Sailing plans are largely driven by wind and waves and one’s attitude towards life.  Planning and preparation are major factors contributing to how this trio of factors interact in favourable ways.  So the photo depicts a generally desirable following sea which we experienced for nearly the entire trip from Juan de Fuca to San Francisco, except for one night and early morning.  The wind built to 30 with gusts to 40+ and the seas built to 7 metres or more.  Wanda did her very best under these conditions and was mostly successful with the occasional broach.

Eventually we decided to hand steer and during the skipper’s spell at the wheel, “the wave” washed over the side of the boat.  Peter was swept across the cockpit but as per normal was tethered so did not exit the cockpit as 3 of the 4 cushions did (if anybody sees these please pick them up for us).  The worst outcome of this event however was the large amount of the wave that found its way through the dorade vents into the cabin.  The perversity of nature caused the water to exit into the cabin in locations that could cause the most damage, most notably over the radios and other electronics at the nav table.

The most negative component of this event was that the influx of water was preventable.  On the skipper’s two year old “to do” list is a notation – “find way to block dorades”.  Regrettably this was not done and the consequences are mostly chagrin regarding the perversity of nature; irritation (particularly just after the event while watching large amounts of sea water slosh around inside the cabin) and discouragement while cleaning up the mess and finding new areas hit by sea water over a several day period after the event.

Somehow the skipper did not adhere to the rules of boat preparation when prioritizing the “to do” list. These are, in order of priority: 1. keep the water out; 2. make the boat go; and 3. make the boat pretty.  Fortunately, experience is the best teacher and the “to do” list has been re-prioritized!

October 10, 2009.  A surprise fleet inspection was enjoyed by the crew of Marathon when Admiral Sheridan pitched up in San Francisco for the Thanksgiving weekend.  While the crew dealt with a boat surrounded by sea lions and buffeted by surge and storm force winds, the Admiral enjoyed some of San Francisco’s iconic landmarks which are also very tasty to eat.

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.

We departed Pier 39 for Sausalito on Thursday afternoon.  Surge plus sealions plus cost motivated us to find a more comfortable spot to complete remaining repairs.  We were able to buy a new AIS and dorade vent plugs (more on the latter later) in addition to having the Pactor modem checked out by the company that distributes them throughout North America.  We are now tied to a mooring bouy at the Sausalito Yacht Club.  Sausalito is terrific – very picturesque and very warm.  We plan to leave Sausalito on Saturday, 17 Oct for Santa Barbara.

The new AIS is installed and working, the SSB/HAM radio is fully functional, the nifty new steering wheel lock invented by Peter has been installed and we have a full load of food on board.  The weather reports are predicting winds from a very favourable direction and strengths that will get us to Santa Barbara sooner rather than later. All is well.

We left Pier 39 yesterday.  Being in the heart of old San Francisco was great but Pier 39 is not on my top 10 marina list. First, there is something in SF city marinas called “surge”.  This is very bad and causes the boat to fly around in its slip in random gyrations that cause much commotion below decks.  We were told that Pier 39 is amongst the worst for this particular oceanographic phenomenon.  The next problem that kept us from getting much sleep was associated with our neighbours who invaded adjacent slips in the evening and cavorted about in lascivious ways with much obnoxious noise until the following morning when marina authorities turned the hose on them, driving them into the water.  Cute and furry but loud and irritating. Photo attached.

We sailed (yes, with sails up) under “the Bridge” at around 5 PM on 9 October 2009. It was a very happy moment and we all took way too many pictures.  The picture here shows the extent of our joy and we were delighted that the Blue Angels (US Navy) were on hand to welcome us.  That was the good news. The bad news was that it was “Fleet Week” and all available moorage within spitting (sailing) distance of San Francisco was full.  However, we dropped the anchor in Aquatic Park just at dark. What a great place – Ghirardelli Square on one side and a great view of Alcatraz on the other and all of Fisherman’s Wharf only a 5 minute dinghy ride away.

We spent our second night in the Hyde St Marina and then moved to our current location at Pier 39, still in the middle of it all on Sunday morning.

The weekend was jam packed with people and events, still all part of Fleet Week , so it was a terrific place to spend some time.  We have been working on boat repairs (more on that in a later post) and intend to depart this afternoon for the Sausalito Yacht Club until Saturday when we hope to leave for Santa Barbara.  We will not miss the sea lions at Pier 39.

Arrived in the dark in Neah Bay after 13 hours and a terrific sail much of the way down Juan de Fuca. The Hydrovane performed flawlessly allowing us to enjoy the sail while working on odds and ends.  The approach to Neah Bay after dark is daunting as the highway that backs the bay is extremely well lit with sodium vapour lamps that are exceptionally effective at masking lighted aids to navigation.  Contrary to two cruising guides, the “transient” moorage dock is not available year around, or at least not to boats such as this one.  The entire dock was in use by very large offshore fish boats except for one spot, of which we took the middle portion.  Despite signs that the spot might belong to a rather large boat we were somewhat comfortable until the very large normal occupant showed up expecting to pull into their slip after a hard day of trawling.  The captain was very gracious and let us move back while he very skillfully parked his boat in front of us.   Today we moved to a more recreational style slip, with power so that we could enjoy warmth for another 24 h before heading out Friday morning.  The weather looks perfect down the coast for at least the next 5 days so we remain hopeful that it will be smooth sailing as they say.

29 September. Waiting out high winds in Port Angeles on Monday providing  more time to fix a bunch of things and deploy reefing systems, storm jib sheeting and staysail sheeting, in addition to yet another dozen small details.  Tomorrow, 30 September, weather permitting, we will strike out for Neah Bay, about 55 nm, refuel boat and crew and then head out into the Pacific on Thursday. Current weather forecasts are all favourable.  Yahoo!

Setting out across Georgia St on Sunday, 27 September, in up to 20 kt winds provided boat speeds of up to 8.2 kts. Terrific.  Anchored in Cadboro Bay at about 9 PM and set out in winds gusting to 29 kts as we crossed Juan de Fuca on Monday to Port Angeles.  We are enjoying shore power and the electric heater and the showers.  Reciprocal moorage courtesy of the Port Angeles Yacht Club is much appreciated.

Saturday, 26 September 2009, 10:33

Marine Weather, Today Tonight and Sunday: Gale warning in effect.
Wind northwest 25 to 35 knots diminishing to 20 to 25 early this evening and to 15 to 20 near midnight.

Plan B, Version 1.3: Sunday morning departure!

The intervention of  beliefs peculiar to the sea has caused a revision of Plan B.  It seems that a voyage should never start on a Friday so now, we will leave on Saturday.  Ask Lou about this.