47*42′.1N
124*56′.5W
Heading due south
19nm off Hoh Head

We were up at 5am to catch a ride on the magic carpet – a strong ebb tide out the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Two other BCA boats (SV Double Deuce and SV Angelique) had already departed in the wee hours of the morning. Hopefully we’ll catch them in San Fran.

Our timing was perfect: little wind to motor into, and we cruised along at up to 9.5knots. We had some short steep seas as we approached the west entrance, but caught slack tide at Cape Flattery around noon: a glorious sight with humpback whales breaching a close but comfortable distance away and large sea lions feeding in the swirling seas.

We feel lucky to have seen Cape Flattery; so often surrounded it is by fog. I know the clear skies and sunshine made the big left turn feel less daunting for me. We saw one other BCA boat – SV Mazu – as we rounded the Cape and had a chat with them on the radio.

A beautiful 15 knot breeze has been rocking us along ever since. We have full white sails up, genoa poled out to leeward on a broad reach, doing 7 knots. We will probably sail with this configuration through the night. The westerly swell hit us on the beam to aft quarter, with some big rollers thrown into the mix but Ernie II has it covered.

We are back at sea.

(Posted from Ipad via satellite phone)