Sailing

We drove North from the San Diego Coast (my wife and I and two daughters) and went sailing with my cousin and his wife. My cousin and I have been sailing since 1968 when he bought his first 22 foot sail boat.  He has a 25 foot Sail Boat now instead. Both can and could sleep up to about  4 to 6 people each below deck

It was a great experience for all of  us. By the time we got to the marina to set out the temperature had dropped to 66 in the sun which was okay as long as the wind didn't get up to 15 miles per hour or above (as far as being comfortable sailing) out in the open. So, luckily the winds stayed under about 10 miles per hour which pushed us from about 3.5 knots up to 5.5 knots depending upon the winds. This was enough forward progress to really enjoy this today without getting too cold from the winds sailing this time of year. We all wore jackets but even being relatively still on the boat we all stayed pretty toasty and warm until the sunset. Then the sunset was one of those 360 degree ones that you often see in Colorado or New Mexico or Arizona in the western states where the sunset is literally in every direction if there are any clouds there at all. Since the whole sky was full of cirrus ice crystal clouds you often see further north before it's going to snow we had a really amazing sunset in all directions to top of a really great day with my cousin and his wife.

Since my cousin and I are now both grandparents (his grandchildren are mostly age 16 down to about 8 or 10 now) and since I live in northern California now
we don't usually spend time at Christmas together like we once did when I was younger than 30 and both of us were parents by then. So, it was a treat to see them at all during the Christmas season for a good sail and having dinner together with my wife and daughters and my cousin and his wife.

Sailing

My cousin and his wife and I and my wife all sailed out next to the Queen Mary, The Dome and next to a large Cruiseliner in Long Beach, California. His normal slip was being repaired and rebuilt further south in another area so he and many other people now had his 25 foot sailboat further north for awhile until the docks were rebuilt.

It was a great day for sailing, likely the best in years. The wind was mostly out of the north at around 12 miles per hour and then slowly built into white caps to 18 miles per hour. So, he was able to reach hull speed which was 7.5 knots (which I believe is 9 or 10 miles per hour). But, if you have ever reached hull speed on your sailboat it is pretty exciting with the boat healed over on one side with water almost coming in the side of the boat and whenever you crest a roller going by it sort of feels like you are going to turn over. In some ways it was more exciting than I preferred but for my wife and for my cousin it was one of the best sailing days ever. Then we went out past the breakwater into the open ocean where the white caps and rollers were even bigger.

My cousin had to adjust the sails because there was just too much wind for both the Jenny and the mainsail to be up and fully taking the wind. So, he let the mainsail out pretty far so it wouldn't pull over the boat to far to one side. The wind kept getting stronger so he decided to take it down on the lee side of one of the islands so it might block the wind and make it safer to do that. However, someone who maintains the boat from him must have adjusted the rope that holds up the boom to the mainsail so when he climbed up and the boat shifted and he had to put all his weight on the boom not to fall off the boat the boom dropped which he had never experienced before. So, his wife and I held the boom until he brought the sail completely down on the mainsail so the wind didn't knock us out or knock our teeth out.

And then strangely enough, the wind died completely, just as it had been 12 to 18 mph a few moments before. My cousin said, "I've never seen it do this before so quickly." As we motored back to the marina on the 10 horsepower outboard. It turned out that we got a Santana wind which overpowered the prevailing winds. So we had a wonderful time in the 70s Farhenheit with full sun on
the sail with lots of sailing excitement from reaching hull speed and heeling over and going as fast as you can with a sail boat by reaching it's hull speed which is the maximum designed speed for that hull through the water. So, all in all it was a really great day sailing for all of us.

Note: Later: Here's the thing. As an intuitive at a certain point in our sail I knew something wasn't quite right and that there was some danger. But, not being as experienced a sailor over the years like my cousin became and my wife was from growing up a heavy weather sailor. I sensed something was wrong the way she said, "This is a pretty intense weather helm".

