We were hoping to get underway today by 9am. We are off to Marina Del Rey where we will be docked (no swells...yeah) and can get showers and wash clothes. Well, we seemed to have crossed the "engine gods" in our lifetime. Yesterday it was the outboard motor to the dingy which caused us problems. Today the Windhorse would not start. Les and Dennis tried many different things. Battery issue? No. Solenoid issue? No. Starter? Well, it happen that Dennis found that the previous owner had left what looked like a brand new Starter. Les crammed himself into the engine compartment and got the old starter out and the new one in. And "thank you engine gods", it started. We got underway before 11am. We had good winds so we raised the mizzen and jib stay sails. We had even cut the engine. It was so quiet and beautiful to be under just sail power! Les and Vickie saw a marlin jumping out of the water; Dennis said he saw a large blob which might have been a whale We were making good time and since we had good consistent winds we decided to raise the main sail. This would be the first time that we would have all three sails up. The main sail is the one that Dennis and Vickie had sewed and repaired, and one that Dennis and I had used around the San Diego Harbor. We were feeling lucky! Well guess what happens next. After Dennis and I raised the sail, it rips out within 2 minutes. It ripped on a seam that they couldn't get to with the sewing machine. It turns out that when Dennis and I had taken the sails to a sail repair shop to have the sail inspected and possibly improved, the person was poking his finger through the fabric to show how it was weak. He said it could work fine or it might blow out. Well, it appears that it ripped where he had created a small gap at the seam. Oh well, this does not deter us 'veteran' sailors; we reefed the sail so that we still could sail with a smaller main sail. We made it into Marina Del Rey while it was still light, got showers and dinner.
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| All three sails up for the first time (main blew out about 5 minutes later) |
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| Sleeping already? |
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| Evening at the dock in Marina Del Rey |
8.3 earthquake in Chile. Does the ocean feel more choppy?
ReplyDeleteI've been up since 4:30, doing tsunami watch. They keep extending the advisory. First it was 1-3 feet. I just heard that LA had one foot, no damage.
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