Mike’s work took him to Corvallis for a temporary assignment this year. Since Newport is closer to Corvallis than Portland is, we decided to move the boat down the coast for the summer. It’s about 100 miles down the Columbia River to the ocean, and then another 100 miles or so from the mouth of the river to Newport.
Sunset at sea
Our friend Allen joined us for this trip, and we were happy to have him along. We pulled out of the marina in the afternoon and had an uneventful (once we remembered to open the through hull that lets in the engine cooling water) motor down the river. We had the anchor down at one of our favorite spots near Cathlamet by 7pm.
We try to cross the Columbia River bar on the slack current before the flood tide starts, and we pulled up the anchor late in the morning to arrive at the mouth of the river at the slack at 4pm. Our timing was good this time, and we were rewarded with an uneventful bar crossing.
Running downwind with pole deployed and jib full of wind!
Winds were almost perfect at NW15-20 knots, and we enjoyed a broad reach under our full mainsail and a poled-out jib. The wind dropped to 10-15 knots as the evening turned into early morning, and at 3am we lowered the main to prevent it slatting back and forth in the ocean swell.
The rising sun brought a beautiful morning, and all three of us were on deck – looking at Newport in the distance and getting ready to congratulate ourselves on a nice overnight sail.
“Clunk-Clunk”
Allen piloting Madrone into Newport, OR
That sure sounded like a crabpot hitting the hull of the boat. Angie peered over the stern, but no crabpot appeared in our wake. Instead, we saw the tell-tale blue line streaming from our rudder that means the crabpot is hooked on the bottom of the boat.
In this case, two legs of the crabpot float had managed to find there way onto opposite sides of our rudder, and it was fairly straightforward to cut it away. But the fact that we still able to snag one, even in broad daylight, even with three lookouts on deck, just shows how hard they are to avoid.
We pulled into South Beach Marina and tied up in our new home for the next couple of months.
Happy crew setting fenders in the new slip
Safely tied up in our new slip with the iconic Newport bridge in the background
