2/2/04 I meet up with Wes, Mike and Nicole for dinner. It’s nice to see the old gang….Sea Tel past and present.

2/3/04 Nicole takes me shopping to restock the boat with groceries. Now I can go for about a week straight.

2/4/04 Wes, Mike, Nicole and I go out to celebrate Wes’ birthday, which is Friday. We end up at the boat drinking until midnight.

2/5/04 1000 Log = 4875 Depart San Diego singlehanded for Long Beach. Clear sunny skies and calm winds mean I start out motoring.

2/5/04 1500 Log = 4900 The wind comes up and I can finally sail a direct course to Long Beach. The winds are about 10 kts and we are doing 5 kts on a close reach.

2/5/04 1900 Log = 4918 The wind dies and we are back to motoring under a full moon….very nice.

2/6/04 0700 Log = 4964 Arrive Long Beach Downtown marina waiting for the Harbormaster to open at 7:30. It was a very cold night and I can’t wait to plug the boat in, turn on the heater and defrost. Later, the sun comes out and it is a beautiful day in Long Beach. This is quite a nice marina with bars, restaurants, and the beach nearby. This is also where the Long Beach Grand Prix runs in March/April.

2/7/04 1200 Log = 4965 Departed Long Beach. Clear sunny skies, winds calm and the seas light.

2/8/04 0730 Log = 5076 Arrived Santa Barbara after a long miserable sail upwind in 20-25 kt winds with gusts to 30 kts! Bill stopped in to visit at the marina on his way back home from San Jose. Wendy drove down all we all had lunch and a beer in the marina. Bill left and Wendy and I went to State Street for a look around and dinner. We had a blast.

2/9/04 Wendy and I went back to State Street the next day for some shopping. We drove home to San Ramon to spend Valentines Week together.

2/15/04 1530 Log 5076 Departed Santa Barbara for Morro Bay. I flew down in the morning to rejoin the boat.

2/15/04 2230 Log = 5114 Rounding Pt. Conception, Cape Horn of the West Coast. The winds were calm at 4 kts and the seas were glassy…not the usual conditions.

2/16/04 0930 Log = 5180 Arrived Morro Bay and am staying at the Morro Bay Yacht Club. Apparently they don’t have a requirement for visiting yachts to be a member of another yacht club…good for me.

2/17/04 Stuck in Morro Bay waiting for the weather to improve. It’s been blowing 20-25 kts with gusts to 30. This low pressure system should start to pass through tomorrow with another one right behind it. Went to the Otter Rock Café again for Karaoke night. It’s amazing how many good singers there are in this town. The crowd ranged from some 17 year girls celebrating a birthday to 60+ year olds singing…quite a night.

2/18/04 Rained heavy last night….even woke me up. The weather map looks good for leaving today, but the radio forecast doesn’t. I’ll have to check again later, but I may be stuck here another day. The afternoon winds were blowing 20 kts in the harbor. I recorded one gust at 36 kts! The winds calmed down at night and I went to the Otter Rock Café again for Karaoke night….another fun night with the locals of Morro Bay.

2/19/04 I’m stuck here in Morro Bay until Friday now. The weather is starting to clear, but the forecast is for NW winds at 20-25 kts. On Friday they forecast 10-15 kts from the NW shifting to the SW as the next low approaches. Another night at Jamie’s Otter Rock Café this time drinking rum to my sailing buddy Kosta.

2/20/04 1200 Log = 5182 Filled up the diesel tanks and departed Morro Bay under calm conditions.

2/21/04 0730 Log = 5292 Arrived Monterey after motoring all night under calm glassy seas. The most wind I had was about 8 kts, but most of the time it was less. The night was very dark with overcast skies and no moon and cold too. Wendy drove down to meet me and we had dinner with Myles and Donna at the Sardine Factory.

2/22/04 1400 Log = 5292 Departed Monterey under cloudy skies and calm winds.

2/23/04 0530 Log = 5376 Motoring under the Golden Gate bridge fighting a 3 kt ebb tide current.

2/23/04 0730 Log = 5389 It’s over! Arrived Alameda after a cold night motoring. 5 months….. 4067 nautical miles.…514 nm alone….. 11 different crew members….. countless guests on board…..I had the time of my life!!

Everyone asks if I would ever do this again. In a word, YES! However there were a few lessons learned. First, I would not try to cover that many miles in such a short time. It just didn’t leave enough time to fully explore the beauty of Mexico. Second, leave lots of time between major stops. So many times we were hurrying to meet my original agenda that we didn’t have time to relax and fully explore places. Third, take your girlfriend along for the entire trip.