Pit stop in Newport

We stopped in at Newport Monday evening around 5 o'clock. We were all very tired after a long night of strong winds and good swells. We're finding it difficult to sleep when it is as loud as it is at night when the boat is moving quickly. My next blog post won't be for another week or so, as the crew is figuring out what comes next.

An engagement at port

Ahoy! We've been at the port of Ilwaco for over a week now but it feels like we've been here a month. Our engine took about 4 days to be serviced, then we had to wait for a good weather window before leaving. We thought that this morning would be when we left, but there is a small craft advisory or something of that sort for crossing the bar until 1400 hours, so we're going to wait it out and enjoy the last summer Saturday market at the port of Ilwaco, yay!

While at port, I also proposed to my girlfriend Tianna! We've been having a blast all week and are grateful that Epic had to stay as long as it did. I'll still be sailing onward, but I'm going to depart the boat a little sooner than I had previously planned so I can be near my fiancée.

Arghhh, this be a sailin' blog! I'll quit boring you with my cloud nine love life. The winds look a little weak and finicky today and tomorrow, with winds building Monday-Wednesday up into the 20-25 knot range. I'd bet we make it to San Francisco in about 7 days. Should be fun!

Graveyard of the Pacific? Puh-leeze!

Ahoy! I'm finally going to get away from the day-by-day style of posts because I can no longer keep track of the days even though it's only day 16 right now.


We sailed offshore! None of us on the boat had any offshore experience to begin this trip, but now we've all had a little taste. We left Victoria with our sights on Ilwaco back on Sunday the 11th I believe. We had checked the weather for the coast a lot while we were in Victoria, but failed to really care what the strait of Juan De Fuca was doing. As a result, we sat around in little to no wind for more than 24 hours until finally motoring out the strait to Cape Flattery where we finally raised sail and made a beeline southwest. In our 24 hours of minimal winds we did see some pretty cool stuff! Just before getting to Race Rocks past Victoria we came upon a large group of birds in the water and we headed right for them. Once there we noticed a ton of seals in the water! Video attached. Enjoy. Then in the evening that day we saw a ton of grey whales in the strait and it was nice because all the whale watching boats and tourist fun-hogs (my dad's new favorite term for any recreational boat that isn't under sail) weren't out anymore due to how late in the day it was getting. Because of this, we could actually hear them better than we've been able to before. As soon as they surface they exhale then inhale and it is loud! It really made you think about how large their lungs must be and how quickly they can empty and fill them. After that we were sailing into the night at were visited by a lot of porpoises. They were super curious or something and were coming really close to the boat but you could barely see them. Instead you could just see the ripples they made on the water and their loud breathing.

Seals and birds going crazy!

Our view of Tatoosh Island on the right and Cape Flattery - the northwestern most point of the contiguous United States!

Once through the strait is when the real fun began! We got to Cape Flattery around 1400 hours and had magnificent wind from about 14-17 knots that eventually died down come sundown. We stayed on that same heading until the morning after the 2nd night of the passage when we decided we better head back toward land since we were 55 miles off shore! We went so far because my dad believed there might be stronger currents out there to push us down the coast, but the jury is out on that one. I am glad we went that far though, because it made the nights extraordinary! We could only see horizon on every side of the boat and the moon was as bright as I've ever seen it. I almost wore sunglasses one night because our heading was toward the moon and it was blinding me. Then once the moon goes down the stars are spectacular! It reminded me of some of my nights spent on the beach when I lived in Chinook, WA.


During the 3rd night we were headed for the mouth of the Columbia and the wind picked up really nice right around 1900 hours. I slept horribly and woke up for my shift which was meant to begin at midnight around 2215 hours. This turned out to be a bad mistake. Since I was up and functional my dad went to sleep but eventually my mom woke him up so we could get the main sail double reefed as the wind started climbing up toward 20 knots. He woke up for that and stuck around and a long day began...
Based on our speed we were figuring that we would make it to the Columbia River bar around 0630. This was good, because 0500 was suppose to be a favorable tide time to hit it at. The downside was, I think we pushed the boat and our abilities a little bit by sailing hard to hit the Columbia as soon as we could for the best looking tide. We ended up running into some issues. First, the fisherman in Ilwaco are a strange breed. They have their green and red running lights on, but those are completely negated by their large and bright flood lights they have on deck, so all we can see are beacons of white light. Our AIS (kind of like radar) doesn't pick boats up quickly at some times, so that isn't always helpful, although when it does pick up a boat it can tell us what our closest point of approach will be, and what time that approach will take place. It's a pretty fun feature and often useful because it can be hard to tell sometimes how close you'll be. Anyways, we're sailing along and we're watching this bright light. It's hard to tell if it's getting closer but we're keeping an eye on it in anticipation of it getting close, and sure enough suddenly we can make out the green running light. Soon after that we can start to make out the boat and we were on a collision course. I had to quickly turn up wind to avoid it. All the while, that boat just kept on cruising past us without any change in course. So we chalk that up as just one weirdo. But no! About 45 minutes later we get another boat headed toward us, but luckily this one turned parallel to us, but then ran parallel and close to us for a good minute before turning away. Just weird stuff considering there's like 5 boats in total as far as the eye can see in each direction.

