Tuesday, October 8, 2013

San Francisco to Ensenada

Adios Sausalito - We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Sausalito.  When I visited San Francisco years ago on business I always thought that Sausalito would be a very cool place to live. Thanks to Kathryn checking the pages of Latitude 38 for a temporary slip, I got my chance. There was always something interesting happening in town or on the water and we had incredible neighbors.  

Many friends and family took the time to see us and give us their good wishes before we left, making our departure from the Bay Area very memorable.  Here are our next door neighbors Christy and Glen saying good bye - we miss you!   


Christy & Glen - Sirena Gordita

One of the most exciting events in the bay area this summer was the America's Cup.  We watched the cup and many practice sessions from Agave Azul, on the breakwater at the Golden Gate Yacht Club, at the finish line at America's Cup Village and even from the Golden Gate Bridge.  All were exciting but the best place to watch was after the race on YouTube.  

Below are a couple of my favorite shots of Team New Zealand and Team USA at the finish line. Kathryn and I watched these races two days before we left.  Oracle Team USA lost both and the tally was New Zealand +6 and USA -1.  The winner needed to win a total of 9 races.  We thought we were leaving the bay area at a good time since New Zealand was about to run away with the win.  We got to watch the final races on live TV in Ensenada.

On the way out we passed by several mega yachts anchored in Richardson Bay that were in town for the event.

Mega Yachts anchored in Richardson Bay

Our plan was to depart San Francisco at 6:00pm to arrive at Point Conception about 30 hours later at 1:00am when there is a chance that the weather might cooperate.  We were treated to a spectacular sunny afternoon on our way out the gate.

Golden Gate Bridge

Crew - We were fortunate to have John Ryan and Dan Doud as crew on the trip to Santa Barbara.  We have sailed and raced with John & Dan for several years at the Sequoia Yacht Club.  We hoped it would be an uneventful trip, but their skills and experience became very important toward the end of the trip.

John Ryan

Dan Doud

The first night and most of the next day were uneventful.  The wind was directly aft so we were motoring.  We had lots of wind and plenty of sun - it doesn't get much better.  Well, until the High Water Temperature light came on and the alarm sounded.  We shut the engine off and unfurled the sails, then spent the next few hours troubleshooting, even spending 2 hours to remove and check the impeller, which was in perfect condition.  So it was time to become a sailboat and do a zigzag course down the coast.

30 knots & sunny off Pt. Piedras Blancas

The sunny weather soon changed to thick fog and zero visibility, but the wind didn't let up. John and Dan steered the entire night using the compass, wind instruments and radar.  It was a bit tense at times with consistently high wind and tricky following and beam seas.  Thank you guys ... you were awesome!

An interesting night


Point Conception - Since we were sailing a longer course, we missed our 1:00am date with Point Conception.  But by noon the sun was out and the wind was down to about 15 knots, so we shook out the reefs and were sailing comfortably south of Point Arguello.  On our previous two trips we had manageable conditions going past Conception and it looked like our good luck would continue.  I was below talking on the sat phone with the Yanmar mechanic in Santa Barbara when the conditions changed.  Within just a couple minutes, the nice 15 knot breeze was replaced by 35 knots.  Welcome to Point Conception - it lived up to its reputation this time!

Approaching Pt. Conception

Point Conception

We had an interesting time getting the sails reefed, but good crew work (thanks again Dan & John) got us sailing under control again.  The little zig zag on our AIS track just west of Point Conception shows where we got hit with 30 - 35 knot winds.


Agave Azul's AIS Track

It's amazing how little sail is required to keep the boat moving at 7 to 8 knots in 30 - 35 knots of breeze.

Doing 7-8 Knots with deep reefs

Kathryn keeping focused after Point Conception

We still had 40 miles to go to get to Santa Barbara, but with the great sailing conditions we thought we could make it to the channel entrance before dark.  Then we could run the engine for about 10 minutes to get to our dock before the High Water Temperature alarm came on. Unfortunately, the wind died completely 12 miles from Santa Barbara.  So we called Vessel Assist and they dispatched a boat from Ventura, 40 miles away, to tow us.  It was a beautiful afternoon, so we drifted for a few hours, watched dolphins all around us and had a leisurely dinner in the cockpit.

The Vessel Assist boat finally found us after he entered the correct Lat/Lon coordinates.  Being towed was yet another new adventure.  The captain was a really nice guy and very skilled at boat handling and towing.  He assured us that the bridle wouldn't pull the bow cleats out of the boat, even when towing us at 8 knots.  He was right, they're still there!  But he didn't notice that our boat has, well had, anchor locker drain covers at the waterline.  The bridle did a nice job of ripping them both off the boat.  

