We got into San Francisco finally! Here are some pictures from the trip, though it wasn't that nice. Mostly it was cloudy. There were lots of Dolphins on the trip down here, included in the video on the bottom.
From here, I'll say goodbye to my dad for a while, as he heads on back to Bellingham and I keep on going south. I figure I'll stay in the Bay area for a week until I go on, to visit and to rest for a little bit.
Oh, and I have had a giant triumph over Garmin, finally. I have previously paid good money for the maps on my GPS, and I'm really happy with the unit and the maps, but really unhappy about paying all the money for such small areas of maps. Anyways, I've since managed to download all the maps, and finally got them all unlocked and tried to transfer to the GPS, and Success!
Now I have the entire world on my computer and I can input it into my gps unit when I need to (the unit has only a small amount of memory).

Eureka

Got to Eureka yesterday, and we'll leave again today. I've been trying to shoot albatrosses, here are some attempts...
Also some dolphins. We're making good time, and not using the motor hardly at all. More updates when I get to San fran.

Newport

Its nice to be on land again! But I'm sad all the same... I found out that I didn't get into Western's Masters in Teaching program for the fall, so I need to figure out what to do after this summer.
But aside from that, I've got some pictures from the trip so far!
We made it to Newport Oregon, after two days from Neah Bay, and in another two we'll probably make it to Eureka in another two days, so maybe by wednesday.
And then on to San Francisco by saturday or sunday.

Neah Bay

I took some pictures on the trip out here... most of them are from before Victoria, but I didn't post them before. We left Victoria wednesday morning, heading westbound, and thinking that we would check in with US Customs in Neah Bay (foolishly) and after a little while were stopped and boarded by US Customs and border patrol! They snooped about and didn't find any contraband, so then left us in peace. After a while, when I was about 30 miles west of Port Angeles, we called up customs and discovered that they don't allow anybody to cross the border in Neah Bay, that in fact we would have to go back to Port Angeles! So after grinding my teeth a whole bunch I eventually turned us around to head back. We called again at about 5:30 to get them before they closed, and they said we were cleared, because of the earlier boarding, so we didn't need to come in. So we ended up sailing back 16 miles, and then having to go about 32 miles extra on that trip. And the Strait of Juan de Fuca is some of the worst water we'll pass over for the next while, as it is directly into the wind for us in there. Anyways, now we're here, we have only 5 miles left of upwind pounding before we can head on downwind and go. We'll leave tomorrow morning for the Pacific!

Victoria

We made it to Victoria today, and so far so good. Lafawnda is holding her own as a key member of our crew and despite the wind being against us, we made quite good time.
So we left at 5:01 pm (PDT) from Bellingham, then sailed out past Eliza Island and around Lummi Island to head west to Sucia island. We set anchor at 9:31 on Sucia island, about 27 miles later. So 27 miles in 3.5 hours. A good start. Then we got up this morning and set sail at 6:41, to get into Victoria around 2. I think that was about 35 miles or so, and then picked up Abe and Katrina and sailed around a bit outside of Victoria. We set anchor out next to this island called Discovery island and then I caught 5 fish, and we ate one. Yum.
These are pictures Abe took on his camera, because I forgot mine on the boat. I'll get some and post them later. Probably in Neah Bay. So we're at Abe's house right now and the boat is in Oak Bay. Departing tomorrow. More updates as they come, but right now, the weather looks good for heading out the strait, and decent for heading down the coast.

Moved Out

Today is the day.

Dad and I have our things packed, and after getting blown around a lot last night by the winds, we will be driving down to the boat and getting on, and heading west. Leave time, aprox 4:30.

Updates from Victoria to follow.

Moved in

So I've moved back into the boat now, and life is again slowly rocking from side to side. The first night on the boat was pretty cold, but last night I really made a nest out of blankets and it was really nice. Dad and I are leaving tomorrow to head on to Victoria, and all systems are go, except for food. I'll get some food today and we're off. Yesterday I sailed over to the fuel dock to fill up the diesel tank, and I had been a little worried that I was running dry, since the last I filled it was in September, but when I sailed up to the dock (no motoring, of course) I found that after 2.6 gallons, no more would go in. So how's that for a winter gas cost? 2.6 gallons for sailing the boat around three times a week (or nearly so) for 6 months? I think my gas mileage was close to 150 mpg!

