Itchen log August 15 - 20, 2007

Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Lay day in Eureka, CA. Nice town with friendly people. Went to the movie (Bourne Ultimatum), Costco and a thrift store. Did laundry and took showers (for free). Filled with fuel 39.8 gallons (fuel consumption 0.9 gallons/hour) so I’ll go back to 1800 RPM and see if that saves me a little diesel. Filled the starboard water tank. It looks like we use about 50 gallons/4 days, which equals 12.5 gallons/day). The cruising books say most boats use about 6 gallons/day and twice that with electric pumps (looks like they were right).

Thursday, August 16, 2007 – 0615-
Depart Eureka (Humboldt Bay) for Ft. Bragg, CA; it’ll be a long trip. Overcast, seas calm with swells 1-3 feet out of the NW. 1100 – skies cleared as we rounded Cape Mendocino (at last out of the NW weather). Down to shorts and a t-shirt by noon from long johns, fleece and foul weather gear, which we had been wearing all the way down the coast. Not much happening … on Julie’s watch she spotted a tug and a tow on the horizon, which passed us by late afternoon. 1400 - Caught a NW breeze, so I raised the main and jib, but it didn’t help much. Dusk came and we were still about 30 miles out … only able to do about 6 knots. Clear, starry night. Looking up, I imagined I could see the bottom of a hull passing overhead. I judged the LOA to be about 34 light years and the beam about 13. It looked like a trawler and he seemed to be moving a little faster than us.
2330 – Dock at Ft. Bragg … what an entrance; narrow, shallow and twisty. Just about the time we reached what we thought was the end, we could see more of the channel. Julie was on the bow giving direction, telling me go starboard, I couldn’t, as there were rocks. Someone flicked a cigarette into the channel and nearly hit the boat … Julie shouted, “for the love of God, will you please go starboard.” Starboard I went … but not by very damn much! The channel (actually more like a creek) wasn’t narrow enough, so the fishing boats rafted off two and three deep of each other. Got into a slip though, tied off and hit the rack. The dripless packing gland is dripping and the transmission is leaking fluid. I’ll need to investigate tomorrow. Mooring $18/night, no reciprocals.

Friday, August 17, 2007
Lay day in Ft. Bragg. Spoke with the transmission guys about the leak and withdrew about 250cc of transmission fluid … we’ll see. Spoke with PYI about the dripless packing gland and they were a great help. Gave me detailed, simple instruction on how to tighten it up. We walked to the marina “upstream” with even shallower water and narrower channel … just amazing. I’ve navigated tight marinas before; this one is right up there with the best of them, but to have another marina even farther upstream ... well … that was something new. We walked up to the local hotel and used the wi-fi; over to the market for supplies and then across the bridge into town. Julie finished sewing (with $7.50 sewing machine) the steering wheel cover and the bag for the life raft, so that can go outside. This marina is well used. Boats, mostly fishing, are literally stuffed in here. The piers (and slips) are old, wood, narrow and rickety. The dock fingers are only about 15’ long and it doesn’t matter what size boat (from 15’ skiffs to 50’ trawlers), they all tie up. Space between the aft end of one vessel and its opposite on the opposing pier is about 20 feet. But the skippers back down, then forward, then back, then forward … gently turning the boat on it’s axis until they’ve eeked out the smallest clearance on either side, then it’s full power and out they go to catch fish. Truly, one of the most elegant dances between man, machine, wind and waves, to be witnessed. The fishing boats are tough old gals … some maybe 50 or 75 years old. The vast majority are wood with only a few steel or fiberglass hulls. Oh they were lookers in their day to be sure, but now they’ve got some rust; their paint is cracked here and there; some of their timbers have shifted, the beams have warped and the caulking is exposed. Still, they carry their names proudly … Suzy G, Rae Ann, Ms. Kelly and Shooting Star, to name a few; they continue to do an honest days work. Every morning, just before dawn, they prod their old diesels to life and head out to sea for another day of fishing. They all cast a disapproving eye on Itchen though, …who was she to waltz into their harbor (in the middle of the night!) with her shiny hull and newly painted mast … that … that … little tart! Itchen didn’t mind though, she lay quietly in her berth, occasionally flashing her sheer stripe or showing a little too much sail, always tugging at her lines as if to coyly say, “c’mon sailor, let’s go have a good time?”

