Last Saturday I took my Escapade down to Husky Stadium to meet some friends in the "home builder" group. We were to meet at the Boat House on Lake Washington to demo some home built and manufactured HPB's. Unfortunately, by the time I got there everyone else had disappeared. So, off to the boat ramp near Gasworks Park went I.

As I backed the boat trailer into the water a D.U.K.W. was coming out. Yes, this was one of those former World War II amphibious craft, converted for tourism. The driver paused as the passengers looked over my boat and, I guess, my strange looking hat, and then went off to the "center of the universe", otherwise known as the Fremont district of Seattle.

It was a little breezy on Lake Union today, with the wind from the south. I met a couple of groups of kayakers, but they generally appeared to be bundled up with jackets, hoods and life vests. As it was sunny and I was pretty well protected in my Escapade from the waves and the light spray, bike shorts and a T-shirt were more to my liking.

I decided to try once more to see if the builder's group returned to the Boat House. It was also somewhat downwind, so I put up the bimini top as a sort of sail, and followed a couple of sailboats through the Montlake Cut between Lake Union and Lake Washington. It is always an impressive sight to see the bridges tilting towards the sky, and then coming back down overhead.

At the Boat House there was just the bustle of people renting small sailboats and canoes - no builders.

As it had been years since I had last taken a boat through this area I decided to travel around the 520 freeway bridge, and then through the Arboretum waterways. This is a favorite among canoeists and row boaters, and people often take along picnic lunches to eat on the shores. I munched on a bag of cookies and some small cartons of juice instead.

A Canadian goose swam in front of me and was a little startled as my boat brushed its tail. Normally the waterfowl and I go in different directions, but this one decided to stay just a bit ahead of me. Not for long, though, as I quickly caught up to him again he called it quits and changed directions.

This was a good time to travel through the channels. The lake level was at its highest point, according to the lack of water marks on the freeway pillars, and the lily pads were still few in number. Even so, I could feel the occasional tug of a lily pad on the propeller. A short reverse pedaling motion seemed to free up any resistance.

A couple of trees had fallen across the channel on the east end of the channel, too. The first one was still fairly close to the surface, and my keel bumped it a bit going over. It caused no apparent problems, though. The other trees were deep enough that they were of no concern at the far side of the channel.

After exiting the Arboretum I remembered the wind driven waves along the south side of the 520 freeway Lake Washington floating bridge, and decided to try out some "rock and roll". You see, with the massive concrete floating bridge preventing the waves from passing through or under it they reflect back from it. With the wind from the south already causing fairly high waves (and whitecaps), the collisions with waves reflecting back from the bridge make for some spectacularly wild water for a lake. At times like this boats just don't seem to travel in this part of the lake.

As I approached this area it got rougher and rougher, and I began thinking of a name for the boat. "Bobby" and "Corky" came to mind as the boat bounced up and down and side to side in the wild water. As the wind began pushing some of the spray over the windshield I decided that I'd rather not get any water on my camera and radio that were on board, even if it was a lot of fun. Turning back towards the absolutely still waters on the north side of the bridge was something of a let down, but it was time to head for home.

After a brief stop at the Boat House again, where several small sailboats had capsized near the docks (due to inexperienced sailors), I went back through the Montlake Cut and headed towards Ivar's Salmon House and the Kalakala ferry. Lo and behold, there was the D.U.K.W. again, full of tourists, coming out to meet me and also to view the Kalakala! We took pictures of each other, and then I raced them back to the boat ramp. Well, I was racing, anyway....and managed to get to shore and my trailer ready by the time they exited the water.

It was a truly lovely day.

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