I have now had a couple of days on dry land and my most excellent crew have all headed home. Jess did a fine job of updating the blog with our short and often mistyped satellite texts of our status on the trip. It is hard to type much on a smartphone in a small boat on the open ocean.
All in all I feel we had a very good trip. I feel a great deal of thanks and gratitude to my Dad and my friend Mike Johnson for being able and willing to crew. They made the trip possible, fun and safe. Jess and I have only had Yare out on the open ocean for short hops along the west coast of Vancouver island, and that was before the boys were born.
We spent a couple of days in the sound both getting things working and gear stowed, but also waiting for some brisk winds to pass before making our way down the coast. The first half of the trip was mostly without wind and a motorboat trip. We had a good deal of chop in the middle of the night getting out of the Strait, but turning the corner at Cape Flattery was without hazard and when dawn came we had very little wind and continued to motor about 25 miles off shore.
It was surprising to all three of us how little we saw out there. I expected a great deal of commercial traffic and crab pots everywhere. We saw neither. We all expected to see more wildlife, although we did spot a pod of Orca Whales, a couple of groups of Porpoise and some mighty big whales which we have since determined were likely Blues.
About our third day out of Port Townsend the VHF weather forecast was calling for very high winds and heavy rainfall centering on Astoria. We were at this point as far south as Newport, but wanted to get as much distance as we could and as far south as we could before the storm hit. We spent a couple of hours calculating whether we had enough fuel in the tank(s) to motor straight through to Coos Bay without stopping and decided that we had enough to get to Coos Bay with a few hours to spare at a conservative speed of 5 knots. This calculation took a while because we went so far as draining the day tank that I run the heater off of in the winter to utilize the 3-4 gallons it contains and in the process killed the engine by getting air in the system and had to bleed the engine (twice) to get back underway. Just after passing Newport Oregon at 2AM I noticed that we were only making 3.8 knots over the ground and our safety margin was gone. I made the decision to stop motoring and wait west of Newport until dawn when we could cross the bar in daylight and refuel. My dad took the helm and without complaint piloted our drifting boat for 4 hours on a chilly night with at least 4 rain squalls.
We spent less than an hour in Newport, but during that short time met the new owner of Ness. Ness is the sistership to Yare built at the same time in Port Townsend by a co-worker of mine at Baird Boatworks. She looked good and the new owner was excited about many sea miles ahead with plans to sail her across the pacific and back, through Chile and back into the Atlantic.
We tucked into Coos bay just a couple of hours before the weather hit and stayed for two nights hiding out. The VHF forecast was right on with sustained winds over 30 miles an hour in the harbor and I have no doubt the predictions of gusts over 65 knots occurred just beyond the bar.
Video from Lee
He says "Come along for a 7kt ride in 9' waves and 35 mph winds...and this has gone on for 18 hours straight. No other traffic or shore lights sighted in last 36 hours here 34 miles offshore."
The decision to come into Coos Bay was a good one, but it was tough to make. We were looking at the charts and guidebooks and saw a harbor just 20 miles north of Coos Bay called Umpqua. Tucking in at Umpqua would have allowed us to be at a dock well before dark and cut 4 hours of transit off our already long day motoring. Being nervous about the impending front it seemed like a good option. I called the Coast Guard on the VHF radio and asked for the bar conditions at both ports. I also mentioned I was new to the area and was trying to decide between tucking in at Umpqua or continuing south to Coos Bay. They provided me with a bar report for each but no guidance on selection (which I understand as it is not their job). Within a minute or two we were hailed on the VHF by a commercial fishing boat named the Kara J out of Coos Bay. The captain told us that he was just west of us on the 60 fathom line and his home port was Coos bay. He highly recommended we continued on to cross the bar at Coos Bay saying it was far safer than attempting Umpqua. The tide was low and his radio contact with local knowledge clinched the decision. Had he not called we most likely would have tried to head into Umpqua harbor. He called a few hours later on the radio again to say that he had just crossed the bar and the conditions were still calm and that he would be monitoring the radio for another hour or so if we had any further questions or concerns. We made the bar entrance about 45 minutes later and tied up at the dock just after dark and right before the storm. Walking up the dock the next day I happened to see the Kara J at the commercial dock and walked over to see if I could find the captain to thank him for his kindness and guidance. We chatted for a bit on the dock and learned that Umpqua would have bee a very unsafe choice. Not only is it very shallow, narrow and silted in but the dredge was blocking the entrance and the bar report of 4-6 foot swell inside the breakwater likely would have bounced our boat right on the bottom. A commercial boat captain standing nearby with 3 generations of experience to call on fishing out of Coos Bay weighed in by saying that his father's advice to him was "only go into Umpqua if the Ocean were on fire and there was no place else to go". Long story short is that local knowledge is a great thing and so is folks who are willing to reach out and share it.