But the stress that came with those moments were nothing compared to once the sun came up. We got to about 25 miles outside of the Columbia bar and we could see what appeared to be fog up ahead. As long as it isn't too thick, no big deal. So we're sailing along and winds start gradually picking up and waves start getting large. That was no fog, it was a storm front. So we're about 15 miles from the entrance and we've got the main double reefed and we replace our genoa jib with a 75% jib. At this point wind is moving toward 25 knots sustained and waves are getting steep. We were going into the wind and the waves, so the boat is climbing up wave after wave and coming down hard with loud crashes as the water hits the boat between the two hulls. Inside the saloon, a bunch of our stuff on shelves is falling on the floor and things are banging together and gives the feeling of chaos.
So we're sailing on, but decide that conditions are too rough to cross the bar, so we try finding refuge just north of the north jetty, but to no avail. Waves and wind were still pounding us, and now we found ourselves straight downwind of the storm. We were still close to the jetty, so we thought to motor our way in. Sure it will be unpleasant going into the waves, but we'll certainly be moving slower and gusts of wind aren't going to put us in a bad position. So we're starting the engines and one won't start. Ugh. We tried to make it with one engine but we were drifting too hard and making very little progress. Now we have to sail again, and all the while in my head I'm just thinking hindsight we should have just sailed in to begin with, because now we've been screwing around for hours, all while getting thrashed, AND now we're downwind completely. I was a bit disheartened to say the least. Ready to throw in the towel and try going north into Willapa Bay until things died down. But, my dad stayed focused and we sailed out into the wind to make our way to the entrance. At one point my dad asked if I was ready to tack and I basically asked that we just keep going and wait for things to die down. He let me get a little weak, but then after about 5 minutes told me "Alright, I'm turning," so I helped with the turn and got my mind right to stay goal oriented and get through the mess we were in! We ended up pulling past the north end of the jetty probably 30 minutes later and flew past a big coast guard boat and went in front of a dredger. We didn't care all that much at this point. Once through the jetty conditions calmed and we got sails down and navigated to a guest dock in the Port of Ilwaco around noon. About 4-5 hours later than we could have. I thought being on land was going to feel better, but I was drained. Remember that part where I said I didn't sleep well? Yeah, I was running on an hour and a half of sleep, but completely wired with adrenaline.

There were times while out in the storm (I use the term 'storm' loosely. There were plenty of fishing boats out and there were no bar restrictions or anything. I'm just not as salty as these Ilwacko's) that I told myself that I was packing up as soon as we got to Ilwaco. I was definitely scared out there, but I learned a lot, and I think a lot of my reluctance to continue on with the journey stemmed from fatigue. Without sounding like too much of a spoiled child, this is one of the most challenging things I've ever done. Being on a homemade boat with a crew that is largely inexperienced makes it easy to get a little scared. That combined with sea conditions I've never experienced and it's no surprise that I struggled. But, now that I made it through that I'm more confident in the boat and my own abilities than I was before. This boat took a beating but stayed in great shape aside from the engine trouble, and I was at the helm for much of the storm and remained focused and alert and steered her into the waves in the safest manner I could. I'm also getting to trust my dad as the captain more, and am understanding his strengths and weaknesses better. This is useful because it helps me know when my input might be valid, or when I should just hold my tongue. For instance, pretty much any decision making while under sail I should leave to him - he knows what to do and when to do it. But, if he needs to make a decision and his only facts are what he can see out in the distance, then I'm chiming in because the LASIK surgery I got has me seeing things like a cyborg relative to him at times.

Anyways, now we're in Ilwaco! We've got to troubleshoot our engine and get it working again, as well as complete a laundry list of other less but still important things. I had a great time hanging with my old buddies Nick and Tiffany yesterday, and today I've enjoyed lunch with my Grandma and Dwayne. In just a couple minutes I'll be reunited with my girlfriend, Tawnie, and I'm super excited! It's been months since I've seen her!

