Doublehanded Lightship Race
Dylan and I sailed his custom Dogpatch 26 "Moonshine" in the doublehanded lightship race, a short offshore race outside the SF Bay's Golden Gates.
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Monterey to Loch Lomond Marina in San Francisco, easy overnight with Amy, passing under the Golden Gate bridge, returning to the same slip at Loch Lomond
When heading south we did all our coastal hops in the daylight, but going back north we chose to sail overnights as much as possible. It's harder to push off a comfy pier after dinner, but the lighter overnight winds and reduced waves are worth it.
This was our last passage on Wanderlust!
Morro Bay to Monterey, punished by strong northwest winds and waves, arriving in Monterey exhausted, meeting Amy and Holly for some much-needed relaxation, fixing the starter motor and solenoid
We weren't exactly feeling awesome about our six-hour stop in Morro Bay, but we had already arranged to meet Sara's sister Amelia in Monterey on Monday afternoon and those 120-odd miles weren't going to sail themselves. Sailing on a schedule is never a good idea.
Ventura to Cojo Anchorage to Morro Bay, pushing even harder to get north, some rough weather north of Point Conception
Our next leg was around Point Conception, one of the more dangerous sections of the California coastline. This is where we were almost struck by lightning and were warned about the half-mile diameter waterspout on the way south, so we didn't want to mess around. We sailed from Ventura along the Santa Barabara coastline to Coho Anchorage just before Pt Conception, anchored until midnight, and finished the rest of the trip to Morro Bay in the dark.
San Diego to Avalon Harbour to Ventura, pushing hard to get north, but with dinner out each night
We left San Diego before sunrise with a mission to make the ~85mi north-west passage to Avalon Harbour at Santa Catalina Island. Our plan was to take little hops north but sleep anchored (or on a buoy) each night.
Ensenada to San Diego, shaving the baja beard, dropping the Mexican courtesy flag, and finally arriving back in the United States!
Ensenada to San Diego is short enough to qualify as a day-trip, and what a fantastic day-trip it was. At this point in our northerly passage, any non-overnight sail is by default fantastic, and although the weather was perfect, this day was special for another reason: we were leaving Mexico and returning to the United States!
San Diego to San Francisco
We're back in the United States! I've shaved my 'Baja Beard', we're both enjoying two or three hot showers a day, and we're enjoying constant cellphone access, accurate weather forecasts on the VHF, delicious Giardia-free water, and lots of family and friends.
This is the final leg of our trip as we take Wanderlust back to San Francisco.
- San Diego to Avalon Harbour to Ventura, pushing hard to get north, but with dinner out each night
- Ventura to Cojo Anchorage to Morro Bay, pushing even harder to get north, some rough weather north of Point Conception
- Rough passage from Morro Bay to Monterey, punished by strong northwest winds and waves, arriving in Monterey exhausted, meeting Amy and Holly for some much-needed relaxation, fixing the starter motor and solenoid
- Monterey to Loch Lomond Marina in San Francisco, easy overnight with Amy, passing under the Golden Gate bridge, returning to the same slip at Loch Lomond
Turtle Bay to Isla Cedros to San Quitin to Ensenada, getting hammered crossing Vizcaino Bay, again relying on panga-delivered fuel, taking a breather in Ensenada
This last section of the Baja bash was what we'd been least looking forward to: the 500km passage from Turtle Bay to Ensenada. Our good luck ran out on the weather front and warm sunny shirtless sailing was over for sure.
We split the trip into three sections: a short sail to Isla Cedros, the long trip across Vizcaino Bay to San Quitin, and another short hop to Ensenada.
Cabo San Lucas to Magdalena Bay to Punta Abreojos to Turtle Bay, pushing north with three consecutive overnight trips, twice relying on panga-delivered diesel, decompressing with a nice hike
Sunday came with a blinding hangover, a total lack of memory, and a feeling of dread and terror when I realized Duane wasn't on the boat with me. I checked topside to see if he had fallen asleep while throwing up over the side of the boat, or was awake already, but there was no sign of him.
I immediately assumed the worst and looked around for his face-down body floating among the anchored boats. I couldn't see him but the tide was coming in so for sure his body would be washing up on a beach soon. Holy shit we needed to get out of Mexico RIGHT NOW.
Duane joins us, Angela and Jeff depart, acting really stupid in Cabo San Lucas, thank goodness no one died
Pardon the profanity. Minors should probably stop reading right here. Don't look at the banner at the top of the page. Don't judge me too much, you've done stupid stuff too, you just didn't write it down.