CyberCruisers, Kia Orana and crew are safely back home. The Islands and the trip were fantastic. Great downwind sailing! The fates of Double Play (last seen in Morro Bay) and Final Approach (last seen in Sta. Barbara) are unknown. Have we got sea stories... dudley . -------------------------------------------------------------- Final Approach made a fast (3 day) trip up the coast. Fought gales, winds, and pissed the Coast Guard Cutter ---mumble mumble--- off. We left on the 4th, got into San Luis on the 5th at 3pm, after blasting 120 nm off the coast. Turned east at 3am and blasted to San Luis Obispo. It was a great sail. The clear night, the Milky Way... We then left late due to fog and go into Becher's Bay at 7am. We missed a few rocks twisted the boom and then sat at anchor in a gale.... love 60 lbs CQR and 1/2 inch chain.... Made repairs in Santa Barbara, got some scuba tanks and went diving at Sant Cruz on Thursday and Friday. Left on Sunday at Midnight, rounded Pt. C in ok but choppy weather and had to pull into San Luis again. We then made a short day to San Simeon, that is beautiful and then an all-nighter to home. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Sam -------------------------------------------------------------- Double Play is back safely. Terri and I had a quick 10 hour trip to Santa Cruz on Sunday June 30. This included 30 knot winds, 7 foot seas, and a screecher that wouldn't roll up completely. We then spent several great days anchored off the beach at the boardwalk and Capitola. Steve and Terri's son in law, John then joined us for the ride south. We had a beautiful sail around Monterey and down the coast. It was nice to have the clear weather and actually see the coastline. As the wind built we started having some excitement. We had the screecher up with15 knots of wind and were doing about 8 knots. The wind kept rising eventually blowing 35 with gusts to 40 knots. We were screaming down the waves. 10 knots, yea. 12 knots, ooh. 16 knots, wow. 18.2 knots, oh shit! Time to shut it down. Pulled in the screech and rolled out the jib 6 feet. Now we were doing easy 8's but heady off shore. At midnight I decided to jib and head for Morro Bay. We motored in at daybreak, ate, and slept. After touring beautiful Morro Bay, the crew ( and the captain ), began to wonder why we had ever left Santa Cruz. It also didn't seem right to spend 5 more days of my vacation traveling by "covered wagon" versus exploring Monterey Bay. So we said hello/goodbye to Kia Orana and took off north. The weather was supposed to be bad but forecast to be worse for the following days. The boat didn't enjoy pounding around Pt Sur at daybreak. I didn't know how to increase the response on the autopilot, so Steve and I drove into the waves for a few hours. We eventually made Monterey and dried out the boat. Steve went home and we spent the next week with Terri's Daughter and 2 small kids aboard. It was a lot of fun playing with the inflatable kayak and the Windrider that I won at Boat US. We also sailed to Moss Landing and took the dink up Elkhorn Slough. It was fun to run over the birds and sealife with the outboard. We got up at 3am on Friday and started the motor back. I woke up from a nap at noon just past Pillar Point to find 15 knots of wind blowing from the south!. We had a great sail into SF traveling a half mile off the beach. Anyway, we had a great time, the boat did fine. I learned A LOT about sailing a cat. I wish we could have all met up together. It looks like you guys were always separated anyway. We should get together and start lying about the trip in person. --Don
