HOORAY, LEG TWO COMPLETE

We arrived San Diego this morning about 6am, two hours before the marina office opened to assign a slip, so we wondered around outside for awhile before coming in....with the Navy.

NAVAL VESSEL 102
ARRIVING WITH GRACE

They approached the Bay announcing that all boats were required to maintain 500 feet of separation from them, but since we were already in the fairly narrow entrance channel they informed us to stay to the right and they would pass us on our port side.  No problem.  I bet that somewhere on board there was an 18 year old with M16 aimed at us just in case we turned belligerent.

It's nice to be here .  San Diego is the last US port we will be in for some time, and is the last port on the leg from San Francisco.  Next stop will be Ensenada, Mexico to check in.

Brad from Walnut Grove gave us a call today to let us know that a letter Judy wrote to the Bay and Delta Yachtsman Magazine had been published,  along with Brad's picture of Grace approaching the Walnut Grove bridge.  It was a nice reminder of the the great time we had there.

We're off to bed now, having gotten very limited sleep in the last couple days.  Will relate our Catalina Island experience tomorrow.

OUT OF VENTURA

Well, finally underway again.  But not for long. 

Early yesterday morning,  just at sunrise, we pulled in the lines with Mikes help and headed out with a warm easterly breeze at our backs.  Two clues should have warned us that the breeze was not the benign zephyr we thought it was: 1. It was from the east.  2.  It was warm.  Folks down here would have known a Santa Ana wind was kicking up.

Ventura Harbor Sunrise

Santa Anas originate in the Great Basin, a giant bowl lying between the Sierra  Nevada and Rocky Mountain ranges.  When high pressure systems cover the area, the bowl becomes filled with dense air which spills out through mountain passes and rushes down the valleys, sometimes with hurricane force, toward the southern California coast.

This us not from yesterday,
but shows Santa Ana winds over
offshore waters near LA

By the time we were a couple miles offshore the wind was up to about 15 knots.  Time to sail, except I needed a nap, having woke at 2:30 that morning.  Down below I went, thinking after my nap we could pull the sails up.  Judy woke we two hours later.  The US Navy was on the VHF telling us we were entering a live fire area and to get the heck away, plus the "benign zephyr" was now blowing 25 to 30 knots with gusts up to 35.  And it would soon be right on our nose as we followed the easterly turn in the coastline toward Marina Del Ray.

No point in fighting our way through the wind, only to be shot by the Navy, so we called it a day and headed into the Channel Islands Marina, our home last week.

We are probably going to leave later this afternoon for Newport.  It's about 80 miles, so we will do an overnighter, planning on arriving in the morning.

BACK IN VENTURA

We just can't stay out of that Ventura breakfast place with the interesting menu.  They serve "Pot" with the breakfast specials.



 Monday morning we had breakfast with our friends Mike and Nita, also members and past commodores, of our cruising club.  They arrived Sunday night, rejoining their boat "Odessa".  It has been waiting patiently since Mike left it here almost three months ago.

Naturally, after breakfast, it was more boat projects.  I am getting tired of them.  We need to do some sailing.

The one fun thing today was replacing our domestic water pump.  Exciting huh.  But this new one is so quiet we can barely hear it, plus I was able to remove the large accumulator from under the sink, freeing up enough space that I can move the watermaker filters to a better location.

CONTINUED....

Well, I got these all mixed up.  Go down a couple of posts for the start.



USS Constitution

British Admirality Model
Older Then The Actual Ship





19th Century Clipper Ship



TREASURE CONTINUED

They also had an astonishing collection of ships models.  According to a docent, one of the best in the World.  I believe him.

Korean Turtle Boat

Mayflower in forefront and Drake's Golden Hind behind

18th Century Warship

Bowsprit Detail

                     

Another Bowsprit
600 Man Hours To Complete

WE HIT TREASURE



Next to Venture harbor is a 90's style shopping village composed of small buildings of various sizes and colors that once were filled with trendy shops and restaurants. Now it's a crumbling mess with faded paint, siding falling off, doorways boarded over and roofs needing immediate repair. I don't know what possessed us to wander into this decrepit place, but I'm glad we did because we hit a mother lode




The Ventura County Maritime Museum.


On the outside it is not fairing much better then its surroundings, but inside it is a fantasy come true.  On it's walls are masterworks of maritime art dating from the 17th century.  Hanging, right there, in the open,  touchable.  And they allowed me to take pictures (no flashes!).  Oops, they told me after I took several pictures with flash.  I guess the bright light is not good for these old guys.



Tzar Peter landing in Holland

                    

 

                    

I have to continue this on another post. I have apparently run out of room. 



OK...About our near disaster in Anacapa

Anacapa Isle Marina is oriented in such a way that any sea breeze comes right down the fairways.  When the wind is up docking is done with it on the beam. 

When we arrived the other day we had 20 to 25 knots of wind.  On the beam.  We figured that we would have one shot at getting into our slip, if we missed we would be blown down the fairway.  Just to be sure we got it right we called the marina on the cell and asked if our assigned slip was on the north or south side of the dock.  They replied we would be "facing south", only we didn't hear the "facing" part because of bad reception.  We heard our slip was on the "south".

So in we came, we saw "A" dock, turned in on the south side and started down the fairway headed for slip 44 which was supposed to be well down the dock close to shore.  It took only a moment to realize: 1. The numbers were odd, not even.  2. The slips were only about 25 feet long.  Crap.

We were quickly running out of room to maneuver, so I jammed the bow of Grace into one of the slips and used the finger pier as a pivot to start turning around.  As the stern swung about, the bow came off the pier, and because we had no maneuvering speed, the wind started blowing the it back in the opposite direction.  We were being blown sideways by the 20 knot wind down the fairway, closer and closer to the rocks.  Ever so slowly I was able to bring the bow through the wind, heading in the right direction, and got us moving forward just feet away from the rocks. 

That's when we noticed that there was more then one A dock. 

The fun wasn't quite over.  Coming down to slip 44 we started our turn a bit late, got blown past 44 and ended up in 42.....almost.  We just barely got our bow into the slip as we were blowing by. It smacked into the finger pier and we started rotating around again, just like on the other side, but this time not on purpose.  The rocks were just feet away, so foregoing finesse we jammed the throttle forward and drove Grace in, scraping along the pier the whole way.  Good enough.  Get the lines out.  Have a drink.  Apologize to each other for what was said.