News from SV Totem

Newport Oregon Bridge

August 24, 2008

Once in Newport, we all enjoyed showers and then visited the Rogue Nation headquarters where we wound our way through the brewery to the eating facilities and had some chow. By 8:30, we were all pretty much in our bunks. Sunday “dawned” overcast and not many sport fishers headed out with the glum forecast. We boarded the new loop bus and on our way to and from Fred Meyer (both the chandlery and Radio Shack were closed on Sundays) saw a decent portion of the greater Newport area. We are guessing that since the gas dock had opened early and there really weren’t many customers and they dwindled to nothing throughout the day as the wind and rain came in, that they decided to close early which made out departure decision easy: Monday after the gas dock opens! Like all good sailors we took the change in plans with a grain of salt (actually glass of wine) and enjoyed a warm dry evening aboard the boat.

August 25, 2008

Two nights in Newport, OR and we awoke this morning to fog and fairly calm winds. Last night we enjoyed watching a Rodin Williams comedy show and The Wedding Crashers. We followed a commercial fishing boat out under the Newport Bridge and the skies immediately began to clear. The bar was a little rough but it was the side swell that almost did me in. I quickly took a Gravol and had luckily had a good breakfast, so I able stay outside for a little while and rack in my bunk, waking up a couple hours later doing much better. We went by the famous dunes midday and had a great view of them because we are staying fairly close to shore so that we can head into Crescent City ahead of some weather tomorrow morning. Behan made some great sandwiches out of the last of the sourdough bread that I made for the trip. We have finally been able to put up the sails and are making good time still motor sailing. Not much wildlife today other than birds. We did see a couple of seals and Jamie and I are pretty sure that we saw some kind of small whale. We hope to hit Crescent City around sunrise tomorrow and wait out the weather, getting an early start for our final push on Wednesday morning.

Crescent City, California

August 26, 2008

A little after sunrise, we rounded the breakwater that protects Crescent City. The gas dock attendant came right down and lower the pump down to us. The gas dock is about fifteen feet above the water. There are some lovely barnacle covered tires strung on a log that you tie up to. Quite an adventure just getting gas. The wind is starting to pick up and there are other boats ducking in here – one from Port Hadlock across the way and Friday Harbor right next to us. Anyway, we got some local knowledge on where to go for breakfast and we all filled up at “Fisherman’s”. We have heard that the Charthouse is where the fishermen go for their fish n chips and so it sounds like that might be our dinner stop. We are thinking about getting a very early start in the AM to take advantage of a supposed lull between here and Cape Mendacino. It looks like we will be staying close in to the coast for the rest of the trip except right before San Francisco where we do not want to be in the Potato Patch if there is wind. I will try to find some pictures to post and hope that my next posting will be from Alameda.