No Plan to Stop in Oregon

October 5, 2019

Days at Sea: 301
Days Since Departure: 369

Noon Position: 45 53N  130 56W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): E 6
Wind(t/tws): SExS 10+
Sea(t/ft): SE 3
Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast (but no rain) 10
Bar(mb): 1027, rising slowly
On-deck Temp(f): 66
Cabin Temp(f): 70
Water Temp(f): 62
Relative Humidity(%): 73
Magnetic Variation: 15.7

Sail: Main and working jib, one reef (no need for speed in this direction); close reaching

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 128
Miles since departure: 38,377

The rain that fell lightly but without remission all yesterday and last night finally eased to a drizzle by breakfast and then dried up altogether before noon. However, the S wind we’ve had for two days shows no signs of following suit.

By now we’ve run our easting down and are not in need of more. In fact, with a mere 250 miles remaining between Mo and the Oregon coast, I’m wondering if I should heave to. I’ve been on that coast. There are no all-weather hiding spots that are not also bar harbors, and of those there are few.

Once, when sailing home from Alaska late in the year, I decided to harbor-hop the coast between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and San Francisco so as to avoid the embrace of early-season gales. Avoid the gales I did and most of the fine sailing days too, because the Coast Guard, who controls the harbor entrances, kept the harbors closed to “recreational” traffic at the slightest whiff of a swell form the W. “You can check in, but you can’t check out,” should have been the sign posted directly below “No Wake.”

For weeks I was stuck in Grays Harbor, a fine place to stop for an afternoon of beach combing and an ice cream, but the one taffy shop and the one burger stand and the one gift shop lose their charm after three or four days, not to mention a fortnight. Newport was another prison on our way S. Admittedly, we did weather a substantial storm there, and the brew pub uphill from the marina was an improvement over taffy and burgers, but they were hardly home.

I recall planning an escape. Well before dawn, I put out to sea thinking that at that hour the Coasties in such a small town would surely would be asleep, but I had barely begun to reach the steep and crashing bar when I heard a siren from astern, and soon I was escorted back into the harbor with a reprimand from the Commandant.

Murre, the little ketch I was sailing then, didn’t make it home until Thanksgiving that year.

—

It is an odd final few miles. First a whimper and then a bang. The whimper will come later tonight when, per the forecast, we run smack into a ridge of calm lasting a day. The bang will be the northerly gale, winds to 35 plus, I expect on our last two day’s run to Drakes Bay.

The fates, it seems, have a sense of humor and a taste for surprises.