Alcyone Sail Training

Hello again,
The last time I wrote we had just gotten to Drakes Bay and some of the crew
had headed off for other adventures. We feasted that night on a crab dinner
that MB and Peter had gotten for us from some local fishermen. Sugar was
really excited to have some crab because the crabbing season in Port
Townsend had just opened when we were leaving and the crabbing season in
San Francisco was just closing, so our chance of getting fresh crab was
growing slim. Then we enjoyed a calm and quiet nights sleep. We decided to
stay another day in Drakes Bay to enjoy the quiet, do more hiking and rest.
We were hesitant to rush into city life.

City life started on Friday with us sailing into San Francisco Bay. We
anchored off the waterfront in Sausalito and Sugar went ashore to see if we
could find a slip. At Pelican Harbor, were we stayed our last time down the
coast, the harbormaster was very helpful, but the big (our size but painted
black so somehow she looks bigger, or maybe it was because she was at the
dock) gaff-rigged topmast Alden schooner, Lord Jim, was in the slip where
we had stayed and there wasn't any room. So Sugar headed on up the bay
and ran into Billy Martinelli, who has the scow schooner Gaslight, and he
said we could tie up at Schoonmaker Marina, even though the harbor master
had gone home by then, and that he would call and make sure it was OK. So
we tied up, had some dinner and then went out to find some ice cream!
Saturday, July 16, was a very important day for the girls and for Harry
Potter fans because the new book was due out. Billy was nice enough to lend
us his truck and first we headed off for a bookstore to get THE BOOK and
then to the market to reprovision. The girls had gotten the covers on, the
awning was set, hammocks were strung on the fore deck and they were ready
for our return. Actually they were off exploring Sausalito without their
parents, but as soon as they got back they grabbed Harry Potter and started
reading aloud. This continued late into the night and whenever they had a
chance the next two days so that by Monday night the book was finished. We
spent Sunday being tourists exploring San Francisco and Monday working on
the boat.

A big part of Monday was spent making new hoops for Alcyone's main and
fore. On our last ocean trip we had broken a lot of hoops and had replaced
them with lace lines when we got home. These work fine for inland waters
where most of the time we turn the head of the boat into the wind to get the
sails down, but getting the sails down off the wind, especially if it is blowing,
is a pain. We knew that, but hadn't gotten around to a solution to the
problem. We noticed Billy's hoops on Gaslight and asked him about them. He
had built Gaslight and since he was on a tight budget got very creative about
some things, and his hoops were made out of PVC pipe. They had been in
use for over 5 years and weren't being damaged by the sun and he hadn't
broken any, so it seems like a good recommendation. He offered to pick us up
some pipe on his way to the boat Monday morning, and then offered to cut
the pipe up into hoops so that it would be easier to store, then since he was
at it and had all the tools, he rounded them for us! Thank you Billy. We,
mostly Sugar, spent our free time underway and at anchor working on the
hoops, filing, sanding, drilling, so that by the time we left Monterey we had
the hoops on the fore and by the time we left San Simeon we had hoops on
the main. They are a bit white, but are working great.
From San Francisco we had an easy trip down to Half Moon Bay. Thinking
back on our other trips down the coast, we usually would travel through the
night and spend time anchored and exploring during the day. Since we are
sailing now with a somewhat smaller in number and size, younger crew we
sail during the day and stay an extra day to explore. So we spent a day in
Half Moon Bay, mostly involving water play and wondering when the water
was going to get warmer. Then the next day we headed out in the fog at 4 in
the morning on our way to Monterey. Our free day in Monterey was spent
with the girls visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, always a great stop, and
again some beach play. The next morning we were off again at 4 in the
morning, again in the fog, spent most of the day in the fog and arrived in San
Simeon just as the sun was going down. In San Simeon we played on the
beach some more and visited Hearst Castle. The following descriptions are by
Alyce and Darby about the visit to Hearst Castle and beach play respectively.

