Finally, a trip-end update!

Hi all. Cynthia and I have been digging out from under the aftermath of the last 500 nm of our return trip. Columbine is safely tucked away in the marina at the Port of Friday Harbor. It is still pretty weird being able to just step off and have a dock right there - but it is really convenient! We now have a decent internet connection onboard as well.

Here is a brief update on the last part of our trip. As Cynthia's mom posted, we were hit by something pretty big, probably a wave coming in a crosswise direction to the prevailing seas. The seas were generally 20-25 feet, and the wind was about 45 knots. We were both below getting our foul weather gear on in preparation for going forward to douse the one remaining sail, the stays'l, when it hit. Columbine felt as if she were picked up and slammed down onto her port side. She righted almost immediately (she is a very seaworthy vessel) but not before 30-40 gallons of seawater was forced through the closed companionway hatch and directly onto the navigation table. Another deluge came in through the skylights.

Cynthia immediately dashed outside to make sure that the steering was being attended to by the Monitor windvane and to check for damage, while I started pulling our electronics out of the nav table and pumping out all the water that was below.

The end result of the knockdown was probably about $3000 of lost or damaged equipment and a lot of general repair work to be done. Both laptop computers were lost, and some other personal electronics such as my Kindle. Our large solar panel, which had been securely mounted to the backstay, was entirely swept away after its aluminum frame broke. The rear part and the mounts are still up, though. Also almost all of our protective canvas was shredded, such as the weathercloths around the cockpit and the cockpit cover, and everything that had been in the cockpit was washed overboard.

Even weeks later we have been finding water or water damage in places we wouldn't expect, such as behind drawers and in usually hidden spaces. We are also experiencing additional random failures that might be attributable to water damage, such as our built-in DVD player and stereo.

On the plus side, all of our marine electronics survived intact. So we still have VHF and SSB radios, chart plotter, radar, AIS, and GPS. And neither of us suffered even a scratch. So the remaining part of the trip was safe and uneventful, we just couldn't tell anyone!

After reaching Friday Harbor I went back to my previous employer, and they happened to have another engineer leaving that next week. So I was hired back into the position I had left eight years ago when we left for San Diego.

Coming Soon...Near You

From Cynthia's Mom

Cynthia and Glenn opted to stay in Port Angeles a few days to restock and refresh.    Besides looking like castaways...and very skinny...(I've seen them!)  they are doing fine.    I would say that the simple secret to losing weight must be manning a sail boat in stormy weather.  (Hmm.  Can I advertise that on the web and make tons  of money?   oooh maybe not the best choice of words ).   They plan to head to Friday Harbor tomorrow (Tuesday) and assess their access to computers there.    They will restart their blogs as soon as they can get to a computer.  Stay tuned.......

Eureka! We've found them!

October 7, 2011:  From Cynthia's mom

For those of you who have been worried about Cynthia and Glenn....they are safe!
After their last blog,  they were hit by a big wave that swamped their nav table and toasted both of their computers.... thus their ability to communicate with us through their blog or email went kapoof (or kasplash).   Their single side band and VHF radios continued to work  just fine. 

So where are they?  They are motoring very slowly with calm seas against an ebb tide at the entrance to the Straights of Juan de Fuca.   When they reached Neah Bay,  Cindy was able to get a Verizon signal so she called Verizon, who called me, and we were able to reactivate her phone.    At least they will have a way to communicate whenever they can receive a signal.

I will let them tell their exciting tales when they reach port.   Although the remaining distance isn't very far it may take some time to reach Friday Harbor.    They are both exhausted and because they are motoring,  one of them needs to hand steer while the other keeps close watch for the considerable boat/ship traffic in the Straights.   Also,  the Customs offices keep office hours and they can't even anchor while they wait for the office to open.   They may choose to use the Customs office at Port Angeles instead of Friday Harbor depending on the time of day of their arrival.   They will definitely want to rest at some point.

We can almost reach out and touch them.   They should arrive at port by Sunday,  and giving them a couple of days to rest and get to a computer,  you should hear an update early next week.   If something changes,   I'll provide another update.

