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.

To Cabo and back- 2014

10/25/2014-11/18/2014- BAJA HA HA and back on Spirit of Adventure

Stats- Sailed/motored over 2,000 nm in 25 days.   We spent approximately five days at anchorages or at a slip in Cabo thus averaging 100 nm/day over the 20 days we were at sea.   My son Jason and I were the only two to sail both ways and we had Doug as crew for the trip down and Larry as crew for much of the return trip.   Jason described the trip as the best of times and the worst of times.   I totally agree but I will focus mostly on the "best" parts.

BAHA HA HA 2014 START

Pre-trip
Well this year has been a year of sailing for me.   In August of this year my son, Jason, stated that he thought he would like to sail with me in the 2014 Baja Ha Ha.   Read the previous blog about getting the crew together and it will bring you to this picture above.   The rally started on Oct 27 but we left and sailed to San Diego on the 25th.

I can't even explain how I became so engrossed in planning, buying safety equipment, getting all of the Mexican paperwork prepared and trying to cross every "T" and dot every "i".   My wife swears that I was totally absent for more than a month before departure and I would say that it was probably two months.

Sailing to San Diego was a piece of cake with only 81 miles.   We left at around midnight and managed to sail most of the way to San Diego.   Wind was light but the sky and ocean were beautiful.

Sun rise on the way to San Diego

As we slowly sailed south, we just made our self imposed deadline of getting there before dark.

The next morning was composed of Doug and myself motoring our under inflated  inflatable to the Skipper's meeting at West Marine.   Right after the meeting we beat it back to the boat and decided to have the wives (Peggy and Mary) meet us near the boat and drive us back to the afternoon party.   It was fun, but we were all really focused on getting out of there and sailing.

The top picture shows me standing at the bow and cannot even start to show the excitement that filled our boat.   Watch the Youtube video at the bottom of this and it gives you a better idea of our anticipation and relief at starting this trip.   There were a total of 170 boats registered but only about 135 actually started the trip in San Diego.   Some began from Ensenada, Mexico, after getting all of their paper work done there.   Thank God I had all of our paperwork done before leaving Long Beach.

Jason and I instantly became great friends with Doug and thoroughly appreciated his attitude and friendship.   We nick named him "All in Doug".   He was as excited as anyone and he never had to be asked to do anything.  From doing the dishes after meals to wrestling the whisker pole in the dead of night, if something needed to be done, he did it.

Communication was done with the YBtracker that I had purchased before leaving.   We could send text message type communication to our three wives and they could follow our position every six hours on a web based map.   I would highly recommend this device and will use it on all future travels.    Oh yes, there was a time on our return trip that I let the charge on the unit drop and it stopped sending for about 46 hours.   Wives were trying to figure out if we had sunk or if we had just run away with some senoritas but Mary just prayed for our safety and trusted that I was a competent sailor in a competent boat.   They were relieved to finally get our messages again and know that we were fine.

I will not go into a lot of detail except to say, watch the Youtube video when you get a chance.   You will find the link at the end of this.

You can see all of our white dinghies on the beach.

Stop 1- Bahia de Tortuga- 340 nm south of San Diego.    We loved this sleepy little Mexican town that had no paved road but was filled with friendly people who were happy to have our business.   It seems that part of their canning industry had closed down and this group arriving once a year was very welcomed.

They actually had a brand new (Astroturf) baseball field.

The Ha Ha fleet having a beach party potluck.

We were all happy with being delayed here for one extra day to watch tropical storm "Vance" and were not quite as happy to spend another day after that when Vance turned into a hurricane.   Let's just say that we had explored all parts of this town by the time we finally set sail.

Each year the locals play the fleet on a dusty dirt baseball field.   This year, they had just put in a modern, green, beautiful new field.   The game was fun as there could be as many as 15-20 people/team on the field.   Every body (even little kids) got a hit and no one kept score.   Teams come from all over to play on this field now.

Latitude 38 magazine sponsors the Baja Ha Ha every year and this was their 21st year of making this trip.


The weather had been getting slowly warmer as we headed south and it was perfect here in this beautiful bay.

One thing that has to be mentioned is how all of us in the Ha Ha were experiencing the same thing with this trip.  We bonded easily and made friends that we will probably keep the rest of our lives.   Jason and Doug were making friends and everyone loved my two favorite crew members.  

The ariel pictures were taken with a helicopter type radio controlled device with a GoPro camera attached.

