Monteray to Morro Bay: left at 1215 on the 11th of October.
1230: raised the main, stay sail and genoa
Winds were about 15 knows from the SE. Skies are clear and we are cruising at 6.8 knots.
For a while the boat is perfectly balanced. As a result with the combination of the sails and wind and sea conditions the boat is sailing itself with no assistance from me or the autopilot or the windvane.
1800: squeaked past Cypress Point Bouy without having to tack again.
Doing 4-5 knots at 180 due South
1930: BA up and Dave down. Winds have died off so I had to roll in the jib. Then I went down below and heated up some stew.
2300: watch swap. Not much happening so we are both able to get some half decent sleep on our watches.
0400: I am back on watch again listening to Carol King and Bob Dylan pretending it is the 70's
0608: first sighting of Point Piedro Blanco. 16 miles away
0703: sun is up and the seas are starting to pick. They are still relatively calm with a 2 foot swell. Just sitting here waiting for the world to wake up
0800: time for my nap but not before making my gourmet peanut butter and banana sandwiches. When you do these long treks you do not always have a lot of energy to put into meals. That is why it is always a good idea to have some meals done ahead of time.
0950: rounding the big rock at Cape Piedro Blanco. It looks like a lion!
1030: Battery overcharge alarm has sounded so Dave shut off the engine to investigate. It appears that our voltage regulator may have failed. Disconnected the "field" wire from the alternator. Now there is no charge from the alternator. We will have to rely on the solar panels for now until we can get into port to investigate further.
1045: back to motor sailing. The winds are light from the north west. Morro Bay is 22 miles away.
You can see the Hearst Castle way up on the hill - unbelievable.
1532: last jibe into Morro Bay. Phoned Paul and he said the "Cookie !!" was in the driveway. Thanksgiving dinner will be at Mom's which is also Patricia's birthday. We will be there in spirit.
1645: sails are down
1745: cross the bar and pass the big rock that marks Morro Bay which is spanish for rock.
Morro Bay:35*21.69N 200*51.23W
We had not planned to stay more than one night as the pictures showed 3 large stacks from a power plant. Assumed that the place would be pretty industrial.
Dropped anchor and had a very pleasant greeting from the harbor patrol. Forgot how quiet it is to be at an anchorage. No lines squeaking in the night and no fish boats leaving early in the morning. But there were a lot of sea otters and those noisy sea lions. But we are getting used to that noise.
Next day we practices putting the dinghy into the water from the deck and then went over to the shore. We found out that the power plant (coal) in no longer in operation and the town is mainly a tourist and fishing town. It had a real nice feel to it and so we decided to stay for a couple of days.
We ran into Al and Sandy again. Happy Hour on their boat where we met 2 more Canadians from Victoria on Woodwind. We ended up in the restaurant for a bite to eat and shared some more stories.It is starting to be fun meeting up with other cruisers.
Next day we went over to the Yacht Club where Al and Sandy were tied up and hooked into their Wifi. I left David to get caught up on emails and banking and walked into town. In the meantime the winds started to really pick up. By the time I got back to David we had noticed that our boat was not in the same position as where we had put it. Looks as if we were dragging the anchor. So we immediately got in the dinghy and headed towards the boat - which was about half a mile away. I am in the front and getting soaked - something I think David took much pleasure in. We probably dragged anchor about 100 feet but then it settled in again and we did not more any more. So we did not have to pull up and reset.
We had made arrangements with Al and Sandy to go and see the Tom Hanks move: Captain Phillips. It is based on a true story about a commercial container ship that is hi-jacked by pirates. Sandy and I kept looking at each other wondering what the hell we were doing going to see a movie like that. But the two captains said that it was very authentic and well done. Warning: anyone who has reservations about this adventure that we are partaking in should NOT see this movie.
Next day David replaced the alternator. That almost resulted in a catastrophic event when I dropped the main bolt that attaches the alternator to the motor into the bilge. We were unable to retrieve it as it is beyond arm length and there are no hardware stores close by. I reminded David that we had these plastic containers with a lot of spare bolts and nuts and things from the previous owner. Any chance we could get lucky and there could be something in there that we could use? You could imagine my sigh of relief when we were successful. And kudos to the captain for no profanity was expressed in my direction even though I wanted to cry.
Morro Bay is a very quiet anchorage protected by a large sand dune. We took the dinghy over to explore. Think of Pancake Bay but 50 times bigger!
And found some very pretty plant life.
This one was just a rainbow of colour!