Stiorm Update

We are now taking the brunt of this storm, being pummeled by gale force winds (Force 8). Surprisingly, and fortunately, the seas are not yet very big. So our current tactic is to run before the storm using the stays'l only. We are making over six knots to the northeast. This is why we wanted to gain so much sea room off the Oregon coast. We can now use any of the standard storm tactics - running, heaving-to, lying ahull, deploying a sea anchor - without fear of running ashore. From the Grib files, it looks like we will have quite a few hours of strong south to southwest winds, so we will keep running for now - they are taking us right where we want to go.

Things are still comfy inside, with the exception that we are taking in water occasionally through the skylight. When a wave breaks over the cabin sometimes it sneaks under the upside down dinghy that is covering the skylight, and comes through into the cabin, dousing the off-watch person sleeping on the settee below. It's on my to-do list to seal them better, but I haven't gotten to it yet - that particular list is always very long. But otherwise things are good inside: warm and dry.

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know that we are fine, and finally making progress north again.

Update: I didn't get this posted in time, and now things are changing. The winds and seas are increasing, so for the near future, we will be running under bare poles - no sails up. This is the tactic we used years ago leaving the Pacific Northwest, and maybe it's fitting that we use it coming back.

Position Update 10/2

As Glenn mentioned earlier, there is a large low pressure system moving into the area tonight and tomorrow. Fortunately, according to the latest GRIB file forecast, we may have made enough south in the last few days of drifting that we could see just the fringes of wind from that system. Maybe. This is weather forecasting in the Pacific Northwest which is very difficult, and the predictions change rapidly. But, if the latest forecast is correct, the low will be moving north of us, and bringing us strong winds from the south and west. This is ideal for us because those winds will push us in exactly the direction we want to go. Of course, we don't want to go too fast initially because we don't actually want to catch up with this system.

So, for now, we are just flying the stays'l which is one of our two smallest sails. The stays'l is situated on the foredeck so it is much easier to take down quickly than the storm jib which flies from the tip of the bow sprit. In big seas, the bow sprit is a very wet roller coaster of a ride which is fun at an amusement park.. not so much out here.

For a long time tonight, we just drifted further south in calm seas with less than 5 knots of wind - the proverbial calm before the storm. The winds have now shifted and are blowing out of the south at just under 20 knots, and slowly strengthening. We are making way very comfortably toward Cape Flattery at just under 4 knots.

Our current data:
Date/Time: 10/2 0300 PDT
Position: 41D 49.5N, 128D 52.5W
COG/SOG: 020T @ 2.9 kts
Wind: S 15-20 kts
Seas: ? 1-3 ft
Sky: Dark (no moon), 50% Cloud coverage

Waiting to get Pasted

The next storm that will hit us is a big one. In preparation for this, we have altered course to almost due west to gain more mileage from shore. We are in the most danger from land, not from the winds and seas. We, and Columbine, can take some pretty harsh weather. But not when we are against a shoreline. So we now have about 200nm sea room off the Oregon coast, with more being made right now, and are fully prepared for this next pounding. Hopefully the winds will cooperate after this and let us sail into the Strait.

Conditions onboard are great - it is warm and dry inside, with no real indication of the winds and seas howling outside. Cynthia is restitching the poor shredded yankee jib. I have been entering all our logbook data into the computer. As of our last entry, we have sailed 4572nm from Papeete, Tahiti, and are on Day 39 . Our average speed for the entire trip is 4.84 kts. That's almost a knot faster than the trip south, where we averaged only 4.18 kts. And this was mostly upwind!

Our current data is:
Date/Time: 10/1 137pm PDT
Position: 41D 55.7N, 128D 36.4W
COG/SOG: 282T @ 4.2 kts
Wind: N 10-15 kts
Seas: N 10-15 ft
Sky: 50% Cloud coverage

News from the Cocky Ones

This is the front that just keeps giving! We currently have complete choice of direction that we travel - as long as it's south. We have tried southwest and southeast. They are both similar, but after a couple of tries we have again chosen southeast. We are still sailing under stays'l only. Maybe when the wind abates enough to hoist the storm jib we can choose a better course. For now, though, we are warm and dry in the cabin, waiting for a change in weather.

