Bon Voyage
We hope to keep our friends and family updated as to our whereabouts during our voyages.
I have to say that sailing in San Diego has been great. On some days we can set the main as soon as we are out of the fairway in our marina. Just a couple minutes later we make the port turn at the west end of Harbor Island, which puts us on starboard tack, and we can lose the engine.
On most days, we have to tack a couple times before we can lay the channel to the ocean, but not this time!
We had to pinch a bit, but we were able to carry our starboard tack to where we could bear away a bit and lay the exit from the bay. About 13 knots of wind kept things moving nicely. Sometimes the terrain around Point Loma accelerates the wind in the area just seaward of the sub base, and we had to ease the main through some gusts, but once we were clear of Point Loma the wind was really very steady.
We stayed on starboard out past the whistler buoy, and when we were ready to head for the barn, we tacked and bore away a little and were able to carry port tack all the way back to the marina...
That was it, sailed all afternoon and tacked once.
SK
--posted Monday, Jun 29, 2009
Sailing!
May 16
Took Solana out sailing for the first time since last Fall. A Saturday on San Diego Bay and just offshore in light wind. It was a 4 star day on the ocean, very light swell, partly sunny. A few more knots of wind would have made it 5 star! Lots of sailboats out enjoying the day, a few races going on, the handful of crazy wake-makers and only one tanker to avoid. It was nice having crew aboard, my brother Rusty and a friend from our childhood days in Long Beach, Bill Clow.
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Red Bull Air Races!
May 9-10
We motored out to the middle of San Diego Bay and dropped anchor along with a few hundred others to watch the Redbull Air Races. Those guys are crazy! (No, I didn't take that photo. We weren't that close.)
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Missing Solana while in Anacortes
April 17-20
Don't you just hate it when all of your friends are headed out for a weekend cruise, but your boat is in another location? Yeah, I know, play a violin of sorrow! But the Anacortes Yacht Club has an annual cruise to Sucia Island, arguably one of the most beautiful locations in the San Juan Islands, and we want to go! It's early Spring so no crowds, and the weather promised to cooperate. Chilly of course, but the sun was out. We chartered a nice little Nordic Tug from Anacortes Yacht Charters and had a great time. 2 nights at the dock in Fossil Bay and a night at Jones Island. Both islands have limited facilities but great hiking trails and plenty of peace and quiet. Best of all, the internet and cell phone coverage in both locations was almost non-existent! Good enough that we knew we'd get notice if there was an emergency, but so slow that neither of us attempted to accomplish any work! It was great.
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Visiting Sailors
Andy and Stephanie Schwenk, along with their boys Kai and Dylan, paid us a visit here in San Diego between Christmas and new years.
In case you missed the connection to a few blog entries back, Andy is our favorite rigger and took care of replacing all of the standing rigging on Solana last fall. If you are in or around Anacortes, he is definitely the guy to help you with your rig. You can't even begin to count his trips under sail to Hawaii and back on your fingers and toes, so the sailboat rigging thing is not just theory to him... Northwest Rigging is his shop in Anacortes, just call 360-293-1154, they will take good care of you.
Andy and Steph (who is also a sailor extraordinaire) along with Kai and Dylan spent two nights with us here on Solana.
After an afternoon trip out to the beach at Coronado and the Hotel del Coronado where they had (can you believe it) an outdoor ice skating rink set up for the holidays, we made the obligatory trip to the Bali Hai on Shelter Island for Mai Tais and their killer pupu platter. The Mai Tai counter over the bar there is at about 2.3 million and counting. They have been selling Mai Tais at the Bali Hai since the early 1950s, and they really know how to make them. Think twice before having more than 2. I'm not joking...
After our Mai Tais, we went back to the boat where we cooked marinated flank steak on the barbeque, swapped tall tales and lies, and generally had a good time.
The next day was new years eve day and time to say goodbye to our friends as they left to catch the big bird back north. Our marina is right next to the airport and we were able to watch as their airplane departed.
Happy new year!
SK
--posted Friday, Jan 9, 2009
Going South (alt title: We Have Wheels!)
The day after Christmas, we started driving south in our Toyota RAV4. The weather had eased enough that I-5 was basically bare and wet. A few rainy and snowy sections in Oregon and then we were in the Siskiyous.
It was really pretty good going and we were feeling pretty good about things until on the backside of the Siskiyous after dark, we came upon an SUV, I think it was something like a Suburban, that was off to the side of the road, upside down and buried past the windows in the snow. Emergency assistance was already on the scene, but that picture took a few miles-per-hour off our progress for a while.
We spent the night in Redding, and arrived in San Diego the next evening.
We are no longer "Carless in San Diego"!
