Sailing away....

Peggy's Post:  Little did we realize how much 'stuff' we had already loaded on "Little Lara" until we tried to add the last of the provisions and items we were sure we would need somewhere along the journey.

Jay laughs that I have 5 pair of glasses and 6 flashlights and 20 hand warmers! (Did I already bring some last time we came aboard?)  And lots of food!

After finally squishing the last of the paper towels, toilet paper, and zip lock bags between cans of fruit and vegetables and packets of dehydrated food, we were ready to cast off the lines and sail across San Francisco Bay to anchor overnight near Sausalito in Richardson Bay.  

On Friday, September 19th, 2014 at 9:30 am we pulled up anchor and motor-sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge, which was shrouded in fog (as usual).  We timed it so we could leave with slack tide, which means we didn't have to deal with opposing current and wind resulting in large seas.  In the past we had made that mistake and had a romping ride out of the bay with 6-8 foot seas very close together.  But we had learned our lesson and had an uneventful trip over the bar this time.

Thankfully, we also had very calm seas (2-4 foot swells and virtually no wind waves) as we motor-sailed to Half Moon Bay.  I usually get a bit seasick the first couple of days out, so I had prepared by using a scopolomine patch behind my ear and topical phenergan. I celebrated that neither of us got seasick.  We had a fun guest aboard during the trip, one, our kids in the past have call, "IH" (i.e. Illegal Hitchhiker).  I think she is a sparrow and she kept me company for about 30 minutes while I was on watch.

We anchored out over night and then moved into a slip at Pillar Point Marina the next morning, so we could attend church on Sunday.  Jay and I are used to walking two miles a day for exercise, so the three mile walk to church wasn't too bad.  We might have looked a little strange walking along the highway in our church clothes and tennis shoes, but oh well -- the life of cruisers!  Church always is a refuge and feels like home no matter where we are... We found the Half Moon Bay Ward to be very friendly and welcoming.

Jeff and Mary were so sweet to offer us a ride back to the marina after church and later came back to take us for a drive to nearby "Devil's Slide", a scenic walk along the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

This is the best part of traveling by slow boat -- meeting awesome people and taking time to enjoy the beauty of this wonderful world of ours.

Jay's Post: I wanted to include in my post answers to questions we are frequently asked. If you have any questions I failed to address here, please let me know, and I will try to answer them at a later date.

Question: Why are you going sailing? Answer: For the adventure.

Question: How far offshore will you be sailing? Answer: Typically we try to sail within five miles of shore, however, depending on the circumstances, we may sail as far as 25-30 miles offshore.

Question: When sailing, where do you anchor at night? Answer: We will anchor in bays and coves as we travel down the California and Mexico coast, however, there are stretches of shoreline that just will not permit anchoring so we will have to sail all night.

Peggy on "watch"

Question: When you sail all night, how do you sleep? Answer: When sailing at night we “stand watches” of four hours-on and four hours-off. Someone is awake at all times.

Question: When you are anchored how do you get ashore? Answer: We have an inflatable eight foot dingy on board with a four horse power outboard motor.

Questions: When you are ashore how do you get around? Answer: We walk, ride the bus, or take a taxi.

Question: Are you afraid of pirates? Answer: Though California can be dangerous, recent acts of piracy have been reported primarily in Africa and Colombia.

Question: Are you concerned about drug runners? Answer: No, “Little Lara” is too slow a boat for drug runners. Typically they want fast boats.

Questions: How fast is “Little Lara”? Answer: On a good day, with the winds and waves just right, we might average 4-5 knots per hour. That is about how fast you can walk, if you walk at a fairly fast pace.

Question: How fast is a knot? Answer: A knot is approximately 1.15 miles per hour.

Question: How far can you travel in a day? Answer: We will be traveling about 40-50 miles per day unless we sail overnight in which case we might travel 90-100 miles in a 24 hour period. We may not travel fast, but we can sail far.

Question: How far can you sail on a gallon of diesel? Answer: It depends on how much we run the engine, some sailboats have been known to sail around the world on very little, if any fuel.

Questions: How will you get electricity? Answer: “Little Lara” has two 120 amp hour batteries – one to start the engine the other to run the cabin lights, chart plotters, radar, GPS, etc.

Question: How do you recharge the boat batteries? Answer: We have several ways to recharge “Little Lara's” boat batteries – (1) when in port we can plug into shore power, (2) like a car, when the engine is running it charges the batteries, and (3) we have on board two solar panels designed to charge batteries. Interestingly, these solar panels are also designed to recharge the IPad, GPS, computer, etc.

Question: How will you cook food? Answer: “Little Lara” has a two burner propane stove with an oven, plus we have an outdoor barbecue grill. Consequently, we plan on eating very similarly to how we eat at home. This include baking brownies and cookies!

Question: If you plan on eating as you would at home, how will you refrigerate food? Answer: “Little Lara” has an icebox on board. This will keep food cold for 5-7 days, but requires us to purchase ice periodically.

Question: How will you communicate with people while on your boat? Answer: Cell phone, internet, marine radio, smoke signals.

Jay admiring the coast

Questions: What emergency equipment do you have on board? Answer: Marine radio, EPIRB (emergency worldwide satellite transponder), SPOT messenger, cell phone, dinghy, life vests, flare gun, etc.

Question: What do you do all day? Answer: We plot our course, check the marine forecast, sail the boat,  maintain the log book, prepare meals, watch for wildlife, admire the coast, eat, read books, watch movies, snack, take naps, clean the boat, perform boat maintenance, eat, update the blog, take pictures, and snack.

Wish us fair winds and gentle seas... Jay & Peggy