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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Holiday Season?

Monterey, California, USA

Christmas music on the radio, Christmas trees on roofs of vehicles and, if can you imagine, outdoor ice skating in downtown Monterey.  Last I checked, it was still November, but what do I know.  Somehow this is not the California we had imagined.

Yesterday was cool, windy and rainy; good weather for staying indoors.  We did go for a walk around the old town to check out the grocery stores and restaurants and such, and I splurged on a haircut - my birthday present from Susanne.  Other than that, we sprnt most of the day indoors.  Notice that we seem to have this end of the dock all to ourselves - guess no-one wants to park next to the odd-coloured foreign boat.


Today, it was still cool and windy, but the sun was shining and we had a lovely walk around the harbour, visiting Fisherman's Wharf and, of course, Cannery Row.  The hi-lite of the day was the Monterey Aquarium, well worth a look if you ever find yourself in this vicinity.  They had a spectacular exhibit about the "Secret Lives of Seahorses".  We saw Seadragons, creatures we did not even imagine existed. The huge kelp forest tank was also a show stopper.  We were there for over 4 hours, and would recommend it to anyone.

 
 
We finally made it back to the boat in the late afternoon to check the weather for tomorrow.  I think we will wait until Tuesday to move on - looks like another great weather window coming in a couple of days.

{GMST}36|36.1833|N|121|53.446|W|Monterey, California|Monterey, California{GEND}

Friday, November 26, 2010

Across the bay

Monterey, California, USA

Santa Cruz was sort of a bust.  After spending the night, unable to wander off the boat because we had no gate key, I tracked down someone at the harbourmasters office after they opened at 9 AM.  They were not particularly interested in us except to collect the money that they did not know they had owing to them.  All in all, there was little about Santa Cruz that made us want to stay.  Possibly this is what we should expect in a busy, non-commercial harbour (Can you pick out our boat along this crowded channel?  Actually this is a view that Susanne never got to see as she never got off the boat).  We had grown too used to the friendly fishing harbours along the coast up till now.

So, at around 10 AM, we took our leave of Santa Cruz, and cruised the 20 miles across Monterey Bay to, you guessed it, Monterey.  What a completely different, and totally refreshing place this is.  Friendly staff, who assured us they would have been here to greet us on Thanksgiving or any other time, and a very modern, first-class marina, close to stores, restaurants and lots of touristy type stuff.  And the price (winter rates) was cheaper than our night in Santa Cruz - around 70 cents a foot, including free power and showers, etc.  As soon as we got settled, we stopped into the closest pub and had a brew and some excellent pub fare.  About the only downside is that we are a long way from our usual sources of free internet (unsuspecting residential homes work best), so what service I can pick up is a bit spotty.

We may stay here for a few days, just to take in the local sights.

{GMST}36|36.1833|N|121|53.446|W|Monterey, California, USA|Monterey, California, USA{GEND}

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Where is everybody?

Santa Cruz, California, USA

We left Half Moon Bay with the first light, exiting the Pillar Point outer harbour by 7 AM.  Another perfect day for a motorboat; flat seas and little wind.

We did get the fly the Genoa for a little over an hour this morning, when we had a bit of an east wind, allowing us to use the 8 or 9 knots of wind to assist the engine, on a beam reach. Not really enough to push us faster than about 3.5 knots without the engine, and we wanted to make sure we arrived in Santa Cruz before sunset, which meant we had to average better than 5 knots for the day.  Even that little wind did not last long, and we were reduced to motoring the rest of the way.  In the end, we averaged close to 6 knots and arrived around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Another tiring day, keeping a sharp lookout to crab pots the entire way.  In fact, there were far less of these nasty hazards on this run, which was good and bad.  Good because there were not so many to avoid.  Bad because for an hour or more, you might not see any, and get lulled into a false sense of security.  Notice the eager crew keeping up a constant vigilance.

Boy, thanksgiving is NOT the time to arrive in Santa Cruz.  I could not get any answers from the harbour on their phone or the VHF radio, so I could not get a report on the entrance conditions or get a slip assignment.

