By Jeff Hare, Tradewinds Instructor and owner of Emerald Sea
After being away for 6 months you are going to have to imagine what coming in under the Golden Gate Bridge really means. It feels as if our sailing season ended far too soon – it was such a rush in terms of adrenaline and perceived shortness of time. It’s over, but we are home! Sadness, exhaustion, contentment, accomplishment, and joy all mix together – but I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind a little to San Diego Bay.
San Diego: February 20, 2025
The easiest way to re-enter the United States is to use the CBP Roam (as in Customs and Border Protection) application for your smartphone or tablet. You can check-in online and if they don’t request your going to the Customs Dock in San Diego, you can even skip that port and continue on as you wish. We opted to come in the old-fashioned way and motored directly to the Customs Dock for inspection, which was quick and painless. The only complication is that we had forgotten to toss raw fruits and vegetables overboard outside the 3 mile limit, so these were deposited in the special receptacles on the dock (I will not admit to whether or not we smuggled in a few dozen eggs from Ensenada – we saw news reports about how expensive these were in the USA at this time). We had reserved a slip at the nearby Transient Dock for a few days of getting used to being back in the United States – we enjoy having a refreshing beverage in front of a fire pit at the Bali Hi Hotel, eating American food at the Point Break, and getting exercise taking long walks long the waterfront. See the previous entry with regard to the crashed fighter jet that was blocking the entry and exit to this area of the bay, and the creative high-tide-only navigation around it.
Catalina:
Entering the United States is uneventful if you use the CBP Roam application, so we make it eventful on purpose as sometimes you have to make a mental transition. From there, we motored overnight in the typical Southern California calm to Avalon Harbor and stayed another few days. We have some very good friends who have a vacation cottage in Avalon and they were able to join us for a few days. This friend introduced me to the joys of “Manhattan” beverages and I am not so embarrassed to say we indulged…. At one point having lunch at an outdoor venue, an aggressive seagull stole my Wife’s tartar sauce cup from her plate of fish and chips – we tried to get that back for hours! After much negotiation with the bird, and many beverages, my Wife got the cup back and all was well…..
That evening the Avalon Casino was supposed to be showing Casablanca, which would have been wonderful, but my “good friend” got the dates mixed up and we were forced to watch a Disney Movie instead – my patience with my friend was tested. While we were invited to stay in their guest room, we took the very good water taxi service back to the boat and departed the next morning (disappointed the movie was not Casablanca as promised)….
The very smart bird well skilled in stealing food.
A couple of the many Manhattans enjoyed on Avalon….
Catalina Island north of Avalon as we were departing – there are several private resorts on the eastern shoreline.
Point Conception / Cojo Anchorage:
While Southern California up to this point is normally calm and flat, rounding Point Conception is not for the faint of heart – make sure the weather forecast is calling for a minimum of 12 hours weather acceptable to you and your crew before rounding it. At this point we were anxious to get home and after navigating through the offshore oil platforms, we got as close to the point as possible in the Cojo Anchorage. There are 3 mooring balls here reserved for Coast Guard vessels to also wait out for a calm passage – this anchorage offers good holding but is very rolly and uncomfortable in high seas – you get all of the wind. On the positive side, this is one of the best surfing spots in Southern California and you see people come out along the beach in anything from Motorcycles, to Jet Skis, to fancy boats to get as close to the point as possible and surf. Beware of dark spots on the surface as these indicate kelp so stay alert and avoid those – do not enter at night as you risk getting tangled in kelp. We stayed here for two days with one of our buddy boats (Folie a Deux) but did not gather face-to-face as it was still too rough for a dingy launch…. On the good side, the surfers, Amtrak Trains, and even SpaceX and Space Force launches will keep you entertained.
Long story short: I recommend anchoring here only if the weather is expected to calm soon – you won’t sleep well in strong winds and heavy surf.
Speaking of buddy boats, at this time our other buddy-boat, Dolce Vita, was still experiencing some mechanical issues and while back aboard with spare parts, had still not started toward Ensenada.
We departed the Cojo Anchorage at noon just a few hours before the weather was predicted to calm – we put up with 14 foot seas and a 20 knot headwind for several hours – by the time we reached Morrow Bay, which is the next safe stop on the journey to SF Bay, we felt well rested and the weather looked really calm, so we kept going.
Photo of the SpaceX launch complex at Vandenberg Space Base
Morrow Bay to San Simeon Point and Monterrey:
I note these three stopping points because my own standard is having a full 48 hours of favorable weather between Morrow Bay and Monterrey as there is no place to hide should the weather get rough. San Simeon is the only option in an emergency, but it is small and can accommodate only about 3 boats. In our case the weather remained favorable, we felt good, and opted to continue on nonstop.
