2016-37: Bodega, Golden Gate, San Francisco, to Redwood City

Sunday, October 23, 2016:  And, hopefully, the completion of our Anacortes to San Francisco Cruise

This morning we departed Bodega Bay in the near early morning darkness.  We're bound for the Golden Gate at around 2PM near slack current.  Then it's down the Bay to Redwood City and Westpoint Harbor arriving around 4PM where we expect to keep the Wild Blue for several months.  Once again we're in front of a new set of storms that are expected to thrash the ocean starting tonight. Hopefully we'll finally complete this journey southward after planning an early to mid-October finish.

This morning's leg is usually ugly as the swell and seas come from the northwest and our course is initially southwest to clear Point Reyes.  This puts the seas on our beam, beyond what the roll stabilizers can handle.  So any loose furniture, unsecured table items, and unlatched drawers can become mobile as they did on this leg in September 2013. We expect to get a little current push at point Reyes.  Check back later.


10:30AM Update:

The fog arrived about an hour into our motor to Point Reyes.  It then cleared just after the Point. Surprisingly the ocean is mild today, way less than the forecast 6 foot swell, and all furniture is staying put this time! Winds are below 5 knots so far.  Expecting the Gate around 1:45PM.  Later.

Fog bank reduces our visibility to about 200 yards.

Point Reyes Light.  Known for its great Blue Cheese!

2:30PM Update:

We safely navigated over the San Francisco Bay Bar, under the Golden Gate and across the busy Bay.  Just 90 minutes and we'll be ready to tie the boat at Westpoint Harbor for a few months and enjoy the NoCal winter.  It been a fun but lengthy cruise southward, and sometimes seeming a bit like a chore rather than a boat cruise.  Thanks to Dick Squire and Denny Haythorn for their, as always, excellent crew work aboard the Wild Blue in sometimes exciting conditions.

Have a great winter...... Alex

Point Bonita just northwest of SF Bay entrance

The gate with tower tops missing.

The City

Dick is cleaning up bow area, and taking a bow for good crew work.
Now in his mid-eighties, Dick has owned some 30+ sail and
 power boats.  His most recent Seagate, a GB East Bay 44 that does
 30+ knots, was delivered this past June.  He's every boaters idol!

Dick Squire Interview from 2013

2016-36: Eureka to Bodega Bay

Friday, October 21, 2016: Change of Plans

The NOAA Marine Forecast early this morning called for Small Craft Warnings.  Most of the wind and wind waves will occur from noon to midnight tonight south of  Point Arena.  So we have delayed our 4:30AM departure from Eureka and now plan to cruise direct to Bodega Bay, a 21-hour motor, avoiding the worst forecast below Point Arena.  By leaving mid-morning today, we can expect Bodega by tomorrow's early morning daylight.

The forecast is:

CAPE MENDOCINO TO PT ARENA OUT 10 NM-830 AM PDT FRI OCT 21 2016

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH
SATURDAY EVENING

TODAY...NW WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WAVES NW 3 FT AT 5 SECONDS...AND
NW 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

TONIGHT...N WINDS 5 TO 15 KT. WAVES NW 10 FT AT 14 SECONDS.


POINT ARENA TO POINT REYES TO 10 NM-902 AM PDT FRI OCT 21 2016

SAT...NW WINDS 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 8 TO
10 FT AT 15 SECONDS.

In both Dick's and Alex's opinion, this forecast doesn't call for a Small Craft Warning especially for boats southeast bound. Just maybe a Tiny Craft Warning is in order as the winds, swells and waves should be behind us.

Will update if cell communications available, but we don't expect any .......

Saturday, October 22, 2016 6:00AM: Arrived in Bodega Bay

The 15-20 knot NW winds, NW wind waves and NW swell all combined to shorten our cruise by an hour.  So instead of arriving in early morning light, it was in the dark.  Instead of a 21-hour run, it was just 20.

