Our Maiden Voyage

We had our maiden voyage this past weekend.  We awoke to Santa Ana winds, which we knew would be great to blow us off the dock and toward Santa Catalina Island.  We had a scheduled departure time of 9:30; unfortunately, by that time the winds had dropped from approximately 15 knots to 6 knots – not nearly enough for us to get any momentum sailing.

 Not only was this our maiden voyage, it was our first time sailing the boat without additional crew.  You know the saying, whatever can go wrong will go wrong…  We had three minor technical difficulties before we cleared the breakwater for open water.  The main halyard got fouled with a reefing line when we were trying to bring the main up; the block jumped off the track and was flailing along the side of the boat when we put the jib up and the jib sheets got fouled when we tried to roll it up to fix the block.  We figured with three learning opportunities under our belt the rest of the trip should be good.  And it was. 

 As we were motor sailing to our destination the wind picked up and we began to sail.  There’s nothing like the feel of turning off the engines and feeling your boat grab the wind and run.  It was a prefect beam reach sail right into our port of call.

 Once we reached our destination we attempted another first – anchoring.  We circled and circled looking for just the right spot because the one we had plotted on the chart was taken by the only other boat anchored in the area.  We finally dropped the hook only to soon realize we were dragging.  We pulled it up along with about 20 pounds of stinky eel grass and reset…one more try and we were good to go.  Much to my dismay the bow of the boat and the inside of the anchor locker was covered with the stinky eel grass.  On the project list is the installation of a salt water wash down on the bow…this is far down on the list.  So, I grabbed a 5 gallon bucket from the engine room, tied a line to it and tied that to the boat and proceeded to pull up buckets of water to wash off the bow.  I’m not sure how the anchor locker will get cleaned since it opens up to the f’ocsile, and it’s covered with eel grass, but I’ve been advised by the Captain that this falls into the category of unskilled labor tasks. 

Once we were settled we had to figure out how we were going to get Maya to and from the boat to the dingy.  We lifted her in and out by her life jacket one time and that was all it took for her to realize she would rather jump.  Now she looks like she was born on a boat.

Saturday I went kayaking then took Maya on a two hour hike while Jason fished and worked on installing the new autopilot. We found it necessary to again reset the anchor, which meant many more 5-gallon buckets of water to wash the bow.   Hot and sweaty we figured a swim with the sea lions was the perfect idea, but once in we knew it was just too darn cold without wetsuits.  But it gave me the opportunity for two more firsts – washing my hair with biodegradable saltwater soap and the solar shower – both worked great.

We spent a few nights trying to figure out the creaking, squeaking and banging that seemed to only happen once we went to bed.  And although we have identified them, we have yet to remedy them…more items for the to-do list.

We picked up hitchhikers for the trip home…a nice young couple that work as kid’s camp instructors for kayaking, snorkeling, etc.  They were great helpers and we made sure to get their contact information in the event we are looking for crew on longer journeys.

Although it blew all weekend long at anchor, once we set sail, it decided to rest.  We had to motor most of the way.  We were able to sail at about 2 knots for a short while – just long enough for a huge pod of dolphins to find us and swim along with us.  It was an amazing sight – all of these beautiful creatures zigzagging back and forth and jumping in front of the bow. 

All in all, it was a good maiden voyage. Lots of good food, good times with friends and the opportunity to get to know our boat better.

It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.
Henry Ward Beecher