I’ve recently come to realize that I’m not great about sharing Yahtzee’s future plans on the blog. It’s not purposeful. I guess I just enjoy living it first and writing about it later, rather than sharing what I think might happen months or even years down the way — that seems like a lot of pressure.

But I’ll break ever so slightly from that largely unintended tradition and offer a glimpse into what we’re doing at the moment and what we’ve got “planned” for the next month or so.

We’ve long been intrigued by the cruising offered in the Columbia River and have wanted to participate in the Oregon Offshore International Yacht Race, which takes place every May from Astoria, Oregon to Victoria, British Columbia. So back in the latter days of fall, we decided that we’d start looking for a weather window in late March to get us out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and down the coast to the Columbia River. We had a family trip to Florida scheduled for February and the weather is not notoriously great for a hop down the coast then anyway, so we figured the end of March would allow for a better chance at getting south. Also, our insurance company decided that being out on the coast on or after April 1 was a good date, too:)

The good news is that it is shaping up to be a heck of week to execute the part of this plan where we get to the Columbia. After leaving the San Juan Islands today on a gorgeous northwesterly, we sailed most of the way across the strait before it died. We’re tucked in at beautiful Port Angeles for the night for some fuel, provisions and exploration and will spend the next couple days pushing westward before taking the big left turn down the coast.

Due to this glorious weather opening up for us, it’s looking like we’ll have over a month to cruise the river. We’d like to get as far up as Portland to visit friends and check out the city and surrounding area by water. From there — or however far we get — we’ll turn back downriver in early May to make it to Astoria for the beginning of the race on May 12. From the finish line in Victoria, Yahtzee’s bow will be pointing north farther into BC.

So follow along here and on our Facebook page, as we share as much of this adventure as we can. And now that I’ve written this I’m sure there will be plenty of changes in the schedule along the way!