River Summer

We entered our first boat show–the St. Helen’s Maritime Festival–July 25 & 26. Since Annikin is a “plastic” boat–the term wooden boat owners use when refering to fiberglass boats–we entered in the “Contemporary Classic” and “Cruising” categories. We didn’t win anything, of course. But we learned a better approach in case there’s ever a next time. The two-part secret is, first, to tie up right in the middle of the dock and, second, to invite viewers on board and tell them your cruising stories.

But it was fun being in the middle of the action. We were right there when the Sternwheeler Portland pulled in and tied up just across the dock. 

Not long afterward, the great spray from the fireboat heralded the arrival of PT658–which also tied up directly across the dock.

A water skiing show featured skiers both young and not so young. They were all good and you couldn’t tell the difference from our vantage point on the riverbank.

We went home Sunday by way of the inside channel on the west side of Sauvie Island and met the stern-wheeler impressively underway at the intersection of the Willamette and the Columbia.

A couple of days later we invited two couples to the club outstation for dinner (which I confess that I prepared at home)  and a short post-postprandial cruise.

They seemed to have a very good time–and so did we.

My daughter and two young grandsons arrived the next day. With her friend and the friend’s daughter arriving a couple of days after that, Gary and I figured we could simply decamp to our floating beach house–you know, the one from which we get to look at one beach after another.

Brilliant weather continued into the following week, so Gary and I cruised up the Columbia on Sunday to snap a couple of shots of potential beaches for picnicking and swimming. The two mothers and three kids came to the marina and we all cruised up the Columbia to the beach of choice, on an island called Government Camp–which we had almost completely to ourselves. 

All the guys dived in and went swimming. The girls just waded.

The great thing is that it’s still just the beginning of August. 🙂