Government Island.

We have been sailing every weekend for over a month, with a few night sails in-between. I guess you could say we like to sail.

This Saturday started out pretty chill. It was cloudy and sprinkling (just like 99% of the winter days in Oregon) but nothing too crazy. 

The wind was blowing consistently, which meant we actually went pretty far up the river. We made it to our first destination while sailing--Government Island!

After docking the boat, we found a place to eat a picnic lunch and then went exploring. It totally felt like our own private island and got us excited for the day when our "big butt" is done and we sail to remote islands in the middle of the ocean.

Of course, it rained on us the whole time, but just the typical Oregon sprinkle. We got back to the boat, pulled away, and started back towards the marina... and then it started pouring. 

(Mom, stop reading here!) 

This is where our chill day turned into a crazy day. Gradually, the wind got stronger and stronger to the point where we were heeling, or tipping, too much. Some heeling is good and fun, but when your boat is tipped over too much things get a little scary. Obviously, my camera was put away at this point but this is what it looks like to heel:

via

So, we had to make the mainsail smaller by "reefing" it. Then the wind got stronger so we had to reef the jib sail (the sail up front). Then the wind got even stronger so we had to take down the jib completely. Well, that still wasn't enough and we kept heeling so we had to drop our mainsail too and turn the engine on.

At this point, the waves were so big on the river that there were white caps. It looked like we were out on the ocean. Meanwhile, it was still pouring rain and the water was splashing up over the top of the boat spraying us like crazy. We were freezing and soaked.

I decided to go down into the cabin and try and weigh down the bow (front) of the boat to keep it from bouncing so much. I took this video to show how crazy the bouncing was. 

At one point, I started crying. I was that scared. After what seemed like forever, we made it back to the marina... and the rain went away, the sun came out, and suddenly there was no wind. It's so crazy how fast the weather can change.

Looking back on the situation, it really wasn't that big of a deal. But laying inside that cabin feeling the boat get air and come crashing down... I honestly thought we were going to die. Landon promises that we were nowhere close to real danger and is worried I'm going to scare people into not wanting to go sailing with us! I'm just a baby :)

After our day of excitement, we were ready to relax. We spent the rest of our evening at Outback Steakhouse and walking around the mall. 

What a day! I sure love our adventurous life.