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Close to the Water
Going FULL CIRCLE WITH THREE SHEETS NORTHWEST
by Marty McOmber and Deborah Bach
W
e had just cleared Agate Pass and were rounding the north end of Bainbridge Island one sunny fall afternoon more than a decade ago when we were struck with a flash of saltwater-infused inspiration. The idea went like this: Why don’t we start a website focused on boating in the Pacific Northwest, one of the world’s greatest cruising grounds? We’d both been longtime newspaper reporters (Seattle Times and Seattle P-I, among other places) and, though we’d recently left journalism behind for other communications careers, we couldn’t help but think like reporters whenever we were out on the water. Interesting stories were everywhere we looked, just waiting to be told. Someone needed to tell them. Why not us? And thus Three Sheets Northwest was born. When we launched the site in January 2009, it was the height of the blogging craze and before social media took over most of our collective screen time. But we didn’t think of Three Sheets Northwest as a boating blog focused solely on us and our marine-related adventures. Rather, it was an opportunity to create a rich and thoughtful website where we and other writers and photographers co uld share compelling stories about the people, places, and the culture of boating in the Pacific Northwest. In short, our vision was to create an online boating community that people could enjoy anytime and anywhere they had access to the internet. So off we went, diving headfirst into building and maintaining a website, setting up and running a small business, and producing what turned into a daily mix of stories for and about local boaters. It was hard work, but as the months turned into years, we were pleased to see Three Sheets evolve into the online boating community we’d envisioned, one featuring a network of syndicated blogs by passionate Northwest boaters. The site
48º NORTH
grew into a hub where boaters across the region could see their experiences and voices reflected and read stories that weren’t being told elsewhere. Approaching Three Sheets with the same curiosity and journalistic rigor we employed as newspaper reporters, we found no shortage of fascinating topics to dig into—from a series on the impacts of derelict and abandoned boats to a profile of the first American woman to sail around the world unassisted, from DIY projects to tales of near-disasters. We wrote not solely as journalists, but also from our own perspectives as weekend sailors with aspirations to one day take that big left turn at Neah Bay and visit other ports of call around the world. And along the way, we met many boaters we probably wouldn’t have otherwise—tall ship captains and lone rowers, around-the-buoy racers and round-the-world cruisers, first-timers and old salts, small-boat aficionados and megayachters, and, of course, power and sail boaters of all kinds. Our appreciation and knowledge of the boating community grew, along with our widening circle of waterborne friends. And we also discovered something special about the people who play, explore and work on the waters of the Northwest. We have a mutual commitment, wonder and excitement about getting out on the water that transcends any of the ways we distinguish ourselves as boaters. At the end of the day, we all float in the same water. We all share a sense of adventure, a willingness to test ourselves and push ourselves out of the comfort zones of life on land. We are all seeking that sublime moment; that blissful place with the sound of water gurgling along the hull; the smell of salt, seaweed and fir in the wind; the mirror-flat water in that perfect anchorage; and the pleasure of meeting friends and family on the water. Starting Three Sheets Northwest opened so many new experiences to us and deepened our knowledge of and
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JANUARY 2020