Dear Friends and Family,

We finally tossed off the docks lines on August 13, 2002 at 1030 hrs. As many of you know, this was exactly 2 weeks after our original departure date, but closing up the house and selling Kurt’s speaker business took a little longer than expected. The slight delay was worth the piece of mind knowing that the speaker business is in enthusiastic, entrepreneurial hands and our home security gate got finished.

By 11:00 am we were at Grand Street Marina in Alameda topping our fuel tanks. Interlude carries 600 gallons of diesel which we use for when there is no wind, for running the generator to charge systems and for making fresh water through a filtration system. Unfortunately, while topping off tank #9, an old patch to seal a hole (that at one point was probably drilled for an inspection port) popped off and Kurt spent 2 hours at the fuel dock properly fixing it. At 1430 hrs we made it under the Golden Gate Bridge under clear skies, calm seas and little wind. We set the mains’l to stabilize the boat in 2-3 foot swells but used the diesel to motor at 8 knots to Half Moon Bay, arriving by 1800 hrs. We anchored inside the breakwater but stayed on the boat to get a good night’s sleep for the next day’s trip to Monterey.

The next morning we left at 0700 hrs motoring the whole way to Monterey, arriving at Breakwater Cove Marina after 8 hrs. The marina is only a short walk to Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf. The aquarium is spectacular with the highlight being the ‘Outer Banks’ tank that features an incredible display of yellow tail tuna, Dorado, sunfish, turtles, etc. We were also lucky that the annual Monterey Classic Car Show was in town and there was an impressive display of cars both in the exhibits as well as on the streets.

After three nights in Monterey we left at 5:15am for the 11 hour motoring trip to San Simeon Bay. We had the whole bay to ourselves with the exception of the occasional kayaker. There is a state beach at San Simeon Bay with a fishing pier. The next day we launched the dinghy and rode mild surf into the beach, trying out our new dinghy wheels by (Happy’s Wheel-Aweigh) which we highly recommend. Folding down from the transom, they allow two people to pull the dinghy up onto the beach. We had a short walk to the Hearst Castle visitor’s center where we caught a bus up the hill to tour the castle.

William Randolph Hearst was born in the late 1800’s, the son of a miner that had stuck it rich in the California Rush in silver. He convinced his father to give him control of the San Francisco Examiner, doubled the circulation in one year and went on to build a newspaper empire by starting papers in every major city in the US. He inherited 360,000 acres of land, as well as other holdings worth $8 million and by the 1920’s had hired Julia Morgan to build Hearst Castle on 40,000 acres along the California coast near Big Sur. The project was never entirely finished as building the complex was part of what intrigued Hearst, but they did manage to spend $6 million on the construction and $4 million on antiquities that compounding at 5% would be the equivalent of about $270 million. The quality of the craftsmanship is unparalled in any other example of Spanish Colonial Revival: antique roman columns built into a large swimming pool, an entirely different indoor pool comprised of a mosaic of 24 karat gold tiles, Egyptian statues incorporated into outdoor fountains, etc. Overall, a stay in San Simeon Bay and a tour of the castle is a highlight to anyone heading south by boat.

After two nights at anchor in San Simeon, we left for a 4 hour motor to Morro Bay. We spent the afternoon walking along the waterfront which has some great galleries filled with local artists’ work. Kurt had to keep reminding Katie that life on board does not include buying breakable artwork.

The next morning we left Morro Bay at 0930, motoring 10 hours before anchoring at Coho. Coho, a famous surfing spot is just 1 ½ miles around the corner east of Point conception the "Cape Horn of the Pacific." We saw our first real wind of the trip reach 22 knots as we rounded the Point Arguello. With only 45 minutes left to Coho, we choose the easy way, motoring. Maybe a little lazy, but we will see plenty of sailing in the future.

At 0830 the next day we hoisted anchor for (another) motor to Santa Barbara. The wind we saw the day before was gone, back to 5 knots. About halfway to port we were hailed by another sailboat ‘Klarissa’ that had run out of diesel bound for Santa Barbara. We felt so guilty with 500 plus gallons in our tanks but they did have their sails up and were making slow progress. To add insult to their predicament, we were in the vicinity of the Santa Barbara offshore oil rigs, passing within ¼ mile of them. Not to worry, we did see them pull into the marina about 2 hours after us so someone (probably one of the tenders that ferry workers back and forth to the rigs) was able to give them fuel. (Side note: Klarissa looked like a real cruiser, we speculate she was coming in from Hawaii and used up her supply in the Pacific High). We docked in Santa Barbara at 1300, meet by our friends, Dave and Diane Wyman in time for Dave to recruit Kurt for the Wednesday night Santa Barbara Yacht Club beer can race. The club is one of the most beautiful and well located on the whole Pacific coast, being right at the marina, and the first port where the air and sea temperatures turn about 10 degrees warmer. What a treat to be in the land of warm sunny days, comfortably cool (not cold) nights and palm trees. The boat Kurt crewed on ‘Sneeker’ won first place in their class and we celebrated their victory (a common occurrence, we are told) with beer, burgers and birthday cake (for Dave’s birthday) at the yacht club.

The next day we SAILED with Dave and Diane in beautiful, sunny, flat, 12 knot winds to Ventura Harbor where they own a house in the keys and are being very generous in letting us tie up at their dock while we work on some minor boat projects.

So what has our trip been like overall?

First: too much motoring. However, unless you want to spend a night at sea with sails flogging themselves to destruction, it is the best option. The offset has been that since the seas are so calm we have seen an abundance of wildlife. While crossing the Monterey Bay, which can reach depths of 10,000 feet, we spotted Minkie whales within a hundred yards and saw more whales just before the entrance to Morro Bay. We have seen dozens of sea otters as close as 20 feet to the boat floating on their backs with their meal of abalone on their belly and their rocks as tools to get to the meat. Sea lions and seals feed within a few feet of the boat both while under way and in port. Then there are the birds; grey pelicans, cormorants and seagulls. And of course, who can forget the dolphins that like to swim within 2 feet of our bow, surfing our bow wave, as we motor along.

Second: too much fog. Apparently the SF Bay Area, as well as much of the Pacific Coast, is seeing record low temperatures for the month of August. However, having made our way to Southern California after 310 nautical miles, we are now in a sunny paradise.

Life on board is like life on land: you cook, eat, clean, sleep and do chores only everything takes about 3 times as long given the motion and the lack of high end appliances. While you are underway watch keeping is 3 hours on, three hours off. Seeing as how our cruising has been coastal up to this point, with only day trips, we back each other up on watch keeping when Kurt needs to be in the engine room or Katie in the galley to fix something. At night we have been entertaining ourselves with a movie a night, having been blessed to receive so many DVD’s as bon voyage gifts and with Kurt having installed a LUCE 22 inch LCD widescreen in our main salon. Last but not least, is our endless supply of Coronas when we get into port!

Hopefully this note finds you healthy and happy. Please be patient as we will hopefully, over time, get better at penning our adventures. If you are too busy to read our emails and wish to be taken off our distribution list, please let us know. The best way to reach us is by email or cell phone (until the end of October) at 510-331-4727.

Smooth Sailing,

Kurt & Katie