450 NM'S on Spirit of Adventure

The following is a log of a sailing trip aboard my sailboat Spirit of Adventure.   It was an adventure that I had been planning for several years.   Over the past few years, I have had two knee replacements and have almost died as a result of two pulmonary embolisms.  At 74 years old,  I slowly have recovered and with the approval and clearance from a half dozen doctors, another adventure begins.   

Saturday, 8/17/2019-  For almost two weeks before today, I had spent many hours getting Spirit of Adventure ready for this trip.   I had installed a Katadyn water maker that miraculously converts salt water to fresh drinking water.   At four gallons per hour, we had no fear of running low on water.  The non-skid on the boat had also all been repainted and my 34 ft 1972 Islander sloop looked almost brand new again.   All of the wood on the boat had recently been painted with ten coats of varnish.   Diana (my trustworthy first mate (and my sister) arrived and we provisioned the boat for a two week trip.  

The plan-  If you refer to three of my earlier blogs (Sailing California's Cape Horn Parts 1-3) you will see that my friend Al and I had attempted going to Morro Bay and although we didn't make it quite to Morro Bay, we still had a grand adventure.   One thing I learned from that trip is that it is very time consuming to sail north along California's coast.   The wind, currents and (I believe) even God are against you.   My plan for this trip was to motor the 100 miles to Santa Barbara and then after a few days motor again the 120 miles to Morro Bay.   I may attempt to sail north again in the future but at this time motoring is my preferred way of doing it.   Note- With the completion of this trip, I have passed by Point Conception (The Cape Horn of the West Coast) FOUR times.   I no longer fear Point Conception but I have a very healthy respect for that part of our ocean.   On with the log.

Sunday, 8/18/2019-  Diana and I readied the boat for a morning departure but as we planned, we had no schedule because schedules are only to be broken more often than not.   We motored over to the fuel dock and filled our main tank (27 gal) and two five gallon diesel containers.   Then turned right once past the breakwater.   It was a beautiful clear day with almost no wind and a clear blue ocean.  We motored north at 5.3 knots.   To say that we were both excited would be an understatement.   We relaxed, made lunch and later dinner and just talked into the night.   Diana finally said that she was going to "rest" until I called her for her watch.   Now we have sailed together for quite a few years and so we don't set formal watches or times when we are tending to the boat and the other boats and islands that could get in our way.   I had turned on the radar when the last light of the sun had slid into darkness.   I also put a four nautical mile "guard zone" on so that if anything came within that zone,  an alarm would sound.   At about midnight, we left the Rancho Palos Verde cliffs and headed across the vast Bay of Los Angeles.   As we later neared the gap between the Channel Islands and the mainland, our boat speed slowed to just a bit over two knots.   The southern running ocean currents along here almost brought my boat to a stop.   The wind and the southern current almost stopped my boat even though my RPM's read 2,200 all of the time.   Diana and I switched watches and I believe one time I got 2.5 hours of rest.   What a nice sister.

Monday, 8/19/2019 - 8/22/2019- After motoring for almost 23 hours straight, we pulled into the Santa Barbara Marina.   I had spoken via telephone, to the Harbor Patrol office and they had assured me that we would have a slip for the three nights we were going to stay.  We arrived about an hour sooner than I had projected.     Diana and I both slept once we had checked in and got our slip.  We were in the middle of quite large fishing boats and unsightly at first, we soon enjoyed these young hard working fisherman and their boats.    Mary rode the train up to Santa Barbara and I met her around 11:00am the next day.

Diana (First mate & sis) & Captain Don

  We walked the few short blocks back to her hotel and after dropping off her bags, we were soon on the boat having a great salad lunch that Diana had prepared.  
Mary and I both love Santa Barbara and it was great to show Diana around the beautiful town.   We visited the Sterns Warf, the Mission and had a great lunch downtown at the Benchmark Eatery.  This day that Mary was there we all walked seven miles each.

Thursday 8/22/2019-  Mary had left, on the train back home,
and Diana and I were planning on leaving SB this morning.  I took a walk over to the Harbor Patrol and inquired about the weather north of Santa Barbara.   The evening winds were predicted to be 30-40 knots and the sea swells were predicted to be 10 feet or more.   The following day (Friday) was much calmer and the sea state was more friendly.  We chose to stay one more day.


