Bright Angel

Bright Angel

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Bright Angel is a 1990 Mason 44 cutter, built in Taiwan at the Ta Shing boat yard for Pacific Asian Enterprises, a Dana Point, CA company that now builds the Nordhaven ocean trawlers. She was designed by Al Mason, and has a very traditional look about her; but, more importantly, she is a great sea boat and a comfortable home.
 
Bob & Linda Hargreaves bought Bright Angel in Seattle in 2003, in anticipation of blue water cruising after retiring; their first boat, a 1979 Ericson 29, was much loved, but not up to ocean sailing. Bob worked as an attorney for the Washington State Attorney General's Office, and was a commissioned officer in the Washington Army National Guard; Linda was a business development manager for L'Oreal's Redken line of salon professional hair care products.

In 2010 Bob & Linda left their home port of Olympia, Washington, and set sail for Southern California and Mexico. After two seasons in Mexico, in 2012 they joined the "Puddle Jump" and sailed from Banderas Bay to the Marquesas and worked their way across the Pacific through French Polynesia and Tonga to New Zealand. For the next four years they sailed back and forth from NZ to the tropics - to Fiji three times, and then to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. In 2018 they concluded their full-time cruising and sailed Bright Angel home to Washington from NZ, with stops in Tahiti and Hawaii. They plan to continue cruising in Puget Sound, the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands, and further north in British Columbia.

Recent Updates

Bright Angel - August 23, 2018
Posted:
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 ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 22, 2018
Posted:
This will be our last report from the open ocean - we should be at Cape Flattery and entering the Strait of Juan de Fuca around noon tomorrow - PDT! (This horse smells the hay in the barn!). And with ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 21, 2018
Posted:
Two words - Very Rough! Awful conditions last night and most of today; starting to ease up a bit now. Looks like we will enter the Strait on Wednesday. "All is well on board!" Thanks for following us ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 20, 2018
Posted:
"Thar she blows!" Whales, whales everywhere! Last night we had some surface fairly close to the boat - about 50-60 feet away (a little too close for comfort!), but just a short while ago one surfaced ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 19, 2018
Posted:
"Pardon me, Captain, but would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?" After being in what seemed like the middle of the tanker and cargo ship cross roads between CA and Asia a while ago, and then not ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 18, 2018
Posted:
The winds backed to the S last evening, and we continue to make good progress toward Cape Flattery - now only 640 nm away (then another 90 to PT). We expect to do some motoring over the weekend ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 17, 2018
Posted:
The SW winds are still with us, and we continue to make decent progress toward Cape Flattery! Nothing too exciting to report - no dolphins, no sharks, and not much shipping traffic, either - that's a ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 16, 2018
Posted:
We found some wind, and are finally making some decent forward progress! (There was a time last night that thought was given to staring the engine!) If the forecast holds, we should have this wind ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 15, 2018
Posted:
Winds are so far behind us now that we are sailing on a deep reach (AWA 120-130) to even point reasonably well toward Cape Flattery; hard to maintain decent boat speed as the apparent wind is down to ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 14, 2018
Posted:
Winds are behind us for a while now, so our boat speed is down a bit; broad reach, not our best point of sail. It sure was "empowering" though, on a close reach, when we had to reef just to slow the ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 13, 2018
Posted:
Two nice dolphin shows this morning, and I was fortunate enough to be on watch for the encore performance! The rhumb line distance from our current position to Cape Flattery is 1260 nm, plus another ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 12, 2018
Posted:
We set sails yesterday afternoon at 1430 local time (HI), with SE winds that filled in earlier and more strongly than expected; Cape Flattery, dead ahead! We are flying a staysail, reefed genoa and ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 11, 2018
Posted:
We should be sailing again by late afternoon or this evening, with SE winds that are starting to fill in now. There will be some snarly weather over the weekend and into early next week, but nothing ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 10, 2018
Posted:
Premiere dolphin show this morning at sunrise - mamas, papas, babies, all frolicking around the boat doing synchronized swim routines, back flips and tail wags - and I missed it (asleep); but, the ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 9, 2018
Posted:
"Ready about?" "Are you kidding? Of course we're ready!" "Helm's alee!" And with that, at 0730 local (Hawaii) time this morning, we tacked back eastward. We were then at 39 54N 166 32W. We are "motor ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 8, 2018
Posted:
In short order we should be tacking back eastward, either later today, or (weather router's recommendation) tomorrow morning; either choice okay as far as positioning ourselves with favorable winds ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 7, 2018
Posted:
On we go NWly, and into the High - should be in the calmer stuff by Wednesday, which will be a welcome relief from the bashing into bumpy seas that has been our lot for several days now, even if it ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 6, 2018
Posted:
Plans do change - sometimes they are written in the sand on the beach, but out here they are written in the foam of the last wave! We did not tack yesterday, but instead continued on our WNW course ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 5, 2018
Posted:
There is a maxim in sailing that says, whichever direction you want to go, the winds will always be "noserly." Well, maybe not always, but lately that has certainly been the case for us. In any ... Read More
Bright Angel - August 4, 2018
Posted:
We are sailing on a WNW away from America! All part of a grand plan to avoid heavy weather; later today, or tomorrow, when the winds are expected to go to the NW, we will tack back onto a NE heading ... Read More

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