Alyce's description of Hearst Castle

The only thing at San Simeon other than the beach is Hearst Castle. Hearst
Castle used to belong to William Randolph Hearst, a very successful
newspaper publisher/politician. It is at the top of a hill with a beautiful view
and a long bus ride to get to it. It was a hot and dry half-mile walk to the
Hearst Castle visitor center. The most challenging part was crossing Highway
One. It's amazing how fast cars go. The rest of the walk was just hot, with
brief shade from eucalyptus trees, whose tangy smell accompanied us up the
hill. The visitors' center was air-conditioned. There were three buildings: a
gift/food building, a museum, and a theater. We watched the movie first. It
was on one of those gigantic screens that make you feel like you're going to
fall in. The movie was about the building of Hearst Castle and how Hearst
got his inspiration from castles he saw in Europe. After the movie, we ate hot
dogs and waited for the bus to arrive. During the ride up the hill, we
admired the beautiful view and listened to a canned spiel, which jabbered at
us the whole way up. When we finally arrived at the top, we were given over
to our tour guide. Hearst Castle is very big and luxurious. Some famous
person once commented that it was how God would make heaven if he had
enough money. I don't agree. The inside was way too gloomy.
The tour started with one of the three guesthouses. Lots of people in our
tour thought it was the Casa Grande. Then we walked to Neptune's pool,
which was my favorite part of the tour. It is an elegant outdoor pool with
statues in it and a fountain. Around the outside there are pillars and a big
façade, or big fancy carved thing that looks like the front of a Roman house.
The water was very cool looking, and inviting, and I really wanted to jump
in. Next we walked through several patios, with beautiful gardens. There
were rose bushes, palm and orange trees, fountains and statues and views of
the ocean. This led us to a guesthouse again. This time we got to see the
inside, and it was very fancy, but in an old way. Everything was dark, and if
I had to sleep there I would be afraid to touch anything.
La Casa Grande was the next stop. When you walk up to it the first thing
you notice is how symmetrical the outside is. There are two towers, two
staircases, and the carvings are the same on both sides. We entered through
a back door, into a big room where the guests congregated before dinner.
There was a big carved fireplace, and old, ancient tapestries hung on the
walls, and the ceiling was dark carved wood. The whole house was like this,
with everything dark and old, and the tour guide kept telling you how
expensive everything was.
The last stop on the tour was the inside pool. Everything was tiled, from the
ceiling to the bottom of the pool, in a blue color that seemed to glow; it was
interrupted now and again by gold tiles. There were statues around the edge
of it that seemed to stare at you and it looked very cold and foreboding.
That was the end of the tour, so we rode back to the visitors center, got ice
cream and walked back to the boat.

Darby on boogie boarding

People think that the best thing to do at San Simeon is to go to Hearst
Castle, but I think they're wrong. There may not be sand dunes but the
beach is perfect for boogie boarding. The swells break about thirty feet out,
and if you catch them just right you have a thirty-foot ride into the beach.
The sensation you feel when the waves break over you and carry you up the
beach is unexplainable. But I will try. It's like you're engulfed by water and
you go soaring into the beach like a sea lion bodysurfing, or like a golden
eagle or a hawk soars to catch a fox. On the second day, we finally managed
to get Celeste to go boogie boarding. She says it was very fun, but not so
much the first day because of the seaweed and it was cold.
There wasn't nearly as much seaweed the second day, and we wore wetsuits.
We took turns watching and playing with Kobo, and going boogie boarding,
since we only had two bogie boards and four people, but we borrowed a tiny
one with a sun and moon on it that Robin liked. Alyce liked its colors, but
says it wasn't floaty enough, and Celeste hogged the big boards having
discovered the fun she had been missing out on. At the end, we each took one
more ride, and then we swam out to meet BT and went home. Kobo was a
brave dog. Alyce carried him through the surf and then he gallantly swam to
BT, after which he was very tired.

Every time we sail in Central and Southern California I am amazed at much
sea life we see. Just sitting at anchor in Drakes Bay and San Simeon Bay,
Kobo was almost run ragged protecting the boat from pelicans, cormorants,
pigeon guillemots, sea gulls and murres. And then there are the sea lion,
harbor seals and sea otters that seem to hang around watching to see what
we are up to. They know that Kobo is all bark and seem to hang around just
to tease him. While the girls were giving wind surfing a try in Half Moon Bay
they had an audience of harbor seals and boogey boarding in San Simeon
there always seemed to be a sea lion or two hanging just outside the breaking
surf watching there technique. We have been seeing lots of whales too, more
humpback and the big blue whales also. On the sail down from San Simeon
to San Miguel Island, Darby said that I didn't have to call them every time I
saw a whale unless they were putting on a really good show. There are sea
lions out while we are sailing also, popping up to watch us go by or lying on
the surface sunning themselves with their flipper in the air. The best show so
far though was the horizon to horizon filled with the pacific white-sided
dolphin; some of them stopped to play on the bow, but they just seemed to be
passing by and they were gone in twenty minutes. We have had a fairly calm
passage down which is great for seeing sea life, it makes things seem a bit
hopeful that there is so much sea life that seems to be doing so well.

