After a wonderful dock party and heartfelt bon voyage from the Selene Seattle staff and Selene Owners, we waved good bye, cast off the lines and headed for the locks at 2000 Saturday Sept 19. Once through the locks we met up with Big Chill, Selene 43, and headed north in the cloudy night. A windy weather report on the straights and the promise of favorable tides and calm seas caused us to stop at Port Townsend for five hours. 0500 and we cast off again. As the sun came up we benefited from the decision to hold over, light winds and the beginning of a large ebb tide that would push us all the way to Neah Bay.
Sunny skies blessed us for the whole day of Sunday. I took the short cut inside Tatoosh Island, something I do not recommend to those without experience. Not having that experience the Big Chill crew was very glad when we made the passage as the waves broke on jagged rocks on either side of us.
We turned left and gave a cheer that we were now in the Pacific Ocean. Our first of many sunsets at sea reminded us that we were in for a glorious trip. Night fall came mid way down the Washington coast.
A few notes on equipment; We ran with two radars at night, one short and one long range, usually one mile and six miles. The new Nobeltec charts and software worked flawlessly. This was my first experience with AIS. It quickly fell into the “how did I live without it” catagorie. The good folks at Milltech Marine Inc provided their newest AIS software and receiver. It worked flawlessly the whole way. I had targets over 100 miles away show up and consistent targets at working range. Mike and the crew of this new company gave us great customer service and their equipment was the best priced on the market. Give them a look at
http://www.milltechmarine.com This was my first time to really test the Articulating Rudder. I knew it did wonders for close maneuvering but had not gotten to see the results in a large following sea. Furthur showed a marked decrease in yaw and the range and frequency of auto pilot corrections.
We ran nonstop down the Oregon coast with moderate fallowing seas—that is moderate for this part of the ocean. We all laughed that we would never leave the dock in such conditions at home. We were experiencing 10 to 15 knots of NW wind, 2-3 foot seas with 8 foot swells. Again a bad weather forecast of winds over 30 knots dictated a stop at Bodega Bay, California. It was good to walk around and have a good dinner out. More soon.
