Malibu to Marina del Rey

I just arrived at Marina Del Rey yesterday,  Christmas day.

I left Paradise Cove in “light and variable winds”…and would have stayed longer but for the prediction of southerly winds next week.

My commitment was to sail if I had any wind at all after morning coffee and there was a light wind from the west.   I hoisted anchor at 8am and raised a 150 genoa and a loose drifer fore.   The genoa was poled out with the whisker pole and the drifter sheet was rove through a block at the end of the boom…extended abeam.

Sailing this way I took advantage of a wind less than 5kts,  not even perceptable underway.  The boat steered itself with the tiller tied amidship although first one sail filled and then the other.

After about two hours of this,  the wind changed to NEer and I was close hauled with genoa and main,  the drifter being stored.  Next, after about an hour and a half,  the wind changed to SWer and I had a broad reach.  Finally,  at the end,  I ran wing and wing into MdR at 2pm.   Santa Monica Bay was like a lake, smooth as glass and filled with the same small dolphins that surrounded my boat at Paradise Cove…they have striking black markings under their dorsal fin on their grey bodies.  I will stay at MdR for a week or so and will be at Arlington West Santa Monica tomorrow,  Sunday.

Best wishes, LANE