San Diego

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Hello All,

Ansa and Echo left Avalon for San Diego at 0darkthirty (5am) for San Diego. This is a long run, so we had to leave early and thread our way through the harbor in the dark. We were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise. After about an hour or two, we ran into dense fog, which lasted all the way to San Diego. Thank the US government for GPS.

There was very little wind and no seas. I tried to sail now and again, but we basically motored the whole way.

Brian and I had arranged with Cabrillo Isle Marina for slips in advance as part of a reciprocal arrangement in Almar Marinas, so we had no trouble driving into slips A10 and A14, which were reserved for us. This is a very modern marina with excellent concrete docks, no depth problems, and all the amenities. The marina office building contains a nice cafe, good laundromat and very nice restrooms. Much nicer than Ballena Isle marina. Of course, it would cost twice as much too, if we weren't on a reciprocal.

Some of our crew decided to fly home on Monday, because we had a week left before the Ha Ha started. Brian and I started boat maintenance, and the first bad thing that happened was that on on Wednesday, while doing routine engine maintenance, I noticed some fuel leaking from Ansa's fuel tank into her bilge. I don't want to get into details, but by Friday I had determined that the fuel leak was serious. I had been pumping fuel from the bilge into plastic jugs, hoping the leak was just trapped fuel due to overfilling. No way. It just kept coming and coming. On Friday, I hired a local fuel guy to pump out the main tank and started to try to find other boats for my crew. I called them and told them of the situation, and they elected to fly here anyway and see if they could find another boat for the Ha Ha. Which they did!

Saturday was spent lining up new boats for Ansa's crew.

Sunday morning was the Skipper's meeting at West Marine, and while there, Brian received a call from Dick Niemi that Echo's water tank was dumping into her bilge (Dick was topping off the tank prior to the Monday start of the Ha Ha). Sunday afternoon was the scheduled time for the Ha Ha costume party, so you'll see some pictures of that. Later, Brian and I checked out the situation on Echo, and found that she would hold no water whatsoever. Everything you tried to put in the tank immediately poured into the bilge and was pumped overboard by the bilge pump. This was unbelievable, but true, and meant that Echo couldn't continue on to Mexico either! AAAgh. We had a scramble Sunday evening, and only Dick Niemi found a new boat to go on. Poor Bonnie and Ray had to scramble to find a way home to the Bay Area.

Monday morning, Brian and I took my dingy over to the Shelter Island Fishing Pier to photograph the start of the Ha Ha. Boy, we had some tough moments watching all the boats go by, but it was still cool to see the Fleet start - I've included some pictures. After that, we dingied up to the fuel dock and walked to West Marine to buy a temporary water tank for Echo and a temporary fuel tank for Ansa. Brian installed the water tank this afternoon and now he can at least make a cup of tea.

We are determined to fix these problems as soon as possible, and continue on to Mexico. Karma is karma.

The dancing Bereznai Brothers

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