Race Day

Today is the day; it is the start of the Baha Ha Ha race down to Cabo San Lucas (http://www.baja-haha.com/). This is what we have been working towards (as the first part of our journey) and by mid day we should be in Mexico (well, Mexican waters, that is).
As we head out of the harbor towards the start line, we have just a couple of chores left to do- fill up on water and get gas for the dingy. No problem, as we are on time for the 11am start, so we thought.
The autopilot is not working. “oh shit”. As our Capitan is on the phone with Raymarine IT long distance desperately trying to repair it before we head off for 11 days, we are dodging war ships, ferries and cruise lines, in what is, one of the busiest harbors on the West coast. It was cool to be that close and see the ships in detail, but better, when we were out of the shipping channel and not getting honked at. Alas, no luck and we must start the race without it. We are now about 45 minutes behind the lead boats at the start.
As things start to calm down, Brian makes up a watch schedule. We will all have to take a turn at hand steering the boat. This is not like before, when we motored down the coast, this time the sails are up and so must your concentration be.
It’s 5pm and the beginning of my 3 hour daytime shift. Wow, this is hard. It is fairly windy, at 15 – 20 knots, and a couple of swells coming from different directions are making it hard to control the helm. The waves really are pushing us around, which you have to account for by steering. Laurie, I have a new respect for you! Top that off, with me now being sea sick! Yes, those 4 beautiful days in sunny San Diego on flat, serine waters, ruined all the acclimation of the rolling waves coming down the coast. It’s okay, I am so stressed out about steering the boat, keeping the wind in the correct direction so I don’t jibe the boat, that I don’t have time to puke. Fresh air is good and my Dramamine should kick in anytime now. All I can say is, I’m gonna be ripped (strong lean arms), steering is a workout. Off to bed for me (with my gallon zip lock just in case I get sick- joy), and FYI, I am not looking forward to my night watch.
O snap! Ginger snaps that is! I need to wake up and feel better (which I already do, no kitty puke for me). Ginger is great for both. It’s 2am and the beginning of my 2 hour night shift. It is dark, foggy, and there are other boats all around us which I can not visibly see (only know because of the radar). Brian tells me not to worry about them, that we are all going relatively the same pace and won’t run into each other. Still hand steering, and the wind has not really let up. It is pretty scary at first. Then, I finally find my groove and Brian takes a nap (topside) next to me as I finish out my shift.

Sea Sickness

I am so bummed. I thought I’d be skinny be now, by existing on crackers and water, but the medication (like Bonnine and Dramamine, and those acupressure bracelets) totally worked! I had heard stories like I’d be sick for 3 days and then would be use to it and acclimated. This is good and bad. I was hoping to lose some weight, even if by being bulimic or anorexic for 3 days. Well, I guess I’ll just have to swim it off!
So here’s the deal: if you get sea sick, take the medication 3 days prior to leaving on the boat. Then, once under way, take it for 3 days straight. I suggest Bownine over Dramamine since you only need to take it once a day (last for 12 hours). It’s chewable too. Underway you might need to take 2 a day, but I only had to do this on the 2nd day but the swells were much bigger then too. Anyhow, I then pretty much stopped and didn’t take anything on the 4th day (but I still wore my acupressure bracelets). Now I am fine on the boat, top side or downstairs. However, when on land, I feel like I am on the water, as it is moving, like I am drunk, without the drinking part!
All I can say is thank goodness for drugs because I hate throwing up and I like eating!

San Diego!

We had 4 beautiful days in sunny San Diego, anchored in a marina off Coronado Island, but we spent most of the time running around and doing errands! However, we did manage to get away to go see a movie. What did we watch? – “W”. I have mixed feelings about the movie, but it was just nice to have some down time. The other really fun activity we did, was the Baha Ha Ha kick off party/ BBQ on Sunday. Oh, did I mention it was a costume party. Oh yes, you are looking at Hansel and Gretel baby. Very fun, lots of prizes, food, drink and dancing. Met a lot of the other Ha Ha-ers, and even ran into Robbi from Windsome Wench (a boat we race against on Friday nights out of Berkeley, CA.). What a small world sometimes.

