Leg 1: Salish Sea to Cape Flattery

The lines came off on August 20th. After months of preparation — bottom job, rigging inspection, watermaker rebuild, provisions for a month — Irene pointed her bow west through the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward the open Pacific.

The Strait was kind: light westerly 5–10 knots, calm protected water, the kind of send-off you hope for but don't expect. We logged 44 nm that first day, threading between the shipping lanes and the kelp beds, the Olympics falling away to port and Vancouver Island dissolving to starboard.

Cape Flattery is the northwestern tip of the contiguous United States. Round it, and you're offshore. The Pacific Northwest you know — the pine-covered headlands, the green chop, the cold — gives way to something larger and more indifferent. We came around the cape in the afternoon watch, set the sails for the ocean swell, and didn't look back.

Conditions: Wind W/NW 5–10 kts · Seas 1.7 ft · Overcast · 67°F

Distance: 44 nm · Time underway: 1 day