Seachelle Sailing

Michelle found these great LED lights at Ikea. This is 7 strands. Each strand is only 3 watts.

Tuesday 11/24 the alarm rang at 3:45 AM and we cast off at 4:15. Lights twinkled across the bay in clear morning air. A light breeze rippled the dark water. With both motors turning 2600 RPMs Seachelle slid out of the bay at just under 8 kts.

Santa Cruz harbor, our intended destination, was 80 NMs and we wanted to arrive well before dark. The forecast called for 30kt northwest winds starting around noon. The NOAA report over VHF said gusts to 45. We planned to duck into Half Moon Bay if conditions got to bad.

As we turned left out of the Golden Gate we were met with 16kt winds and 6ft seas on the nose. Our progress slowed to a bouncy 4.5kts. That would not do. Seachelle's first day in her home port would have to wait for another day.

We came about, set the sails and shutdown the motors. We dropped the anchor off the green grass beach at McNear County Park around 10:00. In a couple hours the wind, still out of the south, should become northerly and pick up dramatically.
We tried to catch up on sleep we missed that morning.

By 11:00 we had swung 180 degrees on our 20kg Delta and in the 20kt north westerly started plowing a nice furrow in the soft mud bottom. After lunch we headed north a bit to China Camp and then south past the Brothers and under the San Rafael Bridge. The wind quickly picked up to 30kts and pulled in the second reef.

Seachelle is a 2015 Lagoon 400 S2 delivered in May 2015. She is berthed in Jack London Square in Oakland California USA and enjoys sailing in the beautiful San Francisco Bay.

Seachelle's Facebook page is
https://www.facebook.com/SeachelleSailing