Day: Saturday June 1, 2002

Departed Long Beach Slip 0730
Souls on board:

Captain Richard Gardner
Crew:

Meade Lawrence
Del Estell
Wally Rodecker
Don Meroth
Neal Kirsch
Chris Altomare
Loren Burch
Donnie Williams

Escorted by the following Vessels:
Rip Tide
Old Age
Ono
Namsakar
Sea Dog
Alwia
Cranky Bitch
After the Lovin
Rusty Anchor
Outlaw
Cool Seas

0806 Leave Alamitos Bay
0930 Autopilot quit
0945 Autopilot start working
1000 Captain gave orientations to each watch
1300 Shut down port engine to repair hydraulic leaks
1340 Resume running on both engines
1600 Seas building off Santa Barbara
1800 28 Knot wind, 12 ft seas

Sunday June 2, 2002

Partly cloudy 64 deg

0300 28-knot winds, 10-15 ft seas, running 20-40 miles offshore. Most of crew sick
0330 Fire in engine room electrical panel due to water leaking into panel
0345 Freighter approached to within 1 mile dead astern. Unable to contact vessel on channel 16, 15, 14, 12, & 9. Vessel finally passed to port.
1200 It continues to be rough. Spotted a Marlin.
1300 The cooler on the fantail toppled over spilling it's contents of soda, milk, and water all over the aft deck. It's too rough to retrieve them at this time.
1500 We are having trouble with the bilge pumps. We had to shut down most electrical systems due to shorts caused by water leaks.
1600 Richard decided to pull into San Simeon about 50 miles away. We are only able to make 4-5 knots due to rough seas.
2100 We anchored at San Simeon cove and the crew had dinner. Richard and Donnie made repairs.

Monday June 3, 2002

Sunny, 3-5 ft seas

0800 The crew is up, rested, and is good spirits. Del fixed breakfast, and we lashed everything down again. This time we will try to run closer to the cost.
0930 We leave San Simeon and proceed north. Seas are 3-5 ft with 20-knot winds. We are able to make 8-9 knots most of the day.
1200 Continuing north at 8-9 knots. Richard and Donnie recaulked the deck in front of the pilothouse.
1500 Seas are beginning to build, and we have to slow down.
1900 The porthole on the port side in the engine room is coming loose. It will need to be repaired when seas are calmer.

Tuesday June 4, 2002

Clear, 10 ft seas

0600 Due to the seas we are only running at 5-6 knots. It has been almost 24 hours since our last electrical fire.
1535 We have passed Pt. Reyes with 20 Knot winds, 15 ft seas, running at 5-6 knots.
1630 The winds are climbing and seas are getting bigger.
1700 The captain has decided to head for Bodega bay 15 miles away. Winds are at 50 knots and seas are high.
1800 The porthole in the master head blew out. Gallons of water enter the porthole after each wave encountered. The stuff and crew is flying around in the salon. All of the crates in the engine room dislodged from their holders/restraints and dumped their contents throughout the engine room. A bottle of syrup in the galley bust open all over the floor and a box of laundry detergent spilled on the deck, making a very sticky/slippery mess.
1830 The stabilizers have quit 5 miles out due to taking on water in the bilge. Neal was sitting on the couch and was tossed across the room. He did a mid air pirouette, bounced off of the bird cage and landed on his back and both elbows where he stayed for about 30 minutes.
1930 We made it into Bodega bay and tied up to the dock at Spud point Marina.
2100 The crew is going to dinner ashore using the harbormaster's car.

Wednesday June 5, 2002

Clear, windy

0800 We are still in port at Bodega bay for repairs and awaiting more favorable seas. We will spend the majority of the day drying out the bedding and clothes while making repairs/modifications to the boat.
0930 Neal Kirsch left the ship/decided to visit his kids in Modesto; he is not returning. He said he came along on this trip for the experience. He said he has had all of the experience he needs and more.
1200 Carolyn and Lynn drove up and met the boat while docked.
2100 After a day of clean up and repairs the crew settled in to watch a movie.

