Signature Seattle

This report, from Eric Sorensen, recently arrived at the RudderPosts weather desk. Eric, recall, is the fellow who wrote about Sam Devlin's new cruiser-runnabout for WB No. 188.

“For nearly 30 days now the Pacific Northwest has faced one of the key features of living on the lee shore of the Pacific Ocean: rain. Often, the region's reputation for wet weather is misplaced; in the warmer half of the year, the climate is downright Mediterranean. But the winter rain gets even, with storm pulses coming in daily. Puddles are growing puddles. The ground is a gumbo, sliding off hillsides and dissolving trees of their moorings. On the waterfront, boat covers and spring lines are growing green with moss. Sailors, facing the eternal choice -- sail or work on the boat -- are defaulting indoors to refinish oars or strip varnish from a hatch. The stove in the work shop at Seattle's Center for Wooden Boats is on a steady diet of scraps. Foot traffic on the docks is so light that the resident heron sits for hours unfazed, using the pilot gig DAN as a perch. With so much water, boats and shore birds are all the more in their element.”