Finally On To Monterey

Conditions for going around Point Conception are finally improving. Winds are dying, and the seas are settling down so that we think we should be able to leave Santa Barbara in the early morning hours of Saturday. We have a last dinner with Susan and Don Bennett on Thursday evening and tell them that if they do not hear from us on Saturday, to take that as a sure sign that we have finally left.

Saturday, July 9th –  And …. leave we do!  The First Mate is a bit tremulous, but she is committed and determined. Point Conception is 40nm away, so we depart in the middle of the night to be rounding the point shortly after daylight. We slowly motor out of Santa Barbara Harbor in the darkness at 0200. Upon raising the main sail, the boom is swinging back and forth as the boat rolls in the waves. The Captain is up on the coachroof holding on to the swinging boom and trying to remove the sail ties. He asks the First Mate to tighten the mainsheet a little to reduce the swinging. She hits the winch button, and a loud cracking sound is heard. Quickly, the flashlights are turned on to scan around and ahead of us. The Captain goes forward to inspect but sees nothing amiss. The sail goes up and fills out nicely. Nothing appears broken or out of place so on we continue on our way.

Rounding Point Conception is accomplished with ease. After all the angst, it proved to be a non-event. It is so peaceful that The First Mate is told to go below and sleep while The Captain stands the watch. We are glad that we waited for good weather. Even The Captain, a man not known for his patience, agrees. This shorthanded and relatively inexperienced crew does not need any unnecessary drama.

With the light of dawn, we are able to see that the sharp crack we had heard when we raised the mainsail last night was a break in the boomvang. Bill rigs a quick fix with rope, but it is something to be attended to when we get to port.

It’s a beautiful morning, and the California coast up to and past Vandenberg AFB slides by off our starboard side. We spot several whales and numerous dolphins and seals.

The trip north becomes more uncomfortable as winds pick up creating the waves that bash us head on. Nothing dangerous – just uncomfortable. The winds seem to be always right on our nose. Because we have the mainsail up, we need to turn off the wind a little to keep the sail full. Not until mid afternoon are we finally able to turn the engine off and sail. The weather has become overcast and foggy as we moved further north. The worst part is that the increasing cold and dampness causes us to seek creative ways of layering and more layering. How to do so without turning into Pillsbury Dough Boys?

Our plan to spent the night anchored quietly in Morro Bay is thwarted due to a heavy fog bank that is slowly engulfing us. We can see little ahead or around us. From both radar and GPS, we know that we are within yards of a buoy off the entrance into the harbor, but we just cannot pick it out in the pea soup surrounding us. The actual entrance to Morro Bay is tricky even in good conditions. The channel is not deep, and its location changes due to a shifting sand bottom. As a result, channel marking buoys are not plotted on our charts. You don’t know what to expect in the harbor until you get there to see it, and, if we can’t see it well, we could run aground. We have never been to this harbor before and have no desire to enter it for the first time with such poor visibility.

Once again we decide to avoid unnecessary drama. Despondently, we motor on north. It will be another 100 miles and an overnight sail before we reach Monterey.  By midnight, air temperature is 50 degrees, water temperature in the low 50s, and 20 knots of wind is blowing across the deck. It is a cold night of motorsailing.

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