Category: Sailing

Look who I discovered today, still here after five weeks. Sadly, in the commotion of sail changes, later, I found she had passed. She received a proper burial at sea. I had high hopes to make friends, like Vitto Dumas made friend with a fly (check his book!). Almost home, so a mirror picture of our departure day! Foggy, ship traffic, signaled or not, kelp beds, crab pots, whales, sunfishes, reefs, what could go wrong, right? And I may get so close but so far, with wind being cut off, and me being short of diesel. Nail biting last 100 miles. Only 23 NM to go now. .

A few good things … A double peanut oatmeal breakfast! A fog rainbow, so close I could swim to it, bathe in the pot of gold maybe? There is the moon there two, tiny pale blue dot … Dolphins greetings while, mmh, doing big head business. Not going to happen anywhere but here!

Unless a miracle happens, of which I have not seen any lately, we may not reach safe harbor until tomorrow. We were parked in no wind for the first 6 hours of 11/04, drifting backwards. Around 06:40, a little bit of wind from the NNW materialized, and we have been ghosting at 4 kts since then, making way North of our destination. It’s foggy, it’s drizzly, it’s cold, it’s slow … Time to have breakfast to lift up those spirits! So with this kind of wind (astern with no spinnaker, light) we may get close to the coast as the synoptic winds retreat early evening, and not having much fuel left, be bobbing around for the night just near by home. It’s been a difficult end to a difficult voyage. Glad we had dolphins with us for a while. .

They came again. In full force, charging towards CaB’s bow, leaping in the air in excitement. They staid for a good 30-45 minutes. .

The wind came back astern, still on starboard, and so the gennaker is back up. And then I saw this guy?!?! No, not the croc’head, that seal! He was just there, belly up, flaps pointing to the sky, immobile. I thought him dead, well, at first I thought it was a log or something. But nope … He finally took notice of our presence, and dipped. What was he doing? Waiting for a bird to come scratch its belly? .

Overnight conditions allowed for the gennaker to carry us through to this morning, when I figured it was time to charge the batteries. With hydrogenerators, when sailing slow like we are, it’s not much use. So I sacrificed a bit more fuel, and motored at 6+ kts for almost two hours. After that, and a quick breakfast, the wind veered, and the genoa came back up. It is very glassy now, with floating kelp lying in wait to knock a bit more speed off our meager 3+ kts! It does feel like the calm before the storm …

We continued to sail close hauled or 10 degrees off that, just the same as this morning. Considering the forecast I had rigged the gennaker, but it’s no use. The full mainsail went up. When the wind is light it’s best to have it on the nose, so all things considered, this was great! We had a close encounter with a large whale. I looked behind me, and there she was less than 25 yards away. I think she only came to check Changabang out, as as soon as she hit our wake, she made a 90 degrees turn away from us. We had another dolphins visit, for which I popped the GoPro in the water but doubt the picture I extracted will look great. To celebrate their visit I did a bit of dancing to Bauhaus tunes. And then the port rudder draped itself with a good old floating kelp tube, about 12 feet long. The days are slow, a bit boring, and, did I say cold? As I prepared dinner, night fell, bringing with her a backing of the wind of 30 degrees. So I finished dinner, and unfurled the gennaker, folded the genoa, hoping this will stick for the night. Wind is light so progress is not particularly fast, at 5+ kts. Dolphins showed up again for a short visit, leaving whitish trails in their wake. The sea is friendly now, quasi flat, which means no more banging or shaking in CaB! Happy about that! Planning for landfall I prepared a pile of clean clothes. What to do now? Listening to Ry Cooder’s “Chávez Ravine” album, and then sleep?
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It’s the return of funny hats! This one I was offered by a sixth grader, after a school trip to Yosemite, of which I’m really proud of you know. I was a chaperone then; when the thank you round came I got the loudest, most heartfelt roar from the kids, just like everybody (right?) loves the clown in the show. It feels like it was another life, being here, pushing a measly 5 kts. I love playing with kids, and I don’t do it nearly enough. I’m still just a big boy myself. Totally bewildered by the world of adults he grew into. .

After a quick breakfast I was back on deck to check sail trim and more. After 10-15 minutes, it was already getting cold, and not much was left to do. I was about to slip back into the cabin, when I saw them dolphins, charging to play alongside Changabang’s hull. Some were staying to the side, jumping in the air to catch a glimpse of what was going on. But the others were frolicking at the bow, and of course the camera came out. Finally, some amusement! We had a boobie land on CaB, were a temporary graveyard for unfortunate flying fish and squid, saw a few birds, had a bit of bioluminescence at night in our wake, but this takes it. After 5 weeks almost, dolphins! Peer mammals. Don’t take me wrong the majesty of seabirds is second to none, but me, I like playing fools! Here’s to hoping that this lightens up your Monday, the day before election day. .