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Since my mishap with my right hand diminished functionality of
my right hand, excursions to the southern hemisphere were cut short and usage of
Yang Fan was limited to the immediate vicinity in Ensenada mostly using the
motor as I could not handle the sails. Kid had to go school (first grade)
too. I very much had looked forward to cruising in Mexico and Central America as
many other had done and told about. Well, maybe we try again next summer. For now it was time to bring Yang Fan north so some of the work still to be done could be finished and new gadgets added. This is a map of our trip north July 13th 11:00, 2002 - Leaving San Jose On July 13th of 2002, Bob Eustace, a friend of hours and many years hobiecat aficionado, Ralph Drahos, a delivery captain, my son and I set off to fly to San Diego. We had most of the equipment transported down south on earlier trips to keep this trip less stressful. Ralph, of course was fully loaded with gadgets as he just returned from some other trip. Airport security had their go in trying to figure out what he was up to with all those gadgets. But we were allowed to pass and kept all our belongings. The flight was short. and getting to the border after leaving the plane took almost as long as the flight. Since none of us were very fluent in Spanish the taxi drivers at the Mexican border had an easy prey with us. Yeah, we could have gotten it a bit cheaper. But we were tired, hungry and with a five year old kid you got to watch your language. July 13th 16:00, 2002 - Ensenada - Arrival and Preparations We arrived in Ensenada early enough to get our papers filed with the authorities, stow our luggage, get gasoline and eat dinner. Mind your self not consume alcoholic beverages if you plan to leave early in the morning:) Oops, the marina ran out of gas and they surely would not let us have the gas from the bottom, nice guys. We had to get a taxi and borrowed several cans to fill up our main tanks and the spares for the trip to San Diego. Then it was dinner time and off to sleep we went at 9pm. The plan was to leave at 5am in the morning, one day earlier as planned. But not before we made some jury rigged solution with the radar dome on top of the cabin and tied down with ropes. Cabin assignment was as follows. Ralph, to be close to the action, selected the starboard side aft cabin. My son and I had the master cabin and Bob selected, what other choice did he have, the forward starboard side cabin. Close to the galley but a choice that he did regret at some point :) July 14th 06:00, 2002 - Ensenada - Departure I was not able to sleep too much mostly to the fact that I had coffee the night before and forgot to mention to get decaf. Also, my five year old had a tendency to visit the parental bed nightly. And he is a vivid mover. Frequently, I wake up with his feet kicking my head. He rotates a lot. On top of this, I am not really a morning person and we had not planned to have breakfast in the morning in a serene environment. So the motors were started, wind had not awaken yet and we took off into the choppy waters out of Ensenada. Needless to mention that for the first few hours I was not feeling too well. But eventually things got settled and sea legs grew. Kid woke up at 8am at his usual time and was disturbed about the noise and movements. Ralph set the course ahead the old fashioned way, on paper and with a ruler, and then transferred manually waypoints to his GPS. I had of course, prepared with the most recent Offshore Navigator on my laptop and a Garmin Etrex Vista GPS hooked up, the easier task of just pointing and clicking. Ralph was very interested to get acquainted with this type of technology. The only link missing was the connection to the autopilot. So we steered per electronic map and manually corrected the autopilot. July 15th 16:18, 2002 - San Diego - First Port of Call, overnight, refueling The next afternoon we arrived after a windless trip under motor power in San Diego where we refueled and squeezed between two boats. This was also the place to stock up our galley with items that we had not carried to Mexico and did not want to purchase there, mainly fresh produce, meats and drinks. We had a diverse set of sailors who each had a unique requirement of nutrition, in other words a few picky eaters. A hotel chauffeur delivered us to a nearby supermarket and promised to pick us up later. Since we were done shopping faster than the pickup would be, the super market called us a taxi for the return to the marina, something that seems to be occurring frequently. We also decided to fill us up at a local eatery and then take advantage of the pool, showers, and hot tub near the marina. Such prepared we were ready for the next leg of the trip the next early morning. July 16th 11:00, 2002 - Santa Barbara - Refueling We arrived in Santa Barbara later in the morning to fuel up. Also weather forecast was not too promising. We had to decide whether to sit it out in Santa Barbara or take a run for it. We decided to go for it as the forecast was predicting even worse conditions later on in the week and we did not want to get stuck here. So the plan was to proceed to Cojo Bay and see how conditions were there. July 16th 