North of Yaquina Head Lighthouse

 

Woke up early to perfect sailing weather and a favorable tide for getting out and then coming back into the bay.  Wind from the north all day.  Started off at around 4 knots gusting to 6 knots.  Finished off with 10 knots gusting to 13 knots.

Just after I turned north after leaving the bay I got a little careless and ran over a crab trap buoy.   I thought  the boat would squeak past it but the autopilot saw a wind shift and that was it.  Sure enough, the foam float stuck on my rudder and I ended up towing the trap.  It must have been a lightweight wire trap because that wouldn’t have happened with a heavy trap.   I turned into the wind and let the sails luff while I used a pole to dislodge the float.  Out it came and on I went.

Once I worked upwind to just north of the lighthouse I turned south and the wind quickly fell off to just 6 knots true wind speed.   The small jib that works well for my solo trips is not enough for lighter downwind runs with any distance.  I sure wish I would have brought the spinnaker.  I ran back at a True Wind Angle of 135 degrees which helped to get the boat moving but it took longer to get back to the bay.  

On the way south I ran across a cruising boat heading north.  Made a nice beam reach over to them for a wave hello.

The entrance across the bar and back up the bay was no problem.  The wind was constant at around 10 knots and I reached at angles of 40 to 55 degrees all the way to the bridge.

Next big challenge is to go north to Depoe Bay.