We have a new video on you tube about are radar installation. We bought the radar over a year ago and have not been able to find the time to install it. We used the WiFi option so I simply had to provide a power source to both items and convince them they should talk to each other. We are very pleased with the results and can’t wait to use it in a real life scenario. We will keep you all posted. Video link
It was time to redo the deck. It was a mess after years of hard use. We had painted and applied non skid paint over the years but it was finally time to do it again. Crazing around the mast step had become more pronounced and stains from endless projects had become an eyesore. The project began in the fall of 2022 as a 1-2 month endeavor or so we thought. Check out the video ( https://youtu.be/HcgjlFezzA ) on YouTube. It is now spring and the rains have finally stopped and the decks are done. Next we will finally take on the radar installation after Jake’s wedding. Jake is the youngest of the flock and has come home to have his wedding here in the states. If you look far back in the archives you will find this young intrepid traveler as the youngest member of the crew. He now lives happily in China and is a teacher.
2023
The recap of 2022 Improvements
We have moved to a new marina under the Carquinez bridge, Glen Cove Marina. We had some trouble finding a reliable diver but now we are on a set schedule, and all is good. We also moved our home so let’s just say 2022 was a very busy year. With that said we got a lot done on the boat. New kitchen counters, double sink, pressurized water, varnished the interior, new stack pack, rebuilt raw water pump and finished the firewood box for the cubic mini wood stove. I have prepped the decks for new paint and just need the California monsoon season to end. We plan to do a lot more sailing this summer instead of projects. We have purchased a radar and I will try to document the installation.
As soon as I unlock the mysteries of the cloud I will post more pictures. Keep on keeping on!
click herehttps://youtu.be/LdVd3Jv_7nc
So much has happened since my last blog post. I think I want to begin by letting a teaser in of the up coming posts I will try to cover. I want to keep this focused on the boat and what we are doing to her to get her ready for the next chapter. The last two seasons we spent in Mexico and the Sea of Cortez where expensive in a career sort of way. We plan to retire before we take off again. My work as a NICU RN is rewarding and the hospital I work for has a great rule about maintaining seniority if hired back with in 365 days. My wife on the other hand gave up being vested and is now working on achieving that. So….. we will now wait for retirement and prep Sosiego for a multi year sail. The projects we have already competed and the ones to come will be the subjects of up coming posts.
Half Moon Bay
Half Moon Bay is part of our home waters as we often sail there for the weekend, however, this time was a little different. We were in need of groceries and to do the mountain of laundry that had piled up to the ceiling. We believed there were facilities right at the marina to accomplish our tasks. We checked in with the harbor master in the morning only to learn they had changed their policy about renting bathroom keys to visiting yachts. If we wanted a key we would have to rent a slip at $37.00 dollars a day. In the past we would rent the key for a flat $10.00. In addition the marina didn’t have any laundry facilities. Since there was no easy way to do our laundry we went on to plan B.
In Mexico we got quite familiar with the bus system so we broke out the smart phone and discovered that Half Moon Bay proper was an 18 minute bus ride away complete with a Safeway and a Laundromat. We chose to re-provision first and set out on an adventure in our own back yard. Safeway had all the things we needed and we caught the next bus back to the boat. A short dingy ride back to Sosiego and that was enough for one day.
The following day we loaded up the laundry in the dingy and repeated the bus ride into town. We found the laundry and started two loads and it was time for lunch. A short walk around this small town that seemed like a post card from the 50’s and we stumbled upon a small diner. I thought we were in scene from Happy Day’s. We both had a Reuben sandwich, mine with a side of fries and Debbie’s with potato salad. The food was excellent. After our wonderful lunch it was time to return to the laundry.
The Laundromat turned out to be a great place to meet people. We chatted up two couples on Harleys on a whirl wind cross country trip. We shared notes on our adventures and I couldn’t help but note the similarities. We became fast friends and promised to keep in touch. Angie and Paul with Eileen and Larry provided us with endless amusement as they posted pictures of their open road trip to Sturgis and beyond.
