My O’Day 22 Sailboat Blog

This last Sunday I took a couple of old college buddies out for a sail just out side of the harbor of Ventura. From my last post I mentioned that I kept the boat in the slip the night before. I sure missed having the boat in the water all the time. But I am still glad that I don’t have the same type of maintenance and monthly costs. It takes a little more effort put her in the water but I am starting to get better at it. I can now do it in less than 30 minutes by myself and I’ve only done it about 5 times. My goal is to do it in 15 minutes with one other person eventually. If you read my last post, this is pretty much contrary to my last statement which was to take your time and do it right. Oh well, there is a happy medium somewhere in there.

My friends Nicole and Mike came up from Orange County for our other buddy Rodrigo’s party. She has never been sailing and wanted to check it out. She was the person that let me borrow her truck when I bought the boat back in March and let me keep it at her parents driveway for about a week before I brought it home. We made it out to the boat at around noon and found the conditions to be pretty much the same as Saturday. Maybe a little less swell in the water but definitely still overcast. I am getting pretty good at giving people crash courses in sailing after these last couple of weeks. Mike has gone out when he was a kid on a big sailboat but has never had any other sailing experience. He was also a little sleep deprived from the night before so he pretty much just relaxed and hung out.

Mike on the foredeck

First person perspective from the bow

The route we took was pretty much the same as the one I took Andre on the week before. A littel sail out of the harbor and tack towards the pier. I let Nicole helm the tiller pretty much the whole time cus she mentioned that she may be prone to seasickness. After what I went through on the return trip the day before, I knew the water can get rough with littel notice. She caught on quickly and was reading her telltales and putting the boat into the groove in no time. Although the sun wasn’t out we had a blast. Mike especially enjoyed hanging out on the foredeck hanging his feet over and thru the bow pulpit. The lack of sleep caught up with him a little bit as he took a nap in the v-berth an hour or so into the trip.

A conked out Mike after a tough night

Nicole at the helm going upwind on a port tack

We sailed right up to the pier before tacking around to a downwind course on the way back. Coming into the harbor we circled the entrance buoy a couple of times while checking out the wildlife who are making it their temporary home. The video below shows us trying to get their attention without much success. The sound of a beaten canine was coming out of me and Mike rather than the sea lions.

Mike wishing he could nap on the buoy with the sea lions

I was going to take the boat out but on the way back I decided to just leave it in the slip for another night to avoid the zoo that is the launch ramp on a Sunday afternoon. It also made for a nice day to not have to worry about a haul out. It made for a perfect day with an afternoon lunch at the Habit on Califronia Street. If you have never been to the Habit you will need to eat there if you ever come to the Ventura area.

Note the scream Mike lets out while I am explaining manuevering to Nicole in the video. This is 3 seperate clips merged together. If you look close during the middle of the clip you can see the bow eye ring when the camera is shooting down at the water. It is bent about 90 degrees to starboard. Pause it at just over 1 minute in and you will see it. That was the damage I suffered from bumping into the launch ramp from the day before. Luckily no real structural damage and I was able to bend the ey ring back for boat retrieval. What do you think about our sea lion impersonations at the end