We came in broken and are leaving feeling whole again. I wasn't pleased with all the batten car failures but I'm so glad that we got to spend some extra time in this special place. Ordinarily we probably have taken off after a coupe of days but because we had to wait for parts and make repairs we ended up spending 9 days here.
It's a real place full of folks that work the sea, fishermen, aquatic farmers, sailors, a few boat builders, marine tradesmen, and those that watch over them all; the men and women of he US Coast Guard serving in what may be the most noble of all the branches of Homeland Security.
There was oyster farming going on right at our dock. Lots of fishing boats came and went. This time of year they were laden with tuna and we heard the crabbing was big here when that's in season.
The coast guard kept two kinds of boats here:
47' foot surf boats that were designed to weather hurricane force winds, heavy seas, breaking surf up 20' high with impacts up to 3 G's. They are also deigned to role and self-right if capsized with all their equipment fully functional. All this with a crew of only 4.
I had seen this magnificent boat out on the water numerous times but I'd never been docked next to one until we came into Eureka. What treat to see these great stallions of the sea up close. With a range of 200 nmi these boats were primarily deigned for near shore, rough condition rescue work. They are the workhorses that protect the most dangerous harbor entrances and bars along the US coast.
Also on the dock was the the Barracuda, on of the Coast Guard's 87' Protector class coastal patrol boats. With a 900 nmi range and a crew of 10 these boats were designed for off shore work. They have neat trick of being able to launch and retrieve a small, rigid-hull-inflatable-boat while underway from a stern launching system that requires just a single crew member to operate it. I was thrilled to be able to see that in action.
As fascinating as that is, our primary reason for prolonging our visit here was to repair Malo and the tiny chandlery run by Tom Sheldrake was key to that. Tom put us on to another brand of batten cars that would fit our rig but are (fingers crossed & touch wood) much stronger. Thanks Tom! He also beat Bev in cribbage, something the I haven't been able to do lately, so there is that too.
Batten cars - defiantly not nearly as sexy as Coast Guard rescue boats but quite impertinent to us non-the-less because they keep our seagoing party rolling. Ultimately it doesn't matter what I think of these new cars, the sea will test them herself and determine their worthiness as she does to us all. If they stand the test that will be wonderful, if not, we'll reassess, regroup and try again.,.
We have a good wave forecast for crossing the bar tomorrow morning and a decent weather window for heading a couple hundred miles down the coast to the San Fransisco area. Our plan is not it enter the great bay itself. That takes up a good amount of time both coming and going, so we'll stop into one of the beautiful but lesser bays near by. Depending on the weather and our progress we're considering, in order of progression; Bodega Bay, Drakes Bay and Half Moon Bay.
So with warm feelings and gratitude in our hearts we're ready to leave beautiful Humboldt Harbor and the charming town of Eureka.
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