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