Summer Place Interior

The Nonsuch 30 has an unusual layout for a 30 foot sailboat. Its wide beam allows space for a full-size bed forward, a separate stall shower, and spacious main cabin.

Summer Place has custom teak joinery done by the factory giving it a warm feeling inside.

SummerPlace Flickr Gallery

Several more photos of SummerPlace can be viewed here

Web Address Update

Summer Place can now be reached at http://nonsuch30.com

The previous address will continue to work as well.

Olympia - The Final Leg

The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on (or not) - C. Sandberg

Fog greeted us this morning. By our 10am departure however, it had lifted off the deck giving acceptable visibility. No worries anyway with Radar and GPS on Summer Place.

View over Gig Harbor

Today's 28 mile run to Olympia begins with passage through the Tacoma Narrows. We donated 2.5 knots of boat speed to the tidal current for the first hour gradually catching up to normal cruising speed as the tide turned from ebb to flood. Any passage to South Sound must be planned with Narrows tides in mind.

Narrows Bridge

The new span on the right opened last year

Leaving The Narrows, we pass Day Island, an interesting mix of marine business and residences.

Day Island

Farther along, the McNeil Island Correctional Center offers fine waterfront residences.

McNeil Island Prison

Boston Harbor guards the entrance to Budd Inlet. Getting close to home now.

Boston Harbor Light

A maze of channels and markers challenges you to enter the Port of Olympia. No problem for us locals though more than a few visitors and rookies have spent a tide perched on the sandbar for all to see.

Port of Olympia. Capitol dome in the distance

Swantown Marina - Our Home Port


Cruise totals: 97 miles / 16.4 hrs. running time / avg. speed: 5.9 knots

Check back tomorrow for a few more photos.

Until then ...

Gig Harbor

Gig Harbor lies 25 miles south of Seattle-Shilshole making today's 3.5 hr run easy money compared to yesterday. Wind was calm and water flat adding further bliss to the day. Temperatures are not pleasant however with a 28 degree reading this morning.

Mt. Ranier off of Shilshole



The run was mostly without incident except for a loud bang on the hull bottom just outside of Shilshole. I held my breath for a moment expecting prop or rudder impact... nothing... relief. Often an unnoticed log pops up in your wake after such an event but I saw nothing coming or going. Next haulout will tell if damage was done.

No wi-fi is available at the marina here so I'll post today's pictures and notes with tomorrow's entry.

Arriving at 12:30 this afternoon we had lunch aboard then met with a custom canvas maker to measure for a cockpit cover.

Gig Harbor Entrance

Low Income Housing

We stayed at Arabella's Landing

Sailor had a tough day on lookout duty and decided to turn in early.



Tomorrow's leg takes us to our homeport in Olympia-about 28 miles away. Weather forecast is about the same with expected high of 46.

Until then ...

Shilshole Bay

The first leg of our delivery is in the books. Made it to 45 miles to Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle in 7.5 hours arriving at 3pm this afternoon. I'm thawing my fingers on the side of my laptop as I write this.

Its was an excellent day really - such as we'll not see again in these parts for months. Cold yes, a bit more wind and chop than expected, but bright sunshine and dry all day.



Leaving Pleasant Harbor at 0730, we passed the Trident sub base at Bangor. One of the boomers lay so featureless at the dock we almost missed it until a streak of sunshine flashed off her missile deck.



Next up - the Hood Canal floating bridge. With a clearance lower than our mast height, we called ahead for an opening. Slowing a bit to time our arrival to the retractable span, another inbound sailboat passed to port as we cleared the opening.




A strong breeze and big chop followed for the next several hours as we passed Foulweather Bluff and Point No Point.



Down the center of Puget Sound, designated traffic lanes for ship traffic are monitored by controllers who observe all ships and boats via radar and cameras. Wanting to avoid a radio call to clear the controlled area, we crossed to the Seattle side of the sound at nearly right angle to the traffic lanes leaving us an hour out from Shilshole, our final destination for the day.

Heading to Olympia

Tomorrow morning we head to Olympia. The first leg of the trip heads north out of Hood Canal, around Foulweather Bluff, then south to Shilshole marina in Seattle. The total mileage is about 45 miles. Weather forecast is good but it's cold with a coat of slippery frost on the docks here in Pleasant Harbor.

Getting ready today we did a car shuffle leaving one in Olympia followed by lots of stowing of gear and supplies.

All is quiet tonight. Going to hit the rack early to catch an early start in the morning.

Welcome to the Summer Place blog. This is where I'll write about the boat and our travels around Puget Sound and beyond.

Summer Place is a 1988 Nonsuch 30 Ultra, Hull number 438. We purchased the boat in late October. It now lies at Pleasant Harbor in Hood Canal with closing having been delayed for a month waiting for the title to clear.

A weather window is happening for us the first week of December so hopefully the paperwork will be completed and we can take possession. As soon as that happens, we'll be moving the boat to its permanent moorage in Olympia at Swantown Marina.