This last September 24-24 we participated in the newly revived ABC Challenge -- this informal race consists of boats racing from Anacortes and Bellingham to Blakely Island, followed by a party at the Blakely Island marina. Each Anacortes boat is randomly paired with a Bellingham boat and the lower combined corrected time wins the event.  Unfortunately not enough Bellingham boats participated in this event so no prizes were given!

We left Anacortes Saturday afternoon and had an uneventful trip over to Blakely -- the winds were light and variable as they often are at that time of the year.  After arriving in Blakely we tied up at the outside fuel dock (we are way too large to fit inside the marina) and participated in the party at the cabana.

We thought about leaving Saturday night to go home but spent the night at the dock.  The next day the winds were up and we had to battle 35-45 knot winds on the way home.  Due to the high winds we ended up not going to our regular slip but instead took an outside dock at Cap Sante.  While tied to the dock the winds gusted to over 55 knots, making for difficult conditions even in the marina.

The next day we winds died down and we moved the boat back to its normal slip in Fidalgo Marina -- what should have been an uneventful and short trip to Blakely turned into something much more memorable!