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First Mate’s Journal
Ocean Passage from Neah
Bay, Washington to San Francisco, California
September
3 – 12, 2005
The last stop
before rounding Cape Flattery to enter the Pacific Ocean is Neah Bay, WA. The bay hosts a marina mostly filled with
medium to large commercial fishing vessels and a Coast Guard station. Neah
Bay for a cruiser is a location
to hold out for favorable weather to head South. We left on September 3rd at
13:30 after checking with the Coast Guard on the weather conditions. They reported Southwest Wind 10-15 knots
with sunny and clear conditions for the next few days.
Leaving the
security of the bay we embarked on a new adventure and begin the journey we
have planned for over 2 years. We are
excited and a little nervous since neither of us has experienced offshore
sailing without sight of land. Nor
have we sailed Moorea 24 hours straight.
The trip is estimated to take 7-14 days depending on the weather. Deciding to break up the night watch into 2
hour shifts at the helm, my first watch started at 20:00 hours. My first watch was uneventful since the
wind had lessened to 5 knots with 2 foot waves. However the second watch at 24:00 was more
interesting since I had two Container/freighter ships to keep track of their
position. They move so fast and can
come up on us in 25 minutes. Most of
these ships keep a vigilant watch for us small vessels on their radar, since
they are so huge they have a hard time seeing us when we are near them. Our
job is to stay clear away from them by taking a hand held compass and marking
their position every 5 minutes.
Other small
duties preformed on night watch besides sweeping the horizon every ten
minutes for ships is to keep the sails trimmed to optimize the wind direction
and try to stay awake. I would find a
book to read with a flash light in order to keep my eyes open. The erie thing about night sailing
would be the fact you can’t see what is in the water ahead. You sail blind possibly to hit a log floating
by or a huge mass of kelp that could tangle the rudder. I try not to think of what could go wrong
and start playing the “if” game. As
long as Moorea keeps pushing ahead, we will be fine.
The next day we
had 7-9 knots of Southwest wind and by 14:00 hours we were 60 miles from
shore. That same afternoon we had
visitors. A group of dolphins, about
ten of them were chasing us down. They
would jump in unison, about four at a time and crisscross in front of our
bow. They were just a treat to watch
and seemed to swim with us for ten minutes.
That night at
23:00 hours brought the doldrums for the next 24 hours. Bobbing around, rocking back and forth with
barely traceable puffs of wind to tease our sails. We sit in the cockpit
looking at the horizon hoping for any sign of wind. Motoring a couple
of hours to recharge our batteries but not using the motor too much since we
only have 40 gallons of diesel. It is
early on in the trip and we may need the fuel for emergencies. Sleeping during the doldrums was
impossible.
The next forecast
we received at 10:00 on September 6th warned of 15-25 knots of
wind with swells up to 9-12 feet. We
started to prepare the upper decks for the hard blow by securing the jerry
cans of water and fuel below in the cabin and cockpit. This was the first day out of four we experienced
these winds with gusts up to 35 knots.
As the days progressed, the seas built to the 12 foot height and some appeared
larger. The direction of the seas were
headed south with an occasional side wave smacking Moorea on her beam sending
her sliding down the swells. Inside
Moorea sounded like she was falling apart, with her creaking, cracking,
sounds and bucking back and forth with the motion of the waves. Sleeping was next to impossible and we were
exhausted. The wind grew so strong
that we pulled our sails down to decrease windage. We were going to fast with our sails up
causing us to surf waves and consistently sliding down the crests. The speed we had with no sails was 5
knots. Just for reference, a knot is
1.15 mph and our hull speed is 6 knots….with full sails up.
During the night
watch with the strong winds was an experience in itself. We knew how big the waves looked during the
day, but at night we could only hear the waves crashing around us as the
breaking waves would barely miss the boat.
We were lucky that the salt water didn’t spray too much in the cockpit
and Moorea always seemed to ride the waves.
Because I was over tired, I started to hear the waves talking to
me. They would whisper, “HEY” and
“What are you doing”. Don’t send me to
the funny farm yet….I only heard voices a couple of times.
I was able to
keep my cool under these conditions because my husband was calm. He has a sense about what needs to be done
to keep us safe. We also have a great
31 year old boat that handled her self well and I am more confident in her
abilities than before. I am also glad
we experienced these conditions since I know what we can handle.
On September 11th
we were 60 miles from San Francisco
and planned to be there late evening.
Even though we had it in our mind to be at our destination at a given
time, Mother Nature can dampen the plans.
The wind died again and shortly after Pea Soup Fog rolled in. We decided to motor towards the gate. Six hours in the wet, cold fog barely able
to keep our eyes open. 04:00 we
decided to anchor at Pt. Reyes in Drakes
Bay, about 25 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge. We awoke the next morning to see land for
the first time in eight days.
Passing under the Golden Gate Bridge was a joyous occasion. We had a difficult passage but the pride we
felt in accomplishing the voyage was tremendous. We will always compare future passages to
this one and know we are prepared.
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