Ellen
08/28/2010, just past Cape Mendacino

Well here is a synopsis of the trip so far: Day 1 leave Vancouver check in Pt. Roberts anchor at San Juan Island Day 2 head out Juan de Fuca but spend 4 hours taking back and fourth in front of Victoria and only get to Race Rocks so tack back to Port Angeles for the night. Day 3 Motor up Juan de Fuca straight in dead calm conditions. Coast Guard boat approaches and asks some questions. Top up fuel in Neah Bay and are past Cape Flattery by 6:30 pm in flat calm conditions. See a Puffin and a Pilot Whale. Motor all night long making our way south west. Day 4 Winds start to build to a nice comfortable 15 knots and we have a great day sailing downwind. Saw a few dolphins. Day 5 Winds built up to 20 - 25 knots and stayed all day making for an uncomfortable ride. Pot of rice flies off the stove onto the floor - we are still finding bits of rice 3 days later. Saw a pod of dolphins jumping around the boat very cool. Day 6 Motor sailing in light winds all day gives us a chance to regroup and clean up a little. Ellen is able to eat finally after feeling quite seasick for a few days. Day 7 Another day of rough weather this time up into the low 30's. Harvey and Ian were champs and took turns all day and night with the watches as Ellen hid below under the blankets (in her (my) defense it was too rough to be anywhere else on the boat and this way the bruising was kept to a minimum) Winds died around midnight thank god. Day 8 Here we are motoring and have just rounded the dreaded Cape Mendacino which lucky for us was pretty calm. We came right inshore to 20 miles or so because the forcasts are better. So here we are getting closer every day. We figure we could be in San Fran by Monday night but we don't want to enter under the bridge in the dark so will go to Drakes Bay for the night. It's taken us longer than we figured but we lost one day trying to get out of Juan de Fuca straight. We are averaging about 112 miles in a 24 hour day with our best day so far at 123 and worst at 97. That pretty much sums up the trip so far. I don't think Ian and I would have had an easy time of it with just the 2 of us. Harvey has been an invaluable crew member always cheerful and ready to pitch in and help with everything. Plus his experience with sailing his own boat to Mexico, Hawaii and back to Vancouver has come in useful too. We can't thank him enough and his wife Lynne for letting us take him for so long. A couple of tips for the leavers in the fleet coming in Sept. Bring lots of soft foam to pack into lockers because everything rattles and rolls out here. Fresh blueberries have been a lifesaver for me. When I couldn't eat or feel like eating anything else, munching on some berries kept me going. And make sure you have GOOD fiddles for your stove. Mine obviously aren't very good. Cheers Ellen

Comments [4]

Ellen
08/24/2010, 45 miles off of the Washington coast

Finally we are 'offshore'. We had a flat calm motor out of Juan de Fuca and by 6:30pm we were clearing cape Flattery. It was a beautiful calm, clear evening and as the sun set the moon rose. We had the full moon up all night lighting our way. We motored all night long as there was less than 5 knots of wind. The swells made us roll and Ian pulled out some of the jib but there wasn't enough wind to keep it full. This morning the winds picked up to 10 to 15 and we are sailing with the jib poled out to keep it open. It's still rolly out here and I have been feeling a little 'off' but managing oky. I even cooked the guys a hot breakfast this morning (not that I could eat any of it). So far we've seen, a couple of grey whales, a puffin, albatros and the odd fishing boat. Pretty quite so far. So that's the report to date.