Brian and I as Hansel and Gretel at the Baha kick off party!

Some more costumes at the Party!

Our Anchorage at Glorietta Bay & the view of the Coronado Bridge

First Day out in San Diego - a stop at the Del Coronada for some Lunch

Day 6 - Going to San Diego

Oh shit its 5:30am, and we are already 1 hour late, hung over and headed for San Diego (85 miles). It’s foggy and everything is wet. Steven, the captain, had upgraded the chart plotter/ radar yesterday, so it was to be an easy departure from the narrow harbor, but no such luck. Using the big light again to see the unlit derelict boats, we made it out of the inner harbor only to have major navigation problems. The upgrades had turned the chart plotter radar screens upside down, so left was right and vis versa. After some confused comments and some shouting, the display screens were fixed and off we motored into the foggy dark morning. The fog was just at water level, if you looked up you could see the stars. The morning passed uneventful until 9:45 when, off the starboard bow, came two thundering cannon reports. The NAVY had begun shelling something close but we couldn’t see because of the fog. It turns out they had begun an all day shelling and bombing of San Clement Island 10 miles west of the boat. You could feel the concussions through your body as they blasted away. At 2:00 pm we rigged the sails, mostly for practice as the winds were still too light to actually sail. However, we did sailed for one hour, running wing on wing, slow and off course but we sailed! We put away the sails about 15 minutes before the Santa Ana winds picked up and changed the wind direction to back on the nose. Oh well, that’s Murphy’s law for you. Under clear starlit skies we arrived in SD around 800pm, and headed for Point Loma. We were immediately hailed by an unlit 300 ft Coast Guard cutter advising us (and being that they are much bigger than us so we better do what they ask) to steer away from them, and the harbor we were heading to, until they finished launching helicopters.
After a quick delay we were back on course to check in with the Harbor patrol, as this is mandatory. When we arrived the office was closed, so we are spent the night in jail, Okay at the jail, because of the patriot act we must check in with local law enforcement before we can go to our next and final US stop. We then head south of the border.

Water tanks are refilled. 1 week’s water usage was 125 gallons or 5 gal per person per day. Brian drinks about a gallon of water minimum a day, so that’s amazing!

Practicing on the way to San Diego - Wing on Wing, baby - Nice!

Motoring to S.D. - notice how flat the water is= no wind!

Brian Captured this awesome night picture of dolphins swiming underwater. They escorted us in to San Diego as they played in the Boat wake, as they often do. I love that!

Kitty on the moring watch, at the Helm

Our Capitan and First Mate

So much to do with getting along with others, especially in tight quarters, is actually liking one another, and this is especially true on a sailboat. Steven and Susan have been very accommodating. Steven has done so much in his life. He began in LA, moved to San Francisco, went to school at UC Berkeley, and early on moved to Colorado. This is where he met Susan. She re-located there from Alabama. He is a retired lawyer, and has been in the Army (so lots of Army Navy talk between him and Brian) for a period in his busy life. Susan is a retired Document Tech Writer so I can relate to that. We even match up well politically, which is awesome! I got us all Obama (temporary) tattoo stickers for Nov 4th! Whatever you all are in favor of, please just get out there and vote!
Susan’s blog is: http://withlitha.blogspot.com/
Check it out.

Capitan Steven and his 1st mate Susan.