Our current data, by the way, is:
Date/Time: 9/30 1225 PDT
Position: 42D 24.5N 129D 27.7W
COG/SOG: 125T @ 2.7 kts
Wind: N 25-30
Seas: N 12-14 ft
Sky: 100% cloud cover, occasional rain

Position Update 9/30

The California / Oregon border is not our friend. The last few times we have tried to cross it together, on land or at sea, it has hammered us with big winds, big seas, or lots of snow. Thankfully, we don't have snow this time. I'm cold enough as it is. But, the wind that was supposed to briefly pick up as the cold front moved over us has maintained its 25-35 knots for the last 12 hours. According to the GRIB weather files that we download on our radio, we may see this kind of wind for a few days unless we can figure out how to move out of its way. Sailing with just the stays'l up at the bow has not been effective. We have been moving at about 2 knots in a southeasterly direction all night, which is not the way to get to Friday Harbor. Fortunately, we are moving so slowly that our mileage to Friday Harbor has not changed, just the direction has changed by 2 degrees. Daylight is just now breaking, and we are pretty tired from yesterday's efforts. But, we have been taking turns resting all night and we should be able to figure out a better sailing arrangement soon, when our heads are clearer and the day is brighter. In the meantime, we'll just be taking in the scenery along the California / Oregon border. We have the diesel stove on, so we are warm and toasty below decks where we can watch the radar and other instrument data on the computer. All is mostly well on board.

Our current data:

Date/Time: 9/30 7:45am PDT
Position: 42D 28.9N, 129D 41.5W
COG/SOG: 103T @ 2.5 kts
Wind: NE 22-29 kts
Seas: NW 6-10 ft
Sky: 100% cloud and light rain

Frionted!

Ok, that last post was not intended to be a prediction, but that's what it was. The yankee jib is now fully shredded. A bunch of new work for Cynthia, since we really need it for the upcoming lighter wind. This front was pretty violent, and laid Columbine on her side when it hit. We had doused the mizzen, but still had up the full main and the now-ruined yankee jib. We had also switched the music to Nine Inch Nails blaring on the inside stereo (that's our official storm music). We are now sailing under stays'l only, waiting for the storm winds (and driving rain) to pass. By the way, we are now dialed in enough that everything below, in the cabin, stayed in place during this event.

We have been dissecting this frontal encounter, trying to learn from it what we need to do differently. So far we think we need bigger, stronger headsails. Columbine seems to need a lot of sail area to get going, but the present lightweight yankee jib can't handle it when the wind rises. We need it to be both big and strong for these stormy ocean sailing conditions.

Another option would be to go with a roller jib, but we have been reluctant to do that. For one, they are very expensive. We are also, as Cynthia pointed out in an earlier post, weird northwesterners, so we tend to do things the hard way. This definitely qualifies. Let's just cut another set of facets into this square stone wheel.

Anyway, the front has passed, and we now have some strong upwind sailing to do. 420 nm to Cape Flattery!

We love fronts!

With the next cold front approaching, predicted to hit us this afternoon, we are now getting the wind preceding it. Winds are 20-30 knots out of the southwest, pushing us right where we want to go. We are carrying a full main, full mizzen, and yankee jib, and going 7+ knots. This is probably too much wind for the poor yankee, which is a lightweight nylon sail. We have already ripped the seams out twice this passage, and Cynthia has restitched it both times. But our working jib is out of commission due to badly worn hanks, so it's the yankee or the storm jib, which is way too small. Besides, this is fun, and we can fix the yankee soon in Friday Harbor if it blows out again.

Cynthia is still sleeping off a long night watch, during which she hand-steered for hours, and I'm rocking out to Lynyrd Skynyrd on my iPod and playing with sails trying to get even more speed.

When the front hits, the winds are expected to suddenly back to N to NNE to NE and remain 20-25 knots. That is bad for us, and we will then have to change out the yankee for the storm jib and reef the main and douse the mizzen to go upwind against it. But we have been going N to NW all day, so we should have a pretty decent angle for Cape Flattery. Another front is expected to usher us through the strait Sunday night/early Monday morning. Then we'll be there!

Position Update 9/28 (9/29)

The horse is on its way to the barn. We've been trying to make way as much north as possible, without heading east, because we think that is where we can get some better wind in the next few days than we're having now. But, Columbine just doesn't seem to want to point north. She's heading straight for the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I have to go back out there now and redirect soon.

