Author: jamyne229

When the stars align
We were anchored out in Morro Bay, waiting for our next weather window. I had a lot of anxiety regarding our next passage. We had Point Conception to round and there was a huge low sitting out in the Pacific pushing ever closer. The low had winds exceeding 50 knots and Point Conception holds the nickname of the Cape Horn of the Pacific. It is regarded by some as one of the three most dangerous waters to sail in the world. I felt like we were between the proverbial rock and hard place. Point Conception is where the cooler waters of the North mix with the warmer waters of the South. You have the Northern Pacific currents pushing South and there is a current that circles and builds in the San Diego Bay and pushes North. It can be a very dangerous passage and boaters have been known to sit for weeks waiting for a safe window. I had read all I could find on the subject. Some people recommend hitting the point in the morning for the least amount of turbulence but it is almost always foggy in the morning and there are oil platforms, shipping channels and fishing vessels that make navigating the point in low visibility challenging. Some said to try to hit the point in the middle of the night for the calmest waters and before the fog becomes an issue. Still others said to attempt the passage only during daylight hours and only with buddy boats. For every suggestion I read, there were 5 that contradicted it. I was so confused. We were the only transient boat in Morro Bay so there was no one to commiserate with. The Morro Bay Harbor Patrol reminded us that we could only stay a few more days or else we would have to start paying to anchor out. The front continued to expand and seemed to be pushing south. If we didn’t leave soon, we would be stuck there for potentially weeks. We had to make a decision soon. We had not done well choosing our weather windows in our previous passages. As a matter of fact, we were 0 for 4. It seemed like we were always off 8-12 hours. We couldn’t be off on this crossing. I put off the decision for 4 days. We had no choice, we had to leave the next day or risk being stranded in a relatively exposed anchorage with a big blow coming.
We planned to leave Morro Bay in the afternoon. Based on our observations there seemed to be good afternoon and evening winds and then calming around 0200 and the fog didn’t seem to be an issue until closer to dawn. We would do a night passage round Point Conception in the wee hours before dawn. We left Morro Bay in the early afternoon, caught some light wind and we were able to put the sails up almost immediately. Dave was at the helm and we were making 4-5 knots but that would change as we Point Buchon as we would have to alter our course or go further out to sea. As we approached Point Buchon, we noticed a lot of whale activity. There were whales blowing, whales breaching, and whales fin slapping. There were 3 different groups that were putting on a show for us. They weren’t terribly close but it was still an impressive spectacle to watch. Dave took us to Point Buchon and then it was my turn at the helm. We do 4-hour shifts at the wheel. He helped me adjust our course, it was a less optimal angle on the wind so we lost some speed but still had wind in the sails. The other thing that we noticed on our new course was off on the starboard side, there appeared to be some weather brewing. Just GREAT! We watched it for an hour or so, it didn’t seem to be moving fast but then neither were we. On our new course, I was only making 3-4 knots. At this rate, we wouldn’t make it to Point Conception until morning. We decided to motor sail. I fired up the engine and was able to get back up to 5-6 knots. Dave went below to rest. I had one eye on the weather and the other on the chart plotter. I was doing calculations and with the current heading and speed, we would hit Point Conception on my next shift…..crap! Meanwhile off on the starboard side, the ocean in the distance was starting to take on a more menacing look. The water looked confused and I could see waves breaking. The weather must be moving faster than I was even though the clouds still looked to be distant. Looking at my instruments, the winds had remained steady at 8-10 knots. I continued to motor sail with the Perkins rumbling along. Soon I began to hear waves breaking and crashing over the rumble of the engine. It was going to be a long shift. I turned my attention starboard again as if maybe I could ward off the approaching mess with the famed “look”, (it works