Captain's Post #16 - Santa Barbara to Sausalito - A.K.A "Is He Trying to Ram Us?!?"

By Larry McCullough

The weather window looked pretty good for 48 hours for our journey to our home in the San Francisco Bay Area, but for just a short period. Having a stop in Moro Bay or San Simeon did not make sense. The seas were forecasted to be a maximum of 6 feet every 9 seconds at Point Conception and then a pretty steady, not too uncomfortable 5 feet every 10 seconds. Like other things in life, a few seconds can make a big difference.

We untied the boat at 5 AM from the slip that the Santa Barbara Yacht Club let us use in the Santa Barbara Harbor and we were on our way with a very minimal swell and the wind at our stern as we headed about 35 miles towards Point Conception. Rounding the point would be very similar to the points we rounded leaving Cabo San Lucas where a southerly swell meets a predominately northerly swell and that mixture, along with throwing in some wind waves, can make for a very rough and uncomfortable ride.

As opposed to our departure from Cabo this journey did not have our favorite glutton for punishment Steve “Gumby” Grant. I guess after the 3.5 day journey,, that had some very rough seas he needed a break. This trip was just Jamie and I, we didn’t have a choice, we needed to get moving north.

As I previously have posted, the winds lately have been endless, this weather window had them at 3 knots to a max of 15 knots! Even if the seas were forecasted to be a rougher, with so little wind we would not have to deal with close frequency wind waves creating a pounding effect. On this trip we did not have a single wave come over the bow and we did not have a single wave splash high enough to warrant the windshield wipers to be used. We did have to turn them on occasionally due to the fog though.

Oh yes the fog, and the idiots that navigate through it. More on that in a minute, but first some very positive comments.

As we rounded Point Conception we were joined by dolphins and seals, the wildlife we saw this day was incredible and took the boredom away. The seas were as predicted and it was a nice cruise, unusual for Point Conception (my fifth trip). As we proceeded north I encouraged Jamie to take some naps, which she did with little encouragement since we had gotten up at 4:30 AM. She also knew that I always say take a nap because we have an overnighter and she knows I have a real trouble napping on the first day of overnight passages.

Around 2 PM I was trying to nap in our stateroom and I felt the boat suddenly slow down. I bolt up the stairs to the helm expecting the worst. Jamie said “I didn’t want to hit a whale, look behind us at all the dolphins and whales around here”. Sure enough there is a super-pod of dolphins, at least 200 hundred. As we are idling along at about 5 knots. I also spot approximately 10 whales in all directions…then one surfaces just off our bow, so close that I could only see half of him as he is crossing in front of us from port to starboard. I would say less than 15 feet in front of us! Jamie quickly places the throttles in neutral as our mouths spew forth obscenities, but in a good way (not the bad way that happened the next morning when we almost got rammed).

We were roughly 7 miles off the coast of the bottom of Moro Bay and just a bit south. We surmised that the nutrient rich waters from the north were funneled through Moro Bay and then connected with the current to create a huge feeding ground for the food chain. Who knows…it was a great memorable moment! In maybe a half hour we counted about 20 whales, so nice to see, a very healthy ocean.

As we proceeded north there was a dramatic drop off of the wildlife but was made up with the amount of fog that rolled in. By 4 PM we had the radar going and we were paying attention to the chart screen looking for boats transmitting their course and name via the AIS system.

AIS has been a great benefit to boater’s safety. The name of our boat along with our speed and our course (along with other general information) is sent via VHF radios to other boats in the area. What a great idea, who in their right mind would not spend an inconsequential amount of money on such a great safety device…more on that later!

Later as night came upon us along with zero visibility, the radar and AIS were crucial. Without those two devices there is no way we would be out there in those conditions. But people do, more on that later. As I was monitoring the radar I had the distance set at 8 miles and I noticed a “target” on the exact opposite course as us, which would mean a possible collision. At about 6 miles the AIS information appeared with the name of the boat, speed and course. Yes we were on a collision course. At about 4 miles I reduced the radar to just a limit of 4 miles and I radioed the other boat. The captain quicky responded, said he picked up our image on his radar and also noted that he had our AIS information. We both agreed to turn to starboard and give each other a wide birth to avoid any chance of collision. I must say it was nice to have such a professional interaction and also it took away the tedium for a while.

