S/V Marissa Update From Uncle Bob
Hello Family,
Yesterday it finally happened. I drove down to San Diego from Hemet. Sally had picked up Audrey, and we all met in the parking lot across from Shannon and Mike’s Shelter island marina. We had a nice if short visit aboard Marissa, Mike showed me around the boat and most of the exciting new projects and improvements they’ve done over the past couple years. Then we said our goodbyes, but with plans to meet up again soon at the nearby San Diego Harbor Police docks. Like most SoCal yacht marinas these days, it is necessary to key both in and out of the secure pedestrian gate, so Shannon had to let us out of the marina. Sally and Audrey left about 3pm, a little before I did, as I stayed to take additional photos of Marissa before her departure. Sally, Audrey, and I then met up again a few blocks further down Shelter Island, at the Harbor Police dock. After finally slipping all the dock lines, Shannon and Mike motored over to a local fuel dock to finish topping up the boat’s diesel fuel tanks. They then motored back down to the Police dock, where they were able to pump out the boat’s sewage holding tank. Sally and Audrey left as Marissa was approaching the dock, as Audrey was concerned about leaving her pup at home in his cage too long. I stayed a bit longer, til after we got Marissa docked, then as the sun had set behind the Point Loma Peninsula, at about 4:30pm, after final hugs and more photos, I too walked back to my car.
Shannon and Mike have radio equipment and a subscription with an Offshore Weather Prediction company (www.PredictWind.com) which will provide them with accurate weather forecasts, as well as tracking their geographical location. In addition, Marissa is also equipped with a radio transceiver device call AIS (Automated Information System), which is primarily an anti-collision system, but also can provide us with vessel tracking data from numerous online sites. When turned on and operating properly, the onboard devices transmit and receive operating data such as boat speed, course, size and other important data to other vessels within 20 to 80 miles, depending on air conditions. If a vessel collision is calculated, the device can sound an alarm to alert onboard crews. Some of this vessel course and location data is also picked up by both stationary terrestrial antennas, and orbiting satellites, then broadcast back to earth, then to web sites. So in addition to the Predict Wind site, Sally and I are using two of these online AIS tracking sites to hopefully keep an eye on Marissa’s location.
On my return drive I stopped at Sally’s to exchange a few things, then drove the remainder of the way back to Hemet. I arrived home shortly after 8pm, and quickly logged into the online tracking sites. Marissa actually departed San Diego Bay at about 5:45pm and was a few miles South of the harbor entrance channel at 8pm. So they are on their way South, and into Mexico. Hurray Hurray !! I stayed online til about 11pm, then went to bed, and only woke to check their position updates every two or three hours, thru the night. At 7am this morning, Marissa had covered about half the distance to Ensenada, where they plan to officially enter Mexico and possibly spend a couple days. They will get their first tastes of Foreign Officialdom, which is often very challenging for voyaging sailors. Hopefully it will go well for them today. Again according to online weather sites, they’ve had almost no wind thru the evening hours, but that should pick up slightly as they near Ensenada today. They’ve been traveling slowly, but consistently near, or just below 3 knots, apparently motoring, but they have or will soon learn that even in very low wind conditions, their mainsail can help to stabilize the boat to lessen rolling from the sea swells. With very low wind conditions, the sea swells were likely minimal also, but then they’ve been sitting in a very calm bay for quite a while now, so the rolling might not seem so minimal to them.
Hopefully Sally will hear from Shannon after they get checked in with Port Captain, Immigration, and a host of other officials in Ensenada later this afternoon. I will process and share some photos soon, and will update our adventuresome couples progress as I am able. Shannon, I am including you on this email, so if and when you have internet connectivity to read this, please write back with an update.
Love to you all,
Bob
