Day 1 145 Miles: Tired. Relieved. Apprehensive. Queasy. Sad. Cold.

Day 1

Noon Position: 35.40.61N, 124.45.32W
Course: SW
Speed: 7 knots
Wind: 18 – 24 NW
Sail: Single reefed jib; double reefed main.
Bar: 1018
Sea: NW 6
Sky: Full Cloud
Temp: 63

Miles since departure: 145

The Figure 8 Voyage has begun. MO and I departed Horseshoe Cove at 1pm yesterday and sailed into a fog bank that immediately erased the point on which my wife and friends stood. I turned to wave one last time and found that abruptly they were gone.

Brisk winds under the bridge backed off even before Mile Rock, and Mo, heavy with her year’s supply, was sluggish and slow as she climbed out of the slot. The small fleet of friends accompanying us to sea, Heather Richard in her lovely aluminum sloop loaded with a film crew, John Woodworth in OWL, Randy Liesure in TORTUGA, and an unknown well-wisher in ERGO, pealed off outstide Point Bonita and we made our slow way over the bar where the fog lifted but the sky stayed lead.

MO and I tacked west in search of the NW sea breeze, which we found half way to the Farallons, and here I eased sheets and made our course SW.

Tired. Relieved. Apprehensive. Queasy. Sad. Cold.

Departures are difficult for me, but usually they are done in private and at my own pace. No previous departure has prepared me for this. To leave the company of my wife … for a year … by choice. The pursuit of one dream requires the suspension of others, and I am finding painful what I know must be suspended while I am away and what is risked by going.

As the sky darkened I forced down a can of soup. By 8pm, I began my sleep cycle. Ships everywhere, so sleep was brief and fitful, though what there was, welcome.

MO rounded up at midnight, From my bunk I could feel her quicken, and on deck I found the Monitor paddle had popped out of its locked position. Re-locked. An hour later, same. I put MO on autopilot until morning and returned my attention to sleep and shipping.

Several experiments today have not revealed why the locking lever loosens. It is new and beefed up especially for the coming enterprise. But I have decided to make miles today rather than heave to for repair. Winds go very light in this sector in two days, and if I push hard I may be able to get just S and W enough to miss the worst of the coming calm.

By 10am today, Black Footed Albatross and water that is clear and blue even under this heavy sky indicate that we are truly at sea. The last ship, PELICAN STATE, is now to the S on its way to Los Angeles. San Simeon is 115 miles E. The Figure 8 is ahead.