Our trip to San Francisco took (starting at Cape Flattery) 6.5 days .
Our best day was 129 miles and our worst was 97 miles.
We motored & motor-sailed a total of 84 hours and sailed 72 hours.
The furthest offshore we went was 65 miles as we passed by the Columbia River.
On the 25th we were in some rough seas and strong winds and tried to heave to in order to make supper (for the non nautical types, heaving to is a way of bringing your boat into the wind and riding the waves facing into them to reduce the motion down below. This is more comfortable as you are not moving against the waves or with them, just bobbing up and down but not making any mileage either.) As we only had the storm jib up, we were not able to bring the bow into the wind enough to heave to so we lay ahull (sideways to the waves). Once dinner was finished we resumed our course but decided to head towards Coo's Bay to possibly get some rest. It was only our 2nd full day at sea and we were tired and not yet used to the motion and watches. By the time we were 30 miles offshore of Coo's Bay, the winds had moderated so we had to motor sail. Based on the forecasts, the winds were supposed to be 15 to 20 nearer shore and 20 to 25 further out so we decided to proceed on our course 30 miles off and not stop. Next day we got hit again with strong almost gale force winds for about 12 hours.
Rounded Cape Mendacino motor sailing in about 10 knots of wind.
We saw 2 whales just around Cape Flattery and a Puffin.
We saw Pacific White Sided Dolphins twice on the trip, and Dal's Porposis once.
We saw a Humpback Whale an hour before the Golden Gate Bridge.
We saw many Albatross and various other sea birds.
We saw very little freighter traffic and only a few fishing boats.
We had a few things break but nothing major, a towel rail, the stern nav light, the nav light half way up the mast. We did make a list of things we need to improve on based on this trip but the list is thankfully not too extensive and hopefully not too expensive.
We look at this trip as a shake down cruise. We have had the boat since 1993 and rebuilt and relaunched her in 2004, and since that time we have only done one overnight trip with her. You really only get a feel for what works and dosen't when you sail 24 hours a day for 2 or more days.
We enjoyed the nightly HAM schedule with Peter from San Francisco and Ron from Vancouver. It was comforting knowing that someone knew exactly where you were at a certain time of the day. It's a big ocean and you are alone out there.
It was also fun to be able to speak with some friends who were listening on the schedule who also have HAM radios.
For the next few days we are hanging out in San Francisco - Richmond actually as we need to have our windvane fixed. Scanmar picked it up yesterday and hopefully it won't take too long to get it back. Our friends Veronica and Dennis from a boat called Vida Nova are also here at the dock. The arrive in San Francisco the same day as us.
We are hoping to get back out heading south to San Diego by the weekend so stay tuned.