Comments [3]

Ellen
08/22/2010, Port Angeles, USA

Well here we are in Port Angeles a mere 78 miles from home although we have logged 107 miles. The almost 30 mile difference is from tacking back and fourth today trying to beat our way out of Juan de Fuca with winds of 25 knots on the nose. We made about 4 big tacks back and fourth across the shipping lanes from 10am to 2:30 pm and were only as far as Race Rocks. The winds seemed to be increasing as were the seas so we decided to turn around and head to Port Angeles which was a nice downwind sail. What a difference when we turned the boat around and were having a really nice sail we almost convinced ourselves it wasn't so bad out there after all. But looking at the waves and feeling the wind on our backs, we knew it would be a hard slog if we turned around again. So here we are tied up to the dock and having a nice evening. The winds are supposed to ease tonight and tomorrow so we will give it a try then. Last night we had decided to anchor for the night when we realized it was blowing so hard in the straight but we thought it would be easy in the daylight. Not so much. We did work out some of the bugs today though. We tuned up the rig a little and saw that some of our lockers needed to be more securely closed and locked so it wasn't a complete loss of a day. With any luck we will make it to the big open ocean tomorrow in time for the full moon. Stay tuned.

Comments [3]

Ellen
08/21/2010, Just south of Saturna Island

So here we are enroute to San Francisco although we are still pretty much in home waters. We were up early (too) at 6am and underway by 6:30am. The river was really moving so we were sometimes achieving 9 knots of speed with the help of the current. I actually had to ask Ian to slow the boat down as I was cooking and wanted to finish before we hit the straight which can be rough at the mouth of the river. By 11am were at the customs dock in Point Roberts and checked in by noon. Harvey's wife Lynne met us there so she could take us shopping for the things we thought we shouldn't bring across like citrus and potatoes. (Harvey is our crew as far as San Francisco) We left Point Roberts by 12:45 and once out in the deep water were able to sail for a couple of hours which was nice. Now we are motor sailing along towards the straight of Jaun de Fuca. So far things are good but it is day one and it is relatively calm conditions. Not sure if I'll be spending much time here at the computer typing if things get rocking and rolling. We'll see. We've worked out our watch schedule that we will use for the first few days. Ian and Harvey's shifts overlap with mine so that I'm not by myself for the first few days until I feel comfortable enough to manage on my own. It also makes it easier to prepare meals and whatnot. So that is pretty much it so far. Nothing much to report. No wildlife yet. No fishing yet. I know the guys are keen to fish but until there is some space in the fridge they might have to hold off. That's about it for now.

Comments [2]

Ellen
08/20/2010, Vancouver

2 days ago I had to do something I've been dreading for years - give up my cat. Farley hates anything to do with boats and so had to go to her new home. The stress it would have caused her and me had we decided to bring her along, would have been too much. It was stressful for her in our local waters the few times we brought her along, so I could only imagine how bad it would be out at sea.
I'm very grateful to my good friend Shannen who willingly adopted my 11 year old cat. Knowing she is so well cared for leaves me free to embark on this journey and I will fondly remember her as my 'landlocked' cat.

Comments [2]

Ellen
08/12/2010, Vancouver

One more week to go! Then we untie the lines and head south to San Diego. Are we ready? Are we up to the challenge? Will we have fair winds? Can we really do this? These are questions that run through my head daily (and unfortunately nightly too).
What ever the answers, we are going! We are both excited and a bit nervous too. It's been so many years of planning and hard work to get to this point that we don't want anything to go wrong. But it's a boat after all and things will always go a little wrong.
The last few weeks have been stressful as we are both working full time and doing all the last minute running around getting things done. And of course we are having issues with the email and ham radio deal. Trying to get that sorted out before we leave. It was working and then for no reason we can figure it just stopped so now we are reloading software and re installing things to get it back up and running.
And then there is the saga of the anchor chain which we ordered several months ago. I came in with lots of time to spare but the galvanizing on it was unacceptable so we returned it. They ordered in a different kind but when it arrived it wasn't marine grade and wouldn't fit the gypsy properly. So now we are waiting for the 'correct' chain to arrive! One more week for it to get here.
But things are getting done. I have almost totally provisioned the boat now we just need to get the fresh things and the dairy and meat. Ian has almost completed his list of 'must do' jobs. So we are feeling pretty ready to go!
The next week is going to both fly by and drag by if that's possible!

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