Out the Gate and Left!

Finally, after all of the preparations, installations, provisioning, and several bon voyage parties, the crew assembled and we slipped the dock lines to head for the unknown.  My daughter Jennifer, who had recently graduated UC Santa Cruz, which was one of the pivotal factors in my decision to venture forth, joined the crew for the first leg out of the Gate to the town of Santa Cruz.  A friend from the docks where I had been living and had owned, loved, and sailed a woodie (a wooden boat) too, Steve Block, also joined us for the voyage.  The final member rounding out our motley crew was Stoney, Steve’s dog, a big boy that didn’t complain the entire trip.

The weather forecast called for moderate winds for the day, so without fanfare, we set sail at 1230 HRS and sailed out and under the Golden Gate for my final time. 

Jennifer was aware enough to grab the camera and get this shot.

With 10 – 15 knots of wind, we sailed most of the day taking turns at the wheel while others adjusted sails, prepared food, or rested easy.  Jennifer had a somewhat sour look most of the journey and finally told us of her seasickness.  After eating some ginger snacks and taking a Dramamine, she still looked pretty sour!

But she was a sport, didn’t complain, and spent quite a bit of time at the wheel.

One of our options was to sail straight on to Santa Cruz with no stops through the night.  However, as this journey is supposed to be pleasant and easy going, we elected to stop over in Half Moon Bay for the night.  It was already dark two hours before reaching harbor and with Steve below napping, Jennifer was at the wheel while I navigated and dropped the sails.  It took a while to find the small blinking lights with all of the traffic lights, street lights, advertising lights, etc.in the background , but Jen and I finally identified the lighted buoys marking the channel around a shoal, and inside the protection of the breakwaters, which quickly calmed the waters around us.  Many boats were anchored in this calm bay but we found a likely spot and nestled between them and out of the main channel at 2200 HRS.  It is always a great feeling to sit comfortably at anchor in calm waters after rocking and rolling all day long.  Drinks all around!  I prepared a good hearty breakfast (even if it was dinnertime) as a reward to all, particularly my brave crew, and we sat around afterwards congratulating ourselves for only a short time, all very tired and wanting to get some sleep for the even longer voyage on the morrow.

At 0830 HRS the anchor was up and we were on our way once more toward SC, although we were motoring with no wind to drive the sails.  Just before noon, and one mile before Pigeon Point, a breeze sprang up enough to again turn the motor off and sail at 5 knots in the peaceful rolling quiet that only sailors know.   This respite from the constant chugging of a diesel motor was short lived however and we were forced once again to fire up the “iron jenny” (jenny is slang for genoa, a large foresail).

We had a casualty at this point; Jennifer, only wanting to relax, mis-judged the swinging of the staysail boom and bent over to sit down on the foredeck just as the boom swung back (due to lack of wind) where it clobbered her right across the bridge of her nose. I was below doing something when I felt my presence needed on deck.  I found her, just squatting on the side deck, holding her nose and slightly dazed, but she's a tough cookie and all was well once we stopped the bleeding.  She had two black eyes for weeks afterwards, and some tall tales I'll bet!

We made Santa Cruz around 1700 HRS and dropped the hook just west of the pier.

Soon after arriving, we spotted my Jeep that a friend from Berkeley had driven down to pick up the crew and was flashing the car’s headlights from the wharf.  We lowered the dinghy into the water, loaded the gear and Jennifer aboard and headed to a ladder that extended from the deck of the pier to the water, where we were able to unload this boatload.  Stoney was going to be another problem, because he couldn’t climb ladders so, with Steve, Stoney, and me aboard, we drove for the beach.  I timed the swells rolling in to keep from swamping the dink and, at just the right moment, gunned the outboard to drive us up the beach.  Well, I thought it was the right moment, but two seconds later, with the boat nearly stopped, the boat’s side swung high enough to roll Steve and me both right into the surf!  Stoney jumped clear without getting but his feet wet, but Steve and I were soaked through and through.  I didn’t think it was all that funny, but Jennifer and Cynthia were in hysterics!  The roll in the surf hurt my ego a bit but wasn’t enough to dampen my spirits, however Steve had a two hour car ride home, wet and sandy, although he was able to put some dry clothes on before departing.  I on the other hand, was able to have a warm bath and a change of clothes before cooking up a celebratory dinner.  We had just completed the first of many legs on our voyage to paradise.

Thanks to Jennifer and Steve for the help and for being such great sports!