Okay, this is what we came to do! A perfect sail from Morro Bay to Point San Luis (San Luis Obispo Bay, just north of Pismo Beach), we were moving and moving fast. Although the photo of the knotmeter shows a little lower speed, we actually were surfing down waves (big swells) at 10 knots! The E ticket for sailors! It could not have been a more beautiful passage. Big swells, sunshine, wildlife, deserted coastline, wind behind us, lots of speed, everything that is necessary for a great sail. Healthy happy crew, no more seasickness. Everyone drove but me, and I'm certain they were all doing a far better job than I could have.
We've picked up a mooring ball in the bay, of course near the sea lions again. It's hot, wind coming from land, but it doesn't seem to be a true Santa Ana, just a hot dry wind right now. After a nice late lunch in the cockpit, we put the dinghy in the water. Catherine, Rick and I took the dinghy in to a pier, climbed up a long, rusty ladder and paid our $12 overnight fee for the mooring ball.
One of our dock neighbor boats from Morro Bay had come down the coast before us, we're moored right next to them. We took a bottle of wine over and had a nice visit and tour of a trawler, a beautiful 40 foot Nordhavn. They had a miserable passage, as their stabilizers were not enough for the wave conditions. Big advantage of our dacron stabilizers up 50 feet into the air above the boat. Not only did they provide lots of power, but they certainly stabilized our motion.
Sorry about the blurry picture of the knotmeter, couldn't do better. The otter was napping right next to the boat in Morro Bay, we were told he always sleeps there and sometimes opens shellfish on the hard gelcoat of boats during the night.
