The day now finds us in California! But wait, isn't California palm trees, sunny weather and swimming pools? We have the sunny weather. We also have winds consistent 30-35 knots with gusts up to 40. The weather from NOAA calls for this through Thursday but with lighter winds closer to shore.

The seas have evened out with the swells only coming from the NW and when I come on watch I hoist the jib, well a partial jib and turned off the motor. We had to turn it off about 7 last evening as the direction of the wind was shifting and to keep the sail full had us very unpleasantly placed against the seas so by a unanimous vote we decided to chart a course for comfort instead of sailing. We then made sure the lines were lead so that they could be raised by one person from the cockpit.

One result of that decision placed us further off the coast, 30 miles, so when we decided to go closer to shore for lighter winds it was an all day run at a slight angle to place us 10 miles off. Again, nothing in all of this was dangerous or scary but uncomfortable. That was the mantra I was repeating over and over again to Scott who was facing the worst sea conditions he had ever be in as well as feeling sea sickness despite his Scopamine patch. I did give him an antihistamine to fight off the histamines in his system as a result of the adrenaline from the fear and one of my Mexican sea sickness pills which I think are the bomb. By night fall he was feeling much better and had come to terms with the motions of the boat and his security within her. Either that or he just knew after I pointed out his only alternative was going off the boat via a helicopter in 35+ winds off of a pitching and rolling boat or getting into our little 10ft life raft. By his 8-10 watch that evening he was "as one with the boat and seas" and actually enjoyed his watch.

Dinner at night was again Cup of Soup. While on my watch the winds were blowing the noodles off of my fork as I made attempt from cut to mouth. This combined with the wave tops being blown in on me sitting behind the wheel left me very salty.

Our charted course overnight has us moving in on our approach to San Francisco and into what NOAA states as calm seas and 10 knots of wind.