Our last time crossing the Pacific

We always hit up the grocery store for our favourite things to eat that would last for three weeks and then lots of easy snacks and treats to keep us entertained and happy. The fruits and vegetables that we bought in Hawaii didn’t end up lasting all that long, but we still did OK. 

It was fun to make up some more little passage goody bags to mark every 500 miles. It was easy while in an American state to find lots of cheap and fun treats.

We left on June 27 with nice clear weather and all of us with butterflies in our tummies. Luckily, we were able to be part of an online WhatsApp group with lots of other sailors who were doing the same trip in a similar timeframe, and we were all able to give each other updates , which gives everyone a sense of community and safety.

Those first few days went by without a hitch. At this point in the game, we are used to the usual suspects on passage: intermittent squalls, shifty wind, watching for sea life, and the ups and downs of everyone’s emotions on board. It’s not uncommon for us all to eat a little less those first few days and in general lay low. The kids would often go to bed quite early, and Matt and I would often take naps in the cockpit. It just takes a little while to get into the swing of things.

Something we took away from our last passage with our friends on Flow was to focus on making one warm meal a day. This often happened as a midday meal or something around 2 p.m. Sometimes that was all you would have the energy for, and with everyone on different sleep schedules, there isn’t any point in trying to have three scheduled meals. I’m glad we were able to have some good, cosy food together while underway. It really makes a difference. 

The first half of the passage was still really sunny and warm, though we kept an eye on the water temperature and it was slowly dropping a degree at a time. But otherwise there were days when it was so calm that we could sit out on the deck and work on our tan! One night especially was so calm that it felt that we were at anchor - and we were sailing! So dreamily beautiful, but we knew it wouldn’t last. 

This was also an interesting part of the Pacific Ocean as we were approaching the great Pacific garbage patch. We wouldn’t dare try and get close to the actual thing, but its spread can be quite large and in no time at all, we were seeing pieces of garbage on the regular. We had heard through our WhatsApp group that other folks were seeing lots of buckets and helmets, and soon enough, so were we. The water was still so beautifully blue, but at a certain point every time you looked out, you could spot a piece of garbage, big or small. There were lots of fishing floats, but also things like buckets and plastic baskets, even a tire. 

Again, it was super helpful to have the kids take an early evening watch and a sunrise shift. Especially when the seas are calm, this gives Matt and me some extra sleep and it gives the kids a good sense of purpose as well. Some days they really do stay inside the boat for a good portion of the day so this draws them out and they have a job. We don’t ask them to help on rough seas, or when the weather is too wild, but they have a good little routine together, and it really worked for us.

Unfortunately, it was during Piper‘s early morning watch that we were all rudely awakened to the sound of the motor grinding unusually. She immediately put the boat in neutral and turned the motor off while reassessing the situation. As we were going through the patch with the garbage , it wasn’t uncommon that there could be some debris that could wrap around the prop, so we weren’t too surprised, but it is always shocking. Luckily it was the morning and it was sunny and the seas were pretty calm, so Matt was able to get his snorkel gear and go and check it out. There was a huge chunk of knotted rope that the propeller had hit, but luckily, it was easy to come off and everything still spun as it should. In another two days, a very similar thing happened, almost at the exact same time, and poor Piper was on watch for that as well. This time it was a large fishing net, that we were able to bag up and save to throw in the trash at home.

I am just so grateful those incidences happened during daylight and that it was still sunny out and that there was no damage caused by any of that garbage wrapping around the prop. It definitely could’ve been worse. 

Matt knew that we were going through a quiet patch in the ocean, hence all the garbage but also hence the low wind. Soon enough, the wind would pick up and we would be sailing again, but for now we were using a lot of fuel. It was easy enough to fill up the fuel tanks from our extra deck jugs while the seas are calm, but also just trying to gauge our fuel usage and be smart about it.

We had finally hit the halfway mark of our passage! We were around 1300 miles in and it truly was a halfway point. A beautiful pod of dolphins and right whale dolphins came and did a beautiful show around the boat for at least half an hour and we were all out on the deck to enjoy it. Finally that night we could feel the air temperature change, and we all needed jackets and toques and mitts and extra blankets for night watch. 

We weren’t in Hawaiian waters anymore.

Looking back, there was definitely a “before“ and then an “after“. The second half of the passage was definitely a little more boring and draining and less fun in general. 

On this passage, we also celebrated our one-year anniversary since leaving home. It was really hard to believe that it was only one year ago that we set off from our home dock to go on an adventure for a year together. The weather was a little gloomy but we tried to mark the occasion all the same. 

