Waiting for better weather in Charleston

First, I have to correct our current location! We are in Charleston, which you might say is a suburb of Coos Bay. It’s the small fishing village as you cross the bar; a few miles from upriver Coos Bay. We sure like Charleston and kid that we might have to hunker down here for winter. Also, we were NOT the 2 people rescued after their 54' fishing boat crashed in to the rocks on the bar (yes, the one we just crossed 2 days ago). The weather gods are most likely keeping us here until Saturday or Sunday. The winds, and consequently the waves just south of us, are continuing to be too high and relentless! In the meantime, we are busy busy finishing projects and finding more to do to improve our home.

This place is ALL about fishing (and crabbing). We are but a few of the recreational boats here - its fishing boat heaven. And, we have met so many fascinating people! Take for instance Doc. As usual, doing laundry led to meeting interesting folks. Doc looks like a retired marine (actually a retired Navy medical guy), who has a handlebar mustache, die hard Trump supporter, wearing a yamaka and holding a miniature dachshund. Oh yea - right up my alley to chat with.

Doc is a little hard to pin down but his boat was nearly destroyed in a storm just north of here, he is sailing his boat to Japan and he takes physically challenged kids and wounded warriors out on sails. Well, he would if the boat was up to sailing. You know, the damage from the storm. In another place, Doc and I would not be chatting - but laundromats have a way of leveling the playing field. I find way more in common with folks than our differences.

Jeff on the other hand, has been chatting with all the fishermen on the dock. They are peculiarly interested in us and out boat. Jeff loves their boats and came back to Salpare going on and on about the bacon wrapped albacore he just had (yes, he had bacon!). Next thing I know, he is in our cockpit with a bag of fresh albacore and a big vacuum sealer! He sheepishly said “I borrowed the sealer, its not staying!” I have to admit that it sure beats fishing!

Now to some answers to questions we have been asked over the last few months.
1. What will you eat? What do you do about food? By far, this has been the most asked question! I usually snarkily (is that a real word) say “ the rest of the world eats food”. I know that what most mean is how do we store and have food on the boat. We have a freezer that I have yet to max out and a refrigerator. A 3 burner stove (see the gimbal video below), a full oven and microwave round out the galley. So, we can freeze food for longer passages but will typically eat fresh and local when at port.

2. What do you do at night? We’ve heard many suggestions from dropping anchor to pulling over and getting a hotel. Nope, if we are on a passage (out at sea and not at a port) we sail through the night; trading watches as needed. Whoever is not on watch, gets to sleep in the king size bed just below the cockpit.

3. How do you drive all the time? We have a super trick Garmin Autopilot and an even more trick Hydrovane wind steer. The autopilot is just that, an electric autopilot. The Hydrovane is more complicated to explain. So, if you really want more info on it, go to www.hydrovane.com

Got more questions? Let me know through FB or this site. I don't think the mobile site allows for comments but the web version dones. And, the Predict Wind Tracker is now working!

On course,
Fran and Jeff

3 days into our Journey - Update; kinda long....

As I write this, we are safely tucked in  Coos Bay. Unfortunately, our Predict Wind Tracker still has us out in the Pacific. I've emailed and am waiting for them to get back with me regarding fixing this glitch. There's not a lot we can do on our end to fix it - it's all on their end.

Let's back up to what seems ages ago at Neah Bay. We waited on Tuesday for the weather to clear and planned to depart Wednesday morning. Within 10 minutes of leaving the dock, we realized our alternator was not working. We headed back to the dock and took a look.

Yep, it was shot. This would typically mean waiting for an overnight delivery from Fisheries Supplies in Seattle. Neah Bay is the most northwest town in the continental US. Its WAY out there. However, we have awesome friends!!! Marc and Erin Beverly came to the rescue! They drove to Seattle to get the part and then all the way to Neah Bay - 4 hours each way! Can't say thanks enough to them for keeping us on schedule. Oh, our "schedule" is all weather related - we wanted a good weather window to head south.

