Thirty-one years ago I was on my way to Alaska on a friends boat, Jack and Carol Randle’s boat Fini Fini. We had left Lake Union, made our way through the locks and then on our way to Friday Harbor. Jack and Carol had become good friends having a boat next to me at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Jack, along with be a good friend and mentor to me, was a hero. A World War II hero, he fought in North Africa and then into Europe where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge where he was seriously injured. He overcame the injury and started a business in the Monterey California area that, at the time of his death, would gross about a half a billion dollars in sales. He was a great guy, funny too and he loved boating.

I remember telling him one day “I will have to take a boat of my own up here someday”. He said “Don’t wait until you are to old”. That really stuck in my mind. I don’t think I am to old but I did my knee in a couple of weeks ago and it has gotten better but sideways movement aggravates it. Not much I can do about the knee at this point, near little towns in Canada. Therefore, it is with much sadness that we are not going to go further north than the upper end of Vancouver Island. I did read recently that in Desolation Sound you could spend a lifetime exploring the area and don’t feel like you have missed anything by not going further north.

We had reservations for Glacier Bay on June 20th for four days, I was looking forward to that time especially. I have been to Alaska twice, maybe again, but not this trip. Desolation Sound is beautiful, I do wish it would warm up though which should happen soon. After Desolation Sound we plan on cruising the eastern shores of Vancouver Island and end our Canada stay in Victoria. Then off to Anacortes Washington to list the boat for sale. We are currently talking to a couple of different brokers to find out what services they offer. Independence, in my humble opinion, is the perfect boat for the Pacific Northwest. It has similar fuel economy to a trawler but has the extra power when you need/want it. It is a semi-displacement boat that can cruise up to 20 knots, rarely done by us. But coming up the Oregon Coast it was nice to have the power to fight the currents and wind. Also, on this last Wednesday when we went through Malibu Rapids (see Jamie’s recap and my post on YouTube Video of us entering) it was nice to have that power fighting a 3 knot plus current. As I like to say, traditional Nordhavn’s have lead in their keel, we have two large engines that give us the ballast needed. I entered a 10 minute video to the Nordhavn Film Festival and it made the finals, It was called Dream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzMhycjiw0k&t=459s  As always, let us know what you think or if you have an interest in living your dream ( Independence59@yahoo.com )