Thursday, October 01, 2009

Mixed bag

Boat repairs done so it was time to cross over the Astoria sand bar again, but in daylight this time. There were bar warnings and restrictions to vessels 30' and under. Once in the bar, experienced 16' breaking steep waves over 45' in depth.

Restrictions were issued to all non-commercial vessels as we were crossing but we couldn't turn back (would have been more dangerous to turn around than to keep going). 3-knot outflow ebb and river current against NW swells and SW winds made for a treacherous crossing. We were burying the bow sprit deep into the trough and next wave face.

It would have made a fabulous video but all cameras were down below and it was too rough to attempt to retrieve one.

We made it safely out of the most dangerous sand bar in the world and motored into 10-knot SW winds on the nose and NW swells on the side (10' swells average). We raised sails late in the afternoon and left full head sail and one reefed main throughout the night.

The RVG thankfully performed great after repairs!

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