The weather was a little less glamorous, though we tended to get a little bit of blue sky every day, but there really was not very much sun. We would usually get all the solar we needed if we weren’t running the motor, which meant sailing was pretty good. The seas were definitely changing, and some days we had choppy and short waves, which made for a bit of an uncomfortable ride. 

It was also at this point that we could see the weather about a week away on the western shore of Vancouver Island and the Juan de Fuca Strait. It was a large red zone that we tend to stay away from in normal circumstances. We both knew that weather can change a lot in a week, so we were trying not to worry about it. There is a really good chance it could be off by a few days or that it could blow itself out . All the same, Matt started to prepare the boat a bit for a windy spell.

During this half of the passage, it was the first time that I was truly bored. I felt like everything was happening so slowly and we were still so far away from getting to land. I certainly appreciated the first half of this passage as it was beautiful and in general pretty calm. The second time was really gray and foggy and just plain boring.

We were constantly keeping a watch on that red weather zone as we got closer and closer, and it didn’t seem to be changing much. If anything, it was growing larger and wider. Matt did the math with our remaining fuel and figured it would actually be better to motor hard towards the bad weather as it would save us a day of sailing through the bad weather later. So we put as much fuel as we could in the tank, and motored straight towards the storm.

These were not the best days with that weather on the horizon. We didn’t let the kids do watch anymore and both Matt and I were pretty tense. The sea state had definitely become more intense and the knowledge that we were heading into bad weather was emotionally exhausting. There was no way around it. And there was no turning back. I am so grateful that Matt knew what to do to prepare for bad weather like that, and it assuredly saved our bacon.

It was in those few days before we hit the rough weather that we were able to test a few systems that we hadn’t before. Matt deployed the sea-brake or Drogue behind us in the water, and it was a game changer in rough seas. It works to pull the rear of the boat back and slow it down, which makes for a less dancy boat, especially in waves that tend to toss you around a little bit. We could both feel a noticeable difference with the sea brake out, and most importantly, it helped our autopilot keep up and stay on course, which would mean less hand steering down the line.

With the motor going all the time, we were able to keep the boat warm with the heater and we could all take nice warm showers and rest up well the going was good. It didn’t take long before we could start seeing the weather slowly creep up on us. Luckily, with big winds like that, the fog was blown away, so at least there were blue skies and some sun. Matt took the main sail down and left the jib out, which is much easier to control from the cockpit. 

We were both slowly watching the wind increase all day until suddenly we’re seeing steady wind over 25 kn on the regular and then 30 kn on the regular and then some guests over 40 kn. This was a period in time where Matt was the only one who was able to be out in the cockpit. The seas were so high and lots of water was splashing into the cockpit that it wouldn’t have been safe to have two of us bouncing around in there. Matt had his foul weather gear on and life jacket (obviously) and then was tethered safely into the cockpit. There was sometimes he created a sort of seatbelt for himself so he could sit down on one side of the boat, but not slide to the other side when the boat pitched back-and-forth. All the kids and I could do was stay below and feel the boat crash and bash back-and-forth. Laying down was best. We could hear huge splashes coming over the boat and see through our porthole windows an insane amount of water coming down. Sometimes I would poke my head out the companionway hatch to check in on Matt and offer him a sandwich or something only to be scared back down the companion way as a huge wave was trying to get in. These were seas like we’d never seen before, and it was possibly the first time I was truly scared.

During the worst of it, when the wind was blowing at nearly gale force for over 40 kn Matt had to hand steer the boat through the huge waves. It was for a solid two hours and we knew it was the worst and that it would be slowly calming down after that , but it was still a really tough patch. Matt was all alone at the carpet and there was nothing we could do to help. He didn’t even want warm drinks like coffee or tea. It would only make him have to go pee, which was a bit of a hassle with all that foul weather gear.

I can’t properly explain how proud I am of him - how proud we all are. He handled that whole episode with confidence and assuredness, and had such a calm attitude about it all. He knew what to do and when to pull back or when to go forward. The kids and I knew we were in good hands this whole time , but never probably understood it until then.

We’ve heard before that we are the weakest link when it comes to sailing through rough waters, not the boat. The boat was built for this and could handle it - it’s us who waver and worry. Matt was able to manage the boat so well knew what it was capable of. 

