Boat cruising activity aboard Wild Blue has been in a slump over 2017's summer. We've made just three cruises to the California Delta including a short cruise to Half Moon Bay. Over the past ten years, we've accumulated almost 6,000 engine hours cruising California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. This summer we're under 100 hours of engine running, an historic low. Just like a horse, this ship is tugging on her lines, eager to get some exercise. All this changes on Friday as we get underway down the Pacific Coast on our journey to La Paz, Mexico. Once there the plan is to cruise the Sea of Cortez over the winter months.
A Summer of Boat Maintenance and Improvements
Wild Blue's cruising lows allowed maintenance highs. The list of deferred repairs and improvements had blossomed and a trimming was in order. With the following tasks complete, the list was minimized:
scraped, primed and painted three cabin doors with 2-part Interlux
replaced six door dog handles
removed, filled and glassed 30 unused canvas snaps
stripped, sanded and varnished all teak to 8 coats with Epifanes
filled, fared and repainted numerous hull dings, scratches and dents with Interlux Flag Blue
repaired SSB antenna connection
repaired VHF antenna connection
fly bridge and dinghy canvass repaired and replaced
added Samsung 18-inch tablet with Navionics charts
upgraded to 5G wifi router
upgraded navigation computer to mini-Dell with solid state drive
serviced main and generator diesel engine; adjusted valves
added an ACR EPIRB emergency satellite rescue beacon
completed boat waxing with Collinite insulator wax
tagged circuit breaker switches with colored-coded ties for quick identification
serviced fire extinguishers and engine room fire system
cleaned and rebuilt the dinghy engine carburetor
Friday morning we'll leave behind Redwood City's Westpoint Harbor. This pretty marina is a great place to keep a boat: it's quiet, clean, secure and has great staff. When underway, we'll run north out of SF Bay and down to Half Moon Bay. A lot of pain for a small gain, or 50 miles to get 13 miles away. Assuming the weather cooperates, spend Saturday in Monterrey, Sunday in San Simeon, then arrive in Morro Bay Monday afternoon. We hope to spend a week for long-term provisioning.
Continuing south about September 22, will stop at Cojo Anchorage under Pt Conception, spend a few nights at Santa Cruz Island, then a couple weeks at Channels Islands while detail engine service is completed. Mid-October we visit Marina del Rey, Catalina, Newport Harbor ending in San Diego at the Yacht Club for the start of CUBAR (www.cubar.sdyc.org) and the La Paz leg.
As always we expect to Blog our way southward. Stay tuned.
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