Well, we did it. Not nearly as bad as expected although we did have our adventures. We left Silva Bay in the afternoon of August 15. I'm not sure how, but we managed to find a home for all of the "stuff" we have taken with us. After spending the night at Montague Harbour we motored most of the way to Cadboro Bay in hot sunny weather. Cadboro Bay was alive with sailing dinghies with kids of all ages enjoying their sailing lessons. Very cute were the youngest kids (four or five years old) who were towed out from the marina in their little Minto dinghies - four kids to a dinghy. Very cute. We left for Port Angeles early the next morning and had a wonderful beam reach in moderate winds all the way across. Just as we crossed the ocean border to America we raised our quarantine flag and no sooner were approached by a Homeland Security Zodiac. Very friendly. Very professional. Very fast. Their Zodiac was powered by four 250HP outboards that allowed them to approach so quickly, you didn't know they were near until they were right there. The rest of the sail was without incident until we entered Port Angeles Bay where immediately, another high speed Zodiac from US Coast Guard approached us to confirm we were heading into immigration. Very efficient and very friendly. When we finally tied up to the immigration dock, our processing and cruising permit were handled smoothly by a very courtious immigration officer. The term Homeland Security took on a more serious meaning that day. VERY efficient, yet very friendly. When all was said and done, we felt truly welcomed to America. Our friend Rob joined us later that evening after arriving on the ferry Coho from Victoria. Rob had never been offshore before either, so between the three of us we managed to concoct all sorts of horror stories about the trip ahead. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, and contrary to sage advice, managed to have a bit too much red wine. One of us (me) would pay the price the next day.

The next morning we left Port Angeles under cloudy skies and cool temperature at 5:30 after re-storing the dinghy and kayaks. I know that having kayaks on deck for a passage is a dumb idea but somehow they managed to get on board, and it was either tie them down or leave them behind. There were times in the next few days when I wished we had left them behind or left the dinghy high on its davits, but everything worked out in the end - so far. We had the current with us up the Strait Of Juan de Fuca, but the wind was 20K on the nose and made for horrible seas. We wanted to get a jump on our trip so we just slogged through with the engine. After several hours we finally pulled into Neah Bay to top up our tanks for the long trip ahead. The tide had just changed so the waves were more manageable but the fog rolled in. Oh well, a good chance to make sure everyone knows how to use the radar. A few hours out of Neah Bay we finally turned South. No wind but lots of thunderstorms in front of us. We used the radar to locate and try to avoid the worst of the cells. We heard a lot of thunder and saw many lightning flashes for a few hours but we eventually passed the last of the cells and broke out into clear and sunny skies. Right about the time the blower motor packed it in. Glad we had a spare which we quickly managed to locate and after an hour or so of working upside down in the engine compartment, all was well again.

Through the first night we encountered many fish boats and each of us managed a crash course in radar navigation. The fact is, it's almost easier to navigate in the pitch dark with a good radar set than it is during daylight. The night sky was filled with stars on my first midnight to 4:00 watch. Incredible! I had read many stories of the wonder of the night sky at sea but my imagination was unable to conjure what I saw. It's one of those things that is hard to descibe unless experienced. Like trying to describe "red" or "blue" to a blind person. Every time I glanced out at the stars I thought of Carl Sagan - "billions and billions of stars". Unfortunately for Rebecca when she took over from my shift the fog had once again moved in and the sky was mostly obscured. Finally the wind kicked in about noon on the second day. Light wind from the SW with 3' lumpy seas that allowed us to sail at about 5K. The engine gave a sigh of relief. The barometer was staying steady and the sky was mostly clear. One of the things I learned that was a complete surprise is that even though the weather was sunny and it was August, it was COLD. The temperature never went above 60 degrees F and in the evenings, routinely went into the high 40's. Well at least we were sailing, no one (except Stella) was feeling poorly and morale was high.

