Boat Weekend

Dennis and I had planned our boat's move down to Dana Point like the battle plan it was. Full auxiliary gas cans to make sure we had enough fuel. Food and plenty of water in case the sail or cruise took longer than we thought. Sun tan lotion, jackets, binoculars, etc, etc.

Carolyn and I drove down to the Costco at Crown Valley and met Dennis and Steve who then drove with us up to the Sea Scout base in Newport. We arrived at 9:30 under a sunny sky and transported all of our gear to the boat. Both of them really liked the re-staining and varnishing job I had done on the cabin door. By 10, as Carolyn waved from the dock and headed back home, we headed out of the harbor under power.

As we approached Balboa Island, our clear skies began to turn to fog which blanketed the coast for the next three hours or so. So with no wind and calm seas, we motored down the coast using Dennis' rough estimate of the proper compass heading he had gleaned from a road map. We checked our speed indicator which steadily showed 3.8 mph and based on the mileage it takes us to go via PCH from Newport to Dana, we thought we'd be cruising for five hours or so. And, we had told Carolyn and Gloria that we probably arrive around 3 p.m.

A little before 1 p.m., the fog along the coast lifted enough so we could see a bit of the shoreline. Steve and I saw a long stretch of beach, but the fog hadn't cleared enough vertically to show structures or topography higher than about twenty feet. Thinking about the coastline, we thought there were only a few long stretches of beach, like Crystal Cove beach, which we knew we must have passed, and then the Strand, just short of Dana. Suddenly, the Headlands appeared and then the harbor breakwater! It had only taken three hours to make the trip for the Journey so our mileage or our speed were definitely off. We were quite glad the fog had lifted or otherwise we might have ended up off of Pendleton.

Besides deciding that a GPS is one of our first needed purchases, we called our wives via cellphone to meet us in at our slip, but we couldn't get a hold of Carolyn as she didn't have her cell with her. Steve handled our entry into the marina and he recovered nicely after we sent him down the wrong row of boats, but we made it.

Carolyn got home about that time and picked up her messages, called us, and hurried down to join Gloria and Sharon, Steve's wife. She brought champagne and snacks, so we celebrated our boat's new home and the fact that we didn't end up in Mexico or beached in Laguna. And then we took Journey out for a sail off of Dana with moderate winds and clear skies.

Sunday, after church, we met Dennis at the slip to work on the hand rails and other exposed teak. Dennis and I sanded, then taped off the hand rails, and then stained them the first coat and Carolyn wiped off the stain (and the occassional spill). We left after about two and half hours with the woodwork looking quite a bit better. Dennis is planning to stain them again and then varnish them this week or weekend as we'll be leaving for Zihuatanejo on Friday.

Now all I have to remember is to put on more sunscreen as all of us got our share of being burned this weekend!