Are We Having Fun Yet?!

Well, I don’t know if “fun” would be the adjective we’d use for our trip so far. It started out okay. Then went downhill pretty quickly. And when I say downhill, I’m talking about the downhill that rolls you into some kind of dark, damp well where you might not see a way to get out. I’m thankful that we did & that things have started to be on the way up from that 17 hour passage from Monterey to San Simeon. It’s Tuesday morning now & we are sitting on MerSea in the comfort & safety of the Santa Barbara Harbor. Or as Matt & I have been wanting to call it, Santa Barbra Harba.

Let’s start at the beginning. We left Santa Cruz at 9 AM on Tuesday. It was a little foggy & there was about a 5 foot swell. -Although, it didn’t feel too bad. There wasn’t any wind but we did get to see a bunch of whales! I mean we basically had a 360 degree whale show! We saw fin, we saw tail & we saw spoutage! So cool!

When we were 3 miles out from going into Monterey Bay Harbor we actually got to sail. Our average speed then was about 2 - 3 knots. But hey, at least we got them up! Of course the office was closed when we first got there but we only had to wait 15 minutes. After we tied up & were bummed to discover that the power supply was for a higher amount than we could take, we went on a walk.

All seemed to be going fairly well the first day.

I think Zephyr was a little happy to be there. He seemed to recognize the smells of Monterey & the “messages” left on plants & bushes from other dogs. I took a shower & we just prepped our boat more before having a late dinner & going to bed.

The next morning was cold. I took a look at the weather & saw that we had better leave that day because the following 2 days the waves were supposed to be at 8 feet! Of course the time that the wind would have been decent there were going to be crazy seas. There’s just no way were were about to venture on an overnight sail with a crazy swell like that!

So we forsook our second night in the harbor & left around 1:30 PM. It started out a little rolly but sunny. I think the forecast was for 6 foot swells but that would be better than 8. And then…..

In Monterey Harbor & along the coast.

When we “turned the corner” into the actual Pacific the waves were already bigger than 4 feet. I thought, “We’ll have time to adjust to this before the swells get larger.) Ha!

The wind was on the lighter side & we couldn’t sail because it couldn’t keep up it’s mind -even for a minute, or what direction it wanted to go. The waves - yes they actually became waves at this point, were crashing here & there. Plus, it was very unfortunate that they were coming at us abeam, (sideways to the boat), making it very rolly & uncomfortable. At least we had the beautiful scenery of Pacific Grove, then Carmel & then Big Sur to look at. Well, at least until it got dark. That’s when conditions were supposed to calm down.

I think they did actually die down a little bit or changed their angle because for a few hours it wasn’t too bad. We still couldn’t sail because now the wind did decide that it wanted to blow from the south. -And only 1 knot, if even that. Thus, we still had to motor. Not horrible but on MerSea it’s quite a loud motor. I did get the hang of riding the waves. They were now coming at an angle to the boat from behind us. So we were sort of surfing.

Eventually, around 6 PM, we were coming up to Point Sur & the wind picked up. I think it was from the north. It’s kind of a blur now. We put up our genoa. -Partly because I didn’t feel like it was time to put up the mainsail & possibly have an accidental gybe. -Where the boom of the boat violently goes from one side to the other. The other reason was that we could easily, (or so we thought), reel it in with the furling line if it got windier.

Starting at winds of 9 knots, I thought that this was going to be perfect for us! And hopefully they will get slightly stronger. The wind did gradually increase. We were moving about 6 knots. Then it gradually increased with 20 knot gusts. We sometimes were going as fast as 9 knots! I didn’t even know MerSea could go that fast! Well, that was because the gusts went up to 30 knots. Then we decided to take in the genoa almost completely. -Which was a bit tricky to do under these kinds of winds. But then the wind gusts went up to 40! This was definitely not predicted! 22 knot gusts were supposed to be the highest it would get up to! I think it was supposed to be mostly a 17 knots consistantly. I did check about 3 different “up to date”, “forecasts”. They all did not predict anything like this. So yes, we decided to completely take in the genoa & motor for the time being.

It was a bit gusty -you could say. And the waves got bigger again. This time crashing much more! And some probably got to at least 10 feet. I definitely was not mentally prepared for this. The waves were like a washing machine & not all going in the same direction. So this was hard to navigate through. Then… Matt realized we had lost an oar. Okay, that sucks but we can deal. Right?

