At anchor in Smugglers Cove

I arrived at Smugglers Cove last night at 8:30pm, 1/2 hour after sunset. There was a moon out which helped me see the boats already at anchor, but once again my radar was very useful. I set the anchor in near calm conditions, 1000 feet from shore and with lots of room all around me. I ate a quick dinner, watched a hour of 'tv' and went to sleep.

The sail here was excellent. I was able to start sailing within minutes of leaving San Simeon on Friday and sailed the entire way to this anchorage. The winds were in the range 12 to 22 for the entire journey and the seas were relatively calm - or at least, when the seas were more active so was the wind, so I was able to keep good pressure in the sails and keep myself moving as well as keep the sails quiet (no slatting or banging as the boat rolls in light air and large waves.) The sail was excellent, but the weather is not really what you expect when sailing in Southern California. Nights are still chilly and I'm wearing many layers of clothes and coats all night as I sleep/get up/sleep/get up every 20 minutes.

As I rounded Point Conception and entered the Santa Barbara channel at around 4am the seas slowly started to warm up again. The temperature of the water has risen from 56.3 at the entrance to 62.6 where I am now. I was able to get into the water today, but its not exactly water you want to lounge around in. That should come later this trip!

I'll leave here tomorrow and head over to Oxnard where I'll start working through my boat project list again. I've added a few items to the list on this trip down the coast. Last night one of my main sail batten cars broke off its strong track slider - the head of the pin which holds it in sheared off - very strange. I had one backup pin onboard (thanks to the Hasse sail loft!) and have fixed it now, but from saturday morning at 12:30am (it figures these things happen at night) until I arrived, I had to keep my main double reefed in order to keep the missing sail-track connection protected. More on projects in a post I'll write in Oxnard.

By my log meter, which does not account for current but does count every tack and jibe, I've traveled 1025nm so far, with around 12 more to go. Today is the 21st day since leaving Neah Bay. Even with all my stops along the way, one week in Coos Bay, I'm looking forward to slowing down again for a little while. I'm also looking forward to being in warmer water, where diving off the boat is easier than it was today! So while I'll be slowing down and working on projects for a while, I'm looking forward to moving on with this trip as well.

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