May 11, 2009, Newport to Coos Bay, by Bob

This morning I got up at 6:00 and took off as soon as I got everything organized -- clothes on, teeth brushed, marina keycard turned in, trash dumped, electric cable packed away, boat untied, engines on, electronics on, etc.

I was in a hurry, stashing the dock lines and the bumpers, while I was motoring out the channel, and the "Newport Tower" called and asked how many people on the boat and what my intentions were. I went inside and said something only partially incoherent, and then tried to keep the boat in the channel with the rough bar warning. I got the stuff packed away before I hit the rough bar, and then I headed south.

I was going almost directly into the wind all day except for the last 30 minutes or so. With one engine, the wind, and the waves, the boat was going about 5.5 or 6 knots through the water, with a half knot current pushing me along.

I decided to check out the bad engine. It worked fine. I guess it had been smoking because the transmission had been slipping and wouldn't put enough load on the engine. About the time I added the second engine, the current increased to about 1.5 knots. I ran both engines and was going between 9 and 10 knots most of the time. That was much better!

I got to Coos Bay about 5:30. I am actually at the Charleston Marina, a few miles from the town of Coos Bay, but in the bay of Coos. There are a lot of fishing boats here. Some smell pretty bad, and some look like they might not be floating much longer. But people are still using them.

At 9:00 p.m., wind is variable at 3 knots, water temperature is 57.5 degrees, air temperature in the low 50's, but feels like -273C. It's supposed to get into the low 40's tonight.

I haven't had fast internet for a while, so pictures will have to wait for a bit.