After three days of motoring slowly because of a lack of wind, I began to complain. Apparently Neptune heard me and by late afternoon, we had 35 knot winds, swell from two different directions, and wind waves from a third direction. These conditions are pretty common off the coast of Washington and Oregon, and are called “Washing Machine Seas,” because it feels like the agitation cycle of a washing machine. Here is a picture of Vicki at the helm in bumpy conditions after 3 days of sleep deprivation.

Since we were only 25 miles from the coast, we could get NOAA weather forecasts, which told us to expect several more days of the same uncomfortable weather. ( From Vicki S: this was the first time I felt a little unsettled in my stomach. It’s really hard to sleep when the boat is rocking and pitching, but I was able to find a little nest to settle into and managed to get my 4 hours of sleep. During my time at the helm, the waves were coming behind me and the boat was surfing. I can understand why people like to surf. It’s is exciting.)

So to escape a few more days in the “washing machine” we altered course for Eureka, California, in Humboldt Bay. After 3 days of trying to sleep, alone, in our “waterbed”, in 4 hour increments, cuddling up with a warm body for 8 whole hours of blissful sleep was beginning to sound very appealing. To enter Humboldt Bay, we first had to cross the river bar, which has wave patterns of its own. We called the Coast Guard who gave us a forecast of modest winds, 6 foot ocean swell and 2-3 foot wind waves on top of the swell. With Vicki S at the helm, it was a bumpy but uneventful bar crossing and soon we were tied up to the in Eureka.