Point Reyes, California.
09 June 2011 | SV LIBERATE in the Pacific Ocean
Terence Singh
For those of you who are not familiar with the time convention used here, Zulu time or GMT is used. 23:40PST. We had a little secret that is in the ships log and appears here after 700 miles under sail. A day out from Port Angeles we decided to fly the Asymmetrical Spinnaker. in light winds off Cape Flattery. All went well for a few hours until the wind built. We doused the cute with dousing sock...all well and fine....except the dousing line which is 60 feet long was trailing behind the boat....had to start the engine to head to wind to raise the main...yep....fouled the prop with the sock line! After a galliant effort by Ryan jumping overboard to cut the wrap and to no avail, I decided it wasn't that much of an issue off shore and decided to deal with it when we made land. Landing at night in an unfamiliar port is to be heeded with extreme caution, making the same port with no engine is not for the faint of heart. After many what if's and much debate with several plans of action, Ryan took the helm (what a sailor) with Chris and I watching charts and out front. Again, intimidating especially with a North West wind bringing us to shore and having to round the south western point which stands approx 200 feet tall and head up 2 miles into a bay that the pilto chart states to be filled with anchored fishing boats. Well, someone took care of us..as we rounded the Point and trhe green marker can winds shifted and carried us deep into the bay....and in a totally uninhabited Drakes bay (indeed, where Sir Francis Drake landed here in the 1500's) we sailed to our anchorage, dropped the Rocnor and all toasted our 782 Nautical mile offshore passage with a single measure of El Dorado 12 year old rum from the Captains hidden bottle. Tomorrow, I dive the prop, free it's shackles and we head to San Francisco.