Bustin' Outta Bandon!

A few decades ago, a crazy dude in Bandon built a sternwheeler reminiscent of the Mighty Mississippi.

Launching the Dixie Lee

Crazy enough to build a sternwheeler on the Oregon Coast, naturally the beautiful bastard took it over the Bandon Bar and paddlewheeled all the way to San Fran. Supposedly, it's still there.

Notice the plywood over the windows... this act was premeditated.

We too made it out the Bandon Bar, and under similar conditions.

Where are we now?

There's a lot less mist in the morning and a little more stank in the air. The blackberry brambles aren't quite as dense, and the succulents and frondy plants are holding their own.

We just bought a $26 pizza at a restaurant straight outta the Twilight Zone. Everyone thinks they're much cooler. And there are bums.

Clearly, we've arrived in CALIFORNIA.

Crescent City, California, to be exact... majestically located armpit of Del Norte County.


I say armpit because after building the most beautiful lighthouse here, they decided the rest of the town could be sinfully ugly. Its sinful on account of the surroundings. Have a look...


and...


Redwoods National Park is just south of town.

Getting here was the most nauseating experience of my life. I haven't thrown up that much since I got the flu in kindergarten, barfed 53 times in one day, and had to be hospitalized.

I got so seasick I was seeing mermaids beckoning from the bioluminescence-sparkled water...


...and puking on them. Repeatedly. All night long.

Fortunately, for both of us, Mac never gets seasick.

We set sail from Bandon Monday afternoon, knowing things were going to get ugly that night .

Our choices were to leave then or wait at least a week while 10-13 foot NW swell hammered the jetty in Bandon.

With swell like that coming in, there's no way out.

Sharon H Capsizing
32 foot double end commercial vessel
Bandon Bar, October, 1995
Owner Rescued by USCG Helicopter

Maybe these guys could make it out.


But these guys wouldn't have a prayer.


4-6 foot swell was scary enough while motoring outta there. I can't imagine taking a 10-13 footer on the nose.

With a cold front forecasted to hit shore around midnight, we knew it wasn't going to be a fun night. On the bright side, things were supposed to clear around 3am and a gentle N wind was supposed to build as the day went on...

...to 40.

As we sit snugly in the Crescent City Harbor,
toasty warm (thanks to a blowdryer),
sipping hot apple cider,
it is HOWLING out there.

Combine wind like this with 10-13 foot swells from the NW and you've got interesting conditions. Fortunately, racing from Bandon to Crescent City, we caught only a taste of 30 knot wind combined with big swell. The last two hours were a little dicey.

Cruising down the face of a whitelipped wave, the GPS clocked us at 15.8 mph. That's twice La Sin Fin's hull speed. It was an interesting sensation.


Its easy to sit in port when you know you don't want to be out there.

Things are supposed to be mellow tomorrow morning. Hopefully, with a 5 am departure, we can make it the 50 miles to Trinidad before winds pick up again tomorrow afternoon.

Only 800 miles to go until Mexico. Then another 800 to where we wanna be in Baja.

We're only about a fifth of the way there. Already it's been the most
boring
fun
exciting
frustrating
scenic
scary
pleasant
nauseating
educational
humbling
experience of my life.

So far, so good.