Just an Update

9-9-12 - Richardson Bay, CA - Day 69

Just a quick update on the travels and doings of Autumn Wind. (and Elizabeth and me too)

Spud Pt. Marina

After having so many good times in Tomales Bay, and some not so good times we went to Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay to try to relax and not worry about boat stuff.  Spud Point has a fairly large percentage of working fishing boats berthed there, so it has a different feel than many of the marinas we frequent and where we have had the boat berthed for the last three years.  Overall the marina was just fine, no complaints there.  Bodega Bay itself was another story.  It may have been because we were there over the Labor Day holiday weekend and the locals had about enough of the tourists or it could be something in the water; but there were not a lot of smiles or helpful people to be encountered.  In addition most of the walking you had to do to get to the different stores was along highway 1, with no sidewalks or shoulder.  It was actually pretty scary walking around the place.  We weren’t impressed to say the least and were ready to leave when the time came. 

This is what 10 hours of "summer"
sailing/motoring looks like

We motored out of the channel and tried to do some sailing but there was no wind to speak of, so we ended up motor sailing all the way to Drakes Bay.  Yes I know we have been trying to avoid Drakes, but it is a logical stop on the way back to San Francisco.  Somewhere North of Pt. Reyes we passed a large ketch rigged boat that was sailing in slow circles.  More on that later.  Drakes was kind to us this time and any lack of sleep was due to our own paranoia.  We were a little behind schedule due to the engine issue to make the crew party in Berkeley so we left early in the morning well before sun up to try to make it all the way back and make the party.  As we motored out of the bay and past the green buoy marking Pt. Reyes what do you know, we saw the same ketch rigged boat, only its mizzen sail up, sailing in circles.  It had made it about 10 miles from where we saw it the day before.  The guy must not be a very big hurry.  With no wind we half motor sailed / motored to Berkeley and made it in plenty of time for the crew party.

Back to San Francisco, will we ever leave?

The crew party was a success and we met a great crew member named Laura.  She was recommended by some trusted people we know and we had been in touch ahead of time.  She seemed more than capable and will bring a lot of experience to the boat.  We are excited to have her as crew.  Berkeley was a nice stop for us and we ended up spending four nights there.  Went for some well needed runs after eleven days, and stocked up on groceries and water again.  You can tell that every day is a weekend for us as we realized it was Friday night at 8:30 and we were in Grocery Outlet doing our grocery shopping, before the mile walk back.  While walking around UC Berkeley we heard that they had a home football game the next day, so on a whim we bought tickets and spent another night so we could go to a college football game.  Ohh college, it was fun.  I guess that all I can say about that.  We sniffed out a place called Jupiter.  There was a line to get in; so we went in not sure what it was.  We asked a guy who worked there and he told us that it was a micro-brewery that served brick oven specialty pizzas in a great outdoor setting.  I have now decided that we may have the sense of a bloodhound for finding breweries.

The wildlife on our dock at Berkeley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Traffic I-80 at Berkeley - one of the many reasons we decided
to take this trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cal Bears game in the new Stadium

 

We are bloodhounds, you can't hide a brewpub from us!

We left Berkeley ready to head South finally.  The forecast looked good and we were rested and ready to move.  The sail from Berkeley to the Golden Gate was amazing  and we were looking forward to a nice sail down the coast after all the motoring we had been doing.  Elizabeth has adopted the tradition of donating some money to Neptune as we depart on a voyage.  All we had today was a quarter, a half dollar would have been better.  The sacrifice to Neptune is to make up for the bad luck we cause ourselves by clipping our nails and cutting my hair on the boat.  You could write a book about the superstitions associated with boats.  Elizabeth flipped the quarter into the air and Neptune spit it back at her as it landed on the deck.  We should have known then that it would be best to turn back.  About two miles later the wind had continued to build and the wind waves and swells were beating us up pretty decently.  We had never seen the porpoises that we always see upon exiting the Golden Gate and the forecast  was just as good tomorrow; so we turned around.  And here we are, back in Richardson Bay hanging out with the herd of derelict boats, waiting to leave.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?  At least it is sunny and calm, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.