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Subject: [worldcruising] First Passage
cmckesson@XXX.XXX
Date: Fri Aug 03 2001 - 08:08:54 EDT
Completed our first ocean passage last week.
Family of three persons (Momma, Poppa, 13 yo Daughter) aboard 1968 Columbia 36. Passage was from Puget Sound to San Francisco Bay. approx 700 miles.
We chose to go offshore and make the trip non-stop. My concern was that the
various possible intermediate ports all have troublesome bars at their
entrances. It seemed to me that while I might be able to enter them in fair
weather, they would be dangerous in foul...and it would only be in foul weather
that we would need them anyway.
We came down about 150 miles off the coast. The first two days were uneventful
- light to moderate NW winds making for a gentle broad reach for two days. Then, off Oregon the wind blew up to 30-40 knots, building the seas to 15 feet
with breaking combers. We tried lying to a sea anchor and couldn't get the boat
head to wind. So we rigged a storm jib and ran before it. Ended up having to
reef the storm jib down to about 20 sq ft (Boy am I glad we bought that jib just
before departing!) We also streamed warps to help yank her stern around. Then
we let the Cap Horn windvane do all the steering.
Our watch plan devolved to what we called "prairie dogging." In this mode,
during the gale, we would set a timer for 15 minutes. We stood watch one hour
on and two hours off. Every fifteen minutes we would open the hatch and take a
visual 360. We would also engage the radar scanner on 12 mi mode and take an
electronic 360. Then back below decks for another 15 minutes.
One point to being so far offshore was to be outside the shipping traffic and
this seemed to work.
The boat was lightly pooped (three to six inches in the cockpit) about four
times. Also, during those times when she would broach we would occasionally get
a real solid wave slap on the weather side. I was afraid for the structure of
the old boat, but was very pleased with how well she took it. Indeed, upon
inspection after arrival I see that we broke nothing at all.
The gale lasted about 3 days, then blew out. At one point we were afraid it
would blow us right past San Francisco, as we couldn't turn to any course except
due South.
We made landfall at Drake's Bay (Point Reyes CA). A sloppy rolly landfall with
the storm's big swells but light winds. We have very little mechanical
propulsion in the boat (4 hp electric drive) so we tried to sail as much as
possible, finally making the cove about midnight. In California pea soup fog. We piloted and anchored under radar. Next morning up at dawn, drift slowly
toward Golden Gate, and the when the afternoon breeze came up get a rollicking
blast through this impressive and crowded waterway. Last Friday at 8 pm we
arrived and moored at a marina in Sausalito California.
This was our first ocean passage. I think we handled it well, at least in
retrospect. There were certainly some times there when we thought it would be
wiser to quit this nonsense and buy a farm. But I think we have all gotten over
that and are again enthusiastic for our chosen adventure.
Thanks for listening.
Chris McKesson
s/v SUNDANCE
San Francisco Bay, CA
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