Home to Coos Bay

Saturday, August 16. 2014

While we have enjoyed the rest and our time here in Crescent City, we've been watching the weather reports, trying to decide when to make the jump to home.   It is either now or maybe in a week.  By 16:30 we have paid the moorage fee and are heading out of the harbor.  It is quite foggy for the first two hours.  We give Point St. George a wide berth.  Finally the sun breaks through and we can see the horizon in the west.  The coarse is laid in.  We have a very light dinner and begin our shifts.  We're both wearing scopolamine patches.  We left the storm jib up to help stabilize the boat, which may have been a mistake since the increasing wind is mainly on the nose.  The seas are anything but calm.  We have breaking waves over the bow and salt water is dripping in the cockpit.  There are times when the visibility is very poor.  We hope the radar  keeps working.  During Brad's watch another sailboat comes within a mile, but is never seen.  Not much of an appetite, it is important to keep hydrated although even doing that takes an effort.  The predicted 10 knots of wind turns out to be a consistent 25 with greater gusts approaching 30.  Our normal 6.5 to 7.0 knots speed through the water is slowed to 2.0 to 4.0 knots by the constant pounding of the waves.  Needless to say it is a very rough night.  It might be wishful thinking, but it seems with the morning, the wind calms to 20 knots with a rare 12 seen.  The fog clears enough for us to see the entrance to the Coos Bay Channel.  We share the space with a 3-400 foot dredge that is parked sideways at the bar.  Now at the helm, Brad slows our progress while I scramble on the calmer deck to ready the boat for docking.  Remarkably enough our space in the Charleston Marina is empty.  As Brad eases us up to the dock, we are assisted by a fellow sailor and Mike our crew member from the beginning of the voyage.  The rough weather made our GPH go from 1.2 to 1.75 gallons of diesel per hour and 116 nm/ 43 gallons.  Although we're sad the trip is over, it is good to be home again.  Now the real work begins.  Everything needs to be cleaned, stored, and readied for our next adventure.  Until then .....