# Sailing the San Juan Islands This Summer **URL:** \ **Category:** Builder's Forum\ **Created:** [February 12, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991 "2018-02-12T11:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 11:13am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/1 "2018-02-12T11:13:44Z")
I've finally just started my Passagemaker and am looking for an event to attend with it later this Summer.  I can attend the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival by sea, but the camping there isn't very scenic.  I was thinking more along the lines of sailing out to Sucia and camping.  I will begin teaching for San Juan Sailing in March, so will gain a lot of personal experience with the islands and anchorages over the next several months.   Due to the responses on a couple of previous posts on the subject, I was wondering if any other builders might be interested in attending a multi-day event where we would sail between destinations among the islands, camping at pre-designated locations (some of which are also accessible by ferry for chase-car support).  We could even come up with a catchy tag line and a cool logo and make t-shirts. This would be a non-profit, no support type of event to eliminate any liability issues.  You can see the cell phone towers on Orcas from just about everywhere, so I'm ASSuming there's decent cell phone coverage (I'll veryify this Spring) and of course VHF and GPS.  I'm not anticipating any chase boat, but I may have my family join me on San Juan Island overnight by car on the ferry.  I've got additional flotation that fits nicely under the amidships bulkhead and will practice righting on a local lake before the trip. First step is to determine if there's any interest, second would be to figure out the length of the event and dates.  Third would be to determine the locations that fit that timeline.  We can do that here at first, then move to another online location if needed.  Let me know what you folks think.  Otherwise, I'll see you on Sucia... ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Bowlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mike\_Bowlin](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Mike_Bowlin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/2 "2018-02-12T22:06:32Z")
   I am interested. I would need lots of details before I could make a true commitment. I can only afford to make the trip across the mountains from Idaho to the coast once a year. We have planned on attending the wooden boat festival this year. I could be talked into changing my plans for something like this. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 11:18am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/3 "2018-02-13T11:18:20Z")
Hey Mike, I don't want to be responsible for you missing the Wooden Boat Festival in PT.  It's amazing and of course, you can meet John Harris there too.  So far, you're the only one that's responded, so this idea may be a dud and I could meet you in PT anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Joel\_Zackin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/45deac/32.png) [@Joel\_Zackin](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Joel_Zackin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/4 "2018-02-13T20:37:00Z")
   Captian Skully, I am in Connecticut, but have you considered catch up with the TSCA (Traditional Small Craft Assoc) chapter near you. I think I read about some raid/messing around in boats near you in the 'Ash Breeze' newsleeter/magazine. https://tsca.net/ I don't see anything currently on the schedule in your area, but... Joel ---
**Author:** ![Kerey\_Barnowe-meyer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Kerey\_Barnowe-meyer](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Kerey_Barnowe-meyer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/5 "2018-02-13T23:03:39Z")
Fun idea!  I hope to one day explore Sucia and elsewhere in the San Juans in my just-completed NE Dory, though it's not rigged for sailing.  Easily a lifetime of adventures available there, and many lifetimes between Olympia and Prince Rupert. The Puget Sound chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association maintains a current [calendar of events](http://www.tscapuget.org/calendar.html) hosted by a variety of organizations, many of which are planned in the San Juans annually.  Looks like the Sucia Island Rendezvous is scheduled for July 6-9 this year.  The Port Townsend Pocket Yachters maintain [a similar calendar](http://www.pocketyachters.com/Port_Townsend_Pocket_Yachters/2018_CALENDAR_OF_EVENTS.html).  I've not yet participated in any of these events, but they sound like good opportunities to meet fellow mariners in some familiar and beautiful locations.  Might be a place to start! ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/6 "2018-02-14T18:56:20Z")
Great info!  Thanks.  I just recently found a regatta that's a one-design of end-user-made Shellback dinghies.  They were suggesting that people who want to participate in the event in September buy their plans now so they would have 6 months for the build, which I think is really cool. I actually want to do something like that on Lake Whatcom or Lake Samish, where parents and kids build their boats together and we all splash them together at a big BBQ/regatta event. I'm ankle deep into this Passagemaker build now, so it's ready for when it gets warm.  I gotta take my kid sailing on some bigger water this summer, regardless of what his mom thinks.  Part of my evil, long-term plan is to actually help/teach some boat-building classes to make these kinds of events happen. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Martin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dave\_Martin1](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Dave_Martin1)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/7 "2018-02-16T14:34:29Z")
 CaptainSkully, We will be spending several weeks in Friday Harbor throughout the spring, summer and fall this year.  My son's vessel is going into shipyard in Port Townsend around the same time as the Wooden Boat festival and we have tentively planned on taking our Bayliner down for a while.  While I don't expect my Dory to be completed by then we certainly would be interested in meeting up in Port Townsend or at Sucia.  BTW, San Juan Sailing is a great bunch of folks, our very first trip into the San Juans was out of Bellingham, congrats.  Keep us posted.  Dave ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/8 "2018-02-16T16:07:24Z")
Ha!  Maybe this topic evolves/devolves into a meetup in PT.  That wouldn't be a bad consolation prize.  Who else is attending the Wooden Boat Festival in September? ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Bowlin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Mike\_Bowlin](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Mike_Bowlin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/9 "2018-02-16T16:56:43Z")
   As I said, I plan on being there! Just look for the white Tundra with a Dory on top! ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/10 "2018-02-16T17:07:59Z")
So, should I just set off your alarm and wait for you to show up? ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Ulrich1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Barry\_Ulrich1](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Barry_Ulrich1)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 11:30am UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/11 "2018-02-19T11:30:39Z")
   I kayak off Orcas most years; it is a beautiful area! One I want to alert you to is I get no, or very limited, cell service both on the island and on the water unless near Eastsound. ---
**Author:** ![Chris\_Larsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Chris\_Larsen](https://forum.clcboats.com/u/Chris_Larsen)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://forum.clcboats.com/t/sailing-the-san-juan-islands-this-summer/45991/12 "2018-02-20T21:08:56Z")
That's good info to have, although my wife may not like it...