We had a nice fall season on the Gyrfalcon. We went to the Center for Wooden Boats for their annual gala.

Later in the fall, we took several fellow Classic Yacht Association members on a cruise to Tacoma for the Change of Watch event. Seven fellow members cruised on the Gyr to Tacoma, and five of them stayed on the boat overnight. Highlights of the trip were the visit to the Glass Museum (arranged by David Huchthausen), the Uber trip from hell to the Tacoma Yacht Club, and the cruise itself. We’ve put together a slide show below; thanks to our guests for the photos.

We spent a few days at Thanksgiving moored out at Andrews Bay , on Lake Washington. It’s become a tradition for us. There’s often lots of wildlife, and it’s relaxing.

We went south between Christmas and New Years for a few days. We originally had grand plans, but ended up staying anchored in Quartermaster Harbor for three nights.

On December 28th, we hosted the pelagic Christmas Bird Count. We had a enthusiastic group. The weather wasn’t great for seeing birds, but I think everyone had fun. We saw only 30 species, a bit under our usual diversity, but the 1060 individuals were about par with recent results. We had a first–a belted kingfisher who wanted to be part of the count landed on the Gyrfalcon while we were stopped for lunch.

In late January, we went to the Center for Wooden Boats as part of the International Change of Watch for the Classic Yacht Association. CYA members from across the country (and Canada) came for the weekend. The Gyrfalcon, Mitlite, Argonaut II, and Discovery were the host boats for a cruise on Saturday afternoon. Patti L took great photos: here they are as a slide show.

After the Change of Watch, we headed over to Lake Union Boat Repair for some scheduled maintenance and upgrades. More on that later…