This weekend I closed up shop, and prepared to help a friend deliver a Pacific Seacraft 37' from Newport Oregon to Northern California. I'm pretty green with real ocean sailing. I had a good feeling in my stomach though, had some sea-sickness pills just in case, all the gear and safety equipment, so let's get on with it!
The boat was provisioned, and there would be 4 of us making the trip. A good boat, with a solid crew looking to make what was hopefully a two day passage down the Pacific Coast. Didn't quite turn out that way, but I'm a better sailor for going through the last few days.
We left Newport, OR under motor/sail, with a North breeze around 8-10kts.
Went out about 5 miles, and turned left, heading Southwest, further out to sea and towards our goal a few hundred miles away.
The boat was doing great, we made lasagna that night, heading due south now and we batten down the boat for some rough weather late that night and the following morning. Nothing big in the forecast, but we played it safe.
Before the rought weather, we were treated to some whales and dolphins/porposies cruising around us for a bit. Wind built to 12kts or so. Great times, good speed over ground (SOG).
That night, we shortened mainsail with 2 reefs, and two of us went below, while the other two started their 4 hour watch. At 12midnight, we came on deck, with a stiff breeze having shifted mostly to the south (right on the nose now) and some bigger seas, ugh, upwind beating in waves, no fun.
Our SOG was down as we pounded into some bigger waves but the boat was doing well, and we all felt fine. I turned in around 4:15am from my watch yesterday morning, and fell asleep in a heartbeat.
I awoke a few minutes before 8am for the next watch, and found the boat pitching rather violently. I went to the hatch and opened it up, and BOY OH BOY what a site.
Our boat is POUNDING into 30+kts of breeze and 6-8 foot wind waves on top of a confused swell. No fun and certainly not fast to get down the coast into the teeth of it.
This is not HUGE ocean action, but it about 10kts more than forecast, and we're a little concerened with getting down the coast on time. Our SOG is way down, and we're not out to get beat up, but to get the boat safely down the coast.
At the watch change, we haggle about whether to continue, or find shelter. Forecast says it now may build some more, so...
We decide to bail out, and we turn downwind, and run with the building breeze and sea state to seek out shelter.
This is all happening as the watch is changing, so I'm going to be driving in this! As I came on deck for my new watch, the current driver stayed on for another 30 minutes as I got use to the action. Puffs are ripping down the waves, a few waves break over the side and up against the stern, just in case we weren't soaked already I guess.
I eased into the role of driving the boat, and we were now in about 30-35kts of apparent wind, and from 7-9.3kts of boatspeed. Rough math I guess is around 40+kts for a number of hours (the owner said 50kts, but I dunno about that) Either way... very TIRING! The previous driver though talked me through what he'd seen, what was working, what he had watched out for, it was very helpful to get me on the ball fast.
So I'm driving the boat, and the owner is calling waves.
I'm thinking, hey, this is pretty cool. I'm nervous, but I think I mentioned that already. But I'm also getting the hang of it a bit and trying to find a groove. (more)
The boat was provisioned, and there would be 4 of us making the trip. A good boat, with a solid crew looking to make what was hopefully a two day passage down the Pacific Coast. Didn't quite turn out that way, but I'm a better sailor for going through the last few days.
We left Newport, OR under motor/sail, with a North breeze around 8-10kts.
Went out about 5 miles, and turned left, heading Southwest, further out to sea and towards our goal a few hundred miles away.
The boat was doing great, we made lasagna that night, heading due south now and we batten down the boat for some rough weather late that night and the following morning. Nothing big in the forecast, but we played it safe.
Before the rought weather, we were treated to some whales and dolphins/porposies cruising around us for a bit. Wind built to 12kts or so. Great times, good speed over ground (SOG).
That night, we shortened mainsail with 2 reefs, and two of us went below, while the other two started their 4 hour watch. At 12midnight, we came on deck, with a stiff breeze having shifted mostly to the south (right on the nose now) and some bigger seas, ugh, upwind beating in waves, no fun.
Our SOG was down as we pounded into some bigger waves but the boat was doing well, and we all felt fine. I turned in around 4:15am from my watch yesterday morning, and fell asleep in a heartbeat.
I awoke a few minutes before 8am for the next watch, and found the boat pitching rather violently. I went to the hatch and opened it up, and BOY OH BOY what a site.
Our boat is POUNDING into 30+kts of breeze and 6-8 foot wind waves on top of a confused swell. No fun and certainly not fast to get down the coast into the teeth of it.
This is not HUGE ocean action, but it about 10kts more than forecast, and we're a little concerened with getting down the coast on time. Our SOG is way down, and we're not out to get beat up, but to get the boat safely down the coast.
At the watch change, we haggle about whether to continue, or find shelter. Forecast says it now may build some more, so...
We decide to bail out, and we turn downwind, and run with the building breeze and sea state to seek out shelter.
This is all happening as the watch is changing, so I'm going to be driving in this! As I came on deck for my new watch, the current driver stayed on for another 30 minutes as I got use to the action. Puffs are ripping down the waves, a few waves break over the side and up against the stern, just in case we weren't soaked already I guess.
I eased into the role of driving the boat, and we were now in about 30-35kts of apparent wind, and from 7-9.3kts of boatspeed. Rough math I guess is around 40+kts for a number of hours (the owner said 50kts, but I dunno about that) Either way... very TIRING! The previous driver though talked me through what he'd seen, what was working, what he had watched out for, it was very helpful to get me on the ball fast.
So I'm driving the boat, and the owner is calling waves.
I'm thinking, hey, this is pretty cool. I'm nervous, but I think I mentioned that already. But I'm also getting the hang of it a bit and trying to find a groove. (more)