Bars, Breakers, and a Wrench

Moderate-sized breakers in the Humboldt Bay bar  a few hours after slack tide.
Timing is everything when it comes to crossing a seriously dangerous bar.

Anna slipped away from Newport at dawn in a SE breeze and heavy fog. The seas had a heavy cross swell for the first few hours once we exited the bar but settled down to a light cross swell for the next 36 hours. Visibility was less than 50 feet for the entire first 24 hours of our 52 hour passage to Eureka, 10 miles north of Cape Mendocino.

Anna and company at the work-boat dock in Eureka.

The next day was somewhat similar to the first, with a light breeze and cross seas, but the fog finally dissipated. We had a range of visibility of 10 miles but there was nothing to see except for a glassy, rolling ocean and a light-gray, misty sky. We picked up a good current, however, which added 1.5 knots to our forward momentum of 5.5 knots. Normally moving quickly in a desired direction isn't an issue, but we arrived 30 miles NW of Eureka at 2 a.m. We needed to time the Humboldt Bay bar crossing for 9 a.m. So, we were going to need to slow down without bobbing around. The breeze finally filled in on the second night. It was NW 15 knots. We had a trysail and headsail out and this kept us stable in the cross swell, and kept Anna moving, at about 3.5 to 4.0 knots. The night was pleasant 30 miles off the northern coast of Cape Mendocino. Besides seeing Humpback whales close by on a few occasions we also had a great siting of a seal playing in Anna's wake, just off the stern. It was 2 or 3 a.m., black and foggy when Cat spotted the bioluminescent tracks of the stray seal and heard its loud exhalations. We sailed slowly throughout the remainder of the night and pre-dawn hours before making our final approach to the bar entrance. The Coast Guard confirmed that the bar conditions were excellent for entry to Eureka's Humboldt Bay. The swell was light and rolling along the south jetty but the fog was heavy at 0900 (slack tide). So we approached under radar and electronic charts.

We ghosted into the Humboldt Channel and headed straight for the fuel dock to top off the starboard and port diesel tanks. We'd been here once before, five years ago, and knew that the fuel dock was crude. It had high, wooden pilings spaced about ten feet apart. So we rigged up a board to lay across the fenders that would snug up against one of the pilings. This kept the hull from slapping the piling if a wake pushed us around. After fueling up we pulled on to the inside linear dock across from some large, steel fishing boats. Last time we were here we moored on the outside of the linear dock and Anna got pinned to the dock in high winds that developed one evening. We needed twice the amount of fenders to keep the hull from digging into the dock as the wind pushed us hard into the dock. After that experience we bought some extra-large fenders and have found them to be of great help when we are at a dock in high winds coming from the wrong direction.

After looking at the weather data and making notes we visited the NOAA weather station in Eureka to have a chat about their forecasting models and their new bar-condition model. Like last time we visited, five years ago, they were extremely helpful and accommodated us by comparing notes and insights to help us exit the Humboldt Bay bar, and pass around the north, central, and south sides of Cape Mendocino.

Cat reviews notes with NOAA meteorologist, Eureka NWS.

All our models indicated that Monday, September 12 at 0700 PDT was the preferred time to cross the bar and head toward San Francisco (another 45 to 55 hour ride depending on conditions) before another system was expected to arrive bringing stronger conditions.

Wave crests blown off in the bar's mid channel.

After visiting the NOAA station we drove out to the north jetty to see the bar and breakers in the daylight. It was clear that timing the bar crossing is very important for a safe, smooth ride across. The breakers we saw the next afternoon were of modest size but very powerful.

Fast current and breaking waves at the bar's  north jetty.

Our cousins Ellie and Scott, who have lived in Eureka for 25 years visited us on Anna and we had a great time catching up with them. They hand-built their craftsman cottage complete with a ceramics studio, and redwood veranda overlooking a wetland gully within earshot of the roar of the ocean, nearby. They loaned us their truck to do some errands while we were here. Besides visiting the NOAA station we took a short ride to Arcata and visited the local Farmer's Market. Arcata is a throwback to the late 60's.

Arcata Farmer's Market -- a throwback to the late 60's.

It appears to remain in a hippy time warp. Nothing has changed since the early days when we first visited this area 45 years ago. The only difference is that back then weed was illegal. Today it is cultivated, harvested and sold, legally, under '215', a law that allows medical use and production with a doctors note. Seems that everybody has visited a '215' doctor for a consultation; and $500 later they have a license to grow, sell, or use. It's an industry. Amsterdam has nothing on Humboldt County.

Anyway, back at the boat we are getting ready to head out.

Anna at home at the Eureka dock.

When we first arrived in Eureka and checked over the engine we noticed that the nuts that secure the motor mounts (4 motor mounts with 2 nuts each -- one to secure the mount, the other to lock the first nut in place) were loose. In fact on two of the mounts the lock nuts had completely vibrated off the studs. And on the other two mounts all the nuts were still on the stud, but loose. The only reason they were still on the stud at all was that part of the engine housing obstructed the top of the studs and the nuts couldn't come off the top of the stud. Now this doesn't sound so bad until we realized that not only could we not get a socket wrench on the nut to tighten it down, because we couldn't slip the socket over the stud and onto the nut (because access to the stud and nut was restricted), but we couldn't even get an open-ended wrench onto the nut because the space was inaccessible to a standard or even articulated wrench. It's as if the engine was installed and the boat was built around with no regard for future access. What we needed was a special tool that couldn't be bought at a hardware store. So, we had to fabricate a tool. That is, we had to take an open-ended 15/16 inch wrench, cut the head of the wrench off and then weld it onto a handle with a socket at the other end -- at a 90 degree angle. Then, we could take another socket handle, insert it into the square socket on the new tool and torque the nut till it was tightened home. We met a guy that one of the local commercial trawler skippers recommended who came by the boat and said he could go to the local pawn shop, buy a 15/16 inch open-end wrench, cut the head off and weld it at a 90 degree angle to another socket wrench handle -- no problem, and cheap too.

Customized open-end wrench for
accessing hard to reach motor mount nuts.

He brought the tool by next morning and we managed to slip in into an impossibly angled and restricted space, get some leverage on the handle and lock all the nuts down properly. There's no end, it seems, to the business of reinventing the wheel when it comes to maintaining and repairing a voyaging boat.