Oceanside to San Diego- Sailing Tulum

Saturday we took Tulum from Oceanside to San Diego on a  7-hour run with nearly no wind.  It was a great day to get out and make the trip, mostly overcast with the usual Southern California offshore layer.  We left Oceanside at 0700 and pulled into Shelter Island around 3pm.  Wow, although there was nearly no wind, once we rounded the third set of buoys outside San Diego, the boat turned into the cruising sled I’ve been on so many other times when there was wind,,,,and off she went.  Michelle was at the helm and we decided to sail the boat, hand steering is SOO much fun when there’s wind and you’re just ripping through the sea.  The boat performed just like we’ve seen her in the past when there was wind and we were able to get perfectly trimmed sails to help the boat through 7.5 knots and perhaps 8 knots, but we’re didn’t really have time to look as we were trying to keep her rails out of water.  And, we were trying to keep the kids down below from allowing the lego sets to go everywhere when Tulum found her groove in the San Diego winds and exploded like colt out the gates the first time.  What a thrill to watch the joy on my wife’s face as she put 33,000 pounds of boat with no engine power into the wind, allowing that force of nature to push the boat through San Diego Bay.  Several people appeared to be watching us, but they could have either been staring at my Adonis like figure or the Conch Republic Flag flying on that side of the boat,,,,as I tried to mind the sails to keep the rail out of the water so my wife could more effectively steer.  We learned at least a year ago that Tulum goes faster when the rails are not in the water and two little girls are not crying and screaming in fear due to the heeling.  After a great example of “bow thruster appreciation lessons”; we put her to bed in a nice slip on Shelter Island.  She’s there to get a bit work done, more next time-