7/21/2010 - All dressed up and ready to go

Ok, time to catch up. The last several blog entries were written while we were at anchor and then posted once we got back to "civilization".

We decided to head back to the marina on Monday instead of Tuesday. No particular reason except that we were getting anxious to see what the weather conditions were really like. So, after a leisurely breakfast, we hoisted (weighed?) the anchor and headed back to South Beach. The difference in the weather that a couple of miles and a couple of bends in the river make is amazing. It had been pretty pleasant at anchor but the closer we got to Newport, the harder the wind was blowing and the colder it got.

We pulled in to the fuel dock and took on a whopping 4 gallons of diesel. This covers all the fuel we've used since our first trip to the boatyard last year. Looking at the GPS, we've covered about 46 miles in that time. So, we're getting about 11.5 MPG. Of course that also includes the diesel burned in the heater which, although run infrequently, has been run a few times over the last year. Since boat's generally keep track of their fuel consumption in gallons per hour rather than miles per gallon, we can translate the 11.5 MPG to about 0.40 gph based on an average speed of 4.5 knots (a "knot" being 1 nautical mile per hour...no such thing as "knots per hour"). This is about 4/10 of what the owner's manual cites as the normal average consumption. And that's a good thing. Based on these figure we could motor all the way to SF if necessary. We carry 39 gallons in the main tank which should take us most of the way, and then we carry another 20 gallons in jerry jugs on deck which will more than finish the trip. Of course, we hope to not motor the whole way but it's good to know we could if we had to.

After filling the diesel tank and the various gas cans (the little Nissan outboard is going to be so happy), we moved over to the "guest" dock. It was blowing pretty good and I had a little trouble getting in to the first slip but ultimately got into one a bit further down the fairway. Our friend Roger, having spied our telltale green furled headsails, was right there to help us dock and get tied up.

We paid for one day's moorage and then, after checking the weather forecast, increased this to a week. So, here we are, all dressed up and ready to go.

The weather reports still don't look all that promising but we're hoping that by either Friday or Saturday things will have calmed down enough for us to scoot on out. The weather is crazy, though. I get all these forecasts talking about Small Craft Advisories and hazardous seas and such. But when I look out at the ocean it looks pretty flat and relatively placid. If the weather reports tell us that things down below Crescent City have calmed down nicely by Friday or Saturday, then, unless things are REALLY ugly here, we're going to head out. The first day might be kind of bouncy but it should moderate after that. We'll just have to wait and see.

I was pretty sure that we didn't have but a couple of small projects left to do before we set sail. Then our friend Jay loaned me a book called "Offshore Sailing - 200 Essential Passagemaking Tips" by Bill Seifert with Daniel Spurr. After reading through this little manual I'm sure that I'll need another month or two to be really ready. But I'm not falling for it. I took a couple suggestions to heart and I'll file the others away for future reference, but we are definitely not going to hang around until everything the author suggests has been done. But there are a of of good suggestions in the book.

Today we went to town to get some things: spare electric bilge pump, hooks to keep the companionway doors from flopping around, padeyes to hook jacklines to (a jackline is the line that runs the length of the boat that we hook our harnesses to when out on the ocean so that we can't fall off the boat), diver's sheath knives to lash to the mast and somewhere in the cockpit so they'll be readily handy if we need to cut something loose immediately, a 1365 lumen rechargeable handheld spotlight, a pint of Jägermeister (supposed to be good for calming an upset stomach), as well as some milk, half & half, and orange juice. Once we were done with our errands we decided to go for broke and head down to The Sandbar and Grill for a couple brews and a cheeseburger.

I have to tell you about these burgers. We ordered the "Paul's Burger" which is a 1/2 lb. patty. My experience with hamburgers over the past several years is that they are all pretty tasteless. I suspect this is because they all get the same frozen patties from Costco or some such place. They honestly have no flavor. None. Nil. Nada. Nothing. Not so, Paul's Burger. The meat actually tasted like real meat. This seems a small thing but, just because of this one little thing, this was the best burger I've had in years, ever since the surprisingly good ones we had at "101 Camp" outside Beaver, Oregon a number of years ago. They were so surprisingly good that we might, might mind you, have to go back tomorrow and get another one. So, take my advice. If you're ever in Newport and want a really tasty burger, cruise on down to the Sandbar in Nye Beach and have a Paul's Burger. I can't vouch for the 1/3 lb. Sandbar Burger because we didn't have that one. And after eating one of Paul's I can't imagine why I would ever order its little brother.

Okay, now you're up to date. I'm about to head up to the laundry room to send this out, get e-mail and check the weather. Here's hoping for an easing of these freakin' cold wintry winds we've been experiencing.