Rest Day on the Island

Day 5 Begins at 8:00 am, YEAH, moving slow around the boat as this is a day off to explore Catalina. Daylight reveals a small valley that looks like the lead in for M*A*S*H. We move from anchor to a mooring ball and headed ashore to catch the shuttle bus to Avalon. The dingy ride was short but not uneventful as the motor died once and we got hung up in an under water mooring line. We escaped both incidents with noting more than a slight delay. We arrive at the bus stop with time to spare only to find out that the shuttle only ran one way, once a day in the winter season. Our boat’s captain, Steven has a very sore right hand that was made worse trying to free the dingy from the mooring line, so I suggest we head to the bar for some pain relief and give us some time to come up with a new plan for the day. We decided that doing all the ships laundry would free us up of one big chore in bus riding San Diego. We headed back to the boat with no problems and loaded up the dingy with laundry and computers as there was free Wi-Fi at the bar, go figure! The rest of the day was spent doing laundry, drinking beer, cruising the net, drinking margaritas, and finally chowing down on some great 75 cent tacos. What a life.

And now the pictures:

Park in the Marina - Two Harbors

The M*A*S*H view -

Susan Reading at the deck Bar!

Day 4 - Going to Catalina!

Day 4: On deck at 4:15am under way 4:45am on a foggy morning with no wind again. More motoring. The fuel bill in San Diego is going to be huge. We are headed to Catalina Island (90 miles) via Anacapa Island. Crossing to the islands we came a cross several long lines of dolphins moving west. There are a few hundred, in groups of 25-40 spread out over a ½ mile long and ¼ mile wide. It reminded me of the herd of gazelle that I had seen on National Geo racing across African plains. As we were half way through a group of 7 came galloping towards the middle of the boat fin tip to fin tip. I watched in awe as they flew at us with precision greater than the Blue angels. 20 yards out I saw them head-on as they hurdled one last time and dove under the boat.
The waves were 12-15 ft. until the islands, then it was flat, blue, and sunny. We practiced flying the spinnaker in light air and it went well. The Litha arrived at Catalina Island just before sunset and found a protected anchorage in Catalina Harbor, but this was well after dark -7:45 pm. Hunting for a good spot to anchor using a 1,000,000 candle watt light, a pelican seized the opportunity to nabbed a few bait fish brought to the surface by the light. The 90 mile day was completed and the crew enjoyed an appetizer of a nice bottle of Cabernet Sav, French bread, and Brie cheese. In the starlit cockpit we had a wonderful dinner of steaks, veggie chilli, salad, and mash potatoes, washed down with a nice merlot.

View of the Harbor in the morning

Heading South

Day 4: On deck at 4:15am under way 4:45am on a foggy morning with no wind again. More motoring. The fuel bill in San Diego is going to be huge. We are headed to Catalina Island (90 miles) via Anacapa Island. Crossing to the islands we came a cross several long lines of dolphins moving west. There are a few hundred, in groups of 25-40 spread out over a ½ mile long and ¼ mile wide. It reminded me of the herd of gazelle that I had seen on National Geo racing across African plains. As we were half way through a group of 7 came galloping towards the middle of the boat fin tip to fin tip. I watched in awe as they flew at us with precision greater than the Blue angels. 20 yards out I saw them head-on as they hurdled one last time and dove under the boat.
The waves were 12-15 ft. until the islands, then it was flat, blue, and sunny. We practiced flying the spinnaker in light air and it went well. The Litha arrived at Catalina Island just before sunset and found a protected anchorage in Catalina Harbor, but this was well after dark -7:45 pm. Hunting for a good spot to anchor using a 1,000,000 candle watt light, a pelican seized the opportunity to nabbed a few bait fish brought to the surface by the light. The 90 mile day was completed and the crew enjoyed an appetizer of a nice bottle of Cabernet Sav, French bread, and Brie cheese. In the starlit cockpit we had a wonderful dinner of steaks, veggie chilli, salad, and mash potatoes, washed down with a nice merlot.