 According to our cruising guides, all of the end-ties are transient docks, so we managed to squeeze ourselves in behind some fancy power boat on what appeared to be the only spot left that was large enough to handle us.  Of course, now we are stuck on the boat as we do not have a key for the dock gates (or the washrooms for that matter).  Since the gates can be opened without a key from the dock side, I was able to leave Sue on the boat while I walked the mile or so to the harbormaster's office, only to find a sign explaining that they are closed for Thanksgiving.  What a surprise!  I guess this will all sort itself out in the morning.

As for tomorrow, we are not sure yet if we are going to hang around here, or press on for Monterey or beyond.  Stay tuned.

Oh yah, it is also getting really cold here now.  All day on the VHF weather channel, they have been repeating frost warnings for this area (Sensitive plants may be affected).  So maybe my remarks about winter being not so bad here were premature.  In case you are wondering how we keep warm on the boat, back in Newport, Oregon, when we had our first cool nights, we started using our diesel heater.  Then, it occurred to us that this was stupid, since power is always included in the moorage prices on this coast.  So, we went to the local Walmart and invested in a $15 electric heater (Since we were headed south, we had of course put our old one in storage before we left Nanaimo).  We have used this little heater pretty well every day since Newport, except for the one night we spent at anchor - it has paid for itself many times over.  I'm sure once we get to Mexico, we can use it as a boat anchor or something.

Note: The Santa Cruz amusement park is one of the landmarks you can use to find this place.

{GMST}36|57.9877|N|122|0.1657|W|Santa Cruz, California, USA|Santa Cruz, California, USA{GEND}
 

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Winter in the bay

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

ARCTIC BLAST GRIPS BAY AREA
Record Cold Lows Reported This Morning

These are the headlines on the marine weather Internet site this morning.  Sounds pretty grim doesn't it?
San Francisco, Oakland and Monterey all set record lows for this date overnight.  Here in the marina, it was very rainy and windy yesterday, at times topping 30 knots of wind, even in the sheltered harbour.  As such, in spite of the fact that the winds have lessened somewhat today, the seas are still running a bit high from the yesterday's storm, and we once again decided to wait another day before venturing out.

To put this in perspective, the dreadful, unprecedented cold got down to 5 degrees (C) last night.  Today, it will probably only get up to about 10 or 12.  Not exactly what we would call winter where we come from.  With the nice blue sky and sunshine, it would actually feel warm, if not for the bit of a breeze that is still blowing occasionally.  These pictures were taken about 10 AM this morning - if this is the worst winter has to offer, I think we can take it.

Tomorrow (Thanksgiving day here) we will be taking our leave of this port, heading for Santa Cruz, some 45 or 50 miles further south.  The relatively calm seas should make seeing the crab pots much easier, and that is our biggest concern until we are at least past Monterey Bay.  Of course, it will still feel pretty cold out on the open water and we will be wearing our Mustangs (cold weather gear) the entire way.


Notice the nice hotel in the background.
It is courtesy of their wireless Internet and our big WiFi antenna sucking in that free Internet, that we are able to update this blog.
 
{GMST}37|30.1622|N|122|28.9783|W|Half Moon Bay, California|Half Moon Bay, California{GEND}
 

Monday, November 22, 2010

Still here

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

Yep, we are still here!

Waking up to a foggy, rainy morning, with the seas still not calmed down, we decided to stay a while longer.  Our biggest concern is that it is difficult enough to see the crab pots when the seas are flat and the visibility is good, let alone if it is foggy or rainy.  The only trouble calls we heard on the VHF on the way here were for boats that were hung up on crab traps, calling for help.  Seems to us like a pretty good reason to stay put.

A couple of hours after we made the decision to stay, the fog dissipated, the skies cleared up and winds died down, and we had a beautiful day here at Pillar Point.  Probably should have left.  Tomorrow promises to be much worse, with a strong cold front arriving sometime tonight, bringing steep seas and strong winds.  But it also promises to be short-lived, so with any luck, Wednesday could be looking good.

Thursday is American Thanksgiving (a huge holiday here in the US).  We are not sure what that means as far as boats and marinas, etc. are concerned.  We will soon be getting far enough south that "recreational" boating might still be going on, probably more so on holidays or weekends, so we expect it to get busier.

