SF > SAN: Day 2 - written by sgp

It turns out that if you do the 8:30-11:30 shift with three people, you end up doing two shifts because the sun doesn't rise until 6:30 or 7:00. That said the 5:30-8:30 shift is almost as great as the night shifts. You get to see the sun slowly light up the sky dome and transform the night into day. Round about this time I was nestled into the starboard side of the cockpit when I heard a small wave breaking sound right next to the hull accompanied by a pfffttt sound. It was over as suddenly as it began. I sat up and looked over the side to be greeted by a group of Dall porpoises swimming alongside the boat and playing off our bow. What a wake up call!



We raised the sails north of Morro Bay and turned off the motor. Ahhh. We were finally sailing. Needing fuel, we headed into the harbor at Morro Bay. It was lunch hour for the fuel dock so we tied up and grabbed a bite to eat. Leaving Morro Bay the wind was building nicely, we raised the sails and set our heading for Point Arguello.

As we reached closer and closer to Point Arguello and Point Conception the wind and seas also grew stronger and higher. We set the preventer and headed south wing-on-wing as the sun began to retire for the day.



The crew was excited to round the point in the dark of night. It was one long slow transition. Winds continued to fill in, 19 knots then 21. The seas undulated with greater energy tossing us about as the swells raced underneath and towards the shore. Despite our speed of 7 knots the swells easily passed us from behind. The term 'following seas' is misleading to a novice in that they don't follow for very long. We all stayed in the cockpit, tethered in, until the sun had called it a day and we were surrounded by the sound of swells breaking all around us. Bill, relaxed as always, fell asleep while Matt and I traded off quick naps. We gybed twice in the middle of the night to flip our wing-on-wing setup. All the anxiety of rounding Point Conception seemed out of our heads as we would dash forward on deck under the dim light of running lights to switch the preventer. Squatting along the lifelines, handling the lines, tethered in was somehow an easy distraction from the previous mental machinations about what 'might' happen.We all stayed up until 1:00am in various states of alertness. Our watch shifts altered a bit, we rounded the two points safe and without incident.