18:00, 2002 - Cojo Bay - Waiting for the wind to calm down When approaching Cojo Bay one is well advised to approach from the seaside due to kelp forests in the area. An advice we did not quite follow and therefore had to steer around some kelp trees. Now with the Seawind getting stuck in kelp is no big deal. Once some plant life gets around your propellers you just pull up the engines free any kelp and you are back in propulsion. We found a neat anchorage in a well protected area and enjoyed our dinner. One already could hear the winds blowing around point conception and they did not seem to take any ends. July 16th 23:00, 2002 - Leaving Cojo Bay Well, night has fallen, the winds were somewhat calmer and we decide to go for it as stronger conditions were predicted days ahead. We wanted to make progress at least closer to a home port from which we could change plans if need be. The night was going to be quite some work. Winds on your nose, and breakers 8-10 feet over the bow. This was a time were this little cat really shined. Well protected in the cockpit area with hardly any wind or wash to worry about each of us had their turns for the 3 hour watches. Operating in the dark under those conditions with no land in sight was not always an easy task even with the all the instruments at hand as Bob had to find out when he got a bit disoriented. This was also the time when our rudimentary repairs to the leaking hatch got back on us. My son woke up in the middle of the night in a wet bed. Fearing for the usual accident that can happen to small children I did not pay attention to the circumstances of the wetness. But the next morning revealed that towels used for sealing a leaking hatch are not a good solution. They soaked up and with every wave braking over the bow water was squeezed out just to repeat the process at the next opportunity. In effect we invented the towel pump. We ended up with about 1-2 gallons of water which we trapped down below in one of the forward stowage compartments and no harm was really done. July 17th 10:30, 2002 - Morro Bay - Refueling and Brunch The morning brought us into Morro Bay for refueling to be ready for the next leg beyond Point Sur. Now, Morro Bay is a fishing port and the fuel dock is about yeah high above our main deck, making the fueling experience a bit awkward. I understand there is another fuel dock for the recreational boaters. But they were still closed and we did not want to waste time due to weather constraints. We had a quick brunch while warming up in this nice café and left an hour later. Conditions could only get worse and we just accepted what we had already gotten accustomed to. July 18th 10:00, 2002 - Santa Cruz - Food The whole last day and night was a repeat of the trip from Cojo Bay to Morro Bay with on and off rain, cold winds and the usual potholes in the road. We arrived in Santa Cruz for a nice breakfast time. Why did we carry so much provisioning anyway, considering the fact that were almost eating out every day. Well, you got 4 guys on a boat. Who is going to do the dishes? My son, an avid fisher person, also had to sample this local bait store. With every visit to such stores his ideal baits grew larger and larger, to the point where he could have caught fish capable of pulling him under. To his dismay, he did not catch a single fish. He was trolling his hooks all the way from San Diego. Hmm, maybe that's the reason we were so slow? July 18th 19:00, 2002 - Halfmoon Bay - Dinner and Overnight, Captain's Night Out This was the last night and Captain Ralph treated us to a night out in his local eatery. His home base is Halfmoon Bay and he keeps his trimaran there as well. We cleaned up from the trip and assembled ourselves in the local highly rated eatery. After a good meal and not too much chatting, we all were tired and lights went out at 9pm. July 19th 05:30, 2002 - Leaving Halfmoon Bay Weather was foggy and damp when we got up. But forecast was positive and with the rest of the crew still sleeping Ralph and I prepared to depart. Weather become increasingly better with some sunshine near Ano Nuevo allowing us to get a bit closer to that area. We were so close to home that none wanted to take a stop there and so we continued the trip north. The fact that large vessels were already showing up on the radar indicated that we were nearing the main shipping channels leading to the Golden Gate. Not taking any shortcuts we entered the bowling alley and kept to the southern most buoys. What a site it was to finally see the fog enshrouded Golden Gate Bridge. July 19th 13:45, 2002 - Redwood City - Final Destination After clearing the Golden Gate Bridge weather was changed as if we had entered another room. Sunshine and warm mild breeze welcomed us into the Bay Area. Most of us not involved with operation of the vessel were enjoying the benefits of a catamaran and spread on the foredeck netting to soak in the long missed sun. The trip to Redwood City appeared short after the long days and nights on the ocean and the sea was very calm. It felt as we were gliding on top of a frozen lake to the home port. Thanks to Bob and Ralph for their help and to my son for having that much patience on a rough ride. |
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