OUR TRIP NORTH.

Though we have had plenty of ocean sailing in the past, the Pacific Coast is notorious for its weather and the vessels that have foundered. We therefore arranged to have a professional skipper, Alan Hugenot, with us for the 1300-mile trip to the San Juan Islands. We were also joined by Raleigh Watts, a long-time friend and Seattle resident who had sailed with us in 1984 from Samoa to New Zealand. In years past Raleigh had skippered a sight-seeing boat in Seattle, so our crew of four had lots of ocean experience.

During the entire trip we maintained a three-hour watch schedule. With four of us aboard, this meant two watches per person per 24 hours, each separated by nine hours off watch. Since virtually all steering was done by autopilot, the task was not arduous. It consisted mainly of updating the detailed trip log every half hour, monitoring wind and wave conditions, and at night checking the radar to ensure no collisions at sea. Alan has had a vast and varied experience with all things nautical and has made many prior trips along the Pacific Coast, thus ensuring a safe, fast and very educational trip north. We learned much about weather, boat handling in high winds and waves, entering ports, managing emergencies, and the care and feeding of diesel engines. We were all good conversationalists and enjoyed many an hour of learning and sharing.

Saturday, July 14. We depart Dana Point (DP) in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, at 0015 hours (that is 15 minutes after midnight - Navy time!). The majority of our traveling will be at night when the winds and waves are lower. (Engine hours, 15.5; full fuel tanks). We head north against light westerly winds and swell. As we pass by the departure route from LAX, we sort out the fast moving airplane radar targets from those of much slower vessels. 2240 hours: We round Point Conception (34.24 N by 126.29 W, 176 miles from DP), the first of many capes we will pass. Wind is up to 16 knots, but the seas are still tolerable.

Sunday, July 15: We round Point Arguello (34.31 N, 126.40 W) at 0045 hours, with 15 knots of wind. At 1210 hours, we anchor in San Simeon bay (236 miles from DP), near the Hearst Castle. Per Alan's plan, our stops are relatively few. They are during daylight, when we catch up on sleep in placid bunks and complete occasional engine chores. At 1936 hours, we are underway with 12 knots of wind on the nose.

Monday, July 16: At 1235 hours, we tie up to the dock at Santa Cruz. Stats: 323 miles, 68.5 engine hours, 169 gallons of fuel, 4.7 miles/engine hour (including maneuvering and idling time). Approximate fuel consumption so far: at 1500 rpm, we average 1.8 gallons of diesel and 6.5 knots per hour; at 1800 rpm, we average 3.9 gal and 7.5 knots per hour. We are underway again at 1933 hours, with 16 knot winds, which decline to 10 knots around midnight.

Tuesday, July 17: At 0330, we pass Half Moon Bay and at 0715, we pass under the Golden Gate Bridge as the tide began to ebb. We are greeted by a glorious sunrise peeping out from under the overlying clouds. At 0735, we tie up on "E" dock at the St. Francis Yacht Club, guest of SFYC member and friend Don Bekins. Engine off at 81.3 hours.

Tuesday through Friday, July 20. We stay at the St. Francis Yacht Club for four days and accomplish myriad chores. We visit with Tefel & Michi at our home, do food provisioning, get boat supplies at West Marine, visit to our offices (loads of emails await us), and make many boat refinements and chores, including a first time engine oil change. We have two 5-7 PM "open boat" evenings so we can show the Onward to our friends.

Saturday, July 21: At 0855 hours, we are underway under sunny skies and at the start of flood tide, great visibility, a fresh 10 knot NW winds and 6' seas. We pass by familiar landmarks such as Bolinas and Pt. Reyes. The wind picks up to 25 knots and waves to 8' in the afternoon and then drop, as scheduled, to around 15 knots at night.

Sunday, July 22. At 0330 hours, we pass Pt. Arena. Sunrise presents us with another beautiful day, generally light winds and moderate seas. We detour inshore to make a photo op visit to Shelter Cove (40.01N, 124.04W), a village pasted onto a small flatish outcropping from an otherwise very steep mountainous coast. After a slight pause, we head back out to our usual route, 3-5 miles offshore. By 1930 hours, the wind has risen to 30+ knots "on the nose," making for a bumpy passage with lots of spray over the pilothouse. At 2350 hours, we round Cape Mendocino (40.28N, 124.31W), the first of the two most challenging capes that we must pass on our northern leg.

