We went past Cape Mendocino outside of 126W and then jibed to angle toward San Francisco. By late afternoon we also stopped slowing the Estrellita down and allowed her to start doing what a Pretorien likes to do - eat ocean miles**. So we sped through the night until dawn when, just as we were getting cocky about our great weather window choice, the winds dropped, the swell remained high, the sails started popping and we started wallowing along very, very slowly.
We celebrated our anniversary with a porpoise show on our bow, hot showers in the sun and butter chicken.
It was sunny all day and clear skies all night until the morning when the grey and fog returned. I've decided that our feelings about everything are temperature related. Essentially it was the same sailing day today as yesterday but because I could sit outside enjoying it in the sun, it was fantastic.
NUTS & BOLTS
Route: Jibed to approximately 125 degrees magnetic toward entrance to SF. Wind increased throughout the afternoon until we had about 20 knots apparent on average most of the night. Swell has resolved itself to "mostly NW" with a lot of slapping waves from other directions.
Sail plans: Double reefed main and a scrap of genoa, then then double reefed main only, then full main.
Mileage: 133 nm sailed in 24 hours with an average speed of 5.6 knots.
*Non-boating friends, a tack or a jibe are when you change the direction you are heading so that the wind is on the other side of your boat and you also change the sails, keeping them opposite of the wind. While coastal/inland sailing you will usually do this a bunch of times on a short trip, maybe dozens, so it is freaky cool, when sailing offshore in larger weather systems to be able to keep the sails on one side of the boat for almost 5 days.
**OK, she's not a racing sled, but we can pretend, right?
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