well with unruly kids). As I turned to stare down the approaching seas, I was completely unprepared for the scene unfolding in front of me. The water was unlike anything I had ever seen and the sound of the roiling waters down out the sound of the engine. I could not believe what I was seeing. These were not wind driven waves coming at me. It was masses of swimming, leaping, diving dolphins coming at me. The sounds that I heard were not crashing waves, it was splashing bodies as they soared out of the water and then splashed back down. It was mesmerizing. There must’ve been thousands of dolphins swimming directly across my path. They shot in front of the boat, behind it and under it. Soon for as far as I could see in any direction there was nothing but dolphins leaping and diving and turning the sea into a turbulent mess. It lasted several minutes before the last of the stragglers shot past the boat and just like that they were gone. I had called Dave up and he tried to get some video footage but the enormity of the event just couldn’t be captured. After we digested what we had just seen he left me with a parting shot as he went back down below to sleep; “You know what this means” he said. I groaned. So far in our travels, whenever a pod of dolphins had surrounded the boat and played in our wake a short time later we would encounter big winds and even bigger waves. To date we were four for four and previous pods had only been about 20-40 individuals in size. What could a sighting of this size portend? I was anxious enough before we left Morro Bay, now I just wanted to curl up and cry. By this time though we were committed, we couldn’t go back and had no harbors to duck into. About an hour and a half later the dolphins returned coming back from port side and heading out to sea. I could see and hear them coming long before they arrived and the second time was just as amazing and surreal as the first. Absolutely mind blowing! By the end of my shift the wind had built slightly, the front stayed put and we were able to turn off the engine and just sail. The sea state was getting a little lumpier but we had good winds and were making good progress. We were checking off the landmarks as we passed them, Point Sal, Purisima Point, and finally Point Arguello. The winds remained light to moderate. We were starting to get waves from every direction but at least we weren’t looking up at them. It is so intimidating to be sitting in a trough and looking up at walls of water towering above you. Everything so far was manageable. There was no fog. We could see the oil platforms, the fishing boats and container ships in the shipping lanes, the traffic seemed light and Point Conception loomed up on our port side. What would she have in store for us? Apparently, nothing. Our trip around Point Conception was uneventful and our best passage, most comfortable passage of the trip so far. All the wasted worry. The day dawned with the Channel Islands just a short distance away. We thought we would check out some of their anchorages and maybe spend a day or two exploring them but we found them to be very unprotected from wind and ocean swell and we didn’t feel like joining the masses in the mooring fields. Change of plans. We altered our course and headed across the channel to Santa Barbara. We poked around their anchorage area scoping out a spot. We disturbed a fellow on laundry day with ALL his clothing hanging out to dry and him lounging in the nude. He took one look at Dave standing on the bow of the boat and snatched a pair of shorts off the line to pull on. The anchor skipped there and in two other places. It took four attempts before we finally got purchase with enough scope to swing. The anchorage field in Santa Barbara is definitely not a great anchorage. It is protected from north winds only and not from ocean swell so it is a very rolly anchorage. It is at its worst from about 8 at night until about 2 in the morning and it is so rolly that I had to use my lee cloth to tie myself into the berth so I wouldn’t get tossed out of bed. The next day we were scanning the shore for the dinghy dock but couldn’t find it. I called Harbor Patrol who informed us that there is no dinghy dock for transients but we could tie off to the wharf near a ladder and climb the ladder to get up on the docks….um really? Yes ma’am. In the end, Santa Barbara treated us to beautiful beaches, stunning Spanish architecture and wonderful fishermen who taught us how to fish for mackerel. Another great experience in this ever-unfolding journey.

