Well, It Makes For An Interesting Story..
Big Day! I seem so hopeful & innocent here!
So we did it! We crossed a big goal off of our list! We sailed to Moss Landing! What can I say about it? A lot. How do I feel about it? Glad it's over! I am thankful though that we were able to accomplish it. How would I describe it? Well, not every bad thing that could have happened occurred.
I came up with the brilliant idea to finally do this trip Friday night -just after a two hour sail earlier that day. The swell was about 6 feet that day & the winds were about 17 knots with higher gusts. It was a slightly hectic sail but nothing we couldn't handle. We did stay fairly close to shore that day & practiced heaving-to a bit. Heaving-to allows sailors to come to sort of a pause while sailing. Here is ASA's definition: Heaving-to is setting the sails so the jib wants to sail one way while the main wants to sail another so, with some rudder adjustment, the boat stands nearly still.
Anyway, we have owned our boat over a year & still hadn't gotten in our sail to Moss Landing, which is just down the coast from Santa Cruz. We are going to Texas next week to visit Matt's family & I just didn't want to put this goal off any longer. It felt like there was always an excuse not to go. -Mostly good but now was a good window.
We looked at the weather & the winds were going to be 20 plus knots after 2 PM on Sunday & the swell was going to be 6-7 feet. However, if we left early enough, we should be able to make it before the wind got crazy & the swell wasn't anything we hadn't done before. -Plus, there would be following seas.
Leaving Santa Cruz.
So we stayed on MerSea Saturday night & prepped as much as possible & got some decent sleep. Sunday morning we got up a little later than planned but still managed to get out of the harbor a little after 9:30 AM.
It was a beautiful day but a damn cold! (I think it was 50 degrees when we were leaving the harbor but it's always colder out in the ocean.) We didn't have to motor very long, as the wind started coming up, & Matt pulled up the main sail & then the genoa. It was great! We sailed along between 5 - 6 knots & made great time. 3 hours! Yay!
Cold boys.
Can't believe we're on our way!
Got to Moss Landing at 12:30. However, it took us an hour to find the guest dock & our slip. Matt called to get our slip assignment when we entered the harbor. They said to go to the left & go to G18. So we did. No dock G. "You must be conversing with them wrong." -I smugly said to Matt. So I called & they said we should have gone to the right first & that it was actually dock C. "Ha! You were wrong!" After going in every direction, down every waterway, we finally found dock C but there was a boat in the slip that we were supposed to be assigned to. I called again. They said that no, it was dock G & to go down to where the end of the parking lot was. Ha! Matt was actually right! Needless to say, this was confusing but we tried to make logic of it to no avail. I called one last time & they explained that they thought I was another person & was trying to find parking for dock G. Ha! We are just idiots & need to communicate better as sailors! He told me that we needed to keep going until the end of the left waterway to the back & that we'd find G -the guest dock.
Hooray! Finally we found it! -Definitely made me feel better about the way we treat our guests at home. The slip seemed fairly straightforward to get into. So when we got close to the dock, I jumped out with the spring line & completely ate it! I landed smack on the side of my right thigh. I have no idea what happened but it was so insanely painful that I didn't know if I was going to throw up or pass out or both. I couldn't even really speak to Matt. He had to rush out & tie up the boat while I finally could pull myself up to my feet & then just lean over the side of the boat on the life lines until I could pull myself together.
A few minutes later I was able to move & finished whatever docking duties I could before we went to the harbormaster office. We met Robert at the desk there, who was super cool & nice. He didn't charge us for the slip. To be honest, I wouldn't either. But they really could use the money. We did tip him though. Hope he uses it to save up & get out of Moss Landing. He gave us a key & got us a power cord adapter. -Who knew different harbors have different power allowances?
We got back to the boat. I took the time to take a look at my thigh & it was already black & blue, & scraped up. Gritting my teeth, I cleaned it with alcohol & put a gauze pad on it, took some Tylenol & then decided that I would just suck it up & move around as much as possible. -A thing I normally like to do when I injure myself so that I don't get stiff & possibly more sore.
Moss Landing ahead.
Then we tried to eat lunch. We were docked right near the Whole Enchilada -which is one of the two restaurants to eat at in Moss Landing. It was about 2:30 by this time, so I thought that lunch traffic might have calmed down by then but there seemed to be a waiting line. The hostess told Matt that it should only be a 10 to 15 minute wait for us to get an outside table & that they'd call him when they were ready. About 30 minutes later, he went back to check with the hostess & she had forgotten to put our name on the list.... (insert rolling eye emoji here). Since she wasn't sure how much longer it would be we decided to just move on & go back to the boat & eat.
