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| Early morning departure from Port Angeles |
I have spent the last month doing boat things instead of land things. Marshall, who figured large in our trip last year from Seattle to San Fransisco, allowed me to come along on his trip this year. So August 30th I was on the Coho ferry headed to meet up with him and his other crew Rudy on the good ship Tenacity in Port Angeles.
Due to some weather in the straight of Juan de Fuca it was a couple of days before we headed to Neah Bay. One night of rest in Neah Bay and we were on our way South!
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| Appropriately named! |
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| The crew of Tenacity making the turn at Cape Flattery |
A midday departure from Neah Bay and we were motoring in light wind and swell, as we made our way around Tatoosh island things got pretty bouncy and Marshall and Rudy got kind of wet trying to secure the anchor in bow roller as Tenacity gave them a few good splashes. With the anchor secure we settled into our watch schedule and started passing by the washington coast. On the second night we crossed the bar and went upriver to the docks in Newport. It was an uneventful arrival except for the seemingly huge dredge with all its crazy lights working in the entrance.
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Tenacity sitting at dock in Newport sandwiched between two
Westsail 32's |
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| Marshall and Rudy have a fond goodbye. |
With the weather around Cape Blanco looking rather unpleasant our stay in Newport was extended....until Rudy would no longer be able to continue. Work was calling and he had to get a move on. He had his gear packed and sitting on the dock waiting for the bus when the captain of the french boat Tanga came by looking for crew. He wanted to make a straight shot to San Fransisco and his boat was fast enough to beat the blow that was approaching Cape Mendocino. So Rudy and I both jumped at the chance for a quick ride to San Fransisco, Rudy would get to work on time and I would get to have the experience of a fast boat! Plus we each got our own cabin! Quite a change from the cozy quarters of Tenacity.
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| The dolphins loved Tangas speed and we saw lots of them playing with her. |
After less than 72 hours and having travelled some 500 miles we had successfully rounded Cape Blanco, Cape Mendocino and were inside the San Fransisco Bay! What a great experience!
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Me, Captain Gabby, and fellow crew, Rudy on the approach
to the Golden Gate bridge. |
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| The weather in SF was quite pleasant |
Rudys sister in law kindly took me in to her lovely home in Oakland and I arranged to transport back to Newport and Tenacity. I ended up on an overnight train ride back to Albany, Oregon, where Marshall picked me up in a rental car. We did some Costco shopping and sightseeing and then drove out to Newport to prepare Tenacity for her departure. We had a very early morning departure from Newport, in the dark again, and then headed south. During the afternoon we started to hear weather warnings for further south so prudent seamanship dictated a stop in Coos Bay.......
Not in the plan and it became another night time bar crossing, this time an unfamiliar one! A wee bit stressful, but in the end uneventful. Thank goodness for radar and GPS!
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| Sunrise as seen from the train. |
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| Potluck supper on Halcyon I in Coos Bay, yup its a hard life.... |
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| A fixer upper I spotted in Coos Bay, someone loved this boat once. |
When we left Coos Bay we had another early start, in the dark, our goal was to make it around Cape Blanco with lots of daylight. The wind was calm and the seas were pretty flat and it stayed that way all night and well into the second day. We got some sailing in later on and rounded Cape Mendocino in daylight as well, then as we approached Punta Gorda things got a little more exciting, in the dark of course the wind picked up into the 30 knot range and the sea got pretty bouncy, so we put in some reefs and didn't get too much sleep till it quieted down sometime in the middle of the night....
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| Sailing at night, with a nearly full moon, spectacular! |
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Entering into Fort Bragg, it is one of the most picturesque
harbours that I have seen, this photo does not do it justice. |
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| Fort Bragg, another early departure but in the daylight this time! |
We spent a couple of days enjoying Fort Bragg along with the lovely folks of Halcyon I, who are on their way to Mexico as well.
I was feeling some urgency to get back home, I need to spend a full five months in BC to maintain my medical coverage, and Marshall had a friend to meet in San Fransisco so we tore ourselves away from Fort Bragg as soon as the small craft warning was lifted, and headed out. We did notice the rough bar light was flashing as we headed out but it looked fine from the inside......as we got further out we came to understand what was meant by rough bar. We encountered some pretty big swells with some of them topping out at 10 feet. The coast guard came out just behind us to do their morning bar report, at which time they reccommended that all vessels contact them before exiting....hmmmm....however we also saw an small runabout heading out for some fishing at the same time as us, they were able to travel much faster than we could and were out of the worst of it long before we were. Once we were far enough out to no longer be affected by the rough bar conditions we turned left and headed south.
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| The coast gaurd doing their morning rounds of the bar. |
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| Another sunset at sea |
The next morning we were on the approach to San Fransisco Bay and I got to sail under the Golden Gate bridge for a third time in two years. And we did actually get to sail, after motoring almost the entire distance the wind filled in just before the bridge and we had a lovely sail in warm sunshine all the way down the bay and under two more bridges to Redwood City.
I left Tenacity the next day to head back to BC and prepare for more Mexico adventures with Scott on Kialoa.
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| Golden Gate coming up. |
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| The Golden Gate bridge |
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| The Bay bridge |
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| The San Mateo bridge |
