Weekend Sunset Cruises at 4pm

The first Sunset Cruise was so fun, we may just have to do cruises twice a week.

Saturday and Sunday at 4pm, leaving from the Santa Barbara Harbor.

RSVP to confirm availability: captain@voyageofkiri.com

$15-$25 suggested donation, local wines available for tasting.





 

First Sunset Cruise

Video: Dolphins in SB Channel

Dolphins in SB Channel from Voyage of Kiri on Vimeo.
Returning from the Channel Islands, dolphins paid us a visit.

Kiri Maiden Voyage day 3

"You guys are the first under-50 year olds we've seen in days!"  Colin and Kristin are crew aboard the S/V Allymar, 38ft ketch from Oregon - they are also in their late 20s, and paddled over to visit us. Appears that young people are in shortage at sea. They are "hitchhiking" their way to South America on yachts.

Together we hike up the hill, and experiment eating the famed Prickly Pear cactus, which has micro thorns that stick to one's tongue, as Colin discovered...

 We depart the Coches anchorage around 2:30pm and set the autopilot east - this is a wonderful gadget, being able to set the course and carry out work around the boat.

4pm we round the last headland in the island, and we are in the Santa Barbara Channel, sailing on a close haul at 5 knots, which is great upwind performance for a trimaran - which is typically sluggish into the breeze (I think it's because of an extended keel on this boat).

Dolphins cruise our bow, the boat is effortless and stable. I love it.  As the sun sets, we crank the motor and jam back to the harbor at 8.5 knots, pulling in a calm dark night at 8:30pm, for my first attempts at docking...

Kiri Maiden Voyage day 2

First Stop: Surfing, 2-3ft south swell.

One other guy in the water, John, who I had met at this same spot 4 years ago. He was spending the night on his 18ft inflatable boat so we invited him over to the "Hotel Trimaran".

Second stop: Coches Prietos anchorage.

John came by and tied his boat up behind ours..  remarked on the trimaran's carpentry ("whoever built this boat actually knew how to build boats!") and for his good company he got the aft cabin, some Zinfandel, pizza, and a movie. Nice time all around!

 Issues: Batteries

And finally-- we mustn't forget, this is after all a shakedown cruise...  figuring out what "falls when we shake 'er up a bit". And we find the batteries are indeed dead - without the motor they simmer away quickly.  The lights stay on for a few hours but the galley sink and main toilet flush are electric and take up too much juice. The engine starter battery is in a different circuit, so it stays fine. Some other minor issues popped up, but so far so good..

Kiri maiden voyage day 1

'twas the time for the shakedown cruise...

We worked like crazy bats and still managed to cast off the lines only at 4pm on the Saturday. Still, some basic questions remained:  Would the batteries work properly?  Would the inverter run the fridge?  heck, where was the GPS??

I bought extras of each at West Marine (just in case) and we zoomed out. Crew was Alyssum, nutricionist extra-ordinaire, who has spent several seasons in Alaska commercial fishing - a good person to have around.

We sailed upwind for a few hours but progress was slow. As evening closed in, and a fog bank rolled in, it got interesting. Particularly as the rowboat (that was being towed) suddenly plunged underwater and pretended to be a submarine. We hauled the confused vessel on deck with the help of the mast halyard. We motorsailed from then on at a brisk 8.5 knots.

With very poor visibilty, happiness is to have a radar. Even if we don't actually know how to use it (!) at least it provides psychological relief. We dropped anchor 2 hours after dark at Smuggler's Cove. Pulled out the lawn chairs and enjoyed from stars from the deck.

Success for the first day!