Paddling

nathan - July 31, 2022, 8:23 p.m.

5-20, ESE -> SSW; completely dead at times. Low 80s

Arrived with Chris at 1:30, headed out to Cyrus (not Scoundrel as expected; wrote the wrong boat on my calendar). The boat was missing a tiller extension. Chris brought a GPS, so we should be able to get an actual route. I forgot to bring a radio, so don't know why multiple police boats went speeding past or why there was a helicopter parked above one of the islands most of the time. We went down the West side of Spectacle, through the missing Long Island bridge, intending to go around Peddocks. However, once we got to about the red "2" flasher between Peddocks and Nut Island, the wind died down and we decided to head back. Chris failed a spot check so we thought there was no spinnaker and therefore didn't bust it out. Planned to go up around Long Island, but somewhere around "2P" the wind died entirely and we were slowly dragged in toward the quarantine rocks. We actually broke out the paddle to try to keep from hitting them. The current got pretty significant. Eventually, we found some wind and took it up through Nubble Channel. Followed a line of sailboats up through the President Roads anchorage, but decided to take the main channel around the Lower Middle instead of following them through the narrow channel. A sonar that had been just behind us ended up way ahead by taking the direct route through that narrow channel. Back on the dock and reported the missing tiller extension by 7:49.