What an eventful couple of days.
First off the party at the dock Friday night was fantastic.  So great to see all the friends and family.  Special thanks to Andy for catering and Ann for helping me get provisioned and organized.

Saturday morning was great too.  Inspiring to have so many folks stop by to see us off and fun to see you all out at the Marina entrance as we left.

Motoring out was uneventful other than just as we were getting to the Gate, Geoff said; “Oh #@%! I forgot my foulies and shoes!”  Fortunately he still had cell coverage and his Mom will bring them to LA where we’ll pick them up.

Accompanied by Porpoises under the Gate, we motored with the ebb tide about 10 miles out to the Lightbucket.  Once there, we set sails, turned left and haven’t had the motor on since.  With 10-20 knots of wind out of NW, we’re been doing from 5-8 knots.  Gybed early this morning about 68 miles off the coast and now heading more toward Pt Conception.  It’s 1130 now and our 24 hour distance is 130 miles (from where we started sailing).  Good time, especially considering much of it was more on the 10 knots of wind side.

Dinner was chicken, potatoes and broccoli in the pressure cooker.  Most of us were queasy, and I had to jump up into the cockpit every couple of minutes to get fresh air while cooking, so not a very fancy version.  Just the basics.  We all have our sea legs now, so tonight’s dinner should get more attention.

We’re well South of Carmel right now and about 140 miles from Santa Cruz Island.  GPS says at this speed we should get there early tomorrow morning.  Good time, so we might drop the hook and stay overnight.

That’s it for now.  It’s been overcast, but really nice wind, 5-7 foot following seas and it hasn’t been too cold, so we’re having a blast!

Much love to everyone.  We’ll check in again in a day or so.

“S/V Charisma”