It started out with a few giant swells while exiting Eureka, aka Humbolt Bay.  At first we thought the forecast 7-foot swell at 11 seconds was wrong, but once away from the Bay entrance, the swell reduced to 4-foot.  The ebb current across the shallow bar temporarily increased the swell to about 12-foot.

From Eureka to Cape Mendocino, about 20 miles, the winds were NNW and less than 6 knots.  6-foot seas on the beam made for a bumpy ride. From Cape Mendo to Punta Gorda for about 15 miles, we had 15 knots NNW with 8-foot seas.  At Punta Gorda we hit steep NW seas and an adverse 2-knot current.  But once clear of the Point, the current slacked and we started doing 9's and 10 knot boat speed.  From Gorda to Point Arena about 88 miles, we had from 12 to 20 knots of NW winds with NW 8 foot seas and BIG wind chop.  With the RPM boosted to 1400, the boat Speed-Over-Ground showed solid 9's with peaks of 11+ knots!  The boat did fine in the following seas but occasionally the roll stabilizers and the autopilot worked against each other, causing deep a roll, or two.

Dick and Alex ran on 2-hour watches, changing on the even hours.  In became so routine that once in port neither of us could sleep without waking up after 2 hours.

Our plan is to leave at 7AM tomorrow for San Francisco and we hope to beat the next series of storms coming tomorrow night.

USCG Barracuda watches as we Depart Humbolt Bay

Cape Mendocino, some call Cape Horn of the Pacific.

Sunset at Sea

Sunrise in Bodega Bay at Spud Point Marina

2016-35: Crescent City to Eureka

Tuesday-Wednesday, October 18-19, 2016:  Road Trip

Crew Dick Squire drove from his Malibu home to San Luis Obispo this morning.  Alex joined him for the road trip back to Crescent City.  Last week when the big storms blew into the Pacific Northwest, it was clear the ocean would be nasty for at least 5 days.  So Alex rented a car and the crew drove home to southern California.  Tuesday and Wednesday we made our way back to the boat.

It's a 13 hour drive from LA to Crescent City.  We stopped in Healdsburg to recoup and then on to the boat on Wednesday.  The Wild Blue weathered the storms quite well.  There was dockline chaff and all the lines seemed about 10% longer!  We re-provisioned, paid the dock fees, returned the car to Hertz and dined aboard.  There were some rental car struggles, such as lost keys, a cracked windshield, unfilled fuel tank, towing requirement, etc, but these were easily overcome by paying more money.

On the docks we met the crew from a large ketch that had laid out gear to dry all across the floats.  Sails, clothes, mattresses, lines, bedding, etc were all soaking wet. The boat looked somewhat weathered so we asked the crew about the storm.  Unfortunately they were just one day behind us but got caught at sea in those 40-knot winds and 20-foot seas.  Their boat was knocked down on beam ends twice, dislodging the engine from its mounts.  With a dead engine they were towed into Crescent City by the Coast Guard.

Thursday, October 20, 2016: Crescent City to Eureka

This morning we exited City harbor at 6:30.  Outside we enjoyed bumpy seas in calm winds.  The 5-foot swell was westerly, directly on the beam, so the roll stabilizers got a good workout.  Didn't see one boat for the first 6 hours then a commercial fisher was just ahead of us as we entered Eureka.  The Eureka bar was just fine and we tied up at Woodley Island Marina about 2:45PM.

The plan is to depart Eureka at 4:30AM tomorrow for Little River anchorage just below the City of Mendocino, a 13-hour motor.  We arrive about an hour before sunset, and if the anchorage is calm, we will spend the night.  Otherwise we'll tough it out as long as we can stand it, then head for Bodega Bay, another 9 hours.  Plan to dine with Alex's college friend Willie Benedetti, the turkey farmer, in Bodega on Saturday.  The Wild Blue probably won't show up on MarineTraffic.com as there is not much cell communications around Cape Mendocino.  If the Little River Inn's wifi is still open, or if cell service is available, we'll update the blog.

