With a new alternator, we headed North...first to Half Moon Bay to meet up with old friends, Pete & Linda and to have dinner.  Great dinner and great visit.

Next on to Santa Cruz to meet up with more friends, Jack & Linda.  That was great and got a nice bottle of great wine.  Santa Cruz has some high tech boats in it's rebuilt marina.  Nice to visit.

OK, the next stop was Monterrey Marina...and a great visit with my wife, step daughter and grand children....more fun and good to see all of them (esp Candy).

On to our final stop at this time:  San Francisco Bay....called a lot of Marinas, but not much luck, since I have a wooden boat...however, the one I used 6 years ago, Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael remembered me and welcomed us in.  Cheaper moorage also.

I decided to have Tom sand and paint the hull for a week, and I flew home to see Candy and then drove back to take Tom to the train station in Sacramento so he could go see his brother. 

Time to clean up the Noe Mar...check the wiring on the alternator...in fact took it back to have it tested.  Meanwhile, since Malia (Calif grand daughter) was graduating from Pre school :-)  Candy brought my original alternator back on the plane. 

Next I drove back home, checked out the alternator and found the isolator was hooked up wrong when we replaced it in Morrow Bay...OH well...one does keep learning things....not sure who hooked it up, me or the mechanic. 

Perhaps I like driving up and down the I-5 Freeway :-)

Alternators\Morrow Bay

Left San Luis Bay @ 6:30 AM.  And within 20 min noticed the new alternator was not working .  Cloudy & foggy day.   Set course for Morrow Bay.  Batteries went dead , so had to hand steer and use my Nav on my cell phone.  Easier than paper charts.   Engine ran fine sense diesels don't need electricity.

When we got in and asked for transit moorage due to this problem...we received directions to the Morrow bay yacht club, and here we are.  

Got help immediately and the next day the maintenance guy took the new
& my OEM alternators to San Luis Obispo for repair.  Turns out the new one from Spider Marine is dead & junk. The original Volvo one is repairable but no parts available, so I ordered a new one.  Should arrive by noon today the 10th of May.

Morrow bay is nice, but foggy.  In fact when we motored in we could not see the rock.  Seriously.  The bay is well marked and easy to enter in the fog.

Down loaded a new GRIB file.  The Northerlies are getting worse, so I will moor in the SF Bay area for a month or a year.  Meanwhile I have no email with Ocens.  Not sure why, no email on SSB due to the digital antenna, which is new.  And so it goes.  So farmyard new iPhone is working fine and the food is good :-)

Met a couple from Chico.  John & Linda Mendoza.  They gave up on their Hawaii trip due to weather.  Sound familiar?  She is an MD & he is ret. game warden.  Great people and she bakes great bread. He is innovative with his SSB.  Cheaper & works great.  Will post what he did later.

Should leave tomorrow @ 4 AM (calmer seas) and head north to??

Cheers.  Wish us luck
Skipper, Ken

San Luis Obispo

Last two nights from the pleasant Channel Island Harbor @ Oxnard, CA heading to Port San Luis ( near San Luis Obispo) was Hell at sea.  High head winds of 20+ knots and steep seas, up to 18 high waves.  Lowered all sails. Motored @ 3,600 rpm and barely made 2.5 -3 Knots.   Used up a lot of fuel & had to pour in 10 gal in this chop while motoring.  Of course that made me sea sick again.  Also, tore up a motor belt.  So the engine shut down (fortunately earlier in lite air).  Replaced it, hack sawed off a bolt end that caused the problem

Thanks for good tools, ingenuity, spare parts and luck .

At this time my cell phone rang, my oldest daughter, Kim wanted to know if I was OK?  Told her I would call back because I was up to alligators to my A--
And I did call her back. :-)

Cheers to all. Today we are at a mooring ball and resting.

Skipper , Ken

Dolphins

I have seen many Dolphins when at sea, but never before have they played with the Noe Mar, but this time they did.  On the way to Oxnard, Channel Islands Harbor, a large Pod decided we were there Disney Land, and play they did.  In our bow wake (we were doing 5 knots , sails & motor) they frolicked and sped in and around us.  Then leaping, away they went, only to return again & again.  What a delight to watch.

These guys were a dark tan with a greyish tan undersides.  Same markings as the San Juan dolphins but totally different color.   All are sleek & fast.  Beautiful to watch. Way to soon they tired of us and left. Made one wish you could done scuba gear and play.  Oh well, we could never keep up with them.

If any of you wish to design a hull form. Copy the Dolphins shape, and hope for there speed .

Keep sailing and enjoy the world.

Cheers.  Skipper of the Noe Mar,  Ken

Can't get SSB to work

Another day on the Noe Mar, or should I say a week? 


Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7nZqK/34.16248N/119.22307W
We got the engine repaired (leaky raw water pump & exhaust manifold) and said goodby to Justin (my step son) and thanked him for all of his help.  Said goodby to dock friends, a couple of gals in their 70's  who sailed the Ensenada race in a very small boat, missed the Campbell soup gals in their big Catalina 34, a guy trying to single hand it to the Philippines.  The single hander did not seem to be psyched for it.  Hope he is OK and makes it or finds a way out.  Oh yes, not to forget the couple and their great dog from the power boat.

Called Tom's Sis in Florida. She & Tom talked. Said she reads my blogs.  Hope so.

Motor sailing off Catalina Island headed to Oxnard for showers & R&R , then up the Coast to San Luis Obisbo or Half Moon Bay.  Then on to Oregon.  Doing 4-5 knots, sails & motor..,wind is light & in our teeth.  It is 3:15 AM  ... Tom is up listening to his new MP3 player.  Radar is on , running lights are great (new LED) engine is purring... Weather is mild.  But never fear Oregon will cool us down.

Tom cooked up lentils, Turkey Spam, green peppers, onions, cheese , etc
He finally is friends with the kerosene stove.  Scary at first ;-)

Cheers, have a great day

Skipper,  Ken

San Diego

This last leg to San Diego was either a lot of wind on the nose or none...then we got some on the stern...hoisted the Genny and later the Mizzen, picked up about 2-3 knots in speed.  Since we were against the wind and current all the way from Cabo, it appears we only averaged around 80 miles per day (70 Nautical miles)...poor.  If only we can maintain 4-5 knots, then it would be closer to 100+ mi per day.

When we stopped at Turtle Bay the diesel vessel came up and filled all of our tanks.  Only just off San Diego and around a navy Destroyer, did we find out we had some water in the fuel.  Switched Racor filters and then the transmission started to slip...meanwhile we are getting notices to stay away from the Navy vessel.  I hoist the Main as since the Genny and Mizzen were already up...and off we went...towards LA at a speed of 8.5 knots...scared the crew..huge main and where can we go?  I dropped the main...put some oil in the transmission (it was low) and we started the engine...it ran fine, but now we were
concerned.  So, slowly motor into the Harbor Police and Customs/Immigration dock.  This started at 4:30 and we did not get into dock until 8 PM.  So, we had to pay for Customs/Immigration to check us out.  Immigration seemed to home in on Mike (hair or his lack of answers...why was he there?).  Meanwhile, Customs seized our Eggs and Potatoes (great potatoes...and about 4 doz eggs).  Crushed them in a dock refuse container.

Oh well, we got a slip ($35/day)...headed out to find Downwind Marine to replace the VHF antenna for the SSB radio I have (iCom digital) and a tri color light, plus odds and ends.  Took two days to get the tri color...around $300 with the mount and it is an LED Tri/Anchor light by LunaSea.  Great little unit...plus an stainless mounting bracket.  I did mention that our wip antenna and the tri color lense was torn off at sea?....I told you we had some great winds :-)

The next day, I spent 4 hours up the mast getting every thing hooked up and operational.  It works great.  The LED is automatic and very bright.  It has an anchor light and a strobe light...but that is 2 more wires, so I taped it off.

Getting a new part made for the Mizzen goose neck...need to use it and it is a mess.

Mike flew out to Denver, so it is Tom and my self.  Justin (my Step Son who lives here) has taken me shopping for groceries, laundry and the post office.  I am grateful for his help.  Had a great dinner @ Phillipi's in Little Italy here in SD.


The Volvo mechanic suggested a new elbow for the exhaust system, and a new raw water pump (leaking) for the engine.  All else is OK (including the transmission).  The parts will be here Tuesday, so we should be headed north on WED morning.

I re-stuffed the stuffing box (I am learning) and it no longer leaks...hate all of the water in the bildge...it already has salted my lap top with bildge water...hope I can rinse it off and fire it up when I get home.

I just Calculated our eta for Port Hadlock...about 20 days from Wed, so hopefully we will arrive there before or by the 23rd of May.  Hope to stop 3-4 times on the way for rest.  Perhaps meet my wife in New Port, OR (weather permitting).
 Time to Go...check with all later...Skipper of the Noe Mar....Ken
-------------------------------------------------

Lights!

Today is Monday and the sea is as smooth as glass.  We are motoring @ 4.6 knots and the wind is only 2 knots (up from 1) and that is apparent.  So, it looks like it is behind us.  I do know it will be behind us when we land in San Diego tomorrow. Hopefully that will be in day light...so it might be on the 25 vs the 24th of April.

Just cooked up some apple sauce (save the apples).

