We started the engine off of the Sausalito Yacht Club at 2:30 on Saturday, picked up some fuel (we burned 12 US gallons between Neah Bay (mouth of Juan de Fuca) and San Francisco – pretty good mileage thanks to excellent wind conditions pushing us south) at Anderson’s Boatyard and then headed back to the bridge.  The strong breeze prompted us to raise the sails and within a few minutes we decided that a first reef was in order.  We tacked out under the bridge making 7 knots with a single reef in the main and a full jib assisted by a very strong ebb tide. Shortly after Peter and Lou finished taking another several dozen photos of the bridge the wind started to die.  Peter volunteered to shake out the reef while Lou and I basked in the very warm sunshine in our shirt sleeves.  Peter was just about finished taking out the reef when the wind gathered significant strength, accelerating both the boat and large quantities of water over the top of the boat.  Within a few minutes we were doing more than 9.6 knots over ground, Peter was soaking wet and we were all putting on our foulies.  This was a fine beginning for the next 24 hours of sailing which included several hours just after midnight of slatting sails and a very, very bumpy, sleep depriving- ride with Lou at the helm, commenting that there was not enough wind – a stark contrast to previous midnight watches when the comments were mostly about too much wind.  By Sunday morning Wanda was doing a terrific job of steering in nearly perfect downwind sailing conditions and we were doing a comfortable 5 knots in moderate seas.  The wind instrument decided to wake up from the coma induced by the gale we went through just prior to San Francisco but the sun chose to disappear into cloud and the forecast indicated that we should expect south to southwest winds on Monday until midnight.  A quick decision was made to pull into Monterey which was conveniently located only 5 or so miles off our port side.  So here we are in picturesque Monterey!

The wind will shift back to the NW sometime this evening so we will try again for Santa Barbara tomorrow which should be about 2 days away if Point Conception treats us well.