Santa Cruz Pier

Im anchored south of the Pier just a few hundred yards from the beach. It's hot and sunny and Im surrounded by the screams and music from the boardwalk fair rides and a hoard of huge seals under the pier barking like crazy. A total change from this morning with cold fog and fishing boats.

Anchored off the Santa Cruz Pier and Boardwalk fair

















I had the best sail so far on this stretch of the coast. The fog burnt off and the NW wind built up to 25knts at the end. It was light wind at first and I got to try out my small spinnaker from my last boat. It's in good shape but it's for a 30ft boat, so I was interested in if I could use it without a spinnaker pole. With sheets just tied to the beam ends, it was great up to 10 knots, I then tried using a block on the end of the boom to stabilize it which worked well, but then got a little out of control and I had to douse it quickly as the wind built. Great fun for a while though as it pulled me along like a kite at 5 knots.