{GMST}37|30.1622|N|122|28.9783|W|Half Moon Bay, California|Half Moon Bay, California{GEND}

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Got Crabs?

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

We are now officially on the Central California Coast.  As our cruising guide describes it:
"In many ways, the Central Coast of California between Point Conception and the Golden Gate is the most feared of all California coastal waters."
Great confidence builder!

The weekend has brought the predicted stormy weather.  Lots of rain and wind and surprisingly cold temperatures.  Sometimes it seems like we have not left Nanaimo at all.  But, every so often, the sun shines through and it gives us some hope of better things to come.  Still looks like there should be a break in the weather tomorrow so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Can you tell what season it is here?

For the weekend, the crab fleet seems to have made a point of being in port, and the locals and tourists are flocking to the docks to pick up their next meals.  To tell the truth, it is kind of nice to be somewhere where there is a bit of action for a change - makes us feel as if we are not the only non-fishermen on this coast.  Now, if we could just meet some other cruisers, it would make it perfect.  Actually there are a few other "recreational" boats moored here - just not in the area we are in.  Maybe, if the rain ever lets up, we could walk around the docks a bit to see if there are any other transients about - most likely all locals though.

{GMST}37|30.1622|N|122|28.9783|W|Half Moon Bay, California|Half Moon Bay, California{GEND}
 

Friday, November 19, 2010

The rain cometh

Half Moon Bay, California USA

You guessed it!  We are still here.

Our bodies made the decision for us.  Although we went to bed early, we slept until after 8 AM this morning, leaving it much too late to leave if we wanted to get anywhere today.

Just as well, as the day turned out to be very cool and windy, and that wind was coming from the south.  By the afternoon, it started to rain and blow quite hard - all this in spite of the promising sounding forecast from yesterday.  So we made a day of exploring the coast trail here - you can walk for miles north or south on a nicely paved path along the shore.  This area seems to have a lot of quite ritzy looking homes, probably commuter distance from San Fran.  We checked out the hotel beside the marina and found that the cheapest room (a suite) was about $200 per night; I guess we will just stay on the boat.  The marina rates here are a little higher again, but still, at $33 per night, including power, etc.  it is still a pretty good deal.  Of course, we are camped in the middle of the fishing fleet and they come and go at all hours right now, making it a rather noisy neighborhood.

A storm front from Alaska is passing through here, obviously already starting, and promises to make for a windy and rainy weekend, but the forecasts for early next week look very good.  With any luck we will be out of here on Monday or Tuesday.  At least we have a good choice of restaurants within a short walking distance for a change, so life is good again.

We have heard from friends in both Nanaimo and Edmonton and, from what they are telling us, we are not missing anything at either place.  Although the weather is a little cool, it is NOT cold, and there is little chance of snow.

{GMST}37|30.1622|N|122|28.9783|W|Half Moon Bay, California|Half Moon Bay, California{GEND}

Thursday, November 18, 2010

MV Sine Timore

Half Moon Bay, California, USA

We were up before dawn (around 6 AM).  Sue got the anchor up and we were off (around 7  AM) to navigate the busy shipping channels around San Francisco and on to Half Moon Bay.  Neither of us slept all that well last night and we are not sure why.  Maybe it is just that we have not been on the hook since Neah Bay, some two months ago.

The fog had cleared out overnight and stayed away for the entire day.  Since there was absolutely no wind (maybe 3 or 4 knots occasionally), we motored the entire way again.  If you have to have a motor vessel, you could not ask for a better day - very light swell and no wind-waves at all.

In places, the crab pots were like a mine field.  We found it very tiring keeping a constant watch.  The only time we got a break was when we were crossing the shipping channels (there are 3 traffic separation schemes, the North, West and South approaches to the Golden Gate) where they are not allowed to put the crab pots, so we spent more time in the traffic channels than we would have otherwise.  Fortunately, there was only 1 ship in any of the channels for the entire day.  The Juan de Fuca was much busier.

