Warrington had been our home for the past month. We lived on our boat, The Ruby Jean, and prepared her and our selves for the following voyage.
We had been waiting for a good day to cross the Columbia River bar. This was to be my first time ever to sail. I was quite nervous but yet excited. I had been told that the Columbia River bar is about the worst bar to cross, just about any where. Looking back now....I'm glad I was ignorant of just how rough it would be. I might not have gone.
Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Brenda Teaford. My husband is Michael. Michael has been a sailor for most of his life. We have only used motor boats for fishing since we've been together. The Ruby Jean is a Haita 26' sailboat. She's small but we loaded so many provisions on her, I couldn't believe it. So...off we went. We brought along our dog that had never been on a boat in her life. We call her R.J.
At first, all was going pretty well. Then the waves got higher and higher as we got farther from shore. I tried my best to "enjoy the ride", as I've been told to do. I got sicker and sicker. So did R.J.
Captain Mike, as I was told to call him, began to shout alot of orders for me to do that sounded like a foreign language to me. I finally had to leave him up top and go get in my bunk. Sleep was my only refuge. I noticed R.J. was totally not moving except when she puked. She stayed in the cockpit with the captain.
I was awakened sometime just before dark, to help R.J. down in the cabin as it was raining. Captain Mike was in his rain coat & hat and had his fishing line out. He was actually singing! He was so happy and I thought I was dying. He even caught a nice sized salmon! He didn't get it into the boat though. He was a little too excited and he couldn't keep ahold of it. All I could do was sleep.
I was aware that the captain cooked some food and made coffee. It smelt so bad to me. I really wanted to get off this boat!!
At about midnight, Captain woke me up to stand my watch. He needed to sleep. I drug myself out to the cockpit. I was still so seasick. After Captain layed down, I noticed the waves weren't nearly as rough as they had been. I fixed myself a cup of chicken broth. That was a miracle for settling my belly. I began to feel much better. My watch lasted about two hours. I could hardly wait to get back to my bunk and go to sleep! When day light came, I felt well enough to drink some coffee. I still could not get myself together and function properly. The ocean was beautiful. I'll never forget how it looks into the horizon at a distance. I understood at that moment why people love the sea.
On Sunday afternoon we motored into Newport Harbor. What a nice place. Very clean with the widest docks, made of concrete, I've ever seen. Walking on those docks was a different story.
R.J. and I could hardly wait to get out of the boat and to the rest room. We did our share of staggering around. We were on land but I felt like I was still swaying back and forth like the ocean.Yes....I had a lot to learn.
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