SK
--posted Friday, Jan 9, 2009
A White Christmas
We went back to Anacortes after the Carribean cruise. A couple days after we arrived, it started snowing. It didn't really warm up and after a couple more snowstorms we had a serious load of the white stuff happening. It insisted on persisting through Christmas.
SK
--posted Friday, Jan 9, 2009
Another Kind of Cruising
In late November, we flew to Florida with our friends Patti and Darwin and took a cruise on the Holland America liner Zuiderdam. After life on a 41 foot sailboat, stepping aboard an ocean liner just short of a thousand feet long is pretty impressive.
Our Ports of call were Aruba, Curacao, Cristobal and Puerto Limon. Our first night out we had a fire in an electrical locker. We were just off the east coast of Cuba. After the initial alarm, and while waiting for an update on the situation, Jan and I did what all boaters would do... we threw together a ditch bag. Passports, cash, sat phone and other useful Items were tossed into a bag as we waited for news on the fire. Fortunately, the fire was contained and controlled quickly and the cruise continued without further incident.
I would have to say that for me, the high point of the cruise was locking into Lake Gatun on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Stay tuned for pictures!
SK
--posted Friday, Jan 9, 2009
Carless in San Diego
We're at Marina Cortez in San Diego Bay at Harbor Island. Walking distance to the airport, and also a short walk to pick up a rental car. Our friends Roy and Ronelle told us that prices were always cheaper if you pick up a car on a Sunday. I'll say! Less than $15 to rent a car for 24 hours starting on Sunday. So I got a nice "compact" and did some shopping and laundry.
Before I returned the car today, I thought I'd take a drive down to where I thought the BMW/Oracle might be moored. Didn't see it but maybe it was out sailing. I saw it heading out last Friday. Then with an hour to spare, I made my way through town to the Shell station at the NE corner of the airport. It was closed! The only gas station I knew! Some kind of work going on. And I didn't bring Wanda (the GPS). So I recalled seeing a station past Shelter Island Dr on Rosecrans, but it turned out to be an automotive shop with the pumps all closed down. What's with this town? Where's the gas stations? I resigned myself to pay the outrageous sum at the rental car place, but took a quick left up Nimitz, just in case. Found a crowded station where posted prices were really cheap, then read the sign that said "authorized military personnel only" and had to move on. Grrr! Pulled out onto Rosecrans and found a 7-11. Bought 2 gallons (probably used a gallon just looking for a gas station!) then saw a Union 76 on the corner of Rosecrans and Nimitz. Remember that one. Pulled in to return the car without a minute to spare!!
Oh, the other task was to find a place to get rid of waste oil! I was surprised that the marina had no place to recycle waste oil. Jiffy Lube on Rosecrans, almost to Interstate 8, took it without question and a smile. But it would have been quite a hike wihout a car!
JC
--posted Monday, Nov 24, 2008
San Diego - Thanks All!
Arrived in San Diego about 8pm this evening. The entrance to the bay is pretty basic, but in the dark we strayed just a little too close to Point Loma, and found ourselves in the kelp for a little bit. When Charlie's Charts says keep it west of 117-17.5, they mean it. We'll clear the remnants from the wheel and rudder tomorrow...
Phase one of our southerly voyage is now complete and the boat will be staying in San Diego for a while.
A great big THANKYOU to all those who made this voyage possible:
Northwest Rigging - Andy Schwenk and his crew made sure Solana was ready to sail on the ocean. Andy has a lot of ocean miles under his belt and knows how to do it right. The advance planning was spot-on, and everything was smooth and professional from the removal of the mast right through replacement and rig tuning.
Burrows Bay Yacht Maintenance - Paul Gullickson went above and beyond the call of duty replacing substantially all of the hoses in the boat, and repairing the fiberglass one-of-a-kind muffler, and fixing the tricolor at the top of the rig, and then sliding down the backstay and finishing the HF antenna. Paul is a highly experienced boat technician and if you haven't already figured it out, a very versatile guy. I'm pretty sure he's still having some nightmares about some of the close quarters in the lazarette...
Anacortes Marine Electronics - Bryan Hennessy came through like a champ inthe final moments before departure. We had the boat hauled for some last minute details and when we put it back in the water, the transducer for the depth sounder had failed! Bryan made all the right calls and got all the right parts shipped in on time to get us on our way.
North Sails - Chris Winnard set us up with a great main and stays'l. The full batten Nor-Lam main is awesome! Looks like after blowing some stitching on the Yankee, we'll be talking to him soon about a new headsail too...
