Scott and The Golden Gate

Scott and The Golden Gate

Saturday, October 29, 2011

We did it!

Well, here we are, Southern California. Actually, we are in Santa Barbara to be specific. Our departure from Monterey was very uneventful and things were going smoothing until our sail ripped (another addition to the list of things to do in port, a list that always grows with every leg). It really wasn't that bad, but meant we couldn't do anymore sailing until at least the next port. Which was Port San Luis. From Monterey we'd plan on stopping in Morro Bay, but we were making such good time and it was early in the morning for a trip into Morro Bay we decided that another 4 hours would only have us in at a little after 2 pm. What we didn't know was the fuel dock closed at 2, then the winds came up. We couldn't get off the fuel dock. The decision was made to sit tight and either wait for fuel in the morning or wait for the winds to slow and try getting off then. Well, the winds finally died down around 7 or so and the harbor patrol came by and said we couldn't stay tied up to the dock. With their help, we found our mooring buoy. It was the first time we'd ever picked one up. It only took two tries and I was so proud as I pulled that slim covered line up on deck and attached it to the cleat. I was also glad I thought to bring along a pair of kitchen gloves to keep the slim off me. LOL! We got a good night's sleep.

Early on Thursday, was time to head down the coast and round Point Conception. It's considered the Cape Horn of the west coast. Timing is everything with rounding Conception. We picked the calmest day in weeks. Light winds predicted, low swell, and a route that took us almost 10 miles off. It would be our second rounding of Conception and the last time was like glass. With the luck we'd had so far, I was expecting a really rough passage around Conception. I was gladly disappointed. Reisender was flying along at almost 6 knots when we passed Conception and we made it there in about 9 hours from Port San Luis. Around midnight we started hearing all this chatter on VHF channel 16 about a missile testing from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the coast. I think 5 or 6 other boats called in to verify the coordinates of the testing. We were already inside the Santa Barbara Channel, so I wasn't very concerned. Around 3 am Scott woke me to see the missile being fired. It was rather amazing to see such technology. It was actually possible to see the different stages of the rocket firing. We were almost 40 miles away and it still filled the sky with light. Well, that actually was the whole of our excitement for the voyage, and I was happy about that. My new mantra is "a boring voyage is a good voyage" and believe me I want a boring voyage every time! After rounding Conception, our speed dropped to about 4 or 4.5 knots. I loved seeing all the oil rigs. The lights made the passage look like Christmas. Then the traffic started building, but Scott had laid a course that took us way outside of the shipping lanes. It also cut off about and hour of our voyage, and I was thankful because Santa Barbara is doing renovations and slips where limited for a boat our length. There was also at least one other ship behind us coming in and we wanted to have a slip at least our first few couple of days in Southern California (I need to desperately fill up on some provisions and propane). 

The view from the companion way is of mountains, palm trees, the beach and the town of Santa Barbara. I smell salt and eucalyptus in the air. We had tacos at Wahoo's, a wonderful taco chain in the LA area. They specialize in the fish tacos the surfers used to survive on back in the 60's and 70's. Scott and I always stop in one when we are in the area. We had a good night's sleep and I'm looking forward to the farmer's market today and another walk on the beach. This afternoon it's time to scrub off the boat and get that sail down and looked at it. We'll stay another night or two. Scott has a look in his eye about going to Catalina before we head up north for our truck, but I'm not wanting another night passage for awhile and may be able to convince him a couple days on Santa Cruz Island might be what we need. Who knows where we will go next, but we are around Conception and we have months to figure it all out. The pleasures of no schedule. Well, wishing all of you fair winds and following seas.....

Thursday, October 20, 2011

One Day of Perfection

We've been on the move for over 3 1/2 months now. It seems we've only have one true day of a perfect trip down the coast. Even that day wasn't fully perfect, as we could only raise the sail for a little while before the wind died completely, and I was suffering from the beginning of a cold (that is still here three days later). We've had all sorts of misfortune on this initial trip: fuel injector pump going out, current against us as we tried to cross the Columbia River Bar, fog with no radar, deciding we need radar and spent a week waiting for delivery, muffler needed re-welded, exhaust thru-hull blocked, un-predicted wind storm, waiting out a rain storm in port, trying to dry out the boat and clean the mold from the condensation of waiting out a rain storm in port, 13 foot swells, me getting sick, and a host of other things usually weather related.