Even though we were on a mostly straight line course, we were actually about 20 miles from the Golden Gate bridge at our closest point.  We were closer than that to the outlying Farallon Islands, supposedly on the edge of the continental shelf.  They are part of the Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.  It may be a sanctuary for wildlife but it does not offer much for us poor sailors - a pretty formidable looking spot.

We made it into Half Moon Bay and moored at the Pillar Point Harbor around 3 PM.  As usual, they found us a place surrounded by the fishing fleet.  Can you pick out our boat in this crowd?   We found a nearby pub and had an early dinner and are now discussing what our next move should be.  If we want to spend a day here at Half Moon Bay, it probably means we will waste the remainder of this weather window.  But we do like to get to know each town.  Right now we are so tired that we are having trouble making up our minds.  Stay tuned to this channel for the latest breaking news.


{GMST}37|30.1622|N|122|28.9783|W|Half Moon Bay, California, USA|Half Moon Bay, California, USA{GEND}

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Short and sweet

Drakes Bay, California, USA

The weather forecast was as good as it gets around here, so we left for a short (26 mile) trip to Drakes Bay (named after English explorer Sir Francis Drake, who anchored here in 1579), just a short distance north of the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Indeed, the seas were very kind for most of the way. No wind, so absolutely no wind-waves, just a 4 to 6 foot swell that occasionally tossed us around, but nothing to complain about.

 As we rounded Point Reyes, the swell got a little bit higher for about a half hour, then as we were past the point, it gradually got flatter and flatter. Completely dead calm in Drakes Bay, with excellent protection from all except SE winds. Of course, no winds meant that yet again we motored all the way. This time we did not have to push it as we had lots of time, so made good about 5.5 knots average. The only problems we had on this run was, as we rounded Point Reyes, we hit a heavy fog and had to navigate by radar and GPS for the rest of the way. It would not have been too bad except that there were quite a few crab pots lurking around and they are hard to see in the fog.

I believe this is the first time we have ever anchored in a thick fog - could not see a thing! It would be nice to be able to see the land to orient ourselves. As Sue was letting the anchor out, we encountered a leftover problem from Cape Mendocino. The anchor chain was completely tangled up in the locker and would not come out. Eventually I managed to coax about 75' of it out, which was enough to set the anchor in the 20' of water. Then I spent a couple of hours working on the rest of the chain, on our bed of course. Finally, I got it sorted out and we let out about 200' of chain and reeled it back in, so it would stack up a little better. We probably should have thought of straightening this out while we were safely back in the marina. Oh well, no harm done.

Tomorrow we will tackle a longer haul down to Pillar Point harbor, in Half Moon Bay. Our friendly fishermen advised us that this is not a nice place and suggested we skip it, but I guess we will have to see for ourselves. Our sailing guides speak very highly of it.

{GMST}38|0.5|N|122|56.5|W|Drakes Bay, California, USA,|Drakes Bay, California, USA{GEND}



Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Suddenly, we are alone!

Bodega Bay, California, USA

Late yesterday word came down that crab season is on again.  Cheers could be heard on the docks.

This morning we woke up alone - very eerie feeling.  Sue tells me a lot of the boats left around 3 AM, although I slept right through it all.

By this afternoon, the crab boats were coming and going like crazy, loading up more pots and getting fuel and generally causing a lot of noise and confusion.  By tomorrow, all of the crab pots will no doubt be on the sea bed, just in time for us to navigate though the maze.  Oh well, it is not like we have not seen fields of trap floats before - very common in the Strait of Georgia and points north, where we have often sailed.  Just have to go slow and keep a sharp lookout.

Weather window still looks good for a departure tomorrow.  I have asked some of the crab boats coming in how the conditions are, and they confirm that it is not very nice out there today at all.  They just don't have any choice if they want to make lots of money.


{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California,|Bodega Bay, California{GEND}

Monday, November 15, 2010

GO, NO GO!

Bodega Bay, California, USA

Just like us, the whole crab season here in the San Francisco area is having problems getting going.

The boats are ready, loaded up with traps, crews looking anxiously at the weather.  The big kick-off was scheduled for Sunday.  Some of the bigger boats left on Saturday afternoon for Drakes Bay where they can get an early start for Sunday morning, in spite of the gale warnings for the open water.  Most of the boats elected to wait till Sunday.

