Position: N45 degrees 47 minutes W 124 degrees 06 minutes . 28 miles south of Columbia River, 5 miles offshore
Winds N 20 knots
Seas: 1 +meter swell , sloppy chop
COG: 000 degrees T
SOG: 5.6 Knots
Estimated 24 hour position: just south of Cape Flattery

Hand steering due to Auto Pilot failure
Should arrive in Seattle mid-day Tuesday

The bad news is the primary auto-pilot crapped out and we're steering by hand. The good news is that one gets the hang of it after awhile and can keep a line, rather than wandering all over the Pacific. Stars help, something seaman before me have known for quite a few thousands of years; compasses are great too, although in a steel boat with lots of electronics, getting a mag compass to swing is a challenge. Lots about this in previous blog postings from June 2010 and further back before we left Hong Kong for the first time. During sea trials last week, I was unable to get the backup auto-pilot to behave and though I've narrowed this down to the pump motor being the likely suspect, I have no spare for this -- something Dot finds hard to believe.

So, it appears we'll continue hand steering our way to Seattle... at this moment crossing offshore the Columbia River entrance, listening to radio traffic between commercial ships and bar pilots, under a 3/4 moon, and a star to steer by... Old School!