Thursday, October 8, 1992 - Shelter Cove, CA

Lady Washington Replica at dock in Port Angeles


Lost our calm water overnight, but the wind and waves are in back of us, so we're still zooming south.
Debated going into Eureka, but the forecast was favorable, so we continued south, sailing nicely wing-and-wing.
Passed Cape Mendocino around five p.m. in dense fog. Good thing the radar works. By then, the wind was howling at 30 to 40 knots, despite the prediction of 10 to 20 knots, and the waves were really kicking up. Worst of all were the huge swells from the west. When they went under the boat, Jofian tilted first one way, then the other, and slipped around all over the place. Guess we should have gone into Eureka, but there's no turning back now; we can only go where the wind takes us.
We heard some other sailboaters talking on the VHF. One was safe at Fort Bragg, but the other was taking a pounding off Point Delgado. She said the wind was blowing 40 knots and the waves were horrendous. So much for weather forecasts. A fisherman came on and advised them to go into Shelter Cove, but they had already passed it, so they had no choice but to go on and hope for the best. The fisherman said that Punta Gorda (where we were heading) was always the worst place on the entire coast.
We were sailing under reefed main and reefed headsail, doing 7 to 8 knots and sliding off the tops of waves at 10 knots. I was struggling to hold our course between 120 degrees and 150 degrees, but even with a spread of 30 degrees, I couldn't hold it when the swells hit, and then Roy had to get us back on course; I didn't have the strength.
Roy started the engine and then went out in the gale to take in the main. That's easy to write, but it was a half-hour struggle. He also pulled in all but a couple of feet of the headsail. This made steering much, much easier, so I was able to more or less hold the course.
By now, it was nighttime. The fog lifted and a brilliant moon lighted our way. We zoomed past Punta Gorda in howling winds and wild waves. Roy wisely decided to head for Shelter Cove, 20 miles southeast of us. It was after midnight when we got there and dropped anchor in 48 feet of water. Boy, did it feel good to be out of the wind and waves! We ate a bowl of soup for supper and went right to sleep.