Whales!

 We started at the fuel dock at 8:30 a.m. to get the watery transmission fluid removed and replaced with good stuff.  Might as well change the oil and filters, too.  Oh, and 5 gals of diesel to keep onboard.

Once we were done at the dock, it seemed like a good idea to go for a sail.

Let's try whale watching again!  The GPS set a guide to "Whale Target", due south til we're past the restricted zone, then west out past San Pedro.

As we head out the channel,

the weather looks iffy where we're headed.

 The weather is beautiful where we're at...The marine forecast was:  "SE wind 5 to 10 kt becoming W in the afternoon.  Patchy fog before 11 a.m.  Mixed swell...W 2ft at 13 seconds and WSW 1 ft at 14 seconds.  Wind waves around 1 ft."

Jerry spotted a little whale spout before we even turned!

We motored straight out 240 degrees.  As we neared the "drop off zone" where depth goes over 700 feet, we put out the jib and turned off the motor.  Just  before the whale target waypoint, a BIG whale spouted just to our port side!  We tried to follow, but it went away from us directly into the wind, exactly where we couldn't go.  Ever try to chase a whale in a sailboat?

How about here?

We're about 3 miles south of San Pedro when we saw the whale.

Coming back the sun shines on Long Beach port.

Can you see a spout?

Come about, come about, come about, but no more whales.  2:00 p.m. we turned around, and sailed back through huge swells.  Jerry cut a corner off the restricted zone to ease the roll.  We hit 7 mph frequently.  Just a few puffy clouds.  Back to the dock by 5.  Nice dinner at Rosemary's.

31 miles
3 hours, 17 minutes
Avg. Speed:  5 kt
Max Speed:  9 kt

The pink route is the original plan.
The dark line is today.  
The light line is last time we looked for whales.