We brought a newly purchased converted fishing boat from Vancouver to San Francisco this past month finally arriving in SF Sunday afternoon. The following is a trip report I sent some friends covering the first half of the trip. The second half began this past Thursday at Coos Bay (Charleston) and ended with our arrival in SF at 1330 on Sunday. The second half turned out to contain no sea stories (thank God). This is my third trip down, twice in September in past years on Rolling Stone. October is too late IMO, however we were prepared to stop and wait. I read with much interest Mike Maurice's first post on this trip and agree with his points. I particularly agree that it pays to ask the Coast Guard for their advice and help. The USCG has a disturbing requirement of advising you that they will not accept any liability before they help you, but the coasties in WA and OR were real professionals and make me feel better about my taxes (a little anyway). We're renaming the boat "Dolores E." and there are some photos at the URL in my signature block. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Dan, Neil and I spent a hectic three days on the boat after arriving in Vancouver on Saturday 9/22. When Brock conceived the modifications it never occurred to him the boat would be used offshore and probably he never considered that it might roll more then 3 degrees. As a result most every cabinet, fridge, freezer, etc opened inward. We installed eyestraps and light line to hold everything closed which in practice worked well. A worrisome development was a leak in the shaft alley under the bed in the aft cabin. It wasn't something you'd be aware of until you spent a quiet night listening to the pump cycling on and off about every 40 minutes (at one gallon a cycle). I considered hauling it again but we pressed forward due to the lateness of the season. I also hired a Detroit Diesel Mechanic to go over the engine, change filters and give me some instruction. Probably a good move and it certainly gave me more confidence. He pronounced the engine and running gear to be in good shape. In any event we left the Fraser river on Wednesday headed for Point Roberts and entry into the US. I was really concerned about this since the 9/11 event. I was able to obtain a letter from the Canadian Registrar describing the dropping of the Canadian Registration. We were to fly the Canadian Flag until arrival at out destination. The trip gave us our first taste in rough water as a good southerly was blowing creating a short steep sea, water over the bow etc. A few small leaks in the windows, somewhat difficult to steer (which improved with practice) and a surprising amount of power from the engine was the result of that portion of the trip. The most pleasant surprise was our reception into Point Roberts. I called the custom guy (there) and got cleared in over the phone. He ask me about the boat and was more interested in the conversion to a pleasure boat, then our entry. He said he might pop down later to see the boat. He did that and left a form (which was useful later) but no one actually inspected us. Real nice guy -- we enjoyed meeting him and would certainly visit Point Roberts again. We left Point Roberts the next day for Port Angeles, about 60 miles. Weather had calmed down and we had a pleasant trip at 8.5 knots through the San Juan's and across Juan de Fuca. Neil slept in one of the forward V-berths. Getting into and out of it was very difficult. They are better suited to a kid, although with better climbing footholds and handholds it would be much easier. Apparently they are comfortable, but suspect the forward cabin would be real hot in warm weather or with any sun on the deck. We didn't consider using them at sea. Dan slept on the cabin table which worked real well (in port). I slept in the aft cabin and we all used the aft cabin at sea. We filled the fuel tanks at Port Angeles ($1.15 a gal) and got some idea of the relationship with inches of fuel in the tank vis-a-vis gallons. No idea of fuel usage per hour at this point. The remnants of a Mexican hurricane was hitting northern Vancouver island so we stayed an extra day at PA and left at 1015 Saturday (9/29) morning planning on running all night with arrival at Grays Harbor Sunday morning. The problem with the storm north of us was a large northerly swell. Wind was North so we had a big following sea. Difficult to steer, but again once we got used to it we were able to handle it pretty well. As you probably can imagine we were doing quite a bit of rolling. Luckily there was a big moon which really helped with steering. Steering on the small compass we had, and the GPS required a lot of concentration. I had gotten the diesel stove working to the extent that we were toasty warm, although cooking is still a joke. We did three hour watches. which on our next overnight we changed to two hours from 1800 to 0600. We arrived at Grays harbor on Sunday morning as planned with real concern about the advisability of crossing the bar. I called the CG and they offered to escort us over the very long bar. As a result of "dumb luck" we had arrived during the flood tide. It would have been impossible to enter on an ebb, and in fact after we had gotten in, they closed the bar to all pleasure boats. The actual entry with the Coast Guard 47 footer off our starboard quarter was the scariest ride I've ever taken on any boat anywhere. The outer part of the bar had the highest waves we estimated at 20-25 feet. I'm not a surfer, but believe me we surfed. If we had broached I wouldn't be writing this. I couldn't see much since we were headed directly into the sun, although the sun line did give me a point of aim. The Coast guard stayed with us the entire way in, led