After my buddy Alex, another retired fireman, decided it was time for he and his wife to enjoy all that boating life has to offer we began to look at 3988's. We traveled up and down the California coast looking at all of the inventory and found a 2001dock queen in Oakland that had less than 400 hours total time on Cummins 330's. The interior was well taken care of but the port engine overheated almost instantly on the sea trial. Fast forward to the second sea trial after the owner had replaced both aftercoolers, raw water pumps, port alternator, trans coolers, overhauled both heat exchangers and the boat ran great!
The goal was to move the boat to Southern California but before we could we needed to ready the boat for such a voyage. About the only electronics that were reliable was a 2001 antiquated monochrome radar. We installed a new VHF radio on the FB, complete with antenna and outfitted the boat with a 6 man life raft and a para tech sea anchor. After running the boat all over the San Francisco Bay to prove itself we were ready. All we needed was a weather window.
March and April did not cooperate at all, big water everywhere! But watching the various Wx sites (including Windy.com) indicated a very promising window starting May 20th. True to the forecasters promise a big ole high pressure system parked itself off the Ca coast and was poised to give us some great traveling Wx.
We flew up to Oakland early Friday morning to provision the boat and make final preparations for an early departure Saturday morning. All was going according to plan until a joint in the 1" FB Bimini tubing suddenly snapped and the Bimini collapsed! Let me just say it's good to have friends and the BOC is a great place to meet those friends. Steve Woodwork (Woodsea) motored over from Alameda on his dinghy with a bunch of tools and together we were able to effect a repair. Shout out thank you Steve!
0630 Saturday morning saw us motoring away from the Oakland slip under crystal clear blue skies. We snapped some pics of the beautiful San Francisco skyline and life was good until we rounded the corner out into the Bay and saw a solid wall of thick dense fog! Well that wasn't in the forecast, but what you see is what you get with the Wx. The radar was working fine and we had a GPS course layed out on two iPads running Garmin Blue Chart. Alex maintained course and we watched the Golden Gate Bridge approach on the radar but we didn't actually see the bridge until we were directly underneath it! BTW, each stantion of the bridge has a immensely loud fog horn that sounds like an ocean going tanker. At first we thought tankers were nearby but we couldn't see them on the radar which was confusing at first until we realized the horns were the bridge. Local knowledge would have addressed that. Via the GPS and radar we identified the main channel buoys and turned south after the second buoy. The water was as advertised, 6' swells at about 9 seconds off the starboard beam, light winds, the 39 handled this easily. After a few hours the fog lifted enough to allow us to make 18 knots towards Monterey.
Logistically, Monterey was the best port we stopped at. We were able to reserve a slip days in advance and the fuel dock was staffed with great help. Restaurants were about a half mile walk along a nice, strolling boardwalk and you couldn't ask more more seafood! One more claim to fame at Monterey is that it's the sea lion hang out of the world! I've never seen so many stinky sea lions basking in the sun. Trouble is they take over every horizontal surface, including kayaks!
Day two brought us more heavy, dense fog. With about a hundred feet of visibility we eased our way out of the harbor amongst all the weekend warrior, console fishing boats that clearly did not have any radar. I do not know their mindset as it's one thing to GPS navigate and a whole nother thing to not hit anything. About an hour later the fog lifted enough we could once again make 18 kts. in 5-6' seas. We had pre made sandwiches purchased from a great little deli adjacent to the fuel dock, I'm sorry I don't recall the name but it was pretty good eats. About 1400 hrs we rolled in to Morro Bay, a small, quaint harbor with little in the way of transient mooring. A large dredge was working at the small harbor mouth which required VHF channel 13 communication to coordinate passage. No big deal but without prior knowledge It might have been trickier. The one and only fuel dock is the pits as there is no dock. Rather, there are about 10 vertical telephone pole pilings in a row that stick up, depending on the tide height, about 15' above the water. There's nothing for the fenders to fend against and the boat is forced against the raw wood pilings. Tug boats with tire rub rails would do well here. To make it worse the fueler had the personality of one of the pilings. Diametrically opposed to the negative experience at the fuel dock was the Morro Bay Yacht Club where transients are treated like long lost friends! Can't say enough good about them!
