Pt Alberni to San Francisco

Posted by Bill

May 31, 2007
1645: Bus from Victoria to Pt Alberni.
2330: Put on scopolamine patch #1. Loaded provisions. Later discovered that several boxes were left on the dock, including the ginger ale for my stomach.

June 1, 2007
0622: Departed Pt Alberni with Jim, Bill and Cliff on board.
1122: Arrived Bamfield, had lunch at Cliff's place
1335: Departed Bamfield bound for San Francisco with Jim and Bill on board
1500: Set sails and turned south
1600: Whales about 300 yards off port, 2 flukes, probably gray whales
2245: Fogged in, just as moon was rising, viz down to 100 yards

June 2, 2007
0100: Winds died, started engine. I slept until 0530, still no wind, still fogged in.
0720: Sea lion about 50 yards off.
1812: Calm seas, low swells, light wind. Empty ocean, sky and radar. We are about 70nm off the Oregon coast. 46d 08m N x 125d 48.6m W. Fog finally burned off by mid-afternoon; warm sunny day.
2325: Escorted by a school of critters, maybe porpoises or dolphins. They leave a phosphorescent trail underwater. Also being followed by a flock of birds, robin-sized with pointed wing-tips, lots of chatter. Light of Venus is reflected off the surface of the ocean.

June 3, 2007
0030: Underwater escort arrived again. Hard to see them, but I think they are black and about 3 or 4 feet long.
0755: Sea lion took a look, then disappeared. South wind becoming stronger.
Later: Southeast winds and large chop. Headed out to sea on a SW course. If this storm behaves as we think it will, we'll have about 12 hours of SE winds, followed by 12-24 hours of SW winds, followed by north winds. Stomach very unhappy. Replaced scopolamine patch #1 with patch #2.
A group of seals cruised by, popping heads up to look, and jumping out of the water. Probably the same critters noted earlier.

June 4, 2007
130nm offshore. Winds have veered to southwest as predicted, so tacked back towards land on a SE course. Saw whales spouts in the distance. Stomach somewhat better today.
1922: Ate my first full dinner in a few days; starting to return to normal.

June 5, 2007
Decent sailing. Several whale spouts. Patch #2 fell off, and I didn't bother replacing it.
NW winds, confused seas.

June 6, 2007
Woke up today and looked out at the pitching seas and felt fine.
Heavy NW winds, large swell plus wind waves. Reached speeds of 7.5 knots.
Millions of tiny "sailboats" on the water, varying in size from 1cm to 5cm. So many that they sometimes look like a slick. No idea what they are.
Less than 100nm to Pt Reyes.
A solitary sea bird passed by again today: 4 ft wingspan, brown, narrow wings, glides very gracefully close to the water, down into the troughs and up again, rarely flaps its wings. Albatross?

June 7, 2007
1338: Passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. Brief escort by a small dolphin just before the bridge.
Later: Spent hours on the cell phone trying to check into US Customs. Apparently they weren't interested, so we just tied up at the dock and went for dinner. Walking was a challenge. Dinner was great.
The boat squeaked against the dock all night long, but we both slept through it.

Pictures of the Pt Alberni to San Francisco voyage