Mike came back down to the boat around 6:30 and we got underway. Skies are clear. No fog for a change. The bar flashing lights were on but it was an easy (but pounding) crossing. No white water. The weather forecast is marginal today with the winds picking up and getting worse all week. We might get stuck in Bodega Bay tonight.
The good news - we all survived. The boat is sound and in one piece. Other than that the day was not a good one. Started out ok, but about 1pm the seas picked up and were maxing out around 12 foot fortunately on our stern. Way more than was forecast. We would scream down the front side of the wave routinely at 12 knots and once at 17 knots. Sometimes we ran out of rudder, go sideways and Melissa would scream in sheer terror as the boat rolls up to 45 degrees. After 4 hours of screaming in fright every 10 minutes it was getting really old. Mike (the owner of the boat) who was sitting on the starboard side of the boat came flying across the cabin on a particularly bad roll - slamming his head into the window on the port side. Melissa saw it happen and was suitably horrified. When Dave asked if everything was ok - Melissa said "no", and Mike said "yes". Realizing that Mike didn't realize how hard he hit Melissa looked at his head which was already starting to form a goose egg. She ran for a baggie of ice from the freezer and by the time she got back, Mike was starting to fade out. He collapsed and was unresponsive. Melissa thought him dead and started screaming at Dave and Gerry for help. Gerry came running down from the cockpit and asked Melissa to retrieve the first aid kit to get smelling salts. No luck there were none. Slowly Mike came to but was sleepy. Melissa grabbed the first aid books but they said little that would help other than that we needed to keep him awake. Gerry called the Coast Guard and reported our situation. We were doing all the right things but they decided to monitor our position and status every 10 minutes. Mike came back around strong and was ok.
After way too many hours, we finally made port. The marina was windy - we clocked top speed 40 mph on our way into the bay. There must be some sort of localized winds here. That was going to make the docking procedure tricky particularly since our slip required us to dock on the windward side with the wind blowing us off the dock. We maneuvered in pretty well, but a small overshot and Dave (who was at the helm) bumped the water spigot on the dock and it broke loose and we had water spraying everywhere. We later realized it was a really poor design to have the spigot hanging over the water like that as we could see it had been patched several times. Alas the marina was none too happy about it and were obnoxious when Melissa raced down the dock to ask that they shut off the water to B dock. After the day we had, it was the least of our worries.
The boat is stuck here until Thursday. Dave and Melissa head for Napa to visit some wineries. Mike and Christina get reacquainted with their home after being gone for over a month. The plan is to meet up for lunch in Napa Wednesday, visit Mike and Christina's favorite winery and then to drive out to Bodega Bay. Melissa, Mike and Dave will get to bed early for another oh-dark-thirty departure Thursday morning. Mike's son might join us for the last leg of the adventure.