Tough day and night

We left Neah Bay heading into the fog and ship traffic. The wind picked up to 15 knots and we had trouble getting Sea Turtle's RVG to work (the RVG is an auto-steering windvane that we can use when sailing). Winds increased by mid-day to 20-25 knots, and by evening, gusts up to 30 knots - seas large and breaking at 10+ feet.

Through the night, the RVG dislodged and slipped almost out of its yokes and then started to break up and jam, throwing off the helm. After that, Jordan and his son Aaron had to steer throughout the night in 1.5-hour shifts as steering was so difficult, fighting against the broken RVG. I stayed up all night keeping whoever was on shift company.

Blue section at bottom of vane badly bent and barely hanging on

(The above photo was taken later when we were at dock for repairs.)