DAY 1: We arrived at 9am on Thursday November 18th 2010 and after provisioning set sail by 11am. The weather forecast was relatively good for the day worse conditions developing during our stay. We had hoped for better weather and to enjoy San Diego sunshine rather than the developing winter in Boston. We decided that we would sail to the Coronado Islands, Mexico and were promised that we were likely to see some good sea life on the way. Once we exited the slip, we saw our first dolphin and it was an indicator of more to come.
Winds were 5-8kts which wasn’t ideal since we wanted to return to San Diego by about 4pm so that we could get back to the slip prior to dark, and the possibility of fog, which we had been welcomed to for several days. Thus we used a combination of pure sailing and motor sailing to maintain an average of 6kts. As we left the harbor the fog had already set in, although visibility was still quite good. However, this meant that soon we could neither see San Diego nor the Islands. We were told to maintain a heading of 180 degrees and we would find the islands. After checking charts we maintained the heading and after a couple of hours saw the islands. At this point we started to see a lots of life in the sea: first seals then dolphins. In this movie you can see a sequence of movies that we have stitched together that occurred over about a 20 minute period. None of us had ever seen so much sea life.
Next we passed around the North Coronado Island, but because time was short we decided to head back to San Diego rather than explore other islands. On the return leg we heard a lot of VHF radio traffic from warships providing securite announcements about live fire exercises. As visitors it was a little alarming so we were writing down gps coordinates to make certain we weren’t in their vicinity. It was only a brief concern because we had checked the charts before leaving Boston and had already identified an area associated with an island northwest of San Diego where live fire occurs.
We made our way back to San Diego, arrived in the dark, and docked effortlessly for an evening of dinner and drinks.
DAY 2: Winds were extremely calm at the beginning of the day and Yolande and Dan had to go and get a new coat for Dan so that he could deal with the cold on the sea. Phil took this as an opportunity to work with Ro and Dustin and close quarter maneuvers, especially reversing, and how to use prop walk to your advantage, and to try to prevent in kicking you when you least expect it. Both Ro and Dustin jumped at the chance which ended with a perfect docking maneuver to collect Dan and Yolande on their return.
The weather was a little more inclement on this day of sailing and since we had immediately exited the harbor on Day 1, we decided that as we exited the marina we would sail to the south within the harbor and view the hotels and convention center from the water (we are used to the reciprocal arrangement). We sailed under the Coronado bridge past numerous naval vessels including a floating hospital and retraced our steps. Within the harbor there were three aircraft carriers, and based on the radio traffic, there were numerous other vessels at sea, on their way back to San Diego. To finish the day we again exited the harbor into the Pacific and saw four warships returning to harbor.
The last warship provided a sense of adventure as it radioed to us when it was close to green buoy #5. Phil talked to the warship (#4) and they negotiated respective passages – well we agreed to take the path they suggested. What else could we do? But it was fun. Here you can see us just after the radio exchange.
In the excitement one of us ran down to the saloon to pick up their camera (I wont say who). One of the support vessels obviously saw our activity, found it suspicious and headed towards us at full-speed. It’s a good job that they didn’t see the cardboard poster holder (a four foot long tube of about 4 inches in diameter) in the saloon as I am sure that would have really piqued their interest as it may have been mistaken for something else.
After searching the web we think that this warship is the USS Boxer (LHD-4) which is based in San Diego. If it is it has quite an interesting history. To quite wikipedia "She is the sixth US Navy ship to bear the name, and was named for a British ship captured by the Americans during the War of 1812."
This is quite ironic given that three of us on board Cliches are British. Also of interest to us sailors, "The Boxer is designated as the flagship of Combined Task Force 151, the international anti-piracy task force pursuing pirates off the coast of Somalia."
After returning to dock we went for dinner and celebrated our communication with a warship by drinking something blue! Not certain what it was but it certainly promoted relaxation. In fact it tasted so good that we questioned whether there was any alcohol in it. The question was answered when we stood up.
DAY 3: We had read the forecast that there were to be strong winds and rain on Saturday. The forecast was true to its word. We woke to rain and gusting winds to 30 kts. But we had paid for the rental and this is the last time to sail in 2010. Thus we went out into the harbor. Both sails were reefed and we had a great time. We sailed through a race and took movies that we have stitched together here.
One cannot get a true impression of either the wind the rain or the cold from watching this movie. You may notice the shrouds are quite loose – they were loose in dock without sails up. Thus we could have sailed with a little more sail area but we decided not to push the rigging.
One cannot get a true impression of either the wind the rain or the cold from watching this movie. You may notice the shrouds are quite loose – they were loose in dock without sails up. Thus we could have sailed with a little more sail area but we decided not to push the rigging.
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