Ocean Echo 1: September 2010

Dear Friends

Ocean Echo 1 is finally on the way South and West. First, I would like to say !! THANK YOU !! to everyone, who supported me and helped me during the time of preparations. It has been a busy few years, especially the last 18 months. I was told, that hard part is getting ready to go cruising and I agree on that.
My first leg started August 21st 2010 from Vancouver B.C. to Kendrick Island, which is WVYC outstation at the other side of the Strait of Georgia. I wanted to get out of the city and start my voyage from this Island, which is my favour place in local waters (25 miles from Vanc.).
After a couple of days at Kendrick Isl. I have sailed to Point Roberts WA to enter US waters. Local PRYC let me stay for 2 nights, which allowed me to get fuel at a marina and provisions in a local market. My next leg was planned to Port Angeles, but wind in Haro Strait ended up gusting 38-40kn (knots) and I could not make it to PA. Plans change quite often, while cruising, so I ended up hiding inside of Griffin Bay at San Juan Island. In my 20 years of sailing via Haro Strait, this was the worst.
Long run against wind and current followed next day to Neah Bay at Olympic Peninsula. This is an entrance to the open Pacific. I arrived late in the day in the dark and fog. I have realized there, how much help is electronic navigation and other tools like Google Earth. People have told me, that I spent a lot of time researching things on Internet, but it is definitely paying back. Of course there has to be backup, because computers will fail eventually.
August 28th I turned south at Cape Flattery on open Pacific for the great unknown. Fog had burned off in the late morning and beautiful rugged rocks and small islands showed up, including a lighthouse. This was an over night sail to Astoria. Winds were fair and I was getting used to the rolling sea again. The only complaint I would have, was a cold night to early morning, since I was napping on the bench in the cockpit. A commercial fishing fleet showed up after midnight and I had to pay attention to keep the safe distance.
Astoria sand bar on Columbia River was fairly easy and I anchored in a shallow bay near Cape Disappointment. I had noticed pelicans flying around. I was assuming, that warmer climate is approaching, but not quite. The weather was forecasted to change with SW winds the next day. Well, I was in exposed anchorage to SW and ended up getting close to 30kn winds in shallow water and nasty 4-6 foot standing chop from tide current hanging on 2 anchors.
My next overnight trip was to Newport Oregon. On this trip I managed to test my home-made wind vane (wind powered self steering mechanism). Being honest it did better job steering the boat then me and does not need electricity or electronic parts. This is a major improvement to my future long sailing trips. It was again cold at night, with a commercial fishing fleet in progress about 20 miles offshore. Entering Newport OR was not too easy in the fog. I could not see guiding buoys for the jetty entrance, but electronics did the job. Sand bar was easy. Newport was an interesting place, so-called capital for Dungeness crabbing. Yes, there were crab traps everywhere, including shipping lanes. I have visited the local marine science centre and paddled around the shore with my kayak. Hundreds of Sea Lions took over some shore line and breakwater in the commercial harbour.
Port Orford OR was the next stop after an overnight sail. High cliffs surround the bay and with 20-30kn of N-NW wind, it was a good hide out. The view of the bay was nice, grey whales were swimming around feeding near by. There was a forecast for light SW winds next day, but it turned out to be more than light. The boat was exposed to SW and open sea. Holding was not too good in the bay and I had to re anchor a couple of times and use a 2nd anchor to be safe in bouncy SW waves with rain and fog.
Entry to Eureka California was in the fog again. Eureka town is about 5 miles up the Humboldt Bay. I stayed for a couple of days and visited an old historical town.
Next leg included famous Cape Mendocino, which has usually high winds and bigger seas this time of year. I ended up motoring from Eureka to C. Mendocino in the fog. After passing CM buoy, the winds and sea picked up quickly. I was catching the main offshore flow, but when I turned towards the land the sea and winds slowly disappeared. Suddenly I was in very light seas, which I did not have since C. Flattery.
Shelter Cove Cal. was an interesting anchorage, but a change of weather was in the forecast, so I left the next morning towards San Francisco. During this overnighter I had 3 visits from dolphins and porpoises. It was very neat to see them at night making silver lines around the boat . The water was rich with bioluminescent bacteria making them glow. During the morning hours a big pod of dolphins showed up and tried to impress me with jumping and acrobatic feats.
I anchored in Drakes Bay before dark, just outside of San Francisco. SW winds were forecasted, but they turned out to be light, which allowed for good sleep.
San Francisco was just 24 miles south and it allowed me to time approach with flood current. Sailing under Golden Gate bridge is a neat experience, especially for the first time. I anchored for 2 nights in Aquatic Park near Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. I have spent a day visiting tourist destinations in the area. This part of SF has a lot of fog in September and gusty afternoon winds. I had decided to look for warmer anchorage and sailed toward Angel Island. Sausalito Bay turned out to be a heaven in SF bay area. Warm, sunny, even swimmable water. The fog burns off over the hills above Sausalito and the bay is like an oasis surrounded with fog. SYC is a very friendly club, with mooring buoys in front of the club.
I will be staying in SF area for a while, since there is no rush to go south, due to the hurricane season in western Mexico.

Maintaining this blog could by complicated time to time, because Internet signal/connection for uploading pictures, will not be as good as it is in large cities/communities. Please, excuse my poor writing skills and grammar. Google translate does good job converting text to other languages.
Pictures are on next page.

I hope, that you will find something interesting in this blog - enjoy.

Jara (JJ) Holcman sv. Ocean Echo 1