Our Journey south has been a huge learning curve and filled with some pretty amazing sights.  We left Poulsbo, WA a  month ago.  We have travelled 1303 nautical miles so far.  I have completed my first log book.  We have logged nearly 3000 miles since we bought the boat and I am on my way to earning my obligatory swallow tattoo (darn another tattoo).  The miles are definitely adding up much more quickly now.

Our journey has allowed us to take in some sites that I might never have seen had it not been for this adventure.  Our time in Fort Bragg really piqued our adventurous spirit.  Sailing down that little river in the fog truly was a memorable experience right off a movie set that pictures don’t quite capture.  There were boats and buildings and piers on either side of us as we threaded our way down the channel.  The GPS was no help as it registered us somewhere up on land so we had to navigate strictly by sight.  We made it safely and spent a lovely several days there.  We took the dinghy further up the river to explore and were treated with some beautiful views as the river snaked her way inland (at any time I half expected to hear banjo music…it was eery at times).  The next day we had the opportunity to drive to a small pocket of Redwoods and hike to a tiny waterfall, Chamberlain Falls.  We had the entire trail and park to ourselves.  The trees were breathtaking, so massive, sentinels standing strong.  Many bore scars of fires and wind storms past but still stood strong and majestic.

After our hike among the giants, we made our way to Sea Glass Beach.  Today it is a thing of beauty but for over 100 years it was a toxic waste site…literally.  We had the opportunity to speak with a Park Ranger regarding the history and we learned that from 1880 to 1975 the city and the military base would dump all of their garbage and waste off the cliffs to the west of Fort Bragg.  They would light the piles of garbage on fire to help compress the mess.  Everything from chemicals to cars was pushed over the edge of the cliffs and lit on fire.  The ocean has had over a century to process all that garbage and now she returns the polished glass to her beaches.  The story was really quite sad.  When the first white men arrived in the late 1800’s, the Redwoods extended all the way to the ocean.  They chopped the trees down to help build the growing and ever-expanding San Francisco.  They destroyed the Indian tribes that had lived and hunted there for thousands of years and turned the beautiful beaches into a huge dump.  The Redwoods remain absent, the Indians gone as well but the ocean has churned through the toxic waste and ha left behind a beautiful sparkling sea glass beach.

Our next stop was Drakes Bay, just outside San Francisco.  The bay is huge.  I assumed it would be filled with boats but no, we had the place to ourselves for two days.  No cell phone service, only whales, pelicans, and ourselves for company.  I didn’t realize how precious those moments would be until we went under the bridge and spent a few days in San Francisco Bay, the sixth largest metropolitan area in the US.  Finally the blow passed, the winds calmed and the tides were right to leave Drakes Bay and enter San Francisco Bay.  The Golden Gate Bridge is not the biggest bridge in the bay area but it is a beautiful site after being out on the ocean.  When we entered the bay, there was not boat traffic, we had the whole entrance to ourselves shared only with whales and a couple small boats.  The bridge is painted a bold red and she demands your attention.  Our first stop once inside the bay was a lesser bay, Richardson Bay in Sausalito.  The bay as we went in looked inviting with hundreds of boats anchored out.  We pushed about halfway into the bay and anchored with only about 12-18″ under our keel.  After spending a few hours in our cockpit and absorbing our surroundings, we realized that we had anchored in a floating homeless encampment.  A man on a boat near us warned that we were surrounded by tweakers and not to leave our boat unattended.  We have not locked our boat or dinghy since we bought her.  We realized quickly that the  people on paddleboards and in dinghies that were circling our boat were not admiring her lines.  I am grateful that Dave looks intimidating from a distance.  I spent not a restful night there.  We left the next day and went over to Angel Island.  We found anchorage on the Northeast side just off Quarry Beach near the ruins of the East Garrison of Fort McDowell.  The beach was sandy, the sun was warm and once more we were alone.  We spent several hours exploring the ruins of the old fort and researching the history of the island.  For thousands of years it served as a major hunting and fishing grounds for local Indian tribes.  It was discovered and logged of course and then it became a strategic military encampment serving as a staging area for the Spanish American War and then also a staging area for troops in World War I.  In the early 1900’s the people of San Francisco were upset and worried about the Chinese immigrants because they were willing to work hard for very little money.  They moved the immigration offices from the mainland out to Angel Island to process the Chinese.  Angel Island processed over a million immigrants.  Some were held there for weeks, months or even years.  In the meantime on the other side of the island with Hitler rattling his chains, Fort McDowell started to grow and expand.  They used the inmates from Alcatraz as their labor force.  During WWII, Fort McDowell once again became a staging area for the Pacific theater and a quarantine for troops returning from battle as well as an interment for POWs.  Eventually the immigration offices were moved back to the mainland after a fire destroyed one of the administration buildings and Fort McDowell closed.  The entire island is now a National Park.  It is such a powerful and moving experience to try to comprehend all that has happened there over the years.

