Sunday June 30:
“What do you want to do today?” "I don’t know, it’s beautiful outside.“ "Want to do the same thing we did yesterday?”
The weather felt, as others were describing it, “Like Florida”. It had a monsoonal feeling, kind of muggy, really hot, not a lot of wind, weird clouds but pretty calm everywhere. After getting some Acai bowls at this place in Redondo Beach, and witnessing quite possibly one of the creepiest displays of car club meet-ups in the parking lot next door (pimped out 70s and 80s Dodge windowless vans, with drivers wearing American flag outfits) I am now probably going to be a regular at the Acia bowl place and never step close to a windowless orange painted-on-flames van again.
There was very little wind so we motored the 30 minutes or so over to Bluff Cove, which was crowded with other boats this day, so we anchored a little bit north of the actual cove, in 25 feet of water. My idea was to let the onshore wind push the boat back on the chain/rode and it would put us right on the edge of the kelp bed, where the water was nice and smooth. Actually the very moment I dropped the anchor the wind picked up, blowing off shore, and blowing clouds over us. The next hour or so we were under clouds, and the boat spun 360’s around the anchor, it stayed hooked the whole time, though. When the boat was in the clear water away from kelp, we would jump in to cool off - which is when the idea for the rope swing came to mind. I’ve seen it in pictures before, and I’ve got a couple of unused halyards around, so why not? Mia is awesome and wanted to swim away with her phone to get pictures, after assuring me she knew the risk she was taking, I jumped/swung out. I’m really, really excited about the photos she captured.
We spent a few hours listening to music, snacking, and jumping in the water to cool off. It felt like I was on a charter boat in paradise or something pretty close. In the afternoon the sky was completely clear, it was warm, and a consistent breeze was blowing in. So, without much hesitation we went for it and sailed away off the anchor, never turning on the engine. It worked great. I pulled the anchor rode in to about 50 feet, raised the mainsail and my only advice was to try to keep the boat into the wind as much as possible until I have the anchor up all the way, then turn and sail while I’ll unfurl the jib. It was actually that simple and given a wide open, safe place, and trusty person at the wheel, I will likely do it more often.
We made about 5.5 knots the whole way back in very comfortable conditions. At one point the wind shifted and I was coming close to - but obviously going to pass on by - a Catalina 30 that was just sitting out there with the sails down. The guy, seeing us aiming to go past him, turned on his little outboard and motored straight out infront of my path, so I have to adjust my course about 90 degrees to avoid him, and that got me too far from the harbor entrance to make the whole trip back in one tack. Oh well, we tacked back out to sea and the jib blocked the sun, we picked up speed while sitting on the leeward side in the sail-provided shade and it was one of those moments when you are reminded why you love sailing.
All in all it was an excellent weekend. At one point my carpet was soaking and I drew the conclusion that my anchor locker overflowed with fresh water (I leave the hose in it to rinse the anchor chain) and that water ran down the deck and into the V-berth opening. I could be wrong, I honestly have no idea, but nothing was damaged.