Sucia Island Cruise

Host: Bret and Joyce Phillips

Dates: August 7-9

The Sucia Cruise was a marvelous affair!  There were 8 boats officially attending, with 1 or 2 other “friend” attendees.

• JoyRide
• Blue Skies
• Sensation
• Sea Rose
• Wild Spirit
  Kilgarrah
• Telos
• Shockwave

All told, there 20+ people including several friends of Bruce on his boat, and other boats.  The weather was warm and sunny, and many people spent their time kayaking, or hiking the island looking for the signs of the crashed plane.  The return voyage on Sunday was sporty(!) with winds around 15 knots.

Stuart Island Turn Point Lighthouse Cruise

Host: Pam Spencer

Dates: June 26-28

I and my crew: Ayumi, Jason, and Nathan, had a lovely sail over. We all practiced trimming the sails while on a long reach to Stuart Island. It was perfect!

Well I am not entirely sure how many of us were there as I did not recognize some people when I joined the initial group having a wonderful happy hour Friday evening at the campsite overlooking Prevost Harbor! Three ladies joined us because we looked like we would be fun to hang out with! In truth they pitched right in and helped with an assortment of chores (I believe they were friends or just met Neal Bittner). They also helped transport Warren Hendrickson back and forth to his plane. In the group shot there are 30 people and 4 dogs. But there were more people and more dogs than that!

We gathered at the Government Dock at 9 am. Linda Berquist who lives on Stuart Island and Warren Hendrickson have been long time members and caretakers of the Turn Point Lighthouse Preservation Society greeted us with cars, sand dune buggies, and one very old truck and transported most of us to the lighthouse. The work was delegated. Mostly cleaning up the lighthouse museum, whale museum, keeper’s quarters, getting picnic tables out, cleaning the docent’s trailer and area, cleaning the trails and setting up the binoculars. A big project headed by Mike Reed, assisted by Warren Hendrickson and Jeff Riedy was to hook up a new solar panel to the existing solar panels for the docents trailer. It was a big job and took much longer to accomplish. A big shout out goes to Mike Reed for accomplishing this difficult task. The rest of us were done by noon and were basking in the sun. All enjoyed lunch with fantastic views of Boundary Pass and the huge ships making the turn at Turn Point. 

Potluck dinner at the campsite was delicious as always! The sunset over Prevost Harbor was stunning as ever. Stories were shared around the campfire. Various games were set up to play. Then there was Trivia Pursuit of Turn Point Lighthouse and Orca Whales. There were some fun prizes to be had. Thank you to Karen Heckert who secured all the prizes for us. Unfortunately due to the closure of the West Marine Store in Bellingham we missed one of the grand prizes from them by a day.

We had a lot of new members and some members who haven’t been out in a while joined us which was so fantastic. The progress of the preservation of the lighthouse is amazing to witness. Thank you for coming and being part of this very special treasure we have in our backyard. Thank you everyone for making it a great cruise!

These are the sailors and boaters that I know that came out (not in any special order). Please let me know if I missed anyone.

Night Heron: Deb Dempsey and Mary Durbrow

Sensation: Helen and Dan Green

Islander: Mike and Karen Reed on

Sea Escape: Andrew Hansen and Nora Martin

Blue Skies: Greg and Kathy Hartgraves

Runnaway: Karen Heckert and Kathy Sheehan

Telos: Pam Spencer, Ayumi Takabe, Jason, and Nathan

JoyRide: Joyce and Bret Phillips

La Cebadera: Dean and Darice Ratzlaff and Jeff Riedy

Salish Song: Neal and Kim Bittner

Azulita: Kelly Eret and James Larrison

Sunny Day: Laurie Rink and Dan Birch

Sisu: Andrew Mosley and Jessica Lewallen

There are a couple of people I do not recognize from the group shot. I apologize. If someone would enlighten me that would be great!

