One of the many offshore oil rigs in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Today was a first for this cruise. There was a sun! And it was warm! Rounding Point Conception is a dramatic change from the cold and damp of Northern California to the sun and warmer temperatures of SoCal. Also, today, for the first time I put on shorts and a T-shirt. The first day without foul weather gear! In fact, in four years of sailing in San Francisco I don't remember ever sailing in shorts and a t-shirt! Definitely a welcomed change.
I had decided to bypass Santa Barbara and press on for the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. According to the sailing guide this is a nice, modern harbor with plenty of facilities.
It was a long day and the highlight was definitely two more whale sightings, this time I saw one close aboard blowing water out it's blow hole into the air! Also lots of dolphins and sea birds. Once again there was virtually no wind, so the iron jenny (the engine) helped the boat along to keep us at an average of knots in order to reach the harbor before night fall. I feel badly using the engine so much this trip, but if I had not I would still not be to Monterey. All the wind thus far this trip was within 20 miles of Point Conception!
It was a long day, about 12 hours, of motor sailing. Saw no other boats but passed a number of huge offshore oil rigs. The wind picked up about five miles out of Channel Islands Harbor, but by that time I was rigging mooring lines and fenders and preparing to enter port.
By dinner time I was safely moored and was able to crash and get some much needed sleep. It had been a long week.
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