We were so glad we got the "Unlimited Towing" package


Another boat project!


We had a great Yanmar mechanic come to the boat the morning we arrived.  He determined that the engine was running fine, but that the high water temperature sensor was at fault.  If we had known how to disconnect the alarm, we could have used the motor.  He ordered a new sensor and stopped by the next day to install it.  

Agave Azul in Santa Barbara

My son Mark joined us for the trip from Santa Barbara to San Diego.  We left Santa Barbara at 5:00am and had a great trip down to Catalina Island.  The new temperature sensor behaved and we enjoyed a beautiful day motoring and sailing to Catalina.

Approaching Catalina

It time for Agave Azul margaritas when we arrived in Avalon.

Arrived in Avalon - Mark & Robin

I'd never visited Catalina Island so we had a fun day exploring, learning about Catalina's history and taking a tour of the Casino.  All in all a very good stopover.


Avalon harbor & the casino

We departed Avalon just in time

The trip to San Diego the next day was more of the same, with nice weather and negligible seas for the entire trip.  We sailed past Point Loma which is a beautiful approach into San Diego.  


Point Loma

We arrived at Southwestern Yacht Club and spent the next couple days doing boat chores, shopping and sipping margaritas at the Southwestern YC bar watching Oracle Team USA begin an incredible America's Cup comeback.

San Diego in our rear view mirror

Another pre-dawn departure

Kathryn navigated us out of San Diego before the sun came up.  It was a very peaceful morning.  The marine layer came up once we got past Los Coronados islands, but it was a smooth trip back down to Ensenada.

It feels good to be back at Marina Coral in Ensenada.  This is where we berthed Agave Azul after we took delivery.  It was our introduction to what it will be like to live in Mexico and we are looking forward to our time here.  

This is the most relaxed I have felt in the past year and a half.  The preparation for our departure was very time consuming and at times stressful.  I think this picture captures my new relaxed attitude.  

Luego! 
(later)
Back in Ensenada

Monday, April 8, 2013

Outfitting for Cruising

It was a big day when the solar panels were installed!

Svendsen's Metal Works - We spent a good part of the winter at Svendsen's in Alameda.  Our slip had a great view of the Alameda estuary, with the US Coast Guard across the way and the Cal Berkeley's crews practicing right in front of us.  It was entertaining at times, especially listening to the coach's bullhorn at 6:30am.  Despite the industrial-park ambiance of living in a boat yard, we really enjoyed getting to know Alameda's grocery stores, restaurants, laundromats, WiFi hotspots, and every one of the many sources for boating supplies.


Berkeley Crew practice

This was our first winter living aboard and we also learned what happens when constantly using two space heaters - breathing, cooking and taking showers in a small space  - ­­when its much colder on the other side of the fiberglass.  In other words, we learned all about condensation and the mold that comes with it - lots of mold!  So we bought our first dehumidifier, which we think is a pretty good likeness to R2D2.  We ran R2 for a few hours every day.


Our new humidifier - aka R2D2

We accomplished a lot while at Svensen's.  At the very top of our project list was the design and construction of an arch by Chris Evanoff and his team at the Metal Works Shop; Rodrigo, Jair, Heriberto and Nicholas.  The arch will see duty as a platform for our solar panels, satellite phone & wifi antennas, stern & cockpit lights, a means to lift our dinghy and outboard and to store our outboard gas tank.  Chris and his crew were great to work with, very creative and professional.  We feel the end result is elegant in both form and function.


An early fitting

Arch frame in the shop ...

... with the solar panel bracket

Installation was definitely a team effort

Brian Theobald, who did all our electrical commissioning, also wired the solar panels and wired & installed the solar controller, the antennas and lighting.  Routing the wiring was often the biggest challenge.

Brian at work

The finished product ... 560 watts of solar, wifi and satphone antennas, stern lights, dinghy & motor lift ... the dinghy is high enough to see under when backing.


Grand Marina - Our next stop was Pacific Crest Canvas at Grand Marina for canvas work.  We've worked with Pacific Crest before and were really happy with the result, so it was a proven source for a bimini and a transition piece connecting the bimini to the dodger to shade us when we arrive in the really warm parts of the world.  We also added a dinghy cover to protect it from the sun & rain.

 Tight fit - it was good that we arrived on a windless morning

Pacific Crest's work slip was at the exit ramp for 3 docks, so people from dozens of boats walked by every day.  It was a big change from being at the boat yard with only a few other boaters nearby.  It was a fun place to stay for a few weeks and we met a lot of nice people.

 Pacific Crest owner Eric McKinley (right) and one of his employees - his dad!