Back at the boat with chores done it was time for some fun. We launched the Bali paddleboard and hoisted the sail on Rock n Roll our dingy. Now it was time to take a bubble bath, NOT! Cockpit solar showers are only so much fun in northern climates and Sosiego doesn’t have an indoor shower. Using our collective minds we decided to introduce ourselves to the Half Moon Bay Yacht club in hopes of a shower. We landed the dingy on the beach and sure enough they were very friendly and invited us in for showers and cocktails. With all our needs met we settled in and enjoyed our time here hiking, sailing, and lounging. On our last day we went to dinner at Half Moon Bay Brewing Co. and ran into our old dock mate Mike. It was time to start weaving the sea yarns while the IPA flowed. A good time was had by all. We finally heard from Brickyard cove regarding our new slip assignment and it was time to push on to home.
The GRIB files teased us with fair winds and we hoisted anchor and went to the fuel dock to top off the tanks with a thick marine layer not letting the sun through. The fuel dock in Half Moon Bay is a commercial dock and is covered in a thick slime of guano. I have refueled many times on this trip but this one proved to be a disaster. When I tried to stop the pump when the tank was full the handle caught on the lowest setting and continued to pump as fuel ran across the deck. I tried to move the nozzle to the second tank but the hose wasn’t long enough. Debbie gave me more slack on the hose, but I had already soaked our nicest outdoor captain chair. I moved the nozzle into the second tank and grabbed rags as Debbie ran to get the attendant. Several rags where lost to the fuel spill but it was contained on deck. Between guano and fuel, things were a mess. I paid the bill and we got out of there. Did I mention I had to actually rinse my sandals of poop before stepping back on board? YUCK!
We left the breakwater and rounded the green buoy from the west and set sail. We couldn’t believe that we were actually shutting the motor down. The Sail home was truly amazing as the sun broke through the marine layer. The golden gate was in site and the wind clocked around to a broad reach. In other words the wind was coming from behind us. Debbie heard on the radio another yacht call the Coast Guard about customs information. She hailed the yacht and discovered they had sailed all the way from Victoria, Canada. It turned out that we both sailed under the gate about the same time crossing paths within a few feet. Sosiego with single reefed main and stay sail and them flying a blue and white spinnaker only, while toasting champagne on the bow. They yelled out to us “Welcome Home”. What a glorious finish to an awesome adventure. We finished sailing across the bay and made our way back to our slip in Brickyard Cove. It was then time for sundowners with our good fiends Eric and Emmy.
As I sit safely at my computer in my mother in-law’s (Carol’s) house I’m watching the tracks of hurricane Iselle and tropical storm Julio bear down on Hawaii. Most know of our original plans to sail to the Sandwich Islands. We were originally willing to accept the risk of losing the boat in the advent of a hurricane since we couldn’t afford the insurance. However, after our third attempt to head for Hawaii was thwarted, we resigned ourselves to the Baja Bash and had a truly amazing sail home. Sometimes things happen for a reason!
Monterey Bay
Monterey bay holds a special meaning to Debbie and I. We learned to scuba dive here, honeymooned here, and is the southern boundary of Northern California waters. We were essentially home and this brought a flood of emotions, some good, some not so good. We had to come to grips with the fact that our adventure was ending and we would have to proceed with”Re-Entry” to main stream life. We wanted to celebrate our anniversary and this seemed to be the best place. Sosiego made her way to the municipal harbor and we radioed the harbor master for a slip assignment. We planned to get a hotel room for our anniversary and wanted a secure place to dock the boat.