By the time things were calming down, it was nearing midnight and thankfully, I was able to take over in the cockpit and let Matt sleep down in the boat. He was able to take a warm shower and crash on a horizontal surface. I wasn’t about to wake him up for anything so I just took little naps in the cockpit all night untill the sun came up. It was calm enough that I could wake Piper up for a sunrise watch and we were both excited that we could finally see land on the horizon. It was Vancouver Island to the left and Washington state to the right. 

It’s amazing how quickly you recover from an episode like that. And also amazing how the sea state can change so much within 12 to 24 hours. We were able to sail all the way to the Juan de Fuca St., with a really friendly greeting from a huge group of sea lions barking a “welcome home!“ to us all. We were all pretty flabbergasted at what we’d been through and that we were now surrounded by familiar-looking Pacific Northwest trees and mountains.

It was quite emotional, passing Cape, Flattery again, but this time heading towards home instead of away from it. The last time we passed the Cape it felt like so long ago, and we’ve been so far and learned so much in the meantime. 

I remember leaving and already feeling like we had so much sailing experience and that we were well-seasoned live-aboards. But looking back it feels like we were just babies on a big boat. 

We still had a ways to go in the Juan de Fuca Strait, and we were getting pretty short on fuel, knowing we had to motor all the way to Victoria Harbour. Since we were still officially checked into the United States, we figured to go get some fuel at Neah Bay. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, we’d figured out that the fuel dock was closed and there was no fuel for sale nearby. Again, Matt did some math and figured we had just enough fuel to get us to a safe anchorage for the night and then enough to get to Victoria the next day.

We’d burned almost our whole of 700L of fuel we got in Hilo, HA. 

We tucked into Quarantine Bay, just south of Victoria, and dropped the hook for the first time in 19 days. As we approached land, we were all so excited at the smells that we missed. It’s a spicy sort of pine and earth smell that you smell a lot in the Gulf islands, especially when the rocks are warm. It’s hard to describe, but once you smell it, you can’t forget. We dropped the anchor around happy hour time and all had a hearty cheer with well-deserved beverages. That bay was like glass overnight, and we all had a beautiful sleep.

The next day all we had to do was get to Victoria Harbour for a slip we had reserved a while ago. We didn’t have to stop in Victoria, but we did need to check back into the country via the customs dock, and we all felt due for a little bit of the big city. 

Getting checked back into the country was easy as pie, and we were soon tied up in Victoria Harbour ready to go walk around and move our legs. 

You can judge us all you want, but the first thing we did when we were on Canadian soil was go and find an A&W teen burger. I don’t know why, but it’s always been a happy place for our family to sit down and share a meal at A&W . It’s not classy, but it’s tasty, and after 19 days of sailing and weathering a gale, we didn’t care. We enjoyed those burgers and root beer way too much.

Soon after that, our good friends came to welcome us back home with signs and flowers and all kinds of Canadian treats that we’d missed (butter tarts, ketchup, chips, Smarties— the list goes on). It was so great to see familiar faces and to feel the love and to experience a truly beautiful city like Victoria.

It’s hard to express exactly how we all felt being back in home waters, and back in our home country. I would say we were all really happy to see familiar things and taste familiar tastes even though we were also all happy to be out and adventuring earlier. Home just always feels right. Ever since we left French Polynesia, we’ve been on a track back home, so this eventuality we all knew was coming and we were ready for it. 

People often ask if we were ready to come home or if we wanted to stay out longer, but we’re always very quick to say“ we were ready to come home!“ But I mean that in a healthy way. Not that we were desperate to be home and to stop this crazy adventure, we were just ready. The plan had always been to be out for about a year and we stuck to the plan we set out. There had been opportunities to alter the plan and to change course, but it never felt right for all of us and those plans never did come together properly. The plan to come home was the right plan and we were all ready for it.

Though we are in our home country, we aren’t in our hometown yet. We have the rest of the summer to keep exploring this beautiful part of the world. We will visit some of the Gulf islands and then head north to explore more of Desolation Sound together. The kids will still say that Desolation Sound is one of their favourite places we’ve been, so it just makes sense to visit there again.

It’s hard not to have mixed emotions about this season of transition. We’re so close to home but not yet there and there’s still so much to do even when we get there. I don’t want this journey to end, but I also really want to get back into our normal routine. It’s a big mixed bag and I guess I’m grateful that we have a bit of time to sort it out.

For now, we’re taking the adventures as they come. We hope to be able to see some family in local waters and possibly catch up with some friends and in general just enjoy our beautiful British Columbia summer. 

Thanks to everyone who kept us in their prayers as we rode out that storm - we certainly felt them and needed them. We feel so supported and encouraged from all of you following along.