Sailing Trip Part 2: Down the River & Crossing the Columbia Bar

Day 2: Saturday July 12 

We left St. Helens at 8 am and planned to take about 12 hours to get to Astoria. Did you know sailboats are super slow? It's actually really amazing how slow they are. You can pretty much walk faster than a sailboat, and definitely bike faster. It normally doesn't bother me how slow we move, but when you have a lot of miles ahead of you... it can be kind of depressing. But, something we learned from this trip is you have to enjoy the journey and make the most of it!

So that's what we did. We had great wind and tacked (zig-zagged) our way down the river and made pretty good time. It was beautiful and sunny, but since we were heading up into the wind, we never felt hot. This was unfortunate because I didn't put on sunscreen (I was wearing a jacket and pants all day) but my face and lips got fried. I'm rocking the raccoon look right now :)

Landon had to do most of the tacking (pulling the ropes to bring the sail to the other side) while I steered because I have weak arms. What the heck! I really am trying to get stronger but obviously it's not working. Poor Landon.

But at least I'm good for something on the boat... I'm the cook! So Landon single-handed the boat while I made some yummy chicken alfredo and green beans for dinner. I wish I wouldn't have made such an elaborate meal because since we were sailing up into the wind, our boat was heeled over. Have you ever tried cooking while your kitchen is tipped at a 30 degree angle? It's definitely on my list of not favorite things (these are a few of my NOT favorite things...) Basically anything you set down will go flying, so you can't set anything down. I learned my lesson the hard way... and now I know only to make simple meals while we are actually sailing!! I ate first while Landon sailed and then while Landon ate, I sailed. I came outside and took the helm and immediately messed up and accidentally tacked the boat and then couldn't get it to tack back. The waves were seriously NUTS, the wind was howling and I didn't have control of the boat. Landon had to hurry upstairs and help get me in the right direction while he finished eating. It was a rough dinner...

We passed this stern wheeler boat the night before, so it was cool to see it during the day too! It's beautiful.

Oh I love you Oregon!

The wind died as we got closer to Astoria and we had to motor for the last half of the trip. The closer we got to the ocean, the more we felt the effects of the tide. The waves were really big and close together, so the bow of the boat would slam up and down. We tethered to the jack lines and sat on the bow--bouncing up and down. It was actually pretty fun! What wasn't fun was how much the waves slowed us down... And it wasn't fun when the waves got bigger and bigger and started breaking over the bow of our boat. It was actually really freaky.

Motoring along... Isn't it beautiful though?!

This is how I felt for most of the day...

This is how I felt for the rest of the day...

Harnessed in because of the crazy waves and boat rocking going on!

I went down below to do the dishes and I was almost done when the water stopped working. It was dripping out slowly and I couldn't get it to turn off. I thought maybe I forgot which way to turn the knobs, so I went to the bathroom to use that sink and the water wasn't working there either. So I got Landon and he told me that our water pump most likely burned out. No water pump = no water. No water = no trip. I started bawling. There was no way we came all the way to Astoria to have our water pump die and our trip cancelled. Landon remained calm and just kept telling me we will figure it out once we get to the dock...

We finally got to Astoria after hours and hours of motoring through the crazy waves. The boat rocks SO much and it's really hard to steer and keep control when the waves are so big. This was honestly one of the hardest/scariest parts of our trip. I didn't take any pictures or videos, because it was that bad. We were EXHAUSTED by the time we made it to the dock and both pretty upset about the water not working. Landon immediately took the water pump apart and started figuring out the problem. Somehow, he got our water to work again! I seriously don't know how he does it, but he's really great at fixing things. It was a miracle! We were both SO happy!

But the water wasn't our only obstacle... remember the crazy wind forecast? We both got on our computers and checked the weather. The wind was looking SO much better for Monday! Yay! But we decided that it would be best to go somewhere closer so we could stay close to shore in case the wind did pick up. So instead of going to Newport, we decided we were going to go to Tillamook. The best part of going to Tillamook is that we could get there in less than 16 hours, which meant we wouldn't have to do night shifts. If we went to Newport, it would take about 24 hours, which meant we would be taking turns at night sailing while the other person slept. I know one day we will probably have to do that, but I wasn't ready for my first time in the ocean to be sailing by myself! My confidence was also pretty low from all the times I messed up earlier that day, so it was a HUGE weight off my shoulders to go somewhere close!

Even though we were exhausted and needed to get to bed, we of course had to go on our walk. I forgot to bring syrup and Landon forgot ear plugs, so we decided to walk to Safeway and get a few groceries. Both of us were SO out of it!!

We went back to the boat and fell right to sleep... even though we were both feeling very anxious about the next day.

Day 3: Sunday July 13

Neither of us admitted or talked about it until later, but we woke up at 6 a.m. feeling scared. It's so scary to do something that you KNOW is dangerous and that you don't have any firsthand experience with. It's the fear of the unknown and the fear of just letting it go and trusting that our research and preparation would be enough.

So a little about the bar... It is known as "The Graveyard of the Pacific" because almost 2,000 shipwrecks have happened there. I'm not exaggerating here when I say the Columbia Bar is very dangerous and not something you just willy-nilly cross. Here's a video to show how treacherous the bar can be...  (fast forward to 1:45 if you don't want to watch the whole thing)

Image via

So yeah, I guess you could say we were a little nervous to cross the bar. We did a lot of research about tides and when the best time to cross the bar is. We learned that you only cross the bar during a flood, but preferably at a slack tide (no tide). So that's what we did. As we left Astoria, we had the engine completely idled, but because of the tide current, we were moving at 7 knots! Our fastest boat speed is 6 knots, so it was CRAZY to be moving that fast without even doing anything. It was actually scary because we knew we couldn't turn around and change our mind, because our boat would not be able to go faster than the current. Freaky, freaky stuff. We were basically being carried out to sea and there wasn't much we could do about it. See ya later, Astoria!

As you can see, it was a beautiful day... not! The weather definitely gave the morning even more of an ominous feeling...

Luckily, the waves looked nothing like the video and picture above. I mean it was wavy, but nothing too bad. Our research and preparation had paid off and we crossed the bar during a very safe time! I wish I had gotten pictures or video of us crossing the bar, but I had to be standing by to help if things got crazy... and picture-taking is not a priority when you are worried about your safety!

Also, our boys turned TWO! We sang happy birthday to them and they were extra happy that day. They totally knew it was their special day. I can't even tell you how much we love our boys. They really are part of our family and we love them like they're our kids! They are SO sweet and seriously just the biggest love bugs. Oh man, we are so grateful to have them!

I mean, really? Have you ever seen something so cute in your life?! Ahh I love them so much :)

This is where the boys hung out for most of the trip. They are the BEST sea dogs and just relax and sleep all day, even with the boat rocking like crazy. They're really such good boys.

Stay tuned to hear about sailing in the OCEAN! :)