Newport

We finally got out of Astoria! Ya Shure stopped in Saturday evening for a few hours before heading off to Newport. We'd been hearing for days from NOAA as well as fellow sailors that conditions were horrid off shore so waited & waited. Sunday I called Trent (on Ya Shure) to ask how the trip was. He said it was great, conditions were perfect and they were just, then, getting into Newport. That did it! We all went into high gear to get outta "Dodge", took a quck nap and were up at 1:15am and away from the dock by 2:15 Monday. We were an hour later than planned but it turned out not to be an issue. Most of the bar was glassy & calm but the last 1/2 hr we started bashing into some good sized (6-8 ft or so) swells. The crew were whoopee-ing and enjoying the ride but I was a bit white knuckled for a bit. There was no moon so it was pretty dark and the channel markers are spaced pretty wide apart so I had some trouble seeing them from time to time, but we still had the track on the GPS from when we brought Faith down from Olympia and that was a big help. Also had great help from everyone on board and by 4:30 we were in the ocean.


The trip to Newport was pretty benign and mostly consisted of napping and standing watch. After a solid week of hearing about the big wind & huge, confused seas, we had long, low swells and not enough wind to sail so motored the whole way. We arrived here around 5pm Monday and the entrance was fine even tho' we were on the ebb. When we came into the harbor, however, we drove right past the "Guest Dock" before we realized it. The next thing weknew, we were in narrow, close quarters with a lot of wind and current and needed to turn completely around (shades of Kalama - yikes!). Chris & Michael talked me through a "torque turn" (using the prop walk with forward & reverse and a LOT of throttle to turn the boat around). It was pretty interesting and worked great! When we got back to the guest dock I had intended to take the first open slip but missed it because of the wind so we went into the 2nd one just like that was the original plan! Dan & Kathy (from Lungta, a 76' ferro cement boat down from Portland) came out to take lines. When we got the boat tied up & introductions done, they said, "Oh, you're Sandy. We've been waiting for you." So...you can see...nothing has changed...my reputation STILL precedes me! Actually, Trent & Norm from Ya Shure had told them we were coming (both boats are on the headwalk in front of us). Yesterday morning Dan brought over a plate of fresh, still warm, brownies. Yummy! We visited with him & Kathy and got a tour of Lungta. What a boat! It has a gourmet galley as big as the kitchens in most houses, huge freezer, forward head w/separate shower, aft head w/BATHTUB, laundry room (washer & tryer!) and a pilothouse with all the cool electronics that make you drool.


Also on the headwalk are Dave & Debbie with Wave Sweeper (a Hunter 49). They came from Neah Bay and are on their way to Mexico as well. Yesterday Naida (Passport 40) came in. Judging by the flag, they're from Canada but haven't had much opportunity to visit with them. This morning Tumbleweed arrived from Neah Bay and they are also headed south and going to be in the Ha Ha.


The facility here is very nice and only $19/night including power. We were thinking of leaving last night but everyone here is watching a big storm coming up from California. In addition there have been a couple repairs we've needed to do and we have to make another provisioning run. We'll spend today doing that and then, hopefully, head out tomorrow.


No one's been seasick, The boat handles great. The auto pilot is working faithfully. We haven't been rained on. We've seen sunfish, sea lions, birds and whales. Life is good!