Steady Hand
Offline
Dedicated FM
Upload & Sell: Off
|
Marc Kurth wrote:
Yes, it was very important to me, but after 10 years there it was time to move on. I sincerely appreciate the supportive comments. I could see that California beach real estate was peaking so I sold out earlier this year. Glad I did now. I can enjoy the 6X increase while I'm still young enough to do so.
Steadman,
Good call. It's Morro Bay shot from the north end where I lived. My house was just out of the frame on the left. It's funny that you included that link - three of those are mine  Two local ad agencies were regular customers.
What were you sailing and when? We may have crossed paths.
Marc
Hi Marc,
This was over ten years ago. I was on a coastal race from SF to Morro Bay. I used to sail down the coast on a Santa Cruz 50. But this time was on a different boat. There must have been about 40 yachts in the race. I can't remember the race name but it was one of the popular annual events from SF to go down south. We left SF in the late afternoon with the tide and darkness fell as we were off Ocean Beach making most of the trip "overnight" and in the dark.
This time I was on a 46 foot IOR racing boat (ex "BEAR"). It was a very stormy trip down the coast with high seas, high winds, high anxiety, and even a capsize of a 50 footer and a Coast Guard helo rescue (very close to us). The helo flew low (under cloud ceiling) and had its search lights playing the waves around us. We traveled under spinnaker most of the way (with prevailing winds behind us) and surfed down the seas. We were right "on edge" and the boat threatened to round up many times...."WHITE KNUCKLES" time all the time and when I was at the wheel I was thankful to be relieved at the end of my watch. (Whew!)
It is a different feeling to be "sweating" despite the cold weather. Tension and adrenaline flowed. That "charge" that comes from a sense of danger. And because it lasts so long (the situation) it can be very tiring. Green water coming over the stern kept us alert and the sounds of foaming bearded waves behind us kept us tense. Really tense!
Seemed more like "survival" mode at the time. Truly exhausting. Down below the other members of the crew were chucking and groaning from sea sickness in the pipe berths and it was "not fun" in the typical sense.
I was surprised that people did not die during the race as it was really knarly. The Coasties were true heroes (!) and it was just like out of that movie ("The Guardsman") with whitecaps and blowing rain and low clouds and DARK. They rescued about six people via lift off the capsized yacht (a trimaran) and several other boats were either damaged, dismasted, or turned back due to the challenging conditions. I think about half the fleet turned back before reaching Monterrey or they pulled into Half Moon Bay for shelter.
Of course I was on a boat full of young fools who wanted to win. 
So we pressed on into the night.
Big ole Morro Rock was a real welcome sight and so was the protected harbor.
|
Mado