Med Viking II and crew docked safely at KKMI in Richmond at 1 AM on June 24th. We had to make a stop of about 8 hours in Santa Barbara because the conditions where not good to pass Point Conception (aka Cape Horn of the West). We had timed our departure of San Pedro to pass Point Conception around 2AM but it was clear that the forecast had been a bit optimistic, and we should wait a few more hours before the wind would calm down. We left Santa Barbara at 7AM and were able to pass the dreaded cape without too much problem. Still the winds were a bit higher than expected and it was cold and foggy.
We had some nice encounters with sea life on the way north. We saw many dolphins and a few whales. In one sighting, the whales were breaching. It was quite a spectacle. The last whale we saw was in collision course with the boat. We did not have time to alter our course, so we waited with apprehension… Apparently, the whale had decided to dive instead of flapping its tail against our boat. Thank you, Mr. or Ms. whale!
Here is a view of our trip north:

We passed the Golden Gate bridge around 11PM. While entering the bay, we had an amazing view of the city with a full moon rising above the skyline:

We drove back to Orange County the same day and are planning to come back to start the race to Hawaii in July.
Many thanks to crew Marc and Guy and a very special thanks to Andrea who cooked us wonderful meals at sea.