LEAVING NEWPORT

                                          

   I snapped this picture at Newport marina

It's Monday afternoon and we are sailing out of the harbor. Next stop...Coos Bay!  I'm still pretty tired but I did sleep like a corpse. The captain is in good spirits and ready to go.                             This time before leaving.....
we ate a huge supper and fixed alot of extra food that we can easily heat up and eat. It's no fun to be bounced around while trying to keep a pan on the burner.

I've given R.J. her tranquilizer pill and she ate alot. I'm hoping she will feel better this trip. It will be dark in a few hours and she will go to sleep. We have a nice breeze and will be able to sail.

As the darkness comes, I cannot stay awake. My body loves the rocking of the boat and wants to sleep. Captain is not too happy about it. He yells alot and that's not like him.  Oh well....blissfull sleep.

I was barely awakened during the night when Captain started the motor. I was thinking now we have to smell that stinking thing again.  The boat seemed to be rocking and rolling harder than when I went to sleep. I had to hook a shoulder under the back rest on my bunk to keep in my bunk. Captain kept hollering about  a confused sea...whatever that means.  I dozed off again.  Next thing I knew, I was laying down on the bilge and my head hurt badly! Captain was yelling for me to get up and help him cause we just took a knock down!  It was a real struggle to get up as the boat was pitching bad!  I had hit my head on the step to climb out of the cabin. A nice knot!
Everything was thrown around in the cabin and it was wet! Had about 2 inches of water on the floor.
I got R.J. tied on to one of the bunks so she would stay in one place and then I fought like hell to get out of the cabin and into the cockpit. All this time I had all my storm gear and life jacket on and was very glad of that. Of course, we all stayed strapped to the boat.

We fought the sails, the sheets, cockpit cushions, the movements of the boat and the cold. I kept asking myself..Did that just happen?   For a long time the wind and waves were holding us in one spot. It was awesome! We checked and rechecked to make sure nothing critical was damaged by the knock down.

I was never so glad when daylight came. The wind and waves finally died down. We made it to Coos Bay at 9:30 a.m. Captain and I were beat to death. So tired. It seemed like we were home at last.
We got across the bar and when a person is too tired, they sometimes make poor judgements. Captain tried to take a short cut and guess what?  Stuck in the mud. Yep...come to a complete standstill. Now what, Mr. Smarty Pants?  I was wishing I had a video camera as Captain was very upset and embarrassing me with the things that came out of his mouth.
He told me to work the tiller back and forth while he hung off of the port side and then the starboard side, rocking around going back and forth. Good thing he weighs 200 pounds cause that sure came in handy! The motor was reved up and smoking real good.  After 20 minutes...we were free!!! That was another mess he got me into. Anyway...we motored on in to the marina with out anymore problems.