During the next leg of the trip, we had some of the best sailing and highest winds.   The winds were from the rear of the boat so sailing was generally very comfortable.    The swell height ("Oh swell") was somewhere over ten feet high at times and at one point when I relieved Doug from his watch, our dinghy rode three consecutive waves up the back of our boat higher than Tor, our monitor wind vane.   As the back of my boat gently lifted, the dinghy (we were pulling the dinghy behind the boat) would stretch out on it's tow rope and get ready to do it again.

Watch system-  There is a lot written about how to do this but we settled into three watches during each night.  First watch became Doug's and was from 9:00PM to midnight.  Then came my watch from midnight to 3 AM and finally Jason's watch from 3AM till 6 AM.   For safety we ran our electronic chart plotter so that we could see exactly where we were and also we ran our radar with a guard zone of four nautical miles.   If any land, boats or ships came within 4 miles of us, an alarm was set off.   I believe and trust this system.

Stop 2- Bahia Santa Maria

Doug lowers the mainsail in preparation for anchoring.

This was a beautiful bay approximately 3/4 of the way to Cabo.   There is no town here and except for this one time a year, the bay is mostly vacant.   Our sponsors had arranged with some locals that lived a short 90 miles away to prepare food and live entertainment for our fleet.   Even with the delay due to hurricane Vance, they were there when our fleet pulled in.   Great food, music and company

Our 2014 fleet members having a great time.

Due to the delay in Bahia de Tortuga we arrived one morning and left the very next morning.   A short, but fun day on the beach.









Our next leg of the trip took us to Cabo San Lucas our final destination south.   It was the shortest of the legs and took us only a day and a half from Bahia Santa Maria.   Here are some pictures of Cabo.

Myself (left), Jason (middle) & Doug (right)

Notice our crazy friends in the background who were helping us make the picture more interesting.   We loved them all.

Enjoy the video of the trip on Youtube at-

http://youtu.be/UYeAkgM9UzQ

Three Men In A Tub

September 19-21, 2014

Shakedown Cruise To Catalina Island

After sending in my registration for the Baha Ha Ha, I listed my need for another crew member or two for the trip south.   My boat is made so that it can assist me with single handing for long distance, but Jason and I wanted to have one other person along to help us with keeping watch, especially at night.

I had a total of six others who wished to join the Spirit of Adventure and from those, I chose Doug.   Doug is a captain & pilot in the commercial airline industry and flies full time for a living.

Jason and I met Doug early in September and went out for a short day sail with him.   Even though his experience was mostly limited to harbor sailing, we instantly liked his personality and I liked the way he took the tiller of my boat and sailed the boat for almost the full time that we were out.   After him seeing the boat and meeting us, I asked him if he was still interested and he said, "I'm all in!"   From the very beginning Doug was so enthusiastic.

We quickly planned a time to go to Catalina for a few days to see if we could all get along together on a 34' boat.   We each planned a meal to make, planned our sleeping arrangements and I decided that our destination would be Little Harbor on the back side of Catalina Island.   I wanted us to practice anchoring and using the dinghy to land in the small surf that usually occurs in Little Harbor.   I also wanted to leave at 4 AM so that Doug and Jason would get a chance to stand watches and experience night sailing.                                                                                                                                                                                            

Entering Cat (Catalina) Harbor

 As we entered Little Harbor, Jason watched the depth gauge and called out the depths as we entered a very rough anchorage with breaking waves in the cove.   We soon decided to go to Cat Harbor and spend our time there.    It was a great choice as I had not been in Cat Harbor for many years.

Doug.   "I am all in for the Cabo trip."

  For a short 10 minute Youtube video, go to this link... http://youtu.be/epi2Ip1PXNI 

Oh yes, you will see that my lil boat has been updated with an offshore life raft in a canister (right behind the mast on deck) and a "dodger" which is green and covers the companion way has windows and keeps the ocean spray from hitting us as we all sit in the cockpit.    Both of those things turned out better than I could have predicted.     Thanks for watching and thank you Jason and Doug for going with me to Cabo.   You are the best crew I could have ever expected.

