Santa Barbara April 21st '05
For
the photo album go to: South Pacific
Yesterday
a buyer came out of the woodwork for the truck. This was the anchor that kept
me from a definite departure for the long haul to the Marquesas. I still have
to do some provisioning and am awaiting a courier shipment from Lisa. Right now I am shooting for this Saturday or after mass on Sunday.
The weather forecast will have a bearing on this as well.
I
left Monterey on Sunday noon the 10th of April. It had been
stormy the previous days and on Tuesday another front was moving in. That Sunday morning it was very pleasant and calm and a warm sunny
day. But the moment I turned south out
of Monterey Bay the winds started howling again. Fortunately, this time, from the right direction. The
new Monitor wind vane was working well. But I still had to do some finer tuning of it and learning it's ranges. As it turned out, when I wrote the
previous episode, the Navik vane
had taken a more severe trashing than I realized. The trim tab had completely
broken off from the paddle. Snapped from it's three attachment points. The Monitor looks
like it is nearly indestructible. I should have had my foulies on when I did my first headsail
changes. I had thrown my old sea boots away in Monterey and then was
unable to find my size anywhere. And I only have the one pair of boat shoes and
a pair of sandals. I went through about 10 sets of socks and chills and ended
up with a good cold. It blew again somewhere 25 and 40 knots, steady. I
was surfing with the knot meter pegged at 10 knots with just the reefed 90%
jib, no main. I took a couple of hits of green water in the cockpit. This is
not my idea of fun. At sunrise on Monday morning there was a spectacular view
of a multi stage rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force base. One small
consolation in these wind and wave conditions you don't need to worry much
about fishing and tow boats. They apparently have a better forecast or smoke
signal system than the 15 to 25 knots in my predictions. But there were enough
freighters to keep me on guard.
I
arrived at Point Conception at daybreak. Brenda was leaving that morning for
her long planned trip from Santa Barbara to
her roots in Louisiana. I missed her by two hours. I
had looked forward to spend time with her. Her house is just three blocks from
the harbor. But with all the delays
in Alameda and Monterey that was not to be. I picked up my
truck that I had left in Santa Barbara on Easter Monday and then had
taken the Amtrak back to Monterey. I stayed with Brenda then from Good
Friday. The potential buyer for the truck decided not to buy it after all. This
was my main mission in the last week. Autotrader, Santa
Barbara Newspress, CraigsList etc. In the end a dock neighbor
here in the marina happened to just be looking for this ticket.
Yesterday
another boat left from here for the Marquesas. A steel 36 footer "Oceanus" with Dorotea and
Jim Manzari. She is Swiss and Jim, American,they worked in Switzerland for the last 20
years. They came to the Northwest by an interesting route. The boat was built
in Germany and then brought up the Rhine to Basel.
Then they went through the French canals through the Med across the
south Atlantic into the Caribbean, up
the Mississippi to Lake Superior and then trucked the boat
from Thunderbay to Vancouver,
B.C. They did not have short wave radio. I expect to be checking in with the
"Coconut Breakfast Cruisers Net" on 12365 KHZ at 1330 UTC.
The
weather here is warmer than in Monterey and this is the longest
period, over a week, of not having seen rain. I have kept busy working down a
list of items to fix or improve. And I would not have been able to leave any
earlier if I had sold the truck sooner. I also managed to close commission
sales on a couple wood products containers in the last week and have a couple
other quotes pending. Santa Barbara has some very nice markets for
food I'd like to have aboard. One store has a great assortment of bulk beans,
rice and the first place I have found for bulk couscous. There are two Trader
Joes. Asian food is not as easy to find as in the Bay area. I have been cooking
practically all my meals on board, this is a
challenge with the great eateries in this town.
I
have made a small slide show with 14 pictures taken in the last month
in Monterey and Santa Barbara. Just before I left
I invested in Adobe Photoshop 2; among them are several of the train trip
from Santa Barbara to Salinas. The country side is just gorgeous
this Spring with all the wild flowers. I
have never seen the Oak trees in this much lighter shade of green. Santa
Barbara was home for Joan and I when we returned from Vietnam in
1963 and it is very appropriate to return
from here for my scheduled stop this winter. Yesterday I had a visit on the
boat from Sjoerd Koppert, who has a sound studio
in Montecito. A couple of years I discovered him here. His mother and ours were
in the same concentration camps during the 2nd world war. He brought a copy of
a picture of a 1947 reunion his and our mother attended. I have inserted this
on my web site at www.cometosea.us/albums/thewar.htm Earlier this month my twin brother, Jan, attended a
60th anniversary celebration of the liberation by the Russians of one of the
camps, Ravensbrueck. which is located near Berlin. This coming April
27th will be the 60th anniversary when Sjoerd's and our mother left the gates
of Dachau on a death march which, thank God, was intercepted by the
approaching US Army.
