We got out of Grey’s Harbor on the morning of the 14th. It was overcast and breezy, and we sailed through the night on a double-reefed main and staysail. Morning broke clear, with lighter air, and the sail around Cape Blanco was sunny, warm, 6 kts under one-reef and a half-furled genoa. We had a beautiful sail through the night even with the light SW winds, reaching out to about 30 miles, then pointing back toward shore in the  morning.  By late afternoon, we could see the cold front due west coming in. Sooner than expected.

As the day grew colder,  misty, adn starting to shower, a diminutive hitch-hiker joined us for half an hour.  Out of nowhere and 20 miles from shore, a migrating yellow warbler (sp.?) dropped from the clouds and landed on the aft deck. It hopped around looking for a spot out of the wind and rain, settling in for a snooze once or twice. After a while, it hopped off the starboard quarter. We hope it cleared the leaping wave crests.

By about midnight that day the swells were 10 ft, plus wind waves of two or three on top. Winds were W 20-24 kts, and we were motoring, obstensibly to get to Eureka before the “real” storm hit. As we were somewhat broadside to the predominant swell, we had a rolly ride through the night. By morning, the seas were pretty confused and seemed large to me (Wade pretended non-worry), rising well above the stern pulpit as they approached, then breaking off to either side. When we were broadside to them,  the boat yawed broadly, occasionally submerging first one rail, then the other, as she steadied up; however, we never did get any water into the cockpit. I called up the coast guard a few times for a Humboldt bar report, as it was beginning to seem unlikely that it would be open, given the building conditions we were seeing.

Turns out, all was mild on the coast. We timed the bar well, and rolled in one hour before the end of flood. We’re now tied to the city “overflow” dock, which is very convenient to the library, old town Eureka, and the mellow-but-colorful homeless communiity here by the water. Finally getting some sleep. Of course, it turns out that in the grand scheme of things we probably would have made our way further south more quickly if we had not pulled in here to avoid a storm we were already in: it seems that the next storm, offshore, is predicted to bring swells of 15 – 20 feet, plus wind waves. Swells will be significant until at least mid week next, so not sure when we’ll be heading out next. I wouldn’t say I’m unnerved, but I’d rather not go out right away in bigger conditions than what we’ve already seen. Rookie Carla.

What have we broken? Not much. We thought we had our computer secured better than it was – it took a flight across the cabin and broke the usb GPS dongle, now coming to us in Eureka via amazon. Glad we also had paper charts and an ipad for navigating after that.  I also took flight across the cabin, going airborne at an inopportune moment. Cracked the handle on the galley stove, and my pride, but nothing worse.

Thankfully, we have not personally found the edge of the continental shelf; however,the charts show it to be below us at times, as we range between 12 and 25 miles out. So far, we’ll make a wild guess that the wind and waves have been less closer to land. But then, so is the heightened awareness of the lee shore, so not sure which is truly the best option.