Morro Bay to Ventura, via Avila Bay Pt. San Luis and Santa Barbara

MORRO BAY

We left Morro Bay at 7:45 on Sunday morning and made our way to Avila Bay behind San Luis Point.  We left just as the tide was turning from ebb to flood which are good conditions from getting past the bar and breakwater of Morro Bay out to sea.   We motored-sailed most of the way.  There wasn’t enough wind for us to sail, only 4-6 knots of wind.  Worrall Wind needs about 8 knots to move minimally.   The sea swells were coming from the northwest, 6-8 feet high. It took us only four hours to get to Avila Bay, but by making this little hop, we knew we would be able to leave early in the morning and not worry about foggy and tide conditions like we would getting out of Morro Bay.  It would also make our trip to Coho, right around Point Conception doable by noon.  We had been told at Morro Bay by a wise old seaman  to anchor where X marked the spot.

AVILA BAY - WHERE X MARKS THE SPOT  

We anchored between the two piers on Avila  Bay in about 28 feet if water right under the X, where we ate lunch on the bow, enjoying a lovely breeze, watching harbor seals and black clouds of sea birds landing in the water, relaxing, playing with our compass, and watching our anchor alarm.

We were moving all over the place but within our anchor circle. We didn’t bother launching the dinghy, as the surf into the beach looked more than we wanted to tackle.  

There were only a couple of other boats anchored in the bay.  About sunset, one of the ketches that had shown no signs of life all afternoon, started to prepare the boat for pulling anchor.  They must have slept during the day and were making a night passage around Point Arguello and Point Conception.  Ever since our night passage eight years ago bashing north with lots of water over the bow, I’ve been dreading going around these points again.

We listened to the weather reports and sea state.  It didn’t sound too bad, 15-20 knots of wind, with gusts up to 25.  The sea swells of 8-10 feet every 12-13 seconds were the same on both Sunday and Monday.  We decided to take the two dreaded points during the day rather than at night even though the conditions at night are usually calmer because of subdued winds.  Nevertheless, we started to question our judgment when the other ketch left Sunday night.  Did they know something we didn’t?  We watched the ketch leave into the sunset.



We went to bed early and awoke at 5:30.  We pulled up the anchor and were motoring out of the bay by 6:40, and the first light.  Our plan was to go around both of the points by midday and duck behind the point in Coho Bay for the rest of the afternoon.

The seas were flat and glassy.  By 9:15 there was a little breeze.  We hoisted the main and motor sailed at a beam reach, averaging 8 knots per hour.  We could have sailed, but were trying to get around the points by noon and the wind picked up.  By 9:30, we were 17 nm from Point Arguello.

There were swells 2-4 feet every 11 second, with 1 ft wind waves.  By the time we rounded Point Arguello, the wind had intensified, but it was pretty mild.

Between Arguello and Conception the seas got less stable and there were increasing white caps.  The northwest swells and the polar current flowing south were meeting the equatorial  current flowing north resulting in upwelling conditions.  You can read more about this at http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2003/2001JC001302.shtml . 

It was difficult to hold a course as the swells were rolling us around, but much easier than it would have been at night when we could not have seen the sea conditions.  To me that would have been too scary. I like to SEE the sea.


We rounded Conception about 1:00 with plans to anchor in Coho Bay on the backside of Conception and rest until the next morning.  When we got to Coho Bay, it was a pretty barren place, the Wind was still 18-20 knots and the seas choppy.  There were about 5 boats anchored there.  We could only surmise these were northbound boats waiting for better conditions that night.  It was not where we wanted to stay, however, so we made the decision to keep sailing.  It was early enough in the day that we could be in Santa Barbara by early evening.  The wind was blowing us down the channel and we sailed the rest of the afternoon.  It was glorious.

We arrived in Santa Barbara about 7:00 p.m. just at dusk which made it a bit difficult to pick up the colors of the red and green buoys leading into the channel.  Nevertheless, we made our way to the guest dock, registered for the night, and were given the last available slip on an end tie on the farthest dock from the harbor office.I fixed a quick meal while Russ cleaned up the fan tail.  We ate and tumbled into bed.  It had been a 16 hour day, and we were exhausted.

After sleeping in until 7:00 a.m. (early for me, late for Russ), we did a few chores, ate breakfast, and walked into town with our empty grocery bags.  First we walked out on the pier, then down State Street, and over to Castillo back toward the harbor.  Our walk brought back many memories of Abby’s college years here, her graduation, and our boat purchase.  This is where we walked the picturesque harbor of fishing boats 

and yachts, discovering our Nauticat in 2001.  We imagined ourselves returning someday on our way south, and here we are! 

We had been told of a Mexican grocery store on Castillo, the Santa Cruz, which had beautiful produce and fresh meat.  We were not disappointed and filled our bags with ice, avocados, cilantro, tomatoes, corn, chicken breasts…..lots, but not intentionally.  I’m used to thinking of a chicken breast as a half breast and asked for four breasts thinking when we reached Ventura we could bar-b-que the four breasts with two breasts left for a salad the following day.  Turned out I got for full breasts (8 very plump halves)!  We’ll be eating chicken all week as I have no way of freezing them yet, and we must eat them before we leave for Italy on Friday.  Chicken in the morning, chicken in the evening, chicken at supper time.

 

By 1:30 p.m. we had slipped the docked lines and were sailing out of Santa Barbara on our way to Ventura.  We cut the motor just outside the harbor and sailed all afternoon until the sun started sinking into the sea.

At the point we turned on the engine and motored the last 3 miles to Ventura so that we could be in our slip before dark.  One of our great pleasures while sailing is to listen to books on tape or CD.  We finished our lazy, beautiful sail at the same time we finished our murder mystery.  We called the Marina office at 4:30 and learned that the office was going to close at 5:00, but they promised to leave a gate key and the car keys that our nephew Mike so graciously left for us to his beautiful Tacoma truck in the dock box at our slip.  We will drive the truck to LAX on Friday and park it.  When Mike and Teresa return from the wedding, a few days before we do, they will pick up the truck, then pick us up when we return… very convenient and much appreciated!

As soon as we reached our slip in the Ventura Isla Marina, I started dinner.  I coated half of the fresh chicken with garlic pepper, lemon juice, and oregano and we grilled them. I cut up the other breasts into chunks and am marinating them for for chicken kabobs tomorrow night.   I pulled some cabbage out of the hold and made an avocado slaw with cilantro. We feasted and relaxed the rest of the evening.

For the next couple of days we will be in Ventura catching up on some projects before we leave for Garyn and Jessica’s wedding in Tuscany.  This will be the last Worrall Wind entry until we return the end of September. Ciao!