Here's the projected schedule:

Oct 21-Friday: Little River Anchorage 13 hours

Oct 22-Saturday: Bodega Bay 9 hours, Spud Point Marina

Oct 23-Sunday: San Francisco 9 hours

US Coast Guard off Eureka entrance

Edward Brusco and wood chip barge exiting Eureka bound for Wuona, OR.

2016-34: Tied to the Dock in Crescent City

Thursday, October 13, 2016:

The Wild Blue is here in Crescent City tied to the dock.  We have doubled the stern, bow, and spring lines and added redundant mid-line all secured to the City dock.  A Lagoon 43 cat and Nordhavn 64 are also tied up here along with numerous commercial fishing boats.  All have exited the ocean and are secured in the Harbor due to the following weather:

PT ST GEORGE TO CAPE MENDOCINO OUT 10 NM AT 235 PM PDT FRI OCT 14 2016

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON

TONIGHT
S WINDS RISING TO 20 TO 30 KT WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 KT LATE. WAVES S 4 FT AT 8 SECONDS AND W 16 FT AT 15 SECONDS SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.

SATURDAY
S WINDS 30 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 50 KT.
WAVES S 13 FT AT 9 SECONDS...AND W 12 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.

SATURDAY NIGHT
S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 35 KT.
WAVES S 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS...AND W 14 FT AT 14 SECONDS.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.

SUNDAY
S WINDS 20 KT. WAVES W 13 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.

SUNDAY NIGHT
SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. WAVES W 14 FT AT 12 SECONDS.
SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSTMS.

MONDAY
S WINDS 10 TO 15 KT. WAVES W 13 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

TUESDAY
NE WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WAVES W 10 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

WEDNESDAY
N WINDS 5 TO 10 KT. WAVES W 8 FT AT 14 SECONDS.

So it looks like we will get back on the water Thursday or Friday this coming week.  Have a nice week.

2016-33: Coos Bay to Crescent City

October 12, 2016 6AM:

It's a fine morning out here in the Pacific just a few miles west of Bandon, Oregon.  We woke up our boat neighbors as we motored out of Coos Bay this morning at 3:50AM.  Outside the ocean was, and continues to be, f-l-a-t.  Just perfect for motoring boating with less than 5 knots of breeze and visibility over 20 miles, as we could see the Cape Blanco light at 21 miles.

We expect this day to be our last ocean cruise for a week while a BIG Pacific storm sweeps into the northwest, the remnants of an Asian typhoon.  Winds over 40 knots and waves approaching 20-feet will keep us in port until Wednesday or Thursday next week.  We expect that port to be Crescent City at around 5PM today.

10:40AM Update:

This humpback fin fight was just occurring off  the
Rogue River Reef

2016-32: Newport to Coos Bay

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 7AM:

Crossed the Yaquina River Bar and on our way to Coos Bay.  It's a 10-hour run today so we expect to be in Coos Bay by 5PM or so.  Today's weather report is in two parts:

From Newport to Florence, Oregon:
TUE...NE WIND 5 TO 10 KT WITH GUSTS TO 15 KT... BECOMING N IN
THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES N 1 FT AT 4 SECONDS. NW SWELL 5 FT AT
14 SECONDS.

From Florence to Coos Bay:
TUE...N WIND 10 KT...BACKING TO NW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES
2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 3 TO 4 FT AT 13 SECONDS.

Looking forward to as nice a day as yesterday.

3:30PM Update:

It's been a very nice day on the ocean.  3 to 4-foot seas generously spaced apart, winds less than 9 knots and mostly 5 knots or less, all in bright sunshine.  The Coos Bay bar is open and we expect to cross by 4:15PM.

Tomorrow we have an early departure at 4:00AM for the 13.5 hour run to Crescent City.

2016-31: Tillamook Bay to Newport

Monday, October 10, 2016 7AM:

This morning we left Tillamook with about three dozen of other small sports-fishers.  The Tillamook River bar was tame, Tillamook Coast Guard deemed it unrestricted, and since this is Columbus Day, the boat people were out in force.

