Out to sea, in route to Alaska

We spent the week in Port Angeles working our tails off to get ready for the big trip. It all started with a rental car and a day driving around spending a boat load of money to buy last minute supplies and food. This still wasn’t enough, as boxes were scheduled to arrive in the marina office each day of the week, each with even more gear and food. We are probably over doing it, but there is just so much to plan for when sailing a boat out into the ocean for a week (or more, depending on the weather).

On top of Kerri’s normal work day, she spent hours more each day preparing meals for the passage. This, to prevent having to cook while underway – or at least keep it from being mandatory for a hot meal. I was usually already asleep by the time she finished cooking each night. Me; I spent me daylight hours preparing Meriwether for the voyage. T’was a long list of small jobs that had to be done, such as tying up our dinghy on the foredeck, mounting our extra diesel jugs on the side deck, and removing dorad scoops to prevent them from being torn off in a gale, to name a few. None were big tasks by any means but as boat projects go; only a few get done each day as they somehow take four times as long as they should. Nevertheless, the list is complete and we have a weather window to make the passage.

Our route, roughly 800 nautical miles in length, brings us out into the Pacific Ocean for our first offshore experience as we navigate roughly 25-50 miles outside (west) of Vancouver and Haida Gwaii islands, bypassing the entire Canadian border. The weather out there is rarely a nice Sunday afternoon drive. Storms are always in the process of making their way across the Pacific. The best we can do is plan to go between two, using each’s winds to our advantage.

As of early morning on Sunday the 16th, we have begun our passage to Alaska. We hope to complete the journey in 7 to 10 days of sailing. You can watch our progress here on this post, or on the Our Route page. We can, and will, post small updates to the PredictWind map (below) along the way for those that want to keep in touch.