Sailing out to the oil rigs
This past Monday I finally had another free day to take the O’Day out for a full day of sailing. It had been 3 weeks or so and the weather has been really nice in Southern California. The usual June gloom was finally replaced by sunny 80 degree weather.
Andre came down for the day to join me for the day. He has become my go to first mate on the boat. For only being sailing on the O’Day 3 times and once on the Capri, he is getting more and more competant. His wife got him sailing lessons at the Santa Barbara Sailing Center for this birthday so he will finally learn from someone who actually knows what they are talking about 
Having learn the last lesson when we sailed down to Oxnard and ended up getting home late, I told Marlene ahead of time that I was more of less going for the whole day. We packed lunches and brought drinks for the trip and off we went at around 10AM.
The boat ramp was crowded as many people have the day off before the 4th. There seemed to be a lot more PWCs than usual both in and out of the harbor. As long as they follow the rules of the water, they don’t much bother me. I have been on them myself and they are actually quick fun. It’s when there is a dude doing donuts at the harbor entrance then it becomes a nuisance for everyone.
We started out by just sailing up towards the pier as we did not want to beat and tack all afternoon on the way back. After a few tacks we made it about 4 nautical miles up the coast to around the area of Emma Wood State Beach. We decided that we wanted to make a run for one of the oil rigs out in the middle of the channel and see if we can make it there and back in time. We tacked to starboard and began sailing on a close reach headed directly at an oil rig in the distance. I had no idea how far it was and did not know whether or not we would make it in time. The plan was just to make it out as far as we can before we have to turn around. It was closer to noon at this point so we figured that we could make it out about 8 miles before having to turn around.
Andre getting ready to head out just outside of Emma Wood State Beach
That turned out to be just about right. We made it 8 miles out and get as close to the rig as we could. We didn’t have time to round it as it would have taken at least another 30 minutes and caused us to be late.
Other sailboats had the same idea as us. This is as close as we got to the oil rig
Just when we got out and was about to turn around and head back, we started noticing that there was a school of some kinda fish out in the distance headed our way. After a closer look we realized they were a pod of Common Dolphins! It had been along time since I had seem them out in the channel. Often they like to come right up the boat and swim near the bow wave. I didn’t think they would have much interest in the O’Day’s miniscule wave as we topped out at just over 6 knots but I was surprise to see about 5 of them doing just that.
5 Dolphins at the bow of the boat
Swimming along next to us
It was pretty cool to have them come up as close as they did to check us out. The previous times when I’ve seem them I had been in much bigger power boats. This is as close as I’ve gotten to see them come up to any boat. At one point I thought I could literally reach out my hand and pet them as they came up for air. They stuck around for about 15 minutes and left probably to find other faster and more interesting vessels.
Here is a video of the Dolphins as they swimmed next to us. Towards the end I climbed up to the foredeck and probably scared them away 
This is when we first spotted them. I just happened to be shooting a video clip. Note how excited I got when I saw them…
We made it back to the harbor right on the money at 4PM. The winds had been perfect all day and we even sailed right up to the dock without using the motor. Today was probably the furthest trip we’ve made so far since I got the boat. In the next few weeks maybe I will plan a weekend trip up to Santa Barbara and stay a couple nights at a guest slip. Before the end of the summer maybe I will even plan a very first trip out to the Channel Islands.