Slow motion dolphins

Check out this video of dolphins swimming off the bow. Video captured in slow motion.

Slow motion dolphins
https://goo.gl/photos/DXXBtNZn1VftcVsE8

No more chilly weather

October 18, 2015

Cojo Anchorage

34 26.8026 N 120 26.6845 W

25' hard bottom with decent holding between kelp patches

Screen shot with GPX tracks from OpenCPN plotted on Google earth. 

Cojo anchorage was pleasant as usual, despite gusty strong winds I slept without a worry.  Anchor down I got to work drilling holes in the deck for the spinnaker hardware.  Worked til dark and then warmed up some clam chowder for dinner with toasted sourdough bread on the side.  Boat kitty Shell was happy to have the anchor down and was running wild, sprinting around the cabin, then racing up the cabin top and leaping in to the sail.  

Today I'm heading to Santa Barbara to fuel up, then hopefully to Channel Islands Harbor for the night.  Monday I hope to be in Marina Del Rey.  

Had some spirited sailing this morning with boat speeds over 12 knots. Video here https://goo.gl/photos/sdZNTCM6Z7418rLJ6 

Stop over in Morro Bay

 LightSpeed with the iconic Morro Rock
 Lightspeed with new USCG compliant boat name on bow.  We're hoping to do some charters and sail coaching aboard LightSpeed, so lots of i's to dot and t's to cross to get 100% onboard with USCG regulations.

Ever helpful Harbor Patrol took me on a fuel run.  I didn't even ask, they offered.  Thanks guys!

Dock lines are off, heading south to San Diego.

Yikes!  It's been a while since we've seen such intense lightning.  Dark clouds, heavy rain and lightning bolts on the rhumb line are pretty much my least favorite things.   I tried to sail around the melee by going well offshore, but gnarly lighting was cracking out of clear blue skies on the periphery and the hair on the back of my neck was starting to stand on end.  These crashing strikes were way to close for comfort!  The periphery of the storm seemed to have just as much lightning as the center.  Last time we were in this situation we were sailing our old catamaran 'Pacifica' and a near strike blew-out the radar and depth sounder and nearly scared something else out of the skipper.   

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) from nearby lightning can be nearly as bad as a direct strike as electrical current flow is induced to surge through the boats' systems frying everything in an instant. 

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning

With the skies cracking with flashes and booms, I decided to reverse plans and go toward the beach. About this time I was gathering up all the small electronic devices and hiding them in the oven. For the uninitiated, this is a sailors version of a Hail Mary.  It's a last ditch effort to hope that the galley oven will do double duty as a make shift Faraday cage,  EMP energy will in THEORY flow around the oven and with luck spare the electronic souls inside.  In the end I headed to the fridge grabbed a cold beer and sat as far away from all metal as possible, sipped my beer and tried to think positive thoughts as the lightning lit the sky and thunder rattled the boat.  I snapped this screen shot as I was nearly in the middle of the squall cell.  Then back to the couch to nurse my beer and cross my fingers. 

 LightSpeed at the 2 hour dock in Monterey, this picture snapped from the Harbor Patrol boat as we finished up a jerry jug fuel run that included a run in the harbor patrol truck to the gas station and then a labor saving ride in the patrol boat to deliver the jugs.  Very Cool. Thanks Bif!  It reminds me of the super cool harbor guy in Dutch Harbor who checked us in when we made landfall there last summer.  The harbor patrol, drove us to the bar for beers and burgers and left us with the keys to his truck to return at some unspecified time.  
 Nice size Skip Jack caught south of Monterey.

 Dolphins a plenty.  Maybe a few hundred in one school

 As you can see there is no wind, so great for Dolphin pictures and terrible for sailing.

 Smoothie, cruiser style.  And you thought your Vitamix was an expensive set up

Blending up the last of my organic garden, beets and kale were ohh so good in the natural beauty of San Simeon Bay anchorage.

 Morro Bay from the Morro Bay Yacht Club 2nd floor deck .

 New sailing dink on the left, Lightspeed in upper right.

Google Earth route.  Day 1 Ballena Bay to Half Moon Bay. Day 2 Half moon to Monterrey.  Day 3 Monterrey to San Simeon.  Day 4 San Simeon to Morro Bay.

Voyage Planner - Distances between ports

Voyage planner - Distances between ports Central California to Baja Mexico.

Click on the table to enlarge.

After nearly a year in San Francisco, the dock lines are off again, LightSpeed is headed to San Diego in search of warmer winter weather.   Kathy is away on a two week  business trip to Japan and China, so I'm running the boat down the coast over the course of the next week.  No rush, just harbor hopping, so far I've stopped for the night at Half Moon Bay and Monterey and plan to swing to anchor tonight in San Simeon Bay.  The weather is unexpectedly calm, forecasts for 5-15 are mostly 5 or less, so motoring in glassy seas at the moment.  In the course of some voyage planning I got a bit carried away and created this distance table.

Delta water ski reunion by Kathy

Post by Kathy Kane:  

LightSpeed finally made it up to the Delta for a few days.  I've been wanting to take the boat up the Delta all summer, but Dave has been working and the boat has been in bits while he works on projects.   I took the old CSULB water-ski team driving all the way up from SoCal to get us out of Alameda.  Thanks gang for making the trip up!

This is the Delta.  Peaceful with bits of nature and lots of smooth water for skiing.

We weren't completely sure if we could get the boat all the way up to where we wanted to go or not, you know with that big pole, called a mast, and all those bridges.  Plus one of delta arms we were planning to navigate up was closed as they are building a dam.

Skinny channels and murky waters.

Ferry crossing.

Julie, Pam and Kathy demonstrating safety procedures aboard LightSpeed

Kathy off to try some water skiing.  It's been a long time and she didn't get up on her first try, so embarrassing!   Also Julie, Pam, Dan, Virg and Rick.

Kathy with Pam at the wheel.

Diva's Julie, Kathy and Pam and some random drunk lady singing karoake at the Rusty Porthole bar.

Are we in college still?  ... a drinking club with a water ski problem.  Dan, Julie, Kathy and Matt hooting it up on the boat ride from the Rusty port hole bar and back to the house we rented on the water.

Almost all the gang...Greg, Sonja, Kathy, Matt, Julie, Rick, Pam, Dan and Dave.

About 5pm on our last night a cold front came through and the temp dropped about 20 degrees in a matter of minutes.

Everyone will all our warm clothes on.  Hey they look better on your guys!

Where will we meet up next year???