Life is never dull

We left Sunday late afternoon for our sail back into the bay for one more week of clean up, help to friends and last minute to do's before we head out for good....

As we were leaving the jaws of the harbor, our engine died. It was not in the mood to re start...but hey, we are a sailboat after all so at around 4 pm. we headed out and had light but steady winds. Away we went for what we hoped to be a gorgeous almost full moon sail into the bay.

Just before midnight, we were about 2o miles offshore, little to no wind. Full moon shining bright and me with my first case of sea sickness in a very long time...Katie was also taking turns with me on this..I know I hate to admit this, but oh my, it was pretty bad. I think it was a combination of being overly tired from the weeks events, followed by rough seas in the beginning, big square 12 footers and being below decks for too long.....

So we hove to for about 8 hours. We all got some rest out away from the shore, only to be awakened from time to time by a larger wave and a lerching of the boat. It was quite peaceful and the moon was so bright it looked like a spot light! As we were hove to you could realy feel the sea alive and breathing with its slight swells and flowy temperment. Nice and steady rise and fall, rythmic, patterned, like it was fully alive.

The next morning, after Neil took night watch, I took over the shift, tummy much better by then...I hated that I missed the first night outside...but it happens, what can you do?

The swells were nice and rolly, not too steep and the winds were fair. The sun was shining bright and I spent a good majority of time with the wind pilor set and Daisy and I were in the hammock just enjoying the sea and sun.

Afternoon...the wind dies down and we are slowly heading towards shore. Good thing we like to go out so far or else it would be a bit spooky. But we were never worried, just bummed.

I can see Pacifica and Daily City...no wind. Neil and the kids are up and we start the engine for a motor sail.

The engine runs for all of 30 minutes and..dies.

We let her cool down..we realize that we had some plastic stuck on it from weeks ago..lost a lid and it has adhered to the exhaust and is smothering the carburetor. We open up the lazzeretes in hopes to let her breathe. This helps for a little while, but still keeps dying.

We are within 7 miles of the gate. The sun is hot. The wind is less than 3 knots. Not enough to get out the Genaker. We bob. We wait for tide to turn. Pray for wind and enjoy the glorious day while we think of things to get more air to the engine.

We have never trusted the engine...probably because we started in boats without engines and have only used them in emergencies, never to rely on them. This one is old. It has had leaks in the exhaust off and on. It is too old to get parts for..we knew this...again, we are a sailboat and didn't stress about it

At this point we were over 24 hours from Half Moon Bay going into the bay. We have slowly made progress towards the gate. We are approaching it slowly and the tide has changed. Stewart has been fishing for a while as Katie plays with Daisy and the pups on the foredeck out about 4 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

The waves are starting to build after being so calm for the entire afternoon. Still not enough wind to get anywhere. We brainstorm...we need air flow...have a leak..even when it is cleaned up and there is nothing around the engine, there is still not enough air...

A thought.

We have the generator.

We have a shop vac.

Turn on the generator, reverse the air to "out" and aim it at the carb.

Genious!

Engine runs, we are limping in under the gate in no time. We shut her down until we hit Aquatic Park entrance. Still no wind. We make it into the park.

Anchor safely at night fall. We are all thankful, tired, happy, excited, relieved and a bit bummed that we lost a paddle for the skiff along the way.

No worries though! A beautiful night. Bright moon, warm hot night.....totally unusual for the bay....we sleep like babies.

The next day we have enough wind to make it into the slip just in time for a few days of warm weather.

Today I took advantage of that and got some long awaited epoxy prime on the dodger and all the other repair spots that needed it.

Allready she looks awsome and I can't wait to see her all shiny again. A few days here, alot to do, and we are soooooo stoked to be off soon...very soon in fact!

Our friends that just got married are in tow and just made it into the bay themselves tonight. We hope to meet up with them amongst other friends as a bit of a last minute farewell. I will miss everyone, for sure, but also hope that others will follow suit and well.....What are ya waitin for? hehe!

So wish us luck with all our little projects and such...it has been a great start....not lacking in excitement to say the least....

Oh and Neil has almost fixed the leak on the engine...fingers crossed for a few more miles on her before she croaks!