Golden State Diesel - Barb took good care of us when we found ourselves in San Francisco in need of parts to fix our little Yanmar diesel. We had a very long conversation on the phone, both of us sitting in front of a parts catalog, trying to make sure that ALL the parts got ordered to do the job from end to end. When it came time to change the turbo and mixing elbow, all the parts were there, down to the last o-ring, gasket and nut.
Williams & Nulle - Debbie, Kim, Rachel and Warren did a great job of covering for me while I was out sailing. I know, I owe you big...
Rick Kowal - Rick kept the Logical Dog Company humming while we were offshore and out of touch.
There are others that helped us get ready and others that helped us along the way, if I left you out, my sincerest apologies. Slap me upside the head and I'll get you written in here.
SK
--posted Saturday, Nov 8, 2008
Dana Point
16:00 arrived at Dana Point and they had no room available for a vessel larger than 45 feet. A point of contention, since our boat is documented at 41 feet, but we have an 8 foot bowsprit. Plus the vane steering, bringing us to 52 overall. Anyway, we headed for the anchorage but got a call back from Chris at the Dana Point West Yacht Club. He had a space available, but only until 10:00 the next day. We took it. THANK YOU!
The approach required that we hug the left side of the channel, then turn sharply right so we could grab a starboard tie just inside the turn. Wind was 15 knots from astern. I just don't know what the power boat skipper was thinking as he attempted to pass us to our starboard ... did he think we were headed under the bridge just 100 feet ahead with our mast? Where did he think we were going? Anyway, after waving arms and backing down, he decided maybe he shouldn't pass us to starboard after all. I noticed that when he powered down, the wind quickly spun him around, which is exactly why we were so far to the left when turning right. I hope he learned something from the experience.
We docked with just a little bit of shouting ... "is the spring down?" "go" "are we good?" "got it! We're good"
Several minutes later I'm still tugging on lines to bring us close to the dock, but we're ony about 8 feet off, and the wind is only about 15 KTS against me.
We walked up the dock and discovered we were locked in. Not only did we need a key to get back in, which we expected, but we needed a key to get out! So we'll depart Dana Point without going ashore.
JC
--posted Friday, Nov 7, 2008
Redondo Beach
3:00 pm - arrived at King Harbor Yacht Club.
We were pretty much lost, since the dockmaster at Portofino didn't answer or return our calls. We knew our friends were living at Portifino, so we waited until the last minute. (Sorry! I understand that there were circumstances ...) We got confused in the harbor and had to do a 180 in tight quarters. (Sean did a great job manuerving this beast!) Passing back by the King Harbor Yacht Club, we saw our friends on Rio Nimpkish. Shirley came out and suggested we tie up on the ajacent dock, controlled by KHYC. No power or water, but it was perfect for the night. We had cocktails with Tom and Shirley, and Aaron and Ruth dinghied over from Portofino. The next morning, Rio Nimpkish headed out, and we moved to their space which had power.
Spent a day in Redondo Beach walking along their wharf, had a great 'Happy Hour' meal at BlueWater with Aaron and Ruth, then continued south at 07:00. As we were prepping to leave, the skipper of a boat with the homeport of Dana Point suggested we should head there instead of to Newport. Maybe a good idea...
JC
--posted Wednesday, Nov 5, 2008
Home
The title says home, but after 2 months on Solana, this house in Anacortes feels a little odd. We awoke this morning to 36 degrees, frost on the roofs, and a sore back from sleeping on such a large soft bed! The sun is out though, and the cars started without trouble and the trip home was uneventful. Even my houseplants seem to have survived for 2 months without me!
After talking to our neighbors I realize that we left out so many good stories! The big question I've been asked more than once - what was most impressive? My initial answer has been that the cruising community is so ... there. You may recognize a boat from an earlier port, and suddenly you're the closest friend. We've had the pleasure of cocktail hours and potlucks on various boats from as far away as England, or as close as Shilshole or Vancouver, but we're all seeking the sun and we all share the travails of boat maintenance and finicky winds. Fair winds and following seas to our friends on Naida, Sentinel, Bristol Blue, Alert, Waatea, Rio Nimpkish, and so many others. We will meet again in a far off port. Or in San Diego!
Actually the most impressive sight I've seen is Sean ... relaxed. Truly calm and relaxed. It didn't happen until we passed the dreaded Point Conception, but finally he can read a novel or simply sit in the cockpit and enjoy the view. Getting to this point in the journey has put some stress on the captain. The news reports about the economy don't help! But how can he feel any stress when it's 80 degrees with just a slight breeze and the marina is filled with beautiful boats and great people? Solana has treated us very well.
