Schooling and Beaching in Avila Beach

(September 25th – 27th, 2017)

I ran to the railing for the second time that night.  The trick was to lean over far enough to clear the boat, but not so far that I was tossed overboard in the rolling seas.  But, I didn’t have time to think about that, or strategize – I simply had to empty my stomach as quickly as possible, and enjoy the few minutes of relative relief that followed.

We’d left Monterey earlier that evening, around 5PM.  Our plan was to arrive in Morro Bay mid-day the following day, to catch up with S/V Westy.  I started to get sick almost immediately.  I was surprised, and wasn’t sure what triggered it, because the seas really weren’t that rough – a few feet, with steep waves, but nothing unusual.  After being sick for the entire passage down two weeks earlier, I was pretty grumpy I was sick yet again.

It was our first overnight since the passage down, and our first overnight with the girls.  We left Monterey just before dinnertime.  The run was 125 miles, about 20 hours, so we decided to leave in the afternoon, and make it to Avila Beach mid-day the following day.  It was a long ride, but we got to sail most of the way, and we arrived the next afternoon and rafted up with Westy.  The wind was about 15 knots in the bay, which wasn’t particularly protected, but the point did a good job of keeping the NW swell at bay.  It was a fairly rocky first night, but holding was strong.  Unfortunately, we forgot to offset our rigs when we rafted with Westy, and when the wind kicked up around 10PM, the spreaders came close to kissing.  So, Westy moved to their own anchor, and we’d hang out with them the next day.

The next day, Tuesday, September 26, was the girls’ first day of school!  We spent the morning doing workbook pages and practicing piano, which went fabulously because the novelty hadn’t yet worn off.  (Don’t worry, an entire boatschooling post is coming soon!)  We had lunch, and headed to the beach to have a fun beach day with Westy, and our new friends Chris and Megan from Astrologer.

The landing on the beach was rough.  The pier, which has a dinghy landing area, was declared unsafe a few years ago after a large storm, and has been closed ever since.  So, we had to land our dinghy on the beach.  We carefully navigated past the buoys that said, “No Boats,” and headed toward the beach.  (Seriously, there was nowhere else to land – what were we supposed to do?)  Jason from Westy watched the surf, and signaled us to come in when it was safe, between the big breakers.  We made it to the beach without incident, and started our fun.

It was the first real beach day we had!  In four years of saving and planning, we pictured every day on the boat like this – sun, white sand, a few good friends, parents relaxing on the beach while the kids played in the surf.  It was finally here – and we enjoyed the heck out of it.  And of course, a trip to the ice cream shop was in order.

We learned a little about the history of the area, which was interesting.  Apparently back in the late 80’s a resident found oil while digging in the basement, the first sign of an extensive contamination of oil soaked ground under the town caused by leaky Unocal pipes.  Unocal started an extensive cleanup which eventually required much of the downtown to be razed to dig up and clean the soil.   This razing of nearly the whole downtown, combined with a $200 million settlement, allowed Avila Beach to rebuild itself as a brand new, yet still quirky, destination beach town.   It is really nice, and has a great beach, lots of fun shops, restaurants, and more to explore, all of which looks nearly brand new today.   Most of the buildings are about 10 years old, so they are practically new anyway.  You can read a bit more about this recent history in this Sacramento Bee article.

After a great day at the beach, it was time to head off to dinner and then bed.  We were leaving for Cojo Anchorage the next morning, and although the wind kicked up, we managed to get a decent night’s sleep at Avila Beach.