On Thursday, we headed out again. Immediately, I realized that 15 kts of wind in Puget Sound is not the same as 15 kts of wind in the North Pacific. These were the biggest waves I've ever sailed in!! I went to the foredeck to ready the mainsail and that did me in... That combined with my nerves led to me woofing over the rail... I've never been seasick and took Stugeron and Zofran but it didn't help. As this was happening, Jeff went about setting us up to sail. I rallied to help with the jib but felt pretty bad. I can see why folks who have this for a long time consider jumping into the sea to end it all! It sucks. However, after we got sailing, I lay flat on my back for a bit and felt much better. Within an hour or so I was fully functional; not feeling great but able to do my part. So, I was pretty jacked up with sailing on big seas. Jeff, of course, felt fine and even took a nap in the cockpit. He is completely in his element.

We sailed like this for hours and rounded Cape Flattery!  Yay - the BIG LEFT TURN  was done! Hours later, I was watching a sailboat, on AIS, ahead of us and all of a sudden it stopped and went in circles. What the heck? When we hit that same area, it was as if someone turned off the wind. Literally, within a minute, the conditions completely changed. We sailed a bit more then turned on the motor.

When I came up to take the watch from Jeff later that night, it was pretty freaky (ok, I was terrified at first). We were motoring along at 7 kts, with big following seas that rolled us 35 degrees each way, you can't really see anything. You just blindly go along and watch radar, AIS and keep a good lookout. It's a hard feeling to convey but everything seemed really big to me - water, speed etc... After a bit, you get used to it. Well really, you have to get used to it!

Four hump backs surfaced behind our boat and it was a thrill to see them. They must have been laughing at us as we rolled back and forth across the swells. Two dolphins raced in front, under and on the sides of us to entertain us,  too.

The next day brought a mix of sailing any wind we could find and motoring. The 9' swells continued to give us a very rolly ride. The constant motion of the boat is amazing to live within. Every step is thought out and if not... well, you will find yourself pinned to a door, wall, anything that catches you. Pretty hysterical to try to function normally! Another night of motoring with a full moon! As has been said by many others, the ocean makes you feel so small. I also felt incredible gratitude that we were able to be out there experiencing the beauty.

We had been watching the weather and knew we were trying to stay between two storm systems. Early in the day, using NOAA weather from the radio and Predict Wind software, we had decided to slow down and head for Cape Blanco. This is just south of Coos Bay and from the Cape to the California border was deemed hazardous with 40 kt winds and steep seas. Nope, not what we want to be in. There was forecasted a calmer weather window from Sunday 5am to Monday night.  The plan was to sail slowly overnight to Cape Blanco, then take advantage of that small window to head to Brookings OR and make the 6:30pm bar crossing. (more on bar crossings in a bit). So, we spent the day sailing in light winds and sunshine. A beautiful day to relax.

That all ended when we got an updated weather briefing. The window was getting much smaller and we decided to head to Coos Bay to wait out the storms.  There are little to no places to "duck in to" on the Oregon coast and heading further out to sea put us square in the eye of the next storm system. A great lesson learned was that small weather windows in the North Pacific are too small to count on - don't take them unless its an emergency.
Ok, not as dramatic as the below clip but I wanted to keep you interested!

We had 1 significant issue with heading to Coos Bay - the bar crossing!! Any port to pull in to (and there are not many)  on the Oregon Coast has a river coming out of it. When these rivers are ebbing (they have a tidal flow to them), and they hit incoming ocean swells conditions can be deadly. (You Tube is full off scary bar crossing videos). The key to a successful crossing is timing - you wait until slack before flood to cross. Unfortunately, we were going to miss the by an hour. We motored at full speed and put the jib up for extra pushing us along at 8+ kts. The wind and swells also picked up and we were surfing our way to the bar! (that sounds like fun if we were on land!). When we got to the bar, it was twilight and raging. Jeff took the helm as we surfed the breaking waves in and I watched the course. At one point, I looked behind us and heard then saw a 15' breaking wave heading for our stern. Its a sight I really never want to see again. Its a long 10 minutes to cross to calmer water.

Then the fun started of navigating in the dark, an unknown harbor that has a small channel dredged in the middle (where we have enough water) and finding a dock space. The wind increased and we grabbed a spot among big fishing boats. We slept soundly for 10 hours!

