Frisco to SoCal

Frisco
The rest of my time in San Fran was glorious.  I was able to accomplish a lot and spend some quality time with friends that happened to be in the area.  I took in a few sunsets and also ended up with a brand-spanking-new windvane.

The Bay Bridge with San Francisco in the background

The Bay Bridge doing its best Golden Gate impression

Disassembly of the old Bay Bridge

What I thought at first was just a few cracked bronze gears actually turned into several cracked components and a heavily modified unit that had some pretty critical flaws.  Repairs and replacement parts would’ve been more than half the price of a brand new unit, so I decided to bite the bullet and go for a new one.  Scanmar (the manufacturers of these windvanes) were very helpful and accommodative the entire time and did their best to explain all the pros and cons of each option and make things as affordable as possible for someone of my limited means.  While it’s really painful to drop a couple thousand bucks unexpectedly, I’m confident that I won’t have any self steering failures between here and Chile and that peace of mind (and added safety factor) is tough to put a price on.

With a new windvane, I was also faced with a new dilemma – what to name her!?  I happened to have “You’re So Vain” stuck in my head at the time – which slowly morphed into “You’re So Vane” and I decided that I ought to name the new vane in honor of Carly Simon.  Thus, Carly has been steering my boat for the last couple hundred miles and she has done a brilliant job thus far.  Porter even helped me install her!

Frisco to Santa Cruz
Things lined up nicely for my brother to sail with me for a few days, and we decided to leave San Francisco on a Thursday afternoon.  On the advice of an old colleague, I stopped in to visit a bar that was apparently an old haunt of Jack London and we had a few beers in the sun before we jumped in the boat.  While I’ve no doubt that time has changed the place, I’ve always been fond of Jack London’s work and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

That afternoon, a fierce westerly picked up while we were still in the bay and we had to reef down and beat into some harsh wind chop to get out into the Pacific.  I had discounted the challenges associated with sailing around San Fran earlier in the trip and I found myself eating my words (and some salt spray) by the time we got ourselves under the Golden Gate. 

The fog slowly rolling in over the city

Some stout kite surfers giving it the business

Naturally, a calm slowly developed as soon as we got out into open ocean and we spent most of the night bobbing around and motoring southward.  Dawn broke with some breezes and we had a lovely morning of sailing, and even found time to cook some steak and eggs.  Porter had his eyes well peeled and noticed a fin out on the horizon.  “Whales!” we both yelled, “Hooray!”  “Wait a second, are those actually whales?”  “Hmm, maybe they’re dolphins standing on their tails”  “I think only killer whales have fins that long”  “But they’re too small and gray to be killer whales”

As we sailed on, we saw a few more.

And then a few more.

And before long, we were absolutely surrounded by them.  Several even did tricks to amuse us. We both estimated there to be at least 200 within sight at one point.  What a great way to start the day. 

Once we got into cell service, we identified them as Risso’s Dolphins, a somewhat rare breed that is common to the Monterey Bay area.  They grow to be 12 ft long and they’ve got a fairly blunt head with grayish coloring and extensive scarring.  

Once we arrived into Santa Cruz, we got a slip for the night and walked out into town in search of a burger.  Once our hunger was satiated, we worked our way back to the boat for beers and a couple of very competitive games of cribbage.  Porter squeaked out a few victories by narrow margins, and I managed to skunk him on one occasion.  It might be decades before a victor is crowned.

The anchorage in Santa Cruz

The once thought-to-be extinct sea otter of Monterrey Bay

While I was in Santa Cruz, I was lucky enough to meet up with a friend of a friend who goes by the name of Brian ‘Kansas’ Thom.  A handful of years ago, he and his wife left Santa Cruz on their Westsail 42 (a beautiful and exceptionally seaworthy craft) named Nomad and got to travel through the South Pacific to New Zealand and back in search of remote surfing locations and whatever adventure they could stir up.  Along the way, they grew their family by one and created a lifetime of memories and wisdom that they were happy to share with me.  I anchored out beside them in Santa Cruz and Capitola for a couple of days and soaked up a ton of knowledge and advice.  They were even kind enough to keep me well fed and watered!

