So after commenting yesterday morning about how the previous day’s conditions were better than forecast, yesterday afternoon brought balance. Or maybe I jinxed it by saying something. But the afternoon brought a few hours of 30 knots headwinds, gusting to 38, which was not at all in the forecast. Fortunately the sea state didn’t get too crazy, so I did fine with a scrap of sail up and some tacking along the shore.
It seems the water is colder than normal this year, as the kelp forests are flourishing. I know this coast well, and places where I haven’t seen kelp before now have a 1/2 mile carpet reaching to the surface. I’m glad I passed by during daylight, and was able to see the extent of it. Once it got dark, I didn’t dare approach the coastlines too closely, although it did get dark about 30 minutes before I got through the Dewey Channel, a narrow collection of rocks and islands just below Cedros island.
It is one of those places where the wind blows 25 knots from the NW until you get through it, then it suddenly switches to 12 knots from the East, then maybe some West once in a while, too, all because of the effects of Cedros island. And the currents swirl around at a couple knots, too, as all the northwest flow squeezes through the channel and around the islands.
After sunset, with a crystal clear sky, I was awed yet again by the vast carpet of billions (I stopped counting at 800 million) of stars in the sky. I have seen it countless times, and still enjoy it. And after 2 hours of that, a nearly full moon rose to light my path for the rest of the night, into kindly moderate conditions. I am still hoping to cross the border into the U.S. on Saturday morning, and the weather seems to suggest going while the going is good, maybe all the way to SF Bay by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
6/7 8am 28.56N 115.07W 8109nm gone, 677nm to go