In August we finally provisioned and loaded up the boat in Port Angeles and moved to Sekiu to be ready for a suitable weather window to sail down to Eureka, California, where we intended to haul out the boat and repaint the hull.
This would be our first offshore experience. Though having sailed at the opening of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, around Cape Flattery and Neah Bay, we were anxious about our upcoming trip down the coast. We went over any additional advice we could find in our many books and online about preparing for the trip down the West Coast. We checked ever rope, line, wire, screw, sail, as well as anything that could turn our fun trip into a nightmare.
To plan our routes we utilize a software called Navionics. That software also allows us to upload those routes to our chart plotter and the autopilot.
We left Sekiu on August 4, 2020 in the early morning. We passed Neah Bay, currently closed to non-Makah members to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and rounded Cape Flattery followed by Humpback whales that sent us off down the coast. Once we reached the open ocean it seemed like the washer was turned on. We had favorable winds but the waves made for a very uncomfortable sail and tossed us sideways each time. Thankfully on day 3, we seemed to be far enough offshore, roughly 80 miles, for the seas to be less disturbed.
We sailed calmly for the next few days interrupted by a whale on the morning of day three. What I believe was a Minke whale, popped up right behind the boat during my early morning watch. After two surfaces it retreated until later that day when both Nic and I, as well as Kiwi were on the foredeck enjoying the beautiful warm weather, when another, or maybe the same whale surfaced next to the boat. Kiwi was very excited and promptly proceeded to do her business on deck. Apparently she had the sh*t scared out of her!
Anticipating an uncomfortable wind event south of Cape Blanco, we decided to head to shore early and wait out the storm in Coos Bay. There we also got the chance to meet some old friends.
The remaining leg between Coos Bay and Eureka went quick and we arrived in Humboldt County on August 15th. Here we planned to have the boat hauled out so we could dive into the lengthy job of grinding old paint off the bottom of the hull and applying beautiful new copper paint with the expectation of it lasting us at least ten years and saving us from having to haul out the boat again before then. But more about that later!