Stephanie Propp

Short motor to what we hoped would be a better anchorage. It was, marginally. Much more spectacular, small beach but no hiking. Set stern anchor which helped, but still a lot of motion.

Fun Sailing, downwind angles all the way. 12-15 with times of 20-25. Various reefs during the day. Wind completely shut off in the lee of Santa Cruz Island. Anchorage we were planning for had 2 boats already and 3 would be tight, moved on. Will go back there tomorrow.

Very nice downwind sailing conditions. Wind ranged between 8&20 knots. One reef in the main for part of the night. Very disturbing near collision experience at 1:30AM. We had been monitoring a vessel that was not on AIS for about an hour. Vessel had a bright white light which was all we could see. Steph woke me because she could not make sense of what he was doing, we thought he was a slow moving fishing vessel due to the bright light. When I came up we immediately realized the vessel was very close. Still could not make out navigation lights. Then I saw a green, which would mean his Stbd side was too me, it seemed he was trolling parallel to us, I started steering away. This was limited due to main on preventer and poled out Genoa. Then we saw it was a sailboat and it was coming at us. I the sails got back winded and it seems he saw us at the last minute. Collision was nearly adverted. This vessel did not have proper nav lights. I never saw a red bow light which I certainly should have based on his sailing direction. His flood light on the mast made it impossible to tell where he was going or what type of vessel he was, also probably blinding him so he had limited visibility to see us. I radioed after we were clear and he refused to answer why he had improper lights or what he was doing. Very scary!

We started out for short sail to Pebble Beach (Stillwater Cove) and had a good upwind sail there. The wind direction (not as forecast) and seeel was not allowing for safe anchoring. We decided to continue on do an impromptu overnight to San Simeon rather than sail back to Monterey. Everything went well, nice clear night after rain at Pebble Beach. Wind shifted when it cleared allowing for a downwind sail as forecast. We saw gusts to 35 knots. Arrived at first light.

Nice day, we were able to sail about 2/3 of the way. Started of motoring then I'm close hauled in 7-8 knots. Wind slowly filled to 10-12 and came around to beam. Clouds passed and blue skies filled in.

Motor sailed into light headwinds. A short bit of sailing, winds came to beam as we turned East. Very grey day.

Real Nice day. Sailed 90% of the way. Nice beat out the Gate, then winds hot lighter. Beam reach and then downwind sailing. Very mellow.

After picking up the dinghy in Richmond we went out the Gate for a short test sail of the rudder bearings. Wind was mostly too light for a good test. Nice weather, nice to be out sailing. Anchored back at Aquatic Park.

Motored to Richmond and tied up at pump out dock. Has a new dinghy delivered since ours has a seam leak. Our old dinghy had reached the point where it was one repair after another. The time came to replace it while we were in a place where we could purchase what we wanted, basically the same dinghy but new and fresh.

We motored in calm conditions to the Aquatic Park Anchorage after returning to Stella from Colorado.