Flight of the Blue Eagle

[REBEMUP]

Wow, you should be sworn into the "Brats Hall of Fame." I am impressed. I keep thinking of running from Santa Cruz to San Francisco and then chicken out.

I saw there were small craft warning for today with winds to 25knots but from the NW so they should be at your back.

I will be running out of Santa Cruz tomorrow heading offshore, perhaps we will cross wakes.

Ron

[Morning Star]

I would love to be out there along side of you, but will have to settle for following along with your posts of your adventure. Your SF to Catalina trips are a testament to the sea worthiness of the CD 26 Venture (and to your grit). Hope you have a safe and enjoyable trip.

[mailbox101]

Turned out the sunshine and blue skies were just a lure.

Just outside the gate we encountered swell with wind chop large enough to force us to turn back in. We found a nice spot, just inside the gate, and await improved conditions later today, or tomorrow.

Ron, you are correct that they would have been at our back, once we turned south, but first we would have had to traverse the Ocean Beach area, with all the additional swell from the sand bars, or, we would either have had go out into deeper water, where the wind waves would have been even larger.

David

[Jim & Dara]

Things sure picked up yesterday, hopefully they will lay down for you soon.

We towed down to Ventura last month and spent time diving on Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands, amazing.

Can't wait to take your route!

Have a great trip.

Cheers

Jim

[REBEMUP]

I went out to the Santa Cruz one mile buoy and the wind waves convinced me to come back into the Santa Cruz wharf anchorage and do a little people watching from Sea-Cruz. I really wanted to head out to the canyon today for whale watching but once wind waves hit 3 feet and start growing towards 4 feet, I leave the ocean to the whales. I don't mind 8 foot swells as long as the period is long enough(+2x) but I hate 3 ft or larger wind waves.

David, glad to see you were able to turn around safely. I didn't quite realize the route out from the Golden Gate along Ocean Beach, so it is probably a good thing I have never quite made it that far north. I use to have a Columbia 24 that I kept trying to make it north to S.F. with and even motor sailing I was always halted somewhere a little north of Pigeon Point lighthouse. Given that a couple with a baby had sailed a Columbia 24 around the world, I always felt a bit of a failure. However, the waters off the central and northern California coast are not for sissies or fools. Sea-Cruz does give me a secure feeling, even in these waters. Just need to weather pick a bit. This August has been a bit blown out, at least ever time I have a day off.

I wish you a good trip south and much fun at Catalina. I hope to do the Catalina rally in the next few years, however with a 22 and only a single Honda 90, I will probably trailer. However, I love your travel journal on C-Brats and look forward to your further adventures.

Stay Safe -
Ron

[mailbox101]

The weather finally broke, and we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge once more, at 9:39 pm. 

Conditions were "W winds 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. NW swell 5 to 7 ft at 8 seconds and SW 3 ft at 16 seconds. Patchy fog.", which were as good as we could hope for.

Going out the gate we had to maintain displacement speed, but once we turned south, with the waves now following us, we were able to get up on plane and maintain 15 knots (plus better fuel economy). Only as we approached Half Moon Bay, home of the Mavericks (waves),  did we have to reduce speed in order to avoid 'surfing' the boat into the next swell (on the downhill side of a swell, one can gain too much speed and plant the bow into the water at the bottom of the trench, which is not a good thing to do)

Late at night we finally put in at Pillar Point. Coming from the north the entry is a bit a round-a-bout as you have to go past it, get in the channel, and then turn north. It seems like every year or two someone tries to cut the corner, only to rediscover the thin band of shallow water with deep water on both sides, as well as the chain of rocks just under the waterline, so we carefully stayed in the channel.

Once the boat was secured, I went ashore and discovered that one of the pier-side restaurants still had a bit of chowder, despite how late it was . Got it to go, and surprised my father with it; very tasty.

In the morning we slept in until 9:00, fueled up, and headed south. We are going to try for Morro Bay, which is the longest leg we've ever attempted, but I have 50 extra gallons of fuel on board, so we should still be well within the rule of thirds. 

My father just spotted our first pod of porpoises this trip, so I'm going to stop writing, and start looking out the window. Our next post should be from Morro Bay.

David

PS Ron, are you out on the water now? We are at 37 deg 04' N, 122 deg 19' W, and will monitor ch. 69 in case you are.

[REBEMUP]

Good to see you got out the gate David.

Today Sea-Cruz is back on its trailer in Santa Cruz Harbor and I am at home in the hills above Santa Cruz looking over the ocean, well looking at the fog/clouds, and wishing I was out there. However, I am starting to dream of the calmer seas September brings.

I Just plotted your position and it looks like you are making good time heading south. Probably right off shore of Monterey Bay at about 2:00pm.

