I'm sitting on the cockpit bench watching the waves build. Dale is at the helm and mumbles something about placing the second entry way slat into position. Dales eyes widen and someone empties a bathtub full of water right behind and around me. The water flows around me and I watch the cockpit fill then quickly empty. Nadia and Brenda were having a nap in the aft cabin when this happened. Unfortunately we forgot to close the vent and they had a couple liters of cold ocean water dumped on their heads
into their shoes and clothes. We'd been sailing for about 4 hours at this point.
We'd quickly left Coos Bay once the bar restriction was lifted for vessels 30 feet and greater. The Coast Guard closely monitors the wave conditions on the bar and issues restrictions for vessel size depending on the size of the waves. We found the Coast Guard to be very generous with their evaluation of the bar because even though Songline is 36 feet it was a pretty rough go getting over the bar. After about an hour of bashing waves we came to the edge of the bar where the sea bottom drops away.
In a matter of just a minute or two the conditions completely change for the better. Until they get worse that is.
The weather report was good. 15-25 N winds lessening after midnight. It should have been a very nice run to San Francisco. Initially the sailing was perfect, we were doing a solid 7.5 kts under double reefed main and working jib. The winds kept increasing. I kept thinking, no worry we only have to keep things together until midnight when they will ease. So why is it 3:00 am with winds at 30 kts gusting to 40? Brenda couldn't sleep so checked the weather; gale warnings and a worsening overall report.
Time to hide yet again. We were abeam to Crescent City making it the obvious choice. The boat (and crew) handled the situation very well. Down below the motion was not too bad, above it was totally eye popping. We were running under stay sail only with average speeds of 6 to 7 knots and as high as 9+ during the heavy gusts. All this in total darkness. Dale referred to the boat as a bucking bronco. We needed to stay closer (15 to 20 miles) inshore to avoid even stronger winds further out so would
gybe the staysail every half hour or so to keep us on the required track. What a night. No one slept. Every now and then a big gust would come by at the same time as a large wave rolled through, the boat would dig one side in and scoop out a few hundred pounds of water to help chill our already numb bodies. The wind vane steered the boat through most of this. I'd have to reset it after each gybe but it's ability to hold track in those conditions was really remarkable.
Peter