The municipal harbor is home to a colony of quite rambunctious sea lions and the bay is a marine sanctuary. With Sosiego secure the first order of business after a 22hr voyage was a good breakfast at Lou Lou’s Griddle in the Middle. The rest of the day was spent resting and catching up on sleep. It was time to re-provision and do laundry. We took the bus to Nob Hill foods and filled a basket. For the trip back we called a taxi which kindly drove us on the wharf to our dock. Next we carried two bags of laundry to the washer dryer in the harbor office building. We decided to accomplish to things at once, laundry and showers. Ah, the showers felt so good.
The next day Debbie came down with a cold that put a damper on our time in Monterey. I spent my afternoons paddle boarding on the Bali while she rested and recuperated. I was fearful that one of the rambunctious young sea lions would try to haul out on the Bali and send me swimming. In actuality they behaved themselves and I loved watching their antics up close as they played. Later, I was able to film some of their antics. For our anniversary we dressed up in our finest boat clothes and took a taxi to our favorite restaurant the Fish Wife for dinner. The food although excellent lacked a little something.
We were finally ready to say goodbye to Monterey and prepare for our next stop. We spoke with our friend Eric Wilbur who suggested our next stop should be Moss Landing to explore Elkhorn slough.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there’s no effort without error or short coming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who himself for a worthy cause; who , at the best, knows, in the end , the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his pace shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt
We set sail on a bright sunny day with a good weather forecast and a nearly favorable wind. After two tacks, changing which side of the boat the wind comes from, we were able to lay the line for Moss Landing. As Sosiego sailed herself to her next port we were treated to a glorious sail and beautiful view of rolling sand beaches. The culmination of this glorious sail was met by a blockade of gray whales feeding off the entrance to Moss Landing. Debbie was able to capture some of their antics on video. We had to weave our way around them avoiding huge flukes and tail slapping.
The Moss Landing yacht club welcomed us at their guest dock for a two night stay. The tide rip is strong in this narrow waterway but kayaking is very popular. We inflated our Twister double kayak and explored the southern basin. There seems to be a west side story going on here as the seals haul out on a sand spit in the north basin and the sea lions occupy a pair of docks in the main channel. We never observed the two species intermingling.
We enjoyed a BBQ dinner at the club with great company including one of the Potter Yachters that had sailed up from Monterey. The weather report was favorable so we set sail in the morning for Half Moon Bay with very little wind and flat seas. We were treated to more antics from the whales including a breaching 30 yards off the bow and thousands of small black and white birds that could only fly inches off the water but swam well under water. The skies were overcast but the visibility good. We made good time and as we approached Pillar point harbor in Half Moon Bay the sun made a spectacular appearance. We easily picked up the southern green buoy and cleared the reef. The waves where breaking lightly at the point and were non-threatening. We rounded the entrance breakwater and dropped the anchor in the very familiar mud off the inner entrance. With the anchor well set we had dinner and settled down to good nights rest.
The Way Home
After our wonderful stay in Santa Barbara we kept a weather eye out for the rounding of Point Conception. Of coarse the weather doesn’t pay attention to birth dates, so Debbie agreed to spend her birth day in Cojo anchorage and our anniversary in Monterey. Point conception has a well deserved reputation as one of the nastiest capes on the coast. Converging currents and a squash zone with the pacific high combined with local topography provide a cauldron of boiling water and wind. The cruising guides suggest anchoring at Cojo anchorage to await a lull in the wind to round this cape and head north. Sosiego, at best, can make 5 knots to the good as long as the head sea is not too bad. San Luis Obispo was the next stop 69 miles up the road. We arrived at Cojo to find a cup full of wind and lots of kelp. The kelp goes a long way to smoothing out the wrap around swell from the point and the holding is good between the fields of kelp. We felt our way in and set the anchor long before dark. There is a ship wreck ashore of a full keel sailboat. This view, is a grizzly reminder that the anchorage is exposed to southerly wind and swell. We had a good dinner and settled in early in order to set sail at 5 am and round Conception at first light. The video shows just the wildness of this place.