Cuyler Harbor

Now we are sitting in Cuyler Harbor on San Miguel Island, we arrived at 6
in the morning after sailing overnight from San Simeon. It is always a tricky
passage because we stay close to the coast to stay out of the shipping lanes
that go between Pt. Conception and San Miguel Island and the radar is full
of targets of oil platforms and buoys, and of course it is dark and foggy. Then
once we get around Conception we cross perpendicular to shipping lanes,
which puts us beam to the wind and sea, in the funny currents that always
seem to happen near points and playing dodge the big boats which come at a
fairly consistent pace. Even in fairly calm conditions, which we would not be
doing the passage like this unless thing were fairly calm, it keeps us on our
toes. The girls were great at standing watch, being at the helm most of the
time while we were dealing with navigating and watching the radar. Alyce
got to be up to get us to the oil platforms, Celeste got us thru them and
starting to cross the shipping lanes and even Darby was up at 3 in the
morning steering a steady course so that Sugar could keep track of the course
and speeds of the boats as we played dodge boat. At 6 in the morning Alyce
was up again as we picked our way into the anchorage in the fog. There was
a fishing boat heading out that was on the radar and really close before we
could see him and lots of kelp beds we were getting in through. Two other
targets were anchored in the bay and as we slowly headed in we had to do a
double take, because it looked like Alcyone was already anchored in the bay.
The schooner turned out to be Dirigo II, an Alden designed gaff-rigged
topmast schooner about our size, except she doesn't set a yard, she had been
rebuilt in Port Townsend about 8 years ago by Dave Thompson. Two of her
crew were up and came over to say hello, and the first thing they asked was
if we were here for the McNish Classic! We said yes and asked if they were
coming too, they said that they had made the race last year but were going
to have to miss it this year; which is to bad because it would have made for a
fun race for us. They asked us if we wanted to come for a visit on their boat
and said that they were leaving around 10AM. We declined and said we were
headed to bed. As we were trying to roust the troops for a explore ashore I
mentioned to a tired Alyce, that now she knew how her parents use to feel
after standing night passages and arriving with two kids who had slept all
night and were raring to go ashore. And she wanted to know which I liked
better being tired with happy kids or grumpy teenagers.
The other thing that we talked about was this noise we were hearing that
sounded, to me like a hollow jackhammer, to Alyce like a muffler under
water, to Darby like bubbles popping, and to Robin a cross between a
Coke-a-Cola belch and a VW bug back firing. They said that the noise was
male elephant seals challenging each other. It was a really loud eerie sound
especially because we couldn't see what was making it. When we woke up
around 10AM, we could we the shore and saw some of the elephant seals
hauled up on the beach and others in the surf making " the noise" and
wrestling with each other.
We enjoyed our stay at San Miguel with lots of hiking, playing on the beach,
playing on the sand dune and seeing lots of wildlife. The first hike was up to
the ranger station, that is about 2 miles round trip straight up and then back
down, to meet the ranger, George Roberts, and arrange for other hikes. The
next day we took a short, 5-mile hike, to visit the Caliche Forest, which is
lime castings of long decayed trees. It was an easy hike and we learned a lot
about the history of the island and the names of lots of the wild flowers. We
invited George over for dinner that evening and enjoyed his company. He is
originally from England, a retired high school math teacher who volunteers as
a park ranger. He has a Ranger 29 sailboat that he has had since the mid
70's and he got his 6-pac license so he could do trips around the Channel
Islands with kids from his school during the summer. That evening we
arranged for the next days hike, 9 miles round trip out to the southern point
of the island to see more sea elephants and sea lions. Robin is going to
describe that hike and Celeste is going to add a piece about the sand dunes.

Two male Elephant Seals and a curious sea 1ion

Robin's description of elephant seals at San Miguel Island

Our third hike on San Miguel Island took us to a viewpoint on an eastern
bluff where we watched some elephant seals and sea lions. George Roberts,
the ranger, told us they return to this island to molt at this time each year.
The elephant seals mostly lay in a long, fat line on the sand near the breaking
surf. A few lay further up the beach and occasionally flicked warm, soft sand
over their bodies with their side flippers. They moved only a few yards at a
time, using their flippers and undulating their huge bodies over the sand like
giant velvety slugs. But then they'd lie right down again. One particularly
ugly one, his huge nose pink and ragged from fighting, used its flipper to
scratch its head.
Their fur was tan or black, and some showed bare patches where they were
molting. Pairs of behemoths occasionally reared up to play-fight. They lifted
their massive bodies onto their flippers, raised their open mouths into the air,
and bit at each other's necks. They had large, shining dark eyes, whiskers,
enormous snout-like noses and short teeth set in mouths that were
unbelievably deep and pink. George told us that elephant seals have a "beach
master," a kind of "alpha male" who sires most of the young seals for a
particular breeding season, which happens in December. These "beach
masters" have to defend their status. This time of year, though, they're only
molting, so their displays of bravado are just play.
The odd behavior exhibited by these elephant seals prompted a discussion
among our group as to whether or not they feel the same kinds of emotions
that motivate human beings. Are they really being "lazy," are they "playing,"
do they "feel" competitive, surly, happy, or bored? I think we sentimental
humans all too often anthropomorphize-that is, we assume animals feel the
same emotions that we do. This kind of self-centered imagining might,
however, lead to misinterpretation of the behavior of wild animals, which in
turn can lead to skewed perceptions of their needs, and their place in the
environment as it relates to our own. I spent a lot of mental energy trying to
defend my position against the logic of my companions. In the end, I think
the middle road is probably the most accurate. Some animals have more
developed abilities to "feel" emotions, and humans are among the most
developed. Fish and birds are among the least.

