Hammer Time - Change in Latitude, 32 N. to 38 N.

One thing on my bucket list is do some long -term cruising. I have charted boats it BVI, Belize, and Croatia and crewed on boats in Australia and Tonga. I want to live the dream I have been reading about in Latitude 38 for the past 37 years. So a few weeks ago I bought a Catalina 42 that was berthed in San Diego.

Catalina 42 - new name "Hammer Time"

I reserved a slip at Marina Bay in Richmond at the same docks that Tradewinds Sailing School and Club has their boats. I am a member of the club and really like the location and the people who own and manage Tradewinds.

I posted on the Crew List with Latitude 38 and on the Tradewinds website and found two nice guys (both named Mike) to join me for the trip from San Diego to San Francisco. I rented a car and we drove to San Diego on March 7^th, and started north on the morning of the 8^th.

It was about 70 degrees off the Southern California coast and the wind was almost on the bow. We were able to sail for a short time, then furled in the jib and cranked on the iron genoa and left the main up.

Leaving San Diego

The first night I took the mid watch from 12 to 4 and enjoyed the beauty and serenity of cruising at night with almost a full moon. We pulled in to Santa Barbara the next day about 3 p.m., refueled, and headed out again. The forecast at Point Conception was for 3 foot swells and wind waves of less than 2 feet. We had a 15 to 18 knot wind out of the north west when we left Santa 

Santa Barbara

Barbara and we sailed south west for about an hour to get away from the coast so we could clear Point Conception.   It was a beautiful afternoon, followed by a gorgeous sunset.  

The seas starting growing as we approached the point. I took the 8 to 12 watch and by midnight we were about 8 miles south of the Point and it was blowing 20 knots on the nose, with 8 to 10 foot swells and wind waves breaking over the dodger. I stayed up and hunkered down under the dodger, while my crew took the helm. About 2 a.m. there was loud bang and the dinghy davit on the port side broke. At almost the same time, I heard another bang on the bow. The anchor chain jumped out of the windlass and the anchor fell about a foot, leaving it free to bang against the hull. It was too rough for me to go on the bow to retrieve it and I did not want to try to turn downwind, so we motored on with the banging until we got out of the Point Conception confluence and the seas settled so I could go on the bow and pull in the anchor. The bow looks like hell, but the damage is not as bad as it looks. Both the broken davit and the damaged bow are my own fault. When we arrived in San Diego, I went through the usual pre-sail checklist, but did not inspect the anchor. I just had the boat surveyed and knew the windlass worked. I have sailed for many years and know not to leave a harbor without a stopper on the anchor chain. Also, when we went aboard in San Diego the dinghy was already hoisted in the davits with the outboard attached. I know better than to go to sea with the outboard on the dinghy, but I was too lazy and in too much of a hurry to lower the dink and put the outboard on the rail.

We pulled into Moro Bay to refuel, lower the dinghy, secure the outboard to the stern rail and put the dink on the foredeck. We left Moro Bay at 3:30 p.m. and had almost ideal conditions the rest of the way to San Francisco, with southerly winds and small following seas.  

  We saw several whales, otters, dolphin, and schools of porpoise. The water that night was luminescent for hundreds of yards behind the boat. It was what cruising is all about.

I was feeling a little emotional as we sailed under the Golden Gate at 3:30 p.m. at max flood the following day. I am sure many sailors have experienced this feeling of elation.

"Hammer Time"  arriving at her new home

Now it is my turn. I have renamed the boat “Hammer Time.” The name has two meanings: My last name is Hammer, and it is time for this phase of my life.

I may sail in the Baja ha-ha to Cabo this year, but my plans for the next few months are to sail the Bay and local waters until I can sail the boat with my eyes closed, then go out the Gate and turn south for about a thousand miles, enjoy Mexico for a few months, then sail west to the South Pacific.

*All photos by Michael Mayernick, crew.