Friday 8/23/2019-  We awoke early and were motoring out of the Santa Barbara marina by 8:30 AM.  Coming up from Los Alimitos had been rough and Diana had been sick part of the way.   I was amazed at how she was looking forward to this part of our trip.   I stuck to my plan and motored north past Point Conception and onward past Vandenberg Air Force Base.   The seas were not calm but the worst thing we had to contend with was large ocean swells of ten feet or more.  The wind was light so motoring was once again, our best option.   Night watches can sometimes seem extremely long and at one point, I had only been on watch for an hour.   Diana had gotten up and I told her I was really tired and asked her if she could take over.   She didn't question me but just took over her watch 1.5 hours early.   I slept until almost midnight and awoke quite refreshed. 

Chart Plotter showing information.

During night watch, the radar is always on and the guard zone and the AIS  kept us from running into other ships or land.   When we are on watch, we can read,  take short ten minute naps, sit outside under the stars, and most often we sit and watch the miles click off on the chart plotter.   Time at night seems to go either very slowly or very quickly.  Sometime after midnight and around Point Arguello, our speed picked up and we were cruising along at 5.5-6.5 knots.   The ocean was like glass and there was no stopping from traveling at such a high rate of speed.   During Diana's watch, she once awoke me stating that we were about to hit "287". I hurried to the chart plotter and smiled as I explained to her that "287" was the depth of the ocean at that point.  I was so pleased that instead of her not waking me, she erred on the side of caution and awoke me.  Some friends ask me if I ever become afraid when out in the ocean.   I have never been afraid whether day or night or going from mainland to Catalina or on a crossing from Hawaii to San Francisco.   I don't believe I have ever seen Diana afraid, except maybe when we almost hit 287.   Early the next morning, she awoke me again and said that there were things with lights on them directly in our path.
These were small oil islands and as numerous as they were, we surely could have hit one of them.

I took the watch and let her sleep until we arrived at Morro Bay.

  One note is... On my chart plotter, it looks at our current speed and the distance to our next port and estimates the time we will arrive.   At one point, we were estimated to arrive a t 5:21 AM.   Now I have been to Morro Bay maybe five times but I have never entered the port from the ocean.  There is a bar (not the drinking type) at the entrance and there are often breaking waves at the entrance to the harbor.   I knew that the harbor patrol went to work at 6:30 AM so I slowed Spirit of Adventure down until my estimated time to arrive was 7:00 AM.   We arrived at 7:05 AM and when I called the Harbor Patrol, they said that the entrance into Morro Bay was clear of fog and very little breaking waves.   We glided into the channel and after a quick phone call to the Morro Bay Yacht Club, we were assigned to a mooring ball (#2).   I had told the yacht club member that my sis and I would be sleeping and would be over to pay for the mooring ($20/night) sometime that afternoon.   She understood and agreed.

 

Saturday 8/24-8/25-  Now some say that Morro Rock is just a big rock, or a small mountain but this is the remains of a volcanic plug in the middle of a (you guessed it) a volcano.   Part of the love of Morro Bay has to be Morro Rock.   It greets you when you are miles out to sea and  Morro Rock seems to catch your attention no matter where you are in town.   It has been written about, painted and certainly is one of the most photographed features of Morro Bay.   I believe it is beautiful.

For the next two days, Diana and I slept in, took our inflatable to shore and just wandered this quaint part of our California coast.   Diana spent a lot of time (but not much money) in the famous Shell Shop.   We walked the length of Morro Bay several times and at one point we had lunch at The Coffee Pot.   I introduced Gordon (the owner) to my sis from Colorado and he gave her a hug and a mug.   She proclaimed her egg omelette the best she had ever eaten.  

Monday 8/26 - Wednesday 8/28- Heading home-  I had hoisted aboard our inflatable, flipped it over on the forward deck, covered it with it's cover and the strapped it all down for the ride back South.   Before leaving Morro Bay, on Monday morning, we stopped by the fuel dock and topped off our main tank with diesel.   It had only used a 1/2 tank coming up from Santa Barbara and so I was pleased to only spend a bit over $10 for fuel for the trip home.   We headed out early into the foggy morning and with the lack of any wind, we motored South.   It was foggy but beautiful.

