The time has come to move the boat north. We are taking Elysian Sea from San Diego and heading north to Coos Bay, Oregon. We have been planning this trip for a month and it's exciting it is finally here. I have expectations of what is to come but the truth is, I don't really know what we will experience.
Anyone who has talked to Kelli and I realize we don't have much experience sailing and even less in the open Pacific. Most of our time has been in relatively protected waters like the Sea of Cortez and the Inside Passage. You may have read that we ran down to Ensenada and back but that was a mere 85 miles each way. Suffering for 16 hours is very different from suffering for two weeks. So here's the dealio.
San Deigo to Coos Bay is 850 miles plus all the maneuvering to get there. If we stop in at a port somewhere, that's more miles. If we are sailing into the wind, which we expect to do the entire way, that's more miles. A cruiser can often plan for 5 knots of speed for their voyage but that doesn't account for a bad plan of heading upwind. So how much time will this take us? I'm not sure. We are planning for three weeks minus travel days. I hope that's enough.
Here's what's happened thus far. On Sunday, June 7th, we hopped on a plane in Grand Junction, CO and landed in San Diego at 3:30pm. That afternoon we got to the boat, did some chores, and planned for the provisioning the next day. Monday we had some more prep to do on the boat, lots of provisioning to do (buying groceries), and then a dinner reservation at 5:30 pm. We ran around and got stuff done through the day. $650 later we left Albertson's with what we hoped to be enough food for the trip plus some more if we went adrift or ran aground on a small island and wanted to go full Gilligan's Island. Mid-afternoon we got a visit from an old co-worker, his wife, and his 1.5 month-old daughter, Charolette. What a cutie pie that little girls is. As soon as we kicked them out of the boat and hussled them off the dock, we met up for our dinner reservation. Christopher is a guy we met on the internet, I think. I actually forgot how I ended up with his number. He's an experienced sailor, former owner of a Valiant 40, retired, and seems to know everyone I bring up. He was kind enough to wine and dine us at one of his favorite spots in town and we had a great send off for the next day with some slight wariness and many well wishes. "Non terra sed aquis," Christopher.
Tuesday morning we set out from Chula Vista with full water tanks, a full pantry, and less fuel than we wanted. A quick stop at High Seas Fuel Dock fixed the fuel issue (with a very generous discount I might add) and we grabbed our last fancy coffee and restraunt food before departing. Getting underway, we sailed most of the way up the coast until we were abeam Encinitas, CA at 9:00 pm. The wind died down enough that we weren't making any progress and I started the engine. We dropped anchor just south of Long Point on Catalina Island at 10:45 am June 10th. I considered getting a mooring and visiting the island at one of the towns on the island (Avalon or Two Harbors were candidates) but decided against it and we just chilled through the day and night. That night the wind was light so the boat took its natural position of beam-to the waves. It heeled back and forth all night so we slept sideways in the bunk to avoid getting rolled back and forth all night.
This morning when we got up the wind was favorable so before Kelli made some breakfast, we weighed anchor and got underway again. At 7:15 am we were under sail, moving along at 4-5 knots. We continued on that way for a couple hours but now the wind has completely died and we are under engine power once again. Our next destination is San Luis Obispo, 160 miles northwest. Our current plan is to stop there for a day or so, then set out again. However, if the weather is favorable, I'd rather get some more miles on.
I have looked at the short-term weather and we appear to be getting some light winds, partially from the south. That means I would rather keep moving north while we have it, even if that means motoring more. When the wind comes from the north, as it usually does, we have to motor or sail into the waves and wind which creates a pretty exciting ride as the bow pushes into a wave, rises quickly, then comes back down the other side fairly steeply. It is doable but I know we will have plenty of those days, I don't want to wait for them just for fun.
So here we are, motoring along at 6 knots, 285 degrees. I got seasick on the first day but seem to be doing much better today. We have enough food and booze to last us a long time. We have a plan, a good boat, and a destination. We will see if expectations meet reality over the next two weeks.
Here's a tracking link to see where we are. https://share.garmin.com/QTD46
Joshua