On to Bodego Bay

Doug spent Friday and Saturday sleeping and drinking lots of water to flush his system.  We decided he likely had something bad when we had lunch out Wednesday.  Sunday he felt good and we wanted to go but decided thinking was not totally clear and a little concerned if relapse.  So plan was for Monday morning,  right after a few surprise customer situations, then some maintenance since the flag halyard holding the radar reflector up broke on the way in to Eureka, then stopped at city docks to walk to grocery store....  made it out at 3:00.  Destined for Bodega, again. 

We always check the weather before we leave and many times on the way.  They update marine conditions only 4X per day unless there is a real time buoy cam in the vicinity.  Forecasters still had winds backwards and a bit slower than reality through out the  trip.  Ended up getting to sail about 1/2 the distance with wind on the rear making up to 7.5 knots but certainly not our average.  Sometimes by choice.... 

We had to go pretty far out around Cape Mendocino and between there and Pt Arena it dips in so most of that 100 miles we had little to no signal.  We rolled with all that pretty well until we realized Doug really had to have better signal.  So left turn and came towards shore.

Anyways the real surprise came during Pt Arena to Pt Reyes was supposed to have small craft warnings 3pm today to 9 tomorrow.  Oops they were wrong about that too...  15-25 with gust to 30 yesterday afternoon...  would be our guess.  I messed up our wind meter during some of that maintenance.  Oops!  Anyways first we took in a reef and tried to re-seat a batten that was trying to escape.  Finally decide to pull it and put in cabin to NOT trip over was safer.  

Went back up to change and further reduce sails later and decided maybe not going forward to do that!  Just drop it.  Discovered another escaping batten which we tried to just rescue and pull but lost to the ocean while dropping the sail.  So we then discussed...  Remembering that Freedoms are well thought of and advertized to sail in storms under 'bare poles.'  So sails are tied tight around the booms.  Two masts probably 10 & 12 inch diameter became our 'bare poles.'  With varied gusts and chop and skidding in and out of waves we traveled between 1.5 to 7.8 nm per hour under bare poles!  No engine.  That was new for us.  Early morning wind died and chop was beating us up so Doug started the engine and all was loud but better.

Noisy and bouncy as all get out.  Cats truly hated us!  Kept telling them and myself I knew we were safe!  Boat is fine and can handle this.  It's just not fun at the moment.  To them that might have been an eternity. 


Doug and I take turns manning the boat and either sleeping or trying to.  lol  He drops instantly and sleeps through everything.  I hear everything and analyze it all!   Ready to drop until it is my turn to sleep then wide awake.  GRRRR  No sleep for me.  I become a walking zombie.   : (  We have decided my biggest job is to man the boat enough so he can get enough sleep to be really rested and truly comfortable doing most the thinking maneuvers.

Fortunately, I can handle routine watches almost in my sleep with the plethora of electronics on board and scanning the horizon regularly.  Supposed to be every 20 minutes as that is how long it takes the ship speed to meet us once we can see each other.  My nervous nilly concept, even before the fog says every 10 or sooner is better.  lol.

We are anchored in Bodega Bay so Maui Boy can walk the deck all he wants and not the docks which lead him to other peoples boats and wayyyy to much trouble.  Fortunately we totally prefer anchors to docks anyway.  So does Squishy!

Learning Curves:

NOAH while is National is run by sections and each reports differently.  Oregon and Washington are pretty much the same.  California is NOT!  In fact each zone of California is different when it comes to marine weather info.  We are not only learning way more than we expected to know there but also about why forecasters are wrong so extremely and so often.  Sort of has become a survival skill.  This has required us to study El Nino, La Nina, and Santa Anna winds.

We also learned there is a buoy report you can call on your phone....  so for all our sailing friends 1-888-701-8992 you need to know the 5 digit buoy number.  It is a computerized voice and some are easier to understand than others.  Fortunately you can keep them repeating till you get it.  You can also ask for details or get current weather report for that area, as long as you have cell phone coverage.  Which we did not more often than not on this trip....

When listening to weather on the marine radio you have to listen really hard to understand.  We prefer to get on computers, if we have wifi coverage.  But they also refer to landmarks or cities....  Doug excels at geography while I do not, but even he has to really be on his toes for the details outside Oregon and Washington, his home states.  I just use a map liberally.    Yes a cheap, plastic, weatherproof street map.

 And last but not least when Coast Guard reports conditions , vessel assist, or just about anything else on the radio...  listen fast cause they talk fast.  If we don't know the local landmarks we have no idea what affects us or not.  Latitude and Longitude are rattled faster than we can write even if pen and paper are already in our hands. We are learning faster than we ever knew! 

All is good for aging brains... Right????
Love to all

On to Eureka!

A little disjointed as I have not slept much...

We made it out of Brookings and arrived safely in Eureka.  Definitely being reminded why we don't like, but need docks.  Brookings had more seagull poo than dock showing through... Most marinas are either working (fishing, smelly, language, etc) that gladly receive us too and the others that we have yet to encounter but know exist are the yacht club focus.  We suspect more of the keep up with the Jones' style but we will see. 

In the excitement of whales I forgot to mention when we arrived at Brookings we met sailors from LA that were heading North to the San Juans and we swapped best places/anchorage to hang out or avoid...  he even offered us use of his slip in his absence.  Sweet!!!  And on our way out we crossed paths with SV Orca and friends we got to know in Newport.  Waved and texted later.