Morro Bay Sea Otters

Morro Bay thousands of sea birds

We had only gone about five miles when the engine sputtered to a stop.  I could tell immediately that we had a fuel problem and after quickly removing my primary fuel filter and the plastic bowl that is attached to the bottom, I was sure that we had bad or "dirty" fuel from Morro Bay.   I would start the motor, it would run for 10-15 minutes and then get clogged.   Luckily the wind came up and we sailed.   My desire from the beginning of the trip was to sail and we cruised along at rip roaring speed of 5 plus knots.   I have been asked many times how I could travel in my boat at only a bit over walking speed.   I remind them that 5 knots times 24 hours is n 120 miles.   120n miles is a good distance in 24 hours and I (we on this trip) can eat, sleep, read, listen to music and just enjoy our time while traveling at this speed.   The next morning we tacked (turned) and headed along the West coast of Santa Cruz Island.   Diana and I had spent many weeks on Santa Cruz Island in previous years and I really wanted to spend a few days in one of it's beautiful coves.  Diana and I have always loved snorkeling but it was not to be this year.                                                               We traveled just outside of the shipping lanes and were passed by many large cargo ships.   I imagine my small sailboat to be like a rabbit crossing the freeway.  My AIS always warned me of them passing and the possibility of us colliding but we managed to miss all of the large ships.    Just before sunset, we passed Anacapa Island and as the sun sat behind the island, it glowed like a magnificent jewel.  

Anacapa Island
Channel Islands

                                                       As you may remember, our motor faltered off and on most of this day and night.   We sailed in light winds until after midnight and then my sister and I discussed our options.   We could just lay adrift in shipping lanes until morning when wind might reappear.   Diana was ready to stand her watch when I suggested another option.   We could get towed if we could find some Boat US towboat that would come out in the middle of the night.   I pay annually for unlimited towing from Boat US.   After only a short while, the dispatcher found a boat out of Channel Islands who would come down and tow us further south to our port of Los Alimitos.   I had been towed before when I came up from Mexico with a diesel tank of bad fuel and again when my alternator died on our way North in my second part of Cape Horn with Al.   The two pilots arrived at 4:00AM and quickly took us into tow for Los Al.   One of the Boat US pilots told us to go to sleep and catch up on some rest.   We arrived in our slip at 10:30 AM the next morning and the captain was well rested.
Note- While there was not much I could do about the bad (dirty) fuel, it was easy to discern where I had gotten the bad fuel.   Before Morro Bay, the engine had run beautifully for over 24 hours at one point just before Morro Bay.   After refueling and within a short distance, I had a terrible running engine that would run for no more than ten minutes at a time.   After returning to Los Al,  I purchased a pump that would re-cycle my diesel fuel and run it back through a newly purchased filter that separates gunk and water from the fuel.   I ran this pump/filter assembly for several hours and cleaned or polished my diesel fuel.   My engine again ran beautifully.   I will  1) run all new fuel into my tank through my newly purchased filter and if somehow I find I have dirty fuel, I can polish (clean) my fuel while out to sea.  I learned another important lesson.

Our final log read that we had sailed/motored over 450 nautical miles (not counting the towing).  We had loved all parts of our trip and my goal of showing my sister Santa Barbara and Morro Bay had been gloriously achieved.   This had been my sister's and my longest trip and My wife Mary had even been able to join us in Santa Barbara for two days.

My sis and best first mate...Diana
Love you Sis!

PS- After being towed by the two great young men, I mentioned that my sis and I are both in our 70's and that we are still sailing on trips like this 450 nm trip to Morro Bay.   They were amazed and congratulated us.   As they departed, they both shouted back at us..."STAY YOUNG!!"   All I can say is, we will do our best.

Note- For my Yellow Brick track of this great trip, please click on the following link...

https://my.yb.tl/Spiritofadventure


Note #2- After returning to my slip in Los Alimitos Bay I found (online) a way I could polish (clean) my own fuel at sea or in my slip.   This is a two part system where the pump (orange suit case) siphons the fuel from my tank, then pumps it back into the tank through a good filter (see the round black filter in the upper right) which separates, water and particles which could contaminate the fuel going into my engine.   I ran this for several hours while moving the siphon hose around the bottom of my fuel tank.   After replacing the primary fuel filter, the engine started immediately and gave me no more trouble.   After this (also) I promised myself that wherever I bought fuel, it would get run through the filter before going into my tank.

Sailing California's Cape Horn Part 3

"Rounding Pt. Conception is not for a novice sailor and not for the faint of heart. The weather is very unpredictable and can go from a near flat calm to 30+ knots in the time it has taken me to type the foregoing sentence."  SV- Brave Heart

"Seaworthy" means that the boat will withstand at least the kind of wind conditions you are likely to encounter, eight feet of solid water over its deck, and will right itself from any position. Check your rigging and possibly replace the older swaged end-fittings on the cables, before you make that trip." 

"Two destroyers received minor damages, while five maneuvered away from danger. The estimated loss of Government property was $13 million. Twenty-three sailors perished in the worst, peacetime accident in U. S. Navy history."  Sept 8, 1923 Rounding Point Conception

"All these warnings having been said, that coastline is one of the places I love the best. It is pure raw Nature. It will be a trip to remember for a lifetime."