0600 the morning of the third day felt like ground hog day as we once again motored out of Morro Bay Harbor in extremely dense fog. Good thing that old radar was up to the challenge bad thing was the auto pilot gave up the ghost thus it was hand steering for the next 200 NM. Sea forecast called for 4-5' swells but we would be rounding Pt. Conception around noon and any west coast ocean boater knows that can be a rough area. Lucky us as the seas remained relatively calm but once around the corner the ocean really layed down. Plan A called for an overnight at Santa Barbara but the calm seas allowed us push on into Ventura.
Ventura Harbor is a large and well protected stopover. However, in a southern swell there can be breaking waves at the harbor entrance. At the fuel dock we were very pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the most beautiful English woman ever! If you need fuel and you're near Ventura you won't be disappointed! Plenty of logistical support and restaurants within walking distance, I'd go to Ventura again.
Day 4 dawned (the last) you guessed it......foggy! Been there done that but more careful now that we're very close to the shipping lanes. Straight line as the crow flies across the widest portion of Santa Monica Bay, we rejoined land again near the Palos Verdes peninsula then continued on into Long Beach, Shoreline Marina safe and sound!
Lessons learned- be prepared and ready for the unexpected. Have a plan B and plan C. Our plan was to harbor hop but we could have stayed out all night if necessary. Watch out for those pesky crab pots! They are often layed out in a straight line and once that line is determined angle away from it. Although we didn't end up needing extra fuel filters, carry plenty! Along the coast cell phones are a very nice addition to access Wx and to call ahead to secure arrangements. File a daily float plan! Wear life jackets. Watch out for whales. One was so close we heard it take a breath, literally! Call each harbor for local knowledge details, i.e. The dredge at Morro Bay. One good website for sea and wind conditions is windy.com, there are several others. Check the engine room periodically to assure things are normal. Be sure to have hearing protection and a flashlight handy. We found it very helpful to have a silicon squeegee on the FB to quickly wipe the fog moisture from the glass. I'm sure there is more but this post is long enough. Questions and comments are most certainly welcome.
The goal was to move the boat to Southern California but before we could we needed to ready the boat for such a voyage. About the only electronics that were reliable was a 2001 antiquated monochrome radar. We installed a new VHF radio on the FB, complete with antenna and outfitted the boat with a 6 man life raft and a para tech sea anchor. After running the boat all over the San Francisco Bay to prove itself we were ready. All we needed was a weather window.
March and April did not cooperate at all, big water everywhere! But watching the various Wx sites (including Windy.com) indicated a very promising window starting May 20th. True to the forecasters promise a big ole high pressure system parked itself off the Ca coast and was poised to give us some great traveling Wx.
We flew up to Oakland early Friday morning to provision the boat and make final preparations for an early departure Saturday morning. All was going according to plan until a joint in the 1" FB Bimini tubing suddenly snapped and the Bimini collapsed! Let me just say it's good to have friends and the BOC is a great place to meet those friends. Steve Woodwork (Woodsea) motored over from Alameda on his dinghy with a bunch of tools and together we were able to effect a repair. Shout out thank you Steve!
0630 Saturday morning saw us motoring away from the Oakland slip under crystal clear blue skies. We snapped some pics of the beautiful San Francisco skyline and life was good until we rounded the corner out into the Bay and saw a solid wall of thick dense fog! Well that wasn't in the forecast, but what you see is what you get with the Wx. The radar was working fine and we had a GPS course layed out on two iPads running Garmin Blue Chart. Alex maintained course and we watched the Golden Gate Bridge approach on the radar but we didn't actually see the bridge until we were directly underneath it! BTW, each stantion of the bridge has a immensely loud fog horn that sounds like an ocean going tanker. At first we thought tankers were nearby but we couldn't see them on the radar which was confusing at first until we realized the horns were the bridge. Local knowledge would have addressed that. Via the GPS and radar we identified the main channel buoys and turned south after the second buoy. The water was as advertised, 6' swells at about 9 seconds off the starboard beam, light winds, the 39 handled this easily. After a few hours the fog lifted enough to allow us to make 18 knots towards Monterey.
