We left Half Moon Bay a little bit
nervous. But we were rested and well fed. The seas were smaller and
there was a nice breeze from the north. We set a west-southwest
course to gain some sea room and we all felt much better. None of us
was nauseated and we were able to get into a good groove with our
watch schedule (three hour shifts during the day, two hours at
night). Those who weren't on watch could actually settle in and
relax. It was a different experience entirely from two days prior.
The windvane steered beautifully even
in light breeze. The swell and wind direction made it easiest to set
a course that led us pretty far offshore, but that was welcome. It
was more consistent and clear out there with nothing to run in to.
Night watches were much more pleasant- the stars are pretty bright 50
nm off the coast. All in all, it was a great sail. We gybed and set a
course for Morro Bay (near San Luis Obispo) when we were about 60 nm west of
Carmel.
.JPG) |
| Sunset offshore. |
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| Sheri's no-knead bread. Going to be a staple, I think. |
The second day of our passage to Morro
Bay brought very light winds and small seas. Thankfully, the engine
started cleanly and ran very well for about 20 hours straight.
Though noisy, it was a great day. It was warm out and the seas were
so small that we could move about and cook very easily. We've managed
to bake some honey dinner rolls, some flat bread and a loaf Sheri's
no-knead bread since we left Half Moon Bay. We played chess, read
books and hung out during that long motor. It was really pretty nice to be able to relax. And sleeping came pretty easy to all of us.
At about 0430 on Monday 1/30/12, we
dropped the hook in Morro Bay. When we got up in the morning, we
moved the boat to a better spot in the harbor and, after eating and
cleaning a bit, we went ashore and wandered around town doing
errands. We managed to do some laundry, play some basketball, get
some wire for a project and buy groceries. The town of Morro Bay is
quiet and incredibly walkable.
.JPG)
On Tuesday morning, Taylor and I went
for a surf. We spent the afternoon taking care of some projects
(broken toilet gasket, inverter wiring, etc.). I snapped a few
pictures of this Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus)
struggling to toss back a flatfish bigger than its face.
Originally we were going to leave
Tuesday night, but the forecast is now looking better later in the
week. It's looking like we'll depart Thursday morning early enough to
take a safe angle and knock out the 50 nm or so to Point Conception
before nightfall. From there we'll head for Newport Beach Harbor with
a possible stop at Santa Cruz or Catalina Island if needed. We'll
spend a few days around Newport hanging out with friends, picking up
some parts and maybe finding some surf. Then it's off to Mexico.
We'll make a quick stop at Bahia de Tortugas to check in on Jeff's
juggernaut cruiser, Elsewhere, and then make haste for Cabo and the
warmer waters of the Sea of Cortez.
Nice informative post - keep 'em coming!
ReplyDeleteHey guys! Fun following the progress. Great writing! Think I could talk you guys into sharing a little more info on Sheri's no knead bread? Looks like some tasty stuff!
ReplyDeleteThe wildlife photos are pretty sweet! Its been great seeing your progress thus far, good luck with the trip south! Just remember every day you're on the boat is another day not at the office!! Keep up the posts and the photos, it really is fun to watch!
ReplyDeleteHey Geoff,
ReplyDeleteSorry this took forever- but here's the bread recipe.
1. Combine in a bowl 3 c flour, 0.5 tsp yeast, 1.5 tsp salt. Add 1 and 5/8 cups water and stir. Cover bowl with plastic wrap (we just set it inside a plastic shopping bag) and let it sit for 12-18 hours (timing is temperature dependent).
2. Dough is ready when surface is dotted with bubbles. Flour a work surface and turn the dough out. Fold it over on itself a couple of times. Loosely cover and let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Shape dough into a ball. Sprinkle a cotton towel with four and turn dough seam-side down on the towel. Dust the top with flour, cover with another towel and let rise for about 2 hours. Dough will double in size; it's ready when it does not spring back after being poked.
4. Heat oven to 485 deg. F. Put a heavy covered pot in as it heats (our standard steel cooking pot works fine). When hot, place dough seam-side up in the pot. Bake for 30 minutes with the pot cover on, then back another 24 minute with cover removed.
It's a great recipe and the active work is very little. Hope you get some good eatin!
Connor