We had thought of going to Port Orford (about 65 miles) today, but there are small-craft advisories for this afternoon, so we decided to just make a short hop to Brookings, Oregon. Since it's only 18 miles, we were confident we could get there before the wind picked up. Were we wrong!
The morning was absolutely beautiful. Sunny and clear with a nice breeze from the west. We were able to cut the engine and sail at 3 to 4 knots with all four sails: main, mizzen, head, and stay (cutter rig.) It was so delightful, sailing along peacefully, with the waves lapping against the hull.
When we were still five miles from Brookings, the wind picked up and shifted to the northwest. I was steering as close to the wind as I could, but we were slipping rapidly towards the shore, so we had to take in the sails and turn on the engine. Within minutes, it was blowing 20 to 25 knots. Headed out about three miles to get away from the shore and then resumed our course to Brookings.
Got here about 3:30. Called the port office on the VHF and were assigned slip O6, but the fairway looked narrow and we had a tailwind. Didn't think we could turn around if we got in there and had a problem, so we tied up at the beat-up transient dock near the entrance and directly across from the Coast Guard station.
The rate here is $9.80 a day. Facilities are limited, but the scenery is beautiful, and the weather is glorious. Remarkably warm. We'll sit here until the wind dies down.
Walked around a little. Found a post office and a bunch of stores. Ate a lot of wild blackberries.
After supper, we checked out O6. There would have been plenty of room to turn around after all. The docks were in better shape but very narrow, so we decided to stay where we were.
Walked over to the showers, which are in the RV park about a mile from here. Not the greatest showers.
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