Day 6 Oct 28

Nice leisurely morning of sleeping in until 0630. Yes that felt like sleeping in

Breakfast of hot toasted bagels, cheese and coffee, more hot showers and we cast the lines off in LA Harbor and headed out for possibly Dana Point or Oceanside. Great wind 10-15 knots close hauled, with sun on our faces and water in the gunnel as we got a great heel on! We continued to play with our sail trim and testing how far we could push our Boundless. Played with the idea of the spinnaker but decided that the wind was a bit strong for that. So we decided to pole out the jib and sailed wing on wing down wind for a while.

We all had such big smiles with the sun, wind and waves, but the smiles only increased when the DOLPHINS came along and put on an incredible show for us with their aerial acrobats. I can not describe the feeling of seeing them swimming in the bow wave. It is a very powerful emotion when you realize they are welcoming you to their playground. It is also a gentle reminder that this is their space and we are only temporarily occupying it. We need to respect the oceans and the lives that live within.

The other fun accomplishment was that we got to deploy and set our monitor wind vane. For those that don’t know what this is, it is a device attached to the boat that will steer your boat on a course by using nothing but the wind and water pressure on a small rudder in the water. You need to set your course and sails and then the vane takes over. It is like an auto pilot for the boat but uses no electricity. We installed this when we were in San Francisco but never got a chance to play with it much. Julian and I were “high fiving” each other that we that actually managed to set a course, set the vane and have it maintain that course with minimal line adjustments.

All in all the day was full of exhilaration. satisfaction and joy! As we approached Oceanside with the sun slowly setting in the west, we had a crew meeting and decided to continue on to San Diego through the night. There were the Santa Ana wind warnings again but they were more north of our position so our risk was minimal. Unfortunately it also meant that we would need to slow our speed so that we did not arrive in San Diego at 4 am.

We had a great hot meal in the cockpit as the sun set and we began the duty of watch again. A lot more traffic in the night this time but a star lit night none the less. San Diego here we come!

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