I last posted a blog when we were still up in Port Angeles WA. We have had a cold and less then idealistic trip south. We left Neah Bay with my three green crew Stan, Connie and Terry. Terry had owned his own boat ten years ago, but had never been offshore. Stan and Connie had never been offshore either and were near virgins to sailing. We did an over night to West Port with mild conditions, uneventful other than continued issues with fuel problems. This has been an extremely frustration problem and has persisted despite repeated fuel polishing (tank cleaning), addition of an additional filter system and many many replacement filters. In the middle of the night as soon as I tried to lay down to get a couple minutes sleep the engine would die and I would have to drain the sediment bowl, change the filter (sometimes all three) then bleed the air out of the entire system. So at one point in the night the batteries went dead from trying to start the engine. So I started the generator to charge the batteries and finally got it started avoiding an expensive tow into West Port. In West Port we tried to leave the next day but had to turn back because of huge swells and high winds right in our face(this despite mild weather predictions). It was quite a ride getting the boat back in over the bar, at times surfing the boat at 13 knots, double our hull speed. Surfing the boat requires much attention to steering to keep the boat going straight and not allow the waves to push us sideways. After a three day delay in West Port we finally got a weather window and headed out for New Port, Oregon. We again had multiple fuel issues, some heavy weather and rain. We did get some time of sun and wind which the crew enjoyed. The crew did well learning to live on little sleep and meals such as are possible to prepare underway ( minimal cooked meals on the stove to avoid pots flying across the galley). Lots of granola bars, beef jerky, fruit, can of chili or such. All of my virgin crew did well with taking their night watches. We had some pretty cold rainy nights. We were lucky to find a slip in Newport, Oregon at a four star hotel marina. The crew enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Also the town is a little historic port so they had time to stroll around, explore and relax. Meanwhile I continued to work on fuel filtering, running the engine for long periods trying to be pro active. I was having trouble with the starter solenoid and ended up rebuilding the starter. Later I was finally able to find a new one, so now had a spare. This seems to fix the problem, I started the engine repeatedly without fail. We finally got a weather window to leave New Port and headed down to Winchester Bay (twenty miles north of Coos Bay. At this point it became apparent that I would have to replace the whole starter as the problem returned and now needed an alternator to boot. I had a spare alternator on the boat and took all three items back up 50 miles to Newport to have them tested/rebuilt. They told me they were too old and all needed replaced. So to the tune of $750 I had a new starter and alternator. We had lost one crew member in Newport (Terry) and picked up another (Keith). Keith disappeared in Winchester Bay. I ended up having to wait for the new starter and alternator and then was once again stuck waiting for a weather window. I met a couple new friends on the dock (Miguel who might help get the boat down the Baja in December) and Jason who was starting a new venture in his life buying and fitting out a fishing boat. It is always interesting meeting folks along the way. Stan and Connie ran out of time, as I was not sure how long it was going to take to get the parts. Leiann came down to stay with me as she was already following me down the cost and was in Oregon. The coast guard had the bar completely closed the bar due to high swell and wind for days. Finally they opened it for commercial boats above 40 foot. I told Leiann as soon as they opened it for 30 and up I was heading out. Within minutes of that statement they opened it up and I headed out to cross the bar alone. As I passed the coast guard look out station they honked their horn at me. I did not know what to make of that so kept going. Then I thought I heard a siren behind me but thought maybe it was a fire truck or something. Then I looked way out over the bar and saw a huge breaking wave coming in. I tuned around and surfed it until it dissipated,, then turned again and headed out once more this time I made it out past the bar and big breaking waves. I then called the coast guard as I was in no position to call them earlier. Apparently they had thought my boat was not over the 30 foot minimum, so they were trying to stop me. They asked if I would be coming back soon and I said no I was headed to Mexico. I think they were going to give me a talking to if I returned. I made it down to Coos Bay and over the bar there without any trouble. I did some more work on the boat there and picked up two new crew members off Lat 38 magazine crew listings. We again waited for a decent weather opening and despite waiting, we still ended up with high winds and 15 foot following seas all night. Richard (one of my new crew) was a complete virgin so I could not put him at the helm in these seas, so me and Leo (my other new crew) steered thought the night making it into Crescent Bay, California. We had a couple of weird days of 80 degree weather there, which we really appreciated after being cold up north, staying two nights before heading out for Eureka, Cal. We headed out the next day for Fort Bragg, needing to get around the infamous Cape Mendocino. This time our weather report was a little better. It had predicted 15 to 18 knots, but we ended up with 22-24. One