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June 16, 2005
We're in OREGON!!
We left San Francisco Bay Wednesday, June 8, 2005 at 0545 and arrived in Brookings  Harbor, OR at 1212 on June 10, 2005. We traveled 311 miles in 54 hours and 43 minutes with an average speed of 5.6 nm/hr. SV Wand'rin Star passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 0630 in fog, much different from her entry into the Bay in January. It felt wonderful being underway again and Wand'rin Star was in great condition providing us with a comfortable, warm ride. She continued in fog & light seas for the next 24 hours; dawn of Day 2 brought calm and sunshine, enabling us to finally see the coastline. On Thursday as we rounded Punta Gorda, SV Renegade, a Hans Christian 43' Ketch contacted us via the VHF radio. She was ahead of us on the same course and had slowed temporarily. It was ironic, as we had seen Renegade at the dock in Ayala Cove on Angel Island two days before leaving San Francisco Bay. We both continued on around Cape Mendocino with slightly larger wind waves and 4'-5' swells - not bad conditions for rounding the cape! Renegade is heading to Washington and is moored in Brookings with us. It's pleasant traveling with a “buddy boat”.
On our approach to Brookings Harbor we contacted the USCG station to check on bar conditions. Most of the harbors in Oregon are at the mouths of rivers and it's important to check bar conditions before entering. We got a good report and continued into the harbor. The Coast Guard met us at the dock and conducted a Safety Inspection of the boat. All requirements were met and the young men were courteous and professional. We have been very impressed in all of our dealings with the Coast Guard. We are moored directly across from the Chetco River USCG Station and Gary has enjoyed watching their boats, drills, and exercises.
 This has been our longest passage to date and all went well. It took Murray a day or so to get use to being at sea again and he laid low most of the time, but was back to eating by Day 2. We were treated to whales and something new in the water. Gary was on watch and saw things that looked like ice cubes. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that they were a type of man-of-war…very fragile and translucent…there were several large masses of them, which gave an extra sparkle to the seas. As we were not stopping to anchor at night, a watch system was necessary to maintain safe navigation & running of the boat. The system we've devised that works well for us is that both of us are up for most of the day and then begin 3-hour watches at night. The shifts are 1900-2200, 2200-0100, 0100-0400, and 0400-0700. If we are underway for more than one night we alternate who has which shift; we each have “favorites” so this is the “fair” way to handle that part of boat operations. Every hour a log entry is made - noting location, wave, wind & sea conditions as well as operational information on the engine & electrical systems.
Regular boat maintenance has been done since arriving in Brookings as we've changed engine oil, oil filters, fuel filters and made arrangements to replace the shower sump pump (it should arrive tomorrow!) On Saturday, a gentleman was walking down the dock and asked about the boat. As I always enjoy talking with folks about her, we struck up a conversation. John had a boat moored several docks over and was very interested in our pilothouse configuration. He graciously offered to take us to the grocery store (about 2 miles away) and to take Gary to the NAPA store on Sunday to pick up more filters….just another wonderful example of the goodness of folks in this world! We enjoyed talking with him, sharing information about boats, and wish him well on his return to Alabama.
On Tuesday, June 14, 2005 we definitely had a bit of excitement . You may be aware that  there was an underwater earthquake 91 miles southwest of Crescent City, California at 1950 and a Tsunami Alert was issued for parts of the West Coast. The folks on SV Renegade notified us of the quake and the Coast Guard began evacuating its station. The safest place for a boat during a tsunami is at sea, so we quickly made preparations to leave the dock and head out. Gary did an excellent job of getting us underway quickly, while I made Murray secure in the aft head and prepared the interior of the boat by putting things away. The Coast Guard told us we had about 15 minutes before the first large waves would arrive. My knees were definitely knocking as we continued out to sea; we remained calm and headed away from shore. The alert was cancelled after we'd been underway for 30 minutes so we turned around heading back to the dock. SV Renegade moored first and then helped us. The adrenaline had definitely been pumping and we were grateful that no tsunami had resulted. The memories of the tsunami in Indonesia are still fresh in the mind's eye and added to our understanding of how powerful the ocean & natural world can be. To quote the old saying, “All's well that ends well.”