Day 3 - Continued

Brian writes: My watch ended at 4am. It was pretty easy to navigate, just aim for the oil platforms. We got some heavy winds rounding point Conception and manage to sail for 45 minute before the wind died and we had to fire up the “iron sail” Got to bed at 5:30am. At 8:00 Kat’s watch was to start but I was awake and she was sleeping well, so I rolled out and traded shifts with her. It was a sunny calm morning spent dodging oil platforms and motoring through many minor oil slicks. It is unbelievable the amount of acceptable/unreported slim that is allowed. I can’t wait for more drilling byproduct to drift ashore and the outrage to begin. I’m looking forward to being in Santa Barbara for the afternoon. I’m going to take a quick shower. A shower underway means turn on the shower and run the cold water on your legs until it gets warm then hose down the rest of yourself and shut the water off, soap down everywhere, and a final quick rinse. This last a total of 30 sec – 1 minute of actual water time. The 4 of us have to make 200 Gals of fresh water last a week. Distance traveled 170 miles.

McCain's vision?

1:30 pm: We arrive in S.B. and anchor just off the Sterns pier with 20 other boats about a ¼ mile off of the beach. We drop the dingy in the water and it doesn’t start. After a few minutes and a couple of beers drank, Captain Steven spent some time tearing down the engine’s carburetor and voila we are off to shore! First stop, West Marine, then to sushi and beer, and finally the grocery store (Ralph’s). I must say that Ralph’s was a surprise compared to most any bay area store. The Fresh Seafood counter wasn’t, the Fruit and veggies where just as bad, no health food section, and last, pay toilets! Kat and I walked downtown and back to the pier where we had a tasty salmon Caesar salad, and a heap of (Killer) nachos that would have feed 10. Back on board we spent the night rolling in the exposed anchorage that the city lets overnighter stay.

The dingy ride over to Santa Barbara

Oil slick trail going directly to the platform - Gross!!!!

War Memorial in Santa Barbara

One of many sunset photos

A Whale of a Tale

Brian actually was able to catch this photo - Amazing!

Day 2 - Monterey

Day 3

Today we left Monerey at 4:00 am headed for San Simon. It was foggy and dark! Still not enough wind to sail, so more motoring. We saw whales again, along with many (sleeping) sea lions, they sleep floating on the their backs with flippers and head sticking up out of the water in the sun, and some really cool black dolphins. The dolphins actually played in our bow wake, swimming next to the boat for a while. I love dolphins – so cool!
The weather today is not as nice, as it is pretty grey all around. Even though we are only a couple of miles or so, 2-4miles, off the coast, you can’t even see it. It makes for a very mundane day, except for the occasionally sea life we see. Brian was lucky enough to see an Otter too. However, despite the weather, I still can’t believe this is now my life - it is so surreal and very cool.
Oh yes, our SOG (speed over ground) has been around 6 nm (Nautical Miles), so pretty slow going, but I am sure that will change soon. That’s an hour people and a nm is less than an actual mile. I can run at this pace, but why when you can sail:). So my SOG of my BLOG – speed of gabbing - is getting faster as the days tick away.

Update (Brian); With just a little wind, mostly on the nose, and a not so promising forecast, we had decided to motor through the night to get to Santa Barbara. We made pizza for dinner and sat in the cockpit munching down watching the sunset. We have to hit the rack (bed) because we have the midnight to 4am shift on the wheel.

1:48am Brian writes- We popped out of bed just before midnight and put on all our foul weather gear and was immediately way too hot. As soon as we got on deck and relived the watch, I striped down to a long sleeve t-shirt and sat in the wind at the helm. While Kat drove, I did a inspection walk around the boat and reported a couple of dolphin in the bow wake. As our eyes adjusted to the dark, we looked around and could see about 25 dolphins playing on both sides of the boat! They stayed for 30 minutes. I am getting much better a keeping the sailboat on course, but want to keep improving. It’s a full moon night but it’s cloudy so we can’t really see it too well.

