When Things Don’t Go As Planned

We have been working towards this dream for at least 17 years.  It was 1997 or 1998 while attending the Sea Kayaker Symposium in Port Townsend, WA that we first realized that people live on their boats.  We were wandering the docks at Boat Haven and Dave said something to the effect of “That would be kind of cool to live on a boat and sail around the world.”  It was an offhand comment that probably got a throat gurgle of some sort in reply from me.  Eventually that little seed that was sown that day on the docks sprouted some roots somewhere along the way and gained traction turning into a dream that we later named The 10-year Plan.  We talked about it all the time amongst ourselves and to anyone who wanted to listen.  We kept meeting all these little milestones along the way and then out of the blue and ahead of schedule we were boat owners and the dream became very real and suddenly we needed a whole new set of goals.  We had a boat 3 states away, now what?  Where would we go?  We didn’t really know.  What we did know is that when we finally sailed out of the Puget Sound, we wanted to make the proverbial big left turn and sail south into warmer waters.  We knew that our finances wouldn’t support us in Southern California so we knew we had to go further south to Mexico.  Mexico became the new plan, the destination.  We made no other plans, just headed south to Mexico.  We read about people harbor hopping down the coast but no, we were determined to get to Mexico with only a planned stop in San Francisco to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and then to San Diego to see some friends.  That was the plan.

We left Neah Bay and proceeded to make our way out away from the coast.  Our first day or two presented with fairly decent daily and weather.  Things were going really well except I found that I was unable to sleep when I took my break from the helm.  I was getting more and more tired and then into the second or third day the weather began to deteriorate, winds and seas were building and we were 60+ miles out.  We headed back towards the coast and the only marina I could find was Charleston Marina near Coos Bay.  It was not a cruising destination.  It was a working marina playing host to the largest fishing fleet in Oregon.  They had space for us at reasonable rates.  The weather was forecast to remain nasty for a week.  It was not a planned stop but I couldn’t function in bad weather for that long with no sleep.  It turned out to be a great place.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful.  We met some very interesting characters.  A favorite pastime there is crabbing on the docks.  The locals drag their entire families down to the docks with coolers and lawn chairs to hang out, visit, and drink beer like small scale tailgating.  One fellow even brings a record player and jams out while crabbing with his wife and service dog.  We met another sailor who got chased in by the storm as well.  He has only had his boat for a year and is headed to Mexico too.  As the stormed off the Pacific continued to build our Magic Dragon was broadside to the north wind and was getting beaten badly against the dock.  We had all of our fenders out and it still wasn’t enough, she was going to sustain damage if something didn’t change and it wasn’t the weather that was going to change.  Someone went around and found some fenders that others could spare and then crabbers, fishermen, and sailors all worked together to push our boat back against the wind to add more fenders and better secure her.  One of the fishermen asked what we fished for when we were out.  We didn’t know anything about ocean fishing.  When he found that out, he told us exactly what we needed and how to fish with a hand line and then helped us get equipped with the gear we needed.  So our unintended stop yielded us a wealth of information, new friends, and a buddy boat to travel with.  Alas it was time to hit the seas and get going, after all we needed to get to Mexico, our destination.

We left Charleston Marina armed with an updated forecast.  The forecast indicated that we would have a good day of sailing followed by a rough day and then more good sailing again.  We headed out again and once again, I found that I couldn’t sleep while off watch.  Night was approaching and our forecast told us that the winds would be in excess of 20 knots so we put the second reef in the sails and completely brought in the genny in preparation for the upcoming winds which were due to arrive sometime after midnight.  Midnight approached and the winds dropped to 0 knots.  We sat there bobbing around on the ocean swell and not realizing the forecast had changed and instead of a few hours of increased wind, we were sitting in the calm before the storm, a 4 day thermal trough with 30 knot winds gusting to 40 knots but we didn’t know that yet.  Instead we sat there bobbing away.  As we sat there, we had lots of company.  It started with a seal who would poke his head up next to the boat and bark like crazy, then move to the other side and bark some more.  This went on for quite some time.  We couldn’t decide if he was irritated by one of our squeaky lines or if we were in his hunting grounds that night.  Now in hindsight, we wonder if he was coming to warn us of the coming storm as he was very persistent in his efforts to express himself.  The next group of visitors were some bottle nosed dolphins.  They surrounded the boat and danced with us for over an hour.  It was absolutely mesmerizing when the dolphins surfaced next to our boat, the phosphorescent creatures would twinkle and sparkle as they rolled off the bodies of the dolphins lighting them up as they swam by.  Our next guest was a small bird who perched somewhere on the boat singing its song while ushering in the dawn.  Such a beautiful, magical night.