At the time this did not sound good and I noticed that my cousins wife really looked worried. Likely because my cousin is 72 and I'm 67 and not falling off the boat in heavy seas like we were in with white caps is harder at our age than younger if you are messing with the sails while the sailboat is going every which ways from the wind and seas with 18 mph winds blowing across. So, every peak of a roller it sort of felt like we were going to tip over (even though I knew there was a lot of weight in the keel so this likely wasn't going to happen under these conditions. However,  I did get pretty wet from spray but then again the sun was out and it was in the 70s even though windy at 18 knots of wind.

So, that night after we were safely ashore and okay my wife told me we had almost broken the rudder because of the conditions we were in. The other problem is we had too much sail up (the Jenny and the Mainsail) in that condition and my cousin needed to bring in some of the sails to make it safe for us. But, when he went forward towards the mast to do this the boat lurched which caused the Boom to drop because someone who had worked on the boat hadn't tied off the boom right and so it slipped down 3 feet. But, at least he stayed on the boat because of grabbing the boom at the right time which is very important. So, my cousin's wife and I held the boom so it wouldn't knock anyone out (or their teeth) in the cockpit as he released the sail enough. Then finally we went onto the lee side of an island so we could work on the sails without all the wind. Then we brought the sails all the way down and corrected the dropped boom by tightening up the rope that hadn't been secured right by someone who had worked on the boat.

Then the wind completely died (which at that point) was very unusual but was a very good thing.

So, we had our great adventure and survived it and the rudder didn't break and nobody got hit by the boom and no one fell overboard. So, what is an adventure anyway?

IT is an adverse situation well handled which was what we had. So, we have another story to tell which is good and everyone is fine.

Also, she told me there would have been a way to fix the situation even if the rudder had broken which was to start up the 10 horse power engine and use that as the rudder instead of the rudder. And she said even if the rudder breaks and the engine won't start there are ways to steer the boat just with the sails that she knows of too. So, between my cousin and my wife we likely would have been okay even if someone had gone overboard or we had lost both the rudder and the engine.

Sailing

I was talking to my cousin yesterday and realized we have been sailing periodically now since 1968 when he first got out of College and bought himself a Columbia 22 Sailboat. At that time I remember SCUBA diving off of Malibu in his boat and sailing to Catalina which takes about 8 hours by sailboat from the Long Beach area or Marina Del Rey where he had his boat at that time.

So, yesterday when we went sailing once again with my wife and I, I realized we have been sailing now bout 45 years whenever I could come to Southern California and have time to do that with him.

He had just moved his boat from Newport  closer to Long Beach because he liked sailing out of there near the Queen Mary because of the larger breakwater so when it is rough out beyond the breakwater he can sail in the large expanse of the manmade harbor enclosure. Or when it is calmer sailing out to sea on strong winds for a good sail.

It was mild yesterday inside the breakwater but we still made about 5 knots at our best hull speed. So, it was an easy day of sightseeing. I hadn't remembered the oil platforms being there before. Mostly I remember the oil platforms near Santa Barbara. There were several oil tankers tied up likely waiting to be unloaded of their oil also. In the distance we could also see the Queen Mary. I had stayed there with my wife and daughter in 2006 when I had to attend one of my best friend's funerals here in southern California.

So, it was a lovely day sailing and reminiscing with my cousin and sharing a nice 75 degree Fahrenheit Southern California day out on the water.

If you look at the  photo with water, houses and palm trees you can see above the palm trees across the water the snow capped peaks of San Gorgonio Mountain which at over 11,000 feet in Elevation is the highest peak in southern California. I climbed this peak to the top about this time of year around 1970 when I was 22 with two buddies of mine. We used snow shoes to accomplish this feat then. When I reached reached the top there was a 100 mph ice storm so I covered my face with plastic so it wouldn't tear off my face but it was pretty loud against the plastic. So, finally I took the plastic off my face and slid down to around 9000 or 10,000 feet to get out of the windstorm blowing pieces of ice. It' amazing the crazy

 things we survive when we are young.