~ SOLO CRUISING TO THE SACRAMENTO DELTA (part 1) ~ Clocked Me Gnoggin | San Pablo Bay

I’m on a mission to set a personal best for number of days aboard and push up into the Sacramento delta, further than ever before. Each day, a mini-adventure.

Day 1; you know that repair we did to the rudder… well it only bloomin’ came loose half way to Half Moon Bay! When I got the anchor down, I was real tired and just left it. Then in the morning I had to perch on the swim ladder with my “mole grips” pliers on a lanyard and half submerged in the water. Then crawl in the back of the boat, remove the nut and washer and replace it with a much larger washer, and do this twice! Luckily I had some super large washers (only 2!) and it fixed the problem right away. The smaller washers were just crushing the plywood backing, and that’s why it worked loose. The situation was saved!

Day 2; HMB to TI. Jonah and I left the harbor the next day and continued heading up coast. During the entire passage up to the Sacremento delta, we’ll motor for a total of 3 hours. There does appear to be some persistent local wind conditions here, a significant acceleration zone, or some such
well, i’ve only gone and rounded up in suddenly stronger winds, in the same spot that we did when we were here last time!! I was rather annoyed with myself and in my rush i accidental gybed and clocked me noggin a glancing blow!!! Somehow, we made it to Treasure Island. Alhamdulillah.

Day 3 TI to Mare Island Strait saw wind over tide and some biggish waves pushing Jonah me girl around, causing some hard work with
sail handing, etc. and by the time i got to the proposed anchorage, on first sighting I thought to myself… this ain’t doable on account of the wind and waves!

My first go at dropping the anchor was aborted, but I took another swing at it from a different angle, splitting the difference between current and wind; miraculously it worked and the hook dug in immediately and within moments the whole setting seemed to calm down and i realized all would be good.