Sept 12, 2013  

California!  Warm, sunny, hang ten, surfing dudes….well….not exactly…yet!  We’re in Eureka, which is the largest city in northern California.  The weather here is much like it was along the Oregon coastline – foggy most of the day, if not all day but on the bright side, we don’t need to bother with sunglasses.  We arrived early yesterday afternoon after another overnight passage.

Last time I wrote we were getting ready to leave Astoria, on the northern border of Oregon.   Crossing the Columbia Bar out into the Pacific was, thankfully, uneventful under blue skies and a light breeze.  We motored about 30 miles from shore before turning southward.   As the breeze picked up we were able to fly our spinnaker for a most of the day, hand steering again as we ran out of time to fix our auto helm or figure out our wind vane steering system.   It’s a little more tiring but we managed fine, having hand steered our diesel trawler to Alaska twice!   We sailed under a warm sun all afternoon and evening and I was enthralled by the glorious sunset and simultaneous spotting of a humpback whale, tail gracefully lifting out of the water before it slid under the surface.

Thank goodness for our bright spreader lights, which illuminated the foredeck like we were on stage, for our sail change in the middle of the night.  The seas had picked up and I helmed as Jim made his way forward to take our huge colourful spinnaker down and pack it away.  It takes more time to do things at night as we have our harnesses clipped into tethers, which are then clipped into jack lines which run from bow to stern.  We have a hard and fast rule to NEVER go out of the cockpit at night unless we’re clipped to the jacklines because it’s against the rules to fall overboard!

The sand spit at Coos Bay

By dawn we a few hours from Coos Bay.  We had a royal welcome from cruisers we met in Neah Bay and, after napping the afternoon away we had a great happy hour on Tregoning’s cockpit with a bunch of other cruisers.  The westerly wind whipped through Coos Bay all night and fog loomed near the spit where pelicans looked like aerial bombers diving for food over and over. 

The 'fleet' of cruisers with fish boats in the background

We got lots of exercise while in Coos Bay, met even more cruisers heading south and even took a bus to Walmart about 40 minutes away, where there was no fog!  We heard over the radio that Oregon and California were experiencing record nigh temperatures but you wouldn’t know it along the coast where the fog remained.  Jim explained that the high sitting over Arizona and another high sitting over the Pacific trapped the damp air over the Oregon and California coastlines, causing the lower temperatures and fog.  But we’re not complaining and loving every minute of our journey.

We began our next leg to Eureka on Thursday with the prediction of 10 – 15 knot winds from the southwest, easing in the afternoon before settling down to nothing during the night.  We motored out of the harbour and were met with significantly more wind from the southeast.  Falcon VII took on the challenge and plowed southward like a galloping horse, happy to be free of her docklines.  We discovered a couple of porltight leaks and had towels draped around the cabin catching the worst of the constant drips as we crashed through the waves.  ARG! Another job added to our ‘to do’ list.  The wind didn’t settle down as predicted but we made extremely good time anyway and then...someone turned off the wind, just like that! We put the sails away at dawn and motored directly for the entrance to Eureka.

I was on the helm when we were joined by another tiny puffball sized hitc hhiker that flew right into the cockpit and settled down beside me. 

Our little hitch hiker

 It hopped under the corner of my bright red jacket, around the dodger and then took a snooze in a little recessed area. Jim got a great movie clip.

We motored up the four mile channel into Eureka and Humbolt Bay past two marinas, a seafood processing plant and lots of large public art pieces along the restored waterfront walkways. 


Crossing the bar at Eureka, Ca.

Eureka was significant over 100 years ago around gold rush time for its logging boom, which saw many mills erected along the length of the channel.  The boom brought wealthy people to the area who built large homes, many ornate and colourful with fine details we now equate to heritage status homes. As the logging industry faded significantly the huge mills were demolished and new modern restaurants, a chandlery and recreation centre replaced them.


The back of the Sweeney Performing Arts Centre, Eureka, Ca.

Randall and Alison from Tregoning were already at the marina docks as they had left 12 hours before us.  They were a bit slower than us and had only arrived an hour before we pulled into the slip.  We were greeted with hugs and smiles as they helped us tie up Falcon.  Jim and I had each managed about 4 hours of sleep during the passage and felt considerably more energetic than after other night passages. 

Heritage bed and breakfast, Eureka, Ca.



Heritage home, now restaurant, Eureka, Ca.

We ate a quick lunch, cleaned up Falcon down below, showered at the rec centre next door (great facilities!) and meandered around old town Eureka, admiring the remaining colourful heritage buildings, public art and shops.  Today we must start on boat projects – fixing leaky portlights, looking at our failed auto helm, and handle monthly maintenance.  We’ll stay a couple of days before heading towards San Francisco.   We are very excited to be on this journey and happy to share it with our friends and family.  More in a few days…