Ship's log October 12

I was awake early this morning, and heard the wind blowing harder than expected. Then at 7:00 when I stuck my head out to see the day, it was cold, low to mid forties I guessed. We were planning to escape from Brookings today, to sail past Crescent City to the next harbor at Humboldt Bay, CA, some 80 miles away. In a vessel that runs anywhere from 3 to 6 mph, it should be easy to understand that this simple trip would take longer than the 5 or 6 hours of a warm afternoon to complete. In fact, I planned the trip for about 20 hours. Now, we all know that I can't tolerate cold, so, what in the world was I thinking?

When we sailed away from Winchester Bay, we had a third person aboard - one experienced sailor named Robert. It was this third person, who could take some of the night watches and allow me to warm up that made the trip possible for us. But alas, since we've laid over in Brookings for most of his available time, and for other personal reasons, Robert had to bail out a couple days ago. And though I've stressed and agonized over it, I just can't convince myself that we can do this without the third person. We need to be in warmer weather.

A couple days ago I heard about a sailor living here in the harbor who had recently helped another cruiser get down to San Francisco. Last night Claudia and I were invited to a BBQ where we met a man named Alan - the sailor I had heard about. Today we showed Alan our Sojourner, and he agreed to help us get down the coast. He has other committments for a couple weeks, but then we should be getting this show on down the road.

Interesting how things work out isn't it?

Emrick

Escape from Brookings

One of the things that is most difficult about cruising is deciding when to make our passage to our next destination. We look for where we want to go, how strong & from what direction the wind is coming at us, how high & how frequently the ocean swells are occurring and how long it will take us to get where we want to go. We look for a weather window that will allow us to get there safely & with the least amount of "rockin-n-rollin". Since the weather seems to change hourly, the plans that you make one day may change by the next. That said, we are hoping to leave tomorrow morning, heading for Humbolt Bay/Eureka. We met the captain of the SV Patience a few days ago. He, his wife & their sailing dog Zoro are one their ways south as well & may be leaving with us. Just a few minutes ago a power boat settled behind us on the transient (that word does not have a nice ring to it, does it) dock. They are from Seattle & headed for Eureka tomorrow. Apparently another power boat they are with is about an hour behind them but will also be heading south. A flotilla!! It is nice to have people around again. Since our friends from Berit J left on Monday it has been very quiet around here. I sure hope they are catching tuna!
Emrick & Claudia

PS Emrick is the one who received the knock on the head from the boom, not me.

Maxine

Maxine has finally consented to being introduced to everyone. She thinks this blog is pretty outrageous but she is now willing to "go along" as it is her only way to get to warm waters.
Maxine was hired on as crew just before we left Salmon Harbor. She told us stories of having sailed with David Crosby (of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) and Jimmy Buffett (of Margaritaville fame). Recently she has been residing on the SV (sailing vessel) Footloose in Salmon Harbor. Her captain Ted let her know that we were bound for the Sea of Cortez and she decided it was time to see some sun. Maxine doesn't eat much, is pretty quiet, likes movies and enjoys sitting on deck, all of which is good, but her proficiency at sail handling and covering a watch leaves something to be desired. I guess I use the word "crew" loosely. Anyway, I'm sure you will see her in the future as she shares our passage. Well, Maxine is headed out on deck to absorb some much appreciated rays of sunshine. Me, I'm headed for the shower . . . . .

Weather weather everywhere

It's not that we don't like Brookings. I mean, we have a sturdy dock to tie to, shorepower, water, and even WI FI. And we've met some incredibly nice people here too. But warm waters are calling. Sometimes I even think I hear Maxine grumbling. Oh. I guess we haven't told you abour her yet. We'll work on that. And I'll try to get a pic for you, but she's been acting rather shy lately.

Anyway, yesterday, based on a forecast of poor but improving, we set out for Eureka, CA. This straightforward 80 mile trip should have been a simple overnight leg with stickman steering the boat for us. Instead, after 1 1/2 hours with conditions certainly getting worse, we turned back and are again tied up at the dock in Brookings Harbor for what looks like another week. We're waiting for a hole or window in the seemingly never ending parade of systems that are marching across the Pacific.

I'm confident that one day we'll be able to write you about exotic people and places, private warm water anchorages, magnificent sunsets, and all manner of experiences with sea life. But right now, as long as we're stuck here, it's about whether I can watch Monday night football tonight.

Hanging out

We're laid over in Brookings because of some strong weather that's arriving and looks to last a while. So it's a good chance to remedy the few boat problems discovered on the trip so far. On Saturday night in the nasties we did an accidental jibe where the boom came flying across the cockpit and nailed me in the forehead. That was bad enough, but had I been standing, it could have put me in the water. We are now rigging a "preventer". Also found a young man to dive under the boat and replace the prop shaft zinc that was lost somehow on the way here.

Yesterday in Brookings was the first day of a very short and long awaited salmon fishing season/derby. When we walked to the laundromat in the RV park at the shore in the AM, we were treated to quite a sight. The ocean looked relatively mellow, but good sized waves were crashing to shore, and behind them, almost lined up from the bar out the channel for maybe a mile, rising and dropping in the swells were about 40 or 50 small fishing boats. It looked almost like you could have walked out the channel from boat to boat. I had been whining about the fact that what used to be a simple 5 minute chore at home had become a 2 hour chore here in our new life. Shame on me. Had we been able to just walk into the laundry room, put in the clothes, and leave, we'd have missed both this spectacular sight and meeting up with Jimmy, our bartender from Monday Night Football at the local bar, who offered us a ride back to the boat. Life is good.

We made it to Brookings

Sojourner & crew made it to Brookings about 4pm on Sunday. Wow, what a trip. We left the dock on Saturday under sunny skies with a single reefed mainsail, full mizzen and about 100% on the jib. By mid afternoon, we had reefed the jib to about 70%, put the 2nd reef in the main & were still moving at 5-6 knots. By nightfall we had shortened the jib again to 50% & the wind had picked up to 15-20 knots. The seas were "short" so we were rocking & rolling. Through the night the winds had to hit 25 knots & my initiation to this trip was in full force. We ended up dropping the main completely, bringing down the jib to a handkerchief. Words like "miserable" & "frantic" come to mind. Near the last of a very long night the wind died to 5 or less knots & we ended up firing up the diesel to motor us the rest of the way in. At 3-4 knots with the diesel the "rest of the way in" seemed to take us forever. The night ride was something I do not care to repeat but guess what, I didn't get sick. It took us until this am to get the internet set up to use, figure out how to use their shorepower & unwind a little. We also received some super pics of Sojourner leaving the dock & crossing the bar. Thanks Nancy!!! I will post some this afternoon.

It is getting close . . . . .

We have gathered most of our stuff for the journey and plan to be leaving for the boat by Thursday. Somehow packing for 6 months is no longer my favorite thing to do. Emrick keeps looking at my "piles" and shaking his head. It must be a guy thing. All the females out there understand that packing for 6 months is traumatic. I have never had to decide how much of anything I use in 6 months. I just hope it all packs into the car . . . . Sorry there are no pictures but we lost the "sensor" part of our camera (spendy little item) and had to purchase a new camera. We should have photos before we leave. Most of you know that Emrick has been spending time at the boat working on his "to do list". What you don't know is that he has found time to do a little "crab festing" with some of our new friends on the dock. I love eating crab. Emrick has always told me he does not like crab and when ever I brought up crab pots he would wrinkle his nose. Apparently our friends cook the crab in a new and wonderful way. Emrick now likes crab. So, on the top of my "to do list" is getting in on a crab fest before we leave. Well, the next time we talk will be from Reedsport floating on the water.