Days 12 and 13
October 8, 2008
We sailed from SB yesterday morning; was sunny & calm & smooth up to
point conception, then a headwind and big steep waves all night.
Trying to get a nap in the forward berth was like an amusement park
ride, I was catching air when we went over the biggest waves! We got
in to Port San Luis at 5 this morning, just beat and in need of rest
and food. It is incredibly warm, no wind. Will and I just got back
from getting fuel; the Coast Guard brought in a sailboat that got
clobbered today - reports are of 40-knot winds through Saturday! So,
(a) our choice to come up last night looks comparatively good, but (b)
now we have to play it day by day and see if there's a break in the
high winds. We'll definitely be here tonight, though.
Coming by Vandenberg air force base (on the coast just south Santa Maria) last night in the dark was interesting - they have numerous space & missile launch complexes all lit up, for miles along an otherwise desolate coast. I had the 10-2am watch, and enjoyed the brilliant stars and bioluminescent bow waves once the half-full moon set.
I woke this morning to find that the yummy organic nectarines I bought fresh in SB, and carefully stowed in the netting slings we use to keep all the produce, were dashed against the wall during the night's adventures and the juice proceeded to drip all over my sleeping bag… Bleah! Seems to have cleaned up nicely though.