I was green with envy, looking at Ivy’s hull I noticed she was too
10/09
Well Ivy and La Mouette are doing great! We left Newport 10/05 at about 4pm. This all came up suddenly to me as I was still in a bit of a fog from the Westport to Newport leg. I had bundled up my laundry Monday at noon, and was heading to the little launderette and shower in the Marina/RV Park, when I asked the guys on La Mouette what they thought about leaving, and they said “Sure, looks good now?”. Weighing laundry and shower over getting south, I compromised to just a quick shower. Being that I have always lived my life in sort of controlled chaos, I am not over burdened by having everything put away just so; as a matter of fact I still have groceries I bought in La Push still in their grocery bags sitting on the cabin sole! I got back to Ivy, and over to the fuel dock and made my way out the bar. Jon and Kyle obviously have a keener sense of order, as they were another twenty minutes or so behind me. When they did get out off the bar and in open water I saw La Mouette for the first time this trip with her sails up, very pretty! I actually radioed over and said “You know Ivy does like girls, and responds favorably to seeing them dressed so”, Jon responded “That’s all good, La Mouette is French, she goes both ways” (I am just repeating what was said).
I had just brought up Ivy’s reefed main, and had not pulled the jib out of it’s bag as I had not thought we would have winds strong enough to carry, however La Mouette was running with her full main and genny, wing and wing (wing and wing is a sail configuration where the main is let out to a near 90 degree angle to the boat, and the jib or genny is poled out at a near 90 degree angle on the other side), even so we both had our engines going to maintain speed. Another clear night, another big, round, bright moon; if only for the cold it would have been pretty hard to find a more idyllic night.
About the only thing I found odd was the lack of any other boats out and about. I guess this is just another sign that Ivy and La Mouette need to get their tails south, as it is now moving past the point where fishing boats are staying out all night. The wind freshened just a bit, and after a time I got a hail from La Mouette that they had turned off their engine, and were finally sailing unassisted. In hindsight, it was the right call for me not to have set out the jib I think. Wing and wing is a point of sail that requires attention, and being alone it is better for me to remain conservative but I was green with envy, looking at Ivy’s hull I noticed she was too.
Well, another bit of humiliation for Randy.. around 3am I was looking at the chart, looking at our speed, looking at the time, and saw that we were in danger of not catching the slack tide at Coos Bay. I hailed La Mouette and asked them what they thought. Jon said they had just started their motor and we could go faster if we wanted. So we graduated up to about 5kts, and kept that until about 7:30am, right to the mouth of the Coos River bar. I noticed that while La Mouette had arrived a few moments ahead of Ivy they were not heading in, So I took over the lead and started for the entrance. Something just felt wrong, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. So I pulled up my tide chart, and *DOH!* Yes it was just turning slack, but it was turning from ebb to flood, opposite to what I had been thinking. There had been no need to hurry as we now had at least seven hours of good flood tide to make the bar, and La Mouette could have continued on sailing without her motor.. I felt a true moron. Later both Jon and Kyle assured me they had started their motor before my hail, I worry that might be just to protect my feelings.
We made the bar, and I got out my phone and tried calling the marina for slip assignment, when a small fishing boat came up beside. They asked if it was my first time in Coos Bay, after I admitted it was, they said “yeah… you might want to steer a bit more over …. this way” pointing to port, and I realized I was not quite making the turn north, and heading straight for shallow water. As soon as I got Ivy back on course the fisherman said “By the way, the Coast Guard is hailing you, might want to hail them back”. It was all good, the Coast Guard just wanted to know how many were onboard, how long we were staying etc..
Even though it is shorthand to call it Coos Bay, we are actually in Charleston, which is on the south side of the Coos River, and about 7 miles southwest of Coos Bay proper. Crabbing seems to be the one local entertainment as every morning when I walk by, I pass at least a dozen people on the dock with their crab pots out, and even though the faces change throughout the day, some stay out on the docks well into the night.
Randy
S/V Ivy