So why are we doing this? It's a question we've asked ourselves several times over the last few weeks, but then we pull into a port and the question seems to disappear. It's the friends who came out to visit us all the way down the Columbia as we began to say "goodbye". Thanks for the encouragement and love: Jeff, Val, Eric, Diane, Jim, Jules, and Scott, even our dear friend, Harold, his former boat showed up even if he couldn't. Then there were the people we ran into along the way: Courtney, Mike, Linde, Ken, and the cruisers from the Sea Of Cortez cruisers rally. Once we left there it began with friends Dan and Becky teaching us how to crab and sharing some wonderful memories and food together. Sherry, my northwest mama, came for an evening, and we even caught up with one of Scott's cousins he hadn't seen in 10 years and got a behind the scenes tour of the Hatfield Marine center where she works. That's when we finally started to meet other cruisers. Erlin and Jen with there cat Minion (who I'm convinced would make a lovely boyfriend for Pixel). Then, there were the crews of Deep Playa, Puddle Pirate, and several others we met in different ports. We all share the same dream: to see, to explore, to get away. We'd all talk and share experiences: have you met so and so aboard such and such, or you must try this little restaurant when you get to such and such destination. My favorite conversation is to get sailors talking about ground tackle..... hours and I mean hours of talks about that one piece of equipment. Then there are the people in port. The night watchman who came down to make sure we were OK after a rough bar crossing, the staff who gladly accept mail for us, the guy early on Sunday morning telling me where to find the best bloody mary's in town, the lady at the farmers market telling me about her experience sailing for an afternoon and how she'd love to do it, the friendly harbor master who said "no you must be tired, check in tomorrow",  the fisherman who came down the dock with a lure and trolling line for me as a gift when I asked about what best to use, even when we run across an old crust of a person it still adds to the experience of cruising.

I can't put it all on the people we've met. Then there is mother nature, with all her beauty. The dolphins playing in our bow wake early as the sun is just breaking over the mountains. We've seen sunfish, dolphins, whales, seals, sea lions, jelly fish, and now a sea turtle. A sea turtle! Swimming only feet from our boat! There are the cliffs that come straight down into the sea, the mist early in the morning, sunsets on the water can never be matched on land. I don't have the words to describe all the things I've seen in just these few short months. I can only imagine what else is laying out there waiting for us...

Then there are the wonders of man: harbor walls that make you so safe once you come through them after a rough passage, light houses, observatories, we saw Alcatraz from 1/2 mile away, and San Francisco bright as a Christmas tree at night, The Golden Gate Bridge popping out of the fog, The Golden Gate Bridge on a bright sunny day as we passed beneath her on the way out, and now I sit here writing this with the anticipation of seeing the old mission of Monterey in a few hours and the Aquarium after that. I hope it can live up to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. They are actually growing their own rain forest there. It's not to be missed.

Oh, I can't forget the food! You all know what a special part of my life food is. I grew up in the South and feeding everyone is part of our heritage. Thanks to the fisherman in St Helen's who sold me halibut and salmon straight off the boat, thanks to the wonderful farmers market in Astoria for the amazing produce, thanks to Becky and Dan for teaching us to crab, thanks to Trader Joe's for being so damned convenient in Emeryville and for having a wonderful wine selection. Also thanks to TJ's for being so close to the marina in Monterey! And thanks to all of you who shared meals with us on and off our boat.

There are so many other memories and new friends we've made. It truly is impossible to name them all. Thank you to DJ and Joe, Mike and Frank,  Mike and Cheryl, The crews of Deihl with It, Wings of Dawn, and Turtle.

These and many more are the reasons we are out here and the reasons we will continue....

Saturday, October 15, 2011

San Francisco

We've been here since Monday night and all I can say is "WE LOVE IT". Thursday evening we went over and spent 2 nights with good friends in the city, and did a little sight seeing. Most of you already know Scott and I could easily call San Francisco home, and it's now getting time to move further south before the fall and winter weather sets in. If that happened we would stay until spring, but we are gonna push on. It's very sad for us to leave a place we've worked so hard to get to, but there are more places and sunshine waiting us. It's also hard to leave because we've already made some new friends here in the marina and they are so warm and welcoming. We are both feeling quiet and melancholy about out next leg. I think that is why we are slowing down a bit. The next jog will only be to Half Moon Bay, a distance of only 30 miles. Then we will be onto Monterrey. Can't wait to see the aquarium there. We have on more serious cape to round and then we are in truly Southern California and hopefully the sunny weather. Wish us luck!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Fog, Mendocino, Waves, Swells, Winds, Golden Gate, and more Fog!

