Rover

Roll and Go!

19 September 2019 | Marina Del Mar
Eric Ahlvin | Sunny and air temp in the 70's, water temp is 70
Our next leg down the coast of southern California was to Marina Del Rey. There are lots of high end marinas there, but not a lot of guest slips available. We found a slip at an LA County Park, but it couldn’t be reserved. It was 50 miles from Ventura to Marina Del Rey. We were looking at a long day with an uncertain ending so we decided to do a roll and go.

We got up before dawn, got off the dock at first light and had breakfast underway. The wind eventually increased but it was right on the nose. Our motoring speed dropped below 5 knots, so we decided to sail and put up all working sail (main, staysail and jib). We maintained better than 6.5 knots, but since we were tacking and making good about 45 degrees to our course our actual speed toward our destination was slower than motoring. But it was a lot more fun. We let Ginger (the monitor windvane) steer for a while but discovered we need some more practice in setting her up for success.

Eventually, we succumbed to the need to arrive in daylight and turned the motor back on to motorsail for a couple of hours. Boat speed stayed the same but we were able to point much closer to our destination, so it looked like we would make it by dark. Then the wind turned around, we were able to douse the sails and motored the last hour into the harbor. The locals were out racing, so we got to see some expensive racing machines on our way in. We arrived at our slip just at sunset.

The slip is in a county park in the harbor at Marina Del Rey. Not expensive and not luxurious. But it is in a great location, so we’ll stay three nights and see some sights in LA.

Our crew on the trip down from Seattle did a lot of motoring: here’s a photo for them of all the white sails set.
Comments
Vessel Name: Rover
Vessel Make/Model: Valiant 42
Hailing Port: Seattle. WA
Crew: Eric and Linda
About:
We're making a big change to a cruising lifestyle. Eric retired in 2012 after 32 years in R&D (mostly) at HP. Previous passions included flying and bicycling. Linda will retire in 2013 from Oregon State University. She's been active in Zonta, was a Scoutmaster, and is a champion baker. [...]
Extra: Linda was barrel master and Eric participated in the Jackson Street Vintners; a group of friends that made wine from 2000 to 2013
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