To the RPO crew and followers of the blog -
I want to thank all the crew who made this South Pacific journey possible.
A journey like this takes the skill and help of many people.
Foremost, I want to thank Dave Taylor who played a big part in getting the boat ready.
He was also responsible for setting the radio up for email and communicating so families and friends could enjoy our trip - it takes a lot of dedication to do this on a rocky boat and turned out to be critically important on this trip. Dave also helped us explore the Society Islands and was crew for the longest period of time.
Thank you Charlie, Paul, and Ray for doing that first leg. This was the fastest sailing for days on end - covering many miles in three stormy days .
Thank you Stig, Aleta, Michael and Dave, who kept us ahead in the Baha Ha Ha.
Thank you Bruce and Sherry for the great visit in Mexico watching all those whales.
Thank you Dave, Larry, Kevin, Angus and Michael Kalahar for making us winners in the Banderas' Bay Regatta.
Thank you Dave, Larry, Michael and Kevin for helping on that long, eventful trip to the Marquesas. Your quick thinking and reacting were essential on this leg.
Thank you Tim for collecting the parts we needed and exploring the Marquesas and Tuamotus with us.
Thank you Dave, Rodney, and Ray for getting us to Hawaii through some very rough days.
Thank you Terry, Rob and Dave S. for making good navigating choices to get us home and for getting our new SSB radio working
There were nineteen different people sailing on WindChild since last September. They covered around ten thousand miles, extremely varied conditions, and difficult challenges. They succeeded in all of that and put up with the skipper, too.
Thank you so much for helping make these memories possible.
Rudy

Wind Child is home completing the final leg from Hawaii to Port Angeles in style with proud skipper Rudy at the helm. Due to a fouled prop with fishing line and lack of wind Wind Child was dead in the water a beam Neah Bay WA August 20 Friday night. Saturday morning skipper Rudy was up at day break with a plan to cut the fishing line. He only had swimming trunks to protect him from the fridgid northwest waters. He dove in and was able to cut the fishing line and free the prop to enable the crew to start the engine and head for home-- Port Angeles-- where Wind Child will go on the hard for a couple of weeks of annual maintenance before returning to its home in Sequim.

We motor sailed for the first 49 nautical miles east in the Straits of Juan du Fuca with light wind toward Port Angeles. At approximately 1430 hours 2:30pm, the wind piped up to 15 knots. Rudy ordered the Spinnaker to be deployed and the Jib to be furled. Soon the wind was blowing 18 knots and Rudy took the helm. Wind Child came a live under the skillful hands of its skipper. Wind Child's speed over ground increased to 10 and 11 knots. This included a favorable tidal current that was pushing us about 2 knots towards our destination and the planned party at Sequim Bay Yacht Club at 1800 hours (6pm). For the last 10 nautical miles we averaged over 10 knots per hour under clear blue skies.

We arrived at 1615 into Port Angeles harbor to be greeted by Rudy's first mate Jean (Commodore of SBYC) and and a group of enthusiastic supporters. We arrived in time for the welcome home party sponsored by Jean, with supporting help from crew members first mates Judy Spencer and Linda Senft. Followers of Rudy's Odyssey brought treats for the Pot Luck and their hearty congratulations for a successful adventure completed.

+Congratulations Rudy and thanks for the memories.

Last night Wind Child ended up with a fishing line wrapped around the propeller. Rudy went swimming this morning and freed the prop...brrrr....
They were stuck out there for several hours - no wind and no power - the result is that they are delayed.
They're east of Neah Bay, motoring, but will not be getting into Port Angeles at noon as expected.

*We are canceling the dock greeting there...

**we will have the potluck at 6pm, SBYC Clubroom at John Wayne Marina, East Sequim Bay Road, as planned - and hope they will be there...
See you soon...

Today has witnessed bright sunny skies and moderate winds from the West North West. We have been making 6-8+ knots under spinnaker for most of the day. This has been one of the best sailing days this trip.

There is a lot of kelp floating around out here and we managed to catch some on our rudder and keel. We had a bit of trouble getting it off but we are up to speed again.

We have seen a number of Orca's today about 50 miles off shore and a number of larger whales closer in. We have seen some sea gulls and jet contrails for the first time - so I guess we are finally getting closer to land! We are starting to see more freighters as well.

We are having such a great sail today that we decided we are going to sail the rest of the way to Port Angeles - wind or no wind!!

We look forward to the welcoming party at the Port Angeles dock and the planned party at the Sequim Bay Yacht Club at 6:00 PM Saturday evening. We thank Jean for organizing this and we hope to see you there if at all possible.

Rudy, Terry, Rob and Dave

Hi, all you oceangoing sailors:
We're planning these two happenings for Sat. to greet the boat. I know Rudy wants to have another all crew dinner in the future - that will be separate from this and organized so that as many of you as possible can attend. Thanks for all your help...and see you soon! j

It still looks like WindChild will arrive Saturday, August 21st midday.
There are two possibilitiies for you to greet her and her crew, if you wish - join us for either or both!

1. Port Angeles - Meeting WindChild at the entrance (east side) of the Port Angeles Boat Haven (where she'll be for a short while for a haulout and spa treatment). There's a parking lot area near the fuel dock at the Boat Haven's boat entrance. We'll have a good view there and could shout hello and later meet with the crew on the dock. I've got a hot pink WindChild poster I'll put up near our location - we'll hang the very flag faded version on the boat (that may help you find her)....
**Sharing the exact time will take some doing - we'll post it on the blog as soon as we know Sat. morning or you can call.

2. Saturday evening, 6 PM, Sequim Bay Yacht Clubroom at the John Wayne Marina on Sequim Bay.
Come join us for a potluck dinner, visit and celebration. Either plan on joining for dinner or if you'd rather, just stop by for a visit. We look forward to seeing you, sharing our joy at the voyage's completion, and hearing stories of adventure. We hope to see you soon...

Today has been a day of constant sail changes. The winds have lightened-up a little. First of all we took all the sail reefs out during the night Then we had the spinnaker up by 10:00 AM. The winds freshened so we took it down two hours later. We are on a port tack and the winds were backing on us to the point that we could not sail our proper course to Neaha Bay. So we have set the jib in a wing-on-wing position and that has worked fairly well. We are also "drying out" a little as there has been no rain for a couple days and the sun has been shining at least 50% of the time. We had a beautiful moonlight sail for a few hours last night as well.

Another problem with going downwind is that the wind generator puts out a lot less power. With the winds we have had to date, the wind generator and solar panel have provided all our power needs except for when we run the desalinator to fill the fresh water tanks. We have done that on only two occasions. So, we are really going green as they say. However, if the winds stay as they are we will probably have to run the diesel engine tomorrow to charge the batteries. The biggest power consumers are the fridge/freezer, HF radio, radar, lighting and navigation lights at night. We have used about 25% of our diesel fuel as we have only had to motor about 32 hours. Furthermore, despite all the cooking, we are still on the first propane tank. So, all-in-all our "carbon footprint" has been very low!

The other major change today was to reset the ships clock to Pacific Daylight Saving Time - what a shock that will be.. The treat tonight was a steak dinner with a special cauliflower preparation by the Captain. Another delight!

no ships seen and no fish caught today.

Hope to be in port by Saturday,
Rudy, Dave, Terry and Rob