Cruising World – August 2019

C

ruising down the California coast in the long, lazy days of late summer was extremely satisfying.

Despite much of the conventional wisdom, the bays and harbors that dot the shore are actually

well-situated for comfortable daysailing, and slow-paced mornings segue into exhilarating after-

noons galloping ahead of the sea breeze to reach the next anchorage by sundown. § As my husband, Neil, and

I sailed southward aboard our Liberty 458 sloop, Distant Drummer, we sought out attractions to amuse even

the most seasoned cruiser; nature and history provide a wealth of interesting places to explore, the cities are

teeming with shopping, and there is a plethora of sights to see from fun parks to fi lm studios.

While cruising in California, I was

captivated by the tales of R.H. Dana,

who spent two years aboard a Boston brig

loading hides between San Francisco and

San Diego. His memoir Two Years Before

the Mast served as an intriguing cruising

guide, and it was interesting to compare

our passage of today with his voyage

nearly 200 years ago.

MONTEREY BAY AND

POINT CONCEPTION

After a voyage south from Alaska, we had

been in the San Francisco Bay area for six

weeks, and had explored most of its nooks

and crannies. We had cruised up the

Delta, hung out around the Bay, and sailed

under the Golden Gate Bridge enough

times to fi nally catch it unadorned by

its habitual foggy shroud. As we passed

under the bridge for the fi nal time, we

were graced with a visit from a pair of

humpback whales. It was fantastic to

watch them surfacing and breaching so

close to the entrance to the bay.

The passage from San Francisco to

Monterey was a leisurely three-day cruise,

motor-sailing in the gentle morning

breeze until a brisk northwesterly fi lled

in during the early afternoon. The fi rst

night we tucked in behind the breakwater

at Half Moon Bay and stopped for the

second night at Santa Cruz. We dropped

the hook on the east side of the pier, slap-

bang in front of the world-famous Santa

Cruz Beach Boardwalk. As an afi cionado

of fairground kitsch, I rushed ashore to

revel in all the fun of the fair. Later, as we

tried to sleep, it was not the throbbing

music and screams from the amusement

park that kept us awake, but the raucous

barking and snorting from the sea lion

colony beneath the pier.

Crossing the bay to Monterey on a

crisp, blue-sky day with a 20-knot breeze

on the starboard quarter was magical sail-

ing; we were almost sorry to arrive there.

A mooring fi eld occupies the area to the

west of Fisherman’s Wharf, so we an-

chored on the east side and settled in for

a calm, clear night. Monterey Harbor is

one of the few anchorages that is exposed

to winds from the north, but luckily the

breeze had backed to the southwest and

we were protected behind Point Pinos.

Back in the early-1800s, Monterey

was the seat of the Spanish government

and boasted the only custom house on

the California coast, which can still be

found standing in the presidio by the

wharf. We sauntered along Cannery Row

past the old clapboard sardine-canning

factories, which have been renovated

and transformed into fashionable shops

and restaurants. The town was lively with

summer tourists, but we saw no sign of

the “cock-fi ghting, gambling of all sorts,

fandangos, and every kind of amusement

and knavery” that Dana reported. It’s a

shame, really—it sounded like fun!

Heading south from Monterey, we had

a boisterous overnight passage around

Point Sur with a 6 -foot swell and the wind

gusting over 40 knots on the starboard

beam. At sunrise we noticed that a seam

close to the top of the mainsail had split,

so we decided to stop in Morro Bay to

repair it. We slipped through the channel

between the sand spit and the peak of

Morro Rock, and thankfully dropped the

hook in the anchorage area opposite the

old power plant. A colony of sea otters

lives in Morro Bay, and they are constantly

diving and feeding, playing with and

nursing their fl uffy pups in the tranquil

water. Watching their antics provided a

perfect distraction as I sat in a billow of

canvas stitching the mainsail.

Point Conception is a cape with an

unhealthy reputation for strong winds and

rough water; Dana reported “gales, swept

decks [and the] topmast carried away.”

We were somewhat luckier, enjoying a

beautiful sail from Morro Bay to Santa

Barbara in a 15- to 20-knot breeze with a

full jib and two reefs in the newly stitched

mainsail. We stopped overnight in Cojo

anchorage, a small cove that shelters

behind Point Conception and has a great

view of the lighthouse. It is one of the

oldest lighthouses on the California coast

but is rarely visited because land access

is restricted by the military and a private

ranch, so only mariners get to see it.

SANTA BARBARA AND THE

CHANNEL ISLANDS

Santa Barbara is a day’s sail from Point

Catalina is a remarkable island (top).

In San Diego, the schooner America

glides past the USS Ronald Reagan.

a

u

g

u

s

t

/s

e

p

t

e

m

b

e

r

2

0

1

9

cr

u

is

in

gw

o

rl

d

.c

o

m

48