Celeste's description of playing in the sand dunes at San Miguel

San Miguel Island might more properly be called Sand Miguel Island.
Between 1850 and 1966 sheep lived on the island and ate the vegetation.
Without roots holding the dirt together the sand was blown, covering the
island and turning it into a big sand box. There was a sand spit created then
that was six feet tall at one time and now, since the vegetation has grown
back and sand hasn't kept building up, it is 15 feet under water.
Although the vegetation has grown back, there are still some sand dunes. To
get to these dunes, we landed two dories in the surf. Robin is terrible at
landing dories and has not succeeded in making a dry landing yet, which
Alyce will not let her forget since she was the one who got wet this time.
Before ascending the sand dunes, we explored the dark and wet drippy
caves. They were as big as a room and one contained two angry blond seals
that scared Robin. Poor Robin. Outside the cave were lots of seagulls and
pelicans, also known as pterodactyls) and their feathers, poop, and footprints
were everywhere. We took a detour to what we at first thought were a baby
seal who was an older seal lying on an uncomfortable-looking, jagged, pointy
rock. Her giant eyes warned us to stay away. It craned its neck around to
make sure it could keep an eye on us.
Then we climbed up the sand dunes in the hot, broiling sun. It was difficult,
but we made it to the top after huffing and puffing and resting a lot and
taking two steps forward and sliding back one. We sat at the top and
admired the view, then we jumped, somersaulted, and leapt down the dunes.
We found a ditch where we talked about the angle of repose and buried
everyone but Pa. Then we had a somersaulting contest and walked back to
the dories. Darby won with 15 somersaults down the hill. Alyce went
sideways. This made us very dizzy.
After this there was sand in our hair, ears, teeth, eyes, fingernails,
bellybuttons, swimsuits, unmentionable parts, etc. So we played in the surf
and tried to get the sand out, and practiced launching the dories. The wind
was against us on the row back and Nalgene bottles were used as bailers.
Back on the ship we were happy to have warm water and hot chocolate, and
George Roberts, the ranger, joined us for dinner.

In the afternoon, after the hike to see the elephant seals, we headed toward
Santa Rosa Island. It was a beautiful sunny day; we set the course, raffee and
stuns'l and had a great sail. Again the whales were there to entertain us. As
we started to get closer to Santa Rosa Island and Bechers Bay, where we
were going to anchor, the wind started to pick up and it was probably
blowing 25 and gusting in the 30's by the time we were picking our way
through the kelp beds to get close to the cliffs to anchor. We tucked in nice
and close and though it was definitely blowing, we were sitting comfortably.
George had said that we had been really lucky with the weather while we
were at San Miguel, that it was usually really blowing. Our "really blowing"
happened at Santa Rosa for the three days we were there. But it didn't stop
us from having fun and exploring.

Santa Rosa is a bigger island than San Miguel and still has the feel of the
ranch it once was. There are all the ranch building and lots of horses still
around the barn. We never did meet the ranger, people drive around in
4-wheel drive vehicles and the trails were more dusty roads on grassy plains.
We explored, did some snorkeling and played on more sand dunes. Once
when we were headed back to the boat after an afternoon walk, the wind
had started to gust up and we discovered first hand the making of a sand
dune. We had pulled the inflatable up on the beach to windward of a sand
dune and the inflatable had started forming it's own little sand dune when
we got back. We were all full on sand by the time we got the dingy launched
and we headed out to the boat.
Next we headed south to Santa Cruz Island. We were hoping for a little less
wind and had a beautiful calm downwind sail to Yellow Banks Harbor,
actually it is more like a lee. When we got there in the late afternoon, after
some boson chair bowsprit riding, we anchored in the flat calm and went for
a Tarzan swing swim call in 67 degree water. Maybe we have reached
Southern California!
We have spent a lazy day today, there was a morning explore up the canyon
ashore and the afternoon has been spent finishing the Wave Weekly, working
on the newsletter and cleaning the boat up. We are heading into Oxnard
tomorrow, Wednesday August 3rd, and we will be getting ready for the
McNish Classic. We will let you know another time how we do in the race.