Other observations:
We're currently tied up at Channel Islands Harbor Marina. They have a special going on right now, 2 nights and 3 days free. After that the rate is downright cheap for a practically brand new marina, clean showers and facilities, laundry onsite, keyed entry. But we arrived in the early dawn, hailed the "Channel Islands Harbor Master" on channel 16, and were directed to check in at the harbormaster's office. We weren't inclined to argue, pulled up, got our yellow dye tab placed in the head, and were assigned a spot. After rest we realized (1) we were paying more than we'd been told to expect and (2) this wasn't where our friends were. A few phone calls later, and a long walk to the other side of the harbor, we all (5 boats) cut loose and moved to the marina we had intended to go to in the first place!
The Edison Channel in Oxnard was originally cut to provide cooling water to the SoCal Edison plant to the north. The county saw an opportunity and created additional channels so what we have now is a sort of Venice with waterfront homes and docks. There's even a dinghy dock at the Vons shopping mall. (Vons is the same as Safeway) The 18 foot Duffy electric boat is common transportation. Yeah, I could do that! Take my dinghy to the grocery store!
Okay, so what else was cool? Nights at sea, the silver dollar size jelly fish, I think, that glowed blue when irritated by our bow wake. You see in your peripheral vision some blue glow, then another followed by dozens. It's hard to keep a good watch when there's this lightshow off the starboard quarter!
The dolphins - the grey and white ones, about a dozen, joined us for morre than 2 hours one evening. First to starboard, now to port. They can really move!
Whales - okay, I've heard great stories, but ours is simple. I'm pretty sure we saw at least 2 pair of humpback whales. The spouts or exhales went 20 feet into the air and were visible for miles. Sean said he heard and smelled them behind us one night. We saw a couple sort of resting on the surface several yards off, and once a display of his tail as he disappeared into the deep.
Pelicans - I thought they were a southern bird but I guess it's just an ocean bird. I saw the first ones as we arrived at Neah Bay. I've never seen them in the Puget Sound or San Juans. In San Francisco Bay they were as far inland as Alameda, but maybe in diminished numbers. Did you ever notice how they seem so synchronized in flight? And they use ground effect as they soar close to the water's surface. One bird who flew by us at Alameda was so confident in his abilities, he craned his head downward, lifted his leg to scratch his neck. While flying! I saw that twice. I'm impressed!
Speaking of flying, we enjoyed an airshow while in San Fransisco. The Blue Angels and the Snowbirds are always worth the price of a ticket. We didn't buy the box seats this time, but we DID have to endure a bus and bart ride to get to where we could watch the show.
This Sunday we'll head back to Solana and cruise the rest of the way to San Diego. We've secured a slip at Marina Cortez on Harbor Island.
JC
--posted Monday, Oct 27, 2008
Between the Lines
There is so much to tell that sometimes doesn't get posted. Little tidbits about passages that get lost between the watch that you stood and the next docking...
For instance, on our way down the Big Sur coast, we saw a forest fire. All the way down the coast, we were seeing what looked like smoke. As we got closer it looked like a fire. As it became dark, there was no doubt, there was a serious forest fire going on!
SK
--posted Sunday, Oct 19, 2008
So Cal
We're finally in Southern California, having passed the notorious Point Conception! We were 2-5 miles offshore for about 48 hours, Monterey Bay to Oxnard, mostly under power. Sentinel, Naida, Bristol Blue, and Alert all traveled with us and we touched base by radio every 2 hours. It's very com
forting to commiserate about the rolling seas and lack of wind with the others, checking with whoever's in the lead to see if there's any improvement further ahead. We were headed to Santa Barbara but learned they had no room at the marina. This was at about midnight - we would have had to cut power and mill around until dawn anyway, to avoid entering a strange harbor at night. So we powered back up and arrived outside Channel Islands Harbor as the sky grew light. There's a new marina, good prices and plenty of room, so we'll stay here a while, secure the boat and fly home for a week before continuing our journey.JC
--posted Saturday, Oct 18, 2008
Escape From Alcatraz
Today we're enjoying a beautiful morning in Monterey Harbor Marina. We left San Francisco Bay on Sunday and made the leisurely trip to Half Moon Bay, sailing under the yankee only and making about 5 knots. 3 other boats joined us, and as Naida passed under the bridge, the Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team did a warm-up maneuver directly over them. Perhaps they saw Naida's flag?The 4 of us left at about 7:00 Monday morning and kept pace all the way to Monterey Bay. Very little wind. Solana never sailed, but Sentinel flew their spinnaker for a bit, and Naida and Bristol Blue motor sailed. That's Naida with the Pelican in the foreground, and Bristol Blue.
