Sirena Gorda safely in port in Brookings, OR. Just 2 days before a massive storm rolls in....
It’s been a while since i’ve really written about cruising Sirena Gorda, so here goes! ....So my nearly two weeks in Oregon resulted in just 160 miles of progress, but at this point, i’m happy about that. Singlehanding a (mostly) engineless 27-foot boat down the Oregon coast in the winter time is not for the faint of heart... After getting back to my boat from France, I found myself with a pefect 2-day weather window to head south. Getting sorted and provisioned the first day and leaving that afternoon, I was in Newport for just 18 hours before leaving the dock and sailing down the coast to Coos Bay. Leaving on a big ebb tide, “Sirena Gorda” romped along at 8+ knots over ground when exiting the Yaquina River Bar. Turning south in about 18 knots of breeze, I was running almost dead downwind. Dropped the jib and went main only and it was amazingly comfortable, not all that slow and very easy on the autopilot. Perfect. I slept pretty much the whole evening and night in 20-minute cat naps and actually slowed the boat down at times so that I reached Coos Bay on the morning flood tide, just as the sun was coming up.