6/19/2016-  All of the above comments or reports have come from sailors who have rounded Point Conception as we are about to do.   For some reason, I like the harder path or some would say, the path less traveled.   In 2010, I volunteered to crew and help bring a sailboat from Hawaii to San Francisco.   Going to Hawaii can be much easier and yet, I chose the challenge of returning.   In 2013, I did the Baha Ha Ha quite well knowing that the return from Cabo would be quite difficult.   They call it the Baha Bash because for days my boat would tack back and forth against the wind, currents, swells and waves sometimes making less than fifty miles in twenty-four hours.   As Al and I rounded the southern tip of Santa Cruz Island, just after midnight, we began to enter the effects of Point Conception.

I awoke just before we entered the channel between Anacapa Island and Santa Cruz Island.   We had been sailing steadily all day and much of the night but we thought it best to both be awake as we passed through this channel and rounded Santa Cruz Island heading north.   It was interesting because as we sailed close to Anacapa, the winds were fairly strong.   Then as we turned and headed toward Santa Cruz Island first we encountered an almost calm and then quite strong winds after rounding.   At daybreak, we single reefed the main and rolled in a part of the jib.   We were able to just sail, close hauled, just barely off of the wind.   It was slow sailing, but we were headed where we wished to go.   

The wind was blowing at about 15 knots sometimes gusting into the 20's.   Santa Cruz Island was beautiful as the morning sunlight highlighted the coves and cliffs rising from the sea.   I had seen this coastline many times and just last summer my sis (Diana) and I had spent a bit over a week tucked into one of these rugged coves.   Snorkeling here is some of the best in all of California.   

Santa Cruz Island

As Al and I cut across the top of Santa Cruz Island, the motor was running to hopefully charge my batteries from the night before.   I noticed that the batteries were not charging but draining.   Oh well, we had fine wind (20-30 knots) and so we will do what a sailboat does best.  Sail.




Now in most sailing conditions, Spirit of Adventure is a dry boat inside.   On our trip up from Cabo, the leaks were amazing.   A perfectly dry v-berth would become a rain forest.   Similar conditions were happening now.   I had left my dorade (a vent for allowing air below decks) on the forward deck thinking that my dinghy would cover it and help keep out the water.   Well, it leaked!  I would be trying to sleep in the forward bunk and with the boat bouncing around and off of the swells and waves, it was like trying to sleep on a trampoline with my two granddaughters bouncing, to give grandpa a fun ride.   Now add an occasional cup, or more, of water dripping down on your bare feet, blanket or head and eventually making your mattress like a big sponge and you get the picture.    We eventually put down the galley table which also makes into a bunk.   One of the first nights that we did this, I had just gone onto my watch and was sitting in the cockpit when I heard a pretty loud thump and heard Al making different noises than he usually does when he sleeps.   I hollered down at him and he was getting up off of the floor.   He had been pitched clear off of the bed.  One would lay on the bunk and try to sleep.   When you would feel yourself starting to go airborne your hands would clasp, tightly, anything nearby.   Eventually, we both learned to tie ourselves into the bunk with our life jackets on and our safety harness (attached to the life jacket) safely clipped to some hinges that were used for the table.  This worked, mostly.  On the way back home, I had just awoken and was ready to go on watch.  I was sitting on the edge of the table/bunk when the boat pitched me backwards. The back of my head struck the book cubby where I keep all of the "How to sail, repair and have fun" books.   When I sat back up, I put my hand on the back of my head and it came back covered with blood.  (You'll remember that blood is one of the factors that make for a great sailing adventure.)  A wetted bunch of paper towels helped to stop the flow of blood and soon I was out of the cabin to stand my watch.   Did I say that the motion of Spirit of Adventure was pretty wild.   One last note about this... Al and I both grew "accustomed" to this motion and were usually able to move around the boat with ease.   It was not until we got to our hotel rooms that walking, sleeping, showering and almost all movement became difficult.   They call them "sea legs" and it takes a few days for the land to stop moving after a grand sailing trip.   We both commented on how much easier it was to move around the sailing boat than it was our hotel room.

This is my friend Al who "enjoyed" this adventure with me.

Ok... my family and some well meaning friends have wondered if this Sailing California's Cape Horn is ever going to come to an end.   I am working on the Youtube video which will accompany these writings but it takes awhile for me to put it together.   Thank you for taking the time to read this.   Just know that it is easier to read this than to do the trip.   Love you all.