So, here's the data:
Date/Time: 9/29 3am PDT
Position: 41D 36.5N, 130D 49.4W
COG/SOG: 45T @ 4.8 kts
Wind: SE 10-12 kts
Seas: small
Sky: Cold, mostly cloudy, and dark

Position Update 9/27 (9/28)

"Hey! We're over 40 degrees now!" This is what Glenn told me as a lumbered into the cockpit at 4:00 this morning. I was dressed in 3 layers of polar fleece under my foul weather gear. My wetsuit booties are on my feet and I have some giant blue vinyl fishing gloves covering my hands. The only thing you can see of my skin is my nose. "Hmmph. It doesn't feel like it's over 40 degrees," I think. Oh. He was talking about our position.

Our current data:
Date/Time: 9/28 6am PDT
Position: 40D 09.9N, 131D 30.4W
COG/SOG: 340T @ 4.5 kts
Wind: NE 8-11 kts
Seas: NE 2-4 ft + W 8-10 ft
Sky: Clear, and very cold!

Position Update 9/26

It's all or nothing for us when it comes to wind. Last night we had blasting wind, so much that we couldn't put up much of anything for sails. Tonight it's back to 5 kts of wind and us barely drifting along with our biggest sails up. Neither situation is ideal for making the big speeds that we love so much. This light air is expected to continue through tomorrow before another front bumps up the wind again. Oh well, it was a lovely sunset and now it is a clear night.

We used the quiet time today to get a lot of repairs done. Cynthia re-sewed some sail slides on the mainsail: one was broken and several others were mostly chafed through. All better now. I went up the mast and replaced the halyard for the radar reflector - it had chafed through and the reflector had come crashing to the deck. Cynthia put some sail repair tape on a couple of spots on the mizzen sail. I repaired a nearly chafed-through control line for the windvane, and reorganized and secured half of the engine room storage. We'll have to come up with more to do for tomorrow.

Our current data:
Date/Time: 9/26 6pm PDT
Position: 38D 50.7N, 131D 52.7W
COG/SOG: 045T @ 3.0 kts
Wind: NW 5-8 kts
Seas: NW 2-4 ft
Sky: Clear

Note: Our position, in practical terms, is 70 nm north and 440 nm west of San Francisco. We are 640 nm southwest of the entrance to Juan De Fuca Strait. Following our current route, we are 754 nm from Friday Harbor.

Position Update 9/25

Ok, we found the wind! We are currently running under storm jib only, and still making 5.5 kts. We are now even in latitude with San Francisco, and about 500 nm west. Our electronics still show an arrival in Friday Harbor on October 2 or 3. We have only 873 nm to go.

Date/Time: 9/25 2100 HST (midnight PDT)
Position: 37D 36.4N, 133D 18.2W
COG/SOG: 055T @ 5.5 kts
Wind: SW 30-35 kts
Seas: SW 8-10 ft
Sky: Mostly clear

Watches and Watchkeeping

What is a watch and what do we have to do during it? First off, legally, all vessels must maintain a proper watch at all times (24/7) when underway. This also makes sense from a safety perspective as well, and most cruising sailors adhere to this.

We have settled on a three-hour watch schedule during the night. This schedule becomes more flexible during the day, depending on work that needs to be done. On our trip down from Seattle to San Diego, years ago, we did four-hour watches, and found them too long and tiring. Three hours seems to work best for us. But that means that we can never get more than three hours of sleep at a time. This doesn't seem like much sleep, but to put it into perspective, single-handers (those who sail solo) must limit their sleep to 15-minute intervals!

So what do we do on watch? When things are going smoothly, the windvane is steering the boat and the wind is relatively steady, all we have to do is, well, watch. That is, maintain a visual and electronic lookout for other vessels or obstructions. At night we watch for the glow of lights, and periodically look on the chart plotter for AIS targets (this would be other vessels transmitting this data), and occasionally turning on the radar to look for things that don't transmit AIS data, such as a runaway buoy, for example. When something shows up, the watchstander has to monitor it and take evasive action if necessary until it is past.

When things are going less smoothly, the watch person might really have their hands full. Usually this occurs because of shifty winds or really light conditions that the windvane might not be able to cope with. In this case it might call for hand steering. If the winds change enough, they must readjust the windvane or sails to compensate. During some watches, this process is continuous and can get to be pretty tiring. If conditions change significantly enough, the sleeping person might have to be awakened to help change sails. During all this other activity, the person on watch must also continue to watch.

