The joke's on us. We weren't in Cojo Anchorage! We should have gone around the next little point. Both of us had thought something was wrong--Roy couldn't see the Coast Guard mooring buoy, and I thought we were too close to the lighthouse--but it was too dark to figure it out. As soon as we saw the place in broad daylight this morning, we knew what had happened. No wonder it was so rolly! Oh well, we enjoyed a good night's sleep anyway.
We'd no sooner gotten up than a small whale popped up out of the water a hundred feet from the boat.
Beautiful, beautiful day! Calm, sunny, warm. Lovely green hills. No wonder people come to Southern California!
Absolutely ideal sail all the way from Point Conception to Santa Barbara. Following wind and seas pushed us right along at speeds of 4 to 8 knots! Used the headsail and mainsail. The morning breeze was about 10 knots. By late afternoon, it had risen to 20. What a perfect day!
Got to Santa Barbara Marina around 4:30. Tied temporarily to a vacant end tie. We'd no sooner set foot on the dock than a dinghy with two men in it pulled up. One of them was Bob, whose boat had been hauled out at Sanford-Wood when we were there. His boat was right next to ours. He had seen the Jofian coming in and recognized her right away. Roy remembered Bob's face but not his name or where they'd met until Bob refreshed his memory. I didn't remember him at all until much later. The other man was Bob's son David, who lives here in Santa Barbara.
We asked Bob about the yacht club, and he told us they have one guest dock. It had been reserved, but the boat hadn't arrived, so we might be able to get it. He pointed out the yacht club building to us, so we went over there. The lady was very nice and let us have the dock for the night, free.
We got a gate key from the Harbor Master and then walked over to the guest dock. It was 'way over on the far corner and was plenty long (68 feet), but the wind was blowing away from the dock, so Roy had to do a bit of cogitating to figure out the best way to bring the boat in. We finally decided I'd stay there on the guest dock, he'd bring the boat around, head for the dock bow first, throw me the center line, and I'd immediately cleat it. Then he'd throw me the stern line and winch in the center line. Everything worked perfectly.
As soon as the boat was secure, we used the polypropylene line to turn the boat around, so we'd be all set to head out in the morning.
By then it was dark--a crisp, moonlit night. We walked over to a nearby restaurant and ate a delicious supper. Then we strolled around for a while. Ran into Bob and his wife. Chatted for a few minutes. They're on their way to New Zealand.
We strolled out to the end of Stearn's Wharf and then returned to the boat. The day had been perfect from beginning to end.
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