As the weather warmed up in the Spring of 2022 we started meeting more people on our new dock. One couple across and a few slips down the dock from us had their boat all tented and were working hard to take off their old teak decks and getting ready to push off and head South. They invited us to come to Taco Tuesday which has turned into our favorite sailing nerds gathering. Everyone at the picnic tables in front of the taco window had a boat and was therefore involved in some sort of project and we all attempted to help others through prior experience with similar struggles, by just listening sympathetically, or maybe with some glorious new insight. It was (and still is) a very casual event with kids running around and beers from the adjoining liquor store. There’s been debates about a Taco Tuesday Yacht Club burgee but we haven’t settled on a design yet, maybe we will someday.
Across the sound in Poulsbo on July 3rd there’s been a fireworks show that hasn’t happened for a while but the community shoots off lots and lots of fireworks all around the harbor. Our Taco Tuesday group made a plan to do a star raft up and recruited as many boats as we could to join us. It was so fun! Seventeen boats made our star at the peak, we dinghied between boats, did a puzzle, mom told lots of jokes, some went swimming despite the lack of warmth, and there were lots and lots of boat tours taken and given. Griffin even got to share fight simulator with other sailing kids.
One sweet thing about Rocket Science that I think is worth sharing is the dish cupboard, funny right? It was designed with a dorade in the aft end of the cupboard’s roof, the bottom is sloped, and there are drains into the bilge in each forward corner. The doors are mesh and allow for lots of airflow and the whole thing is one big dish drying rack! We replaced the old heavy starboard shelves with these hip stainless and rubber rolling racks which have worked great so far. No dishwasher other than the captain and crew so it’s great to be able to wash, stow right above the sink, and let airflow do the drying. Greg has it on his project list to add a little LED strip light inside there, how swanky.
Prior to the July craziness we enjoyed many sails with friends and family and some quiet and cozy overnights aboard, just getting used to and using the boat. It still felt so funny being on board a boat that was ours but that I didn’t know every nook, cranny, and square inch of intimately like I did the Mara.