we got around the point things calmed down a bit and we made it into Fort Bragg at 4am. We waited for daylight and then navigated the bar and narrow channel in without issue. We spent two enjoyable days there. Leo left the boat here. I picked up another crewmen, Wes and we headed out the next day. From Fort Brag we day sailed down to Bodega Bay (just north of San Diego) and anchored over night and headed our early the next morning. On our way across the San Francisco delta bar we saw many Humpback whales breaching out of the water and ended up hitting one! At least that is the best explanation we could come up with. We had whales all around us and were in 300 foot of water. We were motoring along at 7 knots. All of a sudden it was as if we hit a sandbar, knocking our speed from 7 to 2. We put the boat in neutral and looked in the water for a log or something. We saw nothing, not blood, nothing. So a whale seems to be the only explanation. The boat seemed ok so we continued on to Half Moon Bay. We took on fuel in the morning and continued onto Monterrey. On the way we once again hit another whale. Exactly the same scenario, seeing nothing in the water, broad daylight, 300 feet of water, bringing the boat to a near full stop at 7 knots, motoring. We continued on to Morro Bay and planned a haulout to inspect the bottom as now we had a problem with the steering, later we discovered the second strike broke the rudder upper bearing. We hauled the boat the next day and to our relief the underside looked fine. There was paint missing at the front and bottom of the keel. We could see where the rudder had slammed back against the hull and knocked some paint off the bottom of the boat. The next day I cut the bottom of the cockpit out so that I could access the upper bushing. As it turned out the plywood that the upper bushing was attached to was dry rotted. This may have been a good thing as it allowed the rudder to move rather then break. We spent two days rebuilding the bushing with epoxy and fiberglass. After the repair was completed it was now much stronger then before. Hopefully it will last another forty years! We really enjoyed Morro Bay, despite the repairs, but if you have to fix your boat, nice to do it in a picturesclittle port town. We then headed out to get around the last of the capes going south, Cape Conception. It is at this point that the coast line turns east and the coast line becomes very dry and the temps warm up. We spent the night in a little protected anchorage around the point called Coho. Very early (4 am) we were up and headed for Ventura. We took off our sweatshirts and enjoyed a very nice sunny sail down the coast. As we passed Santa Barbra I was still amazed that the coast line was still barren of houses. The mountains come right up to the coast and Santa Barbara sits right on the edge with the only access to the town being up or down the coast. I never expected to see a place in California without houses but the California coast is surprisingly barren of trees and houses once you get around Cape Mendocino all the way down to Ventura and Oxnard. These are the first large buildings you see coming down the coast from San Francisco. And even in San Fran you cannot see the city from the sea so the coastline still looks very barren. We spent spent a couple days in Ventura before heading out to Santa Catalina Island. We day sailed to Catalina 70 miles arriving in the north of the island in the dark. The coast of the island has mooring balls all along it and coming in in the dark was a little confusing trying to find our way. We found a mooring ball and bedded down for the night. Early the next morning we took off for Avalon Bay in the south of the island. Avalon was (is)) the play ground for the rich and famous. Back in the roaring twenty's the Wrigley's family (as in gum) owned the island and had a famous theater built specifically for the invention of talking movies. Lots of history here of lavish parties back in the day. Most movie stars make it over to Catalina at some point. Leiann jumped on the Catalina Express and came over for a few hours. We wandered the town, had a nice dinner together and I put her back on the boat to Long Beach. After two nights in Avalon we set sail for San Diego, arriving just before dark. Leiann met us at the dock, having already paid for a slip for us. Wes had stayed over in Avalon as he did not make it back in time to catch the last water taxi. He met us in San Diego after he took the ferry over. Leiann had an Airbnb rented so last night we spent the night together after leaving the boys at the boat. I have a couple things to do to the boat before leaving for Ensenada. The crew is leaving the boat so it looks like I will be making the trip down to Ensenada alone. It’s only 60 miles so a day sail. I will put the boat in the Marina Hotel Coral and then take a bus back up to meet Leiann in Diego and then we will drive our car down. That is so we will have a car to run errands as I plan to do some work on the boat. We plan to have the boat at the hotel for a month, chill by the pool and just relax after a long trip south. In December we plan to rent a little house (casita) while we put the boat on the hard and paint it. Then somewhere around mid December I will sail down the Baja to La Paz and Leiann will fly down to meet me. We will get rid of the car before I leave Ensenada as we will not need it in La Paz. The plan at this point is to rent a little casita in La Paz, have the boat in the marina and be able to take it out on sails to the nearby islands for the season. Then put it on the hard for the summer as we head back to the US to see our grand kids and return the following winter to La Paz. Well at least that is the current plan. Stay tuned.