us to the transits dock, helped us tie up, got some information, but didn't inspect us, and invited us over to the HQ for weather info. We took them up on that and the skipper of the 47 footer, spent a lot of time discussing that and other bars. The phrase "above and beyond the call of duty" doesn't do justice the CG at Grays Harbor. The swell was supposed to subside a little the next day so the plan was to depart in the morning flood. We fueled up ($.92 a gal + Tax) and figured at the relativity low RPM of 12-1300 we were using a little over 3 GPH which gave us just under 7 knots at sea. Our departure into the somewhat lowered swell was much easier. The two hour watches that next evening were much easier also. Can't say we slept well, but it usually takes a couple of days at sea to get into the rhythm of watches and sleep. The next day, due to 30 knot+ winds forecasted at Cape Blanco ( which we would pass that night), we decided we ought to go in. In addition we had been having problems with a stuck float switch for one of the pumps and needed to repair it. We didn't have a chart for Coos Bay, but did have one for Bandon (Coquille River). Assuming a CG station there, we called about 5 miles before the entrance. Coos Bay answered and it turned out there was no CG station at Bandon. Coos bay told us that the swell was probably breaking at Bandon and advised us to come into Coos Bay. After a half hour of indecision we ask them for an escort since we didn't have a chart and they agreed. At this point we were nine miles past so we turned around and beat back into the swell and 20 knots of northerly wind. Once again I was amazed we could push into it at 6 knots at a relatively slow RPM. More water into the windows, however -- must fix! We arrived about 1600 facing a pretty good ebb coming out of Coos Bay (a bad thing). The CG meet us and a 58 foot fishing boat at the "K" buoy and escorted us both in. It was pretty easy compared to Grays Harbor and once again the CG lead us into the Transit slip in Charleston, OR and helped us tie up. This bar was also closed by the CG after we arrived. This time they inspected us and caused me to buy a bell. Once we stopped we realized our 40 minute pumping cycle at turned into a 6 minute pumping cycle. Overnight this changed to about 18 minutes. It turned out we had landed in a harbor full of wood fish boats. In fact, we had dinner at a cafe that evening that had an eerie similarity to the bar and cliental as described in the early chapters of the "Perfect Storm". Charleston had a boat yard used to dealing with wood boats, so I made the decision to stop, have the boat hauled to determine what was going on and fix it before we continued on. It took two days to get that done and the boat was pulled Thursday (10/4). It appeared that the garboard seam was the prime culprit, but we also discovered a cracked plank forward on the starboard side obviously as a result of a collision with something. The plank was probably not leaking, but needed to be fixed. So the Oh Baby Oh now rests ashore having the garboard seam recauked, a plank replaced, keel bolts tightened and being thoroughly checked over. The good news is the costs are considerably less then SF Bay and I suspect the quality of the work higher. The folks we met in Charleston, who print their news paper made with "recycled spotted owls", have to be the nicest and most helpful people in Oregon. I believe fate led us there. If there are no surprises the boat will probably go back into the water the end of this week. I'm not sure what we're going to do next, and one option is to just keep it in Charleston for the winter. I've attached a couple of photos of the crew. Those are not ear muffs we're wearing. Anyone with experience with a Detroit 6-71 will understand. Robby Regards Robby & Dolores [robbyr@pacbell.net] S/V Rolling Stone (In Scotland) http://www.selfsteer.com/monitor/covers/MonitorCOV.jpg M/V DOLORES E. (In San Francisco) http://home.pacbell.net/robbyr/index.html

At 11:50 PM 10/29/01, you wrote: >The next day, due to 30 knot+ winds forecasted at Cape Blanco ( which we >would pass that night), we decided we ought to go in. In addition we had >been having problems with a stuck float switch for one of the pumps and >needed to repair it. We didn't have a chart for Coos Bay, but did have one >for Bandon (Coquille River). Assuming a CG station there, we called about 5 Coquille River is a very dangerous place. It is one of the few places on the coast that I have never been across and some of the places I have been are plenty dangerous themselves, including Rogue River and Nehalem River. It is only 20 miles to Coos Bay from Coquille and there is almost no excuse for going in there. There is no CG base there and I have warned other delivery skippers to stay away. Mike Barnett, a local was killed there trying to take his sailboat across about a year ago in December. This entrance is shallow, narrow, has considerable runoff, has lots of nasty rocks near the surface near the approaches to the entrance. It is not dredged frequently, if at all. It is a bad place. If you are near Coquille, think of all the reasons for going to Coos Bay and then do it. If you can get in safely at Coquille because it is calm, think about how you are going to get back out if it is not. I hope this information gets the idea across. BTW, Robby's story of crossing at Grays Harbor reminds me of why I consider it dangerous. I avoid it whenever I can. It is much more dangerous than Columbia River, but the boat harbor is so much easier to get in and out of that it has a better reputation. Myself, I will take the safer entrance, EVERY single time. Regards, Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Near Portland Oregon.