Friday, February 26, 2021
Take Every Wave - The Laird Hamilton Story
Larid is one my heros as far as surfing goes. Such an innovative and fearless pioneer in the big wave surfing world. I have seen some other films about him but this one really captures the excitment he has brought to the genre. The last shot of the movie is a 2 minute ride on his new and improved foil. I have never seen anything like it. You can watch the film uninterrupped on Hulu. Cowabunga my friend!
Race to Alaska 2021 Canceled
This is bad news! I was hoping this summer event would happen but no. However, they are running a video series called the Time Machine where they look back at 25 of the best moments of the race over the last few years. Here is a good one with my favorite team Freeburds brother combo.
Check out the rest here: https://r2ak.com/r2ak-time-machine/
Thursday, February 18, 2021
Aquarius Turns 20 Years Young
Here is a letter from my Jeanneau 40 on her birthday!
Greetings from your Birthday Boat!
I was born in 2001 in La Harve, France and am writing you this note to celebrate 20 years of sailing the planet. I was purchased from the factory and sailed to the Caribbean by a young French couple, Mauro and Fredriqa. We sailed the islands for 2 years and then they dumped me! But, they wanted to start a family so I forgave them. I was sailed to Florida where I was promptly sold to Tom Durig in Sausalito. They dropped me on a truck bigger than me and across land we went. I had never gone so fast! We arrived at the docks and like a duck in water, I was floating again. It seemed I did a lot of that in Sausalito! Tom was a busy biotech CEO and had little time for me. However, he did take very good care of me with maintenance and upgrades. In 2017. a famed sailor from Emeryville stepped on board and I smiled with delight as he is known as a sailor’s sailor. We had a few sails that were fun and exciting including a boat load of folks for the Blue Angles show.
Then it was off to the yard for 6 weeks. We still sailed on weekends and some of the upgrades felt good. I finally departed KKMI and to my new home in Emeryville. We sailed like crazy and we kept adding new stuff like the Rocna Vulcan anchor and lots of chain. My bimini came back on board as I had not seen that since the islands.
Soon it was time to shove off for a 7 month voyage to Mexico and back! Departing mid September 2018, we had a marvelous 2 months in Cali and then crossed the boarder in November. The crew was kind to me and I kept them safe. In mid April 2019, we returned to the Golden Gate and all were safe and sound. What a splendid voyage indeed.
I am currently part of a partnership and I love all the attention I am getting. I go out most weekends as well as during the week and sail in one of the most beautiful estuaries in the world! What could be better? Lastly, if you partners take care of me, I will take care of you! Bon voyage!
Aquarius
Tuesday, February 09, 2021
From the Archives: Tsunami Surge Hits Santa Cruz
Way back in 2011, a devasting earthquake hit Japan. It created a trunami that traveled at 600 mph across the ocean. It caused some major damage along the coast of California. Here is some vid from that day as it came into the Santa Cruz Harbor.
Wednesday, February 03, 2021
Skydio Drone is Amazing!
You may have heard about this drone but I just discovered it. Remember a while back when the much hyped Lily drone was the big thing? It followed you, it was waterproof and pretty cool too. Well it never came to fruition even after raising over $30m in preorders. Now, there is a new kid in town that is hands down the best drone on the market for collision avoidence while it follows you. I think this might be a perfect drone for boaters as you launch it and it flies around the boat while you do nothing to controll it. The technology does not come cheap but this looks like a paradigm shift in autonomous flying. Check out this review of the drone and you may want to consider adding the Beacon to the package. And look forward to some drone footage from high above Aquarius in the near future.