Coos Bay

We left Newport on Wednesday, June 11th, as soon as the tide rose enough for us to get out of J dock (we got stuck on the way in). Our goal was Winchester Bay, about 60 miles south. We could make it in daylight if we averaged 6 kts. Past the breakwater we were able to hoist the main sail in 5 to 12 knots of wind almost directly on the stern. We were averaging about 4 kts, not enough to get to Winchester before dark without motoring, but enough to be off of Coos Bay about dawn. The weather was good, we were having fun sailing, so we decided to press on to Coos Bay under sail. We had some problems when the wind lightened, the roll of the boat would overcome the wind pressure on the sail, causing the main sheet to slacken, then the boom would slam back out on the other side of the roll. We were able to tie a line on to the boom to hold it out in the roll, same concept as a whisker pole for a jib, and that helped considerably. We also had some issues with the radar after dark, the roll of the boat was getting false positives on the wave tops and setting off an alarm thinking there was another boat within range. We disabled the sentry, the on watch person would have to watch the radar occasionally for any real signals. This made night watches more enjoyable. Cindy was on watch when we got off of the bay entrance, she slacked the sail and had us bobbing until daylight. We then dropped the sail, motored in, anchored out until the marina office opened. About 24 hours total, only 2 of them on the motor. Friends Steve and Vicky from Loch Fyne, whom we'd met in Newport, set off a day later than us. Their wind was from the south, they motored the whole way and got in at 4:00am Friday. We'd had some stuff sent ahead to Doug's brother Jim, who lives in Gold Beach. This included a new 49 gallon holding tank, which Jim delivered on Saturday. Doug's niece Keisha visited that afternoon, took Doug on some provisioning errands, then we took her out to dinner. Sunday morning we went to church with her, then we got going on the projects. Zoom ahead to today (Thursday), we have the old (way to small) holding tank and hoses out, the new tank and hoses in, the port water tank bleached, flushed, and filled, the 30 year old bilge pump replaced (it had failed en route). While we prefer to anchor out, to change the holding tank we really needed to be in port to be able to run up to the restrooms when needed. We have been fortunate to be able to dock withing reach of the holding tank pump out. Also fortunate that the port had a 2 1/8" hole saw we could borrow to finish the holding tank install. We'll get stuff re-stowed tomorrow. We've got a leak in our dinghy that needs patching, and maybe Doug will do some fishing or crabbing. Hoping to get some time with Jim's family over the weekend, or maybe next week when we get down to Bandon.