The sailing adventures of SV Meriwether and her crew
Both of our attempts to get to Alaska in 2021
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...
It was still an early morning departure but we were ready after some good sleep and minor adjustments to Meriwether’s storage the day before. Kerri was back from the dead and ready for what was ahead. We raised anchor and left the safety of Neah Bay, back into Juan De Fuca and pointing ourselves towards the Pacific. This time we...
Kerri took the first watch of our first overnight at sea. From 10 PM to 1 AM she ensured all was well as we sailed west (with a smidge of south) with only the moon and an audio book to keep her company. She did tell me that she passed by a few ships during those hours, but I can...
12 hours is what it took. 12 sweet hours of undisturbed sleep. I haven’t slept that long ever in my life. We woke to a bright and beautiful Canadian cove right outside our salt coated portlights. Bald eagles were soaring above the green pines on shore. The very land that we could not legally set foot on. Life was certainly...
Yes! We are re-attempting the passage to Alaska, this time via a “hybrid inside passage” which will include following the east coast of Vancouver Island to its northern tip, then sailing north, across 300+ miles of open water, to get to Alaska. Once again, we can be followed via our maps page which shows our location in real time (along...
It was sort of a perfect first day of our transit through to AK, which made me ask multiple times, “Why didn’t we just to this in the first place?” We would have been in AK two weeks ago! The forecast told us that we should expect to be motoring the whole time, but we had wind for much of...
Day 3: 62 nautical miles, almost all by sail. We departed Lasqueti Island at 6am to catch the last of the slow current out and anchored at Hornby Island until the tide changed. Weather forecasts predicted a downwind sail up the Straight of Georgia, building from 10 to 20 knots by the evening, and for once, the forecasts were right....
Day 4: 45 leisurely nautical miles motoring in light headwind. We planned departure at 7am to motor up to Seymore Narrows. Known for its extreme currents which can reach reach up to 16 knots, everybody gathers at its head just before slack tide, to make the transit through. First thing, we ran into a snag…literally. Our anchor chain was extremely...
Day 5: 36 nautical miles. We weighed anchor at peaceful Tuna Point, with just this cabin with the tractor tire dock overlooking us. It seems unoccupied (by the living anyway), but I swear the door wasn’t cracked open when we pulled in the night before. We’ve been choosing anchorages by pure convenience—whatever’s a quick stop from our route, in and...
Crossing Queen Charlotte Sound would be the hardest part of the entire passage and include just as many miles as the previous six days combined. It was sort of an ocean adventure while not being fully out there in the ocean like our first attempt. After taking a beating last month, I needed to tackle an ocean-like body of water...