The
next slide show should have white beaches and coral lagoons of the South
Pacific in them. I count on this leg taking anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks,
depending on the time it takes to cross the doldrums, etc. While on this leg I
expect to regularly give my position to Lisa by e-mail and I will ask her to
forward any specific news to my address list.
.
March 20 2002 Monterey, California
BAD FRIDAY March 18 '05
I
am writing this in the airporter from Monterey to
go back to Alameda to pick up the truck. I finally have a good
prospective buyer. That will be my last hold up to set off for the departure
from American shores. I am passing the dunes of Fort Ord where I had my first and last rifle range
experience in 1961. I attended Palm Sunday mass in the old Monterey
Mission. But, I did not
get to Monterey by choice. The plan was changed and therefore the
title of this episode.
My
first attempt to leave from Alameda for Santa Barbara was
on Thursday the 10 th.,
when I finally had the single side band radio and modem working to be able to
e-mail while on the high seas. I wanted to test the equipment on the San
Francisco Bay and stayed the night near the Golden Gate bridge in Tiburon. I When backing
into the slip at the Tiburon S.F.Y.C. my
gear remained stuck in reverse and I broke part of the wind vane. I returned
to Alameda for the repairs and set off on Wednesday the 16th
for Santa Barbara. The weather forecasts were for Southwesterlies from
10 to 25 knots for the next three days. After which a low would fill in again.
The predominant wind here is a Northwesterly. But since I was going South
Easterly, I should be able to lay my destination in a hard beat without too
much tacking. But it turned out that the wind direction and strength changed
frequently. But always from the south. Lots
of reefing and head sail changes. I tacked out westerly at night to stay out of
the shipping lanes. I took short catnaps in between a scan of the area. I
figured that I would be able to catch up from two nights of sleep deprivation.
Once I am out further on my passages, I shall be able to sleep for longer
periods. Fleetwood sailed well. It likes the double reef with a full 150% genoa. That brings the main under the running back stays
and allows to keep both of them taut,
beating in winds above 15 to 20 knots. The Navik wind vane worked well. On Friday morning
I was W.S.W. of Morro Bay. The
predictions were for Southerlies again up to 25 knots. But there was a swell
warning for the coast of Santa Barbara. So I
decided to head for Morro Bay, roughly half way between Monterey to the North and Santa Barbara, and wait
out better arrival conditions in Santa Barbara. I could
lay Morro Bay in one tack and should arrive before dark. The
wind increased from around 10 knots in a rapid clip to close to 35 knots. When
I had to finally abandon the double reefed main and reefed 90% jib to just the
jib alone, I could no longer keep my direction for Morro Bay and I decided to
return to Monterey. This is the only harbor North of Morro Bay for about a 100
mile stretch of the central California coast. l was
obviously caught in conditions that were not at all predicted in the NOA forecasts. The wind kept building and I was
steadily at 8 knots with just that little snot rag, at times surfing off the waves with the knot
meter pegged at it's 10
knot limit. By dark I jibed away from Point Sur, about 15 miles
from Monterey. Now the waves were over 15 feet and contrary to the
forecast which was for diminishing force by evening, the wind was now over 40
knots. And I was going too fast with the jib and I needed to spare the vane and
the rudder from that kind of abuse. So I decided for
bare poles. This slowed me down to 6 knots. But then the wind vane clutch kept
popping out of gear. At first I kept popping it back
but in the dark and the seas I had no way to make repairs to it. I said a
prayer and swallowed my pride and called the coast guard. They sounded a bit
surprised when I described the wind and wave conditions. But afterward they
agreed that these were some of the worst conditions they had been in. The whole
crew got seasick on the way in, which is an
exception. It
took about three hours to reach me. I had to give my position regularly from my
handheld GPS. The strobe light on the top of the mast helped to find me.
