I know Madeleine because she lives on Vashon Island and I know some folks on Vashon Island and some of all that overlap because of an inclination towards outdoor and boaty things. Madeleine takes it to the next level. She works as a merchant mariner on the big ships that bring all the things around the world that can fit in those big old 40-foot containers and look like a bunch of stacked Legos from afar.

That’s pretty cool and all, but what’s even cooler is that in-between telling that mighty ship where to go, she trains for ultra-marathons on the ship’s treadmill. Madeline also brings her guitar and microphones and does, what I might call ‘Bigboatsessions’ as she writes and records music in her cabin. Back in her home waters, she lives on a red sailboat named IKI. We’d been trying to make a tinyboatsession happen for over a year now. The fall before ended up being a bit too rainy to play the guitar, so we sat in a rowboat on Elliot bay, cracked wise and looked at the big boats. The timing finally lined up that she invited me over to IKI and her island friend, fellow musician, and long-distance runner, Gus Reeves to do some tinyboatsessions in Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island. -Jordan and Clarabelle