In picking our departure date, Todd and I did what any successful managers would do: we sat down for a meeting, at which we evaluated our target arrival date in San Diego, consulted the charts, and carefully considered the projected travel times for each leg of our trip down the California coast. We thus decided that we would cast off on Tuesday, October 9.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t get the memo. Instead of sun, she sent rain and southerly winds! When he saw the forecast, Todd yelled, “This is NOT going to look good on her performance review!”
Which brings me to the first lesson of cruising: throw away your calendar! Your schedule is now based on the force of the wind and the size of the seas.
The forecast for Thursday the 11th was for 5 – 10 kt winds from the NW, and 9 – 11 ft swells. While we would have preferred slightly more wind and lower seas (are you reading this, Mother Nature?), it was a beautiful day and the captain made the call: we’d head to Half Moon Bay! We called our friend Mike, who had planned to join us for the first few legs of our trip. Well, at least he would get in one day of sailing!
We quickly took care of last minute chores: emptying the trash and recycling, topping off the water tanks, and stowing everything away securely. Since our regular diver had not come by to clean our hull over the weekend, we were lucky to get Matt Buster to squeeze us in. Everyone in the marina shared our excitement. At 11am, under sunny skies, our G-Dock friends Jean (who just returned from a circumnavigation) and Eva (just back from Mexico, and kind enough to share many great tips) helped us cast off the lines. We were off!
