password] Bri44angel
[position] 48 22.089N 124 36.670W
[speed] 0 kts
[heading] 0T
[weather] Winds NW 20-25 kts; seas - unknown; 100% cloud cover (with smoke, but the sun is trying to peak through); bar 1014.03, falling.
[status] We have set foot on the North American continent here in Neah Bay - not exactly where we had hoped or intended, but it is all good, in any event! With gale force winds forecast for the Straits tonight, a downwind run to Port Townsend in those conditions was not how we wanted to end this epic voyage home from New Zealand. Besides, there is something almost poetic about having to stop here "on the way home" because when we left Port Townsend in late August 2010 to begin our "grand adventure" we had to stop in here to wait out bad weather before going on down the coast to California! Our last night out at sea was something of a challenge - "pea soup" fog (with smoke from the Canadian and Eastern Washington fires thrown in for good measure), with visibility less than 1/4 mile from about 100 nm out! Besides being wet and cold, those conditions made for some tense moments; there were some small fishing boats out as far as 65 nm, with no AIS and very hard to discern radar signatures, whose lights were barely visible at a quarter mile! And to top it all off, our "Land Ho!" was not Cape Flattery, but Bahokus Peak and Waadah Island as we neared the entrance to Neah Bay! But with the boat snuggled up next to the dock, with no motion whatsoever (the sound of the wind in the rigging be damned!), plugged into shore power with the electric heater on (it is cold outside - low 50's!), Linda with her glass of wine, and me with my second two finger pour of the good stuff (yes Patricia, Balvenie!), Life is Good and "All is Well on Board" the good ship Bright Angel tonight! It is great to be back in the Pacific Northwest (our only landfall in the past eight years without a palm tree!). Thanks for following us on YIT!
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