Monday, February 15, 1993 - Richmond, CA on way to Panama

This is it! The start of the Big Trip! We're on our way to the Panama Canal!
A lot of improvements have been made to the boat since our last trip. A roller-furling staysail has been installed. The anchor winch has been overhauled. We have a back-up GPS that's even better than the original. We have an automatic tuner for the shortwave radio, which we can now operate. (Made our first transmission last week. What a thrill!) We have one of the new 406 EPIRB's, which tie into satellites. We have a much larger and better strobe light for the man-overboard pole. Roy sealed all the leaks in the aft cabin and built a large storage area for charts, tools, and clothing. He also bought a 500,000 candle-power searchlight. Etc., etc.
Steve, Alison, and Trevor Grabenauer and Norm and Doris came down to see us off. Al Snider came down to sail with us to Santa Cruz. We left around 10 a.m. to the sound of horns and whistles. Steve, Alison, and Trevor went with us as far as Marina Bay (one mile). We dropped them off at the new Harbor Master's dock. Then we went by Rita's and Brick's boats, tooted our horns and waved.
Nearly went aground going out the channel. Roy was at the wheel, but he was busy telling Al something and not watching where he was going. Luckily, I looked around in time and yelled to him, so he was able to turn fast and get back in the channel.
Nice northwest breeze. Turned off the engine and sailed across the bay with the new staysail and the main, but we brought in the staysail and turned on the engine to go under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Big waves were slamming against us, washing over the decks and the cockpit windows, as we headed towards the separation zone, but when we turned south, the going was a lot easier. We were zooming along at 7 to 8 knots, which is too fast, so I turned off the engine and Roy reefed the main. We had the staysail out and the headsail partially out. We were sailing nicely at 5 to 6 knots, but still doing a lot of rockin' and rollin' every time the waves hit us.
To my amazement, about quarter to four, Roy got seasick, even after taking two Dramamine tablets. First time he's ever been seasick. An hour later, I followed suit, and I'd taken four Dramamine. Soon, Al got into the act. He hadn't taken any Dramamine, but he never gets seasick. Then we began thinking maybe it wasn't seasickness but the store-bought crab salad we'd eaten for lunch. We hadn't really had any symptoms of seasickness except for throwing up. When you're seasick, you usually can't function, but we'd had no problem at all functioning. We'd have probably gotten sick even if we'd been on solid ground.
We heard a Coast Guard small-craft advisory on VHF, predicting 20 to 30 knot winds with gusts to 35. We didn't need that, so we headed for Pillar Point. It was pitch dark when we got there, so Al stood on the bow with the 500,000 candlepower portable searchlight and shone it on the narrow entrance so Roy could see his way in.
No sooner got the anchor dropped than a Harbor Patrol boat came zooming over to tell us to go another 200 yards; we were in the channel. So we moved.
Ate a delicious supper and relaxed.