Sunday came and word came down that the "product" is not so good.  I guess there are so many crabs that they are having problems competing for food and are not mature enough yet (shells too soft?) - the buying company does not want them.  So the boats are still here, except for the few that left early - presumably they are going to wait out at anchor.


Meanwhile, we have a marina full of salty-looking seamen, all at loose ends, wandering up and down the docks and generally grumbling about the wasted time.  Apparently the earlier they get out there, the better the price is, since the season here starts about two weeks earlier than elsewhere.  Of course, some of them are happy as they did not have to go out into the big winds and seas, and have time to work on their boats, some of which don't seem to be all that well prepared.  And we are also left with a huge number of crab pots on the wharfs and along the roads, waiting patiently.

As for us, this is all good news since, assuming we can get away this week, we may not have to contend with all those hazardous crab pots for a few more days.  Right now, there appears to be a likely looking weather window for Wednesday, so that is what we are gearing up for.  Meanwhile, back to getting our exercise by walking to and from town, around the bay, etc.

 Generally the weather here in the bay has been good, with only a couple of days when it rained (mostly at night).  It is still cool enough that I would call it "jacket" weather, but it is never really cold.  Looking forward to getting a little further south.  BTW, we have no intention of stopping in San Francisco, as we have been there several times by car, and we feel that if we were to enter the bay, we would probably end up staying there for far too long, and it is just another of those nasty "bars" that we would have to navigate to get back out again.


{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California,|Bodega Bay, California{GEND}

Friday, November 12, 2010

Time Passes

Bodega Bay, California, USA


As has been pointed out to me by some avid readers, it has been some time since I posted an entry here.

The thing is that nothing much is going on, just biding our time here in Bodega Bay, waiting for a good weather window to continue our leisurely journey south.

After our experience around Cape Mendocino, we promised ourselves we would wait for some smoother seas before leaving this time.  Of course, since we arrived, the seas have been consistently high.  We know it is not just us, as the local fishermen are not too enthused about it either - so we continue to wait.  Looks like there may be a break after this coming weekend.  We are all fueled up and ready for whenever.

This is not such a bad place to spend time.  We have a couple of small grocery stores and restaurants within walking distance, and there is a daily bus that goes in to Santa Rosa (the largest city in California, north of San Francisco).  We did take one trip into town just to check it out, but for the most part, we are just enjoying observing all the action on the crab boats gearing up for their season, which starts for the commercial boats this Sunday.  The sport fishing opened up last weekend and there was quite a parade of small boats roaring up and down the narrow channel to throw down or pick up their crab traps or whatever they were doing - kept the coast guard busy watching the traffic and inspecting boats at the launch.

The big boats are loading up their traps (in some cases overloading if you want my opinion).  Huge piles of traps have been accumulating along the road and the winches by the fuel dock have been busy stacking them onto the boats.
 

We took a walk (about 2 miles) to the Bodega Marine Laboratory on visiting day last Friday.  They do a little tour, but it is not very spectacular - it is mostly lecture halls and experimental tanks for micro-biology experiments,  It is operated by the U of C, Davis. and seems to be run mostly by students and volunteers.

So, all is well here in Central (Northern?) California.

{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California,|Bodega Bay, California{GEND}

Friday, November 5, 2010

It's all about the crabs

Bodega Bay, California

Like all of the other harbours we have visited along this coast, Bodega Bay is primarily all about crabs.  Once again we find ourselves surrounded by fishing (crabbing) boats - hardly a pleasure vessel to be seen in this marina and particularly no transient cruisers like us.  It would be so nice to see a fellow cruiser, just to know we are not the only ones foolish enough to be wandering down the coast this time of year.

The Spud Point marina is a very nice, first class facility, and the price, although higher than we have seen up till now, is still pretty reasonable, especially for our 46' overall length.  The basic rate here is $30 per night for boats up to 50'.  It is a short walk (about a mile) to the town itself, where there are a couple of touristy California-type eateries, so we have got into the habit of going there for breakfast in the mornings. 

Otherwise, we have spent our time on the boat, or sitting on the benches, reading books, etc.  The weather is not bad - temperatures are around 50F at night and maybe 60 to 70 during the day, but it is often overcast and foggy, which, with the high humidity, makes it feel a little cool yet.