The next day we pulled anchor and circumnavigated Alcatraz.  We contemplated the tour until we saw one tour boat after another dumping hundreds of tourists at a time onto the island.  All the bodies crawling across its surface looked like ants.  Maybe sour grapes but we opted to experience it from a distance and not join the herd.  It looked to me like cattle being prodded through chutes.  This lifestyle may not be the best for me, it sure makes it easier for me to avoid people and crowds.  My phobia issues seem less of a problem out on the water than they did on land.  Our next stop was the stunning Monterey Bay.

We left San Francisco and began our way southward once again, unfortunately the winds shifted and we battled through headwinds and confused seas as we dealt with the remnants of Hurricane Lydia.  We had wind and waves on our nose and ocean swell and currents on our side and stern.  This makes for a very bumpy, slow passage.  Once we made it around Pigeon Point and made our way into Monterey Bay it was still very rough but the whales put on a show.  There were humpback whales breaching and blowing in every direction you looked.  They are so amazing and every sighting renders me speechless.  When Dave hears some incoherent nonsense coming out of my mouth he knows we have visitors from the deep. We arrived in Monterey with protection from the south.  What a gem.  I am so thankful to our friend Tyana for recommending that we make a point to stop.  There are miles of sandy beaches with beautiful clear water.  There are seals, sea lions, and otters everywhere.  The sea lions are so noisy and they bark 24 hours a day.  The goofy seals make me laugh as they climb up on random rocks every afternoon to sun themselves.  Some of the rocks are no bigger than a breadbox and they teeter on them in these ridiculous plank positions.  There is a 17 mile long urban pedestrian path that follows the beach and meanders through Steinbeck’s famed Cannery Row.  Monterey is definitely a spectacular destination by land or water with so much to see and do.  We were even able to take in the aquarium which is unbelievable.  Most of the animals present are rescues.  They rescue injured and sick marine life and birds and return as many to the wild as they can.  Those that are injured too severely to survive in the wild become surrogate parents to abandoned or injured young.  So many wonderful sights.  The pictures posted above are depicted in chronological order.  I hope you enjoy.

 

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.

 

These are the musings and thoughts of my brain while standing watch in the cockpit of a small boat on a very big ocean, my first experience with blue water sailing.  I have spent the last 17 years or so reading and researching in preparation for this moment.  In so many ways I was prepared and I knew what to expect and in so many ways it was so different, so, so much more.  I don’t think that you can really put into words what it’s like to be out there on the ocean.  Everything that I had read was true but I guess that I didn’t grasp the essence of what the authors were saying.  Any way, settle in because this has the potential to be a lengthy post, after all my brain musing for 4 hours at a time 3 times a day while on watch at the helm at the very least promises to be entertaining.

