Hajime and Mate

Sailing Sailing... So sailors know this, Sailing is hard work...  We left Bodega Bay at 5:30AM with hopes of making a anchorage at Fish Rock / Havens South of Point Arena by evening, we got there and chickened out on anchoring...  It was rough heading in and the rocks were closer than out comfort level... It was about 7:30PM light was fadeing so we decided to continue on to Noyo overnight. We motor sailed all night and anchored at the entrance to Noyo River (Ft. Bragg, CA) We had some beautiful sailing weather until early afternoon when it kicked up prety good, 25+ knot winds and seas that had the bow scooping under the waves at times...  Mostly we could sail at 45 deg to the wave direction, but there are those times you go right at em and the darn things are not spaced so nicely...   Jess thinks we had 10-12 foot, 8 second seas from a one to two points West of North... (You may have to read Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series for the point to degrees conversion.

Waiting for the weather to clear, getting a little bored with Bodega Bay, no problem, fate/karma/etc. pokes HER head up and says "hello!" We were doing pre-sail checks on Hajime and when we got to the engine compartment the catch pan had about 1/2 inch of salt water in it...  How do you know it's salt water?, taste it of course! So check around and see that the water is comming from the salt water coolent pump, back side through the weep hole in the brass casting... We opened our spare parts kit which came with the boat and found three, count em three spare seals!!!  Decided that this must be an issue with the Westerbeke #16423 pump.  We only needed one!  Did not know exactly how to get the old seal housing out, the rubber was torn and came out without the press-in portion of the seal Westerbeke #18159. The way to replace the seal is NOT to try to pry the old one out with a screw driver and score the shaft where the new seal rubber will contact... On the Boat

The weather in the bay is beautiful, however, it is suppose to be blowing up some mighty big waves and swells off shore... Just as the guide says, facilities are "adequate" walk to town is a bike ride with a "bike push" up one small hill!!! Jess took some photos! We are looking at weather using tools available on internet NOAA marine forecasts and  GRIB models wind/wave/weather forecasts available via download and ranging for up to 7 days forecast... NOAA Marine Forcast: http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/ekaMarineLoop.php#tabs GRIB models:

Ok so it is not so far from San Francisco, but it is a start!!! We left Ballena Isle Marina promptly at 9:30AM 5/2.   Mostly to plan...  Then we left Ballena Isle Marina again at 10:30AM after Liz called us on the cell phone and said "You left your propane tank here at the marina!"... Bye Ballena Isle! We got to the Golden Gate later than planned and still tried to get out through 25 knot westerly winds, 10-12' waves coming in and 2-3 knot current going out...  It was a mess, we gave up quickly headed over to Angle Island and tied up for the night.  Angle Island tie-up: At the  tie-up, we looked at the weather and decided to get up to Bodega Bay by Thursday evening  5/3.  We left Angle Island at 4:40AM and motored to about Point Bonita where we set sail and sailed all the way to Bodega Bay with 10-20 knot  winds from the south, 2-4 foot south waves from south west...  Visibility was under 0.8 miles.  Heard the freighter pass, fog horn,  and saw her on

We discovered the SPOT website : http://www.findmespot.com/en/  and then bought a SPOT CONNECT online on EBAY. We received the device when we returned from our trip to Denver/Dallas and are setting it up to include: SOS, HELP, OK, TYPE/SEND, SPOT ASSIST... Link:  LINK TO SPOT TRACKING PAGE FOR HAJIME It is a pretty neat system for about $129 per year  99 service+10 connect to BoatUS+20?Ins...  Then 100 41 character messages for $30... SOS:  Activate the SOS mode to begin sending your GPS location to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC). Add a custom message to update responders of your condition. The IERCC alerts the appropriate agencies worldwide – for example contacting 9-1-1 responders in North America and 1-1-2 responders in Europe. Read more Help:  Use the Help mode to send either custom Type & Send or Predefined messages to recipients in your contact list for non-life threatening assistance. Read more

Jean-Luc and Lisa invited friends to come and cook out and share an evening, it was lovely!  The planned departure is May 01 or 02! The sailing vessel is Sjorden!