We are now in Alameda, CA! I want to thank CeeBee for hooking us up with some excellent moorage for an amazing price. It's a very comfortable marina and only a 10 minute walk to the largest Target I've ever seen!!
So, how did things play out? The original plan was Fort Bragg -> Bodega Bay -> Drakes Bay -> San Francisco. However, the weather forecast showed (and still does) winds picking up toward the end of the week, which would have left us trapped in Bodega Bay or worse, in Drakes Bay in a windstorm. As a result, we opted to skip Bodega Bay altogether and head straight to Drakes.
We slipped Fort Bragg at first light (0630) and had an uneventful bar crossing. Those of you who follow our Facebook page (
http://facebook.com/mvhalcyoni) would have seen how calm it was all the way to Drakes Bay. Our original plan also had us fuelling in Bodega Bay (no fuel dock in Fort Bragg, but you can arrange a truck if you really need to), so I had to make a call as we were passing Bodega as to whether we would have enough fuel to carry on. It was a bit difficult to tell with all the sloshing, but in the end it appeared we had about 50nm to spare (i.e. 50nm beyond San Francisco) so we carried on to Drakes Bay.
We arrived at Drakes just after midnight. This was our first time anchoring at night but with all the experience we gained in the Gulf Islands, it was a breeze. Radar came in very handy to ascertain how the other boats were spaced out, and we easily found a nice gap in about 30 feet of water. Winds were about 5 knots out of the west and the water was pretty flat. I was actually surprised at the number of boats in the bay as every picture I saw only had a single boat anchored there!
I crashed pretty hard and got about 4 hours sleep. At 0630 we weighed anchor and headed for San Francisco. Although I mentioned I was going to use the shipping lanes, with our dicey fuel situation and the very calm seas, taking the shortcut through Bonita Channel seemed like the best option. We could definitely see the seas shoaling as we entered the channel, but nothing close to a breaker and not rough at all. There was no traffic inbound as we crossed the lanes just before the bridge, and there was just one sailboat on the way out, whom we crossed behind.
Thanks to the good timing, we entered the bay on the flood and made good between 9.5 and 10 knots (about 50% faster than normal) and made it to Alameda by noon.
Mechanically, oil leakage was minimal, maybe 1/10 of a quart. Oil burn has also been greatly reduced. I did an oil/filter change in Fort Bragg and switched to Delo 400LE 15W40 diesel oil, and also added 2 quarts of "Bar's Leaks Engine Repair." I figured I was looking at having to get the head rebuilt, so might as well try a quick-fix and see what happened. I will attempt a second treatment and see how things go on the way to San Diego. Curiously, my oil pressure gauge has been fluctuating somewhat. I will check the sender and contacts and then maybe change the filter as the "Bar's Leaks" or any residue it may have cleared out may have clogged it up a bit, (just speculation). I'm also going to get a compression test done while I'm here.
The plan is one week in San Francisco before we move to Half Moon Bay.
Another successful leg!