Doing a delivery from Portland to Seattle this long weekend. Friends 80's era tartan 41 he has refurbished.
6 of us all good sailors inshore but not one with proper offshore experience. Been in all kinds of conditions inshore including gales for shits n giggles to see what its like.
any advice for us? I'm confident in our abilities as individuals and even more the bunch. We've gone over the list of things to bring and checked it twice. Boat is rather green though and un tested which makes me a little worried. He says the rigging is less than 10 years old and they recently repainted the bottom and made sure it was all up to snuff but its a new boat to him (4-6 months?)
Jared
Popular trip... !
I have two deliveries scheduled for June, same route.
We plan on assessing the sea conditions the first part of the route, Astoria to vicinity of Grays Harbor, and if we see any significant remnents of Japanese housing/boats/docks or other similar debris, we will spend a short night @ Grays Harbor. Same decision-making procedure for the next leg... leave Grays @ O Dark Thirty, and if we don't like what we are seeing/dodging in the daylight hours, go into LaPush for a night. Next day easily get 'round the corner and down the Straights.
We usually do this non-stop to Neah Bay in about 30 hours, give or take, but safety is way more important than schedule keeping.
Do your own inspection before leaving the dock on an unfamiliar boat... locate the thru hulls and open and close each one. Locate and check the gauge on all extinguishers. Need enough gumby suits for all OR a lift raft with current inspection sticker.
Always clip in when leaving the cockpit,and always clip in on the night watch. Take a small flashlight that easily fits a pocket. Same for a whistle -- attached to your pfd. Wear a combo PFD/Harness. I like the newer hydro-release inflatable PFD. (No more damp-attracting pill...)
Take along some sea-sickness pills or a patch. You might not need it, but if you do you'll be darned glad to have it. For that mild green-around-the-gills feeling, we find that candied ginger helps a bit, as does drinking some ginger ale.
Top Ramen is great on a cold day. Have the boiled water on the ready in a pump pot. This is also the one time that it's permissible to admit that you really do like Dinty Moore Beef Stew, hot off the gimbeled stove!
Layers of clothes - polypro stuff is great....
48 degrees @ 0300, in high humidity, will abso-fricken-lutely chill you to the bone while sitting in the cockpit.
insulated boots are better than thin ones! Wear Warm gloves or mittens.
Enjoy!
ps: many good 'net weather sites to look at, but one of the best ones I've found for interpreting wave period/height, and wind is surfing-oriented (!) site with excellent annimations.
http://magicseaweed.com/
Click on "Oregon" and choose your date for display.
Cams: darned few that look out onto the ocean off the WA coast, but here's one just south the Grays Harbor jetty,
http://www.rainbowsendcam.com/weather.htm
And the two @ LaPush,
http://forkswa.com/james-island-webcam/
http://forkswa.com/first-beach-webcam/
