Overnight Sailboat Adventure in Monterey Ca

My wife and I spent an eventful overnight trip in Monterey Ca for our 4 year anniversary. Aside from a sleepless night aboard a 30 foot sailboat it was a fun trip. We witnessed a couple Deer wandering the streets, a seal that was ringing the dinner bell in hopes for a free meal, I did some free diving, went shopping and we stayed overnight in a 30 foot sailboat.

My wife is aware of my fascination with sailboats and decided to schedule an overnight stay on a sailboat. She was unable to find a catamaran so she settled for a 30 foot monohull. I thought it would be interesting too so I encouraged her to make the reservation even though I knew very little about what to expect. Unfortunately neither of us knew exactly what we were in store for. Had we known, we wouldn’t have done it, at least not on this boat under the circumstances of which I will explain.

Knowing Monterey I expected to hear some seals making noise, and maybe a fog horn and some other harbor noises, but I didn’t expect to be kept awake most of the night. As you enter the main cabin area there was at 1st a subtle odor, but after 15 minutes of it I felt a little nauseous. Perhaps it was the combination of the sway of the boat and the really bad 4 pack of Woodbridge Chardonnay that my wife picked out. The bathroom required a man to arch his back, or sit down to go to the bathroom. The smell in the bathroom was worse then the fuel smell in the main cabin. The Candle provided just didn’t do the trick.

You could barely stand up in the aft cabin and I had to sit and spin to get into bed. I almost knocked my wife out in the process. I realize some of this is par for the course in a small older sailboat, but for 99.00 a night we expected a lot more. Check in was at 8:30PM and checkout was at 10AM. We were out before 8AM since there was no coffee pot. There was no TV or music. You weren’t allowed to use the shower. The place appeared to be lived in and was in disarray. The seat and bed cushions looked as if it has never been replaced or cleaned. A sheet was covering the bed and another sheet was there to sleep under, topped with an unzipped sleeping bag. I was either too cold or too hot all night.

We slept in the aft berth. My left ear was a few inches from the Starboard hull. Just outside of the hull there was three bumpers. There was a fairly significant surge in the harbor and the noise put out by the squeaking bumpers was almost unbearable. If they could turn the craft around it may have been an improvement. Needless to say we didn’t sleep well.

My wife found the overnight sailboat offering on the Monterey Bay Sailing website. Here is the link to the overnight offering. http://www.montereysailing.com/overnight.html Although I am sure the day sailing is fine the 99.00 we spent was a rip off.

Here is a quote from the Monterey Cruises page “Boat Overnights are romantic and the sleep that falls over you as our vessel gently rocks in her berth is the most restful you will ever have and less expensive than most hotels”. This statement could not be further from the truth. My goal here is not to bash someone’s business, but I feel others should be warned. If you are interested in spending a night in Monterey on a boat don’t do it through the Monterey Bay Sailing company.


Boat Name: Pegasus
Boat Manufacturer: Celestial
Length: 30ft

Sailing Trip Planned and Fishing in the Ca Delta

I have been invited to help crew on a day trip on a 40 foot Cheoy Lee yawl. Yeah, I know, it is not a catamaran, but based on the complexity of the sail plan the experience will be rewarding. The captain also has 18 years of experience as a sailing instructor. All he asks is that I am enthusiastic, and can help crew and bring food for potluck lunch. Sounds like a plan. I am eagerly awaiting his sailing schedule in hopes that I will be able to join him.