Some of these small boats seemed quite scary to be out on the big ocean.  Not sure what would happen to these boaters if the bar was restricted.  So it's a gamble for them to know how long to fish, yet be able to reenter port when the weather turns, but before the bar is restricted. You can see the exodus of small boats in this 10 X speed video.

10:30AM Update:

The ocean is nice today.  The wind will increase this afternoon. We plan to be in Newport just after 2PM.  Today's  forecast is:

TODAY...N WIND 10 TO 15 KT WITH GUSTS TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES N
3 FT AT 4 SECONDS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 14 SECONDS. SECONDARY SWELL W 3 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

The BIG story out here happens starting Wednesday evening.  A gale with winds to 35 and seas to 17 feet is expected for Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday.  We plan to be in Crescent City Harbor by Wednesday early evening.  If the weather forecast doesn't improve within about three days of arriving, we'll consider renting a car and heading home for a week or so.

1:30PM Update

We're off Cape Fowlweather and the Cape is not living up to its name today, thank goodness.

Rocky Creek Bridge at Cape Fowlweather, Oregon

Yaquina Head Light

2:30PM Update:

We arrived in the Port of Newport at South Beach Marina.  It was a nice sunny day, the wind blew a bit more, but the Yaquina River bar was easily passable.  Tomorrow we leave at 7AM for Coos Bay.  Roger. Out....

2016-30: La Push, Washington to Tillamook, Oregon

Sunday, October 9, 2016: Exiting La Push, Washington

1AM Update:

At midnight we exited La Push with the assistance of the Coast Guard's very bright LED floodlights.  It seemed like daylight in places but the ocean surface was nicely illuminated.  It took about ten minutes to exit and cross the bar.  Once outside we prepared for crew helm shifts of 2-hours starting at 1AM.

This morning's video exiting La Push.  Coast Guard Station lighted the river and bar and you can see the bright LED flood light in the photo.  Later the bar is a bit difficult to make out, so best to turn up the brightness on your display, and maybe dim the room lights?

Anacortes to San Francisco Cruise Plan Updated October 9:

Oct 3-Monday: Neah Bay 10 hours

Oct 4-Tuesday: La Push 5 hours; 4 days delay due to storms.

Oct 9-Sunday: Tillamook 19 hours

Oct 10-Monday: Yakima-Newport 7 hours; South Beach Marina

Oct 11-Tuesday: Coos Bay 10 hours; Charleston Marina

Oct 12-Wednesday: Crescent City 13 hours

Oct 13-Thursday: Eureka 7 hours; Woodley Island Marina

Oct 14-Friday: Little River Anchorage 12 hours

Oct 15-Saturday: Bodega Bay 9 hours, Spud Point Marina

Oct 16-Sunday: San Francisco 9 hours, Westpoint Harbor

5:30PM Update

It's been a bouncy ride down from La Push today.  Our route took us off shore about 8 miles to avoid the Columbia River ebb wash.  The ride smoothed a bit when we turned towards Tillamook, about 11 hours into this 19-hour run.

Received reports that we were visible on MarineTraffic.com most of the way down today.  We are about 10 miles off Tillamook, Oregon now and expect to be in by 7PM.  More later.

2016-29: Preparing to Leave La Push

Saturday, October 8, 2016 - 6PM:

As previously reported, the weather can be fickle as it was today.  15 to 25 knot winds kept us in port.  However tonight a 4-day good weather window looks to be starting.  So we decided to make a hop down to Tillamook Oregon.  That's about a 19 hour run.  We leave at midnight and arrive sometime around 7PM tomorrow.

Saturday's Sunset.  From L to R: Breakwater entrance light,
James Island, rocks across river.  Quiluete River and La Push Marina
break-wall in foreground.

The weather looks to be pretty good after midnight.  The winds have already turned from southerly to northerly, which is behind us on the way southward.  The forecast is:

TONIGHT...W WIND 15 TO 25 KT...BECOMING NW TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 6 FT AT 7 SECONDS. RAIN IN THE EVENING...THEN RAIN LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT.

