Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha ;-)

This will likely be my last post for a while. Tomorrow morning - 11 am - the Baja Ha Ha begins! I can hardly believe, after all this time, that this is really happening! Today was the skipper's meeting and then the Kick-off Party complete with Halloween costumes. It was a great time and we got 2nd in our division ("Unique"!). We were dressed up as navigational buoys and won a new tether for our efforts. I'll attach a photo of the group.
Yesterday George & Sue & Steve came over and supervised as we did a dry run (at the dock) with the brand new spinnaker and it was pretty "interesting". As it turned out, we discovered that neither of the halyards we thought would work for it would. Another trip to Downwind Marine and a couple hundred dollars later and George went up the mast to run an external halyard and now we're really ready to see if we can fly that chute without a major disaster. It is really quite beautiful (royal blue, turquoise and white) and we have high hopes that we can hoist it and fly it without incident.
We are all excited about the upcoming adventure. I'll post again when I get to a cyber cafe.

Sunny San Diego

We are now in beautiful (and I DO mean beautiful) San Diego. We spent two wonderful nights on Catalina Island and left at 4am Wednesday, under a full moon. We motored for 10 hours (no wind and glassy seas) and arrived in Mariner's Cove (Mission Bay) where we anchored for 2 nights. It's a lovely anchorage where you can stay for free for up to 3 days...very quiet and well protected and I loved the sand on the beach which is as soft as baby powder. While we were there, two of the boats we've consistently run into in different ports arrived as well. Dick & Carol ("Plumas" - you can see them behind us in the photo) invited us all, as well as a couple off another boat they'd met in Newport Beach, over for cocktails and it was great fun just hangin' out with the cruisers and swapping sea stories. We left the next morning (Fri) at 7am and arrived at the Police Dock by 11. We weren't sure we'd be able to get a slip as they only have 30 and they are in pretty high demand this time of year for a number of reasons but as we came in George & Sue ("Julia Max" from Portland) motioned us to take the vacant side of their double slip and came over to grab dock lines so here we are. I am sooo happy to be in one place for 10 whole days! We have shower facilities, the scenery is gorgeous and there are lots of Ha Ha boats here. While we are here I am getting an opportunity to see friends I haven't seen in a long time and that is very nice. Michael & Finn were flying home Sunday so we spent the day at Sea World on Saturday and it was lots of fun. We are working on more boat “projects” now. “We” (think Chris) are installing a new VHF radio and new inverter. Had a rigger replace the lower shrouds and install lazy jacks. I can hardly believe the service! He removed the shrouds on Monday, installed the new ones on Tuesday and did the lazy jacks today!!! And the price was amazingly low!! I’ve been making forays to West Marine and Downwind Marine and it is so exciting! These are REAL chandleries! The West Marine in San Diego is HUGE and it has tons of boat parts and a very small clothing section! The people at Downwind are just so much fun to talk to I like to go over there just for a good time. AND they have coffee & donuts for the customers in the morning. Everyone (vendors) just make themselves totally available for all the Ha Ha participants. The rigger told me he always sets aside at least a week during this time because there are always boats that need something done. How cool is that? Also, we had a wooden support for the table that split on the trip down and needed replacing. We delivered it to a marine carpenter yesterday and picked up the new one today along with many good wishes for a safe and fun trip. Everyone around here just bends over backwards to help you along on the adventure - and they all wish they were going as well. It's so hard to believe that after all these years of dreaming about going cruising in warm places that it is actually happening. Today Patty & I had a “girl day” for haircuts, manicures & pedicures and after we’d come home Chris & I were in the cockpit having a beer when a very nice guy came up and ooh’d and ahh’d over the boat and visited for probably 30 minutes. He loves Morgans and has been looking for one to go cruising on. I so remember the feeling – the dock walking – the envy – the drooling over boats and possibilities and other people’s adventures. And, especially, wondering if I would ever truly be able to go or if I’d always be one of those people who is an armchair sailor and at the end wishes they’d at least tried. It doesn't look like that is going to be the case but it is still a constant surprise to me that I am truly "doing it".

Last Leg Coming Up!

OK…OK! I’ve been lax in updating the blog! We've been busy having fun and the couple times I've tried to update the connections have been difficult at best.

When we left San Francisco we expected the passage to Monterey to take 24-25 hours. Imagine our shock when 16 hours later we were outside Santa Cruz! It was the middle of the night and foggy so we opted to spend several hours just going out to sea and back several times while we waited for sunrise. It turned out to be a good choice as the entrance into Monterey Bay's marina is very narrow as are the fairways between the docks. Was a piece of work getting into the slip during the daylight so would have been even more interesting in the dark.

We played tourist in Monterey and it is a great place to do that. We spent an entire day at the Aquarium, walked the Presidio numerous times and Patty & I did some damage in the shops at Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf. We really enjoyed all the wildlife and met more cruisers.

Currently we're in Marina Del Rey and it is my favorite so far. Nice wide slips with lots of room to get in and out; a lovely park in front of us and behind us we is the channel which is alive with all manner of boats coming & going. When we arrived Neil & Jackie from Emeryville were next to us and we've met several more boats of cruisers - some going on the Ha Ha and some not. Chris & I have taken to keeping a written list of boats/people we meet so that when we meet up down track we will remember them!

