02-18-2010 - Update 2

02-18-2010 - Upd 2

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the great replies to the first update, Kara and I really appreciate hearing from friends and family. We're having a blast, but its always great to hear from home.

In general, we are having a wonderful time. The boat is doing great -- in fact, nothing has broken (knock on wood?) and we don't seem to have forgotten anything.

We had a great stay in Morro Bay, quite a cool spot if you've never been. The town is a cross between Moss Landing and Cannery Row -- where commercial fishing meets the tourist industry. We met some cool people, Kevin in particular who owns one of tourist boat-ride companies was very amicable.

After we rested up we started to get antsy. After our nearly wind-less sail down from Monterey, we were determined to pick up some strong NW winds and make the next jumps in better time. We left on the tail end of a small storm, in the evening, with a forecast of NW 15-25 gusts to 35 knots and thunderstorms for the night, with the goal of rounding point conception (so-called "Cape Horn of the west coast", notorious for strong winds) in the wee hours of the morning. Our sail was quick and uneventful -- we averaged 6 knots, our top speed, under jib alone and made the run to Cojo anchorage (a little spot just in the lee of point conception) by morning--just as the wind really started to pick up--weaving through the oil platforms that sprout from the ocean seemingly at random.

Cojo is a beautiful spot. It reminded me of what Santa Cruz must have looked like before buildings, roads, and crowds. Low cliffs with green hills, small groves of trees, bordered by several nice right point breaks. The wind blows offshore when NW there, and swell wraps around point conception and is quickly groomed into nice lines. We anchored 1/8 mile off of one of the surf spots, and surfed a couple of times in playful head-high surf.

Other distinguishing featurers of Cojo were the train track that ran along the cliff, which carries Amtrack passengers up and down the coast at regular intervals, accompanied by lots of horn blowing (to scare the cows off the track?) at all hours of the day and night. By far the most disturbing feature of the anchorage were two wrecked sailboats on the beach, which looked quite recent. The anchorage is unprotected against winds from the south, and it looked as if these two boats had been left to fend for themselves during recent storms. Both were un-looted, and had nearly all of their hardware and other gear still attached.

In any case, the swell started to decline and the wind lightened up, and we set off going due south for San Miguel, the outermost of the channel islands. The northern channel islands and all deserted islands and have been designated some sort of nature preserve which attempts to prevent destructive activities like rowing ashore and walking around. A closer look at our charts shows that the government has found the islands useful for various millitary exercises like target practice, and chemical dumping. We weren't sure how to interpret this information, so upon arrival at San Miguel, seeing no one and nothing around, we decided to do whatever we felt like doing and not pay much attention to the rules.

We anchored in Cuyler Harbor, which is, in our opinion, the most beautiful place we've been so far. We pulled behind a huge cliff in an emerald-green cove, surrounded by a few token palm trees and white sand beaches peppered with black rocks. Scared stiff by rumors we heard in Morro of unforecast 80 knot gusts of wind in the middle of the night screaming through this particular cove, we set two big anchors on plenty of scope.

The largest of the beaches were covered in huge elephant seals. Some of the big bulls looked like they might weigh in at around 5-600 lbs, and only some of it blubber. None were afraid of humans, they seemed, at best, curious and at worst openly hostile. They make an amazing range of noises, from monkey-howls to a kind of jackhammering noise, which took us forever to figure out. The big males swim to the base of big cliff and, focusing the sound on the cliff, make a series of coughing hickups which reflect off the cliff and boom out across the bay.

We spent three days and two nights here, spearfishing for dinner, swimming, walking on the beaches, and having a good time. The swell was forecast to jump up so we decided to weigh anchor and move to the lee (south) side of the next islands for more protection. We anchored in a few litle coves but none were as spectacular, or as well protected, as Cuyler. Surfed a left a-frame peeler that was fun. The only humans we saw the whole week we spent in these islands were a few very friendly fisherman, who sometimes shared our anchorages with us.

Culture shock -- Catalina. We sailed all night and arrived at Catalina Island for Valentine's Day weekend. Cruise ships. jet skis. million-dollar motor yachts. helocopters. water skiers. Para-sailers. Every cove filled with $30/night mooring buoys, nowhere left to anchor. We finally found somewhere to drop the hook on the E side of the island, speared a couple of fish for dinner, and resigned ourselves to the Southern California Experience.

We escaped to Dana point at our earliest opportunity, motoring the 30 miles in oily-glassy conditions. The ocean was filled with garbage. Most notably were 100's of partly inflated heart-shaped balloons, which must have escaped over-zealous attempts at romance.

Dana Point is a surprisingly cruiser-friendly harbor. A nice nook is set aside for anchoring (for up to five days), and a dingy dock is provided. We'll probably stay here till the weekend or early next week, when it looks like there is a chance for some decent wind. Next stop is San Diego!