HERE IT IS... This is the link to some video I got of the trip.   Thanks again to my wife and Al, a fellow adventurer!

Just click here... https://youtu.be/Z93PG3Anl24

Sailing California'a Cape Horn Part 2

Sunday, June 26th- 1:19 PM

We are still some 80 miles from Shoreline Marina in Long Beach and the Spirit of Adventure is sailing herself fairly rapidly toward home.   Al is resting in the cockpit and I am sitting at my homemade table reflecting on this trip past Point Conception.    I must begin this log with extreme gratitude and love for my wife Mary.   You see we had planned on a four day trip to Morro Bay to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary.    My planning sounded good to both of us, as I was to leave two and a half days before her and I would take Al along as crew.    We had reservations at our favorite place in Morro Bay, right on the water.   She was bringing the golf clubs and we planned on spending time together while Al stayed on the boat and explored Morro Bay with my dinghy (a small inflatable boat with an outboard motor).  

I also owe Al a bunch of gratitude for all of the help and enthusiasm  he gave me.   Al has a much nicer boat than I do and had been planning some off-shore sailing since I first met him in 2013.   As I shared with Al my idea to sail up to Morro Bay, past the Channel Islands and Point Conception (considered the Cape Horn of California) he told me that he would like to "rough it" and go with me.   Al has always impressed me as being a great guy and actually, I needed a crew person.   Now personally, I love Spirit of Adventure and quietly overlooked his comment about "roughing it."   I finally decided that his boat was just a lot nicer than mine.   I learned a lot from Al on this trip.   Thank you Al.

Track of the Spirit of Adventure
Can also be found at https://my.yb.tl/Spiritofadventure

A note about the above chart of our path-  The map/chart was made with my YB tracker.   It sent out a signal every three hours showing my position and the speed I was traveling.   To drive to Morro Bay or to motor in a boat covers about 240 miles.   As you can see, our path up there was anything but straight and we actually sailed over 400 nm going north.   If you go to the website listed above under the picture, you can actually put your curser on each of the dots and see the date, time and speed we passed that point.

6/17/2016 Friday-  Shoreline Marina, Long Beach
As always, there is always more to do than time to do it all.   Earlier, I had filed a "float plan" with Mary and with my good friend Fred of Later Gator fame.   Fred has had my back on other adventures and I can always count on him to help if he can.   He is another sailor that Mary can contact and discuss "what to do" if I go missing.   Al and I pumped up the dinghy and checked out the outboard motor by taking a small cruise around the marina.   As we were mounting the dinghy on the bow of Spirit of Adventure a neighbor boater walked by and said that he had a cover for my dinghy that he had never used.   After a brief negotiation on the price, the dinghy was covered and lashed to the front deck of my boat.   Al had purchased ten gallons of diesel fuel and we lashed that to the side deck on the boat.   Fuel and water had been topped off earlier.   I had cooked and frozen a meal at home, the night before, and it was stowed in the freezer.   Al made one last trip to the grocery store and we were ready.   Al passed Mary in the parking lot and didn't even think twice when she said she would be praying for us both.   As we cast off lines and departed, our friends on AA dock wished a bon voyage.    As we headed out into the ocean,  the weather was beautiful, but with no wind.   Spirit motored on throughout the night with Al doing the lion's share of standing watch.

6/18/2016 Saturday-  Early Saturday morning (before sun up) we decided that we had wind and began sailing.   Now for at least a week before our departure I had been following the wind patterns on a website and it had showed that the wind should be out of the south, which would have been great.   That wind should have pushed us north for the whole trip.   The winds were not out of the south, but were out of the north-west.   As we tried to sail, early this morning, we kept getting headed more south than north.   At 11:00 AM we tacked and headed toward Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands.   Our plan of sailing outside of the Channel Islands was scrapped for now.    Sailing was great today and just before midnight, we could see the channel between Santa Cruz and Anacapa Islands and except for a brief period, we sailed easily through the darkness between the islands.  

Note about Spirit of Adventure-  Spirit has some neat equipment that helps us sail through the darkness and to know where we are going.   One is our Garmin chart plotter which is similar to that some of you have in your cars.   This shows us where we are and where the islands are.   It can tell us how far we are from the islands with great precision.   Spirit also has radar.   This sends out a signal which bounces off of whatever is out there around the boat.   It can detect islands, other ships and even some smaller things in the path of our small boat.   In Mexico, I kept seeing these small "dots" on the radar which later were identified as the small floats on the fisherman's crab pots.   It also has something called a "guard zone" that I can set, usually at four nautical miles around Spirit,  and an alarm will sound if anything enters that space.   Lastly, my radio has something called AIS (Auto Identification System) that will track the ships that are in our vicinity.  It also will sound an alarm if we are on a collision course with another ship.    I will refer to our use of this in Part 3.

