Leg 2, HMB to Morro Bay (crew's perspective)

Lawrence, Mark and I (Michael) waved goodbye to Liz and Amanda and headed out into the inky darkness.

The air was still and the seas were glassy with just a gentle swell. This first hour of motoring would have been pretty monotonous, but I caught a glimpse of something off to port. Lawrence pulled out the spotlight (still too many new toys that hadn’t been played with properly) to shine on a school of jellyfish … dozens and dozens floating just below the surface. Awesome.

After an amazing dinner (salmon salad, thank you Liz), Lawrence and Mark went to bunk down leaving me topside for the first watch. Outside the calm and solitude, gazing to the heavens and seeing the ga-zillion stars that make up the Milky Way, my watch was pretty uneventful. Mark relieved me at midnight; we were near Pigeon Point. I don’t think Mark’s watch was to eventful. I fell asleep to the engine groaning and gentle rocking of the boat.

During Lawrence’s watch, the wind starting building and he set the jib. Lawrence woke me around 5:30 saying the coffee had kicked in, he was “wired” and I was free to sleep longer if I wanted. (Are you kidding? This was like Christmas Day … no way I was going to stay in my bunk!)

The wind continued to build and south of Carmel, I hoisted the mainsail. We raised the motor and Lawrence rocketed us south-southwest on a broad reach. One of the happiest sounds, or lack of sound, is cutting the engine and turning your boat in to a sailboat.

Sunrise and Lawrence looking at Big Sur

The Monterey to Big Sur coastline is beautiful; but seeing it at sunrise from several miles off shore is truly spectacular.

As the wind died, we decided to raise the screecher, which had recently been fitted with a new furler – an ingenious mechanism that easily allows you to deploy and roll up the sail. (The

screecher is an asymmetrical sail that greatly improves speed in light winds.) With the screecher set, we continued to make good forward progress under sail alone. 

When making a passage, there’s a lot of “down time.” We spent the time attaching rode to the second anchor chain and polishing the cabin windows. (They sure are clear and clean now.) We also practiced navigation skills by trying to figure out where we really were. Okay, with five GPS’s – three iPhones and the two on-board – we were by no means lost. But it was a fun way to pass some time by using the carts, compass and taking bearings to determine our location.

Throughout the day we were not alone as we sailed along. We passed seabirds and sunfish. Mark sighted tuna. Perhaps the highlight was spotting a pod of white-sided dolphins. From several hundred yards off starboard I saw them jumping from the water. A few broke off from the main pod to check us out and swam off the bow of Bluewater for several minutes before leaving to rejoin their friends.

The wind continued to build throughout the afternoon and into the evening. At sunset we lowered the mainsail, motor-sailing with just the screecher; Mark and I furled and dropped the screecher an hour or so later. I left Mark on watch and went to my bunk to get a couple hours sleep before getting to the entrance of Morro Bay.

Around 11:00 pm Lawrence and I joined a tired Mark; Lawrence took the helm. It must have been the sight of Morro Bay’s channel markers and us that re-energized Mark to stay. Once inside the jetty sea lions and pelicans welcomed us. We found an open mooring ball and attached Bluewater using the bridle Mark had made.

After 30 hours and 165 nautical miles, we all bedded down for sleep.

On Sunday morning we met up with Kevin (crew for the next leg and on the Ha-Ha). Bluewater was moved to her home for the next week then we headed back to the Bay Area.