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11/13/2003 12:48:00 PM
Morro Bay, CA
Famous rock on Central California coast

Gone with the wind

Yep, we did it ? we have left our ?cozy? dock in Santa Cruz, said our last good byes to old and knew friends and are on our way to our great family adventure

Hallo you all,

Yep, we did it - we have left our "cozy" dock in Santa Cruz, said our last good byes to old and knew friends and are on our way to our great family adventure. Monday November 10th 2003  at noon (planned at 10.00 but who cares we are on cruising time) we waved to Maura, Bob, Melissa, Chris, Richard and Broesel standing at the end of the jetty, what a site and what a feeling!!!! Up to that moment we were so busy with getting everything ready that there was hardly time to breath, maybe it was good that way because it was hard enough. Anyways we had picked a gorgeous day - blue skies, sun and just a bit of wind, which actually made us motor - oh well, we'll get enough sailing later on. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to get to Carmel, Stillwater Cove, and our first anchorage went well with Frank only assisting on the side.  

Tuesday morning we left at 4.30am, luckily the guys let me sleep in, for a 10 hour sail to San Simeon Beach (where the Hearst Castle is located), again we made it there around 4.30pm and had to motor most of the time since the wind was not strong enough or coming the wrong direction. We did have another beautiful day with sun, no clouds, dolphins and even some whale spouts a quarter of a mile ahead of us - that made our day! The boys were up with us most of the time in their life jackets and tethered on, being really good, Sebastian felt a bit seasick in the beginning but settled right in after a while. Benjamin is totally oblivious about the rocking motion and is either down below on the play bed or up with us with no trouble at all.

Wednesday we left San Simeon at around 10.30am after a nice relaxed breakfast and had a short trip of only 4 hours into Morro Bay, we did motor again even though the wind was a bit stronger that day, it yet came from South which is the wrong direction and very unusual for the California coast. It also was a bit cooler and the sun stayed behind the clouds all day. We docked on at the Yacht Club for the night, enjoyed a long, hot shower and a good dinner out at a local restaurant. Today we are cleaning up a bit, doing wash, checking e-mail,  a trip to the park with the boys, do a few boat errands and repairs and by 4.00pm we will be out of here for our longest trip so far - 20 hours around Conception Point, the Cape Horn of the West Coast. We hope to have light conditions and get around it just fine. We will go to the Channel Islands for a day, then continue to Catalina Island for a day and on to San Diego. If everything goes well we should be there on Tuesday/Wednesday next week.

We will catch up with you then again but wanted to make sure you know we are well and on our way - hope to hear from you too,

So long

Yours the 4 Schmids and Frank

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