– Bernard Moitessier said “I hate storms, but calms undermine my spirits.” I know just how he felt. 30 days ago, we gave the marina we’ve been at since late January a 30 day notice. You never know what the weather will be like on your departure date but as the day drew closer we though “hummm, right in front of a gale, or perhaps right in the gale.” We thought we’d get “ahead” of the storm if we could leave by early Thursday. Then, we thought, Wednesday night would work. Ah, but we weren’t quite ready to go–too many things to do: a car to stash with a friend, things to pull out of storage so our consulting work could continue while we sit at anchor, things to stash away, fuel to buy (gas, kero, and even coal!), as well as other sundry errands. We weren’t ready and our tiny opp to get ahead of the winds flitted away yesterday mid-day.

Now here we sit with an angry swath of ocean churning some choppy seas and a gale blowing in the outer waters (10-60 miles off) and a small craft advisory closer in. We’re in no hurry, so we’re sitting tight for another day. Today is Friday and we could sail down to anchor at Santa Cruz tomorrow. Even so, we think we’ll be taking off late tomorrow night or in the wee hours of Sunday morning and just bypassing Santa Cruz and sailing straight on through until early Monday morning. Why? Well, with the winds blowing too hard tonight, you’d think we’ll have plenty for awhile–yet, they’ll be little to no winds Monday morning between San Simeon and San Miguel. We should find ourselves somewhere between San Simeon at the nearest and San Miguel at the furthest by the time we have no winds–we’ll pop in and anchor. Then we’ll sit and relax for a bit until the winds come again.