The trip from Monterey was especially nice as the weather was starting to warm up and the nights were clear. We are starting to see more sea life and one afternoon we had a very large pod of dolphins come and play. Besides streaking around under the bow and playing with our wake, we had about 6-8 ft seas at the time and as one wave came up off our starboard quarter we looked over to see five dolphins surfing down it. What a thrill! I actually got some halfway decent photos of them.

We leave tomorrow morning for Catalina Island and will meet up with Jerry & Cathy of "Glorious" for an overnight in Catalina Harbor before we continue on to San Diego.

Just so you know, cruising is way more fun than I expected. The first part down the Oregon/Northern California coast was cold, damp and not so much fun (at least off shore) but once we went around Point Conception the winds & seas calmed down and the temperature went up considerably. I must say, though, is the best part is all the wonderful people you meet and continue to run into over and over.

October and headed south again!

Michael & Finn arrived Tuesday night and are getting a little look at San Francisco. Yesterday Patty took them to walk across the Golden Gate bridge. I guess they had time to wander around Golden Gate Park as well. Chris & I did some last minute things to get the boat ready to go, spent the afternoon just laying about and reading and then walked over to Chevy's for dinner. It was a great day...until we got back from dinner. There seems to be some sort of problem with the AC power coming into the boat vs the inverter using battery power. Chris has been trying to figure it out since last night. No luck so far.
We had originally planned to take off very early this morning but since it will take 24-25 hrs to get to Monterey Bay we have amended that plan. That way we'll be able to go into the harbor during the daylight - always preferable as far as I am concerned!
Not much else happening right now. Just getting breakfast & showers taken care of and stuff stowed before we leave.
I would, however, like to encourage those of you who are following the blog (or any blogs for that matter) to leave the occasional comment! We really enjoy hearing from you and knowing that someone is "out there"! If you have had trouble leaving comments in the past, it is really quite easy but you DO need to be sure to enter that funny "word" at the bottom into the box provided. It apparently has something to do with eliminating spam.

Sight seeing

Yesterday was a day to be tourists and we had a great time. Most of the day was spent wandering Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square. I was amazed that, while the sea lions have taken over probably 20 floating docks at Pier 39 they seem to stay off the few docks where the boats are. One boat at the Guest Dock was "Lilly" who was in Newport when we were. We toured the tall ship, Balclutha, a 256' steel hulled square rigger built in 1889 to carry cargo around Cape Horn among other places. Later on we drove to Sausalito to join Chris' cousin and wife (Steve & Judy) for dinner and anchored there in Richardson Bay was Tom Perkins' state of the art sailing yacht, Maltese Falcon. This ship, which was also built as a square rigger albeit with push-button controls, is 289' long and has 3 masts with a bridge clearance of 191'. The contrast between the two is, of course, stunning. I understand that when the Falcon arrived in San Francisco Saturday at low tide they only cleared the Golden Gate by 20'!! Today we are back to doing some projects tho' the list has dwindled considerably. I am still hoping to get the opportunity to take Chris & Patty to see the Wave Organ before we leave here Thursday morning.

Questions

It is amusing the questions we get given the makeup of the crew on Faith. Chris, in particular, receives raised eyebrows and sometimes specific inquiries from men wanting to know “How does that work?” with two women (emphasis as you would expect). I believe he just smiles and shrugs…preferring to leave them guessing. When Patty gets questions she makes it clear that SHE was signed up for the trip long before Chris came into the equation. As yet, no one has come forward to ask me, but perhaps that is due to the fact that Chris & Patty are both quick to tell others that I am the “captain” and that may slow the blatant inquiries. What is it about three people traveling together that causes others to speculate about their personal interactions? Is it just curiosity or is there just a touch of envy involved here?

So…for those of you who are wondering…we get along great. We are all going for the adventure and, while we have differences of opinion from time to time we are all adults so are able to negotiate when needed. Everyone does their share of the work and we make sure we all have our own personal space when needed. We share watch standing, boat maintenance, galley duties and laundry pretty equally.

Although…the Scrabble games are brutal and Uno is to be avoided at all cost!

San Francisco

San Francisco. The City by the Bay. Where I left my heart. It is all those things and more. We had a wonderful trip here from Bodega Bay and, miracle of miracles, we arrived exactly when we thought we would! There were quite a few sailboats outside the Golden Gate...looked a bit like a race but maybe they were just our Welcoming Committee. We only had 3 ships to deal with coming down the shipping channel (one of which was truly gigantic) so that was a relief. We are happily docked in a marina called Emery Cove in Emeryville (at the north end of the Bay Bridge) and it is lovely here. The "neighborhood" is mostly high end condos and offices and just a short walk down a beautiful path by the water is shopping and all the services one needs or wants. Everyone here is very friendly (we've already been invited to a dock party at 4:00 today) and there are quite a few "Baja Ha Ha" boats here. George & Sue, from Tomahawk, are the next dock over from us. Today we're just hanging out, enjoying the perfect weather (sunny & 75...and predicted to continue for the entire week). Tomorrow I suppose we'll be back at the projects, but for now it is nice to be able to just relax, meet new people and not have to think about leaving again!