Leavin’ Camp 🍻
Dec.2
07:00 coffee and oats.
Full day of slowly moving in the direction of leaving. Most jobs up top the deck are fun in the sun! We are delayed with the jobs being completed due to our crew of 2.
14:30 anchor up from Redondo Beach Marina!
15:30 main up! Glorious. Both headsails up shortly after.
16:40 mizzen sail up. This is the first time Max has had all 4 sails up at one time. Major excitement onboard.
18:00 Be Calm Ba. Down to a knot of speed.
A night adrift under a large shining moon. Hills of Los Angeles in the background. Busy LAX airport looks like a beehive with bees buzzing in and out from all directions at all time. The further out you get the more you can see the scope in size.
Glasssss
Dec.3
Happy Birthday Dad. We’re doing just fine out here bobbing around.
04:00 coffee and sunrise on my watch. We arrive at the shipping lane leading to the port of Los Angeles. The lane is 3 miles wide with us passing through north bound traffic first, then over the mile wide “Separation Zone” and finally over the south bound lane. We squeezed through tankers, cargo, and even fruit hauling ships going both directions. We didn’t have much wind getting through but we passed at a 90 degree angle without issue. The plan is not to use our Chug Chug engine at all on this passage (besides in and out of marinas)
By noon we are completely becalmed with an eerie glass affect in all directions. Skinny dip off the bowsprit to freshen up!
Finally by 17:00 we get a small puff of wind and continue our way to Catalina island. All sails go back up and slug along at 3 knots.
By my night watch at 20:00 there’s absolutely zero wind out here. We drift just north of Catalina until sunrise. We didn’t move much in 12 hours.
Endless stars begin to appear with the light pollution of LA astern.
“True View”
Dec.4
It’s fascinating how the slower you move, the more you see. Becalmed this morning west of Catalina Island and we spotted many dolphins, sea lions, fish, and many sea birds circling around this bare poled sailboat. Beautiful sunrise with Catalina in the background.
No fridge, no shower, no depth sounder, no wind speed or direction instruments, no AIS
“No Problem”
12:00 The winds finally start to build speed but the swell is also a bit gnarly out here. We sail west towards San Clamente Island. 10 knots of wind on our beam and we sail for hours with all canvas up. Steady 3-4 knots of speed. Unbelievable. Getting excited to let this old steal boat out into fresh wind. She’s a sweetheart to handle.
We decide to tuck into the east side of Clemente and realize it’s a military base island with a 3 mile safety zone around the perimeter. As the sun drops below and the winds do the same, we slowly crawl down the east coast of the island.
21:00 we are buzzed by a military helicopter only 40-50 feet above the water. They hover beside us for a few minites with no lights. Such a creepy feeling having them hover over us. 10 Minutes later they come back but even closer. They stick around to send us a message or just mess with us? I check the charts and we are 3 miles away from their 3 mile perimeter and decide to hold course. The wind from their chopper actually accidentally gybes our sail so we grab our mega flood light and shine it up on our sails showing we are under sail and they are messing up the program, they quickly buzz off. Fuxkers. 10 minutes later 5 jets rush right over Le Patriote! What an amazing rush down here.
“This wasn’t in the brochure!”
I can hear a mammal breathing behind the boat. Sounds too large to be porpoise. Could it be whales!? Tomorrow we shall see.
Dec.5
Last night sure was exciting. So much going on right now with the naval base directly to our west. After midnight we moved along at 1 knot in the right direction. So much action on the water surface.
07:00 I’ve never seen so many dolphins. HUNDREDS if not thousands flying through the air and herding fish into pockets to eat. Then after years of waiting, they arrived. A group of huge Gray Whales. The blowhole breathing is much more deep and growly compared to dolphin breaths. We did indeed hear whales last night! What an amazing thrill to wake up to these beasts cruising around feeding.
We had another full day becalmed with wildlife all around us. This may in fact be the longest 160nm passage from LA to Ensenada ever recorded.
Max and I etched the new boat number in the companionway. Turned out pretty good for free hand!
Cuppa Earl on the go now for night watch.
