The trip down was very pleasant during the day. The winds were 15-25 knots coming from directly behind us and the seas swells were 4-6 feet following, with clear skys after the morning fog. The sunset was beautiful!! (See the pics in the slideshow at the bottom.) Shall we say, it was a tad exciting at night. The winds were only forecast to be 15-25 knots at night, with 5-7' swells but ended up being 25-40+, with 7-10' swells. There was no moon and we couldn't see a thing! We had a single reef in our main sail but the outhaul (line) for the 1st reef broke when the mainsail backwinded (the boom was prevented) and the reef came loose. I had to turn the boat around, up into the wind, in pitch black darkness in 10' seas with 30-40 knot winds, so that Dick could put a second reef in the sail. This was not an easy thing to do in the dark & pretty scary. This happened at 9:15 at night. (My sweetheart was at the helm while I was on deck and she did a superb job of keeping the boat stable in the wind and seas - D) . The main sail was damaged just a little from a grommet tearing out as a result (nothing really bad), but it was in a well enforced area of the sail, so did not compromise the sail overall. The rest of the night was uneventful, except for the high winds and seas. Thankfully they were following seas and winds, so it was less uncomfortable. We both took turns resting/sleeping every 2 hours through the night. We were sleeping on the bench in the cock pit. Towards the end of the night we were switching every hour as neither of us could keep our eyes open for more than an hour at a time. The winds and seas settled down into the “teens” and 4-6 feet after about 4:15 am. The Sunrise was beautiful!! (See the slideshow at the bottom.) Neither of us slept much and were quite happy to see Morro Bay in the morning at 9:15.
We were moored in front of the Morro Bay Yacht Club by 10:30 a.m. and have been enjoying VERY nice weather here today and should be leaving Thursday for Ventura. Weather looks promising at the moment. If that changes, we may have to enjoy Morro Bay a little longer. We understand there is a Harbor Festival this weekend and a Kareoke Joint in town :--). Enjoy the slideshow below.