Thank you for reading along with us on this trip.   

Sailing California'a Cape Horn Part 1

6/30/2016-  What is an adventure?   I seem to be getting a small band of friends who question "why?"  I seem to enjoy my sailing adventures.   One such friend told Mary that it must be hard to be married to Indiana Jones.   I admit, while I am out at sea and even getting banged around (Where did that gash in my head come from?) Mary (my amazing wife) is the real one to be praying for and concerned about.        Remember, my boat is called, "Spirit of Adventure."   The name for my boat came to me in 2013 while visiting Disneyland of all places.   We were in the Lincoln Center and a wall was filled with statues of many of the things that make Americans great.    Standing at the wheel of a schooner was a weathered sailor battling the elements.   The title beneath read, Spirit of Adventure.   It was one of the things that make Americans great and instantly became the name of my boat.

In reflecting on "why?",  I have to think about the adventures I have seen in the movies.   It seems that these good looking, young people (yes, girls have adventures also) are somehow drawn to the challenge.   For many it is financial gain or an attempt at fame.

Point Conception Lighthouse

I can think of the great adventure movies that I have seen and reflect on my small attempts at adventure.   Now those who have done these fictitious adventures, usually don't come back rested.   Most of the time I come home completely spent.   At 71 now, I am usually a bit more than spent.   These adventurers on the big screen,  also tend to get beat up.   My boat was tied up in Port San Luis in a calm harbor and as I made ready to go ashore and meet Mary, I cut one of my shins twice and the other one once.   Not deep, but bloody.   Mary almost fainted when she saw my feeble attempt at bandages and blood running down one of my legs.    A true adventure, in my mind must have exhaustion, trials and blood (but not too much of the last).    The other two elements that come to mind now are amazing, unbelievable events and the very strong sense of accomplishment upon completion.    On this last trip, two whales heading north, passed our small boat, heading south, and were no more than 20 feet from the rail of Spirt of Adventure.   As the smooth grey back of the whale surfaced, both Al and I exclaimed that seeing them up close, was worth the whole trip.

I too am drawn first into the idea of the adventure.   These ideas, some would call dreams, have been stored for years. As a young teacher of gifted elementary school children, I would assign them a paper based on them sailing around the world.   Where would they leave from and what ports would they see traveling at about 100 miles a day?   They learned the ocean currents that would speed them up or slow them down.    My first small sailboat followed during those years.

When I ask myself, "Why?"  I am slow to answer, but usually smile and say something like, "Because I can."

Sailing With David & Katy

5/28/2016-
David and Katy arrived at the boat with lunch at around 11:30 AM.    We decided to ready the boat and then eat lunch before departing.   The boat had been checked out on a sail two days previous so all went well with preparation.   After lunch we left the slip.

David took the helm right out of the slip and after a very brief amount of instruction he used the tiller like a champ.   After Katy and I put up the mainsail, we headed South and soon had the jib out and all sails working great.   As we sailed, sharing came easy and the words and stories came as smoothly at Spirit of Adventure sailed.   David and Katy exchanged the tiller several times as we headed South.   We saw some seals frolicking around an anchored ship, but no dolphin or whales were spotted.   Katy finally gave the tiller back to David so that she could enjoy telling stories.   I saw pictures of some of Katy's wood carvings and I was totally blown away with her art.   She will surely take some awards at the Orange County Fair this summer.

The hours slipped by with about 10-15 knots of wind, blue sky and only a few 2-3 foot swells.   Soon we were back in the slip and all hands helped to get Spirit of Adventure back into "dock" mode.    All-in-all, a great afternoon of sailing.

For a brief video of our trip go to...  https://youtu.be/IgaCl1uafj0

Update on 2015 AND Sailing the Channel Islands with my sis.

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I have written a post on my blog.   I will try to catch those who follow this up on my 2015 year of sailing on the Spirit of Adventure.

New mainsail 2015

 Upon returning from Cabo this last year I contacted Precision Sails where I had bought my new sails and explained to them the beating my mainsail had taken on the trip.   They were great and explained to me that even though I thought I had bought a "cruising main" I had really just gotten a daysail main with no extras for heavier weather.   They gave me a discounted price on a new "cruising sail" with heavier cloth and reinforcement points all over it.   The also said they would repair, at no cost to me, my ravaged main and I could use that as a back up in the future.

