Let the Freezing-Cold-Icy-Water Sailing Adventure Begin. Gulp.

We like variety. As a newly-certified skipper, Jason immediately started researching charter companies around the much-travelled-to-city-of-Seattle with hopes of chartering a boat through the San Juan Islands. He came across a company that has a Hans Christian boat in its fleet. When we were in the BVI's, everyone sails your standard, white, fiberglass boats, which makes sense because maintanance is a lot lower, but they lack the soul of wooden boats. So when we came across the path of a Hans Christian there, our hearts soared to see a wooden boat among the monotony of faceless fiberglass boats, reaffirming our love of the classic style of sailboat. Upon further research, we learned that the Hans Christian is really a fiberglass boat in disguise as a classical wooden boat. Could it be the perfect boat? I digress. As work schedule would have it, we needed to head out to Seattle two weeks after we got home from the Virgin Islands and the Hans Christian, coincidentally named the Montana Sapphire, was, of course, available, as most people aren't crazy enough to be sailing this time of year. After much delaying and checking of weather, we finally decided on Wednesday that we would book the boat for Friday through Monday, even though the weather looked quite rainy (if we waited for nice weather in the Pacific Northwest, it would never happen). We really wanted to solidify our newly-learned skills before they faded into the murky depths of our foggy brains so we figured it was now or never, even though secretly, or maybe not-so-secretly, I was terrified. So after spending a fun-filled week in Seattle (a hike up Little Si mountain, zoo, aquarium, Pike Street, dinners with friends and co-workers, a visit to Tacoma to meet my three-week old nephew, and, of course, yummy food), we headed up to Anacortes to meet Montana Sapphire.