It’s 2am now (Just call me Captain Kat here!). I have completed my first night watch and it was very cool, especially with the pod of dolphins keeping us company for about 30 minutes. They were so close to the boat, and the outline of their bodies as they moved and splashed though the night water is really an indescribable event. The feeling of being at the helm, the night air, the moonlight, my iPod tunes in my ears, and the adrenaline is crazy. I am now able to put radar reader on my (Sailing) Resume too – well learning. So much to learn but I’m not afraid to change or grow. I just keep thinking how exciting this all is and how lucky I am to have a great partner to be doing this with. One who actually wants to be doing this great adventure and had this dream that he extended to include me. We might still be in California but it could be anywhere, as it seems like a world away from my old life. The only regret (if any really) is leaving (the physical distance between) friends and family, but hopefully this digital diary will keep us connected.
Don’t be afraid, just get out there and do it! Meow

MUST KAT NAP NOW

Day 2

Good bye San Francisco, hello sea sickness! We got up at 3:30 am and headed out the Golden Gate and found no wind so we motored almost the entire 90 mile trip to Monterey.
Actually, no sea sickness thanks to Bownine, but much sleepiness. Just remind me not to drink coffee, loaded with milk and sugar, on an empty stomach at 4 am in the morning. Whales and sailing and veggie chili oh my! 2 words – so fun. Pictures to follow. We are in Monterey. Very tired, going to bed ~Meow

The Adventure Begins - Day 1

Off to a not so running start! Oh well, that is the life – no deadlines or stress and I/we are already loving it. So we sit in beautiful, sunny Sausalito for another day while our fearless Captain figures out a solution to a non operating Auto Pilot. We will be on our way soon enough.

The first night on the boat was great. I stowed our gear as we (sort of) watched the Presidential Election. It was really difficult to fit our once “land life” items into just a couple of bags, and I can already tell you, we brought too much! One must be uber cleaver at space organization, or just really space efficient! I’m learning.

Wednesday evening we were treated by our “boat neighbor” we had just met, to a very nice dinner at Poggio’s under the Casa Madrona Hotel. Our neighbor David will be traveling to Mexico as well, on a huge 94’, 85 year old schooner he just purchased with his wife. They will be joined by their 4 cats and promise I can play with them all I want! That’s kitty heaven to me – meow.

Well, here’s our new home for the next couple of weeks or so. Enjoy the pictures!

The Litha

Our Crew Quarters!

the Kitchen

The Litter box

the Salon

Got Skype?

O, ya, baby.. we are good to go. I set up my Skype account - katnbrian and a webcam this weekend. Then I went to my parents and set it up for them. So... people skype me and let me know how to work all the cool gadgets.

OMG! 72 hours and counting. The craziness has begun. I am freaking out with all the stuff I need to get done in 3 days.... Dramamine, I need to start taking Dramamine....

Meow

Kitty on catnip

I got Shot.... 4 Times!

Yes, you read correctly, even if misleading, but I've been shot or should I say got shots. I am ready to go now, got my Polio, Hep A, Typhoid and Yellow Fever vaccinations. OUCH. However, they did use Snoopy band aids & I did get a lollipop - and yes, it does ease the pain! Oh, and Brian got shots too! $700 dollars worth of shots and no hangover! At least there's an up side :).

Other than hemoaging money and feeling like pin cushions, we both have just been running around with are heads cut off - getting nowhere fast. The apartment is pretty much packed up and all storage units have been emptied and dealt with. Now if only the weather would cooperate, we might get somewhere! Actually, our date to shove off the dock, which previously thought to be this weekend, has been pushed back til next week. I guess I'll have to pull out my espresso maker because kitty Kat needs the caffeine - MEOW.

The boat is in Sausalito currently, and we have been out to see it a couple of times. Recently, we were invited to dinner out on the boat, and we watched the VP debate on the flat screen. It was a beautiful evening, with a great view of the Maltese Falcon moored 100 feet away with the city in the background, silhouetted by the setting sun. Sitting there before the meal, sharing some wine, all I could think was how cool it was to be doing this and how this is going to be our life the next couple of years. We are so excited for our adventure to begin.

I hope to see a lot of you before we shove off, and I'll get our skype account up soon - promise. MEOW.

Maltese Falcon - Huge Sailboat/Motor Yacht in SF