JC
--posted Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008
Buoy Report
Station 46012 - HALF MOON BAY - 24NM South Southwest of San Francisco, CA
Current conditions: Wind 25 KT w/ gusts to 33 KT, wave height 18 FT, dominant wave period 11 seconds.
TONIGHT
NW WINDS 30 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO 50 KT.
COMBINED SEAS 13 TO 18 FT DOMINANT PERIOD 10 SECONDS.
We're still in Alameda. It's just plain nasty out there! Good news is we're meeting some awesome folks, also sitting here awaiting good weather. Had a potluck with 4 other couples and it was great fun to commiserate and compare notes. The weather here in the Bay has been fabulous. Sunny and warm and perfect for walks or working on the boat. We're planning a picnic for Friday night.
What we're really doing is catching up with work. We each have our 'office' set up and Sean's been on the phone and working remotely. We'll start cruising again when the time is right. There's something about comfortable harbors that seem to scuttle any plans to leave. But we'll be here all winter if we don't get south of Point Conception soon! I'm sure we'll get an Indian Summer.
JC
--posted Thursday, Oct 9, 2008
Moving Around The Bay
We needed to either 1) rent a car, 2) take a bus - several actually, or 3) move the boat to a marina closer to our parts dealer in Oakland. So under the Bay Bridge we went, up the channel between Oakland and Alameda Island to Jack London Square, and paid an inflated fee for 2 nights. Nice marina, nice enough location and amenities, spendy restaurants, but there's construction going on and the hammering started at 8:00! You'd think there'd be a discount during construction. The marina was mostly empty. We walked about a half mile with our cart, picked up the parts, then this morning first thing we got a slip across the water in Alameda for less than 1/3rd the price. Even nicer marina, clean and nice strolling paths, and the best part is fast-food-heaven is across the street, along with a Long's Drugs and Lucky grocery store. So I'm focusing on restocking supplies and touching up the varnish (again) and Sean's going to replace some kind of elbow on the engine that was leaking water (okay, I'll learn about diesel engines eventually, but not now) and tighten up a clamp on the fuel line because he saw a minor leak. Then we'll do a stem-to-stern inspection, watch for the next weather window, and make the short hop down to Half Moon Bay.
JC
--posted Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008
Latitude 38
San Francisco has been a kick. It's such a vibrant town! We arrived a week ago and Saturday in the Marina District was just crazy. Races of course, so hundreds of sails on the Bay. But also a kite festival in the park with huge kites more like what you'd see in the Macy's parade. Then on Chestnut Street there were live bands set up every few blocks playing mostly jazz. Back on the water, the windsurfers are competing for space with the kite boarders, both skirting around the tour boats and commercial traffic. The activity on the water is constant, every afternoon all week long. The wind always picks up after noon. The 2 yacht clubs here have sailing school every afternoon and it's a kick to see the fearless youngsters tacking through the harbor. At least one or two go over and get wet. On Monday we walked up to Fisherman's Wharf, expecting it to be somewhat quiet, but it was full of tourists from all parts of the world. It was a fun afternoon of people watching.
We haven't moved on yet because Sean discovered a leak in the exhaust mixing elbow, so we're waiting on parts from the Yanmar dealer. Maybe next Wednesday. The weather is great, but the afternoon wind is cold. Not as warm as I'd hoped to be by this time, but it's a good place to be.
JC
--posted Friday, Sep 26, 2008
You gotta get cold to get warm...
Night watches have been cold. We are an open cockpit boat and don't have any canvas. At least one layer of pile under the foulies is required at night.
The string you see tied to the pedestal guard was put there to lead the water down that was accumulating from the fog and running down the topping lift, and dripping square in the middle of the plotter.
--posted Monday, Sep 22, 2008
The Dash to San Francisco
We were in Coos Bay and the weather set up to get us further down the coast, so we headed out and did a 22 hour run to Crescent City in the fog. (see Jan's previous post)
We were both up most of the night watching the boat in the fog, so once we arrived we were both up for a nap. After I woke up I looked at the gribs and marine forecasts again and realized that we really needed to keep moving.
So we headed out that evening for Humbolt Bay (Eureka) and were in there early in the morning which was perfect timing for the tide on the bar. (No fog!!!) We took the tour up the river and topped off the fuel at Englund's. (You just tie to the piles there, there is no float and as far as I know, there is no diesel available at a float anywhere in Eureka.)
After that we "turned and burned" for San Francisco.
The weather report was benign, and we headed for Cape Mendocino. The Cape was not about to let us pass without just a little abuse and we found ourselves doing a little bit of bashing into a 4 foot wind wave out of the south with a little of the Cape Mendocino current confusion twisting it up a bit. We made a beeline for deep water and things were much better.
