Due South
15 August 2013 | Pacific Ocean southwest of Neah Bay
Pete
Awoke this morning at 0600, and after stowing all the miscellaneous items and scrubbing the neah bay marina grime off the decks, topping up the water tanks, we headed to the fuel dock to refill the diesel tank. We were greeted by an enormous bald eagle, and the dock attendant. The eagle took our breath away, the attendant took our money away.
As we were fueling, Eric made breakfast of steak and potato hash, coffee, and really great plums that we had picked up at the local grocery last night. We finished fueling and ate breakfast while we motored out of the bay, and into the fog bank.
Currently we are headed on a course due south, with a plan to motor through the windless waters, with a possible stop at Newport for refueling. The weather forecast calls for wind to begin to fill in from the SE tomorrow or next day, and begin clocking counterclockwise to the S, W, then NW over the following few days. We hope to be able to begin sailing when it fills, and if we get enough wind, in the right direction, we might be able to push further south before refueling.
Currently, thie patchy fog is coming and going, and the sea swell has mellowed from the 4' at the entrance of the Straits of Juan de Fuca to a 1-2' swell. Still no wind.\
All is well with the crew. In consulting with Marcus, who is taking his own boat to SF en route to Mexico, we discussed crew beating schedules. We figured that starting beatings on an as needed basis will suffice with the option to increase to continuous beatings with breaks for meals. The beatings have not yet started.
Will be in touch.