More time and darkness passed, yes you look outside and don’t just stare at the screens incase you missed something or another boat does not have AIS and it’s radar ‘signature” is so light that you miss it. As we approached Big Sur the seas were forecasted to pick up, I also picked up another boat on radar, this time heading north on roughly the same heading as us (common on Coastal Cruising). Soon the boats name appeared on AIS but this boat was all over the place. It must be a sailboat I thought, but why would he be tacking so much. The winds were light and not in a direction that would be favorable for sailing. Plus just about every sailboat heading north is doing so using their engines. As we got closer and there was no rhythm to his course changes I radioed him asking for his intentions. After 3 tries, and much frustration on my part, he finally answered and said his autopilot had gone out and he was steering by hand. My frustration, ok anger I admit it, with this captain quicky faded and was replaced with sympathy. It is very hard to steer a boat at night with zero visibility due to the fog just using a compass. Throw in 5 foot sees and it is really tough. The captain said he saw us on AIS and we gave him a wide berth, a very wide berth.

We passed Monterey and picked up some conversations on the radio of a tug that was towing 2 barges that was heading south. The tug captain was talking to a “war ship” that I had been monitoring on the radar that had been paralleling us for at least 50 miles but was about 5 miles farther out to sea. That radar target, being a war ship, was not transmitting AIS information. I had the feeling it was a Coast Guard boat or a Navy ship due to the fact he was so far out and not transmitting.

We were finally getting a bit of day light, the smell of coffee and eventually the coffee itself were bringing energy to my system. I had a nap and was at the helm as Jamie had guided us across the rest of Montery Bay and up to the San Mateo Coast. Time for a nap for Jamie.

At about 6 AM I picked up a very faint radar target headed directly at us, at 4 miles I try radioing the boat, no answer. The target heads to his starboard, I change coarse and head to starboard. I radio again and give his precise location along with his course and a more general idea of his location “4 miles just south of Pigeon Point”. He turns to port FROM starboard, he is all over the place. I try again on the radio I warn of a possible collision, no answer. He does another course change. I now turn hard starboard as he is approaching 1 mile, I zoom the radar in and it is like he is aiming for us! At a half mile I radio again and slow the boat down to an idle. Jamie is now wide awake from her brief nap as we both try to figure out what he is going to do next. I blast our main ship horn 5 times for “collision imminent” (our electronic foghorn had been going since the prior afternoon which blast every minute). At a quarter mile I put the boat in neutral, 5 blast on the horn again, suddenly he appears out of the fog headed at us, I reverse the engines to avoid a collision. An approximately 45 foot fishing trawler with his outriggers out. I get on the radio again asking if he is trailing lines that could tangle our propellers, still no response, fortunately there were no lines or nets in the water.

I have the utmost respect for fisherman, especially the commercial fisherman. But, as in life, some of them are the biggest jerks I have ever encountered. As we crossed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge we have completed just over 11,000 nautical miles in 3 years. On all 5 Great Lakes, the Bahamas, Mexico, Honduras etc. I give them wide berths when possible but so many times it is like what are you thinking? IE: the entrance to West End Bahamas, a multi million dollar Viking with it’s autopilot on figure eights outside the entrance to the channel; South Florida, fisherman ignoring my “stand-on vessel” (on land referred to as right-of-way) status, changing course and cutting in front of me trailing fishing lines (glad we have line cutters on our propellers) and him getting mad at me; and probably the most egregious, a fisherman trolling across the entrance, back and forth, to St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan) and blocking the entrance “it’s the first day of salmon season’ he yelled at me!

After the latest incident I said to Jamie “I feel a ‘Captain’s Post’ coming”. It’s therapy to write about it, to put it behind me. But I also have noticed a change in me over the last 3 years of cruising. As we have said, it’s not all cocktails and fun, there are many stressful times. Is it because I am older now, or did the trip make me older? I think I have “mellowed” some, letting the incidences like the one above roll off me quicker, no sense dwelling on the negative. The way the world is these days I think you may have too.