It's a small world out here in the sailing community. Since leaving Canada, we've met boats who know other boats, old classmates and former sailing students. Earl and Francie told us "You always remember the boat names, makes, sizes and where you met the people, but, now, what were their names again?..." It's very true!
Now that we've left Canada, the rewards of cruising are the wonderful people we are meeting along the way. Cruisers are definitely a tight-knit community. We met "Freya" (Doug and Jenn) of Sitka in Victoria. We ran into them again in Sausalito after they'd spent some time socializing with SIYC "Mandolin". We also met "Chanty" (Ken & Cheryl?) a fishing/sailing vessel from Sitka... who know "Freya". Then there's "Onrust" (Sandy & Melissa) who know "Pneuma" (Guy & Melissa) and Crazy Mike who owned Jay's old boat "Jessie", all from Seattle. It goes on and on. It's nice meeting this maze of people because you can keep up with folks.
Then there are also the chance meetings of former sailing students. We met Kathy in San Rafael. She was a sailing student of mine in '95. She and Wiley from Harbor 1 are cruising and working along the way and have been for the last two years. What a treat to meet a former student of mine who beat me to my dream!
Then today I ran into Cheryl Thompson-Bielenberg of Silverton who was a classmate of mine from highschool. She saw we were from Scappoose, Oregon, put 2+2 together and recognized me. It's funny all those chance meetings. We could go on and on about our meetings of people who know people, but won't bore you with the details anymore than we have already!
Last time we wrote, we were in Newport Oregon before the famous departure of Keiko to Iceland. (So what happened to the whale anyway?!) We saw Keiko while we were there and I have to say Orcas in the wild blue waters are much more thrilling to see! The marine park is well done and it was an enjoyable day going through the various exhibits.
We had mobs of visitors during our stay in Newport and we were so glad to see everyone and catch up with their doings as well as share our stories of adventure. We thank all of you who took the time out of your busy schedules to drive to Newport.
One of our nights out in Newport was an evening at a local pub where the fishermen hangout and the band "Two Bricks Shy" was playing. A friend of ours was bassist in the band. People watching was A-1 and I think Jay and I - as grotty yachties on a budget - feel some kind of kindred soul connection to the fishermen! They are a rough lot, but down to earth people who work hard for a living. We enjoyed the evening and did boogie a little to the band with the '60's roots!
We were glad to be underway out of Newport heading South for Crescent City. We left in the evening to a very slight breeze, flat calm waters and a beautiful sunset. After dark and about 3 hours of motoring, the dreaded pulley that has been giving us problems since leaving Scappoose in early July, gave out again! We thought we had it fixed in Westport, but the key-slot had worn wide and the pulley was a-wobble. Jay, the hero again, jury rigged it enough to get us into port we'd hoped (and which it eventually did), but motoring was out of the question. Not to worry, though, the wind gods had an exciting adventure in store for us!
After some wind in the night, we drifted for about 12 hours and made about 16 miles the next day. It was slow, slow going. We were off Coos Bay about 10 miles and wondered if we should try and go in, but at the rate we were going it would be dark by the time we got in. No, wait, late afternoon and the wind is coming up. It's about 1700, let's just sail on down to Crescent City. There'll be a full moon, the stars will be out -- sounds perfect!
Full sail, then 1 reef, then 2 reefs and roll in a little jib, then 3 reefs and roll in a little more jib, then put up the storm staysail and keep 3 reef main. Seas are up and it's 0300. Time to hand in the main and sail under stormjib alone. Ottto (our Navico electric wheelpilot) can't handle the yawing as the seas are getting bigger and bigger with the tops beginning to break. The Autohelm windvane doesn't like running and we're too chicken to try it. We hand steer.
Hand steering is exhausting. We are down to 2 hours on-2 hours off or less. Our necks and shoulders ache. The boat is yawing 20( either side of the courseline. We are doing a steady 5 to 6 knots, surfing down the big ones at 8 knots. Daylight. The seas are mountainous and are breaking. Our wind meter is reading 24-28 knots. Add 5 to 6 knots since we are going with the wind, (oh yeah, and a little exaggeration 'cuz the story is over a month old), and we are seeing 30 knots with gusts to 35. Force 7 or a near gale! We guesstimate the seas at 10 to 12 feet and steep!
