ONBOARD 17 JUNE 2009
LAT 36 36.52 N
LONG 121 53.60 W
Still at the Breakwater Cove Marina, Monterey, CA
DATE: 17 JUNE 2009
TIME: 2115
I don't think I should get as sore as I do simply cleaning the boat. Granted, it's a big boat and I go up and down about 4000 stairs a day, but jeez, after dinner tonight I didn't even feel like getting up!
Long day today. We started out by making a plan of things we wanted to get done. We thought there'd be about five or six items - ended up being something like 25. Buried in there somewhere was "Mark - Wash the Boat". I have a high pressure wash sytstem installed so all I have to do is lug the hose around and blast the dirt off - kind of like a 25 cent car wash (but no soap). Still, it takes about two hours and is a lot of work. Then, about another hour of wiping everything down. Not quite the same as a professional detail job, but we're just going to get it all salted up tomorrow anyway. At least now there's no black crud and half-eaten crab corpses lying around.
Michelle did a great job inside - even knocked out all the laundry.
If you're thinking, "Wow, the main point of Mark and Michelle's trip seems to be experiencing the joy of cleaning the boat at different exciting locations along the west coast" - the same thought had occured to us. We have to figure out how to do less boat work and more vacation stuff. We're working on it.
Our crew - John and Kerri Kremer - arrived this evening. They've run off to a restaurant to eat dinner while I finish off the last minute details of the trip (we're scheduled to shove off at 1000 tomorrow).
Part of this includes double checking the weather. I say double-checking because I looked at it pretty thoroughly on Monday. It looked like a piece of cake then. Winds at 4 to 7 knots, swells at 4 to 5 feet and wind waves not much bigger than a ripple. Well, things have changed a bit since then.
Now, the forecast is for 20 knots Thursday daytime along our route with 3 to 4 foot wind waves atop 4 to 6 foot swells (combined seas of 7 to 10 feet). By Thursday night, the winds will quiet down a little to 15 knots, but the seas will have been all stirred up all day and will then feature swells of 5 to 7 feet and wind waves of 4 feet or so - combined seas 9 to 11 feet. By Friday, prior to making the turn around Point Conception, we'll see 15 to 25 knots with "frequent" 30 knot gusts and seas about the same as Thursday night. When we make our easting around Point Conception, the winds and the seas will lay down and we should have smooth sailing (with the chance of patchy fog). So, the conditions for this leg look a whole lot like the conditions we saw the last couple of days of the Seattle to San Francisco leg - Hold On! Oh well. Nothing we can't handle.
I may not be able to get a report out tomorrow night - we should be somewhere off Morro Bay this time tomorrow. But I'll check in no later than Friday when we arrive in Santa Barbara.
More to come tomorrow (or Friday) . . . .
LONG 121 53.60 W
Still at the Breakwater Cove Marina, Monterey, CA
DATE: 17 JUNE 2009
TIME: 2115
I don't think I should get as sore as I do simply cleaning the boat. Granted, it's a big boat and I go up and down about 4000 stairs a day, but jeez, after dinner tonight I didn't even feel like getting up!
Long day today. We started out by making a plan of things we wanted to get done. We thought there'd be about five or six items - ended up being something like 25. Buried in there somewhere was "Mark - Wash the Boat". I have a high pressure wash sytstem installed so all I have to do is lug the hose around and blast the dirt off - kind of like a 25 cent car wash (but no soap). Still, it takes about two hours and is a lot of work. Then, about another hour of wiping everything down. Not quite the same as a professional detail job, but we're just going to get it all salted up tomorrow anyway. At least now there's no black crud and half-eaten crab corpses lying around.
Michelle did a great job inside - even knocked out all the laundry.
If you're thinking, "Wow, the main point of Mark and Michelle's trip seems to be experiencing the joy of cleaning the boat at different exciting locations along the west coast" - the same thought had occured to us. We have to figure out how to do less boat work and more vacation stuff. We're working on it.
Our crew - John and Kerri Kremer - arrived this evening. They've run off to a restaurant to eat dinner while I finish off the last minute details of the trip (we're scheduled to shove off at 1000 tomorrow).
Part of this includes double checking the weather. I say double-checking because I looked at it pretty thoroughly on Monday. It looked like a piece of cake then. Winds at 4 to 7 knots, swells at 4 to 5 feet and wind waves not much bigger than a ripple. Well, things have changed a bit since then.
Now, the forecast is for 20 knots Thursday daytime along our route with 3 to 4 foot wind waves atop 4 to 6 foot swells (combined seas of 7 to 10 feet). By Thursday night, the winds will quiet down a little to 15 knots, but the seas will have been all stirred up all day and will then feature swells of 5 to 7 feet and wind waves of 4 feet or so - combined seas 9 to 11 feet. By Friday, prior to making the turn around Point Conception, we'll see 15 to 25 knots with "frequent" 30 knot gusts and seas about the same as Thursday night. When we make our easting around Point Conception, the winds and the seas will lay down and we should have smooth sailing (with the chance of patchy fog). So, the conditions for this leg look a whole lot like the conditions we saw the last couple of days of the Seattle to San Francisco leg - Hold On! Oh well. Nothing we can't handle.
I may not be able to get a report out tomorrow night - we should be somewhere off Morro Bay this time tomorrow. But I'll check in no later than Friday when we arrive in Santa Barbara.
More to come tomorrow (or Friday) . . . .
Good to hear from you. Looks like this will be your longest leg of the trip. Hope you have smooth sailing. I finally found the pictures. Like anything else, it was easy once I figured out how to find the home page. As far as cleaning the boat...wash it before you leave, and wash it when you get home. In between...kick the tires and wash the windshield. Lifes to short to be cleanin' stuff all the time. Until next time, keep the rudder in the water.
Tony D
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