CUTTING THE DOCK LINES!

A WHALE OF A DAY IN EVERY WAY

After a week of scrambling with last minute fixes and stowing all the gear we need to take with us (we'll see...), we cut the dock lines at 5:30am on Saturday 27th August 2022. A shoutout to Dan and Marianne of Boxy who were on hand to take pictures, throw flowers in our wake, and escort us out of the estuary! To Kent and Sarah of Metanoia too, who were waving us off from their dock (sorry we missed the radio call!).

It was exciting, but as much as anything we were both relieved to finally be under way. It was an emotionally challenging week trying to get last minute parts to fix some glitches and worrying about our niece Shea who was undergoing major surgery. We're keeping close contact with the family, and it was lovely to see Shea's smiling face in a video call afterward. Shea, you rock!

And those glitches? Our backup Furuno GPS failed to start during an electronics check, so off it went to Furuno where it remained when we left. We have a different main GPS system and another backup, but we hope it may catch up with us one day. While troubleshooting that issue, it became apparent that our wind instrument wasn't talking to the system anymore - and having accurate wind information is quite important to us! Thanks to Ed at Nuvoworks for jumping on the case and we were able to install a new Bluetooth sensor in time for departure. Shan went up the mast to put that in place while the blokes watched from below.

We had a lovely ebb tide out of San Francisco Bay and were making great time. As we went under the bridge though, we had an oil pressure alarm and so the engine was switched off, and Andy had to dive below while Shan sailed us out of the channel. Our pre-departure checks were fine, and the fluid levels were still good, so we sailed for a bit to let the engine cool before reassessing. With wind out of the south we weren't making much headway towards Half Moon Bay, we test started the engine and found the v-belt was slipping (we'd recently installed a new alternator and regulator). The engine was shut down again and Andy tightened it up - a contortion in the engine bay in lumpy seas that wasn't much fun. Happily, on startup the oil pressure was fine, and we made the decision to continue while watching the gauges closely, with a closer inspection to come in Half Moon Bay.

We motor-sailed into the headwind, which we enjoyed despite preferring to sail if we can. Our delay meant we couldn't spend the time beating to windward; we're both aware we'll have plenty of time to sail in the coming months. At 11:00 on the dot Shan spotted her first whale from the boat, on our first day cruising! She saw spouts, and after watching those for about a minute we watched the whale arch it's back and dive, giving us a great view of its fluke. Shan was too excited to catch much on camera, but the audio definitely shows her excitement!

We anchored in Half Moon Bay harbor (yes, it's properly called Pillar Point) at 3:20pm and celebrated our first day with champagne and cheese. After all the stress and running around, it was lovely to just tidy up the lines and relax. After a day off, we'll spend a few days in HMB exploring and getting ready for the next leg. Until then, fair winds!