David, you and your father's willingness to face the uncomfortable to experience the adventures of life is an inspiration. Better to visit the porpoise than to watch them on T.V.

Ron

[mailbox101]

We crossed the mouth of Monterey Bay with no significant wind-waves, which was nice because sometimes the weather there can force you to follow the shore; a much longer route. 

Then, about 6 nm offshore, and just south of Monterey we started getting 3' wind-waves and lots of white caps; a sign that our limits are being approached. My father's comment was that "going downhill in August is reminding me of going uphill in October"(downhill means going south, with the current, which is usually smoother then the reverse). I changed course to quickly bring us closer to the shore, hoping that conditions wouldn't be as bad near the coast, as well as to be better positioned to seek shelter fast if conditions continued to degrade. Imagine our surprise when the wind and white caps totally disappeared within a mile and a quarter! Just to be prudent we continued in a bit, and stayed within 3nm of shore the rest of the day. 

Lots of sea lions were out in the area, but they appeared more intent on travel, fishing, or other sea lion 'work', rather then sunning themselves or playing with us, as they often do.

The sky was clear and we got a good look at the beautiful art deco bridge at Point Sur (abt. 36 deg. 22' N), as well as the lighthouse there.

Morro Bay was smooth as glass and we made up time on our way across, although we were careful to avoid the unmarked, unlit, pilot transfer dock, that doesn't show up on radar, and can barely seen on FLIR at 1/4 nm. Even though I knew it was there, and there was lots of moonlight, I was unable to see it with the naked eye. 

We called the Coast Guard to make sure the entry was open, since sometimes the swells break outside of it, making it too dangerous to use.  They stated that the conditions were acceptable, along with a disclaimer so I couldn't blame them if they were wrong, and so we headed in. (I wondered if the disclaimer had to do with the fact that they themselves misjudged the entry and lost a ship a few years ago; this is one of the deadliest spots on the west coast)

The Morro Bay Yacht Club was kind enough to let us tie up at their dock, and the town is as nice, friendly, and reasonably priced as it was last year, so we had a nice relaxing day ashore.

Incidentally, due to our rushing to get to the Catalina Offshore Adventure on time, despite leaving late, we managed to make it from Sausalito to Morro Bay in just under 24 hours, including dinner and a full nights sleep at Pillar Point.

It should also be noted that even though we had a heavy load, as well as lengthy periods of both hull speed in heavy chop and 20+ knots in smooth swells, that we still averaged just over 2 1/2 nm per gallon, based on actual full tank to full tank usage. 

It looks like we'll be able to make it past Point Conception before the weather gets choppy, later today (leaving at 5:30 am just to be sure). Once we get to the Santa Barbara Channel, the nautical weather forecast looks good for the foreseeable future, so Catalina, here we come

David

PS Thanks to everyone who is posting back at us. Reading your postings while at sea is almost like having you here with us, and makes the trip even better.

[thataway]

For some reason I had missed these wonderful posts (and adventure). We have been up and down this coast to SF from Long Beach a number of times, in sailing vessels from 29 to 62 feet in length--and have seen conditions from 15 foot breaking seas to flat calm at almost all points. The advantage of waiting for weather windows and having a fast and shoal draft boat are clearly exploited by David. I am impressed with you seamanship and getting in and out of these wonderful little pockets which are along the coast.

The Morro Bay YC is a bright spot along this coast. We have always stopped there. After one very rough trip directly having left Long Beach at 3 AM on one morning and arrived at Morro Bay at 8 PM the next night--they had heard us on the radio earlier in the day, (Ham) and kept a spot at their dock open for us, and had hot hamburgers on the grill as we arrived.

Good luck with the rest of this voyage, and really have enjoyed your story!

[Morning Star]

Hey David,

How is the trip going? I have been looking for a post on your progress and adventures. Hope all is well and you are enjoying the trip

[mailbox101]

Thanks Bob. Your comment about the hidden "wonderful little pockets" reminds me of how ships plied this coast for hundreds of years before finding the entrance to San Francisco Bay.

The trip is going well, just fell behind on posting, so let me catch up...

Continuing south from Morro Bay  we saw lots of sea lions for the first several miles.

At about 35deg. 12' N. Lat. we passed by the Diablo power generation site, a pair of nuclear reactors with what looks like a small city next to it. 

We passed a pod of some creatures that looked a bit like porpoises, including a dorsal fin, that were jumping from the water as dolphins and porpoises do, only they seemed flatter, more like a fish, and their sides were splashed with white. A bit further on, we also caught a glimpse of an Orca breaching.

Checking with Vandenburg AFB to determine if they would be launching any missiles seaward was a bit problematic. The automatic hotline wasn't working, and they didn't respond on ch. 16, so I had to call the base directly and ask them. It turned out to be difficult to find anyone who felt they were authorized to release the information, but after about a dozen transfers and new numbers I finally spoke with someone who was able to divulge that none were scheduled for that day.

