SAILING CAMELOT

Tom and Lori have lost their minds

Well we did it… The locals told us to run and hide, but  we stuck it out and had a great time at Buccaneer’s Days. We went into Two Harbors on Friday night and met some great people. It was Pirate heaven and fairly mellow. Saturday was way too wild and crowded for us so we stuck it out on the boat, hanging out with some new friends. 

Friday Night at Buccaner's Day

Today, we are sailing to Avalon to explore the only Incorporated City in the Channel Islands.

Lori testing out the new Kayak

Last week when we were in Redondo Beach, we stopped by West Marine and found new Kayaks. They are inflatable and work great. Lori has been paddling around the cove, which is marine reserve. Lori reports seeing lots of marine life and making friends with a Sea Lion.    

Things around here are getting a little crowded as Buccaneer Day Weekend approaches. Over the last two days, several hundred boats showed up with more to come. Things on boats get a little boring at times and we find fun in other people’s goof-offs. Those of us tied safely to our moorings got some great entertainment watching the new guys trying to get on their mooring balls with following winds. New boats were spinning in circles, running over mooring lines and several people ended up in the water. One of the other things that comes with Buccaneer Days is cannon fire. There must be 30 boats with black powder canons and they are shooting regularly with lots of smoke and noise.  

Last night some of the crews from other Baja Ha-Ha boats around the Harbor visited Camelot. Crews from S/V Andiamo III (Eugene & Tami), S/V Double Dharma (Dale & Deena) and S/V Emerald Star (Miles & Wavey) came over and were treated to Lori’s home-made bread, Caponata and drinks. If these guys and gals are representative of the other Ha-Ha boats, we are in for a great time. Nice meeting you guys.

We left Channel Island Harbor at 8:30 am on Saturday 17th and motor sailed south towards Marina Del Rey. The weather was cloudy with fog and at times the visibilty dropped to less than a 1/4 mile. The nice thing about cruising is there is no schedule and mid-way through the trip we decided to divert to Kings Harbor in Redondo Beach. During the trip the winds were less than 5 knots, but we did get about 1 hour of sailing in.

When we entered Santa Monica Bay, about 10 miles from shore, we picked up a hitch hiker. A  little sparrow hung out with us for about an hour.

Tom, Lori and Bob Bitchin

We arrived at 3:30 pm after motoring 49.2 nm and set the anchor across from the Harbor Master’s Office. The great thing about King Harbor is they are one of the few Southern California marinas that allow anchoring. It is also home of Latitudes & Attitudes magazine and Tom’s hero, Bob Bitchin.

We plan to stay here for 5-7 days before heading to Catalina Island.We have internet and phones.

Jen and family arriving at Camelot

On Sunday, Tom’s oldest daughter arrived for a visit with her family. Jenny, Brett and daughters,  Haley and Sidney. First stop was West Marine to get the girls the newest fashion in Life Vests, then back to the marina for the dinghy ride out to Camelot.  At first, it was a little rough getting Sidney convinced that it was ok to ride in the dinghy, but she warmed up quickly.  

Lunch on Camelot

We introduced Jenny’s family to the leisurely life of sailboat cruising. A hot dog lunch, followed by dinghy rides for everyone. Haley, at 7.5 years old has what can only be described as salt in her blood. She is fascinated by the boat and all it has to offer. Sidney, at 3 years old was a little more cautious, but followed her sister around the boat exploring all the hidden places that only small children could find.

Haley in training for Motor Lauch Skipper

Tom, Haley and Sidney took a ride over to an old bait dock where we saw 30-40 harbor seals lazily passing the day. Later, Haley wanted to check out the speed of the dinghy and we headed out for open ocean, where we hit amazing speeds of 18 knots. Haley’s only comment was, “Can we do it again?” Haley also decided she needed to drive the dinghy and picked up on it so quick that we proclaimed her the Motor Launch Skipper.

Camelot's new Watch Officer

The girls also followed Lori around the boat and checked out the guest cabin, where they decided they could share the berth. The thing we learned was grandparents have to have lots of snacks, as the girls reminded Lori that they were hungry.

Sidney and Haley checking out the crew quarters

Sadly the day ended too fast and they departed. The rest of the week will be pretty low key. We plan on moving to the King Harbor Yacht Club Guest dock tomorrow and staying until Friday when we will head off to Santa Catalina Island.

Anacapa Island

On Monday morning, 9-13-10, we sailed from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the North Channel Islands. We sailed around to the south side the Island, passing Anacapa Island and anchored over night in Smuggler’s Cove. The next day we motored around the north end of the island and anchored in Pelican Bay, a favorite spot of the locals. On Thursday, 9-16-10, we pulled the anchor and motored to the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, CA, where we plan to stay until Saturday. The weather in Southern California has been unusually cool all summer.  As a result the ocean water is cold and we can’t swim without wet suits. Currently, it is cloudy and in the low 60’s through next week. Saturday we head out for Marina Del Rey, Redondo Beach (King Harbor) and Santa Catalina Island. For more details see below:

Camelot at Smuggler's Cove

On Monday, at 9:30 am we left Santa Barbara harbor and motor sailed south towards Santa Cruz Island. After about one hour the wind filled in and we began to sail. The wind increased and we were making between 7-8 knots for the duration of the trip. At 2:30 pm, we arrived in Smuggler’s Cove and anchored in about 45 feet of water.

