Monday, November 2, 2009

Just around the corner

The morning we took off to make the big rounding of Point Arguello and Point Conception, I knew we had secured just about everything but ourselves to the boat but I kept wondering what we had forgotten.  As a planner, I suppose that is my nature, to always be thinking about the one variable I haven’t thought about…as we pulled up the anchor I knew if there had been forgotten the next few hours would give up what we had not thought about. 

Korbey steered Darlin out of the safe harbor of Port Saint Luis into the already big seas, we knew as the day wore on they would only build so time was not our friend.  As we neared Point Arguello the washing machine action of the oceans waters intensified but we passed that test without incident, now onto Point Conception.  NOAA http://www.noaa.gov was predicting 11 – 13’ waves with 17 seconds intervals, they would be big long rollers. The wind would be from behind us at 20 – 25 miles with gusts up to 35 out of the north northwest. They’d be pretty much on the stern pushing us along. The big challenge for our courageous Captain was keeping the boat from breaching as the surfed on a 50’ 15 ton board! 

Korbey mastered the seas and the maneuvered the boat around Point Conception into a big lake like ocean…we were on our way safely to Santa Barbara!

The ocean after Point Conception as we headed to Santa Barbara - this was nice...

With a big sigh of relief, Darlin pulled into Santa Barbara marina and we tied her up to the guest dock at The Santa Barbara Yacht Club http://www.sbyc.org shortly after 5pm. We checked in with the Harbor Masters office – boaters please make note that Santa Barbara charges $7 per key, it’s an administrative fee you, unlike most marina’s, don’t get it back. 

After showering, Korbey and I wondered up to Chuck’s Waterfront Grill http://www.chuckswaterfrontgrill.com .  We feasted on a grilled artichoke, Cajun Seared Ahi and Clam Chowder and a Rib Eye Steak and of course, some great local wine!  Believing the worst was behind us, we slept like babies.

The next day, Friday the 23rd of October, while I worked, Korbey discovered that much to his joy, the greatest thing about Santa Barbara was the fact that there was a West Marine store http://www.westmarine.com right in the marina.  He also found a couple of used dive tanks at a reasonable rate. We had a bargain lunch at Sushi Go-Go, where the lunch special was $7.50 for a 3 course meal, the day we were there it was teriyaki chicken, California Roll and a Spicy Tuna Roll with a cucumber salad. After a little retail therapy at a local tourist shop with a new top tucked under my arm I went back to the boat to finish up my work for the day.

As good yachtista’s that evening we dined at SBYC.  When we arrived we were greeted by the clubs’ friendly manager, who guided us to a lovely table by the window.  In honor of the fact that Korbey currently holds the Commodores chair at Oyster Point Yacht Club http://www.opyc.com they had a table with his name and club affiliation.

We plan to leave the next morning for one of my former and favorite stomping grounds: Marina Del Rey.  The trip should be a short easy 8 hour run.

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