July 10 – 12, 2012: We bid our farewells to Larry and Sue on Beverly S and departed Marina Del Rey into a fog bank that stayed with us for most of day. Right off the bat I could tell this wasn’t going to be a good day … not because of the fog but a direct result of my standard early morning upset stomach. Normally the waves and swell we encountered would not affect me but not today; life went downhill rapidly. I haven’t been this sick since coming down the Oregon coast near Cape Blanco two years ago. I even took meclizine in the morning for motion sickness and it didn’t work.

There was no question my breakfast was the direct cause of this ill fated passage. The little bits of sausage in my hash browns and eggs came back up with a vengeance. Boy oh boy, did I ever hurt. I wanted someone to put me out of my misery. At least once everything was out of my stomach; I began to feel better although I looked like hell.

The next adventure of the day was pulling into the Ventura Yacht Club guest dock. It is a long dock paralleling the shore with an extremely narrow passage. As we came in we could see the junior sailing dinghies lining the area where we were to tie up to. I had to pivot the boat around and head back out to the main fairway. This was no simple feat but I had the wind blowing the bow around which helped out greatly. I probably only had a spare 15 ft (?) total to a make the u-turn. If there had been a boat tied up to the end of the dock, I was screwed. And just to make it more difficult I had to do it twice as it took some more time to clear the dock of the sailing dinghies. We finally made it in safely and just in time to participate in the Tuesday night potluck dinner. We both crashed after dinner after this long 53 nautical mile day.

I was still moving pretty slow Wednesday and not actually full of “piss and vinegar”. Every part of me was sore from my bout of sea sickness. An afternoon nap was definitely on the agenda. Bob got invited by Jeff on s/v Journey to join a race crew for the “Wet Wednesday” races sponsored by the VYC. We knew Jeff & Dori from cruising in Mexico and we buddy boated with them up the Baja coast. The crew on “Rival” comes in 2nd of their class and a great time was had by all. Bob, as the guest crew, got the honorary trophy of a glass mug. And yes he got soaked while out racing.

It’s now Thursday and we have been enjoying a walk around the harbor area that is filled with restaurants, shops, marinas, etc. We decided to wander down and see s/v “Summer Passage”, the sister ship to Ponderosa which was owned by Don Anderson, the well known and beloved weather guru for cruisers in Mexico. Don had passed away unexpectedly in early April. As we were admiring the boat, a woman aboard waved to us. We explained to her that we had the same kind of boat and knew Don thru the SSB nets. She graciously let us in the gate and invited us on board. She was Don’s daughter, Carol and just happened to be there today cleaning out the boat.

It was a real treat to tour Summer Passage which is laid out exactly like our boat. Carol took the time to tell us what happened to Don and share some of her memories of sailing with her dad. She is a delightful woman and it meant a lot to hear good things about Don and what he did for cruisers. A sale is pending and it sounds like the boat will be in good hands with the new owners. It was a most pleasant encounter.

Tomorrow we are off to Santa Barbara for one night; then onto the Cojo anchorage to position ourselves to round Point Conception on Sunday. The wind and seas look calm and benign for several days so here’s our weather window to make tracks north.

Ventura Yacht Club 34°14.725N 119°15.93W