Jacintha had a blast at Marina Cortez at Harbor Island as she met some friends there, Tennyson and Asher. They spent many hours together playing, exploring and doing stuff.
One day we found her covered in mud from head to toe. They watched movies on their boat and also help pick up screws from a boat their parents were re-outfitting.
On October 27th, San Diego gave us a great send off with fireboats spraying water and an official media boat. It was exciting to be part of a large fleet sailing out of the bay. We had Asher and Tennyson who joined us on our boat while their parents followed us in their dinghy. After we passed the start boat we transferred the kids back to their dinghy whilst still moving. A very exciting transfer. Jennifer kindly took photos of our boat for us during the festivities.
It’s 3 days to go till we head south for the Baja Haha and there’s a lot of last minute boat prep to be done.
I finished the port weather cloths just in time for our big sail.
Jim got a new whisker pole and it fit perfectly in our old spinnaker pole holder. Just have to attach some lines and we’re set.
He also reinsulated our freezer compartment which cycles too many times and consumes a lot of energy. We may have to turn it off if it continues to be an energy pig.
I cooked up some chilli for the trip down so I don’t have to be down below cooking all the time. Plan to make a lentil stew but I can’t remember where I stashed the lentils!!!
We placed our new port visors up over the ports. Apparently they help keep the rain out of your window in the tropics without having to close all your ports.
We had to Dremel the top edges off the forward visors as the one I measured right at the back was the only one the visor would fit properly. They do look very cute.
Finally finished the weather cloths I started to make 2 years ago!!!
Jacintha has been busy doing school work and art ie decorating the boat with Halloween decorations. Since we’re back at Marina Cortez in Harbor Island she has been hanging out with some friends Tennyson and Ashton who live aboard on the next dock down. The other day we found them digging mud piles by the shore where Ashton had rowed them there on a little dinghy.
Today as part of Physical Education I put her in her climbing harness and let her swing off the halyard after Jim had gone up to change a light fitting.
We arrived in San Diego about a month and a half after departing Seattle with 1550 nautical miles behind us. We got a taste of heavy weather sailing off Cape Blanco and between Points Arguello and Conception, had some nice sails south of Santa Barbara, and did a fair amount of motoring between LA and San Diego.
This completes the US West Coast chapter of our year-long voyage, and after 4 weeks in San Diego, begins the next chapter–5 months cruising in Mexico!
In San Diego, we found a marina with a pool next to the Point Loma Yacht Club. Jacintha enjoyed swimming and Dad and I mostly relaxed.
We reprovisioned, did some boat chores, and had some fantastic fish sandwiches at Point Loma Seafood, which was recommended by a cruiser we met in Santa Barbara. After a few days, we moved to Southwestern Yacht Club for 3 days, where my dad took off to fly back to Pennsylvania. It’s been a blessing to spend a month cruising with him. We harbor-hopped between Santa Barbara and San Diego, visiting 6 ports and 1 island, and covered 250 miles together. Life on a sailboat can be physically challenging, much more so than on a motor yacht–climbing into cave-like bunks, getting on/off the boat into the dinghy (especially when my lifeline gates are blocked by solar panels), and maintaining balance while underway with the ocean swell. To be doing that at 80 years of age is a great accomplishment! It was also nice to see Jacintha get to spend so much time with him. I think he really enjoyed cruising and meeting people along the way. We hope to see dad and mom in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a visit early next year.
Dinghy ride to shoreFull Moon over San Diego
Varnishing–I brought some varnish along that was left over from last summer and since we have 3 weeks before the Baja Ha Ha rally starts, I decided to use some of it. I started with the outer cap rail and top cockpit combing since they are always in full sun. And with all the work being done preparing the boat for the trip, most of the varnish around the cockpit was looking bad. As usual, I’m applying 2 coats of Pettit Flagship varnish to get a mirror-like result… Will see how it holds up in the tropics!
Jacintha’s Blog—Snap, Click, Splash, Ouch. We were sailing and I was down in the cabin. Poppy and daddy were up in the cockpit. Then I saw something that looked like a giant spider in the cabin. So I ran up to the cockpit to get daddy. At first he did not believe me so I made him come down to see, then he saw it too. It was not a giant spider, it was a cute crab! Daddy brought it up with a glove and showed poppy! Then daddy took off the glove and dropped the crab, it did not hurt him, but it surprised him. Then we saw him breath bubbles. At last we threw him out the boat and saw dolphins. The end…
Oceanside is about half way between LA and San Diego. The Oceanside Yacht Club lived up to their advertised “Friendliest Yacht Club on the West Coast”. We joined them for a dinner buffet and Thursday night football and decided to spend Friday night as well. Relaxed on Friday after cleaning the boat and doing laundry. Like much of SoCal, it’s hot here and is supposed to reach 100 deg F tomorrow. The bimini and mesh surround make it pleasant in the cockpit www.iutoic-dhaka.edu. Jacintha came up with this idea while folding the laundry back at the boat to keep the sun off our heads….