I did some fishing this weekend on my SeaRay 180 Dual Console with my dad. It didn't start out well though. It was the 1st time in the water for my boat since last year. The batteries appeared to have a good charge the night before, but when I cranked her over she sounded week and failed to start even after using battery cables to connect both batteries. Although the motor would barely turn over my dad suspected a fuel problem. He has a Mercury 150 Optimax on his boat. Mine is a 130 Optimax, so he has experience. He also recalls that I have been plagued in the past with fuel delivery problems. There is a Squeeze bulb that SeaRay mounted horizontally so that if needed the fuel can be pumped to the engine. In some trips in the past I was forced to squeeze the bulb to prevent the engine from stalling. It was usually no big deal. My dad was advised by a mercury engine mechanic, that the bulb should be mounted vertically so the ball inside can do it's work. SeaRay should have known better. I had two batteries. One for the engine and one for the trolling motor. I ended up swapping batteries for a couple reasons. One is that it made it easier to remove the screws that held the Fuel line bulb horizontally, and the other is because I still suspected there were battery issues. Once the batteries were switched and the fuel line was prepositioned so that when squeezing the bulb, it could do it's job, the motor started up 1st time without issues and ran perfectly all day. Additionally both batteries worked perfectly all day, so it must have been a fuel issue.

I have learned some lessons. I need better tools on the boat. I should start the boat up at home after it has been sitting for so long to make sure all is well.

We were on our way after an hour delay. We fished the south delta for Stripers and did about as good as can be expected. It is a little early for peak Striper season, but I just had to get out. It was a little windy, but we survived. It was good practice for our upcoming trip to La Paz. We will be fly fishing, so I need all the practice I can get. I was looking like a rookie at 1^st, but by the end of the day I was much improved. Trouble is I have a weak back and fly fishing took a lot out of me. I hope I can survive 5 days in a row of fly fishing for big game in la paz. I will manage I am sure. :)

My dad got lucky and picked up an 8lb striper on a fly early during our trip. It was his biggest striper on a fly. I had one fish try to hit a topwater bomber. He made a few passes, but missed everytime. The water temp was only 56, so it is a bit cold still. I suspect I will have had better luck in the coming months as things warm up. I did pick up a 3 or 4lb bass trolling with a Yo-Zuri shallow diving rebel with a small grub trailer. We both caught several smaller Stripers and released all but the 8lber. We cooked the striper up tempura style with French fries and coleslaw. Mmmmmmm. Good stuff. Nothing beats fresh caught fish especially when you are the one that caught it.

We almost were run over by the biggest idiot on the water. We were trolling at 2.5 mph near the left side of the slue near the levy. To the right of us there was 150 yards of wide open space between us and the other side of the channel. I saw him in the distance moving fast towards us. I made sure he knew where I was going by turning closer towards the embankment signaling my intended path. Seconds later a fish grabbed on to my dads line on the left side of the boat. My dad had a fish on and picked up his rod and began to attempt to reel in. As we were both distracted by the fish hitting his line, we had no time to react as the idiot went flying by on our left side between us and the rocks. He was flying full speed on a 21 foot runabout with a full load of small kids and family members. I believe some of the spray from his boat hit us. He was that close. By the time I saw him all I could do is stand up with my arms outstretched as if to say what the F@ck are you doing? The driver was looking right at me as he passed by. I estimate he was moving 45 mph. He had to turn to his left as he passed to avoid hitting the rocks. As he did that he crossed behind us and sliced my dads line with the fish attached and in an instant the line from his real was gone as well as his $7.00 lure and fish that was attached to it.

I can only imagine how fearful the family must be and what they must be thinking. I know I wanted to rip his head off. My dad and I both yelled out and I expressed my opinion with my two middle fingers. I wanted to chase him down but my line was still in the water. At his speed it would have taken me a while to catch him. My 18 foot sea ray will go 48phm (Speed confirmed by GPS earlier that day) wide open which is pretty fast on the water. My dad and I are pretty easy going and a have calm personalities but we were both angry.

This was not the 1^st idiot I have seen on the delta. There are many. You have to watch out. Many have died, mostly alcohol related. This was definitely my closest call with death on the water. Part of me wished he would have hit the rocks; however I wouldn’t wish that on his poor family. I thought if I were paying attention I would throw something at him as he went by. I thought if I could catch him I could call in his Cf #’s. I also thought about jumping into his boat and taking him out along with his keys. I do hope that the line he now has wrapped around his prop will somehow do some damage, or at the very lease be an indication to him that he F’d up when he pulls the boat out of the water. To bad it wasn’t braided line instead of monofilament.