First weekend aboard

Sara — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:18:18 +0000

One fine Saturday last April we packed up the Subaru with teddies and blankies and diapers and cookies and various other necessities and headed to St. Helens, Oregon where Wondertime was moored. We were spending our first night aboard. We aren’t going to leave the dock of course, but we did enjoy a lovely 75 degree Spring weekend on the Columbia River with Leah, 3, and Holly, 5 months, in tow.

Leah and Teddy, ready to board.

The girls are on deck...we (and our vast quantities of "gear") made it.

It's official, she's ours!

Wondertime is a custom 38' ketch designed by Jay Benford and built by Miller Marine on Bainbridge Island, WA. From what we can gather, her hull was laid up in 1978, she was launched in 1985, and finally finished in 1998. She is just the right size for us, has the perfect layout for four, and is in such excellent condition we couldn't pass her by.

The DVDs come out while mom and dad unpack and check things over.

Holly falls asleep right away. A good sign!

Little stars

This has little to do with staying on the boat, I just love this photo, taken while exploring the town of St. Helens, OR. You do know that 3-year olds are entirely responsible for dandelion repopulation? On an entirely different note, I had no idea we were in one of the towns the movie Twilight was filmed in until I saw a girl run excitedly down the street saying "OMG! Is there where so and so was chased down? OMG!" And here I was thinking we were just in a plain old small Oregon town when it was practically Hollywood.

A playground! All is well. This is likely the first of many playgrounds we will explore by sail.

Even Holly is having a good time.

Leah snug in her bunk (she finally fell asleep, um, 2 or 3 hours after this photo was taken).

Holly is asleep! Yay! (No, we didn't leave her to sleep there. That would not be an AAP approved sleeping venue). She did sleep with Sara in the double bunk, probably not an AAP approved sleeping situation either now that I think of it.

Breakfast-time. Yes, those are chocolate-chip cookies. We do what we can to keep everyone happy in times of potential chaos.

Do they make childproof locks for faucets?

A self-portrait. Ok, I wasn't really reading. I only had enough time to take this photo and suddenly naptime was over. But if I could, this is how I would have loved to spend my morning!

Holly napping (again!) in our bunk. This is going well!!

Leah reading under her rainbow-maker (i.e. deck prism).

So cute.

Ready to go home. Leah protested the whole way down the dock (I wanna stay on the booooaaaat!). Hooray!

This is Wondertime.

Sara — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:39:45 +0000

She is a good little ship, and always tugging at her docklines.

One day, a man had a dream of building a small stout boat that had a nook for everything and neat tidy bunks. She would have a ketch rig that was easy to sail and a center cockpit that was cozy and dry. His little ship would be simple and true.

So, Meridian Passage was born one Spring day in 1978 on Bainbridge Island, Washington and was carried over land to her new home in sunny Southern California.

Over the next years, she would be fitted out with a galley for cooking and a dinette for gathering and eating aft, a sea berth, a double berth and a head amidships, and two little bunks in the bow (perfect for — unknownst to him — the two little girls who would one day sleep there).

Two stout masts were added and sails and an engine for when the wind wasn’t blowing and one fine day she was launched into the sea.

Meridian Passage enjoyed many years of sailing in the sunshine to the California islands then destiny took her to the Columbia River where she explored fresh water nooks.

One day a small new family happened upon her and knew she was the ship they’d been searching for: not too big and not too small, not too simple and not too complex, not too old and not too new. This lovely ship sparkling in her slip was just right for the little girls who would soon dance on her decks and their parents who would sail them near, and someday, far.

So Meridian Passage was sailed northward up the sea to the sound where she was born and nestled into her slip in the crook of the sound.

The family took to her and loved her right away and knew that she was their true home. Her little girls loved her too, and were filled with wonder every time they visited.

And that is how Wondertime found her new home.

Sailing Wondertime » stories

First weekend aboard

This is Wondertime.