New Surf Film w/ Liz Clark

I have featured this solo sailor/surfer many times on these pages.  She has been out there sailing the Pacific since 2005.  She is an inspiration to me and all those who are touched by the sea.  Take a look at her part in the film and turn it up a bit!

Eddie Would Go!

25th Anniversary celebration of The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau a Surfing video by Mpora

Eddie Aikau was the first official lifeguard at Waimea Bay, on Oahu's North Shore, and at the same time developed a reputation as one of the best big wave riders in the world. Partnering with his younger brother/lifeguard Clyde, the pair never lost a life on their watch. Eddie surfed every major swell to come through the North Shore from 1967 to 1978. He attained a rank of 12th in the world on the early IPS pro surfing rankings. His best contest result was a win in the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.

In 1978, Aikau was among a handful selected to join the cultural expedition of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a, which set sail from Magic Island, Oahu, bound for Tahiti, on March 16, 1978. Hokule'a soon encountered treacherous seas outside the Hawaiian Islands and the canoe capsized. After a wild night adrift, Aikau set off on his paddleboard on March 17 in search of help for his stranded crew members. He was never seen again. The ensuing search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaii history.


Side note: They had a huge sendoff for the canoe and even though they knew a storm was brewing, they took off anyway so as not to dissapoint the crowd.  Note to self: Just because everyone one is there, you donot take off in a storm.

The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau event was established in 1984 held at Sunset Beach in his honor. The event moved the next winter to Waimea Bay and has been a fixture there ever since. It celebrates it's 30 th year in 2014.  There is a great book out there about his life and times called, "Eddie Would Go".

Here is a website dedicated to Eddie.

Cool Pics!

Heading to Angel for an overnight on Tuesday with John.  On Wednesday, we sail to the baseball game on his Islander 41.

Conversion to Electric Engine Almost Complete!

I have to take my hat off to my partners Arnie and Murray as they have almost completed the conversion of our sail boat to an electric engine.  The 20 year diesel has been removed, 8 batteries have been placed and secured, the engine has been mounted, and after a few more tweaks, we will be sailing in August.

Here is what Murray says about our power plant:
"We have eight 12 volt 100 amp-hour batteries installed.  We will hook pairs of those together in parallel to form four 'super' 12 volt 200aH batteries.  Those four super batteries will be connected in series to produce 48 volts at 200 aH".  I believe they are about 75 lbs each.

I am not sure what the heck that means, but I think it's good.  Bottomline: we hope to have a cruising range, under motor, of 19 nautical miles at 4 knots.  In an average day sail on the bay, we used our trusty diesel about .5 to 1 mile a day.  Mostly to get in and out of the marina and motoring to a lunch spot for instance.  Our hope is that we will still be able to to enjoy 5-6 day trips up the Napa River (we will have charging available at our destinations), the Delta and beyond. 

They say it costs about .15 cents to charge the batteries after a day sail.  We shall see.  My partners and I are very excited about our decision to go green.  There will be very little sound from the motor, no maintenance, and no more fuel or oil on board.  The final cost will be about $9k.  Split between 5 partners helps a bunch.

Here is a picture of the newly mounted engine:

If you are interested in finding out more about our power plant provider, click
here.

Here is our old diesel being carted off.  This engine brought a ton of good times into our lives!  After my partners pulled it, an ad was placed on Craigslist for a free engine.   The next day, two engine less sailors came and took her away.  I wish them luck in repairing her and placing her on their boat.  We chose to replace our engine with an electric motor after this engine developed oil leaks due to saltwater corrosion ( the salt water is drawn from the bay to cool the engine).  Thanks for all the great times and getting us on the bay!!

Pics of the Week

From a Lake Bed in Nevada

My wife and I will be heading up near here in a month for Burning Man!  We are joining an established camp with a mutant vehicle called the Slug.  Should be life altering and amazing.  Some of our best friends will be joining.

