It was a fantastic shakedown for the boat and the crew. We had zero wind in Puget Sound and turned the corner into the ocean with flat water and our first whale sighting. In total we had six separate whale sightings and three dolphin escorts. One large whale, a humpback we think, surfaced twenty yards from the boat. The wildlife was incredible. We had 25 to 30 knots in Oregon on the nose with big confused seas. The boat loved the waves but the crew took some time to get used to moving around inside the boat as we crashed off wave tops. The smallest tasks became very difficult. We ducked into Coos Bay, OR to escape the storm and tend to one crew member that was rather sea sick. We grabbed some supplies and rest and departed the following night at 3 am.
Exiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca with a brief spinnaker run
The next leg from central Oregon to Cape Mendocino was a building northerly. It started as 15 knots and eventually built into high 30s. We downshifted from a small jib (J4) and a full mainsail to a J4 and reefed mainsail, then to a J4 and double reefed mainsail, and finally just a J4 and no mainsail. Our speeds ranged from 8 knots up to 20 knots, a new record for us on the boat. We were able to make up a lot of time and sailed into San Francisco Bay around noon on Monday, seven days aver we departed Olympia.
Here's a few videos we managed to take:
Sun is setting. Just the jib up and still hitting 14 knots on big waves.
Here we are discussing the revised watch schedule for night high winds
Building breeze and taking in the second reef in the mainsail
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