After a few days here we'll start looking at weather reports for the coast and jumping out of Washington. Our initial plan was to jump all the way to San Francisco, but there has been talk amongst the crew of stopping more frequently, with our first stop possibly Newport Beach. I'll throw up another blog post before we leave to tell you how every minute of Tawnie and my visit go, as well as where we're headed next on the boat. (May or may not be kidding about the former. I've yet to decide.).

#latepost. Crew selfie in Victoria.

Final Days in Canada

Vancouver Livin’

Vancouver was amazing! After anchoring in false creek we found a dinghy dock that let you leave your dinghy there for 24 hours. This gave us the freedom to explore the city, with only a small nagging thought of “boy, I hope nobody steals our dinghy or engine off the dinghy”. Day 1 in Vancouver we showered at false creek community center then explored Granville Island. We got lunch from Celine’s Fish or something and as soon as we walked outside with our food my mom was attacked by seagulls who stole all of her prawns. Luckily, they gave my mom another order for free. After that we took a walk up the road to West Marine and got a small Canada flag to hoist from our boat, as well as a Quarantine flag which you are to hoist in some countries as a way to tell customs that you have not checked into the country. One day I’ll get to see that happen!

Day 2 in Vancouver was even better! We walked across downtown Vancouver to where the cruise ships come in and the picturesque convention center building is with the sail looking rooftop. Last year my parents, Joe, and Audrey visited Vancouver and went to the Capilano suspension bridge and they heard about another suspension bridge nearby that was free. Since my parents wanted to see something new we spoke to the Vancouver visitor’s center and they helped us with our itinerary. “Lynn Canyon suspension bridge,” they said!  They told us the most stress free way to go would be to simply buy transportation day passes (and because it cost more probably, but worth it). We took the SeaBus to a city bus and made our way there. We had a great hike through the park despite a little rain. Their ecology center blew me away! The environmental studies student in me was thoroughly impressed. They took so many great concepts and displayed them with so many great visuals. It kind of made me want to get into environmental education.

After all that we took the city bus back to the SeaBus and hopped on a sky train since our passes allowed us to do so. We went to New Westminster and walked around there for a bit in the rain. We must have been on a weird street, because there were literally 2 or 3 bride gown shops and/or tux shops on each block. We ended up eating some poutine and then stopping at Safeway for some reasonable priced groceries. I don’t know how you go about living in another country, but I would totally live near the outskirts of Vancouver someday (let’s not get too carried away. Still not about that city life).

Day 9.

Back on the seas! We left today and after drifting around for about 30 minutes in English Bay we finally got close enough to the Strait of Georgia and took off. We started with winds in our face but once we got out into the strait we were able to fall off and let the wind carry us south. We went through about a 30 minute stretch of winds maintaining 17-19 knots – enough to reef the main once.

Once across the strait we ducked into Active Pass and it certainly lived up to its name! We had ferries go by us in each direction within the pass which is not very wide. We also had wind coming straight down the pass, so we had to tack back and forth to get out, which was made easier from a tide flushing us out very quickly. Once through the pass we made it over to North Pender Island into what I believe to be called Otter Bay due to a nearby wifi name I tried to connect to (I failed at connecting. Weak.). Tomorrow we’ll shoot for Victoria! We made it more than halfway today, so I’m optimistic we’ll get there.

Day 10.

Today was probably my least favorite day of actual sailing. We left Otter Bay around 8 and had no wind so we motored until about noon when a light breeze finally came up in Haro Strait. As soon as we were hoisting sails, a bunch of whale watching boats started coming our way so we started looking around and this time we saw grey whales! They don’t have the impressive fin on top, but when they come up to the water they spout a bunch of water into the air and the flip up their massive tail in the air when they dive. We saw probably 3 good whale tail dives and each one was as cool as the last. After that we continued on until about 5 with very light but steady wind in our face that we battled up the strait with going about 3 knots. Eventually we dropped sails and motored our way into Victoria by about 8 PM – pretty late. I think one reason it was my least favorite sailing day is because we had a destination and basically had to get there. We’re feeling a little crunched for time though, because we want to get down the coast sooner than later to avoid any rough weather.

Speaking of which, our itinerary has changed. We’re likely going to pass up hot springs cove and instead go straight from Victoria to Ilwaco/Astoria. It’s getting late in the season to be crossing the Columbia river bar, and for going down the coast in general. The winds and seas are forecasted to be favorable the next 3-5 days, so I’m guessing at this point we’ll get out of Victoria after 1 full day here and get off shore!

