookup.

From there we explored Langley on foot, our dog Koku in tow. From the statue of the boy and his dog overlooking the Sound to the many shops lining the streets Langley made a great first "Liberty Port" for Airborne's crew.

Later that night we put the in port systems through their paces, cooking dinner on the stove, steam setting off the smoke detector. Lighting the kerosene stove for heat, augmented by the electric heater brought the temperature inside up to a comfortable 67 degrees. I even shed my sweatshirt it felt that good!

The next morning with the boat still covered in frost we cast off our lines and motored back to Everett. We used the Tillermaster for most of the trip and it operated flawlessly. All in all it was a great shakedown trip. All our systems worked well and now we're ready to go further, Kingston, here we come!