The last time I wrote we were in Eureka desperately needing a better selection of wine and waiting on weather. We finally got both!

We seem to keep running into people we know. We thought this was over, with the exception of running into other cruisers, but we got one last surprise. We were walking down the dock on Thursday and someone we knew from Portland has been helping a family move down the coast. They were only moored 4 boats over from us. It was a nice reunion and he was very complementary of the progress on Reisender.

Well, Friday dawned and we had the window we needed to make our next run to Bodega Bay (where they filmed "The Birds"). It was 180 miles and we had Cape Mendocino ahead of us. Cape Mendocino is called the Cape Horn of the west coast. We've done it twice before on other boats and we knew it would be bumping, but staying off shore by 10 miles would keep us a safe distance. The only problem was the offshore report for 10 miles or more was much worse than that of 10 miles and closer. We decided of a course about 8 miles off. I must say it was the smoothest rounding of Mendocino we've ever experienced. This was such a relief as we left Eureka with only about 300 yards of visibility. Thank Goodness for radar! The morning we left was the first decent weather window and it looked  like a parade of boats leaving the harbor. There were 5 or 6 that I know of, which means there must be another 3 or 4 after that all heading to different locations. As I said, our rounding went smoothly, which is a blessing. It doesn't always go that well for most people. The afternoon went along rather boringly, another blessing. I'd rather had a boring passage than an exciting one. We did have a little excitement, We raised the jib for an hour or so. It's the first time we've ever been able to do that. Reisender is officially a sailboat!!! Well, a little excitement was worth it, but then the winds started to kick up and we were back to motoring. We didn't mind that! WE'D RAISED THE SAIL!!!!! Well, the night came and went, but a little bumpy, but again we didn't mind. Then the winds clocked around to southerlies. YUCK!! But we persisted, Bodega Bay was only a few hours away. Then the swells began to build. So now we have 15-20 knot southerlies on our nose and intermittent 12 foot swells out of the northwest and 3 foot out of the southwest. Scott said I did a great job as we rounded Bodega head. I was a little nervous, but we had been in stuff just as bad earlier on our leg and we did have daylight with us. We came around and finally made our way into the shadow and protection of Bodega head. We tied off at Spud Point Marina just at sunset. It's always a call for wine or  cocktails after a crazy passage. That night we were warm with wine and accomplishment as we watched Alfred Hitchcock's classic "The Birds".

Monday would have been the last weather window for a few days to make it to San Francisco, the highlight of our US west coast trip. To say we LOVE San Francisco is an understatement. We both feel at home here and have never failed to enjoy the time we spend here. I also want to see a couple of museums that we haven't seen yet. We had talked about passing as the weather windows are getting shorter, but after everything we've been through in the past 6 years, we decided we deserved this indulgence. We left on Monday at 8 am. FOG! followed by RAIN! That was our entire trip down to San Francisco. We also had southerlies again, but that was only an issue for the first third of the trip, then we turned east to make our way into the Bay. The fog stayed with us all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge, but we were on a flood tide, so we had a really smooth crossing under the bridge. The fog was so thick we couldn't see the top of the bridge. It's the first time I wasn't really nervous about the fog. We had AIS, our chart plotter, and radar. Between the 3 items we could identify all shipping traffic with AIC, right down to ship name, destination, size of vessel, and speed. Well, to shorten the story we were tied down to Emeryville Marina on the east bay. It's a very full, very maze like marina, but we found our slip and I'm happy with the mooring rate. We are convenient to the city and are looking forward to seeing some good friends.

Well, I think I've rattled on for a while and I need to go handle checking into the marina and get some fresh produce, meat, and of course wine!

We are safe, sound, and happy!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Taco Time!

OK, second recipe.... Today we had taco salad... I've finally found the mix I like to the seasoning and I just had to share with everyone

1 Tblspn dried diced onion or onion powder
2 Teaspns chili powder (I like chipotle powder)
1 1/2 teaspns salt
1 teaspn garlic powder
1 teaspn cumin
1 teaspn cayenne (more or less to taste)

Mix together spices. Brown beef and drain rendered fat. Add half the mix to the cooking beef.
Salad dressing: I use red wine garlic infused vinegar and 1 teaspn of the taco seasoning then I slowly add EVOO mixing with a whisk. I toss this with the a salad, then top with tortilla chips, cooked beef, and shredded cheddar cheese. We both agree it came out perfect.

