6/28-30 Blog

Bodega Bay, 60 miles from San Francisco

Whew, what a couple of days! We left Brandon, OR two days ago, on Tuesday. We traveled all Tuesday, then overnight, and refueled in Eureka, CA, on Wednesday morning. We had planned to refuel in Newport since we were across the aisle from the fuel dock, but we delayed and it had closed by ten minutes when we departed. That ten minutes caused a 2 hour detour: lesson learned. We traveled all night Wednesday night and crossed into California sometime early Thursday morning. Yippee!

We knew that a bad storm would hit on Thursday and Friday and continue through Tuesday since it had been predicted for many days. We figured that travel past Friday would be impossible, so tried to gain southing when we could. All in all, we made great time, even with the two hours we had to dedicate to re-fueling in Eureka.

On Thursday mid-morning, the wind and seas began. I was completing my morning shift and Conni was asleep below when it started to get rough. And that ended her beauty sleep, although she's beautiful enough! We were already in CA and wanted to hurry southward. The wind was from the Northwest, as were the seas, thankfully. We had steady 20-25 kt winds with gusts to 30 kt, and 10-12 ft seas. What a ride! To look behind the boat and see waves considerably above your head is quite an experience. The autopilot simply could not handle the needed rapidity of response and tended to oversteer, and so we had to hand steer. We were making a steady 7 kts with bursts of up to 8 kts. That's fast. As we blasted down the coast, we had to be very careful about getting out of control since that much wind and sea could do a lot of damage very quickly. After some muscle, we were able to get the main down and roll the jib to a bit smaller than the second reef. With that tiny bit of sail showing, we still had boat speeds into the high 7's but we were able to manage the boat more easily. We carried on with that for several hours, until we had to make a turn into Bodega Bay.

Naturally, the seas and wind were more toward shore and we had let ourselves get too close to shore as we were enjoying the beautiful California shoreline. Bodega Bay lies behind a 3-mile-long hook of rock, with the mainland uniting with the hook to form a relatively sheltered north-facing "U". All of the protective rock is high cliff with shoals at the base, a most uninviting and dangerous entrance in seas from the northwest. Big waves tend to get steeper and higher as they reach shallower water. The seas and wind wanted badly to push us into the cliff! After an hour of careful work, we had gained enough sea room to safely be outside of the rock. With both of us in the cockpit, we were able to locate the entrance buoy and negotiate the tricky entrance into the harbor. Even here at the dock, the wind is still screaming in the rigging and it's possible that we'll be here until Tuesday before we can get into San Francisco.

We're both so sore and tired that I wonder if we'll even have dinner (we did not). The cats did very well, being able to walk around in these conditions and not puke. They're simply amazing creatures. At 18 (very old by human standards), to change their lives so completely and learn to get their sea legs is unbelievable. In all of the past few day's hubbub with weather, nary a drop of cat puke has appeared. When we finally got tied up at the Bodega Bay slip, Conni and I both walked as if drunk, our natural sway causing problems when our world became stable. The cats, too, also show this funny sway and I'm sure that it's disconcerting for them. Poor old Spiff was standing on the saloon bench, swaying like an old mariner, and I suppose that he qualifies.

Before walking to the harbor master's office to pay for the night, Conni made the revelation that this might our last evening alone on the boat for Leg 2! She's right! If we get to San Fran tomorrow, that's it. We start dismantling the boat and preparing for work and storage. Of course, I'll have to come back down to get some tasks done.

PS. 7/1, Friday, Bodega Bay Marina

The winds have died in the harbor, but not outside. The same conditions prevail and we're bagging the thought of getting to SF before next week. Ahh, reframe! We'll have Conni's dad, LaVerne, fetch us on Saturday, and we'll spend the holiday with him in Oakland. Sleeping on land will be a new experience! Today, we'll get this poor nasty boat clean. We've had no chance to do that kind of domestic chore and she's a pit inside and out. I can clean her topsides, get some engine work done, perhaps some varnishing, and Conni will work below. I playfully chided her about her poor arrangement of cabinet contents since EVERYTHING in every cabinet looks as if it were just dumped from a bucket. With the boat slewing around and rolling in the big seas, order slid into disorder and it all must be made usable again. Cruising boats look like crap because, offshore, there is no time to devote to doing that kind of maintenance. Walking the boat each day to check for problems is extent of that.