Lessons Learned

1. A boat under weigh is noisy…really noisy.  The boat itself has little moans and groans, the waves rushing by the hull, water trickling off the deck, halyards and lines thrumming and humming in the wind.  Inside there’s the clink and rattle of this and that, lots of this and that.  I had thought that we knew how to secure everything from our sailings in the Sound and the years docked at the Bremerton Marina with the regular sloshing we would get from the ferry wake.  I didn’t notice it much my first time or two off watch because I was too excited to sleep much but after 20 hours or so of being awake and looking forward to 4 hours of sleep only to close your eyes and realize there are several hillbilly bands warming up for a battle of the bands contest in your salon, I noticed it.  Eyes pop open and the quest begins.  Stalking around the boat matching movement to sound and figuring out how to best silence them.  The first culprits were easy to find and fix but others were much more elusive and it took me nearly 3 days to get them all figured out.  I literally spent precious hours of much needed sleep time searching for the little noisemakers.  It was a fun sleuthing game at first but the fun was short lived and then is was just a nuisance.
2. Our boat is far more capable than I am at this point.  This is a hat tip to Robert Perry and his hull design for creating a boat made for blue water ocean cruising.  A hat tip also to the previous owners who over the decades since she was first launched have taken very good care of her.  I admit that I would often hold a course that deliberately spilt wind from her sails so that I felt like I had more control.  It reminded me of growing up and riding horses.  Sitting astride a horse and keeping her at a trot or easy gallup when she flat out wanted to run.  You could feel the energy bunched up under you ready to be released.  Magic Dragon was the same, she really wanted to do much more than I would let her….baby steps Dragon, I will get there, just look how far I’ve come.
3. I greatly overestimated my desire and ability to cook and prepare meals while under weigh.  I spent months preparing menu plans and making lists.  I bought books published by women who live on boats that talk specifically about meal prep and I even have a cookbook specific for sailors.  I went to seminars at boat shows and consulted with other cruisers online.  What I learned is that I consulted with the wrong people.  I should’ve consulted with our daughter Heather who has spent the last decade of her life planning healthy meals for 3 year olds.  I say this because when you are coming down the Northwest coast there is not an option to duck into a quiet harbor or cove each night to anchor and stop to prepare meals and wash dishes.  When you are out on the ocean whether you are at the helm on watch or down below off watch you have only one hand available to do anything with.  The other hand is holding on, you are holding on to the wheel or if down in the cabin you are holding on to keep from getting body slammed across either the stove or the table.  I don’t care how many hand holds there are in your cabin, there is not enough, add more.  Also since there is just the two of us, cooking times takes away from sleep time.  So Heather, let me apologize now for making fun of your eating habits and let me say that my next menu list will consist of single hand finger foods that don’t make a mess…aka a menu with a 3 year old in mind.
4. The power of the ocean and the winds that drive her is nothing short of breathtaking.  There are no words that can describe the dance between those two forces.  They graciously share a measure of that power with us sailors and allow us passage through their realm.  When you are out there with no land in sight, you realize just how insignificant you are and at the whim of one or the other or both of them together they could take you down.  It is truly a gift and a privilege to complete an ocean passage.
5. Night watches are magical.  Your senses are much more sharp because vision is so limited.  You can hear the waves but you can’t really see them so I quickly realized that I could feel them through my feet and legs through the motion of the boat.  They way the wind came across my face told me how the wind was hitting the sails.  I knew that if it was coming off my chin then the sails were full but not fully into the wind with a big heel so the noise and motion of the boat would be minimized as much as possible to try to help Dave rest. The smell of the air was so clean.  The night sky on the ocean is reminiscent of the Big Sky of Montana.  I also loved the phosphorescent critters that twinkled in our wake or in the water next to us when we cruised through the trough of a swell.  I wanted to believe that they were twinkling could be likened to Tinker Bell with her pixie dust.  In reality though I am sure it’s their version of the middle finger for interrupting their night time feeding frenzy.
6. I was worried that I would get fat and flabby being cooped up in a small space for long periods of time.  I am here to tell you that ocean cruising is a combination of Yoga, Plyometrics, and Tai Chi all rolled into one.  For 4 hours at a time 3 times a day you are at the helm balancing on essentially a Babpst Board or theraball engaging legs, core, and trunk.  With your upper body you are engaged with the ship’s wheel constantly pushing and pulling keeping the boat on a steady course.  Thank God I had been doing the Plank Challenge for the last month and a half or I wouldn’t have made 4 hour watches.  Even a short trip through the cabin to the head requires feats of gymnastics and American Ninja Warrior training skills.
7. This brings me to another head related issue.  The head on our boat is approximately 5’x5′.  It contains a sink, a couple cabinets and the toilet.  If you drop something, there isn’t enough room to bend over and pick it up.  Most of the closets in my house were bigger then this space.  I’ve been on other boats and may of them had larger heads/bathrooms.  I have to admit that I was a bit jealous.  They have baskets for towels and countertops and maybe even a decoration or two.  I have a new found appreciation for our small space.  At least in big seas there is no danger in getting catapulted off the pot in mid stream.  And Sierra, there is no aiming anything so your parting gift given in jest may actually get some use.  My boating friends will understand but my non boater friends will have no concept of what I am talking about so I am going to try to give you an analogy to bring you up to speed.  When I was growing up, a friend of ours, Merle Clark, was a local rancher and a great rodeo announcer.  I would make a point to go to rodeos that he was announcing at just to listen to him.  At any rate he had a great analogy for steer wrestling.  He would tell the men in the audience to drive out into the summer fallow field with their wife.  Have her get behind the wheel and him sit up on the hood of the truck.  She was then instructed to accelerate to about 40 mph and slam on the brakes.  That is essentially what happens when a cowboy dives off his horse onto a racing steer and wrestles it to the ground.  Hat tip to you Merle, here is my analogy of going to the bathroom on a small boat in 20 foot seas and 30 knot winds.  Ladies have your husband put a toilet seat on a 5 gallon bucket and bolt it to a small trailer.  The trailer should have 2 different size tires to give it a nice slant to accommodate for the tilt/heel of the boat.  Drive to the nearest prairie dog town.  Ladies take a seat on the throne.  Men drive in a sharp zig zag fashion at about 15 mph across the prairie dog town.  This should create a very nice motion that encompasses all 3 planes of motion.  Ladies, good luck in keeping your seat.  Now hopefully you can understand my new found appreciation of a small head.

