THE AUTHOR ENCOUNTERS ROUGH SEAS,
A LONG NIGHT WATCH AND PLENTY OF
NATURE ON LEG ONE OF A ONE-OF-A-KIND
DELIVERY. BY JEFF MOSERSpeciAl Delivery
S
tation 46087 of NOAA’s National Data Buoy Cen-
ter floats north of Washington’s Cape Flattery at the
mouth of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, about 85 nautical
miles from Port Townsend’s Blue Moose Café, the hip-
pie-meets-shipwright breakfast and lunch joint hard
by the town’s working quays. We had just enjoyed their
fine breakfast and as we lingered a bit over coffee, Capt.
Jackson Willett spied the latest report from the buoy and noncha-
lantly read aloud the detailed summary: “Southwest wind 15 to 20
knots. Wind waves 8 to 10 feet, with a wind-driven swell of 8 feet at 8
seconds.” He took a last sip of his joe, stood up and declared, “Gonna
be sporty!” With that, we exited the establishment, made our way to
the Beneteau Swift Trawler 47 and prepped for the run to Neah Bay
just off Flattery where we planned to top off on diesel before heading
offshore into the Pacific.
I had first seen the 47 at last fall’s Ft. Lauderdale boat show snarled
in among her siblings and the many temporary quays. Her salty53