Video 1
We lucked out and found a counter current on the coast and had a relatively peaceful rounding of the cape. San Luis entrance is protected by a number of sea mounts and rocks that must be avoided. We picked our way through and picked up a mooring for the night. San Luis is very beautiful and we had a very restful night. From San Luis to Monterey there is 130 nautical miles of coast with no safe harbor to run and hide. Point Sur juts out from the coast and deserves a wide berth. The weather held and we set sail after a good breakfast. We motor sailed with almost no wind from the west. We were astonished to see the speed on the GPS reach greater than 6 knots over the ground. Our luck held and the counter current was strong here. The wind never exceeded 8 knots but was fair and helped us complete this 26 hr passage in 22 hours. Debbie woke at 6 am to do her watch only to discover we had arrived in Monterey.
San Diego to Santa Barbara via Catalina
When cruising, it seems that we rapidly make new friends in new harbors. Unfortunately that means you eventually have to say good bye. Pete and Diane from San Diego welcomed us in grand style. They gave us the grand tour and made us feel right at home. Several pleasant evenings were spent talking around their saloon table while sharing a meal. They are preparing their Cal 39 for a cruise of Mexico. Pete let me ramble on with the memories of our trip fresh in my mind. For instance we outfitted Sosiego with a water maker that has remained, “pickled”, for most of the trip. Sosiego carries 80 gallons of water and we always seemed to have enough. The money would be better spent on actual cruising.
The overnight passage to Avalon was uneventful except for having to motor. The buoy system on Catalina is unique and as always it was stressful getting the bow and stern secured. Sosiego is like an iceberg with more hull under the water than above, and when a current is running, maneuvering in close quarters is always exciting. Once secure we caught up on some missed sleep before launching the dingy for a shore trip. Avalon is like a small tourist town and with our stern to the beach we had no end to the entertainment, not unlike Cabo San Lucas. We made are way to the beach bar and sampled the local drink known as Buffalo milk. A very tasty dangerous mix of Vodka, Kalua, cream de banana, half and half and ice topped with nutmeg, whip cream and a shot of crème de Cacoa.
To keep the ball rolling we moved on to Two Harbors. They have the same mooring system which gave us no less difficulty. Two Harbors is more remote but does have a nice restaurant and small very expensive market. We were told the cost was due to transportation costs. We found this very hard to believe as the ferry landed twice a day. For example, I looked at a six pack of beer and it was priced 4.00. The 4 dollars was per bottle not for the six pack. We had a lot of fun snorkeling and examining the local fish. The high light was discovering a ray on the sea floor under the shadow of Sosiego with a five foot wing span, absolutely beautiful. We also had a lot of fun playing with Bali SUP as well as the inflatable kayak. Next port of call was Oxnard.
We motored across the Chanel maneuvering through the marine layer and avoiding the crab pots. As we approached the shallow entrance to Channel Island Harbor the swell increased significantly. Luckily, there was only a slight break at the entrance and we rolled in on the swell behind a local sailor. There is a lot of shoaling at the entrance so care must be taken. We were given a slip at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club for two nights. When I was getting Sosiego ready for this voyage I wanted to be able to empty the holding tank at sea. Although I tested my system with fresh sea water a weeks worth of use at the island proved too much for it. The problem is the combination of sea water and urea salts that combine to encrust all the tubing and pumps in crust. One of the two three way valves fell victim and I was unable do empty the head completely. The lesson here is to keep it simple and after the multiple times I have rebuilt heads, the system I am now in favor of is a cedar bucket or a composting head. Neither one requires holes in the bottom of my boat and will never suffer from this crust. Of course the cedar bucket is vetoed because I want to remain married. The quick fix I made in Oxnard got the pump working but made it impossible to pump out as you will soon learn in our trials at Santa Barbara.
