Brad Holderman

MMSD Volunteer Crew

18 Aug 2008

The festival was over. We had left last night, departing the dock right at 2000. Third watch had managed the Midnight to 3 watch, it meant for an interupted night.  Still, with a full crew, I opted for sleeping on the deck.  I'm claustrophobic and for me it feels too close below in the berths.

After four days, there were still remants of my real life, work day internal clock.  I woke at 0600, to the standing watch prepping to set tops'l and t'gallant stays'ls.  I joined in after a quick shot of coffee.

At some point during the night, we had throttled down, our southbound passage way ahead of schedule.  At this point, we were just north of La Jolla.  Breakfast and more sails.

We set courses, tops'ls, and t'gallant in light winds, cutting the engine.  Racing along at 2.5 knots, Captain Welton called for the main royal which had been lashed below in the exhibit area.

With a full stack on the main, we sailed leisurely for the remainder of the day as the San Diego skyline slowly came into view.  Surprise still has her mysteries for us, refuseing to tack a couple of times.  She wears well and we used that to set us on a course that put us straight into the middle of the channel leading into San Diego Bay.

Just outside the bay, the  Columbian Navy's training ship Gloria was moored, keeping station until the parade of ships on Wednesday.  Its nice to see another large square-rigged vessel joining us at San Diego's festival

We touched the dock before a large crowd, about a  quarter after four.  Leaving the ship finally around 1730, I was soon on the Coaster north back to home.