8.  I had forgotten how active my mind is without facebook and the media telling me what and how to think.  There is this little girl inside that I always used to chat with, debate and analyze issues with.  I thought she was gone, turns out she was still there but was being drowned out by all the media and technology.  I missed her and glad she is back.

9.  Although I have learned a lot, there is so much more for me to learn.  I remember earlier this year sitting in seminars and knowing the answers to questions people were asking and was feeling pretty pleased with myself.  The ocean has a way of humbling a person.

10.  The biggest lesion that I’ve learned you might be wondering as clearly ocean passages are neither easy nor comfortable.  My biggest take away is that I’m happy, I’m excited to be where I’m at and I’m free.  I’m free from the rat race and schedules and making money for other people.  I was so worried that the reality of sailing wouldn’t match the dream.  Thousands of dreamers every year complete their first ocean voyage and find out it’s not for them and they put their boats up for sale in the first marina they come to.  I have invested 17 years into this dream, would that be me?  No, a heartfelt no.  I loved it.  The sense of accomplishment, the freedom, the peace, the excitement, the exhaustion, the everything.  I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

 

The last couple weeks have definitely been a bit of a learning curve.  Some of my typical conversations go something like this:

“Hi, my name is Jamyne Richardson and I was wondering if you could help me with……”, their response is something along the lines of “I will email you this document, your print it off, sign it and fax it back”  OR “Yes, we can send that to you what is your address?”  My response goes something like this “Well I live on a sailboat and we are anchored out in such and such bay.  I don’t have access to a printer or fax machine and I no longer have a physical address that is mine, is there a different way to accomplish this?”  Their response following a very long pause is “Well typically people….I don’t know how to do it any other way.  Can you drive to our office?”  “Um, no we live on a boat and have sold our vehicle”.  Another long pause.

Or here is another awesome experience.  Both Dave and I lost access to our smart phones, his went in the harbor and mine was held hostage because of the above address issue and billing and not having a physical address so Verizon was not going to continue service until I could confirm a physical address.  We were in the Hood Canal and our mast is too tall to go under the bridge so they have to open the bridge.  We used our VHF radio to call the bridge and low and behold, the people at the bridge that press the buttons to open the bridge don’t actually have the authority to open the bridge.  To actually open the bridge, one must call Tacoma via cell phone and request an opening then the person in Tacoma contacts the bridge to actually open it.  So circling the waters in front of the bridge trying to negotiate the Verizon automated menus just hoping to get to eventually talk to a real person in an effort to find a way around the whole address thing to get service to my phone to open the bridge you are stuck behind.  Sigh….eye roll and maybe a tear or two.  Verizon wanted me to go to the nearest Walmart and complete the address issue and change Dave’s phone number over to his old phone in person.  Again, I live on a boat and I have no vehicle.  We could go back to Brinnon (a 5 hour sail), catch the next day bus to Port Townsend then transfer to Poulsbo or Sequim to get to the nearest Walmart – hours on public transit and possible stranded in one of the above cities overnight because they don’t run after certain hours – last bus back to Brinnon is 5:45 at night.  Please let me do this over the phone……PLEASE.  I must’ve sounded pathetic enough and the lovely person on the other end tapped a couple keys on their keyboard and voila …. I had service and we were able to get through the bridge.  I have never been fond of technology and this little experience did nothing to endear it to me.