We were all happy with this and I must say that my newness in ordering the first set of sails was probably most of the problem.   I learned and they are a great place to buy sails.

Shortly after the new main arrived, I had the boat hauled and the bottom painted.   It had only been a couple of years, but the Cabo trip back up the "bash" actually wore away one of my bottom paint layers.   I was happy to pay for this so as to ready Spirit of Adventure for some more sailing.

Channel Islands with my sis.

My sis (Diana) and I left Long Beach on Friday, June 12 @ 10:30 AM.   We headed for Santa Cruz Island for some rest and relaxation and some great sailing and snorkeling.   Our first day out was everything we asked for.   We sailed all but maybe a half hour and by sunset were headed to Anacapa Island.   During the day, as we progressed North along the coast line, we encountered many, many birds on the surface of the ocean.   They were always accompanied by 100's of dolphin.  They would briefly leave their feeding to come frolic alongside Spirit of Adventure.   We got some great pics and video.   Diana sacked out early so she could relieve me from first watch.  Just after she went to sleep, I saw the spouting of whales on the water ahead of me.   It ended up being four large humpbacks.   They were feeding deep and would come to the surface, spout and then show me their tails as they would again dive deep into the ocean.   About 9:00 PM, I decided the wind was dying and we began motoring our way North.   What a beautiful night as the motor kept the cabin toasty and the auto pilot kept us on the desired heading.  The watches rolled by easily for the both of us.   All in all, a great first 24 hours of our trip.

Morning dawned with Santa Cruz Island in sight and dead ahead of us.   The water was still very smooth and glassy.   We arrived at Little Lady's Harbor around 11:00 and found that the small cove was filled to capacity with two other sailboats.   I quickly checked the charts and found another cove called Diablo Anchorage, just South of Lady's.   It was empty and beautiful.   As we pulled into the cove, what we thought were large logs on the beach turned out to be elephant seals.   Each weighing in at 500-1000 lbs, they were magnificent.    I had stored the inflatable on the bow of my boat for the trip up and so I untied the hold-downs on it and flipped it up over the life lines.   When it hit the water, it sounded like a gun shot.  Our beach friends thought so also and scampered into the water and quickly swam out of the harbor to find quieter sleeping.   We were sad to see them go, but about four of them returned and were on the beach and rocks the following morning.

For the next six days, we relaxed, did a little boat work, made some fine meals and explored the beach area when the sea lions were out fishing.   The beach area was made up of pebbles and rocks and there was a pretty large cave that didn't extend back more than 30-40 feet.   The beach had some beautiful flowers in bloom and some fresh water.   Snorkeling was great and Diana really took to the water in her wetsuit, fins, mask and a new snorkel that I had purchased for her.  I had gotten myself a new "shorty" wetsuit which kept me warm even when diving down twenty feet under the water.   One thing happened that was kind of interesting... One day I rowed the dinghy into the beach and wanted to snorkel off of the beach.   As I rowed past the rocks where a male and female elephant seals were sunning themselves, they started "barking" or making their elephant seal noises at me.   They were quite disturbed and when I pulled the dinghy up on the beach, they got in the water and waited for me about 30 feet off the beach.   They kept barking and letting me know that they were not happy with me.   Now, my wetsuit is black, so I didn't know if they were mistaking me with a "different" kind of elephant seal or what.   I really wanted to go snorkeling so I waded into the water and hoped I could persuade them to share the water with me.   As I swam out, the smaller female swam right under me and turned and looked up at me as she passed.   They didn't bother either Diana or myself the rest of the day.   Diana's GoPro camera came in handy when mine stopped working.   I could not charge the battery and later purchased a new battery when I got back home.   The dinghy (inflatable) worked great!

My YB tracker of this trip... no, we did not sail across the land.

After a couple of overcast and windy days, we finally got some sunshine and decided it was time to leave.   We had set a bow anchor (off the front) and a stern anchor (off the back) of Spirt and as we were preparing to leave, I would row the dinghy out to the stern anchor and then pull it up and put it into the dinghy and row back to the shore.   We had the engine running and ready for departure but the anchor line decided that it would wrap itself around the propeller shaft.   It stopped the engine and prompted me going into the water, swimming under the boat and untangling the line from around the shaft.   What I thought I could do in one dive took about four or five attempts before I freed the line.     We headed North and went around the upper end of Santa Cruz Island.   The bottom of the island is rather narrow and the opposite was true with the Northern end.   The winds were great and we sailed under reefed main and partial headsail for several hours as we rounded the island and turned South.   I set the course for Santa Rosa Island.   We scurried across the channel between Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands and soon were on the South side of Santa Rosa Island.  The island was lower than Santa Cruz and seemed more wind blown.   We sailed on past the island and turned our bow toward Long Beach which was a distance of about 100 nautical miles.  

