Yang Shi? Yang Shi? Yang Shi? this is Ivy over..
Weather seems to be very unstable up here at the edge of the world. Last Thursday 9/3 I had a meeting with the crew of Yang Shi. There was a sliver of acceptable weather Friday 9/4 through Saturday 9/5 late afternoon, and the decision to make good on it was reached. I had serious concerns not only about leaving on a Friday (twice before having brought bad luck), but also the concept of ‘ducking in before bad weather’ just sounded risky; however, there is great value in buddy boating that I was loathe to give up. When I brought up the leaving on Friday issue, it did bring pause to the debate, but Larry, Lee and Bob all thought that they did not consider it leaving on Friday, they were just continuing on from their previous.. sounded like trying to find a loophole to me, but I decided perhaps it was okay to test their theory.
The plan was to leave 10am, but somehow I got it in my head we were to leave at noon. I tried to get a good night sleep, but woke at 5am after poor and often interrupted sleep, spent a few hours dropping in waypoints in my chartplotter; then saw Yang Shi leaving the marina at 9:45am. I got my Skype up and called Lee asking what the heck?? Well, then it dawned on me that I might have misremembered, and I tried to stow stuff as fast as possible, ate an energy bar for breakfast, and weighed anchor. I left Neah Bay at 10:20am and started hailing Yang Shi, no response… I tried every ten minutes, even threw out a radio check to Neah Bay Coast Guard and they heard me loud and clear. At 11:40am I got a hail from Larry on Yang Shi, saying they were past Cape Flattery, and conditions looked ok; I was still halfway between Neah Bay and Cape Flattery about three miles or so behind. I started hailing Yang Shi again at noon, but no response…
The swells were 4′ to 6′ every 9 seconds or so coming a beam from the west, but the wind was right on the nose 10-15kts, and was expected to stay that way the entire trip, still no sailing for Ivy. Yang Shi with her three crew could keep this up all day and night no issue, but it is work staying at the helm while motoring. I had rigged up a pair of bungy cords to the tiller that more or less kept on course, but it would only stay that way for 10 minutes or so at a time before readjustment. If I had an autopilot it would have been a different story, as that is an electronic device that keeps the helm to a specific compass course, my self steering device depends on wind and requires me to be sailing, and I seem to be doing precious little of that!
At 1pm I was getting a tad frustrated by my lack of radio contact with Yang Shi, the only reason I had agreed to go, was to buddy boat, and since this wasn’t working out, I began to rethink the decision. Still trying to hail Yang Shi every 10 minutes, at 2pm I had reached my point of no return; if I continued I would have to press on at least to LaPush, and the flood tide necessary for crossing the bar did not start until 8pm, right at sunset. In the end I decided to return to Neah Bay as I knew bad weather was coming, and if I made LaPush it would have been staying at the marina at $25/night, and back in Neah Bay I could anchor for free as long as it takes to find good weather.
The return trip was much cooler then going out, and I found I was having to really bundle up; that aside, it was an uneventful trip back in. I made Neah Bay by 5pm, anchored and immediately got my computer out and Skyped Lee. They had run into an overheating issue with their engine just west of LaPush *cough – leaving on a Friday* . I later called Lee and they had fixed their issue and were continuing on to Westport.
It is Sunday 9/06, and the better weather that I was looking for tomorrow on Monday has dissipated some. I may be getting a bit too particular, looking for ideal conditions; but I do not think it is too much ask for the prevailing conditions to return for just three or four days. Weak low pressure systems appear to be hitting the area every few days, and no high of any substance on the horizon until possibly a week from tomorrow, so looks like I may be here in Neah Bay for a while.
Neah Bay is kind of like traveling back to the ’60s, and I mean that in the best possible way. Take away the new cars, the satellite dishes and espresso cafes and you could easily believe it’s 1965. It gives me a warm, comfortable return to my childhood kind of feeling. No one seems to be in any major hurry, and you can just sense the lack of stress here. One thing though, Neah Bay is a dry town, I hear the local Macah officials wanted complete autonomy so with no alcohol being sold, there is no reason for county or state interference. In Port Angeles I loaded up with a six pack of Budweiser, and I am already half through it, man Budweiser sucks.
My refrigerator is rocking my socks right off. One thing I have to watch is; it seems to be a bit of an over-achiever. The first day I loaded it up with perishables, I set it on low, and about halfway up on the refrigerator/freezer knob. When I checked it the next day, everything was frozen rock solid. After turning it back to a quarter the way up it is perfect, and it sips so little power I haven’t even noticed it’s impact. Waeco (Dometic) CF-18, highly recommended!
Randy
S/V Ivy
For an archive of previous sailing adventures see my Sailing Blog at http://gocheapgonow.info