Matia Island Cleanup Cruise

Host: Greg Hartgraves

Dates: May 8-10, 2026

On Friday (May 8), a fleet of 10 CYC Bellingham boats had a “sporty” sail to Rolfe Cove on Matia Island for the annual work party. A 15+ kt wind out of the SE, made for a fun reach across Rosario Strait to Matia. Nine boats rafted on the dock and one (Jim and Kelly) anchored in the SE bay. The new CYC canopies were set up on the dock, and a delicious spread of appetizers were shared amongst the attendees in the evening.

On Saturday morning Ranger Steve arrived with tools for the work party. Sadly, this is likely the last summer Ranger Steve will be with us. He plans to retire later this year. We were updated on the projects that the San Juans Island marine parks have in the works. 

After some “organization”, the 28 assembled CYC members cleared trails and camping areas, turned over the outhouse compost bins and removed invasive ivy. With such a large and “young” group of volunteers the work went quickly and was wrapped up by lunchtime.

This year’s “puzzle hunt” theme was “Stranger Matia Things” based on the similarly titled Netflix series. Two teams of ~12 each participated, and the first team has bragging rights after solving the puzzles in 51 minutes vs. the second team at 60 minutes. After successfully completing the puzzles, the players received a deck of CYC Bellingham playing cards. 

Saturday evening was a potluck on the dock. Laurent provided 5 dozen delicious fresh oysters. A large selection of fabulous entrees was spread out for all to enjoy. Auresa and Devlin pulled out quite a selection of wines for all to taste. Then Pam brought out a wonderful chocolate cake to celebrate Jessica Lewallen’s birthday. The evening continued with a drone photo shoot by Jim Larrison.

After a fitful sleep, Laurent prepared sour dough pancakes and Helen prepared eggs for those who wished to have breakfast on the dock. By noon all the boats had departed (except the Greens who spent another night) and we had a great sail in 10-15+ kts of wind out of the SE. Amanda, Laurent and I were treated to a large pod of orcas coming down the strait as we made our way across Rosario.   

Participants:

Sensation: Helen and Dan Green 
Telos: Pam Spencer, Kathy Sheehan, Ayumi Takabe, Rex Williams, Lesli Beasley
Snowater: Sabrina Hendrick and Todd Allen 
Sisu: Andy Mosley, Jessica Lewallen, Auresa Nyctea
Devlin Sweeney, Casey McGinnis, Nate Parker
Narwahl: Jeff Packer 
Blue Skies: Greg Hartgraves, Amanda Eurich, Laurent Martel
Runaway: Karen Heckert, Deb Bryant, Ken Russell 
Northern Sky: Sarah McHugh and Joie Cosby 
Kilgharrah: Rene Olson and Kevin Hartig 
Azul: itaKelly Eret and Jim Larrison 

Lummi Island Smuggler's Cove Cruise

Host: Pam Spencer

Dates: April 25-26

First Cruise of the Season was a success! It was a beautiful day on the water. Smuggler’s Cove is the prettiest Cove in the San Juan Islands! If you haven't been there it makes for a quick overnight if you want to get out of Bellingham for a night or it could be a first night stop if you leave later than you thought you would.

Thank you to Kevin and Renee for having me on their boat Kilgharrah. We mostly motored over but had a bit of a nice sail. We got the last buoy available tucked in the back of the cove. Some of us did a hike to the top of the Quarry. You can actually hike from Smugglers Cove to Inati Bay if you want a longer hike.

We all tried our hand at picking the noxious weed Tansy which is quite easy to pull. I think we might have made a small dent in eliminating this weed! If you want to learn more about Aiston Preserve and the other preserves on Lummi Island you can explore Lummi Island Heritage Trust website.

Thank you Ron Battle and Greg Hartgraves on Igmu, Dan and Helen Green on Sensation, Kevin Hartig and Renee Olson on Kilgharrah and Andrew Mosley and friend on Sisu. Special thanks to Becca Rettmer who is a CYC member along with her husband Bert Sagara. She told us how the Preserve came to be and all the work that has gone into it to create a space for everyone to enjoy. The transformation is incredible due to the hard work of the Lummi Island Heritage Trust and all the donations and volunteers to help make it happen. Donations are still needed for the continued protection and growth of the Preserve which you will find on their website.

We then blasted back to Bellingham on a reach under 2 hours!