Rock N Roll

Greetings from Brookings, Oregon. We are currently tied up at the local harbor keeping ourselves busy. Here's what went down between Monday morning & today.

We left Sausalito around 6am and after doing some testing of the paravanes in the Bay, we headed out under the Golden Gate, turned right & headed north. The first 36 hours of the trip were picture perfect. The seas were extremely calm. We saw lots of sharks (looked like white sharks - yikes!), whales, few dall's porpoise, and many seabirds. Most of the sharks we saw were between 6 and 8 feet, but a few were closer to 10 feet, dark grey on top - fading to pale white on their bottom half, and very thick bodied. They definitely were not intimidated by us, as many of them made a beeline for our boat to check us out as we passed. Conditions were so calm that you could see their dorsal fins cutting through the water at the surface from 1/4 mile away. Brown Footed Albatross were also with us for much of the trip up the California coast - huge birds with 6ft wingspans. We were even able to cook while under way which was quite nice. Cape Mendocino & Point Arena, which are known for hazardous seas, were like a lake - light or no winds, and a long low swell from the NW. As we made our way out of Califonia & into Oregon, we were feeling pretty lucky.

We knew there was some weather up ahead and we had a very short window to pass Cape Blanco in Oregon before the weather deteriorated. We have a friend, Peter Bailey, who is also headed north in his boat. He had been stuck in Port Orford for a few days, trying to get around Cape Blanco. We checked the weather & decided to make a run for it. The forecasted wind & waves looked rough, but passable & we knew if things got dicey, we could always duck into Port Orford & hang with our friend Peter. We started hitting the weather around 9pm but continued at a constant 7 knots. Around 1am things got a bit worse & we had to slow down to about 4 knots but we were continuing north. And then around 4am things got really bad. We could see the Cape Blanco light in the distance as we were only about 20 nautical miles away from it. However, we were getting beat up pretty bad. The wind waves were about 8ft high & coming every 8 seconds. That makes for a square wave and you are pretty much going up and down constantly. In addition, we had a mixed swell at 2-4 feet coming from the NW and the SW which added an increasingly violent corkscrew motion to the boat. Even with the paravanes working hard to dampen the roll, it was a pretty wild ride. Not only is it uncomfortable and scary, it's also hard to get anywhere.

At first light, around 5:30am, we found ourselves between the Rogue River Reef (about 3 miles astern of us - a little close for comfort) and Port Orford ahead. Conditions were deteriorating fast and we were starting to see long sets of 8-10 foot seas stacking up dangerously close together. Pete made the decision to turn around. We made a quick turn between sets & headed South. Immediately, everything got quiet as we were no longer heading into the wind & waves. We now had following seas which are very challenging to steer (you have to make sure you don't get pushed sideways as you surf down the face of the waves) but less harrowing. It was pretty dramatic when a big set would overtake the boat, roll under us, then crest in front of our bow as high as our wheelhouse windows before rolling onto the South. We made our way back down the coast to Brookings Harbor in Southern Oregon where the sea conditions were lighter and the bar crossing into the harbor was calm.

Our first  visitors were the Chetco River Coast Guard who met us at the dock. They had a few questions for us & then boarded our vessel for a courtesy inspection. It was all very routine but certainly strange given our experience over the last few hours. Took us awhile to get our land legs back & get used to the quiet but we quickly adapted. Brookings has turned out to be quite nice. The town itself is further up the road, but the port area has lots going on. There is a little mall w/cute shops including a coffee shop w/free wi-fi, good pizza, a book store, and a beach, all within a 10-minute walk. There is also an international Kite Festival happening this weekend so there's lots to see & do. We are getting to know our neighbors, who are other cruisers, also stuck here, headed either up or down the coast. There are also lots of fishing boats that  go right by our window which gives us something to look at & also there are also huge schools of anchovies in the harbor which gives LC something to look at. Speaking of LC, she hung in there admirably throughout this last leg. In the beginning she got inside her house, curled up into a ball & played dead. After awhile, she came out, let herself be pet, grabbed a few morsels of food & then went back to sleep. She got seasick a couple of times but nothing too bad. When things go really rough she was huddled up in the aft cabin under a few blankets. She especially seems grateful to have this break in Brookings.

So for now, we're here through the weekend. The Coast Guard just put out a second orange flag which means gale warning. Our fearless crew member, Jon Elkin, is heading south today in a rental car with two of Peter Bailey's (newly bearded) crew members. Thanks again to Jon for his help getting our boat this far. Always a pleasure to sail with Elkin. Pete & I will wait for a good weather window & continue our journey north as soon as we can. More to come soon...