Unseasonal luck

So they say, that the trough we had was unseasonal...hmmmm, today is beautiful, blue skies, winds haven't picked up and it looks perfect for sailing. But, tomorrow afternoon another unseasonal cold trough will hit the coast with even stronger winds that caused us to run in here!! Unseasonal, hmmm bloody typical! So here we sit with not enough of a good weather window to leave, allowing us any time to get away from all this unseasonal stuff. It is VERY frustrating and Geoff will soon go nuts, in fact if the water wasn't so cold I think he would start swimming for it!! The next break we may get could be on Sunday......cross your fingers for us!

Cold, yep it is beautiful today but last night and this morning the temp dropped down to 4 degrees and as the boat sits in that cold water it acts a bit like an esky and the inside was colder than the outside at 10am this morning. We had to give back the loaner heater when we left Alameda. So now we just snuggle together. And wait!

Each morning we have a Sea Otter who comes and plays around the boat, they are so damn cute! I have yet to get it on camera but will be more ready tomorrow. The Sea Otters at the Monterey Aquarium yesterday were all rescued babies that had got too used to humans, so now they are trained and play with toys and do tricks for the public. But when we saw them they still seemed to enjoy lolling in the sun more.

I did mention that our Sea Otter had turned a nice pace on the sail down here, she seems to sail fast in light conditions and holds well in stronger. Overall we are very happy with her behaviour at sea. Nice and dry below, no drips or leaks and not too much water on deck. The reefing system on the mainsail was a treat and not having Geoff on deck in strong conditions was fantastic. The dodger and the Bimini is also well designed and as you could see on yesterday's blog a nice dry warm spot out of the wind to hide. Oh and the new top of the ranger Bigger, Better and Beefier Autohelm? It is brilliant! Quiet, strong and not a big drain on the batteries. It handled the rolly stronger conditions with ease and doesn't seem to over steer. Apparently the technology allows it to learn about sea state so that it continually learns and auto corrects. Amazing and we love it now.

Added a few pic's of Monterey to keep you all interested.