On a positive note with technology, I may soon be able to post a means that will allow all of you to track us at any given time anywhere in the world…Stay tuned!  It depends on how Dave’s day is going.  We started this project yesterday and it continues today with 3 separate trips to shore and 5 miles (literally as tracked on my phone which works) walked and nearly $300.00 of additional supplies in a system that I bought and the man on the other end guaranteed that this was a “plug and play” system….ahhhh not so much.  I was apprehensive about facing the Pacific Ocean but after these last couple adventures all I can say is “Bring it On!”

 

 

 

This is the story of how Magic Dragon came into our lives.  It was one of those moments where the stars just seemed to align and propel us along a collision course with destiny.  We had reached the point in our dream to begin to look at boats.  Our youngest daughter was recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery and was between her sophomore and junior years of high school.  We knew that we were 2-3 years away from purchase and we made a deal that we would take one mini vacation each year to go somewhere to look at boats.  We had spent the last several years pouring over books and posts about buying a sail boat and hours sitting in front of a computer screen drooling over Yacht World adds.  We knew that we were looking for something in the 37′ to 42′ range and had an idea of what boats were proven blue water cruisers.  We also knew that we wanted to get the purchase right because we were only going to have one shot at it and we had a limited budget because I refused to finance a dream, meaning we had to be able to pay cash for the boat we were going to buy.  We planned a trip to Seattle to take Jayde and her best friend Taryn to see the sights and get away between the end of swim season and the beginning of volleyball practices and their junior year.  We made a deal with them that we would spend 3 days vacationing and then they had to give us one day to ourselves to look at boats and then on our final day we planned to go out to the Peninsula for breakfast at the Blue Moose in Port Townsend before heading back home.  Things went as planned.  We had loads of fun showing Taryn the touristy hotspots in Seattle and then our day came….Yay.

We spent an entire day with 3 different brokers looking at boats, taking pictures and jotting down notes of what we liked and didn’t like.  Mostly we were disappointed because everything in our price point needed so much work and would probably cost so much more in the long run.  We returned to the hotel discouraged.  Later that night I got on the internet and brought up Craigslist and looked for boats listed there (I know I know….bad idea and we had read over and over Craigslist horror stories) but I managed to find one boat listed that met some of our criteria.  Called the fellow and he said he would  be able to show the boat  the next day.  He told us the boat was at Pleasant Harbor outside of Brinnon and yes it was in the vicinity of Port Townsend.  The next morning we caught the Bainbridge Ferry and began our trek to Brinnon.  Keep in mind that I am from Montana and my knowledge of the geography of Washington is limited so as we are driving through these quaint little communities and farms I am not seeing any water big enough to float a boat the size I was expecting to see.  I have 2 teenage girls in the backseat and we are going to meet a man that I made arrangements to meet over Craigslist. Dave is humming banjo tunes and I am getting more stressed and apprehensive by the moment.  We pass through Brinnon and thank God we see a large body of water but no harbor and no boats.  As we go a little further, looking through the trees we see some masts and I sigh a little.  We see the turn off for Pleasant Harbor and drive into one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  We park the truck and stand in the parking lot looking out over the harbor, the first boat our eyes are drawn to has a beautiful wooden mast.  I took one look at that boat and looked at Dave and said “That’s our boat!”, he replied “You don’t know that you haven’t even been on it and how do you know that is the one we are here to look at?”.  I just knew that was our boat.  As it turned out THAT was the boat we were there to look at.  From the moment I first saw her and then stepped aboard I knew she was the one.  Did she meet all of the criteria no not really.  Were we ready to buy a boat ummm NO we weren’t.  We still had one child in high school.  At any rate, she was thee boat and within moments we were talking about buying her.  We told Mike that we had no intention of financing.  The price was very reasonable, but it would require some finagling on my part and moving of resources to come up with that kind of cash.  It was the second week of August, we agreed to give me until November 1st.  He wouldn’t show the boat anymore until then to give me time to try to come up with the money.  We left feeling almost giddy, we found our boat.  We returned to Montana and by the middle of October, I had juggled resources sufficiently to make the purchase  We made arrangements to come out for sea trials and to have Mike’s friend complete the survey (I know, how many stupid things can you do, an impulse purchase, complete trust in a total stranger, and not knowing very much about boats….ok almost nothing).  We arrived for the sea trials and it was quite blustery.  The entrance to Pleasant Harbor looked to me like it was 12 feet wide and I knew the Magic Dragon was over 11′.  I have to say I was terrified.  John – the fellow who completed the survey offered me the helm but I wanted no part of that nonsense.  I was certain I would crash it into land or sink the silly thing but I still so loved this boat.  It also became very clear to me that there was absolutely nothing in mgy previous life experience that prepared me for sailing or life on the water but I still wanted to embrace this dream.  We left that day owning a sailboat.