Smuggler's Cove

 This is a large anchorage with beautiful views of the south side of Santa Cruz. The weather was beautiful, light wind and warm sun. Just above the harbor were a large grove of olive trees and another grove of eucalyptus trees. We had a nice dinghy ride along the western coast. On our return, we realized that we could see Camelot’s bottom and keel. We did a check around the water line and discovered that the whale that violated Camelot in Monterey Bay left some battle scars.

Camelot's Battle Scares

There is a scratch from the boot stripe running down about two feet into the bottom paint. There is also a chip in the top sides about amidships. It looks like the barnacles on the whale did the damage, since the scratches are thin. I think it makes Camelot look kind of cool, but Lori is ready to buy a harpoon gun.

On Tuesday, we weighed anchor at 9:30 am and motored around the east end of the island. The wind was already

 about 15-17 knots and straight on our nose. Soon we rounded the northern end of the island and we were able to sail for several hours towards Pelican Harbor.

Dolphins swimming with Camelot

Along the way the dolphins began playing around our bow. At 2:30 pm we arrived at Pelican Bay. This is a favorite anchorage of the locals and I can see why. The cove has 100’ cliffs on the north and south side providing a great shelter from the Northwest and Westerly winds. We anchored in 60 feet of clear blue water with a sand bottom. We used our stern anchor for the first time and it held well.

Pelican Bay

The weather was even better here with no wind and nice warm sun. There were six other boats in the cove the first night, including another sailboat we had previously met at Smuggler’s, a Jeanneau named Pura Vida. That evening their crew -Mike, Brian and George-, came over for a chat and drinks.

On Wednesday, we took the dinghy out early and went over to Prisoner’s Harbor, the main point of entry to the island. The water there was so clear we could see the bottom

North coast Santa Cruz Is.

Caves along Santa Cruz Island

and looked for local nurse sharks and rays that frequent the area. This side of the island is weather beaten and the rocks have many caves and beautiful formations. By noon the wind was up and we returned to our boat for a relaxing day of doing nothing. This was another beautiful day of sun and light winds. We hosted some of the other boaters from Long Beach Yacht Club that evening.

Camelot at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht CLub

On Thursday, we woke to thick fog and decided to head out to Channel Islands Harbor. We got the anchors up with no problems and began motoring east at 9:30 am. Visibility was poor, down to ¼ mile at times. We saw radar targets several times pass us within ¾ mile and never saw or heard them. Along the way we were frequently visited by dolphins, who would dance around the bow to Lori’s great enjoyment. She gets as excited as a child every time she spots dolphins! About 12 miles into the trip, the fog finally lifted, but the marine layer was stubborn and the sun never came out. We got a little sailing in, but the wind died after about twenty minutes. At 1:30, we arrived at the Pacific Corinthian Yacht Club. They have a large guest dock and even sent someone out to help us tie up. We felt really welcome here. The Club House is beautiful and the people are great.

The weather reports call for more clouds and cooler weather for the next couple of days. Saturday we will head for Marina Del Rey and then on to King Harbor in Redondo Beach.  In the meantime, we’ll take in our surroundings and explore the neighborhood. Lori is compiling the never ending list of groceries, and is hell-bent on visiting the closest shopping mall. Dutiful husband that I am, I’ll escort her in her errands.

Another boaters dinghy with a trespasser

Today, we say goodbye to Santa Barbara and sail to the Northern Channel Islands of Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa. The weather here has been up and down. Fog at night and sunny 70 degrees in the daytime with winds 10-15 knots. Should be a great sail to our first destination of Smuggler’s Cove on Santa Cruz Island. 

Out for a dinghy ride of the Santa Barbara Pier

While in Santa Barbara we explored the downtown and its shops. A good thing about living on board a boat is when you buy something, something has to come off, so no purchases for us. Yesterday we did our first grocery shopping without a car. Rode the electric trolley from the Harbor to Trader Joe’s for .25 cents each, not a bad deal.  We also discovered that your shopping habits are directly influenced by the weight of the items you are purchasing.

Lori's bread machine and her first loaf

While in the harbor, Lori went nuts with her bread machine and made two loaves of bread and mixed several balls of dough for baking later. I see focaccia in my near future…

Today we head for the Northern Channel Islands (Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands). We plan on spending 5-6 nights at anchor and then heading over to the Channel Islands Marina in Oxnard, CA next weekend. No internet or phones in the Channel Islands, so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us.

We left Half Moon Bay bound for Santa Barbara on Tuesday Sep 7^th at 9:40 am.

