Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, WA to Salpare Bay Marina, Hayden Island on the Columbia River (which is actually on the Oregon side). The six day breakdown.
Oak Harbor to Port Angeles, WA 55 NM 8 hours
Port Angeles to Neah Bay, WA 58 NM 8 hours
Neah Bay to La Push, WA 43 NM 6 hours
La Push to Gray's Harbor,WA 73 NM 11 hours
Gray's Harbor to Astoria, OR 58 NM 8 hours Columbia Bar crossing slack tide
Astoria, OR to Hayden Island, OR 82 NM 12 hours
Home port is Salpare Bay Marina, Hayden Island, Portland, Oregon. I am personally looking forward to the finale. It has been an amazing trip!!! We both have learned so much about the cruising life and boat repairs :-)
Wednesday, September 14th (day 169)
LaPush to Gray’s Harbor Marina, Westport, WA 72.5nm 11 hr
Woke at 6am with 4 feet of water under the hull, but the tide is coming in. Waited until 7:20 to cast off. The sunrise is beautiful, seas a bit more rolly today. The swells are closer together. Surfing at appx 7.8k. 3nm offshore, heading 120*m south, ocean is only 105’ deep. On the way out of the harbor, I got a good picture of the Rivers Edge Restaurant where we ate last night, which is actually an old boat house. Then back to chores of stowing lines and fenders.
By 9am 8nm offshore, we were completely socked in with dense fog. No traffic on AIS or radar. The fog lifted due to increasing winds from the south. By 11am we were crashing into the waves with forward seas breaking over the bow. Otto in piloting now.
12pm there was a dark cloud hanging over us, the chop REAL close together. We ride it out. By 2:30 it feels like we’ve been crashing into the choppy seas forever. 1600rpm gives us 6.8 - 7.2k. Windshield wipers are in use, but it’s not raining!
3:45 John lunges to the helm to knock off Otto and hand steer around a gaggle of crab pot bouys. His comment “F...ing sloppy seas”!!!
3:55 Finally making the turn east towards the inlet to Gray’s Harbor, we’re hit with NASTY beam seas. Shit, we have to go out further and tack, otherwise it feels like we’re going to capsize, everything is secure but the contents of the cabinets are crashing around like crazy. Kinda scarey. We have a ways to go, 2100rpm only gives us 7knots and we are struggling beam to beam in 37’ of water! It’s not looking good for landing in Astoria tomorrow :-( I’ve got my eyes peeled for incoming fishing boats, keeping the buoys insight so John can focus on steering. The swells have swells. Happy to have the breakwater insight!
5pm Plenty of room at Grays Harbor Marina Public Dock. $25 + $4pwr per night. Secured port side tie. The crew is tired! John had a cold beer and we looked up tomorrows weather right away. Forecast is favorable! 4’ swells, 9 second intervals, 7k winds from NW. Need to be outside the Bar 1pm, crossing at slack tide 2pm. We shove off at 6:30am. Time to hook up shore power.
John hosed the boat down, she was covered in salt, while I paid the moorage and ordered BBQ for dinner on the boat. We plotted our course on the Ipad with Navionics, while we enjoyed smoked chicken, hot links and all the sides. I was in bed by 9....
Thursday, September 15th (day 170) Columbia River Bar Crossing
Up and at ‘em by 5:30am. Weather prediction has not changed. Got ship shape. Cast off 7:27. Coffee and bagels in the pilot house. Under gray skies, the sea state is clearly MUCH nicer than yesterday. Otto is at the helm.
9:15 the cloud cover grew more dense and Otto can no longer hold. The GPS heading isn’t updating either, which confirms previous suspicions that the dense clouds (low today) affect the Raymarine Nav equipment. John is seated, steering with his feet.
10am I took the helm for an hour while John did engine room checks, dump bad water and set up the GoPro. We reviewed the chart, our location and the timing of slack tide at “The Bar”. USCG broadcasts report favorable conditions. We know exactly where we need to be and when to cross “The Bar” at slack tide. Lunch was made by 11:45... grilled ham and cheese. 8.5 knots, we made our turn east... fought beam seas at first, but by the time we passed the light house it was smooth sailing. We readied the boat for Port of Astoria Marina at 2:30..... in plenty of time to clean the boat some more....
1pm Current heading 166*T Arrived Astoria, OR,
Friday, September 16th (day 171) Full Moon
Astoria, OR to Salpare Bay Marina, Portland, OR 82 NM 12 hours
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