Thursday June 6, 2002

Clear, windy

0800 The wind and seas have not let up and are not expected to for a few days. We will wait out the weather in hopes for more favorable conditions.
1200 Carolyn and Lynn made a supply run for us retrieving much needed sodas, and quick fix meals.
1500 Chris and Mead realized that they would not be able to make their scheduled flights from Seattle due to this delay in schedule so they decided to rent a car and head home early. Lorin has decided to leave tomorrow. The crew for the remainder of the voyage will be:

Richard
Del
Don
Wally
Donnie

1900 The remaining crew settled down to a home cooked meal prepared by Carolyn and Lynn. They will remain in the local area until we depart.

2200 The crew settles down for another peaceful night tied to the dock.

Friday June 7, 2002

Clear, Gale Warning flags still fly.

On Board are the Crew, Goldie and Jake (the birds), Whitecap (the cat), Carolyn, and Lynn.

The fresh water pump broke. Too many laundry cycles. Donnie had to replace it.
There are whitecaps in the harbor. The sky is clear and sunny but the water is warmer than the air. It looks as if we are stuck here until Monday.
A couple that bought a boat in Florida and sailed all the way to here arriving about one hour before us 3 days ago came over. They had left Alamitos Ca and are headed to Alaska.
The winds continued to blow throughout the day with waves rocking the boat tied to the dock. The girls prepared chicken potpie, salad, potatoes, and banana splits for dinner.
We watched the movie "The Birds" which was filmed here in Bodega Bay back in the 60s.

Saturday June 8, 2002

Clear, Still Gale Warnings

On board are the same people as yesterday.

Today is Carolyn's Birthday. We had breakfast and lunch on board and dinner at Lucas Restaurant later in the evening.
Slim and Del went to Santa Rosa and picked up 2 doz white roses and one red one for Carolyn. They bought an alarm clock for a gift to give to Carolyn. (She acted pleased to get it.) Donnie said that if he got that gift for his wife for her birthday that he would be sleeping out on the couch for a month.
We had a wonderful dinner at Lucas and returned to the boat to watch "Captain Ron". It was pointed out as ironic that at the beginning of "Captain Ron" the boat is at a Caribbean Island named Saint Palm De Terre (St. Potato), and that we are stranded here at Spud Point Marina her in Bodega Bay. I think we are loosing it. Well at least the showers are hot here, almost too hot. The crew then went to bed hoping for a favorable weather report tomorrow.

Sunday June 9, 2002

Clear, Still Gale winds

On board are the same as yesterday.

At 0830 we took the boat over to the fuel dock and capped of the takes taking on 590 gallons of fuel. We can't negotiate the price here because the county runs the fuel dock and the marina.
Carolyn and Lynn have taken all of the animals and went to get a motel for the night. They will begin to head up north again tomorrow.
Tonight we had fresh Rock Crab (courtesy of a couple of sailors down the dock a way) and beans. Everyone retired to bed by 2215 to get good nights sleep as we have decided to try for the north in the morning.

Monday June 10, 2002

Clear, Only one red flag waving, wind in 6 mph

0445 Everyone is up and ready to go.
0525 We depart in an attempt to get past Point Mendocino and into better weather. We rounded the Bodega Bay entrance at sunrise. There is no wind chop but there are a few large waves. On the way out of the bay, we were briefly caught by the current and pushed sideways in the channel, but with some keen maneuvering, Slim quickly got us straightened out and headed out to sea.
0730 We have hit several large waves in succession and the water has flooded the electrical panel. This has tripped a few circuit breakers, killed the generators, and caused yet another small fire in the electrical panel. Slim and Donnie try to fix it while we are still underway, but it is decided that it is too much to fight, so we came about and returned to "Blowdega Bay."
0900 We pulled in to our only recently vacated dockside. It now appears that we will not make Seattle by the 15th. Slim and Donnie begin to repair the electrical panel and caulk suspected leak points.
1200 The electrical panel has been repaired, tested, and is now functioning properly again. The deck has been recaulked, and only another sea trial will prove its effectiveness. Plastic was duct taped down over the deck, and the electrical panel to help seal it further.
1300 The crew had lunch and is now just relaxing, anticipating another try at going north tomorrow.
1400 While relaxing some of the crew watched the movie "Unbreakable."
1700 We had beef stew for dinner made by Del. It was good.
1800 The crew watched "White Squall" to prepare us for the next day's journey and then retired to our bunks.

 

1 June - 10June

 

27 June - 9 July

 

10 July - 26 July

27 July - 29 July

11 June - 26 July