Log Book
August 2007
August 2007
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| August 2007 |
Hunter - Susie's grandson - joined us for the month. We moved the boat from San Diego
to Ventura for a haul out and made a road trip to Northern California.
San Diego. We were held up in San Diego longer than we expected, due to some engine
problems: contaminated fuel which required inspection ports in the tanks and removal and
disposal, dirty fuel leaks into the bilge from the high pressure fuel pump, fouled injectors
because of the black fuel, etc. The details are boring so we won’t relate them all, but
suffice to say the work took longer than expected because one thing led to another and
parts had to be ordered overnight and we had to wait and wait and wait. It was a
nightmare trying to move the boat around Shelter Island without an engine (we had to tow
it with our dinghy) because we ran out of time (10 day limit) at the public docks and space
was limited at the yacht clubs – we moved the boat 3 times like this, before the work was
finally completed. Because of the delay in leaving San Diego, Susie’s grandson Hunter
became very spoiled living the high life at San Diego Yacht Club – swimming in the pool
every day, having an ice cream treat every day, eating at the club restaurant because
Susie couldn’t cook in the galley due to the engine repairs, etc. We finally left August 14th
and started north up the coast of California towards Ventura.
Mission Bay and Oceanside. We cleaned the bottom of the dinghy in Mission Bay while
Hunter played on the beach and then he decided we should tow him back to the boat at
anchor while we rowed the dinghy; he was wearing his life jacket of course and was very
proud of himself. He then had his first sailor shower – strip in the cockpit, soap up and
shampoo and rinse with buckets of warm water. While we were in Oceanside, Susie took
Hunter one day to Legoland which he loved and she tolerated.
Dana Point. Our excitement here involved Sam. We anchored one night at Dana West
Yacht Club, to do laundry and eat dinner at the yacht club, then moved over to the
anchorage the next day. Sam rowed Hunter ashore to the swim area and while Hunter was
playing and Sam was reading in the dinghy, a kid threw a rock into the dinghy (we don’t
think he knew anyone was in it) and shattered one lens of Sam’s glasses. He got glass in
his eye. A trip to an urgent care clinic and a hospital emergency room, courtesy of the
Dana West Yacht Club dockmaster, resulted in a prescription for eye drops for a scratch
on his cornea and directions stay out of the sun and the wind for about 7 days – like that
was going to happen! We remembered to put in the eye drops some of the time and Sam
remembered to wear his dark wrap around sunglasses most of the time and there were no
further issues. (When he saw the opthamologist in Antioch a week later, the scratch had
healed.) We were glad this potentially dangerous incident turned out OK.
Newport Beach and Marina del Rey. Hunter has learned by this time on passages to
take naps on top of the hatch under the dodger to pass the time, while Sam naps below in
the cabin and Susie monitors the auto pilot and the GPS. One day Hunter took a nap on
the side of the boat next to the ladder, the water was calm and it rocked him to sleep. He
always wears his life jacket and harness while above deck. After seeing some other
people swimming, Hunter swam in the water off the boat at anchor near Lido Island inside
the harbor at Newport Beach; he wore his water wings and we had a flotation cushion tied
to a polypropylene line tied to the boat just in case. He thought this was really fun. We
had blueberry sourdough pancakes with friends Chan and Marie the morning before we
left Newport Beach (they sold Catch The Wind to Sam in 1978). At Marina del Rey Hunter
swam again, still using his water wings.
Los Angeles. We spent one night at anchor near Cabrillo Beach (the anchorage is
nicknamed Hurricane Gulch because of the wind that blows over the Palos Verdes
peninsula in the afternoons) and found it to be a very comfortable night on the hook. The
morning we left, Hunter joined the “real sailor club” because he got his pinkie finger caught
in the cam cleat for the main sheet – how we don’t really know but Grandma Susie had his
finger out about 10 seconds after she heard the terrified scream. No broken skin, no
broken bones, not even a bruise several hours later. He bragged about being a real
sailor. And he was really excited to see a large group of dolphin jumping and playing
around the boat as we passed Palos Verdes a few hours later.
Oxnard and Ventura. We almost made Ventura from LA, but it was getting dark and we
didn’t want to come into a harbor too late, so we spent one night at Channel Islands Yacht
Club guest dock and left in the morning to come into Ventura, where we arrived before
noon on August 23rd. We spent one night at the guest dock of Ventura Yacht Club, where
we were able to do some laundry; Hunter played on the docks and had a short swim to
retrieve his bubble wand. On August 24th we moved the boat over to Ventura Boat Yard,
where it was hauled out for bottom paint and some other work. We finally left in the late
afternoon in our rental car for the next adventure – a road trip to take Hunter home to
Sacramento.
Road Trip. We drove from Ventura to Atascadero the first night and stayed at a motel.
The next day we arrived in Saratoga and spent two nights with our friend Cloria (who
sailed with us from San Francisco to Cabo San Lucas in 2005) and enjoyed her company
and her pool. We moved on Sunday to Alameda for one night and to Pittsburg for two
nights and to Martinez for one night – always staying in motels. We visited with friends,
met the new tenants in our rental house, Sam went to various doctors for checkups.
Hunter used the pool at every motel we stayed at, but complained about the lack of
bathtubs at all but the last place we stayed in Martinez. By the time we arrived in
Sacramento on August 30th, Hunter and Grandma were ready for him to go back to his
parents. We visited with Susie’s daughter (Hunter’s mother) and Susie’s brother (who has
recovered from his motorcycle accident last year) and then went on to Fresno for Labor
Day weekend, where we were delighted to help Sheila (who spent a week with us in Mexico
during May 2006) celebrate her 60th birthday with old and new friends.
| Photos for August 2007 |