terry_thatcher
Terence Thatcher
My son Emerson and I just returned home after a 30 day trip from Puerto Vallarta to Astoria Oregon. We used what is termed the Clipper Route, using the west side of the typical Pacific high Ior highs). It is basically a big boomerang out about 650 miles off of California coast and then back in towards British Columbia. You use the clockwise circulation of the high or highs, sailing at 50 to 60 degrees apparent wind angle. I have only 63 gallons of fuel tankage and another 25 in jugs, so we deferred running the diesel as long as we could. Spent a couple of days rolling in the swells, which was miserable. Ran the engine perhaps 30 hours until we crossed the Columbia River Bar. During one calm, we transferred 20 gallons from jerry jugs, so we ended up with plenty of fuel in our tanks.
The wind varied mostly from 12 to 25 knots apparent, except during the reach down to Astoria, when it got up to 30 a few times. Lots of sail changes, from no main reef, to one, then two, then three and plenty of changes in how much jib was rolled out. We ran up almost to the latitude of the north end of Vancouver Island, sailing slowly a few hundred miles to the west of the continent, waiting for a substantial gale coming down from Alaska to blow itself out. Once we made the turn south, we had a very broad reach to Astoria, running at 5 to 6.5 knots under only a substantially reefed genoa.
The whole trip was pretty bumpy and often, when we were at 50 to 60 degrees apparent wind, quite noisy. Every few minutes, sometimes for several hours, the boat would fall into a trough or get hit by a wave in such a way as to make it sound as if Poseidon had crashed a massive hammer into the bottom of the boat. The bang would be followed by a shaking, the boat would recover, and sail on. I see no bulkhead delamination damage , altho my inspection is not complete. I wonder if hours of this kind of slamming weakens the fiberglass at all.
The reach to Astoria was also wet. Occasional quartering seas filled the cockpit with 10-12 inches of water. I am glad I put a plexiglass cover over the instrument panel this year. The panel should not be down in the cockpit to begin with. I also should have paid extra for the Beta Marine sealed panel when I installed the new engine 2 years ago. That was foolish economy. We did learn that the scuppers to the torpedo tube cleared the cockpit pretty quickly.
The trip was tiring, but not dangerous. Not the comfortable trade wind ride we had to Polynesia in 2017 and then home through Hawaii. I had a hard time sleeping during the day and probably lived on only about 4 hours of sleep a day for 30 days. My son, luckily, did better than I did in that regard. But once we were tied up in Astoria, we checked into a hotel and each slept 12 to 14 hours a day for 3 days. My balance on land never fully recovered during those 3 days, my old age showing I suppose.
The Morgan performed very well, with a Monitor wind vane steering except in the light wind days or under power, when we ran our old-fashioned but very effective CPT autopilot. I trust this boat. She also proved her sea-keeping qualities on our trip from Astoria to San Francisco last fall. We ran south for 6 days in a gale blowing 25 to 35 knots, again relying on the Monitor and running only our Solent jib. Surprisingly on that trip, were never pooped, though conditions were much worse. We went 400 miles offshore that time, to avoid even stronger winds by Cape Mendicino (altho the winds followed us out pretty much). Instead of a 700 mile trip, we made a 1100 mile trip in 7 days, the last day of which was under power at 6 knots. Seven 150 mile days. Not bad for a 45 year old cruising sloop.
Glad to be home.
The wind varied mostly from 12 to 25 knots apparent, except during the reach down to Astoria, when it got up to 30 a few times. Lots of sail changes, from no main reef, to one, then two, then three and plenty of changes in how much jib was rolled out. We ran up almost to the latitude of the north end of Vancouver Island, sailing slowly a few hundred miles to the west of the continent, waiting for a substantial gale coming down from Alaska to blow itself out. Once we made the turn south, we had a very broad reach to Astoria, running at 5 to 6.5 knots under only a substantially reefed genoa.
The whole trip was pretty bumpy and often, when we were at 50 to 60 degrees apparent wind, quite noisy. Every few minutes, sometimes for several hours, the boat would fall into a trough or get hit by a wave in such a way as to make it sound as if Poseidon had crashed a massive hammer into the bottom of the boat. The bang would be followed by a shaking, the boat would recover, and sail on. I see no bulkhead delamination damage , altho my inspection is not complete. I wonder if hours of this kind of slamming weakens the fiberglass at all.
The reach to Astoria was also wet. Occasional quartering seas filled the cockpit with 10-12 inches of water. I am glad I put a plexiglass cover over the instrument panel this year. The panel should not be down in the cockpit to begin with. I also should have paid extra for the Beta Marine sealed panel when I installed the new engine 2 years ago. That was foolish economy. We did learn that the scuppers to the torpedo tube cleared the cockpit pretty quickly.
The trip was tiring, but not dangerous. Not the comfortable trade wind ride we had to Polynesia in 2017 and then home through Hawaii. I had a hard time sleeping during the day and probably lived on only about 4 hours of sleep a day for 30 days. My son, luckily, did better than I did in that regard. But once we were tied up in Astoria, we checked into a hotel and each slept 12 to 14 hours a day for 3 days. My balance on land never fully recovered during those 3 days, my old age showing I suppose.
The Morgan performed very well, with a Monitor wind vane steering except in the light wind days or under power, when we ran our old-fashioned but very effective CPT autopilot. I trust this boat. She also proved her sea-keeping qualities on our trip from Astoria to San Francisco last fall. We ran south for 6 days in a gale blowing 25 to 35 knots, again relying on the Monitor and running only our Solent jib. Surprisingly on that trip, were never pooped, though conditions were much worse. We went 400 miles offshore that time, to avoid even stronger winds by Cape Mendicino (altho the winds followed us out pretty much). Instead of a 700 mile trip, we made a 1100 mile trip in 7 days, the last day of which was under power at 6 knots. Seven 150 mile days. Not bad for a 45 year old cruising sloop.
Glad to be home.
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