Day 8 on the big blue with video

Funny .. right now I am writing this in a little restaurant with this amazing mariachi band and one of them is a woman with an terrific voice! I wish you could hear them ... best I have ever heard .... and I have heard a few Mariachis. So as you read below just keep that little tune in your head.

Woke up to a beautiful Sunrise in the east and grabbed my stuff and headed for Esperanza. Tried to fix some electrical problems but they will have to wait till next time. Decided to do a shakedown sail to see what all needs to be done. I now have a long list.

The wind was blowing out of the southwest at 8 knots. I slid out of the marina very carefully since I was by myself ... yes mom by myself. I figured if she sinks I can float to shore with my lifevest. So I motored out to open water and opened up the jib and slid the main up to full. The wind picked up to 12 knots and I was skimming the bay at 5.5 knots.

There was a little swell and the bow would occasionally pick up some sea and throw it in my face. It was as if Esperanza was playing with me ... like a dolphin. Of course I know sailboats dont do that ... but I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I sailed out to a point off Miramar though a frenzy of pelicans .................................... feeding on fish, Then I turned back and headed for the marina after 2 hours. The wind picked up to 20 (checked my windometer) and the swell was at 4 ft .... steep and back to back. It was not a pleasure cruise now. It was like riding a bucking bronco (yes I have done that). The occasional splash turned into constant spray with every wave. My shakedown cruise gave me a long list of things to fix.

I finally came into the marina sith big spendy motorboats on either side. I tried to slow "Espy" down by running in reversve after dropping sail. Even at idle speed in reverse I was picking up speed with. I kept running the sequence in my head how I would pull into my slip and how I would slow down... and it paid off. I had everything ready and I slid in gently to J22 scared out of my mind that I would run the bow over the dock. It was awesome! Well...now it is awesome now that I am in.

I had to pull out at 3 and tucked Esperanza into Marina Seca till we meet again.
Here is a short clip with the flip.