Saturday, August 16, 2007 – 0600 – Prepared to get under way for Bodega Bay. Jake called over with concern about the weather. We walked up to the CG station for the weather report, as our radio report only went as far south as Point Arena. Weather was good into San Francisco, but there was a gale warning off Point Piedras Blancas (well south of SF). By then it was about 0730, Bodega Bay was going to be about a 12-hour trip, we were still tired so we bagged it and hit the rack; we didn’t wake till 1400. We had dinner on Jake and Julie had a little birthday party for me. Quiet, lazy day.

Sunday, August 19, 2007 – 0600 – Depart Ft. Bragg for Bodega Bay (with the fishing fleet). Clear skies, calm seas, swells NW 1-3 feet. Motored all the way to Bodega Bay with (with Jake).
1900 – Arrived Bodega Bay, overcast, but calm. Bodega Bay is a fairly new harbor; with a well marked channel and 24/7 operation. Motored at 1800 RPM all day; transmission still leaking, so I took out another 100cc of transmission fluid (dipstick is impossible to read accurately – it’s become intolerable and I need to so something about it). Moorage $22.50/night, no reciprocals.

Monday, August 20, 2007 – 0730 – Depart Bodega Bay for San Francisco. Jake called and was having trouble with the starter, but before we could get over there, the starter had clicked in and the engine was running. Foggy and calm. Midway out of the channel, our engine overheated, again; back to port. Jake stood-by. No hoses were compromised, but the overflow bottle cap had popped off and was pouring out steam. It looked like another vapor lock. Jake mentioned the overflow bottle needed to be filled, so I filled it and sure enough it sucked all of that antifreeze into the cooling/exchange tank. I let the engine cool, popped the radiator cap and the tank was bone dry. I filled the tank with anti-freeze and ran the engine up to temperature with the cap off to let the air circulate out. While doing this, I read the bright yellow tag on the top of the overflow bottle. In Japanese it was very clearly printed “keep the coolant level between full and low when engine is cold.” I know this because in even bolder letters (just above the Japanese printing) it said the same thing in English! In Tillamook, I had failed to fill the reservoir after bleeding the engine, so on the trips from there to here, it had eventually run low. Julie scolded me for abusing the engine, she said “ Angen was pissed at you … she was spitting and you … you made her throw-up.” I have no excuses; I was sincere and contrite in my apology to the engine. … I’m uncomfortable with this incident now, and I want to move on …
0845 – Depart Bodega Bay (apparently forgiven), for the second time, for San Francisco. Still foggy but calm. Huge NW swells 8-10 feet, motoring. 1200 – fog cleared and warmed up quickly. 1400 – NW wind coming up so we raised the main and headsail. We rounded Pt. Reyes and made a straight course for the Bonita channel, avoiding the four-fathom bank. Running wing and wing, I notice the tack of headsail start to slide up the headstay. The wire holding the headsail to the chain plate at the bow had broken. I secured the tack with a piece of line and we kept on sailing. Wind rising (maybe 25-30 knots); we turn the boat into the wind to douse the headsail. The wind and the waves have really piped up now (all in a matter of 15 minutes). The boat shudders in the face of building seas and wind. I go forward to capture the headsail; lying on the sail to secure it at the bow of the boat, my face, at times, is only inches from the water as the boat reaches headlong into the oncoming seas. Julie is holding the boat steady and at 1500 RPM, we’re making one to two knots into the waves. Headsail secured, we spin the boat around and head for the Bonita channel. Wind still building, so we put a single reef in the main and she seems to settle down. We squirt through the Bonita Channel at 8.5 knots, round Pt. Bonita and there it is … the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve been to San Francisco numerous times … I was even stationed at Treasure Island … but this is, by far away, the most exhilarating way to enter this city. On the Pacific side of the bridge, we had no vessel traffic the entire way in; we had the entire channel to ourselves. Carrying on like schoolgirls we …ooh … and …ahh…; snapping pictures and congratulating ourselves on our worldly accomplishment. We pass under the GG Bridge and watch as the windsurfers dart like gnats all around us. We round up, drop the main and motor into the city marina, just down from the St. Francis yacht club.
1730 – Dock at city marina, $22.50/night and no reciprocals. We have come 1000 nautical miles in 27 days; stopped in 14 ports; used 103 gallons of fuel; 250 gallons of water; changed the engine oil and the anti-freeze twice (my bad); we’ve put 156 hours on the engine; the chart plotter, GPS, autopilot and wind vane have worked flawlessly and tirelessly. We’ve sailed in the sun, wind, rain, fog, dark, skinny water and narrow channels; entered strange and arguably difficult harbors and spent $1000.00 in our first month at sea. Next stop – Half Moon Bay and onto the glitzy harbors of sunny Southern California.