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Hello All, It is July 13th and we are sitting comfortably in Drakes Bay. This was definitely one of our more challenging trips down the coast. I'm not at all sure about this "summer weather". Our crew for going down the coast was the family and dog, Robin Dudley who is our new teacher, Celeste MacDonald a friend of Alyce's, Jon Frieberg, and his side kick Thomas, and MB Armstrong and her boyfriend Peter. It was great having such a good crew because instead of long, cold, wet watches we had short, cold, wet watches. Actually every other day we had good weather and the boat and crew had a good shake down and salting. We left the dock in the afternoon of July 4th and enjoyed a sail around Port Townsend Bay playing with the Schooner Martha. Anchoring up at Fort Worden we had a barbeque, visited with friends and watched the fire works. 3 AM, when the ebb tide started, came early, but we had an easy motor out to Neah Bay and ended up standing in the rain on the way into the Bay. We had an idea that the weather forecast wasn't going to be good; there was a low over the Queen Charlottes that was sending fronts with southerly winds and rain. The first one came in the evening that we spent in Neah Bay and we knew there was another one due in two days. The trouble was that the extended forecast was for more "unsettled weather" and while we like to think that we are doing without a schedule for this trip, we still had some people who hoped to get to S.F. in a reasonable amount of time. Since it looked like it was going to be a slow trip, we thought we best get going. Being smart and waiting for the weather would have had us leaving on Tuesday, July 12th. After a morning of wondering what to do and talking with other cruisers, we headed out. The weather was clearing, and the first day we spent motor sailing in light SW winds. The great thing about motoring in calm seas is all the sea life that can be seen. Alyce started her Marine Biology journal with entries of the Harbor Porpoise, Common Murre, Pacific Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale and a Puffin. The whales were great and put on quite a show of diving deep with fluking tails, spy hopping and splashing. The next morning started with a tuna squall. A tuna squall is when you can't get the fishing line in after clearing the last fish without catching another. We ended up with four albacore. The wind built into a sailing breeze around noon and by 1900 we were reduced down to a storm trys'l, reefed fores'l and stays'l. By 2200 hrs. we had struck the fores'l and were basically and comfortably, hove to. By the next morning the conditions had moderated and the wind was coming around to the WSW and we were off and sailing again. It was really nice to have a day to clean up and get some rest. We were all getting our sea legs and boat activities like reading and cards and music were starting. Unfortunately the next day another front was headed our way. We were off Cape Blanco in Oregon then, and the chart looks like a chicken danced around in circles. The wind wasn't as strong as with the first front, but any direction we were able to go had the seas right on our nose. So we slowed up and fell off and tried tacking out, then in again. Spent the night reducing sail and finally had were down to the storm trys'l, reefed fore and stays'l by morning. It was a more frustrating front--maybe because we had already been through one, maybe because we were in some weird currents and seas off Cape Blanco. Thing were just sloppy and even when the wind started to die off it was hard to find a direction that we could get going in. The next day we expected the forecasted N to NW winds to fill in. We were headed toward forecasts of strong winds, gale in the 60-250 mile offshore forecast and 25-35 knots in the 20-60 mile offshore forecast. We were motoring in light SW. After lunch the wind went away completely and Darby came up with the idea of a swim call. Actually we were going to swim and catch some "Velella Velella", or By-the-Wind -Sailors, which we had been seeing for the last couple days, and that idea turned into a swim call. So we slowed down and everyone jumped in for a swim, Tarzan swing, bath. By the time we were done with that the wind had filled in and we took out reefs and set the jib and were getting ready to set the fly-jib… but we were already doing 8 knots. Now we had to start worrying about to much wind from the north. Sailors are like that, getting ready for the what ifs. 20- 30 knots behind us is OK, but 35 knots gusting up to 45 with the dangerous swell warning that comes with it wasn't something that we wanted to sail into. This was Monday and the forecast for Tuesday was for 20-30 most areas building Wednesday and Thursday. We checked out our timing for being near Humboldt Bay, the next morning, so if we wanted to hide we had a place to go. Thomas climbed up in the rig and got his cell phone to work and contacted the marina that said they did have room for us and the Coast Guard that said the bar was fine. So we had an option. Thomas also called the Humboldt Bay NOAA weather station (how did we ever manage without cell phones) so that we could get the inshore forecast for further down the coast. It seemed that the inshore forecast, up to 20 miles off the coast was for 20-30 knots. This was a bit confusing because all the other reports had the strongest winds in the SE quadrants, and we figured that was the coast. We listened thru the night and decided to head around Cape Mendocino instead of into Humboldt Bay. The wind built while we were rounding the point and the seas got close together and steep and soon we were surfing down waves at 11.5 knots with just the course and storm trys'l set. Those conditions lasted for about six hours and then as we got further away from the Cape the wind was still 25+ knots but the seas calmed down a bit; we were feeling that things were under control, surfing down waves comfortably at 9.5 knots. It was a beautiful clear day and we were close enough in to see all the mountains. We sailed thru the night with the wind filling in and then dying off then filling in. At first light we spotted Pt Reyes and were anchor down in Drakes Bay by eight in the morning. Our arrival in Drake's Bay was Wednesday July 13th. Around noon Jon's girlfriend managed to find the boat, it seems really obvious were the boat would be when you sail in, but it isn't one of the main park roads. We wanted to rest in Drakes Bay for a day or two before we headed in to the SF bay, but Jon had a appointment on Thursday that he wanted to try to make, Thomas felt that if a ride was heading back to Sacramento he should take it and MB and Peter decided that they would like to have a day or two in SF before they caught their train for home Friday evening. So by that afternoon, after an arrival swim call, (the water wasn't any warmer than the PNW) our numbers were greatly reduced. We always feel that the trip sown to San Francisco can be the most challenging part of the trip and were glad for all the good natured and talented help. Next we will be exploring SF and then slowly heading down the coast. The girls have been working on the new edition of the WAVE WEEKLY and hopefully will work into involvement in the newsletter. So till then, we are all having fun and we will stay in touch. Leslie and crew. |