sailing casita

Finding that the river east of Portland was a little narrower and shallower than we were comfortable with we decided to head back west to get more sailing time and less motoring time (we are very spoiled having our boat in St. Helens, it really is a fantastic spot on the river for sailing).  We left Government Island and motored back downstream, we raised our sails where the Willamette meets the Columbia and had a great sail the rest of the way to St. Helens. We were close hauled the entire time and heeling a pretty constant 15 degrees. It is salmon season so there were tons of fishing boats anchored in the river which meant we got extra practice tacking to avoid them. The winds were about 10 knots most of the way but increased to 12 to 15 knots as we reached St. Helens, there was also a decent swell by that time. Just a few months ago we would not have stayed out in these conditions but we were having a fantastic time. Bit by bit we are getting more confident in our sailing abilities 🙂