Santa Barbara, CA - Brian and Kat(rina) joined us Oct. 15 to crew to Mexico. We weighed anchor and went into the marina to fill up with water before leaving and noticed that the autopilot display greeted us with "No pilot." Uh oh.
Steve spent the afternoon, evening, into the wee hours of the morning trying to fix it, but it was uncooperative. So, he got on the phone with Raymarine the next morning, disconnected it, and we overnighted it to them in New Hampshire. So much for leaving as planned. We'll all get a lesson in steering for a while and leave in the morning.
We left Sausalito at 4 a.m. Oct. 17. Brian and Kat left behind their lives, belongings, and worries in San Francisco to go where little sailing boats sail half way 'round the world. They are starting their journey around the world with us and aren't planning on returning for a couple years.
The sun came out but not the wind, so we motored down the coast to Monterey and anchored for the night, taking turns hand steering. The sea was calm, so no worries. We saw sea lions, whales, and porpoises. And Steve contacted Raymarine who had received the autopilot, diagnosed the problem (an easy fix after all), and will ship it back to us in San Diego.
The next day, we left at 4:30 a.m. The sky was cloudy in the morning, and some fog obscurred the Big Sur coast, but we could make out the Bixby Bridge and Hurricane Point. The sun came out in the afternoon and since there was still no wind and the sea was calm, we decided to motor all night to reach Santa Barbara by the next afternoon.
Steve spent the afternoon, evening, into the wee hours of the morning trying to fix it, but it was uncooperative. So, he got on the phone with Raymarine the next morning, disconnected it, and we overnighted it to them in New Hampshire. So much for leaving as planned. We'll all get a lesson in steering for a while and leave in the morning.
We left Sausalito at 4 a.m. Oct. 17. Brian and Kat left behind their lives, belongings, and worries in San Francisco to go where little sailing boats sail half way 'round the world. They are starting their journey around the world with us and aren't planning on returning for a couple years.
The sun came out but not the wind, so we motored down the coast to Monterey and anchored for the night, taking turns hand steering. The sea was calm, so no worries. We saw sea lions, whales, and porpoises. And Steve contacted Raymarine who had received the autopilot, diagnosed the problem (an easy fix after all), and will ship it back to us in San Diego.
The next day, we left at 4:30 a.m. The sky was cloudy in the morning, and some fog obscurred the Big Sur coast, but we could make out the Bixby Bridge and Hurricane Point. The sun came out in the afternoon and since there was still no wind and the sea was calm, we decided to motor all night to reach Santa Barbara by the next afternoon.
