05/14/2002 - 5/22/2002
Morro Bay Yacht Club
The first day in Morro Bay consisted of sleeping and cleaning up the boat. Rather than go ashore to check in with the yacht club, Robin left a message on their voicemail stating who we were, the name of our yacht club and the plan to come ashore tomorrow to officially register. Duncan prepared Shout, our dinghy, for a trip to shore. By late morning, the wind picked up to 20 to 30 knots in the harbour. Thankful for yesterday's arrival in Morro Bay and a calm wonderful night on the mooring, official registration with the yacht club was the order of business. Many signs with rules for visitors greeted us on arrival at the yacht club dock. The realization that we broke almost all of the rules set in quickly. Whisper's current mooring was intended for a boat no longer than 35 feet (Whisper is approximately 43 feet). Shout was parked in the members only area of the dock. Contacting the daily port captain is typically done on the day of arrival. The list of port captains and their associated phone numbers is posted on the yacht club building. No one seemed to mind the rule breaking.
Duncan and Shout with shear pin in a rare non-sheared state
A recurring event for the outboard engine on Shout, a 5 hp Honda four stroke, is the shearing of its shear pin. A broken shear pin leaves the engine lacking the ability to go into gear. The resulting options are to row the dinghy or replace the shear pin. With registration at the yacht club complete and a quick tour of the town under our belt, we hopped in Shout to return to Whisper. The wind was still howling. Guess what, the shear pin was sheared. Replacing a shear pin in 25 knots of wind at a dock while waves splash and bounce versus rowing back to Whisper were the choices. Duncan rowed back to Whisper with the plan to replace the shear pin in the calm of the next morning.
Cormorants on the hunt for fish
Morro Bay is a national and state estuary. A state park, a heron rookery preserve and a dunes natural preserve are just a few of the highlights of the bay. Herons, cormorants, egrets, sea gulls, brown pelicans and white pelicans frequently flew from the dunes to the water to the trees to the rock. Touring the estuary via Shout resulted in a stop at the state park for lunch. Hopping back in Shout to return to Whisper, we discovered yet another shear pin sheared. Duncan's ability to fix the shear pin started to look like a race car in the pit stop of the Indy 500.
Hey, where is the big stick?
Morro Bay is a popular harbour for boats going both north and south. Heading south, it is the last major stop before Point Conception. Heading north, it is the last major stop before Monterey. One of the boats, Synergizer, in the harbour returned to Morro Bay after dismasting in 40 knot winds as they returned home from the winter in Mexico. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Sadness exuded from the crew as they loaded equipment from the boat in to their cars.
Mike, Tracy, Ben and Duncan on Shout
Friends, Mike and Tracy, happened to be visiting Morro Bay at the same we stayed in Morro Bay. Lucky us. During their visit, we dined at Taco Temple, attended a bluegrass/sushi party, cooked a fish dinner on Whisper and consumed a few bottles of wine. Ben, their son, came up from San Luis Obispo to visit as well as surf with Mike. One potential stop after rounding Point Conception is the Cojo Anchorage. According to Mike and Ben, this is a great location for surfing. Mike and Ben started drooling at the idea of joining us for a trip to Cojo. For a couple of months, the decision whether to take crew with us around Point Conception has puzzled us. On one hand, the potential accomplishment of just the two of us making it around this milestone is exciting. On the other hand, if the trip is raucous, having extra crew on board is tempting. In the end, we decided to go it alone.
Whisper in Morro Bay
Our time in Morro Bay made us feel like cruisers. We met people from Sydney, British Columbia on the way back from two years in Mexico. A circumnavigator from the Morro Bay Yacht Club named Duncan (yes, another Duncan) provided lots of insights and advice. Rick and Corby from San Luis Obispo on a Passport 47 finished preparations and left a couple days before we decided to leave Morro Bay.
The shear pin only sheared a couple more times in Morro Bay. Duncan thinks the recently added "Dole-fins" may be the source of the problem. The gen-set blew a fuse and the folks from Fischer-Panda sent the new fuses overnight to the post office in Morro Bay. Even with the new fuses, the gen-set still seems to be misbehaving -- another troubleshooting project in the queue. All of these events sound like the articles published in the sailing magazines, so we must be cruisers now.