avionbianca   Blog for s/v Avion

We are now on the final leg of our trip back to the “mainland”. We are heading for the Columbia River Basin in Oregon. Why are you going there, you might ask. We departed for San Francisco.
The answer is this is what the weather allowed us to do. We were delayed at the start of the trip by the lack of wind north of Hawaii, and we were diverted at the finish by a gale force event with heavy winds and seas. I think it s wise to avoid the heavy weather, since we had the information and opportunity to make a choice.

We almost got to Latitude 46 before turning eat this morning. As we have sailed north, the air has become colder. After 10 months in Hawaii, the cold air feels very cold. We have the good Musto and Gill foulies and lots of layers of clothing, so we can go up and sail at night for 3 hours; but hands and feet are very cold at the end of it. Even Jimmy is wearing socks and gloves.

We have worked our way north about 600 miles off the Oregon coast. There is not a lot out here. We saw a dead whale three days ago. I saw it an thought is was a boa, but as we got closer, i seemed like it was rather low in the water. It was also bright white, and not shaped like a boat. From the top of a wave, e got a better view and it looked a sail boat laying on it’s side, with it’s mast in the water; maybe it had lost it’s keel. But then, it suddenly was clear that it was a very large, dead whale. It was bloated, and birds all over it. The large flipper off to he side is what looked like a sail. Passing by, we were glad to be up wind.

Two days ago a very large pod of maybe 300 Dolphins came up from behind and passed us. A group of about 20 came over and played with Avion. They shot back and forth in from of the bow, catching some kind of pressure and shooting up on the other side. Four or five Dolphins swan right next to the bow in a line, and would go up and down, repeatedly. They clearly were having fun, and we caught their energy. Free ranging animals saying hello to humans. A gift.

We have been monitoring fuel, water and food, and being reasonable about use. But I have no meter on the propane tank. Megan was feeling like it might run out anytime, however, so I cooked up the last of our stuffed chicken, 4 cups of rice in the pressure cooker, and some corm, intending to have left-overs. Well, this morning, when Megan got up for the 3:00 am shift, the propane for a pot of coffee would not come on. The propane is gone. Since it is now light at that time of day, we all woke up and discussed this event. It is not the worse thing to go wrong; it means not more hot water or hot food. But we have the left-overs, snacks and crackers, some cabbage (for a cole slaw), peanut butter, end Ensures. We can make it for 3 days.

The boat is sailing east with vigor at 6 to 7 knots in 15 knots of wind. We are heading for the Astoria Marina. They have fuel, bathrooms and showers. We will get Jimmy to the Amrack train so he can go back to Alameda and work. Megan and I will rest and reprovision Avion, nd depart again in 3 to days. We will wait for a good weather window. After this trip, and 3 day sail down the coast to SF seems like nothing. But, stay tuned…