Day 11

Update! Because of favorable weather and wind we're actually going to leave Victoria today and try getting to Sooke. It's nearby, but today's trip actually looks like it'll be a tough one, with northerlies in our face at 17-20 knots.
After that though, getting out the straits and into the Pacific should be pretty easy.

As far as Victoria goes, I can say they have a nice shower facility. Accidentally left 3 loonies in the shower for the next lucky sailor. Luckily, I won't need any more loonies where I'm going. I didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked, but I'd rather get out of here and play things safe. If all goes as planned I'll be posting again from Ilwaco, WA in about 4 days give or take.
Update update! Not leaving until tomorrow. There's a gale warning in effect for the straits. Tomorrow we may leave early and just keep on going.

Week One Eh?

The trip has begun! We departed August 31^st and our new lives are beginning to take shape. I don’t plan on always blogging about each and every day, but for starters it seems appropriate because each day something amazing and new has happened!

Day 1. 8/31/2016

My mom, dad, and friend Sam Demco boarded Epic and left around 07:45. At 08:11 we saw my childhood home disappear from around the south end of Mercer Island. It is sad knowing that house is no longer a place I can call home. If times ever got terrible that was a place I could turn to, but not anymore. It probably isn’t a big deal, but it’s just interesting. Given the fact that I have a relationship with the prospective buyers, I’ll likely be back, but by the time I come back I may not even recognize a lot of it. There are so many memories that I hope to hold onto, but memories tend to fade. It was an amazing house to grow up in and I’m so grateful, and now it’s time to move on.

Back to the boat…

We motored through Lake Washington and got under all the bridges and through the locks in great time! Our family friends Phoebe, Dave, and Sean watched us pass under the Ballard Bridge then watched us navigate the locks. Once we were through the locks, we stopped at Shilshole Bay Marina to get our water maker serviced and running, and to drop off my buddy Sam. The water maker servicing took forever, but we were able to make it to Kingston by sunset, and ended up getting rocked all night by ferry wakes.

Day 2. 9/1/2016

We woke up at 6:30 and pulled up the anchor to get a quick start as tides were in our favor. We also had a nice southerly breeze flushing us up into Lopez Island. We weren’t expecting to make it that far, but the conditions were near perfect. It was a very long day of sailing though, so once we got into Mackeye Harbor I went to sleep.

Day 3. 9/2/2016

Today we visited with our family friends David and Lynn and they were kind enough to let us use their showers at their house on Lopez! The shower felt great, but was slightly ruined due to me thinking about how I won’t get another shower that nice again for a long time. After my parents and I were all showered, we took David and Lynn out on a day sail across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and back. We had a comfortable breeze that kept us moving and we popped a bottle of champagne for Epic’s christening. It was a great day because David stayed at the helm for most the sail and we only sailed for about 4-5 hours which felt so much shorter than the last few days. The relative break was nice.

Day 4. 9/3/2016

Whales! Today we headed north into Haro Strait and saw so many Orca whales! I didn’t even know that many existed in Puget Sound. They were everywhere! I spotted the first one just by a little blow spout. Then we got closer and they were pretty close to the boat. After the first sighting we continued seeing them for hours, and there were whale watching boats all over the place. It was incredible and I’ve certainly never seen anything like it before.

Once we stopped seeing orcas we got caught up in an unfavorable tide and weak winds. We sat in Haro strait for hours, until finally picking up some wind and a tide change to push us up into Stuart Island. Once we arrived I went for a kayak trip around the perimeter of the harbor.

Day 5.

We left Stuart Island early and sat around in little wind and weird tides all day. Luckily, we found ourselves in the midst of a ton of orcas again! They lasted about 30 minutes to an hour until they all wrapped around Stuart Island toward Roche Harbor. Eventually we started up the engines and made our way into Bedwell Harbor on South Pender Island in Canada! We checked through customs then anchored next to an impressive cliff face. Bedwell Harbor was super swanky and there was live music going on and many nice boats tucked into the small cove.

Day 6.

We left Bedwell early in the morning and set off towards Vancouver, but we weren’t planning on making it all the way. Once into the channel we got great winds ranging from 10-20 knots and we wrapped up into the Straits of Georgia and absolutely flew downwind all the way to Vancouver. The waves were bigger than Epic has encountered thus far, and she handled the conditions well. Once into Vancouver we anchored in False Creek right in the middle of downtown! It’s a scene like no other I’ve ever imagined.

Day 7.

