When it’s warm, the sky is cloud-free, and the breeze is light, that must be summer, right? At Morro Bay these conditions are most likely in mid-winter if a high pressure builds in the area and forces all storms further north. We had high pressure from January 9th through the 22nd when the high finally broke down and a low brought us a little rain.
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I had a great 3-day trip from the 10th through 12th. Last year in January I didn’t get to sail at all due to storms so this year I wanted to get off to a good start. To cover any distance one must sail around the clock so this trip plan was to just sail north until 3 PM on the second day and then head back. In winter I often complain about the short daylight hours but on this
trip the daylight was continuous, 24 hours a day! There was an enormous full moon both nights and with the low humidity the air was very clear and the moonlight was exceptionally bright.
Another trip highlight was seeing many Gray Whales that were heading south. I was 10 miles from shore and was surprised to find the whales way out here as normally they travel rather closely along the shoreline. Now I suspect that these whales navigate by eyesight. The air was so clear that Pt. Buchon could be easily seen when I was north of Pt. Piedras Blancas (35 miles). The whale route seemed to be a straight-line course between these two headlands. At times when visibility is only 10 or 15 miles they steer towards coastal features that are closer and pass Morro Bay only 3 or 4 miles offshore.
As far as the sailing went it was nice light wind sailing. During the first day there was perfect wind (12 knots) that lasted until midnight, followed by wind shifts and lulls from midnight to sunup. By noon on the second day we were a little south of Cape San Martin and 10 miles offshore. The light morning wind had died so we floated and waited. The view of the mountains was perfect and haze-free. To the north I could see Pt. Sur (37 miles), Pt. Bucho
n was south at 44 miles and floating like an island further south was the mountain ridge east of Pt. Arguello, 85 miles away.
There was quite a bit of variety during the trip home. We began in the lightest of breezes with the jib poled out and making less than 2 knots. After midnight the wind shifted to south and we sailed close-hauled and could just stay on our desired heading. At sunup the wind was light so we motored some to charge the batteries. While motoring the wind increased to 15 knots from the ESE and I decided to continue motoring towards the shore south of Cambria to reach some protected water.
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Shore was only 6 miles away but with the gusts eventually reading 26 knots our progress was painfully slow. The weather forecast said “NE10-20 knots"
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I had a great 3-day trip from the 10th through 12th. Last year in January I didn’t get to sail at all due to storms so this year I wanted to get off to a good start. To cover any distance one must sail around the clock so this trip plan was to just sail north until 3 PM on the second day and then head back. In winter I often complain about the short daylight hours but on this
trip the daylight was continuous, 24 hours a day! There was an enormous full moon both nights and with the low humidity the air was very clear and the moonlight was exceptionally bright.Another trip highlight was seeing many Gray Whales that were heading south. I was 10 miles from shore and was surprised to find the whales way out here as normally they travel rather closely along the shoreline. Now I suspect that these whales navigate by eyesight. The air was so clear that Pt. Buchon could be easily seen when I was north of Pt. Piedras Blancas (35 miles). The whale route seemed to be a straight-line course between these two headlands. At times when visibility is only 10 or 15 miles they steer towards coastal features that are closer and pass Morro Bay only 3 or 4 miles offshore.
As far as the sailing went it was nice light wind sailing. During the first day there was perfect wind (12 knots) that lasted until midnight, followed by wind shifts and lulls from midnight to sunup. By noon on the second day we were a little south of Cape San Martin and 10 miles offshore. The light morning wind had died so we floated and waited. The view of the mountains was perfect and haze-free. To the north I could see Pt. Sur (37 miles), Pt. Bucho
n was south at 44 miles and floating like an island further south was the mountain ridge east of Pt. Arguello, 85 miles away.There was quite a bit of variety during the trip home. We began in the lightest of breezes with the jib poled out and making less than 2 knots. After midnight the wind shifted to south and we sailed close-hauled and could just stay on our desired heading. At sunup the wind was light so we motored some to charge the batteries. While motoring the wind increased to 15 knots from the ESE and I decided to continue motoring towards the shore south of Cambria to reach some protected water.
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Shore was only 6 miles away but with the gusts eventually reading 26 knots our progress was painfully slow. The weather forecast said “NE10-20 knots"
and the strongest wind was near shore, blowing down off the hills. (Offshore at the weather buoys the wind was less than 5 knots!).We were back at Morro Bay at 3 PM and the boat was encrusted with a thick layer of salt from all the spray combined with low humidity. This had been a great trip, especially that moonlight!