As Cape Mendocino fell behind, the weather was drop dead gorgeous (for a power boat) and we had a magnificent night under the stars.
The following day was more gorgeous weather and things seemed noticeably warmer south of Point Arena.
The next morning found us needing to slow down and kill a little time to arrive at the bar at San Francisco after the ebb. That proved to be not necessary, as I believe we could have driven right across the "Potato Patch" at max ebb in the prevailing conditions. But in any event, we wanted to cross under the Golden Gate in daylight, so we killed some time and made that happen.After a couple of brief dances with large commercial traffic (did I mention that AIS is wonderful?), we were under the Golden Gate and on our way to the San Francisco Marina.
As we set course for the marina, we noted one of the Coast Guard Aluminum Chambered Boats making a beeline for us. We slowed to bare steerage and they came alongside and we answered the usual questions regarding last port of call, etc. When we got to the question about "when was your last boarding by the Coast Guard?" I had to truthfully answer "Never!". I felt like adding "Welcome aboard!". That wasn't required, and they joined us for little visit. As I said before, they were nothing but courteous and professional as well as friendly. I'm glad they are out there.
After the Coast Guard departed, we made our way into the marina. After securing the boat, our very first priority was a hot shower. Our foulies hadn't been off in days, and we didn't smell good. I hope the Coasties weren't offended.
SK
--posted Monday, Sep 22, 2008
Under the Golden Gate
Crossed under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 9:30 this morning after what amounted to a four day mad dash out of Coos Bay to make a weather window. We were boarded by the Coast Guard not 15 minutes later...
The boarding party was courteous and professional. We are fortunate to have such good people in our service.
We are in the San Francisco Marina, home of the Saint Francis and Golden Gate yacht clubs.
More Later...
SK
--posted Friday, Sep 19, 2008
California at last!
We left Coos Bay Monday morning and crossed lattitude 42 some time in the wee hours. We're in California! Arrived at Crescent City at dawn Tuesday after I'd say our most comfortable ride yet. Very little rolling and a full moon. Unfortunately the moon was hidden behind fog the entire night, and there was no wind save maybe a few knots on our nose! 22.5 hours motoring with the fog horn blaring, keeping a constant watch on the radar. But we're getting closer! Looks like a hop to Eureka, then a fast hop around Cape Medocino while the weather is benign. Then we may have to hole up for the weather again. I think it's getting a little warmer ... in the 50's!
JC
--posted Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
Motor Life Boats
The 47 foot motor life boat that the Coast Guard uses is one tough boat!
These boats are built strong to take some serious punishment and will self-right in 10 seconds with all machinery still running.
There is a great series of pictures taken at Morro Bay, take a look at:
www.pbase.com/roberthouse/image/89914880
Nice photos Gary!
SK
--posted Saturday, Sep 13, 2008
The Charleston Marina In Daylight
Yesterday was just plain ugly, blowing 20 knots and a fog that just soaked everything. Today is already promising to be nicer as you can see from the photo above.
The Charleston Marina here in Coos Bay has about 700 slips and has an interesting variety of boats. Recreational boats are interspersed with commercial trawlers, trollers and crabbers.
The facilities here are adequate and the marina staff is very friendly.
The Coast Guard station is right here and they have a nice dock with a boat house and evidently a travel lift and a large building to work on the boats in. There is at least a pair of the trick motor lifeboats here and it's a treat to watch the Coasties maneuver them. They are obviously well trained and not afraid to be very positive if not aggressive with power and helm when manuevering to the dock. The crew has a communication protocol with lots of information flowing to the person on the helm.
SK
--posted Saturday, Sep 13, 2008
The problem with the weather...
I can't say that I had ever imagined that it would take 3 weeks to only get as far as Coos Bay.
We have been seeing or hearing a lot of the following in the last 2 -1/2 weeks:
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING
HAZARDOUS SEAS WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS IN EFFECT THROUGH SATURDAY
EVENING...
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE
SATURDAY NIGHT...
So we found ourselves spending a week in Newport, Oregon with a bunch of other cruisers with the same line of thinking. We just happened to get a little window to hop another 80 miles down the coast to Coos Bay and are here with many of the same folks we were in Newport with.
The culprit is a thermal trough over Northern California and Southern Oregon that for the last couple weeks has had the North Pacific high pressed against it producing a steady supply of winds from 20-40 knots off the coast in the area From north of Cape Blanco to Cape Mendocino whose by-product has been an abundance of short steep seas.
It appears that this situation will abate starting Sunday and the weather will turn good. Probably too good. It will probably be light and fluky wind all the way to San Francisco...
