The Trip North
Purchasing “Circe” was only the start of a long journey home. Since she was located in San Diego we would need to sail her approximately 550 nautical miles up the often difficult, sometimes treacherous California Coast. In addition, while “Circe” was in great shape, she was really set up to day sail in and around San Diego, an area known for light winds and mild seas. She certainly wasn’t ready for such a big trip up the coast.
Captain Tony made several trips over the next couple of months preparing “Circe” for the trip. There was safety equipment to be purchased and installed. This included AIS (a system that uses radio transmissions to of GPS info between ships, so that we can see each other on displays (particularly at night or in poor visibility). Installing a new VHF radio with special digital calling safety features. Mounting an iPad at the helm with navigation software, allowing for navigation from the steering position. In addition he replacing worn lines and added reefing points to the mainsail to allow for reducing sail area in high winds. Of course this is only a partial list of the work that was needed in preparation for the trip.
The next step was signing up crew to help with the delivery up the coast. Patch Garcia, Seth Clark and Dan Mone volunteered to crew, and then all we needed was a weather window. With the help of Robb Walker, who has sailed up the coast a few times, we were able to put together a plan, pick a weather window and have a good idea of contingencies in case we ran into weather windows.
Finally the time was here. Dan volunteered to drive us to San Diego in his car and leave it with family. So we left the Bay Area on a Wednesday and drove to San Diego. We spent Thursday and Friday finishing the prep work and provisioning the boat with food for the journey. Patch who had never made an ocean passage of any kind before, kept telling us she was prepared to cry and be sick the whole way. But she was excited to make the trip.
At approximately 6 AM Saturday, May 25th, 2019 we left the dock at Shelter Island, San Diego and headed out to the open ocean. The weather turned out to be great, with a light breeze right “on the nose” and a very mild sea state. Both built slowly as the day wore on but “Circe’s” motor hummed away and we ate up the miles. In the late afternoon we could see Catalina Island in the distance although it took another couple of hours to get there. We finally pulled into Two Harbors on Catalina just at dusk, after crossing just over 85 nautical miles of sea.
After tying up to a mooring ball for the night, we cooked dinner and crashed hard. Dawn the next morning found us already making our way north . Again we had great weather, motoring into a light wind and sea state. Our watch system of 2 hours on, 2 hours on standby (stay in your gear and in the cockpit to assist if needed) and 4 hours off seemed to work well.
Early in the afternoon we were visited by a pod of dolphins who played in our bow wake for about a half an hour. This is always exciting and never grows old. Their joy at playing in the waves is contagious. At 5 PM that evening we pulled into a very crowded Santa Barbara harbor after motoring another 90 miles. We refueled, and after some negotiating for a slip finally got one for the night. However, when we checked the weather for the coming days we found our weather window closing fast, with a series of storms lined up off the California Coast.
The crew had a good night’s sleep and after discussing the situation the following morning decided it wasn’t safe to proceed. After additional negotiations with the Harbor Master, we were finally able to get a slip for the coming week. Then we rented a car and drove back to the Bay Area.
A week later on Friday afternoon we had a great weather window coming up, a crew lined up and a driver, my dad Steve, who had agreed to drive us down to the boat. Seth was unable to join us for the second weekend and we were lucky to have Greg Cutlier join us.
Our drive to Santa Barbara turned into a bit of a nightmare, with several traffic accidents, on top of a Friday evening commute. We finally arrived in Santa Barbara around 10 PM, grabbing a quick bite to eat and then hopping aboard. We then readied “Circe” for the trip and pulled out of the harbor right at midnight.
Leaving an unfamiliar harbor at night is alway a bit disconcerting, and this was a very dark night as well as there being a heavy fog. Visibility was severely limited and made for an anxious first few hours. At 4 AM Captain Tony went below for some much needed sleep, but was awakened a few hour later as we were rounding Pt. Conception, known as one of the windiest and often most treacherous areas of the California coast. Tony remembers someone shaking his leg and saying, “We have a situation”! As the boat was rounding Pt. Conception, the conditions had picked up a bit with a moderate sea running and the crew had discovered that the mast base was jumping around in its mount inside the base of the boat. More investigation showed that there were some loose bolts, and Dan was able to tighten the bolts back down with no further drama.
Other than the mast incident, the trip around Pt. Conception was uneventful. Winds were very light and the sea state died back down and we motored happily on our way. While the wind and sea cooperated, there was a low, wet fog most of the day and temperatures were cool. We continued our watch rotation, sandwiching Patch and Greg, the less experience ocean sailors, between Dan and Tony who had more experience. Afternoons ended up with everyone in the cockpit enjoying the sights and sounds of the ocean and the coastline, slowly moving southward in comparison to the boat, 5 - 15 miles off our starboard side.
We motored on through the night. It was cold and very wet up in the cockpit but there were no issues. The motor purred along, and we chewed up the miles. The next morning a very light breeze started to fill from the south and we put up the mainsail for the first time the whole trip.
Sometime during the second day, as we approached Monterey Bay we started sighting humpback whales and sea otters! So much fun! Greg and Tony even got to see two humpbacks breach near the boat. Very exciting!
As we approached San Francisco the wind started to build and for the last few hours we were able to turn off the motor (finally!) and sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. We then sailed across the Bay, and brough “Circe” into her new home at Brickyard Cove Marina.
All in all it was a fantastic trip. The planning all paid off, and we had two excellent weather windows to bring “Circe” north. No one cried or got sick!