The passage to Santa Barbara started with a very light breeze and ended with a romping sail into port. I had almost forgotten how much fun sailing is and was able to collect a little GoPro footage of the fun. We planned to hang out in Santa Barbara for a weather window for the rounding of Point Conception, “Cape Horn of the West”. We think Santa Barbara knows how to do 4th of July right. The marina was alive with all members and walks of life to the point I worried about whether the docks would hold up. Every one of age had a drink in their hand and the tenders buzzed around like flies. One small yellow dingy towed even a smaller one with a cooler. Those without tenders either rented paddle boards or Kayaks. The fire works are just off the beach and the show was amazing, including a 15 minute encore. We watched spellbound from the cockpit with sundowners in hand. The next day found us at the pump out with the bottomless tank. I couldn’t figure it out. The harbor patrol drop a die tab in your toilet to make sure you are not pumping overboard in the marina. Well, the pump out just kept going and it looked like clear water. Running below I discovered that I had only half corrected the problem in Oxnard and that we where actually empting the harbor of sea water. We then decided to stay a few more days for Debbie’s birthday and yet again fix the head. Remember, the secret to a working head is lots of vinegar. The acid in the vinegar dissolves the salts.
Well the new green transportation has found a new home. We made a provisioning trip to Vons on Sunday. We locked up our not so cheap Chinese folding bikes to the cast iron gate next to the main entrance. We shopped for dinner and bought a sandwich to split for lunch. Now the marina we are staying at is about 2 miles away. Yes sure enough we finished our lunch in the court yard not more than 20 paces from the bikes. With groceries in hand we discovered that Debbie’s bike was no where to be found. Well her bike helmet was there and the lock cut in half. Now I have to ask what self respecting punk kid would be caught dead with a cheap Chinese knock off folding bike? This had to be the work of professionals. Oh well it was a nice day for a walk although the mood of the day changed for the worse. We are headed home for a visit and will be setting sail soon for the Islands. Spring is all around us and we are watching a family of ducks with new chicks that are hanging around our dock. This gave us hope until a local pointed out the Hawk hanging around. We’ll keep a head count on the chicks and hope for the best.
Tar pit Harbor
Well what can I say? Sosiego has moved right in to the place she was born. She was a kit boat that had been fitted out right here in Point Loma. She is very comfortable here and barely tugs at her dock lines. The sun is always shining and the temperature is mild. Debbie and I have settled into life here. We have even rented a slip for a month. We ride our new bikes almost every day to Liberty Station to shop for dinner. It’s almost exercise by osmosis. Everyone is doing it and it just feels so right. We have met more wonderful people. Pete and Diane are preparing a new to them, Cal 39 to go cruising. They are experienced campers and sailors but have never cruised so they are full of questions about our journey. We have spent whole days just shooting the breeze with them and they have shown us San Diego. We have toured both the Maritime Museum and the USS Midway. Now if we can just break the anchor out of the tar pit!
The Maritime Museum of San Diego was a great experience. We were able to board the Star of India, The Berkley ferry, and my personal favorite the HMS Surprise. They are traditionally rigged which holds great fascination with me. You were able to visualize how sailors of old climbed those masts in a sea way with no protection. The entire image of those seamen leaves me in awe.
The USS Midway museum was an awe inspiring tour. You are provided with a set of head phones and an audio device which feels like a personal guided tour. The ship takes up a city block and is 9 stories tall at the bridge deck. In five hours we were only able to cover the flight deck and hanger deck. There is just so much to see and hear. The presentation on recovering (landing) aircraft was outstanding. The presenter was a retired Navy pilot who had made over 800 landings on Midway. Or to put it the way he did, “ the landings were controlled crashes as they hit the deck under full power in case they miss the cable.” The launching via catapult was equally fascinating. Consider that they launch an aircraft every 45 seconds in to a 35 knot wind with no life lines. We also enjoyed the tour of the bridge and the control tower. You really need two days to explore everything she has to offer. We even lost all sense of reason and attempted the flight simulator. I drew the line at barrel rolls. Our next stop will be The Channel islands. Until then, fair winds and following seas.