Jason & Dad - To Two Harbors and back

8/14-8/16/2014

It had been over a year since I had bought Spirit of Adventure and finally a few weeks before this trip, Mary (my wife), Jason (our son) & Robin (Jason's beautiful wife) and I got to go out for a day sail.   Now Robin had been requesting a day sail for quite awhile and I found Jason also very eager to go out sailing.  I don't believe Jason had been sailing for almost twenty years and as a young boy, he didn't really like sailing.  He and his mom would sometimes get sea sick (which is no fun) and with me dragging my family back and forth to Catalina, I think I wore him (and my wife) out.   After this family day sail, Jason told me that he thought he would like to go on the Baha Ha Ha in October of this year.   I was very surprised, but I couldn't be happier.   With Robin's encouragement, we decided to do a shake down cruise to Catalina Island to see if Jason could really live on this small boat for a period of time.   Thus, another adventure began.

As we pulled out of the marina, Jason and I noticed that we had some nice (15-20 knots) wind from the north-west.   As we got the sails up and got on our first tack, we were pretty sure that we could make Catalina Island without changing course.   We would be close hauled, and we might even be able to make Two Harbors if we were lucky.   Jason quickly took the tiller and didn't let go for the next four hours that it took us to get to the island.    After the first dousing of salt water over the bow and over both of us, I offered Jason my foul weather jacket and all of a sudden, I was looking at a real sailor.   He seemed to love the speed of the boat and having control of Spirit with the tiller.   We were really sailing fast (in the 6-7 knot range) and the weather couldn't have been more perfect!

As we neared Two Harbors, we lost wind and had to motor for about the last hour.
We got a perfect mooring on the west side of the bay with some much larger boats.   After dinner we relaxed and talked before taking a shower (w/solar shower) and then going to bed.

The next morning saw a very peaceful bay and we quickly mounted the outboard engine on the inflatable and began to explore.   After breakfast, we went ashore and hiked over to Cat Harbor on the other side of the isthmus.   Jason remember us staying on the other side with my last boat.   Later that afternoon, I wanted to go snorkeling and so with my neat "GoPro" camera Jason dropped me off along the cliffs in some shallow water.   The fish were beautiful and as I snorkeled, Jason stayed in the dinghy and just motored around until I was finished.   It only took a little coaxing for him to decide to put on the mask and snorkel and have his own fun.   That night we enjoyed dinner on the boat and turned in early.   The weather and company couldn't have been better.   It was great getting to know my son again on a one to one basis.  

A real sailor!

The next morning we had to vacate the mooring by 8 AM and so we ate and motored out of the bay on our way back to Long Beach.   We almost had enough wind to sail but decided that we would be going so slow that motoring was the better option.   Jason again manned the tiller the whole way back and after about four hours and fifteen minutes, we tied up at the slip in the marina.    We quickly cleaned up the boat and headed home for a real shower.  

Jason passed the test for the Baha Ha Ha with flying colors.   Three days after our trip, his wife text messaged me and said, "Do you realize that Jason has not stopped talking about your trip since he has been back?"    I was overjoyed!

For the Youtube video of this trip click on this link- 
                             http://youtu.be/Il8T9EW8tlY

Thanks for reading this adventure with my son and me.

Father's Day 2014

June 11-15 2014 (Father's Day)

What a neat week.   Sara (my daughter) and Brenda, her best friend and partner, came out from Colorado Springs for about 4-5 days of sailing.   Sara had grown up sailing and had always been the one to tell me that when I die, she gets the boat.   From her youngest years, she could steer a straight course and never got sea sick.   I was so excited to have her see Spirit of Adventure and for her and Brenda to do what I so love.   It just doesn't get any better than doing what I love with people I love.

The days went fast but some of my fondest memories were watching (and laughing) the girls paddle the inflatable dinghy around backwards and hearing Sara explain, "This way we can see where we are going."   Other fun things were playing games every night.  Brenda got to see where Sara gets her competitive spirit from. 

Just hanging out with these two energizer rabbits was a thrill.   On the last night, as if prearranged, we had a performance on the beach of a group called "Abba".  Yes, you can guess at all of the great ol' songs we heard.   Sailing home came too quickly and as Tor (Monitor wind vane) steered the boat, the girls relaxed on the bow.
GREAT FATHER'S DAY 2014.

PS- I think we were all a bit apprehensive over how we could all live in such close quarters for five days but personally, I think we did just fine.   I got to know Brenda a lot better and I can say that I am growing to love Brenda as a neat part of our family.  I do look forward to sailing with these two again.

Note- For a full ten minute video of our trip go to-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOCYqZrvQRA