Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Bamfield South to Coos Bay

September 10, 2009

Day 1,

No Wind, no sea legs and no land in sight. Motored for the first 10 hours of the day. At least a pod of Orca came to by to send us on our way. I think that my experience with seasickness up in Bella Bella has increased my sensitivity to this malicious malady. Not actually sick mind you, just a bit off in the guts. A north wind picked up and we sailed through the night. My mind races and I think to my self, that this sailing off shore business is just not that fun. Its long, slow, kinda boring and worrying about the weather and all the gear that could fail makes me think “I wonder how much we could get for this boat and where the nearest harbor is?”

Day 2

Whatever. Long, some wind, lots of motoring. We have motored about half of the time and been making ok progress. A few interesting things along the way, a school of young Mola Mola this morning and the bioluminescence last night was unbelievable. We are currently feeling the swell from a storm that was about 500 NM north of us. It hit the Queen Charlottes and Alaska yesterday. Thankfully it was going north and not this way. Still its odd to be influenced by something so far away. The waves are 12-15 foot high and actually create their own wind as you roll up and down them. The period is long (11-14 seconds) so we just feel the rise only when you watch them coming, otherwise they are of no consequence.

Day 3

I feel better. The general malaise and woozy feelings have gone. We are getting into the 3-hour night shifts. At first I could not sleep for more than an hour. I wake up to every noise. “What was that? Did we hit something? What just broke? Is the bilge full of water? Where is my spoon?” No wonder I cannot sleep. Some good advise from our friend Steve Clark: Don’t even try to sleep, just try to rest the first few days, lay down and close your eyes and just rest, eventually in a few days, sleep will come. Well last night it did. We have both slept for every minute of our 3 hour off watch shifts. Today was sunny and warm and the night stars were brighter than ever. IO is no longer for sale.

Are you a flying insect and are at least 40 miles offshore? Do you want a ride south? Well come aboard IO, all your friends are here. We have many guests aboard, dragonflies, damselflies, wasps and bees, all clinging to the rigging and heading our way. An offshore entomologists dream!

Day 4

I think we will put in at Coos Bay this evening. Its only 40 miles away and the weather is supposed to shift against us tomorrow.

Hyo and mike are sitting in the cockpit. It’s cloudy but warm. An hour has passed without a word.

Hyo: Mike, did you fart?

Mike: No, If I did, you’d have heard it! I thought you did. It stinks!

Hyo: It was not me.

Mike: It might be a whale. Their breath stinks like that!

Hyo: Hahaha.

Mike: No seriously, whale breath smells really bad.

Hyo and Mike stand up and look windward to starboard.

Mike: Hey, there’s a Humpback!

True story.

Later: 20-knot south-easterlies are a day early and we are beating to windward. Even with a lot of work we will not make Coos Bay today. We will get there in the night, but there is a dangerous river bar to cross at the entrance, so we will have to heave-to and wait till morning to enter.

We saw an angel tonight. When we fist hove-to, a sea lion came over in the darkness and was glowing brilliantly in the bioluminescence. Her wings trailed a gown of light as she sailed under our keel just beyond our touch. When she left, she let in the wind and rain again. 25 knots from the southeast and surrounded in fish boats threatening to destroy our little vessel with there rigging here in the howling wind of the north pacific. No sleep tonight.

Day 5.

The entrance to Coos bay was incredible in the morning light. We motored through two huge jetties where enormous waves were breaking and crashing on each side of the channel. In the breaking surf the sea lions and giant pelicans were battling over the herring that fill these waters.

Safe along side the fisherman’s wharf we are having dinner with another Canadian couple aboard their catamaran tonight. There is a Palm tree at the marina office. True warmth can’t be far away now! The cruising lifestyle has begun.

358 nautical miles, 663 km

N 43 20.79 W 124 19.28

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