When Emerald Sea is light handed with only two crew members, the on-watch crew is allowed to rest in the cockpit next to the helm – we take advantage of the long bench seat.
If you look at any chart, the area between Morrow Bay and Monterey Bay offers no shelter at all, so I insist on 48 hours of a favorable weather forecast before I transit. I have once had a following wind and it offered the rare pleasure of sailing north, but in most cases the prevailing wind is north-to-south, so just make sure you have taken on enough fuel to motor through it. Emerald Sea does not perform well head to wind and as a sailor her Captain does not like burning diesel, but you gotta do what you gotta do to get home. In this area I like to stay 20 to 40 miles offshore – you miss the scenic nature of Big Sur, but you avoid overnight fishing boats, floating fishing apparatus, and huge globs of kelp that seem to be more frequent as we progress north.
As we approached Monterrey 30 some hours later, we still felt good, we saw heavy weather forecasted in a couple of days, so we still continued on knowing we could stop if needed in Half Moon Bay.
We continued on. Overnight between Monterrey and Half Moon Bay we found ourselves directly in the path of a very bright pale-yellow’ish light with no navigation lights. It appeared on radar but was not broadcasting AIS. My Wife correctly woke me and after radioing the object several times to no response, we gave way to starboard to get around it – we have no idea what it was (fishing vessels will often have bright lights on their deck so they can see their apparatus at night, but this object had no observable navigation lights at all.
Only 3 times in this six month period did we encounter vessels that did not give way:
1. Once while in the Baja HaHa fleet at night while I was on watch, I observed a vessel on AIS and then visually on a direct collision course with Emerald Sea. That Skipper had accidentally (probably half asleep) hit a button in their autopilot and turned completely in the opposite direction! After giving way appropriately and negotiating on the radio, his course was corrected and they continued on normally.
2. South of Ensenada, again at night, a Fishing Vessel (not fishing at the time) out of Sitka Alaska (according to their AIS information) with proper and observable navigation lights and AIS was observed on a direct collision course while Becky was on watch. She woke me and we called on the radio several times – that crew was either asleep or fully committed to fishing, but they did not respond to radio calls in English (for a while, I thought perhaps this was a vessel recently purchased by a Mexican National and maybe they did not change the AIS transponder – we were never sure). We gave way to avoid collision.
3. As noted earlier this mysterious yellowish very bright lights was directly in our path. It was very late at night but we feel as if the object made maneuvers to get in our way – we veered dramatically to starboard, and then more, and then dramatically more to get out of it’s way. It was very odd and we passed very/uncomfortably close by – it was too dark and the light was too bright to see any shape or profile – it was a very strange encounter….
Monterey
Again at Monterey, the forecast showed a strong storm coming in and the weather was good, we felt good having fallen into a comfortable rhythm of sleep, watch, helm, so we continued directly to San Francisco Bay. The weather built for our entry on February 28, 2025 but after the turn into the shipping channel it gave us a nice beam reach (in addition to a flood tide) and we were able to properly sail from the outer marker and through the channel.
Home.
When you are used to 80 degree temperatures in Mexico and come home in February, the helm needs to be equipped with a propane heater (or two) and very warm sleeping bags. It’s darn cold up here!
The February 28, 2025 Weather forecast – if we did not make it home on this day, we would have to wait another week In Monterrey for the expected storms to pass.
Thank you for reading this rather verbose blog, but I can not over emphasize the mixed emotions you experience after having been gone for several months and finally arrive home. Our Golden Gate Bridge represents so much; beginnings, endings, home, comfort, and renewal. The sense of accomplishment sets in first, and as I write this memory the anticipation of going to do it again is growing. As I tell my students: Sailing is a different sport. To many it is a comfortable day sail in familiar waters. To others it gets under your skin…. In your blood…. It owns you…. You can’t wait to do it again! Sailing is a virus for which there is no cure, so be careful. Don’t take my class because some of my students (who I know are reading this) have caught it (you know who you are)….
As a final note I am pleased to report that our 3rd buddy boat, Dolce Vita, after suffering mechanical issues and delayed by storms while bashing north, arrived in the Bay Area just a few days ago. There will soon be a reunion of (at least) the skippers of Dolce Vita, Folie a Deux, and Emerald Sea, and you can safely bet we will be discussing our next sailing adventures.
There are only a couple of opportunities to take the TWSC Sailing Catamaran Class left! The Lagoon 450F is the most popular sailing Catamaran in the world, and you are sure to encounter this model in your family chartering! Register while there is opportunity.
And we will see you out there!
Jeff and Becky Hare
Sailing Vessel Emerald Sea
Tradewinds Sailing School and Club Instructor