These are the stats gathered from our navigation aids as we sailed from Victoria B.C to San Francisco California.

We felt really prepared on departure, safety, supplies and Meraki were all in order. We had our course mapped out including a couple stops along the way. It was an amazing feeling being out offshore in the North Pacific Ocean with no land in sight. The darkness of night and thick fog throughout the days had us on high alert as we could often hear the quiet shuffle of big cresting waves behind us.

50 hours in as we were approaching our second night passage, things started going wrong. The think fog was like a blanket of water over us, the kids got sea sick and couldn’t be below decks, the engine started smoking and overheating, water was gushing in to Meraki and our autopilot stopped working. Hand steering through big swells with Meraki constantly bucking around was not an option, lucky it was an easy fix and we were back on course.

This night was a real test for us all. I had many moments were I wondered if we had made the right decision to give up our land lives for this adventure. No one was happy, we were all wet, cold and exhausted. The next day brought a new mindset and the engine and water issues were fixed easily. The fog cleared and the kids were feeling better, after 60hrs at sea we were closing in on our first destination of Newport Oregon.

The remainder of the trip south was pretty uneventful. We got stuck for a few days waiting for the right weather, and also got hit pretty hard from a southerly that came at us for about 20hrs

This created high winds and big seas again, but this time coming right at us and we nose dived many times under waves which caused water to gush in to the cockpit.

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge in the early hours was a dream come true, we were also very lucky to have no fog and our first sunrise on the water.

A huge thank you to the crew on board. Kevin and Shawna, we couldn’t have done this without you. The extra hands on deck and your life time of experience on the water was an amazing asset to us. I couldn’t have hoped for a better team.

To Kate my wife, I’m so very proud of you. You have grown more than any of us, it was good to see you so comfortable in all conditions.

Thomas and Bentley, I don’t think you quite understand what you just achieved. Most kids catch a ride down the cost on land due to the difficulty of this passage, but you both enjoyed it thoroughly.

We are now slowly making our way down the California coast on route to Mexico. The sun is shining, the water is warming, our little crew of four couldn’t be happier.