Our last multi-day leg of the journey from Everett to San
Francisco was definitely the fastest (205 nm in 43 hours) and most comfortable
so far. We crossed the bar at Eureka CA around 5PM on Thursday with light 5-10
kt winds and very calm seas. We set the light air C-0 sail which pleasantly
carried us downwind at around 3 kts towards Cape Mendocino. It was such a calm
ride that we were able to grill on the BBQ for dinner, and enjoy our very own
sunset dinner cruise.
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| Approaching Cape Mendocino |
After rounding Cape Mendocino under these calm conditions
around midnight on Thursday, the wind began picking up as expected. We
replaced the C-0 sail with a quarter of the jib around 3AM Friday morning, and
had a nice downwind morning sail.
Both waves and winds picked up Friday afternoon, forecast
was 15-25 kts with 7-9 ft waves, but we were still able to read our Kindles
(thanks Neel!!) during the day watches.
Friday night watches were the easiest that it has been – no sail
changes required and no fog. We alternated shifts (Rachel on watch 9PM-midnight
and 3-6AM instead of Matt, who has been doing those shifts most of the time),
since reading a Kindle all day had made Matt a little on the queasy side around
the start of first shift – we might not have our sea-legs enough for reading
while underway yet! Although we had very little motion sickness otherwise, a
very good sign of our sea-worthiness!
Saturday morning arrival at Point Reyes was spectacular under
blue skies and light wind, and it was odd to see land so close to the boat,
instead of just water all around. We anchored in Drake’s Bay and took a down
day to sort the boat and ourselves.
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