Out the Gate and Hanging a Left

After years, months, and weeks of preparation, we cast off the bowlines for our Worrall Cruise about 8:00 a.m. on September 5, 2009, exactly as dreamed and planned. Mark Twain would have been proud! We were really keyed up and ready to GO! The night before we said goodbye to friends at the Berkeley Yacht Club and paid our inactive dues for the coming year. Doug and Catherine, provided us with a much appreciated packet of harbor maps from their recent southern California cruise. We will catch up again with them in San Diego for the Baja Ha Ha.
Brother and sister-in-law, Ted and Marian, arrived at 6:30 a.m.to help with final prep and cast off. Russ discovered a little leak after we started the motor which we thought might set us back, but after a few minutes in the engine room, Russ decided it was only an annoyance not a problem. Phew!

I picked up crew, Garyn and Jessica, at the Berkeley BART station. They had driven their car to Half Moon Bay the night before.

BYC friends Jack and Linda, and also new residents of our Emery Cove slip, took lots of pictures and escorted us out the GATE in their boat. There were several marina neighbors waving us off. We had been and still are receiving email bon voyage sentiments and phone calls. Jean and Bruce were standing on the Emeryville pier waving us off as we went through the break water. Carolyn and Bob and Wayne and Carol were waving to us from Sausilito and Fort Baker. Because of the incoming traffic in the shipping channel and the fog, we decided it would be prudent to stay on the southern border of the shipping channel which was a bit far from Fort Baker and Sausalito.
Here are some photos of us getting ready to go under the bridge, going under,

and looking back.

We did wave, but don't know if anyone saw us. We were deeply touched by all of your good wishes, lovely sentiments, and parting waves. A special thanks for those of you who drove from your homes many miles away to send us off! Even if we couldn't see you and you couldn't see us, we knew you were there (or thinking of us from afar), and you made the day a very special one for us. Thank you.

Despite the cold and fog (which we promised to ourselves to remember when we are baking and steaming in the tropics), there was no wind. It was bitter sweet knowing that it would be some time before we sail in the San Francisco Bay again. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts at sailing, we wound up motoring to Half Moon Bay. By the time we arrived in Half Moon Bay, the sun was out and the water had just a few breeze ripples. Jessica did a terrific job at the helm most of the way down the coast.We put 6 hours on the engine and arrived around 2:30 p.m. We had only a couple of glitches along the way. Our wind generator and solar panels were producing so many amps, our engine alternator got very confused and kept cutting in and out. Russ wound up temporarily disabling both our wind and solar, and then the engine alternator seemed to work fine.

I started our SPOT tracking device just before we left the Marina. If you click on the Where in the Worrall?? in the left hand column of the blog, you can see our tracks and follow our cruise as we progress. When you get to the map, it's more interesting to click the satellite/hybrid view and zoom in. Don't be alarmed by track spots 26 and 27. Despite what you see when these two spots were connected, we did not sail our boat across the land into the harbor. The Spot sends coordinates every ten minutes. From point 26 we traversed south and came in through the break water. By point 27 we were in our anchor location horizontal from 26. The tracker connected the two points, but it looks like went through the shoals and over the breakwater to our anchorage.

When we got to Half Moon Bay, we dinghied into Princeton, Half Moon Bay Yacht Club, where Jessica and Garyn had parked their car nearby. We had a nice dinner at the Brew Pub, then Russ and Garyn took a ride to a hardware store to pickup some toggle switches for solar and wind power while Jessica and I walked around. By the time Garyn and Jessica left, about 5:30, the fog had come back in. They were going back to Emeryville to pick up our car and ferry it up to the house and park it in the garage. They still had several hours ahead of them.

We on the other hand, finally felt free, no time constraints, no "must do" chores, or last minute preparations. What a great feeling!

Russ and I visited with some BYC folks having dinner at the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club and then worked our way back through the fog to our boat. Visibility was really poor (50 yards), but we did find Worrall Wind calmly sitting where we had left her shrouded in a thick mist. By 9:00 p.m. we were sound asleep, lulled by the fog horns and only a few breaks in the still water by surfacing harbor seals around our boat.

Today there is a BYC beach party. Tomorrow, depending on weather we will be turning left instead of right when the BYC cruise out is over. A dream come true!