Chris and crew (minus Barb) took off from Morro Bay, CA last week, and are now just over 300 miles off shore.
They are checking in on SPOT, and I will hope to hear more from Chris via sat phone to give updates.
Excited to watch their progress as they make their way across the Pacific. Planning their Mai Tai greeting already!!

Arrived in Morro Bay, CA yesterday evening. Secured a spot at the Morro Bay Yacht Club with intentions of shoving off this morning.
Enter another SCA.
We sit here to wait it out--stay tuned. We have a Plan C in the making, and hoping it will come to fruition in time to leave with the next good weather window.
Until then, gave the Lady B a bath to rinse the layer of salt off her decks, and we will take advantage of all Morro Bay has to offer. A beautiful spot that we never would have happened upon in any other circumstance.
Patience is not my strong suit, and as the control freak many of you know me to be, it seems this entire trip is one big life lesson for this first mate.
Until later--

Made it to Morro Bay today from Bodega. Our first overnight with just the two of us, somewhat rough with opposing swells throughout the night. The early morning brought with it an almost crisis when the helm chart plotter lost the chart! We were able to use the back up plotter to get us through the period with no helm nav, so at least our back up system has been tested and approved!
We were surrounded by another pod of Pacific White Sided Dolphins today, larger than the last. I was at the helm and Chris was trying to sleep-but the minute I slowed the boat down and he heard the engine hum change he popped out of the salon into the cockpit like a prairie dog! We both associate the change in engine noise with bad things....Planning to leave tomorrow after re-fueling about 10. Forecast is for winds out of the N/NW from 5-15 increasing to 10-20 100 miles off shore. That will be us!
Please pray for good weather and a safe passage for the two of us. We are all over the map with anticipation, and are trying to keep our wits about us as we finalize our voyage route and work on a tentative crew schedule to keep some type of normalcy to our daily routine.
Until next time!

We returned to Bodega yesterday, dealt with wind 20-25 gusting to 30 and crazy big swell/wave action. The Small Craft Advisory was extended to this morning (6/8) at 0300. Looks like the next couple days should be the best weather window to get out, but will likely encounter an increase in wind and waves by Sunday off the coast of LA as we make our way to the trades.
Getting our routine down under somewhat calmer seas will be the first order of business as we leave today near noon--Bodega Bay and North is still under a SCA until 1100 today.
Will SPOT check in verses blog if weather isn't permitting any sit-down time.
Until then!

Planning to leave Bodega Bay tomorrow morning between 6-8am.Testing our sat connectivity and our remote posting ability.Still a small craft advisory tonight until early tomorrow, awaiting advice from our weather router to determine the route we will take out of here.Planning on too much wind at first and then looking at a trough of high pressure that will decrease the wind speed as we go.Seems that we have had either too much or not enough.Ready for just right!

-- Sent via OCENSMail satellite email service. www.ocens.com

Update on our progress: We are staying put for now in Bodega Bay, CA. The small craft advisory has been updated this morning by the National Weather Service for this area South to San Francisco through Monday June 5th. After the 5 ½ hour struggle yesterday to keep the boat surfing the waves into this bay, I can tell you that sustained winds from 21-33kts are not fun. While MY BPI was toping the chart at 10, Chris reported a 5 and he was the one at the helm!! Both boys were hovering around 7 with spikes to 10 while they were on constant crab pot watch and would spot a wave coming at us from the South side. Winds were coming from the NW, but it was the SW and NW swell of the ocean that made for very confusing seas. Chris would have to watch his back so he could quickly maneuver the Lady to keep her from getting broadsided by mother ocean. He is more in love with this boat after this experience, feeling how quickly she responds and can handle whatever the ocean would throw at her with a quiet rolling grace. I'll have to agree---we trust and love this boat.
Pulling into the bay yesterday we were expecting the winds to die down a little, but encountered up to 30kts blowing at us from the NW as we tried to negotiate the inlet to the marina. Luckily our slip wasn't too difficult to enter(besides, Chris can dock this baby ANYWHERE!) and we tied her down for what we thought was just going to be the night. Now it looks like we might be staying here until Monday and perhaps skipping San Francisco altogether. While we were all looking forward to sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge and capturing the moment on film to post to social media (because that's what you do, right?) the reality is that it's safety first.
Eric turns 28 today and the plan was that he and Blake would get a chance to explore San Fran before their flight home on Sunday. Funny how a little thing like a Small Craft Advisory can dramatically change your plans! Enter Plan B. While the boys are still sleeping (Chris getting a much-deserved sleep-until-you-want day) I have reserved a car at the Santa Rosa airport, only 17 miles away, and plan to get us out and about exploring Sonoma County and driving to San Fran either today or tomorrow. Bodega Bay is about an hour North of San Fran, and you should check out their web site to see what options for entertainment that we have available all around us at http://www.bodegabay.com/
I suppose if you need to wait the weather out as a land lubber, Plan B doesn't look too bad at this point.

Until next time-