Entry by Joe: On July 28, I ended up having surgery for the ankle. It was a full Achillies rupture and I’ll be in recovery the rest of the year. I’m wearing a leg brace and keeping the weight off the left foot as much as possible. Plus, I’m in PT and doing exercises and stretches on it carefully. I’m so grateful for the good care. With help from friend David, we still made it down from Ventura to San Diego with a fun stop at Catalina Island. We were able to find mooring balls at Emerald Bay and Buttonshell Beach on one of the busiest weekends of the year. Newport yacht club was having an impressive race, and the annual paddle board race from Catalina to Manhattan beach took place. Leaving Catalina, the military was conducting live fire exercises. They monitored our position carefully and approached once at speed. Near San Diego, you could really feel the strong military presence there between the Navy, the Coast Guard, Harbor Patrol. We spent a week in SD with family, had a nice anchor out at Glorietta Bay and got some help with the main furling system from Pacific Offshore Rigging. Tomorrow AM, I’ll be sailing back North with friend Howard, thanks Howard!