Rest day! We plan to stay here in Vancouver for 2 or 3 full days before departing. This morning we walked to the community center and took showers (for free!). Since then we’ve been tooling around in our dinghy finding all the dinghy docks and amenities that we can take advantage of like the pumpout dock, waste disposal, etc. Vancouver also has tons of wifi so I’m having an easier time staying connected here. Soon we’ll be eating some take out from a restaurant and enjoy all the people watching. We’re certainly going to go through a shortage of people watching in the near future…

First thoughts.

I thought I’d feel super grungy all the time, but when you’re contained to just the boat you don’t get dirty so fast. Plus, our ability to shower on the boat is actually pretty nice.

Laundry will always be a struggle. It isn’t too difficult getting the amount of water needed, but the drying of the clothes needs calm and sunny conditions. We got lucky with our first load, but I already know that we may have some stretches with very little sunshine or too much wind to lay out clothes on the trampoline.

I don’t have nearly as much free time as I expected. I thought this blog would be a breeze but I’m struggling to find time to get it written. When you’re sailing and living on the boat you’re either at the helm or cooking or cleaning or just enjoying the scenery. I’ve only read about 30 pages since leaving home.

I’m sure I have more to talk about. I’ll try doing a better job of written thoughts down when they come to me. Enjoy the pictures and videos!

"If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot"

We just got back from an overnight sailing trip to Andrew's Bay with Joe and Audrey. We got off to a late start, but luckily had a southerly wind push us all the way to the bay. The wind was light, so we put up our drifter sail and got to have a leisurely sail full of laughs and good conversation.

Here is a picture of us going downwind with our drifter. It doesn't fit the boat perfect, but we bought it from someone for $100 which is super cheap for a sail! This sail is only used going downwind in very light winds. (photo credit Audrey)

My dad recently got us signed up for the 'Baja Haha'. It's a cruising rally from San Diego to Cabo beginning October 31st. The rally is in its 23rd year and has a reputation for being very laid back and fun! This picture shows the burgee flag that they just sent us in the mail, along with other pertinent information for the Baja Haha. (photo credit Audrey)

In the morning we woke up to a slightly stronger southerly breeze making it harder to get back home, but we were moving much faster, so in my opinion it was much more enjoyable. Overall, the trip was a great little final getaway with Joe and Audrey and I'll miss them so much! Really looking forward to coming back for the wedding already.

Here's a video Joe took of Epic under sail. Check out my sailing gloves that give +5 to sailing!

Tomorrow is our departure date! We plan on leaving as soon as we wake up and get some breakfast in us. Our first stop will be somewhere in Shilshole Bay in Seattle to get our watermaker serviced and ready to start making water for us. From there our next destination will be Lopez Island to visit some family friends. We won't make it all the way there tomorrow though, so we'll just have to find some protected bay to anchor in for the night.
After Lopez we'll probably play around in the San Juan Islands a bit more before heading up to Vancouver BC where I plan to get my next blog post published. Hope we get some steady winds and not too much rain!

Happy Sailors

It's a Party in the Seattle

Since I last wrote, we've been out sailing once. It wasn't just any old afternoon of sailing, but a double birthday party sail! My brother Joe and my soon to be sister in-law (right? I think it works like that) Diana both share an August 23rd birthday so we took them out and enjoyed hamburgers and tons of desert!

 Joe and Diana sailing on their birthday! (photo credit Diana's Facebook)

Audrey at the helm!

Joe and Diana ready for desert! (photo credit Sheri Timpe)

A few days after that fun we had our big going away party to say goodbye to lots of family and friends. We enjoyed hotdogs and hamburgers and we are so thankful to have such a large group of people provide us so much love and support. It's never fun saying goodbye, but it's nice knowing that we'll all be together again for Joe and Audrey's wedding in 9 short months come June.

A few of the family members that came to the party. You would have thought we would have had the sense to use the boat as the backdrop! Or at least the house! Oh well, it's the people who make the picture great. (photo credit Robin Thomas)

Present

Over the past few weeks a lot of people have been asking me if I'll miss the house. My answer has always been no. It is strange for me because typically I think of myself as having a hard time saying goodbye to things and moving on from things, but this is almost worrisome how easy it is to say goodbye. Today for instance I jumped in the lake and swam out so I could get a good view of the house and I was pretty much trying to make myself sad and miss it, but to no avail. It brought back a lot of great memories, sure, but I think I'm just ready to move on. I'm confident that whatever my future brings, I'll land on my feet and make the most of it, so trying to hold onto things from the past would only bog me down and make me lose sight of what's ahead.

Any minute now, Joe and Audrey are going to come over and we're going to go for an overnight trip to Andrew's Bay. I'll make sure to get some pictures and highlights of that posted before my parents and I depart Wednesday morning.