We had a good time in Coos bay. We stayed tied up to the transient dock immediately inside the Coos Bay Bar in a town that is technically Charleston (Coos Bay is another 5-10 miles up the river). The docks was busy during the day with locals who came down with fishing and crabbing gear and lawnchairs and coolers to pass the day. A number of boats were tied up to the transient dock waiting out the bad weather on their trips South. We had a few meals at the local restuarant/bar and met some interesting and friendly locals too. A powerboat at the dock asked us when we were planning on leaving and I mentioned that we were thinking later on Sunday or Monday morning. They pointed out that the fuel dock was net yet open and I replied that we had just finished refueling. Having only to add 10 gallons to our 52 gallon tank we decided to walk our jerry can up to the gas station 1/2 mile into town to top off while we waited for the bad weather to clear. We all got a healthy chuckle out of it as the motorboat had just added over 700 gallons to their tanks earlier that morning... There are some advantages to having a smaller boat...
We were very fortunate indeed to have Fritz Stahr back at the UW helping us with weather routing. Fritz phoned and mentioned that the weather models indicated a window to head south that, if we left that afternoon (Sunday) we could expect a few hours of motoring into 10-15 knot headwinds until we got south of Cape Blanco and then building NW winds south of the cape. We decided to head out at the high slack at 2:45 pm. Fritz was dead on and just a few miles south of Cape Blanco the winds swung right around and kept on blowing (hard) until we arrived at Bodega Bay a few days later. Not having much experience on the open ocean with vessels less than about 300 feet in length I had a lot of learning to do. The winds started out light and by the time we were about 12 hours past the Cape it was a steady 20 knots gusting towards 30. Additionally the seas were pretty big with an occasional swell from the south that sent Yare corkscrewing down the wave fronts as we sailed south. Although Yare always felt safe and in control, there was a LOT of movement and hanging on became a full time job. Getting sleep when not on watch became impossible as the seas kept trying to throw us across the cabin. We were about 40 miles offshore and just kind of had to keep on keeping on as there isn't any other option. We reefed a few times and took down the jib, and kept trucking along at near 7 knots on our way south. Mike was on watch and saw a top speed of just over 12 knots shooting down one particularly large wave front.
Video from Lee showing Merlin the Windvane at work
Lee says "The vane is incredible. Have not touched tiller for 24 hours or more. Invaluable in darkness when you cannot see compass or sails clearly, yet we're doing 6-7 kts in 8' confused seas."
Shortly before the trip I had purchased a Norvane selfsteering system off of Craigslist. I had never tried the unit and finally hooked it up south of Cape Blanco. It turned out to be a magical piece of gear that allowed us to continue sailing in 25+ knots for 3 days without ever tending the tiller. All three of us at times were mesmerized by watching the vane steer the boat down wave the size of small houses in strong (for us) winds. Hand steering would of course been possible but likely would have exhausted the person at the helm within an hour. We are still coming up with names for the self steering system but the current favorite is Merlin. It really was magical and entrancing to watch.
My dad valiantly heated most of our meals during this time as Mike and I both felt a bit queasy down below when we tried to focus on something like cooking. Before our trip both Mike and my dad had precooked meals and put them in ziplocs and I turned down the setting on our little refrigerator and turned it into a deep freezer (which worked exceptionally well).
All in all the boat worked very well and felt safe in all the conditions we met. My crew literally could not have been better. They were always positive, willing and uncomplaining despite some uncomfortable times. I also completely trusted both with operating our vessel - which was a fabulous feeling. I learned a lot and felt it was a great prologue or first chapter to our family adventures ahead!
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