Harmonica Lat 46 deg 20.4 min
Long 126 deg 6.1 min
100 miles off the mouth of the Columbia River
Friday Aug 11, 13:40 hrs

Hello,
All's well with Harmonica and her crew. We cast off from Victoria Wednesday 11:30 with a toast to father Neptune - Jan pouring rum into the ocean!, and motored to Port Angeles to check into US customs & immigration and to top up with fuel. We headed out Juan de Fuca in fog, head winds & swell at 20:30. Lots of commercial traffic during the night. Brian & Betty evade tug & barg.
Thursday
After a lumpy and bumpy ride out the straits we passed Cape Flattery at 0800 and put up the sails! Ovecast & lights winds, swell W at 2 meters. Winds built to 20 knots during the day and we reefed the main. Great sailing heading southwest for longitude 126, but took it's toll on the crew! All are seasick to some degree, lots of sleeping going on. Gord had an easy job serving dinner - only one taker - Debbie! The laptop took a leap off the chart table but is now working. Winds abated during the night - 10-15, some cloud. Dave has a radio call with Rick Ellis from BCA every night at 1930 - weather looks good. Pacific high well established and stationary. Light to moderate winds all along the coast to San Francisco
Friday.
Watches are 4 hours on every twelve hours, two people on watch, staggered so you spend two hours with one person. We are now at Long 126W and are sailing due south to San Fran. Two dolfins swim by at 0900. Comfortable sailing in 10 knots of wind from the NW, sailing wing-on-wing wth the wind vane. Crew has recovered, having slept well, and is eating again. Right now there's a heavy-duty game of scrabble starting in the cockpit
. Will try to give you an update in a couple of days. Please pass this note along to others who might be interested.
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Captain and crew of Harmonica
Dave & Janet Hutchinson
Brian & Betty Williams
Gord & Debbie Ritchie