There is a sailor's superstition that says "never begin a voyage on a Friday, for it may bring bad luck". However, since Friday happens to herald in the weekend, we have left on many a Friday, for weekend getaways, all of them wonderful.

The key word in the warning must be voyage.
A weekend sail could hardly be called a voyage...

But this particular Friday would be distinctly different. It was not just a weekend getaway, but THE GETAWAY - a 3 year cruising plan that would take us across oceans.

This would be the first leg of our voyage - from Tacoma to San Fransisco, in 10 days. (Certain obligations dictated the time frame.) We desparately needed 'Friday' to get a head start. What about the superstition? Well, "we're just motoring through the Puget Sound", we thought, "like we've done a hundred times". "The VOYAGE won't really begin until we get to the Pacific Ocean, and that's days from now..."
Sounds good to me...let's go!

On Friday August 4th, 2006, at 5:55pm, we cast off the mooring lines and left Crow's Nest Marina, our home for the past 3 � years. Leaving was nothing like what we had imagined. We had looked forward to this day for the last four years, and expected it to feel one of two ways; either as exciting as getting your first bike for Christmas...or else like jumping off a cliff hoping the parachute opens.

It turned out to be more like a bittersweet emotion, with our friends and neighbors standing on the dock wishing us a safe passage, ready to toss us our lines. We backed out slowly, waving goodbye, our tears hidden behind our dark glasses.

We slid through the breakwater as we had done so many times before. As the marina disappeared, it dawned on us that "this was it�, our lives would probably never be the same.

We focused on the task ahead. We were going to try to cover 900 nautical miles in nine or ten days.

We motored north, intending to get as close to Port Townsend as possible. After a late dinner, Angela went below to catch a few winks, asking to be awakened when we were ready to drop anchor - maybe in Eagle Harbor or Apple Tree Cove. At 1:15am, Angela popped her head into the cockpit asking "where are we�? We were almost in Port Ludlow. At 1:55am we anchored and turned in for the night.

Steen awoke with a start the next morning, thinking the anchor was dragging. He flew out of the hatch to find Angela at the anchor windlass, lifting away. At 6:25am we were under way again, heading for Neah Bay.

I guess Neptune wanted to make sure we were well prepared for the eventual sail to the South Pacific. He sure did not waste any time on the lesson plan. The first class began August 9th at 12:30am, the first night out of Neah Bay. The class was 'avoid five mysterious fishing trawlers in your path, in gale force wind and confused seas'.
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I am just testing our new Blog site. Soon I will finish this first entry in what will become a chronicle of our adventures.