READY TO SAIL

The last two days have been quite busy and working around the weather to get the final jobs completed for the trip down to San Francisco.  I am berthed in Port Townsend, a place that seems to generate its own wind and rain patterns.  The town of Port Townsend is an interesting place, one of those old towns that has seen a few cycles of economic boom and bust.  Now it seems to becoming a tourist destination, craft shops, antiques, old book shops and organic coffee shops popping up.

Here I have met up with John and Jennifer from the sailing yacht Caro Babbo, our paths crossed many times last year when I was in Alaska.  They now have a house in Port Townsend and last they had a few friends to dinner, a great time had by all.  John is an excellent cook and the pork roast was irresistible.  Also at the diner last night was Brion Toss, the author of ‘The Complete Riggers Apprentice’, an excellent book that I bought before leaving New Zealand.

Finally got the the mainsail up and finish the reefing lines, topped up the fresh water tanks and we are ready to go.  The tide starts to turn favourable around eleven in the morning for the first part of the voyage up the Juan de Fuca Straits.  The prevailing winds usually blow down the Strait making getting out into the Pacific a bit of a slog.  The Strait also has strong tides and commercial shipping to watch out for as well, it could be a long couple of days.

My plan after departing Port Townsend is to head up the Juan de Fuca Strait to Neah Bay at the Western end.  There I will top up with fuel and wait for a weather window before heading south towards San Francisco.  I don’t know yet if in will take the offshore route of the coastal route, I will decide after figuring out the weather from Neah Bay.

I am looking forward to moving south and picking up some warmer weather.