We left Santa Cruz on Thursday morning just before 11:00 for our first overnight passage- bound for Morro Bay. Looking at the charts we were figuring it would take around 24 hours; a litle more or a little less depending on our boat speed. We timed our leaving to make sure we arrived during daylight hours... always a good idea when coming in to an unfamiliar anchorage.

Before leaving we staged everything to optimize comfort (and minimize the possibility of mal-de-mer!): I prepared some sandwiches, a pasta dinner to re-heat, made some snacks and drinks handy. Also we moved the girls into the aft cabin (where John and I normally sleep) because the motion is a bit more mellow there.

The afternoon was glorious: sunny skies, 6-7 knots under poled-out jib alone, comfortable ride. We tried out the Monitor windvane with success. The afternoon passed pretty much uneventfully and pleasantly.

Around 10:00pm the wind died and the fog descended so we just motored along with the electronic autopilot steering for us- what a great invention!

As we approached the unfamiliar harbor entrance to Morro Bay it was pretty foggy so I stood on the bow peering into the fog to spot the buoys marking the channel and calling them out to John at the helm.

We tied up to the dock at the Morro Bay Yacht Club at about 9:00 and settled in.