Now, a look backwards to the past several months since the March log.
Napa Valley and its vineyards called to us in April and we spent a long day exploring the area. We visited several vineyards and wineries, sampling some of the product, and enjoying the scenery.
Late April found us exploring Pt. Reyes National Shoreline with our friend, Nan, from  Michigan. Luckily her trip corresponded with the beginning of wildflower season in the area and we were treated to some beautiful springtime scenery. Nan's a birder and we spotted an osprey nest with two ospreys that we watched for over an hour while Gary photographed them. We visited the Cow Girl Creamery, one of our favorite cheese sources while in Pt. Reyes Station. This was a busy month for Michigan visitors as we also enjoyed afternoons and great meals with Marcia & Steve and Karen & Ray, friends from Rochester  Community Schools. It really is a treat to have friends come to visit and see what “cruisin'” looks like.
The weather improved in May and Gary was FINALLY able to work on the brightwork. He has become a pro at stripping (the wood, I mean), sanding and applying Bristol Finish; which has several advantages over varnish and he's really pleased with the outcome. One major advantage is that several coats can be applied in one day and there is no need to sand between coats as with varnish. It is a 2-part epoxy product and is supposed to last for more than two years before refinishing. The boat looks great and her wood is one of her many attributes.
I flew back to Michigan at end of April to see my parents who were again struggling with health issues. It was good to see them and my mom's health has continued to improve since having a stint inserted in her heart to correct a 97% blockage. As much as I enjoy what we are doing, it is still a strain for me to be far away from aging parents and other family members. We talk several times a week on the phone, but it's still not the same as being able to give someone a hug & kiss or take them to the doctor. Life is made up of choices and Gary & I have chosen our path…there are just some rocky places in it for me every once in a while.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time working at West Marine in Berkley. It's amazing how much “stuff” is associated with boats. The great folks I worked with, like Barbara and Elizabeth, have turned into friends and I look forward to keeping in touch with them. We also enjoyed sharing meals and sailing with Roz & Russ on Whorlwind . I recently read a back issue of Cruising World (March 2004) and there was an article by Douglas Bernon in which he addressed the concept of saying hello & good-bye within the context of cruising. One of the joys is meeting new folks, making new friends, and then saying good-bye. Bernon says, “Cruising is a nomadic life that imposes frequent, wrenching separations among people whose intimacies have been accelerated by working and playing together for concentrated blocks of time.” I definitely concur that it is often a bittersweet experience, but one I wouldn't want to miss. So to our new San Francisco Bay friends…it was great meeting you & we hope to keep in touch and maybe see you on another tack.