Our dock where I almost took myself out.
Guest dock.
After eating & resting on the boat for a little bit we decided to walk around to the beach & then pick up some fresh fish to grill from Phil's. -Since there is literally nothing else to do in Moss Landing. Sorry Moss Landing but you could try a little harder to be more entertaining. -The marina could really use some extra tax money for it's infrastructure.
The wind was pretty rough on the beach & so were the waves. -Which is why I was concentrating on watching Zephyr instead of taking leisurely photos.
Even though it's salmon season here, Phil's didn't have any fresh salmon. -Only salmon from other places in the world. Weird. I'm sure there's a good explanation that I can't think of - even after wracking my brain to figure it out. Matt did make a good choice though & decided to get some snapper -which was fresh & local.
We grilled dinner that night & decided to go to bed early since we were going to have to leave early to make sure we got back to Santa Cruz in enough time before the tide got too high & we wouldn't be able to make it under the bridge. Plus, the wind & waves were going to be gnarly after about 1 PM Monday too.
I was scared that we might not be able to get out. The harbor was sooo shallow where we were & it was going to be low tide at 6:30 AM.
Waiting across the street to get seated for lunch. -MerSea has the orange life-ring on the stern.
Zephyr misses Santa Cruz.
Monday morning we woke up a little late. Or I should say, I woke up later than I wanted to. -Exhausted & in a bit of pain. I should have stayed in denial but I peeked out the window & the water looked so shallow around us. The panic of getting stranded there set in but we were ready to leave at 7:30 & pulled slowly out of the dock & Matt just steered close to the other boats; as we were insanely close to shore.
We made it out of the shallow part unscathed. However, I think our depth meter got out of whack from this. Just when we were about to go out of the harbor channel Matt asked if there was water spitting out of the back. This means that water is cooling down the engine. There was no water. I forgot to check & instead there was smoke. Does the fun ever stop?! Matt had me turn off the engine. Luckily we were in a decent spot at a decent time. The strainer had collected.... wait for it..... MOSS! Yes, it's called Moss Landing for a reason. There is a TON of moss all over in the water & our strainer decided to suck it up & our engine tried to eat it. Thankfully Matt was able to get it out. There was so much moss it was like pulling scarves out of a magician's sleeve.
I was able to turn on the engine again & we slowly started going out of the harbor entrance/exit. A harbor in which waves were coming straight on into. Unfortunately, I had to turn off the engine again because we forgot about putting the strainer back in. Fortunately Matt was able to put it back in quickly & we actually got out!!! -Or did we?
Praying we didn't hit bottom.
Staying in as deep water as possible.
Farewell from the otters.
Different atmosphere from Santa Cruz.
Reminder to keep up the cleaning of our boat.
And then just when I thought I could go, "whew" & wipe my brow along came more & more waves. The swell was supposed to only be 6 feet & then go down to 5 feet, after about an hour, but it decided to gradually work its way up to 8 feet. We smashed into them again & again & again & again. There was no wind. -AT ALL. In this instance this was probably a good thing. So we motored the whole way home.
Poor Matt wasn't feeling great. He didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. -Which I think made him more vulnerable to getting seasick. He had a pretty miserable ride home. I felt so awful for him. I mean it was MY idea to go on this little trip & it ended up torturing him. So glad MerSea was making an average of about 5.7 knots that it took us less than 3 hours.
We got back to Santa Cruz a little after 10 AM. Very slowly, we tidied up the necessary things on the boat & then drove back home a little before noon. Matt laid down to rest & I realized that my body was so sore after my accident/performance the day before that I joined him. Zephyr was very confused & decided to join us too. It felt like we were away for over a week!
Happy to be heading home.
So TA-DA! We did it! Our first voyage to another marina! Will we be venturing out to Moss Landing again? Mmmm... probably not. Think we had our fill of the whole experience. Why mess with such a good story?! On to our next venture: Monterey! -Hopefully in the next month. Hopefully less painful. I actually can't believe Matt is already thinking about it. Thankful, but in disbelief!
Someday we'll laugh about this experience....
Stay tuned for our next adventures in sailing. Don't forget to like & follow below. Thanks for reading!