SK
--posted Friday, Sep 12, 2008
Wallowin' in a Followin'
Arrived in Coos Bay this evening after a 14 hour ride in a following sea from the northwest. The problem was, the course was pretty much due south, and there was very little wind to stabilize the roll of the boat.
After spending about an hour with various sail combinations trying to stabilize the roll, we gave up and pointed the boat south, powered it up, and hung on. We wanted to be on the bar at Coos Bay no later than sunset, and needed to "beat feet" to make it.
We turned inbound at the bar about a half hour after sunset and threaded our way to the Charleston Marina. We'll let you know more about the place after daylight...
SK
--posted Thursday, Sep 11, 2008
Not yet ...
We're still here in Newport. A few boats left but we opted to stay another night. They planned to stay close to shore, hopefully staying out of the stronger winds. After they left the forcast was upgraded to "Gale warning, winds 20-30 knots, seas 10-14 feet." So we're bored, but safe.We took the opportunity to defrost the freezer. It's been working too hard and some areas aren't keeping cold enough. We think the box is too big for the unit, so we added some foam insulation to block off about 1/3 of the freezer space. We'll see if that does the trick. We had replaced the original Frigoboat unit with a Cool Blue cold plate system, dividing the box into a freezer and frig. It seemed to work great, keeping ice from melting and keeping most items solidly frozen, but with full time use it tended to thaw the items in back and on top. Minor details.
JC
--posted Tuesday, Sep 9, 2008
Onward?
It's evening here in Newport, the wind is howling at 25 knots, and the dozen or so cruisers stuck here are antsy to move on. Everyone making their last trip (maybe) to the showers and getting ready for a morning departure (maybe).
We just returned from dinner at the only place within a reasonable walk, where the beer and food is good but the service is not. I'd love to be able to BBQ on the boat or have a pot luck with the others, but the afternoon wind makes that impossible. Dave (on the neighbor boat) is frustrated because after watching the actual buoy reports all day, he concluded they could have been in Coos Bay tonight. I think there may be a mass exodus tomorrow, right or wrong. If it's not time yet, we'll all end up in Coos Bay. If it's good sailing, we'll get to Eureka. Sean and I won't know until about an hour before departure if we're leaving Tuesday or Wednesday. In the mean time I'm stowing everything again and getting ready to go.JC
--posted Monday, Sep 8, 2008
Ocean Sailing 101 - Neah Bay to Grays Harbor
Neah Bay to Gray's Harbor - Ocean Sailing 101
Reminder to self:
The Strait of Juan de Fuca entrance is ugly when the tide is ebbing. Even at the tail end of the ebb with a good sized westerly swell, rounding Tatoosh can be pretty interesting.
The weather forecast was for 15-25 knots NW and it was spot on. With a 9 foot westerly swell and about 4 feet of wind wave, it made for a bit of a bumpy start. Under a single reefed main and stays'l we were able to sail deep enough to set a course parallel to the coast. (And pretty much beam to the swell). We sailed all day and through the night often rolling hard to port. Solana is a good boat and takes real good care of herself and us, stiffening up and rolling back before anything gets too wet.
Sleep did not come easily and morning found the wind up at the 25 knot end of the scale and us thinking that Grays Harbor would be a good first stop.
We had been nearby another sailboat for most of the trip and were encouraged with the bar report they received from the Coast Guard at Grays Harbor.
Reminder to self #2:
Just because you have a good bar report doesn't mean the bar conditions are good.
The wind and sea state had subsided nicely as we made our way inshore and about 1/2 hour from the green line, we got a bar report of "combined seas 2-4 feet, all areas clear". About the time we were surfing the last five minutes of the bar, the motor lifeboat went out to check the bar and declared "deteriorating conditions" and closed the bar to traffic under 30 feet. We noted the flashing "rough bar" lights were turned on as we entered the harbor. It was certainly an "E-ticket ride" and something to put on my list of "things to avoid doing again". It's also worthy to note that the bar at Grays Harbor is a little like Las Vegas in that things are farther away than they appear. It's a long bar crossing. From the time we hit the green line to the time we finally relaxed was over an hour.
SK
--posted Friday, Sep 5, 2008
Westport to Newport
Quick update, we left Westport Sept 3rd around 9:30 am and arrived in Newport, Oregon, Sept 4th at about 7:30 pm. We've escaped Washington's grasp! There are at least a dozen or more cruisers here at the transient dock, quite a little community, all waiting for the weather to calm down before continuing south. We'll set up our office and do some work while we wait and enjoy whatever Newport has to offer. It's a nice marina and bus service to town. (Actually, the guy at the fuel dock offered us his VW bug if we wanted to do some shopping!) It's a good thing we aren't on a schedule.