Now a little update as to our cruising: We are STUCK in Eureka, CA for a couple more days. The weather is totally against us right now and we have the dreaded Cape Mendocino ahead of us. We've done this trip twice before and are not looking forward to our next leg. It's just that it can be rather bumpy, and after our adventure in Southern Oregon we'd rather have a smooth ride for the next few passages. Oh well, it is what it is. At least it finally stopped raining and I've got left over chicken satay to make Thai Chicken Pizza with tonight. What else could I really want, oh yes, a better selection of wine than what I'm finding at the closest store!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Third Times the Charm

Well, that's how the old expression goes, and for us it was the truth. It took us three attempts to make it to Eureka, CA. The first attempt was a week and a half ago. We were preparing to leave around midnight when Scott noticed we weren't getting much water out of the exhaust. After checking into it our muffler was leaking badly and would need some welding done. We watched Ventured, a boat we have been sailing with, sail off without us. The next day we found a welder and got the muffler back after 2 days. We still had a problem, which Scott once again tracked down quickly. The through hull was blocked, which caused water to back up into the muffler and caused the crack. Well all things fixed we had to wait for weather.

Attempt number two: We finally were underway around 1 in the morning last Thursday. After a very smooth bar crossing, we had a very boring and smooth morning, followed by a quiet early afternoon, but we had the afternoon and evening to contend with. By mid afternoon the wind switched around from the south and we started getting sustained winds of 20 knots to gusts of 30 on our nose. This began kicking up rather uncomfortable wind waves that were coming in the opposite direction of the sea swells. We checked the weather again and decided it might be more comfortable a little further off shore, and it was, just a little. Before dark, we started hearing a suspicious noise under the boat. We both were a little nervous that is might be the prop. We slowed the throttle and babied it while we checked to see if we could diagnose it from the boat. Scott finally thought it was just hearing the seas at different angles that we were accustomed to. After 4 hours of only making 2 knots we decided to try upping the throttle a little and he found the seas died down enough we weren't making that noise any longer. We were finally running a long at 4 knots. We ended up battling the wind and waves for over 16 hours. It took us almost 10 hours to go from Cape Sebastian to pass Brookings, OR. This is a trip of just 4 or 5 hours normally. We were concerned about the fuel to make it all the way to Eureka. So a decision was made to head into Crescent City, CA. Crescent City was recently the site of most of the damage of the Tsunami last March. When we arrived they still didn't have any spare slips, as a matter of fact they barely had any marina at all. The fuel dock was intact and we were given a ride to a local convenient store. Everyone was so nice an helpful. They really wanted the boating traffic back. They advised us where we could anchor in the bay (free anchorage my favorite). We anchored and enjoyed a nice cocktail and discuss the events of the last 24 hours. To say we were nervous is an understatement. It turns out that we didn't make a mistake. Our friends on Ventured went to the NOAA station in Eureka and found out the wind storm was not predicted. It apparently stretched a huge part of the coast. Our friends tried to make for Bodega Bay and turned back with 2 other boats.

Attempt 3: Saturday dawned and it was clear we had a weather window to jump down to Eureka. Eureka was only 65 miles away and about a 14 hour trip. As the day went on the sun came out and we left Crescent City around 1:30 pm. It was very smooth and only showed a little building of the seas, but the wind was still on our nose, but nowhere near the winds we had on the earlier leg. It was slow going averaging about 4 to 4.5 knots. Scott and I stand 2 hour watches and it seems to work for us. I was a little nervous when darkness hit, but it was an uneventful evening. Little bumpy, and a little windy, but we'd gone through some really rough stuff and this wasn't so bad. Around 2 am we spotted the lights of Humbolt Bay and started our approach. Scott and I picked our way through the jetties and up the bay to Eureka, when fog set in. We would have been OK but for a loading crane with a very bright light still on. It was nearly blinding us. Well, around 3:15 we were safely in the marina and tired off enjoying a glass of wine. Having a much easier leg and managing our first night crossing of a bar helped rebuild some of the confidence I had lost during the trip from Coos Bay to Crescent City.

The boat handled all of this like a champ. She is strongly built and handles the seas much easier than we could have hoped. She really took a beating and we are tracking down a couple of areas that need a little more caulk, but all in all everything inside stayed put and we are happy with the job she did. We are safe and sound and enjoyed a nice day off yesterday with a few errands and boat projects to work on while we wait for the next weather window, hopefully with northerlies.