The weather and sea were excellent for this area, and so I let my father take the helm going around Point Conception. He did well, and we slid past the oil platforms, (noteably Harvest, whose sea-condition reports I follow closely), and into the Santa Barbara Channel. The suddenness of the change in conditions and weather is notable, as we move from the cold current from the north, into the warmer, calmer current from the south.

Just inside the channel, south of Gaviota Canyon, we came upon an area teaming with porpoises, not just a few pods, but a porpoise convention. Some were even doing spins as they lept; quite a show.

We put into Santa Barbara harbor without incident, and had dinner at Brophy Bros. Seafood Restaurant (well worth the 1 1/2 hour wait)

David
Blue Eagle

[REBEMUP]

Like the idea of a little warm water at this point. Good to see you are in it (warm water) and past Pt. Conception.

As Mark Twain said, "One of the coldest winters he ever spent was one summer in San Francisco." Enjoy a bit of real summer.

Ron

[mailbox101]

Did we even have summer this year, on the coast, in northern and central California?

The remaining trip to Marina del Rey was remarkably smooth. About an hour into the trip I used my iPhone to click the email button next to a post by Jon, of Gypsy River, who had posted that he'd arrived for the Catalina trip early, and I sent him my cell number. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, my phone rang and it was he. As we made plans for the three of us, who'd never met before, to go to dinner that night, I marveled at how efficient some technology can be, as well as how this website brings people together. 

David

PS. Please remember that we completed this trip last week before we went on the Catalina Adventure. My next posting will probably be when we begin the great, uphill (against the current) trip home, unless something noteworthy happens in the meantime.

[mailbox101]

After waiting 15 days for the weather at Conception/Arguillo to settle down, including one false start, we are finally able to begin our journey home. 

It should be noted that the Amtrak station is within easy walking distance of the marina, and that the Coastal Starlight follows a beautiful route along the coast for many miles. If you splurge, and get a room or roomette, it allows you access to the last remaining parlor cars in public use in the US, as well as wine and cheese tasting. The price for the rooms/roomettes also includes meals, which also helps to justify the difference.

After calling the automated number at Vandenberg AFB, (800.648.3019), to make sure it was safe to cross the missile range we headed out.

There were lots of crab pots as well as sea lions playing. They were acting quite frisky and happily poking their heads up out of the water, and I wondered whether this meant they had learned to plunder the pots.

We saw a humpback whale, the first one of this trip (not counting the three seen from the Catalina ferry), and it seemed to have a sea lion playfully swimming alongside, which I'd not seen before.

NOAA doppler radar showed thunderstorms about 10 miles west of Point Conception, and heading due south. They even outlined the lightning strike area in red, so we decided to hug the coast, just 1/2 nm out, instead of the usual 2 to 12 in order to stay away. Although it is resulted in a longer trip between Point Conception and Arguello, there is some sort of a counter-current there so we were going with the current, rather then against it. The only trade-off, as we left the coved area just before Arguello, is significant shoaling, resulting in my changing course to 1 nm out, as well as having to trim the engines in order to raise the bow in order not to bury it. As wind waves were less the 2' this was do-able, but had they been higher we would have had to turn around. 

The incessant whining of the auto-pilot's hydraulic pumps finally faded as we reached calmer waters and leveled out. 

Due to the distance from Morro Bay to Monterey it is important to get as early a start as possible, unless you wish to anchor along the way, which I did not. By this point I did not think we would make Morro Bay before the fuel depot closed, and they don't re-open until 8am, so I contemplated refueling in Port San Luis instead. Fortunately I called ahead (Portside Marine 805.595.7895.) as they had run out of fuel and the resupply, due yesterday, never arrived.

We briefly floated into a pod of very active porpoises (I always turn off the engines when they are close to us) and got to enjoy quite an energetic show. 

By this time I was considering taking a taxi to bring my portable gas cans to a regular gas station, but as soon as we rounded the corner the sea turned smooth as glass. Not only were we able to increase speed to 18-20 knots, but we were able to cut the corner and parallel the coast, rather then staying in deep water until turning for a directly perpendicular approach, as this harbor usually demands.

Suddenly there it was, the huge, domed shape of Morro Rock, vaguely silhouetted in the fog, as well as a welcoming committee of about 6-8 sea otters, and thus we got to the fuel dock with 20 minutes to spare.(DeGarimore's Central Coast 805.772.1392)

Tomorrow will be an early day, so it is time for me to go to sleep.

David

[Morning Star]

Hey David,

Just checked to see if you had posted about your trip from Morro to Monterey. Hope the run went well. Looking forward to your next post.