Droning at Mav's with 35' Sets

12-20-14 and a stellar day on the San Mateo Coast!

Video: Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race Day 1 - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2014

It’s a race which started as a cruise 70 years ago when nine little yachts set sail from Sydney to Tasmania. Now the Sydney to Hobart is recognized as one of the world’s most testing ocean races in the world.

The course:

Sailors race 628 nautical miles from a startline on Sydney Harbor to the finish on the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania.  In between is some of the most treacherous waterway in the world - Bass Strait. This stretch of water is renowned for steep, sharp seas which can cause disaster for yachts and their crews.  It was here in 1998 that six men lost their lives at sea in the worst storm on record.

Today, almost 120 yachts approach the starting line with the planet's fastest racing sleds vying for line honors at the 70th edition of the race. 

Watch the start of the race here.

Hobart Race 2004 - One Last Look Back

Happy Holidays to all Sailors!

Mind Blown

I am amazed at this guys exploits with his wing.  I love the thought of flying like this and Jean makes it look like child's play.  I also appreciate the danger of this sport and thus have never tried.  My theory is, the closer I am to ground...the better.  Sailing is a bit similar to paragliding in that in sailing, you are flying.  My wing is vertical instead of horizontal.  I also like be able to share the moment with other folks like you can on a boat.  Yeah, I think I will stick closer to the surface although it's looks so tempting to experience this amazing feeling of flight.  On one of the Haha adventures down the coast of Mexico, we were playing some volley ball at Santa Maria and a guy from the Haha lands with his wing on the beach.  He had hiked up the 1500' mountain, flew around the valley for 15-20 minutes and back to the beach.  I thought, how cool to sail to a beautiful spot, hike to the top and jump off.  What a thrill!  One of my goals before the trip across the Pacific is to take some lessons and learn the sport of kite boarding.  I windsurfed for 20 years on the bay so I hope the learning curve won't be too steep.  The great thing about having a kite on board your cruising boat, it's light and it does not take much space.  And you can whip it out (the kite board) almost anywhere there is wind.



Again, I think I will be sticking closer to the ground than these guys in the flick.

Holy Ship!

Storms Sink Boat, But Dog Swims to Safety

During last weeks storms in the Bay Area, a boat sank while the owner was away.  His dog was on board and was smart enough to swim to safety a mile away.  He was reunited with his ecstatic owner a few days later in what some are calling a "miracle".  Read the full story
here.

Heres's a quick vid of my boy Kona.

Giants Fall Classic to be Rebroadcast

With the Giants winning their third world series in 5 years, the talk has been of a dynasty team.  The Bay Area is bursting with pride over our boyz of summer.  CSBA (Comcast Sports Bay Area) is rebroadcasting the top games over the next few weeks so warm up those DVR's.  If you are not in the Bay Area, you can order DVD's of the series at MLB.com for about $60 (a gift idea for your Giants fanboy?), if you are so inclined.  I have been a big fan over the last 25 years and always watch a bunch of games on TV as well as sail to the games each summer.  It one of my favorite days of the month when we berth at South Beach and walk over to the game.  It actually costs less to park my boat there than my car at many of the local lots.  And their is no traffic by boat!  Go Gigantes!

'World Championship Classic’ on CSNBA
Wed., 7 p.m. — NLCS Game 5
Dec. 24, 7 p.m. — World Series Game 1
Dec. 26, 7 p.m. — World Series Game 4
Dec. 28, 7:30 p.m. — World Series Game 5
Dec. 29, 7 p.m. — World Series Game 7

The parade will also be broadcast on 12-25 at 10am and 1-1 at 9am if you are not too weary.

Where did the names of Months come from?

Pics of the Month

 Amsterdam!

Check out that dude at the top of the mountain, yeeha!

The holidays are upon us and more rain this week and most of the week.  It's all good.  Over the last 4 years the weather has been sublime with many winter days on the water.  Now is the time to replenish and recharge.  Planning a trip to the Grenadines this spring with a bare boat charter through
 Bare Foot Yacht Charters. If you have ever put one together, you know it's a chore getting folks to think ahead and put the cash on the line.  Will let you know how it goes.

Two Gals on a Boat

You are in your 20's and looking for adventure with your best friend from childhood.  You decide to buy an inexpensive boat and sail into the sunset.  Found this great blog with the above theme.  They decide to sail the great loop with a side trip to the Bahamas.  Join Kate and Jessie aboard their Cal 27 as the live life to the fullest.  I can't decide which one I like better as they are both so cute.  So wish I had done something like this when I was in my 20's. Oh well, my time will come!  Just 40 years later and on a beautiful Beneteau 42!  Check out their very cool
 blog and share their enthusiasm and adventure. 

