Changes in Latitudes

Mexico??? I thought it was suppose to be sunny and warm there!! Larry will certainly argue the warm part.

Jay lives in Puerto Vallarta so wearing foul weather gear is not normal for him. Hopefully the hot coffee helped.

The weather was slightly overcast in San Diego but Jay was in shirt sleeves and shorts never the less. Later that day the team would leave for Long Beach with nice seas. It was an overnight passage that started around 3pm and ended with an arrival in Long Beach at 6am.

The sun was coming up as they arrived at the Long Beach Yacht Club. Larry was getting off here so we were down to a crew of three bringing the boat the rest of the way home.

Rob arrived at the docks at the same time as the boat with Starbucks for all. I think he was there to collect all the fishing gear we had on the boat. It had brought us great luck during the trip.

Travel in the shipping channel can always be challenging so AIS was always on.

Long Beach was not a port for leisure, there was more food needed, laundry to be washed and a visit to Grandmother Mary. Time was a consideration, weather was changing rapidly in the Santa Barbara Channel and up in the Bay area. I had seen a forecast calling for 14 to 19ft seas on Sat afternoon. Time to get the boat moving to Santa Barbara and Pt Conception.

The overnight trip to Santa Barbara was motoring with the wind on the nose. They got into SB around 8am for a quick refuel and breakfast to go. The weather was not going to wait for long. Between SB and Pt Conception there was 20 to 25knts of wind, moderate waves and sunny skies. They passed within a couple of miles off the point and by evening the swells had laid down a great deal.

The trip from Pt Conception to Monterey was uneventful. In fact the boat was making over 7knts and Rog called me around noon to say they were close to Monterey Bay and could be under the Golden Gate by midnight. Spoke to Soon!! The ugly, lumpy, rainy weather that I had been predicting since he arrived in Long Beach had finally hit. Seas were from all directions, wind never clocked around to the west or south, and it made for very slow going. I tried to wait up to see him arrive via the Sausalito video cam but gave up just short of midnight. Good thing because he did not get to the Gate until 4am and into our slip until 6am.

The seas do not look too terrible yet but that would soon change.

It even started to rain to add insult to injury!! Lets just hope it rinses off some of the saltwater spray. There were six to eight foot seas with three feet of wind chop on top--not fun!!! I hope Rog can make it home before it gets any worse.

Looking back towards the south Rog can only remember the warm waters and beautiful sunny skies that we enjoyed every day down in Mexico. We met many new friends, had great adventures and would love to return soon.