About to round Arguello and Conception

We're nearly to Southern California!!! Motor sailing in not too heavy wind, at least not enough to allow us to sail at a reasonable speed. We're double reefed and have only the main up at the moment, the engine is doing the work and keeping us moving at over 6 knots. We're hurrying to round Point Conception before the afternoon sea breeze really kicks in, as today it is forecast to be quite unpleasant. Our choice was to get up early and get around Arguello and Conception, or wait out the weather system at anchor, probably until Sunday.

We decided to run for the lee of Concepttion, where this is a very safe anchorage, Cojo. Although we'd like to make it into Santa Barbara, it means an arrival in the dark, so we'll wait in Cojo and approach Santa Barbara tomorrow morning.

Rick decided he needed to get back to work, and is taking the train home today. We dropped him off at the Nordhavn moored nearby in the early morning, where he will catch the water taxi to shore.

I woke at 6 a.m. to get the boat ready, and when I stepped into the cockpit, it sounded as if the water was boiling around me. It was fish, you could see the flashes of silver everywhere. Then I noticed the sea lions swooping in little packs through the water, and the pelicans dive bombing for their breakfast. I felt like an intruder on a big fish feast.

The swells are fairly large right now, and we're running in front of them. Earlier in the morning the waves were beginning to break around us, but that has stopped. The waves are coming into our starboard quarter, lifting the boat to surf down their front surface, and then rolling away from us towards the shore about 4 miles away. The sunlight is dancing on the wave surface, and it's pretty entrancing to sit on the helm seat, swaying with the boat motion, and watching the waves move out from under the boat, each one with a unique light show as they pass.

Last night we were all a bit apprehensive about the rounding of the two big points, they've got big reputations, and the weather forecast wasn't favorable. But we're only about 5 miles from Arguello right now, and we can see the first of the big oil drilling platforms off of Santa Barbara already, now we're committed to go and we're ready for the challenge. Our only real problem is that the although the swells are huge, the wind is too calm to allow us to sail at any speed. Sailing keeps the boat much more stable than running the motor.

The boat has been performing beautifully, I'm sure she won't let us down as we pass Point Conception. Will report in later on how it goes. Everyone is feeling good, we got a decent nights sleep, and we're all prepared for some real sailing! We're running with the wind and seas, and should come in to calmer water as soon as round Conception.