The mighty Nomad!

Santa Cruz to Ventura
I continued on my route south with a full belly and a lot of excitement for the cruising grounds ahead.  A brisk northwest wind was blowing and I made exceptional time out of Monterey Bay.  

A very splashy sea built up as I was passing Pebble Beach

That afternoon, I passed Big Sur and I recalled that I had a relative that settled here a long long time ago.  There is a creek called Bixby Creek (and a corresponding bridge that bears his name as well) and I was able to see it all from the sea.  He arrived in the mid-1800s and owned some substantial tracts of land back in those days.  

I also happened upon a sea lion whose eyes were bigger than his mouth and was in the process of trying to swallow a fish that was at least the size of his head.  I just managed to catch a picture of him, with his head out trying to choke it down.  Later on, a number of gulls came in to try and wrestle his prize away, but I think he won the day in the end.  

Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur

The greedy sea lion

I was hoping to stop into San Simeon to see the Hearst Castle, but the timing and weather conspired to push me further south and I decided to slip into Avila bay near San Luis Obispo to wait out an approaching gale.  It was there that I sustained my first injury of the trip, a finger I managed to crush in the companionway slider.  I promptly cursed Rascal for biting me and nursed my mangled finger with a cocktail and a hot needle to relieve the pressure that had built up.  I would imagine my thumbnail and I will go our separate ways in a couple of weeks.  Given that a crushed digit is the worst thing that has happened to me in months, I’d say I’m doing pretty good for myself.

The rest of the run to Ventura was pretty uneventful.  I saw my first shark (though wasn’t quick enough to get a shot of him) trailing behind the boat, and spent a day and a night dodging what felt like dozens of offshore oil rigs.  They provided quite a stark contrast to the pristine coastline and water that surrounded me.  I wasn’t aware that there was so much oil and gas industry in this area and I was surprised by how close they were to shore.  You could see several tankers coming and going from them and I even got a couple helicopter flyovers as I passed.

When I’ve been sailing dead downwind up until now, I’ve had the sails configured “wing-and-wing” which is to say that the main sail is pulled out to one side and the headsail (typically the genoa) is pushed out to the other side with the spinnaker pole.  This allows the air from the main to funnel into the genny and allows the entire sail area to be effective (instead of having the main blanket the genny if they were on the same side).  On the downside, however, it means that the boat wants to seasaw back and forth a bit as the swell passes under the boat and shifts the balance between the two sails.  Many long distance cruisers have devised a better solution that utilizes two headsail up front, each poled out on opposite sides.  This provides a similar sail area, but pulls the boat (instead of pushing and pulling it) which keeps the boat more balanced, steers a straighter course, and is typically faster.  That said, you typically need two headstays to make this work.  I realized, however, that I could hank the two sails on (with the hanks overlapping) on the same headstay and hoist them at the same time.  I had a 6-10 knot following wind and decided now would be a good time to give it a shot.  Low and behold, it worked like a charm.  It was much more balanced and efficient than sailing wing-and-wing and without the risk of an accidental jibe of the boom.  I figure I can make several different headsail combinations work in this way, as well: from the genny and the working jib down to the jiblet and the stormjib.  You’ve just got to be careful where the hanks line up and how the sails are raised.

Rounding Point Conception

The Future
Porter happened to have a meeting in Santa Monica on Friday, so he and a good friend from college are meeting me this weekend to go out and explore the Channel Islands.  We’ve got plans to explore Smugglers Cove (which is reportedly full of bootleggers and pirates) and do some hiking around on Santa Cruz Island.  I have firm promises from all parties that no beers will be consumed during this event and no plans have been made to cook any delicious meals either.  With weather predicted to be sunny and in the high seventies, I’m sure we’ll have no fun at all.

Sunrise over Ventura