Dolphins!

 I took some High School buddies out today for a full day Whale Watch trip.  We did not see any spouts but we did have a great time and encountered a pod of common dolphins off the Point Loma kelp beds:

A great time was had by all.  We learned that VHF channel 5 is the 'working' channel for the whale watch tours in SD.  Also did a 'heave to' to enjoy a leisurely lunch off Point Loma.

Back safely at the slip at NBPL!

...Some days you're the Nail

 As the saying goes, "Some days you're the Hammer, some days you're the Nail".

We had gale winds this week in San Diego, and Mystic Star's home on the South Pier at NBPL is exposed to a south fetch and southerly winds.

Over the past month, I've discovered that the best way to moor the boat is stern in/bow out.  This puts the bow in to the waves and wakes from passing boats (which is what the bow is designed to do).

Here's a shot of the boat moored with Tom Hamm's lighthouse in the background:

As you can see, the nose of the boat is facing Tom Hamm's lighthouse (roughly south) and the marina is exposed to swells from the Coronado bridge area.  Here's the same shot at night for the Holiday Boat Parade:

It's a fun and convenient spot to get in/out of, but MAN is it exposed to southerly winds/ swells.  As I mentioned before, this was an ominous sign when I moved in.  One of my mooring cleats was snapped before I arrived:

Well, here's what nature handed me during the Gale event on Dec 14th.   2 of the 3 Shockles (snubbers) I had installed were broken/unserviceable (the carabiners were bent beyond repair).  The forward spring line snapped and the stern of the boat drifted in to the main dock and I got some 'dock rash' on the transom:

As it turns out, I got off easy.  One of the boats broke free and drifted on to the rocks.  Another boat snapped one of its dock cleats and drifted /banged in to another boat with significant damage (fortunately above the water line).

Since the damage to Mystic Star was superficial (I crawled in to the lazarette to inspect from the inside) I cleaned up the damaged area and covered it with some MarineRX epoxy from West Marine.  Not "original finish" pretty, but at least watertight once again and ready to sail tomorrow:

Going forward I am using 5/8 inch lines (one continuous stern and forward spring, one continuous bow and after spring) with "Donkey D**k" style snubbers on the bow and stern lines instead of the garbage Shockles.  I also added 2 more fenders to cover the stern/transom area and a 'backup' forward spring line.  Hopefully this is a better mooring setup and prevents another 'dock rash' event in the future.

Impromptu Saturday Sail

What do you do when  Naval Academy classmate drops in unannounced for the weekend?   YOU GO SAILING!

John phoned me on a Friday night because he was in town for work on an unscheduled trip.  GREAT TIMING, I said.  Let's go sailing tomorrow.

We sailed out past Point Loma to do a 'dry run' for the upcoming Gray Whale season... it was a bit bouncy today.  But as a bonus, John taught me how to use the cockpit reefing system on Mystic Star.

It was also the Saturday of 'Hot Rum Race #3', so we delayed our return until the race was nearly complete.  This prevented us from dogfighting our way home through a race fleet of 100+ boats.   The fleet of 100+ boats with black sails looked pretty ominous from off the tip of Point Loma.

 Listening to the Hot Rum race chatter on VHF 69 was free entertainment- We heard (and later saw) one of the boats aground off Ballast Point (doh!)