Now the name of my boat is "Spirit of Adventure" which sometimes means that we may have mis-adventure.   The wind died about an hour into sailing from Santa Rosa to Long Beach and so I furled the sails and started the engine.   The engine worked well, but the boat didn't go anywhere.   I would rev the engine and still nothing.   Well, the sea was calm so with Diana staying up on deck, I climbed into the bilge.   Immediately I could see that the propeller shaft was not connected to the transmission and had slipped backwards as to depart from my boat at the earliest opportunity.   Diana is really the best and I have related before just how well we work together.   I would push, nudge, pound and pray and finally I got the shaft into the slot and transmission collar.   The problem was that it was not far enough in to be able to secure it properly.  After several attempts at other methods, I secured the shaft with a couple of hose clamps and zip ties.   As we  s l o w l y  began to motor,  all held together and soon we were motoring at 6 knots back to Long Beach.   On hindsight, I realized that the anchor line wrapping itself around the prop shaft popped the shaft loose.   Later, in the safety of the marina I got the shaft properly seated and tightened down.

We arrived back in our slip with grins of happiness on our faces over another great adventure.    What fun we had and I can hardly wait to do some more exploring again with my sis, Diana.   Thanks for being a great 1st mate!

 

Having fun with my engine...

February 2015

Universal M25 XPB engine

Well, I know that most readers would rather be reading about some adventure I am having on "Spirit of Adventure" and that is exactly what I am going to write about.   Of all of the systems on my boat, the electrical system is at the bottom of things I know about.   Seeing all of those wires running here and there really annoys me because I have no idea where they go.   I had re-built the fresh & salt water cooling systems and seem to have figured that out, but when I found a wire dangling and not attached to anything and my engine would not start, I examined more of my engine wiring and decided it all had to be replaced.   The adventure begins.

The old wiring harness... Oh yes, my engine is under the cloth, hiding from me.

It is fairly easy (but costly) to buy the wiring harness that comes directly from the manufacturer.   The first harness sort of begins at the front of the engine with the temperature sensor and alternator then runs to the starter and finally back to the rear of the engine.   It seems like there are at least twenty wires needed to get the electrical energy from the batteries to the engine and from the engine back to the batteries.   Then you throw in my two solar panels which really are great and you have a jungle of wiring.   Well, I simply (oh yes, I can say that now) took an old wire off of the engine and found that particular wire on the harness and attached the new one where I had removed the old one.   Now, this seems simple but it involves laying on your side, kneeling on your knees for hours and even standing (sort of) on your head.   As I attached the new, I pulled the old out of the back of the engine and just knew that I was doing a great job.    The only problem was that when I got finished, I had a wire left-over that I could not remember where to attach it and also, when I began to attach my alternator to the bracket, I got sparks.   Somehow I had some wire in the wrong place.  YIKES!
Well a quick trip (with my pictures) back to the parts store soon had everything figured out and I even came away with a color coded diagram of all of the wiring harnesses that I had purchased.   FINALLY,  I can tell what all of those unknown, unmarked wires are flowing so effortlessly throughout my boat.  

Wiring the "Admiral's" panel

   The admiral's panel (their name not mine) was a lot easier to rewire due to my not having to stand on my head.   When I finished this, I plugged in all of the harnesses and decided to get the key and see if it would start.   Remember, it wouldn't start before I began re-wiring.   Well, I was so surprised when I turned on the key and the engine sprang to life and sat there running as happy as could be.   I was so happy, I called Fred (Lator Gator fame) and told him what I had just accomplished.  

Old exhaust injection elbow

New exhaust injection elbow

When I finished this, I (as an afterthought) I replaced my exhaust injection elbow.   This was a very simple job that I failed to make hard.   My one day diesel mechanic course has just paid for itself.  

Great Blue Herron watching us get our "polish" on.

                       



Last week Halee and I motored/sailed over to Los Alimitos fuel dock to get the fuel (in my tank) "polished" which means taking the water out of the fuel.   When the tank is empty, they spray diesel fuel back into the tank under high pressure and then suck out all of the "guck" that is in the bottom of the tank.   When they started sucking the first time, "Jose" alerted me to watch the clear plastic hose that was removing the "guck" from my tank.   It was pretty visible and I do believe it was the cause of some of my engine failures on our trip back from Cabo.   Well, the tank is now clean and the fuel polished so that is another job I will probably not have to do again.