Monday, July 23. On through the night, the wind drops to a low of about 5 knots in the wee hours. Our progress north continues at a steady 5.5 to 6 knots. At 1400 hours, we enter the harbor at Crescent City, CA, near the Oregon border. Total engine hours, 135.5, and 686 miles completed. We are more than a day ahead of Alan's original draft schedule.

Tuesday, July 24. Departure times are controlled by tides. At 0001 hours, we depart Crescent City, wending our way out through the buoys and giving White Rock, Castle Rock, and Pt. St. George a generous berth before resuming our course north. The winds pick up. By early morning, they top 40 knots, with gusts to almost 50. With 6-8' swells topped by 4-6' wind waves, our speed over the ground slows to 3.5-4 knots and the ride becomes very bumpy. The fin stabilizers keep our roll to a minimum, but have no effect on the up/down hobby horse motion. One moment our bow is nearly buried in a steep oncoming wave (though solid water never covered the anchor) and the next it is high in the sky.

To avoid the periodic pounds and shudders of going directly into the waves, we have to "tack" back and forth, first about 20 degrees to port of our desired course and then 20 degrees to starboard. If we steer too far to one side or the other, the roll and slap of waves catching on our quarter are excessive. It is a continuing challenge to find the sweet spot between pounds and slaps. White caps are everywhere. Although we never take "green" (i.e., solid) water over the bow, we have plenty of heavy spray streaking over our bridge. Lots of salt crusts onto the aft side of our masthead exhaust stack. On through the day and night, we slog north, hanging on for dear life whenever we move about the boat. By midnight we reach 43.05N, 124.32W, and the wind is down to 15-17 knots.

Wednesday, July 25. On through the night with 20 knot winds, we pass Cape Arago at 0230 hours. The original schedule calls for a brief stop at Port Orford (19 miles north of the famous Rogue River), followed by a stop at Coos Bay on the flood tide before high slack. However, we have strong winds and are out of sync with the tidal flows. We skip these two harbors and press northward. At 1400 hours, we pass Heceta Head. At 1900 hours, we are off Newport, OR (44.35N, 124.09W), where we call our friends Bob and Gail Lebow at their summer home. The delight of hearing their voices is matched by the frustration of having three miles of windy ocean separating us. There's too much wind and a contrary tide to risk entering Newport harbor.

Thursday, July 26. On through the night at 4.5+ knots with 15-knot winds and 6-8' seas on the nose. At 0500 hours, we pass Cape Lookout, and at 0730, Tillamook Bay (42 miles south of the Columbia River). With winds down to about 10 knots by noon, we run the Yanmar wing (backup) engine for 20 minutes, making 2.5 to 3 knots against wind and wave. The Yanmar's 20 hp won't power us into significant winds, but it sure would enable us to go downwind into the nearest refuge, should the main engine ever fail. The afternoon winds increase to around 20 knots (as expected), and our speed over the ground decrease to 4-4.5 knots. At 2300 hours we pass Cape Shoalwater.

Friday, July 27. At 0100 hours, we pick up the sea buoy off Westport, WA. After steering a rather tense course around various buoys and in line with a range marker, we dock at 0215 hours. (One of the range marker lights is apparently a lower intensity replacement from the previous light, and we aren't certain that we have the right range to follow to ensure avoiding breakwaters and shoal areas.) After six nights at sea, it is good to have the balance of the night on an even keel, no wind, no waves, no noise, and no watch keeping. In the morning, we enjoy a big breakfast at a dockside diner. Liz, Alan and Raleigh take a walk to the lighthouse while Tom does various boat chores. At 1600 hours, we refuel (310 gallons; 210.3 hours on the engine) and change the engine oil and oil filter. At 1848 hours, we are again underway, this time with daylight to help us navigate the channel. In the wee hours and with negligible winds, we pass Ocean Shores, Ocean City, Copalis Beach and Pacific Beach.

