After working in Vancouver for 1.5 years, then spending six months getting Issuma ready for sea, I got together a crew and left. It was fantastic to go to sea again!
We first had a practice/training sail to the picturesque Gulf Islands.
We then sailed to Port Angeles, WA, where we cleared customs and did more repairs and preparations.
While beating our way up Haro Strait in a fresh breeze, during a tack (turning the boat thru the wind so the sails move from one side to the other) there was suddenly a loud, long ripping sound from aloft. The jib had ripped from one end to the other (luff to leech)! We quickly furled it (rolled it up) and sailed without it until the wind died down the next day and we were able to put up the spare jib. That particular sail, only five years old, has bad sailcloth, and it rips extremely easily whenever it touches something hard under tension. In Port Angeles, Eric Taylor (http://www.taylorsails.com) patched the torn jib and is building me a new one.
The sail from Port Angeles to San Francisco was a pleasant eight days of following winds, mostly light. One day of Force 7 winds provided a nice contrast.
Now we're in San Francisco, getting some repairs done, doing a partial crew change, and looking at the weather further south.