Two for One Special

Well it looks like gale warnings come cheap these days: 2 for 1 this week. We are now emerging from the second one after 24 hours of hellacious conditions. The remnant swells remain over 12 feet and the wind continues near 20 knots and it feels like a ladies breeze compared to late yesterday. Coast Guard forecasts were calling for 20-30 knots and we had exactly that. What was worse, I had stopped listening to the CG voice forecasts since my GRIB files showed noting over 20 knots and there weren't any lows near us, so this one snuck up on me. Only while in the thick of it did I learn there was a gale warning for our are and it would persist for 24 hours. But we've survived the worst of it once again, and today are entering into the lee of the California coast where conditions should continue to improve and not come back up this much again. Soon I fear we'll be trying to coax all we can out of every puff of wind; but for now we are cruising along.
Conditions began coming up on Kevin's 2000-2300 watch Saturday night when I put a third reef in the mainsail, and they continued picking up for the next twenty hours, peaking at the start of my evening watch last night. In the worst of it we've switched to hand-steering, finding that easier than helping the damned autopilot, which just can't handle these massive swells. And, of course, hand-steering with no stars to guide your way makes for a long night. Every now and then the swells would combine just right to lurch up over the windward side and dump their contents across the length of the boat, rewarding the helmsman with a shower of freezing California Current saltwater. In the night we sailed with less jib than I normally would to keep things more manageable, and as a result we made just 103 NM yesterday. With the coming of dawn I've furled some more sail out and we're moving along again with 360 miles left. Skies remain a thick, ugly overcast, and the water remains its ugly shade of dull blue/grey (which must be caused by a plethora of nutrients because the phosphorescence coming off our bow wave and churning in our wake has been splendid the past 2 nights). We have begun picking up the Coast Guard on the VHF, so land must be getting near. Anticipation is building.

July 7-0850
33.46N by 124.14W

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