Because from morning it had been a pelting rain and dark
I had little benefit of my solar panel. I use an inverter to run the computer
for my Nobeltec GPS
chart system and it takes a healthy drain on the batteries. By the time I
needed to communicate with the rescue vessel I had insufficient power. My
engine would have not done me any good anyway even if I had been able to start
it with enough battery power. I had figured that under better conditions I
would hand crank start it in Monterey Bay. But the coast guard men
did a fabulous job. With loud speaker and search lights they sent over, with
messenger lines, a tow line and a drogue. The drogue weighed about 50 lbs and was extremely difficult to hoist out of the water.
And I was dead tired from the ride and the lack of sleep. But it is amazing
what you can muster under survival drive. This whole connecting procedure took
at least an hour. They kept checking with me on my condition. I told them I was
no spring chicken at 68 and very tired. I got seasick while awaiting their
arrival and the boat jostling ahull.
Fortunately, there was little concern for a lee shore since the wind was south
easterly. It turned out that transferring one of their crew to help me out
would be extremely hazardous, so I told them that I'd be fine. On the tow
downwind it was of concern that I'd overrun the tow line surfing down the waves. The drogue was a big help. The
waves were so high that I'd lose sight of the top of the rescue vessel's lights
in the troughs. The steering was a challenge in trying to follow the tow. This
was the most exerting part of it all. I could not use my hiking stick it was
not strong enough to steer and this put me outside the dodger in pelting rain and
frequent waves over the bow. And a very uncomfortable seat on the traveler
track. And even under these conditions I started to fall asleep. I saw us
going under imaginary bridges and at times the strong search light shining
through the water droplets of the dodger screen had me in an eerie place. I
took one good wave in the cockpit when I lost my concentration. We arrived at
day break, yesterday, in Monterey.
The
picture was taken while the gale was still building. I have been asked if I
want to go on with the trip. And what if this happens in the middle of the
ocean? I do want to go on. I learned that I cannot rely just on the weather
forecast and that I should have tried the wind vane and the auto pilot under
these type of winds in closer proximity. In the
ocean I would have set my trysail and lay ahull and
ride out the storm. But this close to traffic lanes and sleep deprived that was
not an option. If I determine that the vane problem is a simple fix, I will
keep it otherwise I will take Hans Bernwal of Scanmar's advice and invest in a stronger, but
heavier, Monitor vane. And will consider a third battery.
I
have by now picked up the truck and said goodbye to the Alameda Marina. I'll
miss this place after hanging around for a month. I loved the ethnic and multi cultural melting pot of the area. Bob Van Popering, a marina acquaintance,
became a great companion and help to me. The forecast for the next week is for
continued southerlies. I'll wait for the usual weather to re-establish. Bring
the dodge to a new owner. And spend the Easter weekend in Santa Barbara. I
wish everyone a blessed Easter celebration. Keep up your prayers by now you'll
be convinced that I need them. I promise not to abuse the privilege.
.
February
17. 2005
ALAMEDA
"Fleetwood"
arrived last night at the Nelson boat yard in Alameda.
The
address is Nelson's Marine Inc, 1500 ferry Point Rd Bldg
167 Alameda Ca. 94501 phone 510-814-1858
We
left Gig Harbor Thursday morning the 10th. The weather was
excellent. But, after I realized how slow the load went uphill and some
apprehensions on the long descents off the Siskiyous, I decided to turn off I-5 at Drain and
followed 101 all the way to the San Francisco bay. The drive along
the Oregon Coast was very pleasant. The winding roads in the redwoods
and some formidable hills brought the white knuckles out. Last night in
the rain and darkness it was a hairy drive down the narrow one lane 37E from Highway 101 to Vallejo and then the
rush hour on the Eastbay freeways. I was stopped in Fortuna California on
Saturday morning for not having an oversize permit. Ignorance is bliss because apparently I got away without it
in Washington and Oregon. I ended up back in the truck stop at
Fortuna for the weekend. I managed to put the time to good use by doing work on
the boat and the computer. Fortunately I had the help
of a long time Redwood supplier in Julie Wright at Pacific Lumber Co., just
down the road in Scotia to get the permit faxed back and forth
from Sacramento. At 11 am, yesterday, I was back on the road legally.
But
your prayers for my safety accompanied me. Please, keep them up! The yard
here is right on the old Naval Air Station and it is the point from where we
embarked on the MTS "Core"
for Vietnam in October 1961. So I will be
retracing the beginning and the end of this journey.
I
expect that I'll be here for the next 10 days or so. I'll do some bottom work
while on the trailer and then move to a marina to adjust the rigging and make
sure the radios and navigational equipment is up to snuff. And I expect to be
down to a bicycle when the truck and trailer are sold here. I have had lots of
calls on them.