Day 4: California begins

Day 4* started out with some tough family news by SSB and ended with the morning of our 4th year wedding anniversary. A day of personal lows and highs that will be permanently part of our memories of this passage.

Today we passed the Oregon-California barrier about 100nm offshore and celebrated with a bit of 2 Pac & Dr Dre singing California Love.

On a sailing front this was the day of "mostly the sames". We had about the same amount of wind (15 knots apparent), maybe a bit more, from the same direction, maybe a bit farther North. The swell was mostly the same, maybe WNW instead of W. We had sun during the first day and misty wet overnight. Same sail plan.

The same sail plan meant an easy day work-wise for the crew. No sail trimming or changing, only a few tweaks of course to the windvane and Estrellita sailed herself all day towards San Francisco.

Honestly, without the sun, the sailing was a bit boring although we prefer boring to *too* exciting. It's hard to complain that everything is still going just fine, right? Still, it was a day we were both just getting through rather than savoring like the previous few. The nights have been more difficult because there is heavy cloud cover and misty rain. Rather than spending our night watches ogling the moon and stars and wildlife like we did in Hecate Strait, we have been huddled beneath the dodger getting damp and clutching our tea.

We're past the half-way mark. All is well and the weather forecasts look great for continued sailing. We plan to start the engine for 30min or so at some point in the next few days to make sure it still works and so we have some hot water.

NUTS & BOLTS
Route: Began angling back inshore very slightly. See above for wind/swell.
Most common sail plan: Double reefed main and a scrap of genoa.
Mileage: 133.7 nm sailed in 25.5 (forgot to mark at 24) hours with an average speed of 5.2 knots.

*Because we started the trip at 10:30am every "day" is 10:30-10:30.