Escape Velocity Has Been Reached!

I got a call from Tor about 5:30 yesterday evening and they were heading out of Port Angeles after a stop to get a hose for the water maker properly flared so it would stop leaking.  The plan was to head out and keep going, barring any weather issues out on the Pacific.  I asked him to text me with progress reports everyday in the morning and evening, and I will add them to the blog with only minor editing :), as I get them.

At 10:40 this morning, I got the following text:
Good morning.  We are just now passing Toleak pt. north of Hoh head.  We are 17 nm offshore and paralleling the coast.  Seas are glassy calm and a bit rolly, but motoring we are making 5.8kts SOG.  We all feel ok.  I was a bit sick coming out the strait but feel fine now. Dad seems to be doing well and Mike is a bit queasy but eating food and drinking.  Our trip so far has been very good.  One section of the trip out the strait picked up to 15 kts on the nose and lumpy seas.  I am guessing the small ebb tide was responsible.  Of course it was dark out and the jib came un-gasketed so I had to go forward and secure it.  Got dunked a couple of times, and shortly after is when I puked.  Feel fine now.  Made the big left turn at 0345 in calm seas and stars showing.  Dad and I were on watch, Mike was sleeping.  We are slowly figuring out watches, but ad hoc sleep when you get tired worked for us last night.  I love you.  Tell folks that things are going great! 

Did you see that?!?!  BIG LEFT TURN achieved, WAHOO!!


At 7:30 this evening, I got this text:
Hey babe!  All is well.  No seasickness all around and we have been sailing downwind in 10-12 knots with the wind vane for the last 4 hours.  Currently 22 miles off grays harbor headed south on beam reach at 5 knots.  Weather is predicting Heavy rains in SW wash and NW Oregon Friday night through Saturday night. We are thinking it may be smart to pull in to Newport and avoid the southerly, refuel and then head south.  We will continue to monitor the weather and figure out the predict wind [note: weather prediction/ weather routing software] which I haven't yet, but are thinking of trying to get to Newport Oregon by noon on Friday. I love you.  Today has been great!  PS. It sounds like camping this coming weekend will be WET with more rain then they have had since March...

Photo from Lee, heading into the Strait from Port Townsend

Photo from Lee, Glassy calm conditions on the Strait of Juan de
Fuca leaving Port Angeles

The boys and I had an enjoyable last day in Seattle...seems really weird to write that.  A lovely breakfast with Grandma Jean, Auntie Karla and cousins Einar and Soren and then a fun playdate with best buddies Avi and Joel and their Mom Elisa.  Good byes are tough.  We pick Auntie Jenny up at 10:00 tomorrow morning and head South!  Who knows where we will get, but we are heading the coast route.  Odin and Lars are excited to go to the cheese factory in Tillamook.

The Cousins

Buddies

Departure Day Pictures

On Departure Day we had a number of friends and family come down to show their support and love and send us off.  It was really touching to have you all there, we were running around like crazy people, but we did notice and appreciate your presence. Thank you Ray, Herman, Doug, Jean, Karla, Jared, Einar, Soren, Eric, Laura, Kirk, Fritz, and Steve. People came to the dock, the locks and met the boat by water all to wish us Bon Voyage, it was totally amazing and touching.  One of those people who came down was Fritz on Kirk's Boston Whaler.  Kirk and Fritz escorted Yare through Lake Union and into the locks where they tied up along side for the trip down to Puget Sound.  Fritz had his camera and provided me with the following pictures of Departure Day to share with you all. Thank you Fritz!

Under the Ballard Bridge, on the way to the Locks

It was strange to be on land at the locks watching our boat go through.

The intrepid crew

In saltwater, where she really prefers to be.

"Honey, will you please fix the bus?  I can't drive to CA with 
the heat on!" The boys and I came down to the Shilshole fuel 
dock to deliver last minute West Marine purchases, and to steal
 Tor for a little car repair.

I got a call from Tor this morning around 7:30 and Yare and her crew had just left Port Townsend after all three on board suffered from a stomach bug last night.  They were all feeling better, but understandably it delayed departure a bit.

I got the following text from our satellite phone (cool!) at 9:30 "Approaching Destruction Isl. E of Dungeness Spit making 4 knots against current.  Calm winds and no swell.  Morale is high.  We figure tummy trouble is from unclean conditions at pump out as we all handled the hoses and it doesn't seem like food poisoning.  We used magic soap but may have been too little or too late.  We are on the mend though."

Meanwhile back on land...we may have been running ourselves a
little ragged.  The boys slept for over an hour in the car and
they needed it!

Still in Puget Sound

On the cusp of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but not out of Puget Sound yet, the boat is in Port Townsend for tonight.  Wi-fi at the dock in Port Ludlow allowed the crew to download some critical information in order to get the electronic navigation up and running on the boat, so they got a late start this morning.  They actually sailed on the their way to Port Townsend, but turned the engine on when currents were sweeping them back to Seattle.  Escape velocity has clearly not yet been reached!

The slow start and time to slowly sail was good for allowing Mike and Lee a little experience sailing our boat, it's not your average marconi rigged sloop.  As a ketch rig with a gaff rigged main, our boat has almost a 1/2 mile of line in the rig!  

Weather wise it also made good sense, strong westerly winds in the Strait would have made for slow, sloppy going and they did have errands to run in Port Townsend.

Meanwhile...back in Seattle, Lars and Odin had a wonderful playdate with their friends Parker and Tighe.  Parker's mom Angela is a dear soul, and an incredibly generous woman.  She willingly took all four boys for a playdate at their house.  I'm so grateful!  I got errands run, and had a lovely solo lunch. That's the last time that will happen in a long, long time!

