We left the fuel dock at 10:45am and motored outside the breakwater of Santa Cruz Harbor, into the Bay. With the engine still running, we raised the mainsail. We turned off Ethel (thank you for running great, we're glad your air troubles are gone) and began to sail very slowly in the late morning breeze.

The winds began to build in the early afternoon and we were finally making some ground at 6 knots. We had the mainsail, mizzen and jib all flying and full of air. With some good winds, we glided nicely over the swells.

By the time 5pm rolled around, the winds died down and we were moving at 3 knots. Sometime around 6:30pm, we decided to turn Ethel on and do some motor-sailing. This was about the time we were prepping for our first overnighter on the ocean. The day was cloudy and a little chilly because we had no sun. We knew once the sun went down, the air would get cooler. So down below in the galley, I made up a pot of coffee and a batch of chicken noodle soup for our night passage. This was the first time I have used the stove while under way, and everything went smoothly with only one spill when the soup bubbled up and over the covered pot.

We started our watches around 8:00pm, when Tom layed down in the cockpit to rest for a bit. Two hours later, he took the helm and I layed down in the cockpit. Very quickly, I decided that the cockpit was to cold and moved down to the settee in the main cabin where it was warmer and more comfortable. This warm cozy settee became our sleeping quarters for the remainder of the night. We were both amazed at how quickly 2 hours goes by when your the one sleeping. However, two hours at the helm can drag in the dark of night. I found that even watching just one small light, miles way in the distance, really keeps you focused and gives you something to do/watch when at the helm. In other words, the small distant light helps the time go by. The helm person also had to check the engine gauges every so often to make sure Ethel was happy. The person waking from sleep and coming onto shift, was in charge of plotting our position on our paperchart and to check our heading. Before we knew it, the sun was rising, and it was time for a fresh pot of coffee.

With a new day starting, the sun was shining beautifully and the California coast was well lit up. It made for a wonderful sight as we motored-sailed south. The winds were light all morning and then started to build nicely in the afternoon. By that time, we were about 12 miles away from Morro Bay and decided to keep the motor running. As we got closer to Morro Bay, the very distinct landmark came into view, the Morro Rock, which is a lava plug that is 580 ft high. We arrived at Morro Bay at 3:45pm and side tied at the Morro Bay Yacht Club.

One last thing to mention, thank you Ethel for running so wonderfully. We tested you and you did great, even after running for 20 hours, you still were purring like a kitten. You get an A+.

Trip Stats:
Total Mileage: 128nm
Average Speed: 4.4 knots
Maximum Speed: 8.1 knots (this was when our 15 ton surfboard was surfing a following sea)
Total hours: 29.5 hours