Yesterday started with a couple of business calls Doug had to handle topped by day 3 that the weather forecaster was off by 180' in predicting the wind direction and seriously low on speed.  Of course one does not know this till out to sea.  lol  Doug admitted up front having a headache and a bit of queasy stomach but we assumed stress of wanting to LEAVE and he is prone to mild sea sickness.  He is the better sailor, more experience, remembers things longer than 30 seconds etc...  Wind all wrong, him ill and us being late getting out...  messed up our float plan so rather than round Cape Mendocino at midnight with predicted 30 knot gusts... We turned toward Eureka. 

We did see 2 sets of whales close enough to identify their tails but nothing like before!  Also several seals.  

City docks are walking distance to everything but totally exposed to N & NW weather, winds currently 15-20 and up to 30 tonight.  Glad we went for Woodley Island, pulled in about 7am.   Accessible to nothing but semi controlled winds.  ; )  Once we finally get to Bodega Bay we will receive our extra anchors that were shipped based on when we thought we would get there.   Marinas will receive stuff for us, friends are great when we really can not predict our timing.  Thank you Scott and Susan.  We really will get there eventually!  And those anchors will help with comfort and safety to anchor out rather tie to docks.

Anchorages are usually quieter, private and Squishy can be allowed in the cockpit with out Maui escaping to explore neighboring (or not so close) boats.  

Seas were really rocky yesterday and this morning, kind of like a baby's cradle only fast and choppy!  Cats were hating us and I think we were hating ourselves for a while.  Should have put it all together sooner and hid out in Crescent City!  Gale warning started various times today and end tonight, then we wait for Doug to be healthy!!!!   He is sleeping again/still...  They kind of run together. Somewhere in there he added yesterdays lunch to his possibilities but then the fever hit him this afternoon.   Prayers please for his return to health and that I NOT succumb!

Off to try to make up for sleep not gained last night!

There be Whales

This was truly amazing.  We killed the engine and just bobbed in the water, not wanting the propeller to hurt any of them.  The whales (Humpbacks, we have since found out) stayed with us for at least two hours, coming quite close to check out Spartan's hull.  It was right at dusk, so the light wasn't great for pictures.  Also, I had too much zoom on the lens, they were much closer than I ever expected.  Wished I'd thought to use the video capability of the camera.

.

better than sailing all day : )

We left Bandon this morning and headed south.  Wind was supposed to be 5-10 from the north.  We raised the sails just in time for it to change from the south.  On the nose so we cranked the ‘iron genoa’ otherwise known as the engine.  We left the sails up (aka ‘San Jauning’) because it gives the boat more stability and we found new value.

I looked out and saw another ‘San Juaner’ then said no two at the same time…  Doug said he saw a whale no two.  He was mostly right.  They were humpback whales a long ways off.  We killed the engine and floated.  The whales were comfortable after that and we realized we were surrounded by them and their show, at least 30 of them.  It was like they were courting our boat.  They circled in right often within 10 feet of our boat, circled, rolled, sprayed and flipped their flippers, dove, etc.  This began at 8:50 and they are still going!  Later we realized they had been around us for a long time.  They were the ‘noise’ on the radar.  

It is dark and foggy so we can’t see anything more so left the engine off, took down the sails and are still being rocked by whales.  We can hear them breathing or whatever it is called.  Pretty sure they are also scratching their backs on our keel given the amount of bob with no wind waves.  WOW!!!  God has made so many amazing creatures!!!  Even Maui came out to watch.

We are bobbing a safe distance of 5 miles offshore with no wind to speak of, radar and every other electronic to tell us if we have to worry and keeping a good watch.  Although the show did disrupt our take turns routine.  Lol  Doug is catching a nap then will likely write a much more technical account and post the best of his million plus pics and videos.

 

Love to all!

Winds and Waves!!!

Weather has been gorgeous and every bit as blowy as expected on the coast! 

We had another day sail scheduled with Keisha but the bar reports were questionable if we would get back in and my shoulder hurting so cast off and tie up sounded agonizing....  Cancelled the sail but Doug and Keisha went crabbing and then made awesome sushi rolls for dinner.  Yum!!!!

The 4th was loud but gratefully short.  Small bay here meant it was all very close by.  Felt like the fireworks were bouncing off our hull with booms and bangs before bursting into colorful explosions.  Cats were not impressed and only wanted to hide.  Emotional toll on them meant they slept very well!  LOL

Glad to be still in Bandon!  We are tied to a dock, with the bow pointed into the wind and waves, and still being pounded.  Wind between 15-20 according to weather forecast and 20-25 according to the meter.  Waves only 1-2 feet tall but smacking the dock with such force that they are getting to 4feet tall and then blowing over the whole dock and looks like 3 more before hitting the water on the other side..  maybe 10 foot total width.  Sticks and algae are washing up on the docs

Today is supposed to be the light weather with the next two worse before it might calm down.   Don't want to have to move the boat to pump out in this weather so we are walking to shore for potties.  Caught a few sprays the last time.  Definitely buddy up and maybe even wear life jackets if things don't calm down!   Dodging spray or slipping on algae sounds like a swim waiting to happen. 


5 lines tying us to the docs, 4 new and really thick and still swaying liberally, as is the dock, pilings and all boats around us.  Good thing we like the motion.  Kitties are doing pretty well.  Sleeping mostly. 

They say this will slow on Thursday and maybe start improving over the weekend.....  watching and ready to head south when things cooperate!

We noticed this morning our 'todo' list has begun shifting from obviously deferred maintenance to researching seamanship issues as related to our newer boat and newer cruising locations...  That of course brings more to do's that will mostly wait till the boat quits bouncing!  lol

Love to all,