Hi all,

The voyage continues to be very nice. Today we finally got some real Southern California weather. But I've jumped too far ahead...

A week ago, we left Santa Barbara on a hazy afternoon bound for Malibu. The forcast was for "light & variable", and no more mention of more fog than usual. Well, we got "dramatic & variable", but it wasn't scary 'cuz we couldn't see a thing. It was night glued to the radar, and two on watch all the time. We "decided" to skip Malibu (Paradise Cove), because it's a fairweather anchorage only, and pressed on to Marina del Rey.

MdR is nice. The transient docks are ample and just a short walk from West Marine and grocery stores. We've been working more on the list of stuff to install/improve/remove/refurbish, and relaxing a bit. We spent our third night at California YC's docks, trying not to wear out our welcome from the city docks.

Eventually, the fog broke, and we backtracked to Malibu. The coast here is gorgeous when you can see it. Paradise Cove is particularly pretty. We got to practice surf landings in the kayak. We're not yet elegant, but we're competent. Mostly we relaxed on the boat.

Today we sailed back to MdR. This was the day the tourist brochures show. Sunny, not hot, 6 to 12 kts of wind astern, no waves to speak of. We flew the spinnaker (first time really using a spinny in Espire's life, certainly while I've owned her). It was grand. The Monitor was able to steer fine using the light air paddle.

I'm writing from CyberJava in Venice Beach, a few miles from MdR. It is proving to be VERY easy to find e-access travelling in CA. I suspect that reports will be much less frequent once we leave San Diego.

Tomorrow we're off to Catalina.

Take care,

Rick

Back to the California saga.