When we time the currents and there’s wind, that magical confluence results in things like getting 10 knots over ground directly to our destination. This was a pretty early day, with a wake-up call of 5:50 am to get us out of Garrison Bay, out of Mosquito Pass and into the currents in time to get us the ebb out of the San Juan Islands and then into the flood going into Puget Sound. The timing worked out as we had planned it but the wind had more southerly in it than Westerly, so the first couple of hours were upwind sailing in 17 to 24 knots and 3 to 4 foot seas.
Having learned our boat over the years, we know that one reef makes the boat quite comfortable and fast in these conditions. We hoisted with the first reef already tucked in and about 90% of the Genoa unfurled. The boat balanced nicely and immediately saw us doing 6 to 7 knots through the water, and as we got into the favorable current, going into the 10 knot over ground range, sometimes even seeing 11. Our goal was to get to Whidbey Island side of the Puget Sound inlet to avoid any rip currents by Point Wilson, and as luck would have it it made for a perfectly reasonable course that eventually became a nice downwind run, until the wind ran out by Port Townsend.
We did skirt the USA/Canada border early on, it was the one tack we had to put in to lay our course. Always something to dodge in the northwest, rocks, islands, kelp, logs, international borders, the dodging just never ends. Luckily this time it’s a tack we actually wanted.
At the peak of the winds, while we were still in Haro Strait, we were taking the bigger waves right off our bow, which meant occasional diving sprees, piercing the wave with the bow and then coming up with a mountain of water over everything, the Genoa, the mast, and the side decks, we take meticulous care of the scuppers, and they worked as designed, draining the rivers of water that we were taking in rapid succession. The early wake up call plus the waves made for a dreamy ride, as Rachel put it. Just water everywhere, pulling away from the islands at 10+ knots and the boat doing its thing.
We find hand steering to be the order of the moment when the conditions are like this and we are going upwind. One hour is a long time to hand steer in these conditions. Every time you look at the clock, thinking ten minutes has gone by, it’s been one minute, really hard. But we traded off regularly and as we got out of Haro and into the Juan De Fucca strait, the seas calmed, we were able to go more downwind and things were generally much more comfortable.
Of course, Rachel being the pro she is, had coffee, cereal for us before we got into the big seas, so we were mostly awake and definitely fed.
Rachel caught some nice video of the calmer moments, we were too busy driving the boat to take video of the more exciting moments sadly. Isn’t that the way it always is…. On Instagram, follow her if you don’t already : https://www.instagram.com/p/CRkGnbnnYpw47LSwOYZ6-Gs5iB_ieplw-9xem00/?utm_medium=copy_link
Now the boat is salty. Super salty, on everything. The sails, the mast, everywhere.
We also made water, for the entire trip. Somewhere around 8 hours of water, or somewhere around 60 gallons. We had skipped making water for a few days and ran the main tank pretty low, so this was nice. Now the tanks are all full again.
All told, this was our longest cruise, time wide, to date, and a big final shakedown before heading down the coast. We saw big winds on two days, today in the straits and the day we went from Orcas Island to Sucia island, where we sailed in 35 knots for a couple of hours, that was amazing, and gave us a real taste of how the boat will handle in those conditions, we don’t see it very often in the sound. Once we reefed and dialed everything in it wasn’t bad (downwind), except for the having to dodge everything and gybe a half dozen times in 30 knots (annoying).
The total loop was: Shilshole Marina, Oak Harbor, Hope Island, Cornet Bay at Deception Pass State Park, Spencer spit at Lopez Island, Friday Harbor (where we go to say hello and goodbye to the wonderful Amanda Swan), Deer Harbor at Orcas Island, Shallow Bay at Sucia Island (lots and lots of hiking over two days), Prevost Harbor at Stuart Island (got our shirts), Roche Harbor (where we got pool time included with the moorage), Garrison Bay, and finally, Port Ludlow tonight, and back to Elliot Bay Marina tomorrow. A fun loop, about 150 NM give or take. It’s unclear why we came back really. Oh yeah, the to-do list to get through before we heard south. More on that later .