Ended the day with some crib and I skunked David so now we are tied at 7 games each.
1230: raised the main, stay sail and genoa
Winds were about 15 knows from the SE. Skies are clear and we are cruising at 6.8 knots.
For a while the boat is perfectly balanced. As a result with the combination of the sails and wind and sea conditions the boat is sailing itself with no assistance from me or the autopilot or the windvane.
1800: squeaked past Cypress Point Bouy without having to tack again.
Doing 4-5 knots at 180 due South
1930: BA up and Dave down. Winds have died off so I had to roll in the jib. Then I went down below and heated up some stew.
2300: watch swap. Not much happening so we are both able to get some half decent sleep on our watches.
0400: I am back on watch again listening to Carol King and Bob Dylan pretending it is the 70's
0608: first sighting of Point Piedro Blanco. 16 miles away
0703: sun is up and the seas are starting to pick. They are still relatively calm with a 2 foot swell. Just sitting here waiting for the world to wake up
0800: time for my nap but not before making my gourmet peanut butter and banana sandwiches. When you do these long treks you do not always have a lot of energy to put into meals. That is why it is always a good idea to have some meals done ahead of time.
0950: rounding the big rock at Cape Piedro Blanco. It looks like a lion!
1030: Battery overcharge alarm has sounded so Dave shut off the engine to investigate. It appears that our voltage regulator may have failed. Disconnected the "field" wire from the alternator. Now there is no charge from the alternator. We will have to rely on the solar panels for now until we can get into port to investigate further.
1045: back to motor sailing. The winds are light from the north west. Morro Bay is 22 miles away.
You can see the Hearst Castle way up on the hill - unbelievable.
1532: last jibe into Morro Bay. Phoned Paul and he said the "Cookie !!" was in the driveway. Thanksgiving dinner will be at Mom's which is also Patricia's birthday. We will be there in spirit.
1645: sails are down
1745: cross the bar and pass the big rock that marks Morro Bay which is spanish for rock.
Morro Bay:35*21.69N 200*51.23W
We had not planned to stay more than one night as the pictures showed 3 large stacks from a power plant. Assumed that the place would be pretty industrial.
Dropped anchor and had a very pleasant greeting from the harbor patrol. Forgot how quiet it is to be at an anchorage. No lines squeaking in the night and no fish boats leaving early in the morning. But there were a lot of sea otters and those noisy sea lions. But we are getting used to that noise.
Next day we practices putting the dinghy into the water from the deck and then went over to the shore. We found out that the power plant (coal) in no longer in operation and the town is mainly a tourist and fishing town. It had a real nice feel to it and so we decided to stay for a couple of days.
We ran into Al and Sandy again. Happy Hour on their boat where we met 2 more Canadians from Victoria on Woodwind. We ended up in the restaurant for a bite to eat and shared some more stories.It is starting to be fun meeting up with other cruisers.
Next day we went over to the Yacht Club where Al and Sandy were tied up and hooked into their Wifi. I left David to get caught up on emails and banking and walked into town. In the meantime the winds started to really pick up. By the time I got back to David we had noticed that our boat was not in the same position as where we had put it. Looks as if we were dragging the anchor. So we immediately got in the dinghy and headed towards the boat - which was about half a mile away. I am in the front and getting soaked - something I think David took much pleasure in. We probably dragged anchor about 100 feet but then it settled in again and we did not more any more. So we did not have to pull up and reset.
We had made arrangements with Al and Sandy to go and see the Tom Hanks move: Captain Phillips. It is based on a true story about a commercial container ship that is hi-jacked by pirates. Sandy and I kept looking at each other wondering what the hell we were doing going to see a movie like that. But the two captains said that it was very authentic and well done. Warning: anyone who has reservations about this adventure that we are partaking in should NOT see this movie.
Next day David replaced the alternator. That almost resulted in a catastrophic event when I dropped the main bolt that attaches the alternator to the motor into the bilge. We were unable to retrieve it as it is beyond arm length and there are no hardware stores close by. I reminded David that we had these plastic containers with a lot of spare bolts and nuts and things from the previous owner. Any chance we could get lucky and there could be something in there that we could use? You could imagine my sigh of relief when we were successful. And kudos to the captain for no profanity was expressed in my direction even though I wanted to cry.
Morro Bay is a very quiet anchorage protected by a large sand dune. We took the dinghy over to explore. Think of Pancake Bay but 50 times bigger!
And found some very pretty plant life.
Ended the day with some crib and I skunked David so now we are tied at 7 games each.
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