WA360: Day 9 Plan – Points North

Our plan for Day 9 is to check off the northern-most waypoint of the race: Point Roberts Buoy R “4” 4s BELL. Even though I was born-and-raised in Western Washington, this will be my first trip to Point Roberts.

Leg One: Lummi Island to Birch Bay State Park

Our first section of the day is a bit of a doozy. Lummi Island is sizeable, and we’ll be camping near the southern tip. We don’t have any official stops along the way to Birch Bay. However, we may need to find a good spot to pull over for a few minutes to stretch out the kinks.

Leg Two: Birch Bay State Park to Lily Point Marine Park (via the buoy)

From Birch Bay State Park to Point Roberts appears to be a relatively straightforward path. We do need to round the buoy on our way, but other than that, it’s just a matter of conditions. What’s the wind like? How’s the current? It’s a relatively long open water crossing for us. But it’s not too far out of our comfort zone if the conditions are good.

Leg Three: Lily Point Marine Park to Lighthouse Marine Park… probably?

Our original plan has us popping over to the Cascadia Marine Trails campsite on Point Roberts. And we may still do that. But at the Skipper Meeting for WA360, the race organizers shared that the folks at the marina plan to roll out the red carpet for racers. We may just need the comfort of camping on a lawn where they’re pumped about our adventure at this point in the race. Besides, it looks like that campsite would be just a bit closer than our original plan…