Shakedown

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Today, I took the helm! We de-docked! We didn’t crash into anything! All crewmembers are accounted for! More on our return to the dock in a minute. But first let’s relax with news of the maiden sail- our brief shakedown out of the marina to get used to the boat.

We traveled down the main channel of the Los Angeles Harbor to the fuel dock, which was about an hour away but still in the harbor. Los Angeles Harbor is the 5th largest/busiest shipping port in the world. The place is littered with boats the size of skyscrapers. Puttering past them, I felt like a rubber duck in a sea of hippopotami.

(I was worried about being able to sleep here in the marina, at first, surrounded by cranes and unimaginably large mechanized pieces of metal. It’s the din of industry (ROAR). But believe it or not, we’ve all had super sleep here.)

At the fuel dock, the toothless attendant saw me at the helm and screamed, “Watch out! There’s a lady at the helm!” Then he offered us free coffee and donuts. Other than that, no drama from the fueling stop, unless you count the $419 bill. (Are you adding this up?)

We continued out of the channel and past the breakwater, out into the open sea. The wind was very light and the sea was pretty much flat. Even so, Peter had his seasickness wrist gadget on. He didn’t urp.

With little wind, I got bored and wandered down below to bake some ginger snaps. While I waited for the butter to soften, I dragged out my portable stair climber and worked out for 45 minutes or so. Then I used a resistance band to build strong muscles.

It’s fortunate that I had that time to be mellow; getting back into our slip in the marina was a complete nightmare. As we motored down the aisle to our slip, a bunch of guys came out of their boats to stand on the dock and stare at the lady at the helm. One of them shouted, “Should we get off the dock?” (Jerk.) I hadn’t realized how rare it is for a woman to helm a sailboat.

Trouble hit us broadside when I started to turn the boat into the slip and the current disagreed. I became suddenly very familiar with forward and reverse at TOP SPEED. For a few minutes we did that frustrating backward/forward thing that you so often see beginner drivers do when they’re trying to parallel park. No progress in the right direction, but tremendous effort being put forth. The difference here is that momentum propels the boat in directions nobody anticipated, toward other boats that cost as much as all four years of Sophie’s college tuition.

Naturally, everybody came out to watch the lady at the helm. And I wasn’t even wearing my bikini.

We got in without ramming anything and without hurting anybody on board, which was my goal. But it wasn’t pretty, my friends. Not pretty at all.

On the upside, Harry didn’t shout, Peter didn’t jump overboard and I didn’t throw my hands up and stomp off in a huff. I am comforted by the knowledge that I won’t be giving a repeat performance at this marina ever again.

We have big, juicy steaks to grill tonight, fresh asparagus and red potatoes. Tomorrow we depart at about 5am for Santa Cruz Island and our first anchorage at Smuggler’s Cove. Peter and Harry worked on entering waypoints into the GPS last night, so we’ll know where we are.

Wireless Internet access is doubtful for the next couple of days, but we’ll post when we can. We’ve been unable to send email, but can receive it fine. If you’re not hearing from us, don’t despair! It’s just a technicality.

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Photos

Ninja Joy at the helm.
We're not dead yet!

Heavy weather
See how the seas rise up to greet us?

Is THAT the GPS?
I'll poke it and see if it beeps.

We're back at the dock now.
All you spectators can go scratch your butt somewhere else.