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September 15, 2017
Looking back and reliving the moments through pictures can be so nostalgic.. as well as PTSD inducing (more details on that below).
After leaving Bellingham, we made our way over to Port Angeles and arrive on September 15th,2017. We ended up staying in PA for about four days due to weather on the coast that was looking grim. We entertained ourselves by exploring PA, making new friends and taking advantage of big fast ferries that zipped us back into Canada.
Exploring Victoria,British Columbia for the day. We had an absolute blast. The food was incredible, and the city was absolutely beautiful. We wished we could have brought the boat over and stayed a few more days.
While hanging out in Port Angeles (PA) we met a couple, George and Lindsey, who owned the exact same model boat as ours,a Fraser 41! They instantly became friends of ours and were kind enough to entertain us, taking us hiking in the Olympic National park where we explored hot springs and the recently removed Elwha dam. We were really excited to have met them as they were one of the first young couples on a sailboat that had met on this trip (aside from a few of our AK friends).
After PA we left for Neah Bay and anchored for a day and half in the bay. Neah Bay is a small native town and is the last good anchorage in the Strait of Juan De Fuca before "turning left" into the Pacific ocean bound for Oregon or California. From there we were able to keep an eye on weather and wait for a good weather window. We thought it was never going to come, but we finally caught a gap between the building low pressure systems and started off!
We departed Neah bay on September 20th. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and the weather looked great for heading out. We downed some preventative sea sickness meds, made some breakfast and then ran around the boat checking and rechecking to make sure everything was secure enough to head offshore. With excitement and a good amount of nerves and fear we pulled anchor and head into the big blue. More of the nitty gritty sailing details in the big paragraph below.
This was the first trip in which we tried out the Hydrovane! Here's a video of her keeping us on course despite the waves trying to push us around. She worked so well for most the journey but with the sea state as confused as it was at times she couldn't always keep up. Luckily we have an electronic CPT autopilot to back her up!
Our first tuna caught on the hand reel! Thanks to our friends Fred and Cinda we had one up on the tuna and we were eating good for the rest of the trip.
So how was the trip? Tough. It took us about three days to recover from the lack of sleep. Would we do it again? Good question....
The trip started with us leaving Neah Bay and heading out past Cape Flattery into the ocean blue. We motored for about 6 hours until we had enough wind to fill our sails and shut the engine off. That moment, when the motor shuts off, is pure bliss. A romantic's dream. For the next 12 hours the wind powered us southwest and then straight south after we reached about 50 miles off the coast. All was going well until about midnight when the winds became shifty and then ultimately dropped below 5 knots. The sea state picked up a bit and it became so uncomfortable that we just dropped sail and started the motor.
Day 2 We motored for about 30 hours, with no wind to even stabilize the mainsail which made the ride very rolly and uncomfortable. Despite the lack of comfort, we still managed to haul in our first tuna! Oh did it taste good. Unfortunately Marta was on a continuous battle against sea sickness so we didn't treat ourselves to any straight raw fish. We did indulge in bit of seared fish though!
The following morning the winds picked up and so did the sea state. We were fighting large swell about 11-12 ft from the North that would collide with 8 ft westward swell from the west with wind waves on top of those. Not fun! With just a reefed headsail poled out for the first time, we started making great speed. Of course winds picked up even more, the headsail got smaller, seas a bit more rolly and as nighttime passed we both managed to only get about an hour or two of sleep.
Day 3 day was windy and rolly, and again very uncomfortable. Our emotions were stretched thin from the lack of sleep and having to tack with our pole. Things got even wilder when out of the blue we managed to hit a huge log. We were both relaxing the best we could when we heard a HUGE boom and watched a log surface behind us. Holy cow were we happy to have bought a VERY seaworthy boat with a very thick fiberglass hull.
Day 4 held the same confused seas and winds in the 20kt range .The following night was unpleasant yet again as winds always seemed to pick up right as we wanted to sleep but we slogged through another night with little sleep. By this point our fatigue was extremely high and morale very low.
By Day 5 we were past Cape Blanco and Mendocino (two difficult points for weather and sea state) and were on the home stretch for San Fran. We were hoping for conditions to mellow out a bit (as forecasted) but we were unpleasantly surprised to get hit with more high wind throughout the following day until about dinner time. To our relief it seemed like the winds were finally calming down with a promising forecast ahead of us, so we decided to go wing on wing with a double reefed main and reefed in headsail. BIG MISTAKE. After two hours into our night shift the winds went from a nice 15 knots to 30-35 knots with scary (to us), big, cresting seas to compliment it. With a few waves taken in the cockpit, our hydrovane unable to manage the side wave action, Travis getting smacked in the head by our whisker pole, breaking a lifeline (whisker pole again), and again no sleep, we finally made it through the worst night of them all. Whew....so much for the forecast!
Well, as dawn broke on September 25th it seemed like we were going to finally get a break from the winds but we may have asked too much. The sun rose and the winds died as the seas became long, rolling mountains. So on came the motor, and to San Francisco on Day 6 we cruised. The sweetest part? At 2pm we were under the bridge with the headsail sail back up and with the San Francisco skyline covering the horizon under blue skies. The perfect ending to a tough ride south. After we were tied safely to a dock we celebrated with champagne, tons of pizza and lots of beer!
There were certainly moments in this trip that made us question our sanity in choosing this lifestyle. Many episodes of fear, nausea, anxiety and utter exhaustion makes you think deeply about our choice to sail away from safe harbors. While the crew's morale and fortitude was slim at times, Merrion really proved herself as a strong and capable offshore boat. Although we didn't enjoy the scary moments, in the midst of them it's really satisfying to realize how well the boat handled the high winds and large seas. Plus her crew isn't as green now having gone through these trials!
The best part of the trip? Opening our gift bag that our unbelievably generous friends Fred and Cinda had sent with us. They gave us instructions to open it at the halfway point of our first offshore leg. This bag was amazingly morale boosting. Fred and Cinda are good friends of ours from Juneau who did this same sailing trip a few years back. They have been so helpful and instrumental in our preparations for this journey. We cannot thank them enough for the delightful variety of gifts and the foresight of knowing how much something like that would mean to us during such an unpleasant time. You guys are the best!
(A few of these pictures and this video above may give you a better idea of the sea state and winds that we experienced.)
Our first sighting of land followed by the picturesque sail under the Golden Gate, entering into San Francisco.
Currently as of today October 1st , 2017 the boat is living in Berkeley while we both head back to Juneau to work for a few months, build our cruising kitty back up and wait out the hurricane season in Mexico. We hope to head back to the boat after Christmas and sail to Mexico early January if the weather allows.
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