NEWPORT, OR
We left Newport at 9:30am, March 13th a long cry from our February 19th departure planned. Just as we passed under the Yaquina Bay Bridge, Dennis threw his office key in the bay off the back of the boat. It was a beautiful day and I took my last pictures of Newport as we headed out. After that Dennis called Rich Richmond when he turned the boat to head south at the Whistler Sea Buoy; they had been talking about that moment for years!
We run watches on the boat of 4 hours during the day and 2 hours at night as a general rule with a crew of four. The weather and seas were cooperative giving us a perfect entry into our cruising adventure. Jim and Denise gave Dennis his first night watch off he was wiped out prior to departing due to all the work and the much needed rest after months of getting ready to leave.
I really like night watches and this particular watch I was having enough activity to keep me plenty awake. The wind and swell had picked up and even with being heavily loaded down Rapture was surfing at 11.7 knots.
I’ve never cooked offshore in a rough ocean and I have actually enjoyed doing so. Our set up makes it really easy and my pan that resembles a wok is incredible. We’ve had pasta, homemade beef stew w/crusty sourdough bread, enchiladas, breakfast burritos and even homemade cinnamon roll French toast. Denise says that we have more food on this boat than most people have in their house…maybe.
Our average speed from Newport to Eureka was 8.5 – 9 knots and we had only anticipated being able to do 6 or 7 knots due to being weighted. After about 18 hours of being beat up, we decided to pull into sunny Eureka.