Headin' Home

Leaving Dutch just after midnight we rounded priest rock and with a lite current on the stern, went through a smooth Unalga pass. As you may remember this is our passage of choice through the Aleutian chain whether we are headed north or south. On this voyage we are headed south and this is the trip home we have all been looking forward to for many months. The season went well and being done the third week of February is extremely rare for us, the one thing on most our minds was "how's the weather in the gulf gonna be?" Again this is a long voyage, eight days or more, and the forecast is only accurate for about three or four days into the future.

After four days of calm seas and even some clear skies we had reached the halfway point, the crew, including myself, had done well in the chore department. It was a good thing because the pleasant ride we enjoyed for days was rapidly deteriorating, winds were 45-50 knots and from the wrong direction.. southerly.





The seas were running around 18 to 25 feet on the starboard bow quarter, which is the worst possible ride, not only does the boat climb and fall over each wave it also "thrashes" back and forth due to the weather being slightly on the side! Four days of this is about all we can take, and as Travis likes to say " will somebody turn off the ocean?".





The bad ride was finally behind us as we entered the Straits of Juan de Fuca at around dinner time, which put us dockside just before daybreak. A good ending to another safe crossing of the mighty North Pacific Ocean...



Capt. Monte "Wizard Mouse"