The next morning had us motoring again under sunny skies but calm winds. Slowly the predicted Westerly started to fill in and by noon we were broad reaching at 6K in light winds. The winds continued to gradually pick up allowing us to sail wing on wing with reduced jib making 6K. We checked the evening forecast for the area we were heading into and heard "small craft warning" and "hazardous wave warning". Small craft warning usually meant great sailing winds for our boat, but we had never heard of hazardous wave warnings. They were predicted to be 8 feet which didn't seem too bad with 20K winds. Well Rob was able to enjoy his 8:00 to midnight watch under sail with moderate winds and seas. I took over at midnight and my 1:00 log notes indicate "16K winds, mainsail only, horrible waves, scary for sure". The wind was fine but the waves were steep and short and from almost every direction with no point of reference in the dark. VERY confused seas. At 3:00 I tried to reef the main in 22K breeze on a dead run but couldn't relieve the pressure enough to reef, and didn't want to turn into the large seas. By this point, Rebecca had come up to assist me since she couldn't get any rest with the V berth pitching the way it was. I was still hoping we would sail out of this mess and everything would be aok. At 3:30 the winds reached 42 knots and I was concerned we were going too fast with the size of waves we were in. I went on deck (that was exciting!) to see why we weren't able to reef the main and concluded it was just too much pressure for this angle of sail. With Rebeccas help we started the engine and turned the boat into the waves where we were finally able to depower the main and put in a significant reef. We ran off under only half our main sail doing a comfortable 6 knots even though the seas were still very large and confused. Lesson learned - always reef the main at night if the weather isn't guaranteed to be perfect, and be aware of "hazardous waves" forecast.

After rounding Cape Blanco in the night we decided to stop in Crescent City for a fuel top up and a weather discussion with the Coast Guard. Weather forecasts were predicting 35 knot winds with 12 foot seas offshore and I wanted information on what we could expect if we stayed within 10 miles. We found the fuel "dock" and proceeded to top up. The fuel pumps were actually on the top of a pier. The "dock" was actually a log against the pier. I wondered out loud how many customers had fallen in trying to get from their boat to the log and then to the pier. Another great learning experience. Crescent City is here for commercial tuna and crab boats. They are very friendly to cruisers, but you have to appreciate this isn't downtown Vancouver.

The Coast Guard folks were very friendly and helpful (we had one volunteer to join us for Mexico ;-)) They confirmed that we would probably be comfortable staying inside 10 miles and thus missing the worst of the strong weather. We decided to go with their advice and so after a good meal at the local seafood restaurant we were off ... to discover that our autopilot had a fatal heart attack after getting us through last nights waves. Good thing we had a spare! And off we were again. We motor sailed most of the night in light winds with 5' to 8' short swells. Not pleasant. Early next morning we managed to shut off the engine and sail in 19 knot winds and rounded Cape Mendecino at 05:00. We had good sailing winds in heavy fog for the next three hours before the wind once again fell below 5 knots. Motorsailed through the rest of the day in light winds, large waves / swells and heavy fog. Only after 16:00 did the fog clear but still no wind, and plenty of large waves and swells. At 18:00 we noticed the charging system not working. Turned out that the alternator belts had had enough motoring. Good thing we had spares! The wind stayed light through the night and the rest of the trip was completed under power. At 05:00 Rebecca wrote in the log "off Bodega Bay, beautiful phosphorescence alongside. Stella intrigued". Finally at 12:10 we rounded Point Bonita and there she was - the bottom half of the Golden Gate Bridge. We had done it!

As it turned out, this was also the beginning of the Americas Cup challenger series in San Fransisco Bay. They had a huge area cordoned off for the speedy catamarans. Rebecca finally found us moorage in Sausalito but we stayed to watch the races for a few hours. The race boats sure do move fast, but the majesty of classic Americas Cup racing is sorely missing. These races only take 20 minutes to complete.

So here we are in San Fransisco making plans for the rest of our journey. What did we learn? What did we like? What did we hate? I thought it went much easier than expected. We had mostly light winds sailing less than half the distance. The temperature offshore was a surprise. We had warmer weather in May when we went to the Queen Charlottes. We never got above 60 degrees F offshore. Really glad we had the all around enclosure. Remember to reef before nightfall. Hazardous Seas warnings are to be taken very seriously. Make sure you carry essential spares. The water offshore is crystal clear and has a lovely blue tint to it. Very pretty. I thought we would be mostly alone out there but it was rare when we didn't see another fish boat for four hours - sometimes we had almost a dozen in our vicinity. There was very little freighter traffic and night watches were relatively easy with radar. I found the hardest part was keeping alert on night watches. At times I was so tired it hurt. We had talked about doing the trip without help, but having Rob along to share the watch schedules was a great help. In fact, we could have used one more body just to take the pressure off of night watches. I had the midnight to 04:00 watch and had the boat to myself as Rob and Rebecca caught up on sleep. It was quite a memorable experience being alone on watch under a star dazzling night sky, phosphorescence dancing in our wake, charging through the waves with darkness all around, the only reference point being on our radar screen.

Thanks for your help Rob!

Now we plan our next leg. I find myself less fearful and much more excited about the rest of the journey. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Perfect! Thanks for all of your support guys. It feels like what goes around comes around. I'm a very proud and lucky dad. :-)