I'm down below on the floor resting where the motion is less severe, propped in place with pillows on a settee cushion. Jay is steering. Then: Crrrrshshshshhhh, splash, slop, slop. I dart up the companion way, open the doors and quickly ask: "Are you OK?" "We got pooped" he answers back. Jay had only just switched to his seaboots on this last watch -- what intuition, I tell ya! The wave broke on the stern and rolled on into the cockpit. It took about a minute to drain ~ not too bad. All was OK.
In the daylight the seas were awe inspiring, thrilling, and scary all at the same time. It was amazing to look ahead and see a mountain of sea, look behind and see a mountain of sea and look along side at the same! We were down in the valley of seas, but Kestrel always rose back up to the seas. This experience brings to mind a Breton Fishermans Prayer: "Oh, God be good to me, Thy sea is so wide and my ship so small."
We thought once we got South of Cape Blanco where the land trends SE that the winds and seas would ease. Nope. They held until we got around the St. George Reef, heading into Crescent City. On our way in we saw a whale (grey?) frolicking in the seas, breaching and then tail slapping within less than 1 mile from the boat. Exciting! We were exhausted and elated to get into port.
Upon our arrival into Crescent City, we saw 3 boats we'd met in Newport. Yes, it's a small world. We holed up for a week in Crescent City, waiting for the winds and seas to abate. CCYC hosted the cruisers waiting the weather out to several nights entertainment and opened the YC up for showers and laundry. We signed their log book and saw entries from previous years by Walt Scholl of SIYC and our good friend Garry Weber.
After a week, we got our chance to leave, and though the seas were still 10' the period was much longer and we put pedal to the metal to get the #@$% out of Ford. We made it to San Francisco in 52 hours. We had wind 15-25 the last afternoon and night and had a beautiful motor sail around Point Reyes into San Francisco with favorable tides. Jay had the honors of sailing Kestrel under the Golden Gate Bridge. Another milestone! :-) We got into sunny Sausalito and picked up a free but rolly mooring buoy at Sausalito Yacht Club which also has showers. Used reciprocal privileges at Sausalito, San Rafael and Sequoia YC in Redwood City. Reciprocal Privs do work!
Most of our time in the Bay Area has been spent visiting family and friends, so didn't do too much exploring. The Bay Area has splendid sailing, lots of wind in fairly protected waters. We are now on our journey South to San Diego with many stops along the way, including a stop into Santa Cruz for Jay's mother's birthday. Though the weather has been sunnier since leaving the Pacific Northwest, we are still looking for those little latitudes and warmer climes and feeling old-man winter nipping at our heals!
Oh yes, and lest we forget, fellow Parrotheads, we did make a pilgrimage to the Shoreline Amphitheater to spend an evening dancing and singing to Jimmy Buffett! It was a roaring good time and we were hoarse the next day! :-) How could we pass up a chance at dancing the night away to those dreamy-tropical tongue-in-cheek sounds! Also, thanks to Jay's sister Jeannie, we have "A Pirate Looks at Fifty". A funny, revealing, yet thoughtful book by Jimmy about Jimmy. Well worth the read.
As always, keep in touch and fair winds,
Leslie & Jay
PS: Some info about how we are doing this thing they call cruising:
Watch Schedules: 4 on 4 off unless heavy weather and daytime is a little more unscheduled. We have two hands on deck during sail changes in heavier weather.
Cooking at Sea: Before doing a several day trip, we usually cook up a pot of glop in the pressure cooker and store in 2-serving sized containers in case it gets obscene and nasty out on the water. That way we can eat it cold and it's easy to heat up if it's not rough. Once the seas are up, we have to remember to eat and cooking is hard if not impossible to do. We also have to remember to drink lots of liquids.
Other Cruisers: (Caution, the following is a generalization.) Lots of younger folks out there cruising, but usually on a limited time-frame, small boat and tight budget. Those folks who are retired usually have bigger budgets, larger boats and are out doing this cruising thing indefinitely.