Reunion with Asunto

We finally caught up with s/v Asunto, our dear friends we met way back in La Paz, Mexico. We buddy boated with them in Mexico and Hawaii, and it only seemed right to do it again on the last major leg of our trips, in Alaska. After seeing the Dawes glacier in Endicott arm, we met up with Asunto in the cove at the entrance to Tracy Arm, rafted the boats together and proceeded to catch up! The kids were thrilled to see each other and so were the adults. Fynn and Bowen's grandparents were visiting, and I’m not sure they quite knew what to expect of the two families together, there was much exuberance indeed.

The next day both boats headed up Tracy Arm to see the glaciers, only we on Yare were short on crew, Lars and Odin jumped ship and made the trip on Asunto. We expected to make a kid swap when we were all the way at the glacier, but the kids all wanted to stay aboard Asunto and make ice cream…can’t say I blame them. Tor and I had a very enjoyable date day aboard Yare, and again we rafted the two boats for the night and had dinner together.

We next headed to Petersburg and Asunto followed us a day later. We really enjoyed our time in Petersburg, it’s a great town. Lars and Odin finally got the fishing poles they’ve been wanting and so many kind people on the docks offered help, lures and advice to our budding fishermen. It was great fun! They caught lots of herring and gave them to Kolby from Asunto for bait…they have a freezer, and lots of fishing gear, the herring will come in handy.

Tor helped Kolby replace Asunto’s forestay one day. A big job for sure, but they made it all look so easy. Hard to do with an 80 foot tall mast!

We checked out the swimming pool in Petersburg, and baby Bowen loved it. Lars found fins to try and took off swimming. It was fun to be swimming all together again, but it was a little weird to not worry about sunscreen after all of our previous swimming together in Mexico and Hawaii.

We left Petersburg together and made our way through Wrangell Narrows. A couple more nights together, including a night where Lars and Odin got to see Kolby land a couple of halibut and we got to glory in the most spectacular sunset. Then a sail across Clarence Strait in the company of each other. Our speeds were perfectly matched and we spent a couple of hours sailing within feet of each other just chatting and tossing snacks back and forth between the boats. It was sunny, the sailing conditions were perfect, and it will go down in our books as a truly spectacular afternoon.

We said goodbye to Asunto in Meyers Chuck. We are headed south on the fast track now, they have more time before they need to be home to Vancouver, BC. It was so hard to say goodbye, but Seattle and Vancouver are close, so we should be able to stay in good touch and sail together again.

Yare and Asunto in front of N. Sawyer Glacier
(photo courtesy of Kristine from s/v Asunto)

 Boat made ice cream for breakfast!

en route to Petersburg, Lars looking for whales

Fishing in Petersburg!

Proud Fishermen!

Filleting halibut by gorgeous sunset

We are catching them!

Sailors looking on

We spent hours sailing this close!

A study in modern vs. traditional sailing rigs