We are still very much enjoying Paul and Barbara's hospitality, and the boys are LOVING the toys they have. Yesterday it was all about Lego and today it was Brio trains. Both the Lego and Brio train collections are epic!  There are all sorts of plans being hatched for Brio train set ups to build tomorrow.

This (lousy phone picture) is especially for Odin and Lars' adoring public. Thanks Jenny B for the tip on the Blogger app, so easy to get the phone pic in the post!

And...We're Off!

Today was departure day, and we made it.  Whew!

The boat left the dock at noon, only one hour late.  Not so bad.  Especially given all the activity that had to occur to get it out of there.  Lars and Odin and their cousins Einar and Soren untied the dock lines and we waved good bye to Tor, Lee and Mike who are going to sail the boat to the San Francisco Bay area.  Lars, Odin and I will drive down with my sister Jenn to meet them.  After waving good bye at the dock we drove to the Locks to watch them come through.  Lucky ducks drove right in, tied up and the gates closed behind them and they were off.  Much different than the 1-2 hour (or more!) waits we have heard from other boats this summer.

A quick stop (not so quick I guess...Tor needed to do a little car repair for me, poor guy, but I really didn't want the heat stuck on to drive all the way to SF!) at Shilshole for fuel and they were off!  I spoke with Tor tonight and they decided to put into Port Ludlow for the night, after 3 hours of sleep last night, he just needed some rest.  Good choice.  A nice dinner out and a little time to finish stowing gear and they all sounded cheerful.  The plan is to get an early start tomorrow and head towards Port Angeles.

After leaving the boat at Shilshole the boys and I took the last of the gear up to the house to store. To say I'm tired of dealing with stuff would be a vast understatement. But, it's all done and the boys and I are thoroughly enjoying the hospitality of Paul and Barbara. They have a lovely and comfortable home, we had a very nice dinner together and then the boys even got a bath before bed.  The height of luxury for sure!  I'm quite pleased with the shower I got too.

I will be posting without pictures until we reunite with the boat in San Francisco since I didn't manage to think that detail through and don't have a way to get the photos from my camera onto the computer.  You may get to see an occasional phone picture, but frankly, it's not likely.

It feels great to be at this stage.  We are all exhausted and totally spent, but I'm glad I pushed hard to be done with the big jobs today.  Odin and Lars were fantastic and really knew that I just needed to put my head down and work.  When looking ahead to today and the long to do lists, I was feeling jealous of Tor because I know very well that feeling you have when you finally depart on a boat...it's crazy busy and the number of details to keep in mind are insane, but once you untie the dock lines, there just isn't anything more you can do.  It's always a relief.  I was expecting that I wouldn't get to have that feeling since I'm still living on land for the time being, but since we pushed through today and got the last big jobs done, I have a sense of that relief, and that I too have untied those dock lines. The adventure has begun!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the cutest red onion and peach you've ever seen!  (and yes, both Lars and Odin came up with their costume ideas without any input from Mama or Papa)

The whole family got into the fun

Red onion Lars getting his trick or treat on...so serious!

Odin looks pretty peachy while trick or treating doesn't he?

Odin and Lars imitating the pumpkins they carved

Pumpkin carving was a big hit this year!

Alaska!

While Tor is away at sea, Lars, Odin and I flew up to Alaska to spend some quality Grandparent time.  We are having a blast!  Sleep started off really, really badly, as soon as Tor left Seattle, but it looks like we have now made the transition to no nap, and so far things are pretty good.  It helps that I have full time support from Dad and Lynn...  

Friends from Seattle who spent the last 2 years in Sitka and welcomed a baby while there are sailing back to Seattle.  Since they came through Ketchikan while we were here, we had a chance for a quick visit.  Hi guys!

 

After our sailing trip this summer, there is a lot of nautical based pretend play going on right now.  In this picture they are putting away the anchor chain, otherwise known as a dog leash.

Lars and Odin and water, be prepared for serious play.  Add squirt bottles to the mix and you have the ingredients for a long time of completely occupied little boys.

Watering all of the plants is serious work!

 

What?  Don't distract me.  I've got work to do.

Preparing for a hot dog roast and marshmallow toasting.  We need green sticks!

Working with Grandpa to start the fire.

Working with Grandpa to make our roasting sticks.

Taking a break to dry out and warm up by the fire...that wading pool got me all wet!

The three guys by the fire.

Yep, we had 2 little wet naked boys running around on a 66 degree SE Alaska day.  

Finally, dinner!

The hot dog is roasted, now I need the bun and all the fixings!

Yum!  Toasting marshmallows.  Lars just wanted "regular" marshmallows.  No S'mores for him, but Odin was definitely into the S'mores.

First Day of School

Today was a big day for our family.  Lars and Odin started preschool!  I started looking into preschools for next fall and found one I fell in love with, a Waldorf inspired school with an urban farming bent.  The children spend lots of time outside, in fact time outside is such a priority that the activity fees cover rain gear and Bog boots for each child's exclusive use at school. The school has chickens and even a pig for the kids to care for and interact with.  They had openings for this year, so Odin and Lars will be going to school on Friday mornings.  We dropped them off this morning without a problem, and both boys decided to stay inside and help make bread with teacher Maria.  My question is now, what am I going to do :).  A tough problem to have for sure...

Our first ever, First Day of School Picture!

Running from the car to school

Happy to be here!

See our school bags?  The school provides them for extra clothes, Mama added the names and Odin and Lars provided the beautiful decorations.