I went below to pee just for a second & then heard a bunch of commotion! -Not the good kind. I came out into the cockpit to see Zephyr sitting up precariously & Matt turning to me & saying that we lost the dinghy! I freaked out a little you could say. Actually, a wave partially came over & splashed some water on my face. Yep, that brought on the tears. But at least my boys were okay. (I wasn’t so sure before I got up on deck.) Matt thought we could get the dinghy back, as it wasn’t far away. So I turned off the autopilot - Harriet, & turned around. Matt had the boat hook & was trying to catch one of the lines on the side of the dinghy. All this is happening with confused seas & high gusty winds. He almost got it. Then he didn’t. Then he actually got it & lost it again. I then kind of lost it started panicking & told him that we should just leave the dinghy. I didn’t want him falling overboard too. He calmed me down. Well, not really. But convinced me to keep trying to get up next to the dinghy. He was leaning really far off of the boat. I was glad that he was tethered in but it still seemed very unstable. He was finally able to grab the dinghy from the side & move it to behind the boat. Then he was actually able to tie it up to the boat. And then, for what seemed like an hour, securing it so well that there was no way for it to be taken away by the seas again.

Next, I tried starting Harriet again & she wouldn’t work! What did this mean? That we would be steering by hand until the sun came up. It was only 7 PM at the time. Even though Matt was wearing the Scopolamine patch, he was still pretty seasick. I mean, I was surprised that I didn’t get seasick for the 1st time during these conditions.

Now it was getting dark but Matt noticed there was water on the floor inside the cabin. He took a look at the bilge & it was overflowing. Why, because the bilge pump decided not to work. Thankfully we have an emergency bilge pump handle to get the water out. Although, this didn’t seem to work at first. -I was started to think that the boat was actually going to sink. We were no where near any kind of civilization…. He finally got the handle to start working & got most of the water out of the bilge. So now he was going to have to manually pump the bilge every half hour for the rest of our voyage!

I was so tense & full of adrenaline that I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even take a nap when Matt said he would take over the helm for a while. I think I needed to feel like I had some kind of control in this situation. Plus, Matt was rescuing everything that was breaking. So I felt like it was the least I could do.

Wearing 5 layers of clothing on the top, I realized, in most situations I would still be cold but the adrenaline kept me warm for hours while Matt slept cuddled next to Zephyr. -Who, at this point, I thought was going to get hypothermia or be traumatized forever.

All I could do was surf the waves. -They were crashing every few minutes. I think I’m glad that it was so dark because I didn’t want to know how big they were. By this time I got super depressed thinking that I’m not cut out for this. I should just appreciate a simple life at home in Santa Cruz. My neck & shoulders were so sore from steering the helm & trying to fight against the waves. The one saving grace was that the gusts eventually got down to 20 knots & the waves were mostly consistently behind us. However, it did get completely foggy for several hours & this made everything scarier. I was happier when I could see stars.

Every so often, I would sit down. -still with the helm in my hands. This gave my neck a little bit of relief.

At least the chart plotter was still working. That was the only way I could make sure I wasn’t going to crash into the shore. Eventually by 4 AM I could see that we weren’t too far from San Simeon. I was super thirsty. I don’t even know when I had drunk water last but I don’t think I could have drunk any at that point.

Around 5:00 AM it slowly started to get clear again. And then somewhat after it started to get light again. The swell had probably gotten down to 5 feet. -Which was heaven at this point. Plus, I think the wind had died down to mostly 10 knots. -Although still squirly. At this time I did realize how cold I was but I knew I had to hold on for a couple more hours. I didn’t know if I could though. But my will, I guess, was stronger.

The sun started coming up & seeing the light at the top of a very high hill -which I knew had to be Hearst Castle, we were coming up to the anchorage! However, we did have to wait a little while before we ventured in to anchor so that it would be light enough to be safe.

The sunrise was gorgeous but it was hard to enjoy. We anchored. Texted family & immediately went to bed.

And that’s where I’m going to have to leave you all hanging this week. There’s a lot more to come next week. I hope you’ll stay tuned for what happens next!

Obligatory Zephyr shot!

Thanks for reading! -Please excuse the lack of photos from our “special” segment of the voyage. I was a little too traumatized & busy to even deal with taking pictures. I hope you understand. 😅