Tom fixed spaghetti and steamed veggies last night.  That and our marinated Bonito fish.  Good meal.  He put in a dried Mexican pepper (red) but it was not hot and we were not sure it added to the spaghetti sauce he added.  Good meal...took some pictures, but since my lap top is toast until I can get home, I am not sure I will be able to post the pic.  Hmmm...maybe Candy can if I send it to her by my iPhone...you know the top restaurant on the sea...Tom's dinner @ Noe Mar in the Pacific.  :-)

Position:  30 deg 9.8615 min N  116 deg 7.4222 min W...heading 337 T  speed 4.3-4.7 knots.

Yesterday afternoon I hoisted the Genoa and we motorsailed @ 6 knots for 3-4 hours.  When I lowered it (due to lack of wind) the little Morning Dove on the rail, said, forget it and flew off.  He had rested for 4 hours, so hopefully he made it back to land. He knew where he needed to go.

Last night radar and the watch spotted a couple of lights...woke me @ 3 AM (this is good).  Turned out 1 was a light house, and one kept ahead of us and later on my watch disappeared.  Then I saw 3 light houses (this is good, most of them are not working). Well, we are close to Ensenada, so that could be the reason...more traffic.

Talk to all of  you tomorrow and hopefully when we clear Customs I can send Candy (my great friend/wife/CEO) pictures so she can upload it.  This is how it works for the blog.

Cheers......Captain of the s/v Noe Mar

No Wind

Another day on glassy seas...motoring @ 4.7 knots and apparent wind is 1 knot.  So, it must be following us.
I downloaded a GRIB file and notice that the winds should be on our rear after San Diego.

Today we sliced up the apples, and made applesauce.  No cinnamon, but we do have turbinado sugar.  Should be good if I don't scorch it :-)

Tom made spaghetti last night and steamed some cabbage and carrots.  I will post a picture of that when I get home.  Seems my laptop is toast until I get there.

Meanwhile, not to much to report other than we should pass Ensenada tonight and come into San Diego tomorrow.  Hopefully in the AM...even though the harbor is lit well and marked...hate to come in at night.

Yesterday, I hoisted the Genoa and picked us up to 5-6 knots for 3-4 hours, then lost the wind and lowered it.  We had a hitch hiker, a morning Dove..she rested for the time we sailed, but left us when I lowered the Genoa.  Hope she made it back to land.

Current position is:  30 deg 9.8615 N and 116 deg 7.4222 W....heading is 337 T.  Should arrive in San Diego on the 24th.

Cheers...Skipper of the s/v Noe Mar

Finally Fish!

Today is our lucky day (10th day out) @ 27 12.342' N and 114  30.947' W Tom caught another Bonito (type of tuna)...which he promptly stuck a screw driver through it's eye (why waste Tequila?), gutted, bled it and filleted it.  It is now in the fridge soaking in lime juice (little juicer came in handy) with chopped tomatoes and onions.  Hmmm  Cevieche? For dinner tonight or tomorrow.

Today, Tom came up with rice/can of campbells soup and sliced carrots with some onions.  I cooked it for lunch (see, I can light the stove :-)  Tom is always being innovative about dinner and lunch.  All of it tastes good.  Mike is great about washing dishes and watches...good crew...but he has a book of Candy's that he finally is engrossed.

Our sailing has be rough...slamming...calm motoring...all the time.  Some times we get some really nice sailing in.  We have had some sailing @ 4-5 knots and one day with the Mizzen stays'l up we got a full 6 knots of speed downwind.  This is what I was hoping for to Hilo...but the Weather God changed his mind...it would have been a 25 K crash bash for 2,000 mi and then nice sailing in the Trades.  Oh well...we are going home anyway.  We try to douse the Main at night because a lot of wind can arise quickly and then boom...nothing.

Yesterday we ran out of fuel...and no wind...so I drained most (but not 100%)of our cabin heater fuel tank (the beer barrel) and managed to fill 90% of one tank. Saved our bacon...then I heard the engine rattle a lot...pulled the cover and found the new alternator had a bolt loose.  Stopped and fixed it...well Tom managed to get the bolt in.  It is operational...but this took most of our afternoon...so no Turtle Bay yet.  Late tonight we should motor into it and get fuel and a rest.

The heavy weather has ripped off our tri light housing...so at night the decks are lit up like a bright moon.  Next a heavy sea tore the wire loose from the deck light...Oh well, don't use that anyway.

So far all is well, except I cannot get the Iridium phone to send emails...but I can get gribs and talk to Candy every night

Seems we are now 7 hrs away from Turtle Bay and fuel...oops...seems we will be breathing fumes or sculling into harbor...wish us luck :-)

Cheers...Captain of the s/v Noe Mar