Logistically, Monterey was the best port we stopped at. We were able to reserve a slip days in advance and the fuel dock was staffed with great help. Restaurants were about a half mile walk along a nice, strolling boardwalk and you couldn't ask more more seafood! One more claim to fame at Monterey is that it's the sea lion hang out of the world! I've never seen so many stinky sea lions basking in the sun. Trouble is they take over every horizontal surface, including kayaks!
Day two brought us more heavy, dense fog. With about a hundred feet of visibility we eased our way out of the harbor amongst all the weekend warrior, console fishing boats that clearly did not have any radar. I do not know their mindset as it's one thing to GPS navigate and a whole nother thing to not hit anything. About an hour later the fog lifted enough we could once again make 18 kts. in 5-6' seas. We had pre made sandwiches purchased from a great little deli adjacent to the fuel dock, I'm sorry I don't recall the name but it was pretty good eats. About 1400 hrs we rolled in to Morro Bay, a small, quaint harbor with little in the way of transient mooring. A large dredge was working at the small harbor mouth which required VHF channel 13 communication to coordinate passage. No big deal but without prior knowledge It might have been trickier. The one and only fuel dock is the pits as there is no dock. Rather, there are about 10 vertical telephone pole pilings in a row that stick up, depending on the tide height, about 15' above the water. There's nothing for the fenders to fend against and the boat is forced against the raw wood pilings. Tug boats with tire rub rails would do well here. To make it worse the fueler had the personality of one of the pilings. Diametrically opposed to the negative experience at the fuel dock was the Morro Bay Yacht Club where transients are treated like long lost friends! Can't say enough good about them!
0600 the morning of the third day felt like ground hog day as we once again motored out of Morro Bay Harbor in extremely dense fog. Good thing that old radar was up to the challenge bad thing was the auto pilot gave up the ghost thus it was hand steering for the next 200 NM. Sea forecast called for 4-5' swells but we would be rounding Pt. Conception around noon and any west coast ocean boater knows that can be a rough area. Lucky us as the seas remained relatively calm but once around the corner the ocean really layed down. Plan A called for an overnight at Santa Barbara but the calm seas allowed us push on into Ventura.
Ventura Harbor is a large and well protected stopover. However, in a southern swell there can be breaking waves at the harbor entrance. At the fuel dock we were very pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the most beautiful English woman ever! If you need fuel and you're near Ventura you won't be disappointed! Plenty of logistical support and restaurants within walking distance, I'd go to Ventura again.
Day 4 dawned (the last) you guessed it......foggy! Been there done that but more careful now that we're very close to the shipping lanes. Straight line as the crow flies across the widest portion of Santa Monica Bay, we rejoined land again near the Palos Verdes peninsula then continued on into Long Beach, Shoreline Marina safe and sound!
Lessons learned- be prepared and ready for the unexpected. Have a plan B and plan C. Our plan was to harbor hop but we could have stayed out all night if necessary. Watch out for those pesky crab pots! They are often layed out in a straight line and once that line is determined angle away from it. Although we didn't end up needing extra fuel filters, carry plenty! Along the coast cell phones are a very nice addition to access Wx and to call ahead to secure arrangements. File a daily float plan! Wear life jackets. Watch out for whales. One was so close we heard it take a breath, literally! Call each harbor for local knowledge details, i.e. The dredge at Morro Bay. One good website for sea and wind conditions is windy.com, there are several others. Check the engine room periodically to assure things are normal. Be sure to have hearing protection and a flashlight handy. We found it very helpful to have a silicon squeegee on the FB to quickly wipe the fog moisture from the glass. I'm sure there is more but this post is long enough. Questions and comments are most certainly welcome.
Comment