SUN...NE WIND TO 10 KT...BECOMING NW IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 7 SECONDS.

We chatted with La Push Coast Guard this afternoon.  Turns out they have large LED flood lights that illuminate both the river and entrance bar.  They agreed to fire those up at midnight to assist us in our departure.  It should also provide enough light so that our windshield video camera can record our exit and bar crossing.  We may show up on MarineTraffic.com just in case you have nothing better to do around midnight.

Cheers.

2016-28: In La Push Washington

Thursday, October 6, 2016 - 11PM:

We're still tied up at the La Push Marina.  And that's a good thing as we are now seeing 45 knot gusts here at the dock and a 1001 mb low pressure. The power went out at 9:30 tonight so the town and dock are dark.  The local Coast Guard crew left at 6PM on a 47-footer to assist a sailboat in distress.  Our 85,000 lb boat is rocking and rolling on the end-tie.  We've added three more dock lines for a total 9 lines securing us to the float.  Alex plans on doing a "dockwatch" until the wind stays regularly below 20-knots.

Yesterday we bused up to Forks, WA and then Port Angeles.  There we rented a car and visited Platypus boatyard, the Port Angeles Spit, and Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Forrest.  Today we took a 3-hour round trip drive to Lake Quinault.  In the fall of 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Lake Quinault Lodge then later created the Olympic National Park.  Tomorrow we return to car to Port Angles and then bus ride back to La Push.

Weather looks good to depart on Saturday morning for the 8-hour motor to Westport Harbor on the southern Washington coast.  But as we found out, the weather can be fickle, so we wait and see.

2016-27: Neah Bay to La Push, Received USCG Citation

Tuesday, October 3, 2016

8AM: We departed Neah Bay at 6AM with moisture in the air, then made the long left turn into the Strait.  The visibility was good, so we turned further to port, routing to the inside of Tatoosh Island to save about 20 minutes.

Passing inside of Tatoosh Island at Cape Flattery

Today's forecast for our route is:

TUE...SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING S 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FT. W SWELL 9 FT AT 11 SECONDS. SHOWERS AND ISOLATED TSTMS.

We expect to be off La Push, WA around 10AM.  We've contacted the Harbormaster there and he has a tie-up for Wild Blue if the outside weather turns bad.  Otherwise we will continue to Westport, another 70 miles.


9PM:  In La Push and what an angry sea today!

After clearing Cape Flattery the seas started to build as expected.  There were 10-foot swells nicely spaced at about 12 seconds such that the ride was roll-y but generally handled by the stabilizers.  About 9:30AM the wind began building well-beyond the forecast 10-20 knots.  We started getting steady 25-knot winds with gusts to 30, making for 37 across the deck.  Of course the wind was from SE, directly on our nose.  Big wind builds big chop and nasty seas and you can see the result below.

The Ocean Off NW Washington October 4, 2016

Note: Subtract 2 hours to correct time.

At 11:30 AM it was clear we needed to get off the ocean.  Luckily La Push was just off our port side, so we steered towards shore.  Once in the lee of James Island, the sea was still roiling, but most of the westerly 10-foot swell abated.  The large 4 to 7 foot chop still made the ocean a mess, but we all noticed the better sea conditions.  Soon we turned left into the La Push entrance avoiding the rocks on the port side and the sea flattened.

We had planned our entry into La Push, and the Quileute River, on a flood tide.  This insured the best conditions possible on a bad ocean day.  What we didn't plan on was the Quileute River Bar being closed by the Coast Guard earlier in the day.  Unfortunately we had missed the VHF broadcast that closed the bar.  We had heard a strong VHF transmission with weak audio on the ride down, but couldn't understand the content of the broadcast.  Apparently that was the announcement closing the bar.  Unfortunately, if you miss that transmission, there's no way of getting the information, unless you call the Coast Guard.  We have had a bit of experience with west coast bars, including crossing the Tillamook Bar in large breaking seas. Even so we should have called the Coast Guard before crossing, but after enjoying the better conditions in the lee of James Island, it never entered our mind. Obviously to us, the bar conditions were so much better than ocean we were leaving.  Compared to the Tillamook Bar crossing in 2013, this crossing was easier for us, even without the Coasties assist.  See the video of our bar crossing below.