We are now looking at a few days exploring Coos Bay. The storm systems have to pass. We will not venture out into known gale storms on the North Pacific. We're not in Kansas anymore...

Thanks for reading our update and the next blog will have boat information and answers to questions.

On course,
Fran and Jeff

WE ARE SAFE AND SOUND IN COOS BAY

Just a quick post to let folks know that Tracker has not updated. We are safe and sound, tied up to a dock in Coos Bay. Although we are well up the Coos River, its still howling here at 26 kts.

I'll send an update later today.

Good Monday Morning!

It's our first Monday where we don't have to say goodbye and head to work! So, although its a bit chilly and overcast, it's all smiles on Salpare.

We are departing Port Angeles after overwhelming farewells and see ya laters from our friends. After 2 full weeks of dinners and parties,  many surprised us and came to our dock to see us off with flowers, chocolates and hugs (Pete, Jackie, Marc, Pam, Rand, Kris and Mark). A planned breakfast goodbye with Richie and Rick had an added surprise guest; my best friend Carolyn was tucked in their backseat! More hugs then north to Port Townsend where we spent the afternoon and evening with Brion and Christian. When we departed Sunday morning we were leaving our home waters of Puget Sound and so much love. See ya in 5 months!

As we leave PA this morning, we are trying to figure out the 3 Coast Guard boats heading out and hoping their flashing blue lights are not for us! (they're not). Have a nice day Coasties!

We'll be in Neah Bay this afternoon and will spend tonight and most likely tomorrow night there to let the impending storm pass through. The forecast for the coast after Tuesday shows a large high pressure system which should bring us sunny skies, fair winds and following seas. Fingers are crossed that Neptune won't surprise us! We refer to heading south as "The Turn" and are glad we have an extra day to finish last minute things and secure the boat.

My next post will have some answers to the many questions asked of us about the trip.
Stay tuned!

On course and on island time,
Fran and Jeff

So Close Now...

It’s 7 days before we depart on the dream we have held for years.  We are just this close now… Besides running around each day attempting to shorten my ever-growing list of “things I gotta do”, this is a time for reflection on our lives thus far.

Friends laugh when I tell them the origin of our boat’s name Salpare.  We found ourselves under duress as our marine insurance policy demanded we name the boat before we could apply. The differences in each of our suggestions seemed farther apart than the continents we dreamed of visiting. Jeff… ADRENALINE…. SHOCKWAVE…. Fran…WINDFLOWER… ISIS (Ok, before there were terrorists, she was the Goddess of wind). We decided to ask “the google” and looked at different languages. When we hit upon Salpare, which means Sail Away in Italian,    we knew it was right. When explaining the name to folks, we usually say “it means sail away which is what we intend to do”.

Fast forward 8 years and a bunch of hurdles to jump and our launch date is right around the corner! Many times over the last 6 months, I’ve said it will take a village to get us out of here. That village is our phenomenal friends and family who have helped and encouraged the entire way! With both of our hearts, we are deeply thankful.

Many of you have asked what our plan/route will be. On September 13th, Jeff will leave his office for the last time and head to the boat. We’ll cast off lines and head to one of our favorite spots in Puget Sound, Kingston. Then to Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Neah Bay. We will turn south and sail to San Francisco. I’ve run, cycled and driven over that beautiful bridge and can’t wait to sail under it!

From SF, we will head down to Ventura and take a private dive class. October will be spent in California ending with a week in Coronado to visit my brother and his wife.

November 1st we head to Mexico and spend that month and some of December in the Sea of Cortez. Then we will start making our way down the mainland coast, and head for Costa Rica. A land tour is on tap for that beautiful country! 

Then on to Panama where we will leave Salpare for a few weeks to fly home and visit friends and family. Upon returning to Panama, we’ll provision and set sail for the GALAPAGOS!!!  A couple weeks in those islands and then the big puddle jump across the Pacific to the Marquesas. We will spend about 6 months in French Polynesia and then “winter” (their summer) in New Zealand for 4 months.  That is all Plan A and subject to our desires and whims!!

If you are reading this, you must be a friend or family. We have a cabin ready for anyone who wants to join us!!

Hugs to all!

Fran and Jeff