Newport to Crescent City, Beginnings are…

…such important things.   On the first day of our trip we had 10 to 15 knot winds out of the north with a 6’ to 8’, tightly spaced, ground swell.  The ocean temperature 54.5 deg F.  We had been a little rushed before heading out and that all came to a halt when we tried to raise the sails.  In replacing much of the running rigging I had managed to weave our reef lines amongst the the sail’s lazy jacks.  That brought the main sail to an abrupt stop half way up the mast.  Oops!  Back down came the sail and I got to sort the whole mess out before properly raising the sail back up.  

Slowly, slowly, things started to come back to us that had once been old habit.  It had ben 15 months since we’d last raised Malo’s sails but as we we gradually settled into our offshore, sailing mode, we slowed down and started doing things as a team, in a carful, timely and sailor-like manor.  We were soon rewarded by the sight of three whales spouting off in the distance.  Something I took as a good omen.  Bev sent below for a nap at 4:00pm thus setting the start of our watch order for the evening.  While standing our first evening watch of the trip I was rewarded by a beautiful sunset that was enhanced by the numerous fires that had been burning in the region.  





Watch up on watch we went through the evening.  “Like two ships passing in the night” as Beverly had quipped.  Sailing downwind in the short, steep swells made for an eccentrically lumpy ride which set off poor Bev’s stomach which led to a case of mal de mer for her.  

The next day the winds dropped to 5-10 knots, the swells settled down into nice long period, 6’ swells and the water temperature climbed 3 deg F, which cause the air temperature to warm nicely up.  We were finding our sailing happy spot again. 

The winds piped up as did the seas and Some where during the long night we broke not one but two batten cars which made them selves know when we put first one and then a second reef in the main sail.  So begins another To-Do list for the boat.  After a particularly long night we arrived at Crescent City, CA.  Fog mixed with smoke from all the forest fires made entrance into the harbor challenging but radar, charts, a costal pilot and GPS made the entice more exciting than dramatic.  

Crescent City is more of an active fishing port that a "yachting" center which makes it more appealing and real of a place for me.   

                        

The first thing we did after tying up was to put our foul weather gear out to dry and we soon noticed a fine coat of ash which formed all over everything left out.  Yuck.  In spite of this we are looking forward to exploring this interesting harbor town.