 The trip down the coast was all in all pretty boring. Cloudy, light winds and wet. The marine layer continued down the coast and at times felt like light rain. We stayed between 25-40 miles off shore until turning at Point Arguello and entered the Santa Barbara Channel. We arrived in Santa Barbara at 7am on September 9^th and are spending the weekend. We traveled 281 NM in about 44 hours. We will leave Santa Barbara on Monday (Sept. 12th)and explore the northern Channel Islands. Then over to Marina Del Rey and King Harbor in Redondo Beach.  

Here are some highlights of the trip down the coast:  

Things got a little exciting as we entered Monterey Bay… We saw Blue Whales, Orcas and Dolphins. At one point we were sitting in the cockpit. I was tired and thought I was seeing things, but there on the port side of the boat was a whale. It rolled over on its back, rubbed Camelot and gave her a little slap on the quarter. It looked like it was trying to hump Camelot! Or maybe propositioning… The whale slid down the boat and once 3 feet behind us, it raised its tail up in the air as if to wave goodbye and disappeared. The tail on that thing was as wide as our dinghy, which is 10.5’.

During the first night, the marine layer dropped and there was limited visibility, which had us all a little on edge after the whale sex with Camelot. There was also a light mist that kept everything pretty wet, including us.

Standing night watches can be pretty boring, especially with no visibility. Around Point Sur, Tom chatted on the radio with a US Coast Guard Cutter heading to Monterey Bay. They seemed just as happy to have something to do as we did.

About midnight, Corbett saw the first phosphorescent lights off the stern of the boat. The sizes ranged from small golf balls to large basketballs, with the occasional fish swimming by causing a green trail. I can only describe these as a Green Chemical Light Sticks being thrown in the water. Ok… before you think we went nuts, look it up. The phosphorescence is caused by small microorganisms in the water.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful and we motor-sailed down the coast until Point Arguello. We had all anticipated this and figured since we got by here twice before without bad weather that we were due to get slapped around a bit. Instead, the winds freshened and the seas were behind us. We sailed the last 90 miles to Santa Barbara unscathed. The boat speed was 7-8 knots over the ground for most of that portion of the trip.

 At Point Conception, the cloud cover broke and we were treated to a light show of millions of stars. It made you feel incredibly small in this very large universe. We also started seeing the off-shore oil wells, which were so brightly lit they looked like small cities.  

We arrived in Santa Barbara Harbor at 7am on September 9^th and checked in with the Harbor Master’s Office. The staff there is very friendly and helpful and got us checked-in in a few minutes. We were assigned an end-tie with a beautiful view of both the Santa Barbara Hills and the wharf. Santa Barbara Harbor is a busy place with both commercial and recreational boats. During the evening we watched the Sea Urchin divers unload their catch.

Santa Barbara Harbor

Santa Barbara Hills

Well the Labor Day Weekend has wrapped up. The sun is shining and the weather is beautiful.

During the weekend there were about ten Marina Village Boats down here, as well as old friends from our times in San Fancisco. Yesterday we had a great “Gate 11 Beach Party/BBQ” and had a chance to make last minute goodbyes.

All of the San Francisco boats have weighed anchor and gone. Pillar Point Harbor anchorage is empty, except for a couple of boats on moorings. Our friends Glen and Arlene left for home this morning and Lori and I are alone on Camelot.

Being alone on the boat gave us time to reflect. Up until now the trip has felt like another weekend in Half Moon Bay, but now reality is sinking in and we both realize that this is our new life. We are both excited to move on and get to warmer waters.

Tonght, Corbett (AKA: Anthony) arrives and will crew down the coast with us.

We plan on leaving here late morning Tuesday and if the weather cooperates, be in Santa Barbara on Thursday.

Camelot at anchor in Half Moon Bay

Sep 4th, 2010

We left Alameda yesterday with a small crowd of friends on the docks cheering (good riddance?), bound for Half Moon Bay -our first stop- where we’ll stay for Labor Day Weekend. A whole bunch of former neighbors traveled down with us and are now here scattered in the bay, anchored all around us. That makes it hard for us to realize that we actually left! I guess it’ll hit us later this week, when we leave for our next port of call -Santa Barbara-.

Last passage under the Golden Gate Bridge. Goodbye!

So there, the first -very short- leg of our trip is completed. A whole 32.4 Nautical Miles… Took us a whoppin’ 4 hrs and 40 mins to get here. Somehow I don’t feel a huge sense of accomplishment. That will probably come at a later time. 

For now it’s eat, sleep, hang out with friends and hope for the Sun to come out. Not a bad way to start, is it…

Wednesday, August 25th 2010.

 Mark the calendar, people! Friday September 3rd is D Day. Actually, after someone commented on the “never leave on a Friday” superstition, we  may decide to leave our dock on Thursday evening and spend the night at the Encinal Yacht Club dock – 5 minutes away- in order to avoid pissing off the Gods… Just in case.

The Camelot Crew is feverishly toiling away, as Departure Day is fast approaching. Right now you’d think a bomb exploded in our beloved boat, there’s stuff everywhere. Tom Looks like a war survivor, Lori looks just the same as always (neurotic). But we still love each other and are still grinning like the Cheshire Cat.