Five years ago this coming week we first laid eyes on the Magic Dragon and almost five years to the date from first seeing her, we will begin our voyage down the straits and out into the Pacific Ocean.  This weekend we are back in Pleasant Harbor and they kindly placed her back in her original slip.  We have been surrounded by friends and family as we say our goodbyes.  It just seemed fitting to come back to the beginning.

The crew of the Magic Dragon consists of David and myself, Jamyne.  We are an unlikely duo born and raised in two very different worlds.  We met by chance at work, dated a few short weeks and eloped.  That was 25 years ago.  Most who knew us at the time gave us 6 weeks….little did they know.

David is the spark that ignited this dream.  We were wandering the docks in Port Townsend, WA about 17 years ago or so waiting for the Sea Kayaker Symposium to open when we noticed that people were living on their boats – boats, not boat houses.  He commented, we should do that some day.  He grew up in a military family moving every few years which built the foundation for a wandering soul.  I grew up along the Little Missouri River in the badlands of North Dakota.   I was a 5th generation country girl whose family had homesteading ties on both sides running deep in Montana.  I loved the dirt, stability, and roots.  I was grounded.  Dave’s dad was a jack of all trades and taught him many things including refrigeration, electrical and wiring, soldering, welding, plumbing and lock picking.  Dave loves to learn and has been in college most of our marriage.  He has a certification in engine mechanics, a degree in Biochemistry, and is a Critical Care Paramedic.  He has this amazing 3-D brain and can walk into a store and take a picture of something and come home and build it.  Kids are drawn to him and he shares his curiosity and love of learning with them…a little too much.  Our friends quickly learned that if their kids wanted to come to our house a phone call to me was prudent to ensure that I would be there to supervise as he was inclined to show kids how to set themselves on fire without getting hurt or how to start a fire without matches or how to pick locks because what kid doesn’t know how to pick locks???!!!  So my favorite pirate is also a MacGyver!

My story?  My mother molded me into a fiercely independent, driven woman who has always believed that there is nothing I can’t do.  I earned a degree in physical therapy and have enjoyed a most amazing career blessed to have met some of the most incredible people.  I am a healer and I also enjoy crafting.  I tat and scrapbook and am learning to wire wrap the beautiful sea glass I collect.  I temper Dave’s wanderlust and keep him grounded (also known as fun sucking) but caution is not a bad thing when dealing with Mother Nature and the power of the wind and ocean.

As you can see we are vastly different and at first blush we are a very unlikely couple.  We are both independent and capable individuals and would be fine on our own however, together we balance each other and the sum of the parts is far greater than each of us alone.  Together there is nothing we can’t do, I believe that, I have seen it in action.  We will see soon what the Pacific can throw at us!

The day that we have dreamed of for so many years is only days away.  I have only one more day of work and thousands of details to juggle before we leave the protection and safety of the marina.  The emotions are a crazy rollercoaster …. excitement, sadness, peace, trepidation, happiness, pride and those feelings I can’t even name right now.  I thought this first post would be easy and long but as I sit here prepared to write I am finding that there is so much to share that there is nothing to type if that can be.  I can’t even find the words.  So welcome to this first fledgling post.  There will be so much more to follow.

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