Back On Water

I'm back in the water and floating. Its good to be a boat again. I took my dad over to fairhaven to where I moor the boat, and we made fabulous speed the whole way, so I am very excited about the bottom coating. Very fast. Lafawnda did wonderfully for the upwind run from the boatyard to Fairhaven, so I'm happy about that as well. I think she works better now that the bottom is cleaner, and the boat is faster. One point of trouble, my waterwheel speedometer is not working so hot now, I painted it a little bit and that slows it down, so its wrong by about 1/2 a knot or maybe more. Here are pictures of the sequence...
So now there the only things to do are to get food, fill up with water and diesel, and make sure I have everything packed tight.
Wheee!!!!

Haulout

I hauled out today, and cleaned the bottom and did some painting. Unfortunately, in this kind of work, there isn't enough time to get pictures, so I don't have any of the hauling part, or of before the bottom was cleaned off, but suffice to say, it was quite dirty, with 3 inches of barnacles on the bottom of the keel. Dad helped me clean it off and then we put on a layer of bottom paint (EXPENSIVE paint, it was $300) and I'll put another layer on tomorrow. My hands smell toxic still.
Altair is still up on the hard tonight, and will be getting back into the water on Wednesday, so I'll have enough time to put another coat of paint on, hopefully enough to last for a few years.
I also made a video of the boat after painting it a bit.

More sail work

I made a spare mainsail, in case I ever destroy my normal one. Its really small, but hopefully will do the trick to get me into port somewhere. I sewed the edges with my mother's Viking machine, and I'm really impressed with the job it did. Also, I'm trying to make a new dodger, but I keep ending up fixing the old one and putting it back on, because it fits right. Its really hard to make the new one fit just right. (Picture is of the new one) The old one works, but its old, and not as nice looking, and has some holes in it. Oh well. The Zodiac is out sailing a lot, which is nice, I like watching that boat sail. Its really sailing season here now. Yesterday (sunday) there were 30 or more sailboats out on the water just playing around. I didn't go sailing, but worked on sewing instead, and I'll go another time. In fact, once I put on my main with the new reef point, I had to try it out, so I took the boat out for a couple hours, and then tried to Heave To. (see video)
I think I'll try to make a Sea Anchor as well, just to have something that will help steer the boat while Hove To. The way that works is that you tie to the anchor at two points on the boat; front and back, and you use the two cranking points to adjust the angle relative to the waves. If the two lines are the same length, then the boat is sideways to the seas, so you adjust it to be about 45 degrees off, and then try and stay in the slick you generate. In the books that you can read about old-time small boat crossings, they would use oil or kerosene to create a slick upwind of them, and it would help keep the waves from breaking over the boat and being damaging.

Spring at last!

I think today proved that spring is really here. It was nice and sunny, and that warm northerly breeze started up, the one that blows only in the summer here. I'm excited. I also took my car out for a drive over the weekend (and got a speeding ticket, my first one ever!) And here it is! My new ride, well, new to me, and new to me about two months ago... Anyways, its a nice little honda civic again, like the Smurf Rocket, but slightly newer. I'll get more glamor shots later. Maybe I'll do some road trips in it some day.
So I drove down to Samish Island, and took the shot of Bellingham bay from the way south (can you tell which one it is?).
I've also been doing some work on the boat, of course. I just sewed myself another reef point in my main sail, and it wasn't that hard to do. It took me about 3 hours to sew it up, and then I went to this sail shop (Skookum sails) and they put grommets in, for a total of 12 bucks! This is the cheapest big fix I've done thus far, I think.
And I've put in my swim step ladder, on the side. It works out well I think, but I'll have to be careful if I run into anything, or it might get torn off as I scrape by things. But it will help a lot in getting into the boat from over the side, and if I take other people out with a skiff, its really useful for getting back on board.
The Zodiac (tall ship based in Bellingham) is out sailing again as well.
I've got a list that is getting smaller by the day, and soon I'll clean off the bottom and then I'll be off!