First Sailing Trip – Day 7 – Uphill Battle

8am sharp we were up and called the Marina for assistance getting off the dock. It turned out to be easier than we thought and we motored out of Roche Harbor into Rosario Straight. The tide was with us as we headed south and we gained about 3 knots of speed pushing us to about 9 knots over the ground. We reached the Straight of Juan de Fuca and rounded Discovery Island.

The current was now against us and slowly increasing. We were sick of holding our heading so we broke out the autopilot for the first time and got it running. That was actually really nice to have. After 2 hours we made zero headway and were eventually going backwards. So despite wanting to see Victoria we made a decision to head across the Straights to Port Townsend. We adjusted the autopilot and were back in business making about 6.5 knots south east.
We made it to Port Townsend around 5pm and motored into our slip as the crazy birds laughed at us from their perches. Had dinner at a brewery in town—they didn’t have the best food—and then settled in to a relaxing evening on the boat.