Slowly the winds started blowing again but lightly pushing us towards shore.  We thought we would get in close enough to update our forecast.  The winds then began building a lot.  We got the new forecast….sustained 30 knot winds gusting to 40 continuing to increase to 50 knots for 4 days.  We had to get off the water.  We were already south of Humbolt with no way to beat north against the wind and current.  We had to keep going south and we were over 40 miles from Fort Bragg and kept hearing the warnings for the Noyo River Bar but that was the next closest marina.  The winds and seas did continue to build.  Sustained 30 knot winds gusting to 41 with huge following seas.  Our Magic Dragon took it all in stride and never faltered.  She just trooped along and I swear to God she was grinning from halyard to halyard finally free from the dock doing what she was built to do.

I was at the helm as we approached Fort Bragg at about 2330.  Dave radioed the Coast Guard for the bar report.  It was going to be a rough crossing.  I agreed to stay at the helm, it couldn’t be much worse that what we had been battling for the last 15 hours.  I followed the lights to navigation and started making my way into the channel.  I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks on either side of me as its a very narrow channel that dumps into a tiny cove at the mouth of the Noyo River.  One look at the mouth of that river and we knew it was too narrow to negotiate in the dark.  We anchored up in that tiny cove bouncing with each breaking wave within a stones throw of the rocks all night long.  Another sleepless night.  Dawn broke and we called the marina asking if they had room for us.  “Let me call you back” was the response.  Oh no , we couldn’t stay where we were and we couldn’t go back out.  They called back and told us to come in to C8.  We will be right in I said.  How much do you draft he asked.  Five feet six inches I replied.  You should wait he said, the channel is only 6 feet at low tide if you stay in the very center.  Oh geeze.  We waited, and bounced.  A couple hours later with fog rolling in, the anchor pulled and Dave at the helm we began to make our way into Noyo River Harbor.  It was surreal, it reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World.  Dave asked me if I wanted to know what was happening on his screen.  I said no and proceeded with getting fenders and lines ready as we slowyly made our way down the center of the winding Noyo river.  This river is more like a creek and the edges of it were lined with builidings and boats and even a sunken boat.  At last we could see the Marina and our slip.  We are tucked in between a couple fishing boats.  We have stumbled into another working marina.  And we have stumblied across another amazing group of people.  The boat next to us is the Shirley owned by Bill and Peggy.  Bill is getting ready to go out chasing tuna.  Peggy stops by to give us the keys to her truck (and a hug…we hug here she says).  We can use the truck as long as we need it, just put a little gas in it when you are done.  Who does that? Apparently she does….for perfect strangers.

The first part of our trip has been humbling.  As we sat in the cockpit reflecting on our situation we realized that life, or God, or some cosmic force has been trying to get our attention (41 knot winds will do that).  We were so wrapped up in raching our destination that we had lost sight of the journey.  It’s not the destination that is improtant , its enjoying the journey.  We have no agenda or deadline to meet other than we want to check in to Mexico some time in October.  It’s still August, we have time, we CAN stop and explore.  We get it now.

As I was reflecting on Peggy’s kindness, I realized we hadn’t watched the news in several weeks.  I don’t know what is happening in the world right now but that’s OK.  There’s a lot of good happening in my world right now.  I made a post to facebook along those lines.  I reads, I don’t know what’s happening in the world right now.  Here’s what’s going on in mine.  The wife of a fishing boat captain dropped off the keys to her truck for us to use as long as we are here.  There is a lot of good people out there.  Here is a suggestion…turn off the TV, reduce social media time and interact in your community with real people.  Everyone seems angry about the current state of affairs in the world and they want change, they want big change to address even bigger issues.  In my mind, change has got to start small.  People are trying to change tsunami waves out there but the power of those bad waves is too much.  Every ripple starts out as a single drop.  Become that drop in your community, build ripples, create waves and then maybe the good in this world can make their own tsunami.

Things are not going as planned , they are better than we planned, and yes we got the message loud and clear.  We will enjoy this epic journey we are on and stop worrying about the destination.