Welcome!

Oil tanker adjacent to Anna, at Anacortes, WA anchorage.

Shakedown:


ANNA  departed Seattle on August 1st, 2011. We are currently taking one month to shake her down, before  working our way, slowly, toward South America, beginning in September 2011. We've been cruising  the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, the Strait of Georgia, the San Juan Islands and getting ready to move west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Cape Flattery and the Pacific.

Oil refinery at Anacortes, off anchorage at sunset.

We've been testing all of our systems: mechanical, electrical, and rigging. By motoring and sailing and anchoring in strong winds and light breezes and fast currents, we can see where adjustments should be made, and resolved, before setting out offshore, once again.

Anna's deck, with extra fuel cans, storm trysail and inflatable.

We are waiting for a reasonable weather window before heading out the Strait this week. The winds have been strong to gale force and on the bow. A strong ridge has set up over the NE Pacific and it is adjacent to a low-pressure system over NW Canada. This produces high winds and larger wind waves in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Since the wind and waves are from the west, it's on the bow all the way to Cape Flattery. Rather than move slowly through this, in rough conditions, we will wait for the breeze to settle down a bit to 10-20 knots. 

View from the cockpit,  in False Creek, Vancouver, B.C.

Once at Cape Flattery we will take a left turn (SW) and head offshore a ways before settling into a more southerly direction. Depending on conditions we hope to get at least as far as Newport, Oregon within the first 2-3 days. After that, the weather, wind and wave angles will set our agenda as we continue on towards San Francisco.

At anchor in Dogfish Inlet, Gulf Islands, with full moon.

We will miss the Pacific NW and some of the best cruising grounds and remote anchorages of anywhere in the world, when we leave Cape Flattery behind. We've been cruising this area, between Seattle and Alaska, for 15 years -- it's that good! But we also look forward to, and are excited about, the possibilities that lie ahead.

Cat, at anchor, in the cabin, with her Kindle.

You can track our progress through this blog. We'll be updating as we go, pending Internet connectivity.


Rich and Cat Ian-Frese