This is soooo California!

The boat is pretty well ready to go again, but the seas are reportedly a bit high (7 to 9 foot swell and 3 foot wind-waves), so after our last experience, we are staying put for a while.  We may take a walk down the road to the marine lab today to see what that is all about.  One interesting note: We were having breakfast a couple of days ago at the "Tides" wharf, taking note of the large number sea-birds in the spooky fog in the bay, when we read about the history of the place and discovered that this is the site of the 1963 Hitchcock movie "The Birds".  Somehow it really looks the part.

One of the few advantages of cruising this coast at this time of year has been the fact that there have been no crab pots to contend with.  Crabbing season is due to get underway on the 15th of November, and there is lots of activity here in the marina, with boats loading up their gear.  They tell us it will be pretty exciting when they start coming in with their catch.  They are anticipating a good harvest this year.

I apologise for the lack of pictures in the last few posts.  I have not been able to get a really good Internet connection here.  The only reason I have any connection at all is that my big antenna sporadically picks up someone's unprotected wifi router, but the speed is never very good.

This is why you stay in the dredged channel!
 
{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California,|Bodega Bay, California{GEND}
 

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Analysis

Bodega Bay, California, USA

Suffice it to say it was not our finest hour as far as judgement is concerned.

We left Eureka primarily because the "bar" was passable.  The forecast for the next 48 hours looked, while not great, at least not horrible.  The worst winds were to be in the 15 to 25 knot range from the south - not what we ideally wanted, but something we thought we could survive.  If we waited another day, we would have to contend with some huge swells that were due to arrive on Tuesday, which we really wanted to avoid  - besides the bar would be sure to be closed if we waited at all.  Susanne, who had been sick on two of our longer passages, had no problems with the last two trips, and she had found some reportedly good preventative medicine that we hoped would keep her in good humour on this passage.

We left the marina before dawn, arriving at the entrance bar at about 7:45AM, coinciding with high water slack.  The passage over the bar was excellent, very flat except for a few rolling waves just outside the entrance.  The first few hours seemed to be shaping up OK too - the south winds were coming up, but we were expecting that - I started to think we could put up a bit of a mainsail.  Unfortunately, Susanne started to feel bad, and before long the wind and waves were building up to the point that I felt I did not dare to go forward to try hauling up the sail without her to steer us into the wind.  Probably just as well, as the winds just kept on building.

The challenge on this stretch of the coast is the infamous Cape Mendocino - really a combination of two capes including Punta Gorda, about 12 miles south of Cape Medocino.  For the entire time we were rounding these capes, the winds never got below 25 knots.  Pretty steady 30 to 35 knots, with occasionally gusts to 40 knots, all right on the nose.  Combined with the seas that this produced, we were only able to maintain a speed of between 1.5 to 3 knots, for a period of about 8 hours altogether.  Up until about 3 PM, Susanne tried to stay in the cockpit, lying on the port side, but every time we were heaved over to starboard, she came sliding onto the cockpit floor, usually hitting the steering pedestal on the way.  I finally got her to go below, take off all of her soaking wet clothes and wrap up in some blankets on the sofa - that is where she stayed for the rest of the trip.  Meanwhile, I just hung on and enjoyed the ride.  I did manage to get into a complete change of dry clothes and covered everything with my mustang outfit, so I stayed reasonably dry and warm.

The spray from the boat hitting the huge waves, combined with a terrific downpour of rain for a while, made it a very wet and wild time.  I tried to hand-steer the boat a couple of times and found that I was lucky if I could keep within 90 degrees of my course - I don't know how people do this without an autopilot.  I am ready to bow down and kiss the feet of the people at ComNav - that system steers the boat like it is on rails, no matter what you throw at it.

By nightfall, we had made it past the capes, and the wind and seas slowly subsided.  By midnight, we were making over 6 knots again and I pushed the engine to previously unheard of RPMs in hopes of making up some of our lost time.  I really wanted to get to Bodega Bay before Monday night.  We burned a huge amount of diesel - darn good thing we filled up in Eureka last week.