JC
Anacortes to Newport
--posted Saturday, Sep 6, 2008
Crossing Bars and Overnighters
For months I've been reading about the treacherous bar crossings at ports like Columbia River. The combination of waves, tides and a river creates very confused waters. We'd vowed to avoid crossing the Columbia River bar but others can be nearly as exciting. We hit Grays Harbor at a bad time. At the end of an ebb tide is probably the worst time. But it's difficult to schedule departures and arrivals when we're still learning what to expect in terms of average speeds. Approaching Grays Harbor the boat rolled several times exceeding 40 degrees. I was never frightened - I guess I just figured that's what the boat was built to handle, and people make this crossing every day. I'm amazed that none of my glasses or dishes have broken yet, and that items stay where we put them for the most part. So we survived a rather treacherous bar crossing, plan to never do THAT again, but we know our capabilities, and that's comforting. At Newport, or Yaquina Bay, it was a different story. Waves and wind from port but pretty constant, so not as much rolling. Still challenging but heck, we'd done this before!
Watching the sun go down on the ocean, not another soul in sight ... just the two of us and our boat moving south with the wind. Pretty awesome. The stars appear until the entire Milky Way is painted across the sky. It's a little challenging to recognize some of the familiar constellations because of all the 'extra' stars! But the Big Dipper, Orion, and Cygnus were comforting landmarks. Skymarks??
When I was younger, pulling an "all-nighter" was no big deal. Stay awake all night and be normal the next day. These days it takes a little more effort. We didn't have a watch schedule. I'm pretty good until about midnight, then I need a cat nap. With luck, Sean has already gotten a few winks. I go below and crawl into the bunk completely dressed, including deck vest and safety tethers and hat. It was really cold - I had on multiple hats and layers! You don't lay in the bunk like normal, no, you just crawl in sideways leaving your feet at one corner, pillows off to one side. Ignore all the creaking and rolling. For some reason I'm able to nod off immediately, sleep fairly well for about 45 minutes, then a snap of the sail or the radio will wake me, and it's time to go back out and watch. The second day is rough for me. Seems like I'm always sleepy and I need to stand up just to stay awake.
JC
--posted Friday, Sep 5, 2008
One more step
Well, we're in Westport, Grays Harbor. My first time out on the ocean was lively but I didn't get sick! It helps to have a sturdy boat and a great captain. Stories to tell later ... just wanted to tell anyone who might be checking up on us that we STILL haven't escaped Washington's grasp.
JC
--posted Monday, Sep 1, 2008
Rain!
I don't think the rain has stopped once since our arrival in Neah Bay. Every leak we thought was fixed is leaking again. Odd, the one we knew still leaked hasn't yet ... Locker contents are getting a bit damp. Fortunately we put nearly everything in Ziplock bags! Even a walk up the dock is unappealing in a constant drizzle. Washington is doing a good job of booting us out the door. We're very anxious to 'get out of Dodge' as they say! Solana is a comfortable boat, but it IS becoming a bit claustrophobic.JC
--posted Friday, Aug 29, 2008
Waiting for the Weather
We are now in Neah Bay, waiting for a weather window to make the leap out on to the Pacific Ocean. It’s raining and windy, not at all typical for this time of year. No rush – we can wait. Internet and cell phone reception is good here so we can actually do some work.
The last week has been really hectic. Apologies for not getting the blog going yet. Just too many little last minute details. If we did everything that needed to be done, we’d still be in Anacortes ;^0 As it is, we may have some spare parts shipped here that we didn’t think about before. We have a list started of the items we forgot to pack. Nothing critical. Instant oatmeal, a sun-shirt, q-tips. Oh well.
We left Anacortes shortly after noon on Saturday, 23 August. Sunny and warm. Almost no wind, so under power out the channel then south. Picked up just enough wind to try out the Monitor auto pilot. We named it Monty. We also have Tilly, the tiller pilot for downwind that attaches to Monty. Both only work while under sail, and so far we’ve done nothing but motor. An auto-pilot that works while motoring is on our list.
We anchored at the south end of Lopez Island, then stayed a day in pouring rain. That’s okay, we needed to stow everything and tried to get organized. Monday, 25 August, we left before dawn to cross Rosario Strait, again under power. Solana handled the choppy seas very well, though it was slow going. Experienced some fog and were glad for the radar. We stayed at Port Angeles. Tuesday the trip to Neah Bay was through glassy calm water – yes, still under power. Someday we’ll sail. Just outside of Neah Bay the rain started again – this is August?
The typical weather for this time of year is supposed to return this weekend. Then it will be a downwind sail to San Francisco and beyond. Will keep you posted!
--posted Thursday, Aug 28, 2008