Thanks!

John & Kara

02-01-2010 - Update 1

02-01-2010

Hi All,

So, after a week and a half of scary storms, we finally got underway. We steamed out of Moss landing into an oily-glassy bay, without a breath of wind in sight. We waited becalmed 'till around noon, when a beautiful 15 knots of NW wind sprung up and whisked us around Point Pinos in no time at all. Passing Carmel, we decided to put into Stillwater Cove for a night, as the first mate was feeling a bit seasick. Unfortunately, Stillwater Cove in winter, with 10 feet of swell, did not live up to its name. We rocked and rolled all night, and found it hard to sleep from the motion and the excitement.

The next morning, we decided that, even though there wasn't much wind on the forecast, we might as well be trying to make some progress south since it was just as rough at sea as it was at SWC. As we motored out of SWC a light NW wind sprung up and we sailed just past Pt. Lobos before the breeze promptly died around 11am. We sat becalmed, making slight northward drift until sunset, still off Point Lobos and, depressingly, still within sight of SWC. Luckily, to ease the boredom, a loose pod of whales passed us by around 1pm, getting quite close (see picture), before diving underneath us. Closest we have ever been to whales.

At sunset, a very light NW breeze developed, and we set our big light-air sail and started ghosting south at about 2 knots. We stood 3hr watches starting at 8pm, but neither of us got much sleep when off watch because the wind was so light and fickle that tacking sail changes were necessary all night. Sailing all night with very light winds, we drew just past Point Sur at dawn. We decided not to anchor at Fuller's or Wreck beach, as there was a moderate low pressure system forecast to move through that evening and neither anchorage is protected from storm winds. The wind switched to SE mid morning, and strengthened throughout the day. Close hauled, we could just about sail due south. By dusk, the SE wind had strengthened to 25 knots and the swell picked up. We tied in a reef, then another as the wind continued to pick up and night fell. Heavy rain made the first watch miserable, but no sail changes were necessary until the rain stopped around 11. Around the watch change at midnight, the wind turned W and became light, then N, then E, all light. After another night of tacks and sail changes every few hours kept both of us busy through the we hours.

Around dawn, consultation with the charts showed that the SE wind had pushed us about 40 nm offshore and at an even latitude with San Simeon, so we enjoyed a bit of downwind sailing through the morning heading due E. Listening to the weather forecast showed that a large W swell would be arriving by evening, so we decided to skip San Simeon, which is exposed to the W and SW (we had enough of rolly anchorages for the week) and head straight for Morro Bay. Unfortunately, the wind quit mid morning. Deciding whether to motor to MB, we checked our charts and guides, which both warned us about the tricky entrance to the bay when there is a large W or SW swell running. We radioed the Morro Bay Coast Gaurd, who informed us that 8-12 ft waves were breaking nearly across the harbor entrance, and that they were going to have to close the entrance by nightfall.

Of course, we caved in and fired up the motor, making about 5 knots through the glassy long-period swell. By 1pm, nice NW wind sprung up so we set all the sail we could manage and squeezed 6 knots out of Orca motor-sailing on a broad reach. About a mile outside the harbor we radioed the CG again. They sent someone down to stand on the beach and time the sets for us. They also offered to escort us through the channel on one of their 50-foot rescue boats, which we declined. We harnessed up, closed up the cabin and dogged everything down tight. As we drew near the harbor we struck the main (so we wouldn't have to worry about the jibe if the wind were swirling around Morro Rock, which is a pretty imposing geological feature.) We left the jib up, as we needed all the speed we could get against the 3 knot + current ripping out of the channel. As we arrived just outside the breakwater, a set arrived, a good 10 feet high right in the channel and looking steep enough to break. We headed the bow into it and plowed over the 3 waves at an angle, none the worse for the wear but with the adrenaline pumping. With some coaching from the CG, we made a run for it and gained the protection of the breakwater before the next set arrived. Plumes of spray were shooting over the breakwater, but just inside of it we were safe in calm water.

While we motored around the bay, checking out the scene, two people at the Morro Bay yacht club flagged us down and we tied up to get the down-low on where to anchor, public showers, etc, from two very nice people.

Morro Bay is a beautiful estuary with a quaint tourist town right on the water and lots of public facilities. We anchored just outside the channel and slept great, steady as a rock. Next morning, Sunday, Kara's sister's family came down and we spent the day exploring the town.

This morning, Sunday, we woke up early, waxed up our boards and paddled across the estuary and hiked across 1/2 mile of surreal Sahara-like sand dunes and found a fun little beach break south of the harbor entrance and had a great little surf in head high glass.

This brings us up to date, with us sitting in a little coffee/doughnut shop just off the water. So far, so good! We're going to keep going, but not until Thursday's storm passes through. Thanks for reading!

John & Kara

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This is the blogspot for Kara and John sailing the Pacific on Orca.