Sequim Gazette article about the co-op!: Turning the Sea Green

[Kathy, Salish Sea Trading Coop]

I dunno, guys, that first photo makes us look too good, like we get
our sailors from the pages of Eddie Bauer crew models :-) Can we get
scruffier and more pirate-like next time?

Great article, thanks Fulvio, Alex, and Rick. And a nice aknowledgment
to Dave Reid and his catalyzing sail transport here in Seattle.

http://www.sequimgazette.com/news/article.exm/2010-10-13_turning_the_sea_green

Rick Riehle, Alex Tokar and Fulvio Casali were lucky this time.

Their sailboat didn't get caught in a current setting them in circles
for hours on end, the tide didn't pull them in the wrong direction and
the wind didn't push them backward toward the Seattle harbor from
which they came.

The trip from Seattle to Sequim's John Wayne Marina takes this trio
anywhere from 17 to 36 hours depending on the currents, tides and
wind. Of course, it'd be easier to flip on the engine and go. But that
would defeat the whole purpose.

Riehle, Tokar and Casali are part of the Salish Sea Trading
Cooperative, a group working in conjunction with Nash's Organic
Produce, Aster Coffee Lounge in Ballard and several Northwest co-ops
to bring fresh produce to the city without using fossil fuels.

Aside from the truck used to bring the produce from Nash's Organic
Produce to the marina, the transportation uses no fuel - barring
emergency engine use if a large ship is approaching or a current
throws them toward the shore.

Kathy Pelish, co-founder of the cooperative, drives an electric flat-
bed pickup to the City dock in Ballard to pick up the produce and
drive it to Aster Coffee Lounge.

The group makes about nine trips a season - June through October - and
has a special Thanksgiving trip planned for this year.


Crew follows 'an inspiring act'

Casali, originally from Italy, said he got involved in the effort
after four years of work in a separate sustainability group in
Ballard.

"Being a lifelong sailor, one idea we'd been kicking around was this
revitalization of the sailing aspect of transportation," he said.

Tokar never had sailed before but joined a similar effort by David
Reid last year, which morphed into this year's Salish Sea Trading
Cooperative.

"It was an inspiring act," Tokar said of Reid's trips to the peninsula
using no fossil fuels.

Tokar, Casali and Riehle also work at Web Collective, a cooperative
creating websites for sustainability organizations.

Riehle said his interest in local food supply encouraged him to get
involved with the co-op and he currently is working with Pangaea
Organica, an employee-owned coffee roasting co-op in Seattle, to see
if they could add coffee to the run. The coffee co-op roasts
Ethiopian, Brazilian, Mexican and Costa Rican blends, he said.

"We want to make the trip as productive as possible," he said.


Sailing provides unique experience

Getting to the peninsula the old-fashioned way has its ups and downs,
the crew said.

The downside is large ships, fog, difficult currents and tides -
especially near Protection Island, Tokar said.

"On the flip side, it's a nice island to wait by," he said.

Casali said he has never seen as many bald eagles as he did while
stuck near the island during one trip this summer.

On another trip the crew saw hundreds of porpoises surrounding the
boat. Yet another time they listened for 45 minutes during the night
as a whale sprayed water through its spout, at first frighteningly
close to the sailboat but each time getting farther and farther away.

"The blow sounded like a roar," Casali said.

While making trips the crew regularly updates the co-op's Twitter feed
with anecdotes. To follow their next trip, scheduled for Oct. 15, go
to www.twitter.com/salishseacoop.