Sailing Goals 2015

Wow!  What a year it has been for my family and I.  Lots of fun and travel (Caribbean, Hawaii and Mexico), business doing well, sailing a bunch and too much fun!  The big news on our boat was the transition to an electric motor from a 33 year old diesel.

 I set some sailing goals each year and its fun to look back and see where we have been. 

Here are last years goals:
Start looking at boats for the radical sabbatical to New Zealand and Australia departing 2018 for a 1.5 year adventure +
A 5 day trip to the Delta
Plan a trip for 2015 to the Grenadines +
More spinnaker sails
Sail in the 21st annual Baja Haha and the 2nd annual Socal Tata via Latitude 38 +
Six nights at anchor on the bay
Sail with John on his new to him 41' Islander +
Raft up in Clipper Cove
Sails to Giants day games +
Be safe! +

+ = Done!

Here are my goals for 2015:
Sail the Grenadines
Continue the search for the perfect boat to sail to the South Pacific
Sail to Napa
Take out more friends and family for day sails
Baja Ha Ha 2015
More night sails
Raft up Clipper Cove
Sail to Tomales Bay with Tex
Be very safe!

Some of my highlights included:
Sunset sail on Maui with 20 knots and a beautiful night
Many solo sails with Kona and our sail on Labor Day
All my friends who joined me this year on the Addiction
Cat sailing off the beach in Anguilla
Baja Ha Ha fun and the awesome beach parties
Cat sail in San Diego
Sail out the Gate in Feb with Hillary, Dave and John
Clipper Cove overnight and day sail to the ball game with John
The new electric engine is awesome!
Father's Day sail solo
Green flash then full moonrise off Magdalena Bay in MX
Day sail with Rich out to Raccoon Strait
Day sail with my best bud Steve from Delaware and his mastering the toe steering!

The years seem to get better and better as we sail along. I am one fortunate sailor and I hope the good fortune continues.  Here's to a fantastic 2015!  Cheers.

And here is one more bonehead move to finish off the year.

Hot Tug in Amsterdam

We are very excited to be the first people in Amsterdam with a Hot Tug, a wonderful Dutch-designed engineering marvel that is exactly what it sounds like: a hot tub with a motor. Why sit on a floating tour bus wearing headphones when you can glide along the canals in your bathing suit with a drink? This is the best and most unusual tour in Amsterdam and probably in the world.

You can rent a private hot tub boat or split a boat with strangers at 3pm daily. The boat holds six people plus the captain and we go out with a minimum of three people.

 Big storm heading for the bay and will hit us on Thursday.  They say it will be our biggest storm in 5 years. Lots of wind and snow in the Sierra Nevada.  Gusts to 45 on the bay.  Cowabunga!

Was Apollo 11 Faked?

It's always interesting to see what the conspiracy folks come up with when they scrutinize the minute details of an event.  However sometimes they hit the nail on the head and point out some thing very questionable.  In July of 69' when Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon, many think it was staged in an effort to beat the Russians to the moon.  I ran into a site that breaks down 10 such observations that deserve pondering.  Such as: Conspiracy theorists have pointed out that when the first moon landing was shown on live television, viewers could clearly see the American flag waving and fluttering as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted it. Photos of the landing also seem to show rippling in a breeze, such as the image above which clearly shows a fold in the flag. The obvious problem here is that there’s no air in the moon’s atmosphere, and therefore no wind to cause the flag to blow.

Read all 10 here.

Nat Geo Pics of the Year

This is over the course of several years.  Stunning pics all.  And get on the water this weekend if at all possible, it's good for the soul.

Rainy with a chance of Rainbows

Fiji Vignette 3/3 from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.

We have had a rainy and stormy week in the Bay Area.  Lots of thunder storms and when the sun pops out in the late afternoon, some pretty cool rainbows.  Lord knows we need the moisture, however, it is doing nothing towards those spinnaker runs we love in the winter.

Bonehead Move of the Month/Year?

Volvo Ocean Race Accident.  Early Sunday Team Vestas Wind went aground on a reef on Cargados Carajos Shoals, Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean.  Fortunately, no one has been injured.  They have abandoned ship and are safe.  How do some of the top sailors in the world hit a charted reef at 18 knots?  A boat filled with many round the world sailors.

Lord knows and shit happens on the open ocean and in inland bays.  Just goes to show you that this can be a brutal sport.  Hopefully they will be able to get the boat off the reef at some point.