Close Call Heading Up the Coast

We left St. Thomas in what I wouldn’t exactly call a window: it was more like a gun slit. In a place where the wind always blows from the east, it had been coming from the west for days. Hurricane Adrian had formed in the Pacific and was forecast—correctly, as it turned out—to cross Central America and reinvent herself as an Atlantic cyclone, or at least a dangerous storm. Our weather guesser, the esteemed Dane Clark of Jenifer Clark’s Gulfstream, explained that our April weather looked more like October, with lows blowing off the coast every three days. It was an unprecedented pattern.  Continue reading here.

Way Cool Boarding

Too Much Fun in SF

You are never too old to have some fun!

Duo Digs Deep To Sail & Surf Planet

The crew of More Hands on Deck had bought a cheap, neglected boat in MX in hopes of fixing her up and going on a long voyage.  Not knowing much about buying boats, they got in over their heads and have been stuck in port fixing her many deficiencies.  Here is a look at their struggles:

On our mission to sail and surf around the world, six months ago Tyler and I made the biggest mistake of our lives. We bought a neglected and broken boat in a foreign country and thought we could fix it up and sail away. We didn’t grow up near boats, we didn’t know anything. We never got the boat surveyed, and it wasn’t in any shape to take a test sail before we bought it. What were we thinking? Every day for six months we put our heart and soul into that hunk of junk, and often it seemed like everything we touched broke.

Being in Mexico didn’t help anything either. Many of the Mexicans saw young gringos with a boat and thought about all the money we must have, and there were plenty of times we got pushed around and walked on. What were we supposed to do, we aren’t from the country and who knows what kind of connections these people have. Better to dish out a bit of money than to make enemies. Even some of the other foreign sailors down there sold us junk that didn’t work, but they assured us we would need it. We were new to the game and had a lot to learn.

We took out my masts and found that the main mast, which is one of the most integral parts of the boat, was littered through and through with termite damage and worthless. Did the sellers of the boat know this? Is this why it came so cheap? Here we were, stuck in the Mexican 100 plus degree heat, just trying to get out of Mexico without having to throw our cards in, forget about all the money and time we lost, sink the boat and come back to the states with our tail between our legs.

We stuck to it. Every week we made a list of the things that had to be done and every day we crossed things off. We made decisions not knowing if they would be right or wrong. Many times we did things solely based on hunches, and just messed with things until they worked. We wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Continue reading here.

Extreme Extremists

Pics of the Weekend

World Cup Weekend!

Summer! (Pic of the Week)

Let's Go Yachting!

These videos from The Yacht Week really make me want to go sailing (and that I was 30 years younger!).  If I could do it all again, I would be on one of these yachts.  Alas, I will live vicariously through them.  However, don't feel sorry for me as I get in plenty of sailing with great friends on the Addiction.  Maybe some future raft ups in Clipper Cove will help me get over the hump.

New Boat for Coville

 Solo sailor Thomas Coville has a new weapon on the water!  Over the last year, the massive 30 meter long and 20 wide trimaran “Geronimo” has been completely rebuilt.  

The new Ultimate will face its first real performance challenge in the upcoming Route du Rhum starting in November. For skipper Thomas Coville, who has 20 years of multihull racing behind him, including two round the world solo at the helm of his previous maxi-trimaran Sodebo, this is the beginning of a new adventure.

Music Vault Opens Library

If you are a concert goer, you may want to head here for a listen.  All the greatest rock bands are here.



Just returned from a great trip to New Hampshire to see my family.  We were at Lake Sunapee in a beautiful cove at my sisters house.  Lots of dramatic weather including lighting storms and lots of wind from a passing hurricane.  What a great vacation.  My brother in law Ray had one of the Phantom Drones.  We were passing by on a boat and he flew out towards us.  He ended up hitting a tree and the drone went swimming.  He dried it out and by the time we departed she was flying again.  Pretty amazing.

Engine update:  My partners have removed our Yanmar and some Crailglisters have taken it away.  We are now waiting for the electric components to arrive and we hope to be sailing again in a few weeks.  If you have not heard, we are converting our boat to electric.  Pretty cool stuff. 

Cool New Phantom Drone

I was out in a park the other day and a friend took his Phantom 2 out for a test drive.  It looks so easy and the built in camera Wifi's to your phone so you can see what you are filming.  Buy one today at Amazon for less than a grand!  Have a happy, safe 4th.  Be very careful if you are on the water and please know who has the right of way!