 Transition canvas fitting

 Dinghy cover, bimini & transition

Hansen Rigging - We worked with Glenn Hansen when Agave Azul was commissioned.  Glen is one of the top riggers in the bay area.  Below is his repair dock ... another temporary home for Agave Azul and hopefully our last stop for projects for a few months.

Yet another marina - Hansen's repair dock

One of the items we had on our warranty list was a "twisted boom".  We had a lot of experts look at it, but the consensus was ... "it looks OK to me".  So I asked Glenn for his opinion and he suspected it was the toggle that holds the boom to the mast.  When the part finally arrived, Glenn made quick work of the job and the new toggle corrected the problem.

Does this look OK to you?

The toggle was quite twisted

The new toggle installed ... and no twist in the boom!

One of our final projects was to find a second anchor.  Although there is little agreement on the best anchor, an accepted rule of thumb is that bigger is always better.  We've read enough stories about cruiser's dragging their anchors that we didn't think our primary anchor was big enough to let us sleep soundly during a blow.  Although we had the "correct" size for our boat and appropriate for most anchorages, we wanted an oversized anchor that would join our primary on the bow roller.

But we had difficulty finding a bigger anchor that would fit alongside our primary.  So we decided to order the next larger size of the one we had and sell the old one to another 470 owner.  We increased the size to 80 pounds from 60.  West Marine had to order it and the day before we were scheduled to leave Alameda, the new anchor arrived.  I had to temporarily install it on the bow to mark where the pin would go that holds it in place while we are under sail.  Then a quick trip back to Svendsen's Metal Works to get the hole drilled.


Rodrigo and Jair at Svendsen's Metal Works

80# Manson Supreme

We still have a few more projects to complete, but if we needed to depart tomorrow we would be OK to go.



Monday, March 25, 2013

Agave Azul on San Francisco Bay


Sausalito sunrise

We haven’t posted an update for a while.  We needed to get busy completing boat projects before we head south to join the Baja Ha-Ha in September in San Diego.  As you’ll see in the next few entries, Agave Azul spent a lot of time in boat yards getting cruising and offshore items (arch, solar panels, electronics, antennas, lighting & rigging, dinghy & motor lift) designed & installed and we’re testing everything this spring.  There are a few more items to complete, but we’re taking a short break from boat projects.  It wasn’t all work, however, and I’ll include some photos of the fun activities we were able to enjoy in the Bay Area while getting our boat ready.

Bike Tour — Sausalito is an interesting town and one day I did a tour of the nearby streets and alleys.  Here are a few pics, with thanks to my daughter Carrie for letting me use her bike.

Coffee shops everywhere

We should all decorate our mailboxes

Jody from North Bay Boat Works – no fiberglass repairs done here!

 
One of many very cool old cars I rode by

How’d you like to live on this houseboat?

Sausalito has a Corps of Engineers dock where they bring debris to keep navigation safe on the bay.  This is home for old pilings, docks and derelict boats - a very busy place after a storm.

Corps of Engineer’s dock towing a derelict boat

Visitors  San Francisco Bay gets a lot of interesting visitors.  One day we were sailing past the Corinthian Yacht Club and noticed an unusual sailboat.  It turned out to be L’Hydroptere, a 60’ trimaran that set the sailboat speed world record in 2009 – 51.4 knots, or 59.1 miles per hour.

Corinthian Yacht Club

L’Hydroptere

L’Hydroptere moored at Angel Island

One morning I heard on the radio that the space shuttle Endeavour was doing a flyover of San Francisco Bay on its way to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.  For its final flight it flew almost directly overhead of Agave Azul before flying over the Golden Gate bridge.

Endeavour on its final flight

I learned about another famous visitor when I was checking our AIS system.  I saw an AIS icon a couple miles from our slip with a familiar name, Nereida.  Nereida is Jeanne Socrates boat and she is on her third attempt to sail solo non-stop around the world.  She has completed a circumnavigation, but a broken boom rounding Cape Horn and a grounding in Mexico stopped her first two solo non-stop attempts.  

Kathryn offering Jeanne a bottle of wine

On her current trip, she lost her life raft shortly after she left Victoria, B.C.  The rules allowed her to anchor in San Francisco Bay to install a new life raft, but only if she received no physical assistance.  She replaced the life raft and we motored over to wish her well on her way out the gate, but the wind and current didn't cooperate (she can’t use an engine on her solo non-stop sail around the world).  We offered her a nice bottle of wine, but she said she couldn’t accept anything after the start of her trip.  You can follow her travels at http://synereida.livejournal.com.  Fair winds Jeanne!

Nereida