Day 2, Oct 2, 2012, Tuesday

Once again a late morning so we did not leave Avalon until 2:30.  It is so lovely there it is hard to leave.  We spent several hours trying to find places to put things so that they will be secure and taking care of odd jobs.  Around noon we finally launched the dingy and rowed ashore for a stroll through town.  It is amazing how Avalon keeps its charm after all these years.  It does not look very different from when I went there as a girl scout in the 50’s, except that the shops are more upscale and ice cream is $3/scoop.  If you have never been there, I strongly encourage you to go.   Boats leave from Long Beach and San Pedro.

We finally cast off and headed under power to the south end of the island where we picked up a good wind and raised the sails.  I was starting to feel the first twinges of seasickness so I dug out a patch and stuck it behind my ear.  It worked and I felt fine.  Our intention is to sail out as far as we can before midnight and then turn and head for San Diego.  This will give us more practice night sailing and navigating. 

We haven’t quite figured out the watches yet but Alan likes to stay up late and I fall asleep after dinner and get up early, so we went with that pattern.  As I fell asleep I heard Alan singing from the cockpit.  He told me later that he realized that his life was set when he saw South Pacific on stage when he was 8 or 9.   “You’ve got to have a dream.  If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?” and “Once you have found her, never let her go.”  Listen to the sound track and you will see what he means.

I took over the helm about 3am. The night was beautiful, with a full moon and a brisk wind coming for once from the right direction.  The tiller was lashed so all I had to do was keep a lookout for ships and check the compass from time to time to be sure we were still on course and log our position every hour.