Irish Goodbye

Return from overnight in Glorietta Bay. Sunny, 60’s, light breeze. 

Glorietta Bay to Safe Harbor Cabrillo

Beautiful December day. 10-12 knots of breeze. Sea trialed the new max prop feathering prop. It feathers!

Bay sail

And we’re off! The official start date for the rally is 8/24 but the weather window looks good and we’re eager to get going. Caught the morning ebb up the Strait in beautiful conditions. Stopped in Port Angeles briefly to top up the fiel tanks. Lots of whales in the Strait and a mysterious autonomous vessel. We even had a nice bit of downwind sailing. Planning worked out and we dropped the hook in Neah Bay right at last light. We’ll spend the night and get some rest before going offshore in the morning. We also hit a huge may of kelp in the Strait so I’d like to look under the boat before we go offshore. 

Port Townsend to Neah Bay

The first leg of the 2025 Coho Hoho Cruisers Rally from Port Townsend to San Diego. Spirits are high and our goal is to go non stop offshore if possible!

Elliott Bay to Port Townsend

Karaoke night at the Siren for the win! The last leg of the summer shakedown cruise before the Coho rally to San Diego in a few weeks. The boat did great and I’m much more comfortable and confident. A little maintenance, provisioning, blue water prep, and she’s ready to go!

Port Townsend to Elliott Bay

Finishing up the shakedown. It’s been great having me hermana Betsy aboard with me for the last legs of the journey. Roche Harbor is always a favorite. And we finally got some crab!

Roche Harbor to Port Townsend 

Victoria is a great stop, so glad we came. Easy in and out. Our berth in front of The Empress was great. Butchart Gardens is amazing. We had a fantastic dinner at The Courtney Room. 

Victoria to Roche Harbor

I dropped off Charley in Tofino after he joined me for the leg from Port Hardy to Tofino, around Cape Scott and the Brooks peninsula. Conditions were mostly benign but a fair bit of fog. The hot springs north of Tofino were a highlight. After dropping him off I sailed solo from Tofino to Ucluelet to meet Betsy. We hiked the coast trail and had an amazing dinner at Pluvio in Ucluelet. I’m very fortunate to have such great crew!

Tofino to Ucluelet BC

Departed Hot Springs to drop Charley in Tofino to catch his flight. Bon voyage Charley! Thanks for getting me safely around the Capes. We planned the ride well into Tofino as far as entering from seaward to catch the push but we couldn’t time arrival for slack water. A LOT of current in Tofino. And rocks and other obstacles near town. No dock space and I was going to spend the night so we anchored around the corner past the resort which worked out well. Dinghied into town against the current which was a good test for the electric outboard. Coastal Rides is the “Uber” in this part of the world. Worked well. 

Christian McLaughlin