This trip is a celebration of finishing my first year of grad school. Just before school started in September I also did a trip to the Islands, so this trip felt like a "bookend", giving the year a context for reflexion.
The forecast was for strong winds on Wednesday, the day of our departure, for 20-25knots, 8ft seas at 10 seconds. It couldn't have been more different - the first 4 hours were all motoring in calm seas, and finally the wind picked up as we entered "Windy Alley" 10 miles from Santa Cruz Island and were suddenly flying at 7 knot speeds.
The moon, starting to wane after being full, rose in a spectacular fashion just after the sunset. We pulled into the Fry's Harbor the first night in the dark, with one other boat in the anchorage. The guy was taking up the entire inside part of the harbor with his extra long scope with lightweight line, which we did our best to navigate around, and anchor bow & stern under some difficulty. The hot, dry air was blowing out of the canyons and I jumped in the 64 degree water after we were snug and safe around 10pm, after 9 hours of travel time, 23 nautical miles, 8 knot max speed.
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