Saturday, July 28. The winds continue light, seldom over 10 knots. With the southerly current along the coast, our progress northward is a moderate 5+ knots. At 0500 hours, we pass Destruction Island, where Raleigh had spent time during several summers as a teenager assisting a naturalist in her study of rhinoceros auks. At 1310, we pass Makah Bay, where the local Native Americans have re-started whaling amid much controversy. At 1330, we pass Tatoosh Island and Cape Flattery, the southern entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

At 1430, we hear a distress radio call to the Coast Guard from the 21' powerboat "Dorsal" that had lost its engine. After some debate, we conclude that, as the nearest boat to the Dorsal, we should proceed to the rescue and save the Coast Guard the 3-4 mile trip out for the tow. Unfortunately, we aren't ready to rescue anyone. In our frenzied departure, we had failed to unwrap and then properly coil our potential tow line. So while Alan slowly circles the Dorsal and its occupant, Liz and Tom labor to untangle the 150' line. At last, Raleigh tosses the line. Dorsal makes it fast, and we proceed at a sedate 4 knots into Neah Bay. With a light following wind and 4-foot seas, it takes some experimenting to find the best length of the tow line to minimize surge and jerk motions. The USCG keeps calling us on a 15-minute schedule until we had release the Dorsal a short paddling distance from the dock. At 2400 hours we were off Port Angeles, WA.

Sunday, July 29. On we go through the night at a reduced speed of 4+ knots and 1300 rpm, to delay our arrival to Cattle Pass (between San Juan and Lopez Islands) until the flood tide. At 0650, we pass Turn Island and at 0735 we tie up on Friday Harbor's outer wharf - the end of a very successful trip. The stats: about 1300 sea miles, including our diversions into and out of harbors; 11 days, 7 hours from Dana Point to Friday Harbor (almost three days ahead of the original schedule), with 9 days, 16 hours of transit time; 232 engine hours (247.5 hours, minus 15.5 at the start). At 0930 we relocate the Onward to slip G38 and then tour the town until our final lunch together at a shoreside pub. At 1600 hours, Alan and Raleigh depart on the Victoria Clipper, a fast (27-knot) catamaran for Seattle and home. Liz and Tom are now on our own!

Final observations. A fine and most informative trip, with special thanks to Alan Hugenot for his knowledge, skill, love of teaching about all things nautical, and the confidence he gave us all as we ventured out into the Pacific, and to Raleigh Watts, for his skills, friendship, and many contributions to making the trip much less of a chore than it could otherwise be. Some lessons learned:

- Onward is a strong, reliable boat that can withstand a whole gale and 12+ foot seas with aplomb and likely a lot more.

- We, too, can withstand those conditions as long as we don't panic or get thrown into a hard, unforgiving surface.

- Maximize travel at night. Though our natural preference is daytime, when one can see the shore, the wave configuration, etc., the wind and wave conditions are considerably moderated.

- Enter most harbors on a flood tide near high slack. The risks of breaking surf is less. If entrance bar conditions are not good, if the weather outside is acceptable, and if fuel reserves are ample (as they were on Onward), pass the harbors by and make time while you can. Many a boat has been stuck in a harbor for days due to adverse conditions.

- Plan a brief (6-12 hours) stop during the day every 2-3 days to provide a welcome rest from boat motion and interrupted sleep patterns. We had five stops in 9+ transit days, though only 2 since leaving San Francisco.

- Four persons with three-hour watches is a good arrangement. An autopilot linked to a computer and GPS is a tremendous aid. The forward berth is much too bouncy during a good part of the trip north - at times we are airborne and the noise is awesome as the bow slices, pounds, and bulldozes through the oncoming waves. After a few futile tries, we use either the settee or the floor on the main cabin. The best sleeping location of all is the lower bunk in the mid-ship guest cabin. Though just forward of the engine room, the muffling is quite good and boat motion moderate.

Would we do this Pacific trip again? When and if we want to have the Onward in southern waters, we will probably have it shipped from Seattle by freighter. We are very glad to have made this trip. We learned a great deal about the boat, boat handling, and ourselves, valuable information for our further travels north. But, no need to make another long sea voyage, even though it would be rather easier due to following wind, waves and ocean currents. We would rather spend our boat time in our cruising waters than in more perilous and challenging "transit waters".

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