Fog and No Radar!

We arrived Saturday, October 17 in San Diego via Long Beach, Newport, Dana Point and Oceanside. We left Catalina Island on Sunday morning, October 11, and headed slightly northeast to Long Beach where we stayed for two nights at the Long Beach Yacht Club. I had been to LBYC on several occasions for meetings, but had never arrived by boat. It's a totally different experience arriving by sea, and much more interesting.

Russ and I really enjoyed scooting around in our Dinghy around the island of Naples. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on this day, so there are no photos of the cute canals. Long Beach really caters to cruising boats. Behind a large shopping center with sport stores, electronic stores, and grocery store, there was a dinghy and yacht dock in the back by the parking garage. We tied up, did our shopping, took the elevator down to the dock with our shopping basket, loaded the bags on the dinghy, and wound our way back through the canals to our boat. Really fun!

 Aneta and Roz

October 12 - We met friends Aneta and Peter Murphy and Irv Howard for dinner on Monday evening. It was absolutely wonderful seeing them. The photo I took above was taken near LBYC and it reminds me of how much fun Aneta and I had catching up late one afternoon.

October 13 - North central California is in the midst of a rain storm. Long Beach was due to be pelted, Tuesday afternoon, so we left fairly early and headed south towards Newport Beach. The seas were a little rough, but not bad. Nevertheless we motored and stayed inside the pilothouse. I love our pilothouse. The little video in the left margin shows about 15 seconds of our boisterous ride. At one point our bow dipped pretty low into a wave, and the rush of water against our pilothouse windows was so strong that it actually rang the bell on the inside. Of course, I didn't capture that one. Wish I had. We arrived in Newport and battened down the hatches for rain. Our laptop keeps freezing up when our navigation software is running. Russ spent the afternoon trying to figure it out.

October 14 - It rained, but not bad and we were secure on two mooring lines. Our neighbors were a little noisy though. The seals and pelicans have completely taken over a few of our neighboring boats.

We met three more Baja Ha Ha boats in Newport...Allymar, Stepping Stone, and Evergreen. Russ spent nearly 3 hours with technician by phone to reinstall navigation software to see if that fixes our freeze problem. As the day progressed, the clouds started to part, the sun came out and blue sky prevailed. Note the sky in the first photo of Worrall Wind.  The clouds are departing and the sun is coming out.   We walked around Balboa Island and thought how fun it would be to have a little cottage here...nothing under 1 million. The ones that were modest but more our size stared at $10,000,000! Maybe in another lifetime. None of them however can match our ocean view.

October 15 - Worrall Wind motor-sailed down to Dana Point. Blue sky, big sea swells, and no wind prevailed. There was a weather warning about residual storm swells and we were concerned about making it into the harbor, but it was well protected and not a problem. Navigation software worked well most of the day, then froze in the afternoon. Rats! We'll need to get some help in San Diego.

We walked around and enjoyed being where Richard Henry Dana is memorialized. Having read Two Years Before the Mast, gave this port special significance to us. Russ is posing with Dana.

October 16 - Another beautiful day dawned and we headed for Oceanside. We arrived around 1:00 p.m. and were assigned the guest slip in front of the Jolly Roger restaurant where we became the afternoon and evening "look-see" for passerbys. We walked around the harbor and enjoyed happy hour from the bar watching people looking at our boat, pointing at all the stuff....solar panels, folding boat, flags, wind generator. We got to bed early as we knew we would have a long day on Saturday, 40 miles south to San Diego. We were hoping for some wind.

October 17 - We awoke to glorious sunshine. We ate breakfast on the back deck, listened to the weather forcast....small swell, no wind. I decided today might be the first day to wear a halter top and shorts! Ha! As soon as we headed out the channel, we hit what we thought was a bank of morning fog. I flipped on the radar. It was the first time we had used it since Russ reinstalled the software. We should have checked it before we left the dock, but now we were in thick fog and the radar refused to connect with the laptop. I stayed on the fan tail at the helm following our plotted course with the GPS while Russ went downstairs to see what he could do to get the radar up and running. It was so foggy that the hairs on my bare legs collected dew!  Time to put on the sweats again.

Fortunately, the maritime big ship identifier AIS was working and plotted on our software, so we knew we didn't have two worry about being mowed down by any large vessels. It was those little fast craft that might pop out of nowhere that we were worried about. We traveled slowly through the fog with only 50 yards if that visibility. While it seemed that my eyes were popping out trying to detect any craft on collision course, Russ kept popping up and telling me all the things he was trying and what wasn't working.

Long story short......It was a long day in the fog with no radar, and the computer froze up at least 5 more times. We arrived in San Diego and didn't see the shoreline or a break in the fog until we were well into the entrance channel, third buoy. We had encountered only 3 vessels on our voyage and all within our ability to get out of the way or change our course.  We docked at Cabrillo Isle Marina on Harbor Island, met with friends for dinner, and made a list of all the things we need to accomplish this last week before we leave the U.S. Fixing the navigation software and radar is on top of the list, along with screens, fans, modifying a suncover, changing oil, fueling up, empyting out, shopping, laundry, and numerous seminars we want to attend on single side band radio, sail mail, Puddle Jump, etc.  The docks here are filled with boats with Baja Ha Ha flags.  We understand a record number of boats will be leaving this year, close to 200.  There will be some news media coverage on October 26 as we parade out the San Diego Harbor in Halloween costumes....We will be dressed as Naughty Cats!

October 18 - We got up early and did a week's worth of laundry and Russ tore the boat apart examining the components that could be leading two radar failure. In the afternoon with BYC friends, Doug and Catherine from Galatea, we rented a car for the week, checked out the hotspots, attended a welcome party sponsored by DownWind Marine and an afternoon seminar on offshore communications and West Marine. We spent the evening on Galatea learning about Sailmail and strategizing with Doug and Catherine about how we could collaborate with car to maximize our errands which are very similar. Russ will be visiting the local Nobeltec Guru in the morning to figure out our software and radar problems.

October 19 - That's today, Monday! Russ and Doug left early this a.m. to meet with Gordon West at Gordon's communication van outside of West Marine, to listen to HAM operators in the Cabos San Lucas area discussing Hurricane Rick. Russ tore the boat apart looking for the Radar problem and calling Nobeltec first thing in the morning and thinks he may have a solution to the radar problem. The freeze problem is still a mystery.  

I am catching up on chores on the boat including this posting. We leave next Monday. I'll try to post once more before we leave for Baja - and probably won't get a chance to post again until Cabo San Lucas or La Paz second or third week in November. We are thinking of all of you and hope all is well in your neighborhood!