We left Emery Cove Yacht Harbor on June 1, 2005 (exactly a year from when we left California Yacht Marina in Chula Vista) and spent a week in San Francisco Bay as a mini-shakedown cruise before heading out the Gate. Our first anchorage was in Clipper Cove between Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island in the shadow of the Oakland-Bay Bridge. It was very protected and a pleasant spot for a few days. We did have a couple of “adventures” while there. The generator was used to recharge the batteries and the first day it stopped running after 2 hours. We had been concerned about eelgrass getting in the intake and had been watching it; unfortunately the way the sea strainer is designed, it wasn't possible to SEE the filter. When Gary removed the top, the filter was clogged with eelgrass! It was cleaned, reassembled and we decided to only run the generator at high tide when it wasn't as likely to pull in the “evil” eelgrass. Unfortunately that wasn't the end of our relationship with eelgrass! Clipper Cove is very shallow on the south side and is cordoned off with buoys. We were anchored about 80' from this area in mud and all seemed fine; on the third night the winds increased and when I got up at 0430 I noticed that the buoys marking the shallow area where less than 10' from the boat…we had dragged anchor 300' during the night! We were also grounded in the mud at low tide! I woke up Gary and discussed our options. It was obvious that we needed to wait for the tide to come in to float us free before we could think of hoisting the anchor and relocating. The tide was due to come in about 0800  so we decided to play backgammon to pass the time; unfortunately I lost $1.25 before the tide came in. Gary was concerned about starting the engine in the shallow water with all the eelgrass, so we used the “washing machine” a.k.a. our windlass to pull the boat to the anchor. (When we bought the boat, our broker had referred to the LARGE windlass as a washing machine due to its appearance.) It enabled us to hoist the anchor, but a surprise was waiting for us…a HUGE ball of eelgrass had accumulated on the anchor when it dragged across the muck. We moved further out in the bay and dropped another anchor and Gary began working to remove the 3' ball of  eelgrass , a daunting job. Shortly a gentleman from the sailboat, Sojourn , rowed over in his dink, introduced himself as Bruce, and asked if he could help. It was much easier to work on the anchor from the water level than from the bowsprit, so he began the Herculean task of removing the eelgrass. As evidenced by the accompanying pictures, he was successful! It is really wonderful how on folks on boats help each other out! Thanks a million, Bruce – without you, we might still be cutting off eelgrass. One more night was spent in Clipper Cove before hoisting anchor (again with eelgrass, but to a much lesser extent) and moving over to Ayala Cove on Angel Island for our next adventure mooring with the “Happy Hooker”!
It a pleasant trip and we pulled into the dock to drop off 5 days worth of garbage, have a quick look-see and pay for 2 nights of moorings. Then the fun began as we tried to pick up the mooring. Being from Michigan we have VERY little experience with moorings, having only used them on Catalina and they are much easier to pick up. We had purchased a "Happy Hooker" based on a slip mate's suggestion. The “Happy Hooker” is a contraption used to insert a line into the ring on a mooring ball…sounds simple?? NOT! On our first attempt to insert the line unfortunately I was the guinea pig and ended up catching the ring, but losing the Happy Hooker when I pulled on it incorrectly. Luckily we had a second one (redundancy is our middle name), so Gary rigged it up and thought he'd give it a try with me at the helm. Unfortunately when he went to insert it in the ring, the plastic snapped and we now had no Happy Hookers and not much happiness on the boat at that moment either! Sooooo, back to the drawing board; we finally decided to have Gary try to run a line through the ring on the mooring ball with the line attached to our mid-cleat. After my "expert maneuvering" and a second try, we successfully had a line from the boat to the mooring and back to the boat! Of course we needed to run it to the bow and then pick up a stern mooring. Gary decided that it was easier to get in the kayak, paddle out to the mooring and run the stern line that way. All went well and we were FINALLY moored in a great spot after almost 2 hours of trying! (Gary's comment was “He paid for two hookers and got just what he paid for --- screwed by both!) One of the things we've learned in this life's adventures is that as long as we're safe and the boat isn't taking on water, then the experience...good or not-so-good... is part of the adventure and only deepens our love and appreciation of each other and the course we've chosen.
 Life continues to be good to us as we sit here in Brookings Harbor waiting for our next weather window to move north. There are gale warnings today and the bar is closed to all craft under 30' in length; the next opportunity to continue up the coast looks like it will arrive Sunday afternoon. We've finally been able to get the cell phone to work as a modem for the computer so we can get info from www.buoyweather.com while underway, making it easier to plan our movement. Thanks to all of you who have communicated with us through our email, svwandrinstar@yahoo.com and we look forward to meeting more folks in this electronic world and on the seas. Be sure to check out the new pictures on the Photo Page!
Wishing you fair winds,
Dorothy, Gary, & Murray the Cat © Copyright 2005
Last updated on
August 19, 2007
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