"Blast of Fresh Air" 2006 lat 41 deg,23' N long 125 deg 43'W Friday 8/11/2006 1:30 PM (Leigh)

We must truly be gluttons for punishment because here we are with 12' wind waves and 4-6' swell. But it's obvious we're in California because even on stormy days the sun shines. It is definitely challenging standing at the computer so we know we need to add a couple more handholds and I have to make a belt to hook into at the nav desk. As it is now it's an aerobic effort to type. Good thing for spell check because every wave has a different opinion of my report and what should be said! The wind is about 40 knots with higher gusts. We are getting the occasional splash on the windward side but so far no big waves have come aboard. The waves are gorgeous and mesmerizing. I've tried to take pictures but things always look flatter in a picture than in real life. We thought about getting out of the storm and found the perfect place but we only had 40 southerly miles to get 80 miles west to make the entrance to the bay. That course would have put us beam on to the waves for about 10 hours. We decided to be prudent and keep our relatively comfortable ride so we missed that bay by a lot. We're staying on a course that's closing in on land. We're about 60 miles off shore now and should clear Cape Mendocino at approx 10P or 11P tonight by 30 miles on our current heading. We've been in contact with a couple of other boats and they report that the weather is better closer to shore. It's nice to have real people backing up the computer weather reporter on VHF radio. Now I know why people talk about putting the boat away after a long passage. We have had to move clothes and snacks, handheld radio and GPS and a few other misc things to the convenience of under the saloon table. We can tell the motion of the boat is affecting both of us because Peter hardly has an appetite right now. We'll have to find a steak dinner for him when we get ashore. On the bright side we really know a lot about scop patches now: dry mouths and slightly dilated eyes (which Peter loves because even I have to wear glasses to read the computer screen). Our solar panel controller stopped yesterday or the day before and Peter was able to rewire the panels around the controller so we have full batteries again. We love those batteries!
P & L

Sat 8/12/06 - Safe and sound in Shelter Cove, south of Cape Mendocino and a couple of hundred miles north of San Francisco. What a ride! We're going to take a nap and put the boat back in order.