S/V Rainshadow

Rainshadow has done another long passage, this time from Hawaii back to the Pacific Northwest. The most common question we get is, why sail her back across the North Pacific to where we already spent so many years cruising?

Rainshadow has undergone a refit while moored in our current Hawaii homeport. But Hilo is where wind goes to die so it’s past time for Rainshadow to have a new homeport, which means another passage.

Rainshadow safely took us on our first passage from the Seattle area to Hilo Hawaii, but not without some failures. Here’s the list of things that broke while we were underway.  [Editor’s note Dec 2022: I have updated this original posting with how we addressed each failure.]

This is the final segment about the saga of our first passage. Short version is – we made it. Long version is told here.

At this point in the passage, we are in the Horse Latitudes – that is between 30-40 N. Exhaustion is really setting in, and we are not jovial.

We finally did it! We made the “Left Turn” that sailors in Puget Sound talk about over beers with fellow sailors, and while sitting at home poring over old Pilot Charts and Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes. That “Left Turn” means we sailed to Neah Bay at the west end of the Strait of Juan […]

For months as we considered our upcoming passage from Seattle to Hilo, we worked on a list of things that HAD to be done before we set off. The list varied in size throughout the spring, but once we reached the boat, pragmatism and schedule reduced the list to a more manageable size. Here is […]

Yes, we finally made it all the way to Southeast Alaska. We traveled through B.C. as fast as we could on the northbound trip, reaching the Alaskan border in 3 weeks – we cleared US customs on June 21st.

This was an odd cruising year because we split our summer cruise into two pieces so we could spend July as landlubbers with our families. It meant we meandered during our cruises rather than having a destination – as if we ever do have a destination, but this year was even more meandering than usual.

We had a delightful summer cruise – another 1500-something mile journey along the British Columbia coast. Each year we gain more comfort with living on the boat, and each year we wish to go further than the summer weather window allows us to go.

Summer 2012 was a great 3 month trip along the central BC coast, travelling 1500 miles in all. It was the summer of many firsts.

The Pacific Northwest is fantastic cruising grounds. Many people say this, but prior to spending 6 weeks cruising the south coast of British Columbia, I didn’t really understand what they meant.  Here’s my version of what it’s like to be on a sailboat in these protected waters during late August, September and early October.

In my mind, the San Juan and Gulf island groups are similar, though the San Juans are in the US and the Gulf Islands are in Canada.

The Strait of Georgia is about 140 long (stretching NW to SE) and about 20 miles wide.  Unlike in the island groups, there are not many convenient anchorages available, so you must travel some distance between overnight stops. If the wind kicks up there are big waves and swells, so this is an area where […]

The typical summer weather forecast for Johnstone Strait is “Strong wind warning. Light wind, becoming NW 15-25 knots in the afternoon and building to NW 25-35 in the evening.” I guess most days there is a chance that a strong onshore flow will be funneled down the ~80 mile long strait. The resulting waves can […]

Once you reach the Broughtons, you no longer feel like your sailing in someone’s backyard. This island group is dominated by nature, with the occasional human settlement.

We hid in the Desolation Sound area for more than a week while a series of intense low pressure systems repeatedly caused storm force and hurricane force winds on the central coast. Because Desolation Sound is 100 miles or more from the central coast, we mostly just experienced gusty wind and some heavy rain – […]

My Dad, the Midwest farmer, just visited for 2 weeks. We had lots of adventures associated with Rainshadow.

This has been a funny season so far. In our wintertime dreams, we planned to leave in May to head north. But one thing after another has held us up (some of it was work related so a reasonable excuse). When a friend from NYC called and said – “hey, we’re in Friday Harbor for […]

It’s been a long cold and wet winter. Finally, the 3rd week of April has had some reasonable sailing weather – good wind and not-so-cold temperatures (mid 50’s F). So we took Rainshadow out for a day sail, and had a wonderful time.

This cruise was special, not only because it was the end of summer cruise with great fall weather, but because it was the first trip of our new sails – yes, that’s right. Rainshadow has a new set of skirts!

My last posting ended with a question – will our guest crew turn out to be lubberly or salty? After nearly a week in the San Juans, the answer is – Jonathan, Lianne, Chris and Max all get high marks as sailors!

Our dear friends from the UK have arrived to join us for summer fun during the month of August. Too bad the weather is a bit grey and dodgy, but maybe it will improve.

This summer got off to a slow start. Anyone from the PNW can tell you the weather was rotten till early July. And I made the mistake

We’re just back from 8 days of sailing in the San Juan Islands. It was a fantastic voyage, and full of ‘firsts’! Okay, okay, the weather just stunk. Heavy rain, grey skies, 50ish F. What happened to that nice weather of a couple weeks ago?

Finally – the weather was right, we had time to go, and the boat was ready. And it wasn’t a Friday – you know it’s bad luck to start a trip on a Friday, as we found out when we tried an overnight a while back and our alternator failed. So this time we left […]

We are really keen to take Rainshadow out for a good sail. Today looked promising, after a few days of grey drizzle.

Yesterday, we were all set for our first overnight cruise. The engine was running, Van was ready to cast off the docking lines. He was telling me the plan, but I was preoccupied. “Are you listening to me?” he asked.

We’re having lovely late winter weather – sunny 50ish degree days, and a decent north wind, just like in summer (though its 20-30 F warmer then!) So finally, after nearly 4 months of boat ownership, we took our boat out for a proper sail – alone.

People are starting to ask what’s happening with the boat, so I figured I better make a new post.

Thanksgiving day meant more this year, as this was the day that the wind cooperated so we could bring Rainshadow to her new home. Full crew included: Van the captain, Marilyn the favorite mate, Damien the deckhand and Luke the college-student-home-for-the-holidays swabbie. Sid & Stephanie, Rainshadow’s former owners, came down to the docks for some […]

Today, the deal to purchase Rainshadow is officially closed. We now are boat owners again.