At night, when not on watch, the preferred activity is to sleep - you only get three hours! During the day, it could be relaxing with the guitar, playing games on the iPod, writing blog posts, or doing one of the many tasks that are always required. Depending on how the previous night went, it also might be that you just get some more sleep.

Position Update 9/24

Today has been both frustrating and exhilarating. Last night the winds went very light and shifty, and it was a lot of work just to keep the boat moving. Tonight is the same, with boat speeds between 2 and 4 kts, in various directions. During the day, though, we averaged better than 6 kts. Anyway, here is our 9pm data:

Date/Time: 9/24 2100 hst
Position: 36D 25.4N, 135D 31.4W
COG/SOG: 065T @ 3.8 kts
Wind: NW 8-10
Seas: NW 4-6 ft
Sky: 15% cloud cover

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Columbine Position Update, 9/23

After a really fast day of sailing (6-7.5 kts), in winds of 30-35 kts, the cold front we had been using for all that wind passed over us with the wind suddenly shifting to the northwest. We are still going pretty fast, but expect the wind to moderate soon and become more steady, less gusty. Life is still pleasant onboard, but Nemo is unhappy he had to find a new position since the boat is heeled over the other way now.

Our current data:
Date/Time: 9/23 2005 HST (11pm PDT)
Position: 35D 09.0N, 137D 15.8W
COG/SOG: 050T @ 6.0 kts
Wind: NW 17-25 kts
Seas: SW 5-8 ft
Sky: 100% cover, rain

Position Update 9/22 - Day 30

Conditions were much stronger today, with winds 25-30 kts and seas up to about 12 feet, but we have been very comfortable onboard. We spent most of the day outside, chatting and getting some little projects done. Had a delicious coconut curry with tofu for dinner. It's easier to do a lot of things now that we aren't heeled over 20 degrees all the time. Now we are riding mostly flat (thanks to our downwind course, finally), but now we get a continuous rolling motion and an occasional big roll when the waves combine just so.

At the suggestion of the WeatherGuy we have changed course to a more easterly direction to avoid some stronger weather that would have enveloped us on our previous course.

Our current data:
Date/Time: 9/22 2100 HST
Position: 34D 20.9N, 139D 50.1W
COG/SOG: 080T @ 5.5 kts
Wind: SW 20-30 kts
Seas: 8-12 feet combined
Sky: 20% cloud cover

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Position Update 9/21 - Day 29

This morning we decided that we had to begin sailing only despite the still-light winds. We want to conserve our remaining fuel, which is still quite a bit, as much as possible. Plus we were tired of hearing it 24 hours a day.

So we went to work on some of the systems that make us go faster in lighter winds, and especially downwind systems. For example we completely rerigged the spinnaker pole so we could pole out the jib. We also tweaked the windvane some more so it is more sensitive, and replaced all the control lines. And added a new preventer to the main boom. I think there's more, but I can't think of them right now. The end result is that we have been sailing all day at close to our motoring speed and with easier steering effort on our part.

Our data for today:
Date/Time: 9/21 1832 HST
Position: 33D 11.1N, 141D 45.0W
Course/Speed: COG 030T, SOG 3.5-4.7 kts
Wind: SW 10-15 kts
Seas: W 4-6 feet, occasional 8 feet
Clouds: 60% cover

Position Update, 9/20 - Day 28

We are still motoring slowly northwest, waiting for the expected wind to hit. I think it's for real, because we are starting to get some big (6-8 foot) swell from the west. We just had a crossing with a big cargo ship, the first vessel we've seen since the equator, and we chatted on the VHF radio. He was headed to Onahama, Japan. He asked when we were expecting to arrive in Seattle and I told him October 3. He said his arrival in Japan is also Oct. 3, but I looked it up and he has 4200 nm to go and we have just under 1400 nm. What a difference a little speed makes!

Our current data:
Date/Time: 9/20 6pm HST
Position: 31D 45.3N, 142D 57.5W
Course/Speed: COG 025T, SOG 4.4 kts
Wind: SW 5-7 kts
Seas: W 6-8 ft
Clouds: 10%