Several boatloads of friends gathered to ring in the New Year at the Port of Poulsbo this past weekend.

We sailed over on Rivendell Friday afternoon with our good friends Pat and Sara, plus Marcello, their 1 year old pup. Grizzley, and us of course, were excited to have company on board, but the kitties were not so sure.

In 12 knots of chilly north wind we had a nice ride across the sound. Once north of Bainbridge the wind abated but we were content to drift with the tide through Agate Pass and under the bridge. Parts of the sky threatened rain but we managed to keep up with the sun shining golden in the West.

The cold finally got the better of us and we started the motor as we entered Liberty Bay. Up ahead we spotted Soliton tacking in the light air. Feeling a smidge of guilt, we put up our sails again…for the photo op of course. After a few tacks the promise of a warm furnace just a mile or so ahead got to us and we motored the last bit. We had planned on anchoring but since the Port’s guest dock had plenty of space at only $.50/ft/night we pulled into a slip. Shortly after Soliton pulled into the space next to us, then Lea Scotia across the dock, and finally Dan and Marisa tied up just in time for dinner on Rivendell.

The New Year’s festivities began with 12 guests on board Rivendell and piles of delicious food. Everyone brought their dinner over and we dug in. Stuffed, we moved over to Lea Scotia, Trevor and Karisa’s swank Taswell 43. The drinks flowed, the music was cranked and we were all 21 again as we laughed and danced in the New Year.

We popped our heads outside during the first minutes of 2005 for a toast, hoping there would be a big fireworks show in town. As the raindrops sprinkled down we toasted to the few fireworks set off on shore, then headed back to the warmth below and a refill of champagne.

Most of the following day was spent in serious recovery mode. After a breakfast (lunch?) of blueberry mountain cornmeal pancakes we headed to the beach with the dogs and let them romp through the mud and sea for a while. We walked through Poulsbo, which, this being our first visit to this well known Nordic town, was much cuter than we had expected with a small, tidy mainstreet of stores and coffee shops. We were sad to learn that the famous bakery was closed for New Years day but hoped it would be open the next morning.

Plans were made for a potluck that night on Soliton, which was to feature Fulvio’s famous Aloo Gobi, a delicious East Indian dish. We brought some of Pat’s smoked salmon for the appetizer and I cooked up a couscous dish. All 12 of us piled onboard Soliton, a Catalina 34, and we had a meal fit for kings.

Seated, surprisingly comfortably around Soliton’s table, we began with carrot ginger soup made by Dan, followed by Marisa’s green salad with homemade honey mustard avocado dressing. Then came the Aloo Gobi atop brown rice with the couscous salad on the side. Heaven. And of course, brownies for dessert. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over our years of sailing, it’s that sailors sure know how to eat.

All snuggled in, we watched “The Party,” a hilariously silly movie from the 1960s. Simply a perfect evening.

We all headed to bed at a fairly decent hour that night, hoping for a nice breeze the next day when we would all sail back to Seattle together. Even better: when we awoke to a 20 knot brisk North breeze we found not a cloud in the sky, bright blue with sun smiling down on us.

Into town for one last visit we finally visited the famed bakery and each picked out a sticky delicious bun. Along with fresh coffee in the sunny cockpit we were fully charged and ready for a day of sailing.

All four boats pulled out of the dock one by one and pulled up and out our sails. We sailed downwind out of Liberty Bay then around the shifty wind point towards the pass. Onboard Rivendel we thought for sure we’d have to motor through the pass, against the wind. But when Lea Scotia began tacking up the pass we knew we couldn’t give up. Back and forth we tacked across that channel determined to make it through…without going aground anyway.

Thanks to current heading with us we made it through in about 10 tacks, Pat’s and my arms burning from all the winch grinding necessary to tack our genoa across each time. All boats free from the pass, we all set ourselves up for a screaming reach across the sound back to Shilshole.

20 knots from the north had kicked up a few whitecaps and waves of a couple feet, but Rivendell just charged happily across with full genoa and main. Michael was at the wheel and reported no complaints from the helm. We watched our knot log creep up past 7, to 7.3, 7.5. Then we surfed a bit and hit 7.9 finally, our top speed yet through the water.

The sun still dancing on the water we arrived much too soon back at the marina breakwater and thought, for a few seconds anyway, about turning around and doing the whole fantastic trip all over again.