The Voyages: Majuro to the Pacific Northwest

August 5, 2010 – Sailed into Neah Bay after 49 days at sea from Majuro in the Marshall Islands.

In general it was a good trip. We were hard on the wind for the first eight days, making our northing, then the wind veered to easterly and we enjoyed a beam reach until about 32º N. Then we were mostly becalmed for five days, although we were able to scratch out about 40 miles each day, ghosting and slatting our way north to more favorable winds.

We discovered something ominous during the calms. We were in the North Pacific Gyre, an enormous area of the ocean where floating trash is trapped to endlessly circle the North Pacific High. We watched endless pieces of plastic float by for days. It was terrible. Huge pieces of styrofoam, plastic fishing floats, plastic bottles, bags, and garbage of every variety slowly drifted by us. At any given time we could see several items around us. We have never thrown plastic overboard, so the sight of this was very depressing. Why would anyone pollute our beautiful oceans in this way?

When the wind returned, it blew into a gale from the SW, so we made good time. After 24 hours the gale blew out, but another one blew in two days later. Again, we scudded along in the right direction for a day. In both gales it was rough and wet, but the boat sailed beautifully at a steady six to seven knots under the little staysail alone.