Shilshole Blog

As both the Ballard News Tribune and the My Ballard blog report today, route 46 is going to change in September:

Metro Transit service approved a September 2008 transit program that contained only one change inside the City of Seattle, Route 46 would be changed during midday hours to wend its way from Golden Gardens, to Shilshole via Seaview Avenue to 54th and onto Market Street. It then would travel Leary Way and end up making a loop in downtown Fremont and back to Ballard and Golden Gardens.

Seaview folks have complained about a lack of service since a route was eliminated after a massive cut in Metro revenue was brought on by a tax-cutting Initiative 695 by Tim Eyman in 2000.

The Golden Gardens to Fremont route change, adding 1,785 hours of service, will operate generally from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Route 46 now provides peat-period service from Golden Gardens and the University of Washington campus via Ballard and Wallingford.

What the hell is that new building being built next to Ray’s Boathouse?

It’s been driving me crazy. Everyday I drive by there, but there is never anyone there after work to stop and ask what is going in there?

Anyone here have any clue??

CB…

As most liveaboards at Shilshole know, the Annual Meeting of the Washington Liveaboard Association is March 18th (tomorrow) at 7:00 p.m. at the CYC. There are five open positions in the rotation - these are the result of the association’s bylaws which provide that 1/3rd of the board member’s terms expire each year. Each of these positions is for a three year term. There are also two open positions that have been created by resignations which will be filled by the board, and those appointees will serve only the remaining term of the board members who resigned (one term has a single year remaining; the second term has two years left). If you’re interested in serving on the board, just come to the meeting and raise your hand.

In fact, Angela (S/V Ghost) it’s a good place to meet your neighbors and get involved with the liveaboard community. 

~Gail (M/V Infinity)

The Sloop Tavern YC burgee was stolen from the flagpole between 10 PM Saturday and 8 AM Sunday. The thief used a bolt cutter on the padlock. This makes four. They may have a total set of flags now and are done (doubtful). Anyone with any info on this or earlier cases please come forward, either here or the marina office or with the POS police.

BTW the camera on the pole nearby is non-operational according to the port.

Hi friends and neighbors, I’m writing a story for Pacific Yachting magazine about “liveaboard lessons” - those handy things you have discovered from living aboard your boat that might not be immediately obvious to non-liveaboard boaters, or might take them longer to figure out. I’ve had some great suggestions from those of you I’ve harrassed on the dock, but thought I’d also put the question out to the Shilshole blogosphere and would really love to get your input.

What are some things you’ve learned the hard way (or the damp way or the cold way!) that help make your boat a more comfortable place to spend your time? It could be ideas about storage, climate control, life in close quarters, easier docking, maintenance issues, sleeping configuration, pets onboard, grocery shopping, weather preparedness, the marina environment, stretching your boating dollar futher - pretty much anything you can think of that has improved your liveaboard lifestyle in some way.

Please share your thoughts either via the Shilshole Community blog or you can email me directly: charlotte at charlottefranklin dot net (I’ve written it in words rather than traditional email format to stop my address being bot-harvested, but you know what to do to turn it into an email address).

Many thanks for your participation. Happy to leave out names to protect the innocent so if you’d rather share anonymously just let me know.

Cheers,

Charlotte

S/V Pacific Orca, K-dock (soon to be J-dock!)

The Washington Liveaboard Association is putting on a First Aid/CPR course on Saturday February 23, from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm in the Shilshole Marina Office Conference Room. Providing the training will be Dana Atchison, a Certified Medic First Aid Instructor. Weather permitting, an outside demonstration of CPR in the cockpit of a sailboat is planned to simulate an offshore incident. Participants will receive a Basic First Aid and CPR certification card good for 2 years. The course is $40. Please reserve in advance by calling Eric Thoman at (206) 719-0976 or emailing kimeric@gocarefully.com.

Since December 11, 2007, there is a new blog in Ballard. I like it a lot: it looks like a great website to get the pulse of the neighborhood, talking about all the little things that happen around here, including the weather, with just enough user debates and gossip to make it interesting, without degenerating into mud slinging common on other blogs. It also has a pleasant design, no frills, no ads, and plenty of pretty or humorous pictures. The only other features are many good links, some traffic webcams and a map.

The photos mostly come from the “Ballard photo pool” on flickr, so anyone contributing to that pool could potentially see their photos end up on the site (not sure that’s their actual policy, but I’m assuming it is). That’s also something I envisioned for the Shilshole Blog, back in the day when our photo album was working a bit better.

For now the owners are anonymous, although they say they are “a Scandinavian couple, and one of us works in the information industry.”

That’s basically what I had hoped this blog would become, but maybe there just isn’t all that much to talk about at Shilshole? The Shilshole Blog has been lying a bit dormant lately, and that’s mostly because I don’t live at Shilshole anymore since I moved to Stimson Marina. But I’m keeping it alive, in case anyone feels up to using it.

http://myballard.com

Residents of Sunset West condos have worked a possible deal with Metro to modify the current Route 17 between downtown Seattle & northwest Ballard so that it would provide approximately hourly daytime and evening service, along Seaview Ave NW to and from Golden Gardens.

Beginning Sept. 2008, Route 17 bus trips would alternate between running on 32nd Ave NW, as they do now, and running on Seaview Ave NW. While adding new hourly service to potential riders on Seaview Ave NW, this change would decrease the current half-hour frequency of service for 32nd Ave NW riders to hourly frequency, so opposition can be expected from that quarter. The port has three Shilshole employees who have indicated they would use the new service, so some support might come from that quarter.

Please come to an open house with Metro:

where?

• Ballard Senior Center
• 32nd Ave NW

when?

• Thursday, January 31
• 7:00-8:30 pm

Hello, Just wanted to let everyone know that on March 1st a new vessel will be moving into slip G-35. S/V Hawkwind should be pulling in mid afternoon so stop by to say hi and have a cocktail on us.

Elaine and Kevin 

Shilshole Bay Marina Management reports that there have been an unusually high number of thefts reported at the north end of the marina. The Port has stepped up patrols and is working the Port of Seattle Police Department to strategize the security issues.

The Port and marina staff are asking all marina customers for their assistance. Please report any and all suspicious activity or people to the Port of Seattle Police and to the Shilshole Bay Marina Office.

There will also be a special Dock Captains’s meeting to discuss this issue. The meeting is Tuesday, November 13 at 6:00 p.m. at the marina office. Dock Captains and WLA members are encouraged to attend, and are asked to invite other marina customers to participate in the discussions. Please come prepared to discuss your questions and suggestions for how to address this problem so we can develop a strategy to prevent further thefts.

Important Telephone Numbers:

Port of Seattle Police: 9-1-1 (ask for the Port of Seattle Police Department)

Port of Seattle Police Non-Emergency:  (206) 431-3490

Shilshole Bay Marina Office:  (206) 728-3006

Shilshole Bay Marina 24/7 Cell:  (206) 601-4089