Crossing the La Push Bar on October 4, 2016

Note: Subtract 2 hours to correct time.

So once inside La Push Marina, we located our end-tie moorage and tied up.  Even before the engine was stopped, two Coast Guardsmen introduced themselves, asked to come aboard, and stated we had crossed the bar that was restricted, which is a violation.  They were courteous, complimented our well-equipped boat, and performed the standard safety check which Wild Blue passed without incident, including the examination our Waste Management Plan.  They also examined the boat's bilges, apparently to see if we shipped any water on our crossing.  All bilges are dry except for a small amount of fresh water that accumulates in the E/R bilge from the refer defrost.  Anyway we received a citation which stated "Voyage Terminated Due to Restricted Bar Crossing".   Looks like we might be in La Push awhile.

We asked the neighboring boat owner if he knew of others that had received a Coast Guard "ticket" for crossing a restricted bar.  He knew of one who later was mailed a notice with a $25,000 fine!  In court, he explained the circumstances and the judge reduced his fine to $1,000.  Yikes!

Read the discussion on TrawlerForum.com.

2016-26: Anacortes to San Francisco

Monday, October 3, 2016: Anacortes to Neah Bay

8:00 AM:  This morning we started our "re-positioning cruise" to San Francisco.  Crewing with us is Dick Squire of Malibu and Denny Haythorn of Los Angeles, both veteran ocean cruisers.  Our motoring goal is daylight running, stopping each night in port, with one anchorage near Mendocino.  This is the same plan we followed to SF in September, 2013. We will stay in port or run overnight if needed to avoid nasty weather.

Wild Blue 2016 Anacortes to San Francisco Tentative Cruise Plan:

Oct 3-Monday: Neah Bay 10 hours; Makah Marina

Oct 4-Tuesday: Grays Harbor 12 hours;  Port of Grays

Oct 5-Wednesday: Tillamook 12 hours

Oct 6-Thursday: Yakima-Newport 7 hours;

Oct 7-Friday: Coos Bay 10 hours; Charleston Marina

Oct 8-Saturday: Crescent City 13 hours;

Oct 9-Sunday: Eureka 7 hours; Woodley Island Marina

Oct 10-Monday: Little River Anchorage 12 hours

Oct 11-Tuesday: Bodega Bay 9 hours, Spud Point Marina

Oct 12-Wednesday: San Francisco 9 hours

We cast off at 6:15 AM to get an early start and and to check out night running mode.  While inside Skyline Marina we "hit the lights"  to check out night visibility.  You can see the results six (6) seconds into the video below.  Best to turn up your display brightness, and turn down the room lights.

Coastal Explorer says we should arrive at Neah Bay today around 5PM.  Weather forecast is for 4 foot swells at 9 seconds with easterly winds from 10 to 20 knots. You can watch our progress up the Strait of Juan de Fuca on MarineTraffic.com.

Today's route takes us through Race Passage off the southern to of Vancouver Island. We will post updates if anything noteworthy occurs.

6:00PM:  We arrived today at 4PM.  Seas remained calm in the Strait.  Fog filled then cleared throughout the day.  We saw dolphins, about 30 small sportsfishers, and several large ships.  We'll get going tomorrow at 6AM with hopes to make Westport by 7PM.

A container loaded ship was anchored in the fog off Victoria.

When the fog cleared, we guess the bankrupt Hanjin Line ship
was probably negotiating unloading with dockworkers, who are
obviously worried about getting paid.

Makah Marina is Neah Bay is filled with commercial fishing boats.  On our
last cruise south in 2013, the Marina was nearly empty.