Neoprene culture is huge in Puget Sound. If you're not knee deep in a 6 mm. thick bodysuit, you're yesterday's news. Heady, footies and gloves are critical, but most important is the right attitude. The visibility will be poor, your face will numb within seconds and if you surface with anything edible, it will probably have near-toxic levels of Mercury or PCBs - but the point is to have fun and feel proud to engage with the natural world on such an intimate level.

Here, Troy and Dan are nesting in the cozy womb of the main salon. Micah was stuffed in the quarter berth, he didn't mind it though. He even wore the striped quarter berth shirt to communicate his compliance.



At the time, late autumn 2007, this was the farthest journey out for Alize and her crew, Troy Bainbridge, Micah Wait and Dan Hunt. We sailed to a boring retirement community near Admiralty Inlet in North - Central Puget Sound - called Port Ludlow. There is little to do there, especially for four bro's. But we managed to fill out the better part of three days by spilling drinks throughout the interior of the boat, actually if your focus you can catch Troy Bainbridge knocking over a beer in this clip. All is all, we had a solid time and it was a great test run for longer trips to come.