In the morning, the seas were almost flat - a very slight swell, no wind-waves at all, and variable winds, mostly from the NW at less than 10 knots.  This persisted throughout the day, and even though we seemed to be fighting a small contrary current, we did get to the Bodega Bay entrance by 6 PM and were able to navigate the tight 3-mile channel to the marina in the daylight.  Total distance covered was about 190 miles, in about 36 hours.

The consequences of our action:

At some point the wind grabbed our canvas cover for the main hatch and we had but a fleeting glimpse of it as it sailed past.  Really have to learn to fasten these things on better.

The life ring again managed to break free of its mount and turn itself into an automatic drogue, trailing behind us for who-knows how long before we noticed it back there.  We managed to recover it OK again.

We lost one of our boat hooks (a telescoping aluminum pole).  Our own fault as it was not really fastened on at all - just lying on the deck beside the now coverless main hatch.  Fortunately, it was the older, mostly not working hook.

Every cupboard and cabinet that was not in some way screwed shut, managed to open and spew their contents throughout the cabin.  The freezer got out of its restraints and tipped over and tried to make its way from the front cabin towards the main cabin (still working fine though).  The HP laser printer that is mounted under the table in a manner that I thought was infallible, managed to leap onto the floor and shed every removable part it possessed.  Even the clothes cupboards all opened and contributed their contents to the general mayhem.

For reasons unknown, both the solar panel controller and the A/C inverter charger were flashing lights saying they had internal errors.  Our best guess is that some moisture got into them, probably from me going up and down the companionway, dripping water all over everything.  So, after we were safely moored in the marina, we could plug into power but had no way of charging the batteries except by running the engine.  Fortunately, the batteries were fully charged when we arrived so I did not have to deal with that until Tuesday. The solar controller (a TriStar TS-45) just needed to be reset by disconnecting it from everything and then reconnecting it.  The inverter/charger (a Magnum MagnaSine 1012) however appears to be totally hooped.  After a few attempts to dry it out and reset it, I replaced it with my spare charger (my trusty old ProTech*4).  We can live without the inverter until I can get the Magnum repaired or replaced.

Probably the most annoying issue was with the anchor locker.  The chain, which was probably heaped in a bit of a pyramid from the last time we used the anchor, shifted towards the stern, managing to open one of the anchor locker access doors at the foot of our V-berth bed, and spew several feet of chain onto the foot of the bed.  Both of the hawse holes (the holes through which the anchor chains come through the deck) opened up, allowing water to get into the anchor locker.  Normally this is not a problem as the locker drains into the bilge and the bilge pumps take care of it.  However, now the chain acted as a wick to let the water flow onto our bed.  Needless to say, we spent the first night sleeping on the sofas in the main cabin.  Yesterday, Sue washed all the bedding and we dried out the foam mattress using a couple of fans.  Fortunately it was not completely saturated.

And how did the personnel do, you might ask.  As for me, I am fine - I was just a bit cold towards the morning hours, and dead tired.  I slept for about 12 hours once I got to lie down on my sofa.  Susanne took the brunt of the punishment.  She was pretty sick for most of the time, only arising from her death-bed in mid-afternoon on Monday - she was OK by the time we were entering the harbour.  Susanne is famous for the number and variety of bruises she can get when we are sailing, but this time she took it to a whole new level - has to be seen to be believed.  Probably the worst damage is to our spirits.  Lately it has not been all that much fun and we are starting to wonder why we are putting ourselves through all this.  I guess the good part is that it has not been boring.

{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California|Bodega Bay, California{GEND}

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Halloween Bash

Bodega Bay, California, USA

Well, we made the break from Eureka on Sunday, but probably should not have.  Lots of carnage, to both boat and personnel, definitely the worst passage in our short sailing history to date.  But we are safely moored at the Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay as of 7 PM last night. More details to follow - just need to rest and lick our wounds for a bit.



{GMST}38|19.8068|N|123|3.4517|W|Bodega Bay, California, USA|Bodega Bay, California, USA{GEND}
{GMST}40|25.7665|N|124|24.3927|W|Cape Mendocino|Cape Mendocino{GEND}