The Whale That is Stuck in the Bay

A Grey Whale has been hanging around the bay for over 70 days setting a new record. I have seen the whale about 10 times over the last 3 months. Usually between Angel and Alcatraz. This is unusual and the migration from Mexico to Alaska is taking place but most whales don't come in the bay. I have oficially named him Wally and hope to see him again soon!

Where have the bloggers gone? Celebrating 18 years of Bonehead Moves!

I purchased my first keel boat way back in 2000. I started reading all about sailing and lots cool sailing blogs. My hero's were Proper Course, Wetass Chronicles, Frogma, and Horse's Mouth to name a few. They have all left the game and moved on (Horse still posts every few months). Me, I am still sailing hard (3-4 times a week) and blogging a few times a month. The highlight of the blog came when we did our 7 month voyage to Mexico and back to SF. That was amazing! The boat was awesome, the crew delightful and 25 friends and family meeting us along the way. Now we have the video blogs on Youtube. So many it is hard to keep track. My two favorites are La Vagabond and Sailing Doodles. There are so many others! Most feature a beautiful woman or two and lots of thong bikinis. Someone encouraged me to do a video blog and I told them no one wants to watch a bunch of old men motoring around Mexican waters. I think I am correct. This blog is getting close to 3000 entries and one million visits. Not bad for a guy with a dog, a boat and a dream.

Ocean Race Highlights - Southern Ocean

A Lucky Sailor!

Here’s one I will never forget. We were sailing up the Malacca Straits in a loose company of fellow cruisers and headed for the island Kupang off the west coast of Malaysia. The weather was benign and we were able to anchor our ketch Clover in a snug cove surrounded by lush tropical jungle. Not long after we had the anchor down, a good friend, a singled woman aboard her 27-foot sloop, motored into the anchorage and slowly circled us. “Have I got a story to tell,” she called out. So, we invited her over for cocktails and dinner. Five hours earlier, she had been running up the straits in a calm following breeze, wearing only a bikini bottom as she often did in warm weather. She went to the mast to hoist her staysail, gave the halyard a great pull and, since the halyard was not attached to the sail, it ran free propelling her backwards and over the lifelines into the water. She was still holding the halyard as the boat continued to sail away steered by the wind vane. She could hold on, but not hand over hand against the force of the water to get back to the boat. What to do? Not far away she saw a fisherman in his small motorboat and she made the decision to do the only think she could do, she let go of the line. Swimming will all her force toward the boat, she stopped several times to call out and, luckily, the fisherman eventually heard her. He motored to her and helped this half-naked English amazon into his boat. Not sharing any language, our friend managed to make him understand that the little boat sailing away was hers and she needed to be returned to it. He did so but wasn’t happy about it. A blond mermaid emerging from the sea was surreal to him. When they got alongside her boat, he followed our friend aboard and began demanding payment. She offered him a little money from her cruising kitty but he wanted more. Now, seriously afraid for her well-being, alone on her boat with a Malaysian fisherman far from the shore, our friend gave him all she had and then insisted he leave. He did and she was alright, just barely. Shaking and on the verge of tears, she boiled the kettle and made herself a cup of tea. She said after all, “I don’t ever get really traumatized, I just have another cup of tea.” That stiff upper lip served her well and three years later she finished a safe and seamanlike circumnavigation. No, I will never forget her special tale of survival or that very special woman.

Is Sailboat Ownership Worth It?

By Matt P. If you like having money in your bank account, don't own a sailboat! This is countered by the following... “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ― Kenneth Grahame , The Wind in the Willows Owning a sailboat is not the choice of the sane. From a pure logic and economic perspective, a sailboat is packaged insanity. It will cost you more than you can possibly imagine, it will never give back any value close to what you put into it and it will demand more from you than the worst spouse imaginable. But treated well she will be your most loyal friend and take you to places where dreams are made of and stories are told from. And where others will long with envy at the tales that trail in the water leaves behind. If I was sane and rational, and I usually am, I wouldn't own a sailboat. The pure financial aspect doesn't make sense. It would be cheaper for me to charter a boat for the times I've sailed on my boat and even then, the costs of doing so work out to the hundreds of dollars per hour. Why do I do it? For the convenience of having my boat when I want it, where I want and on my schedule. And for the fact that she is "mine". Sharing a boat with someone else or using the one bought and paid for by others is like having a turn with the town prostitute. Eventually everyone will know her good points and bad points and the locals know who's been out dallying with her. Boats are best when they are monogamous. Just you and them. It's ok to bring friends out with them to play and socialize but she goes home with you. I love watching starry-eyed people at the sailboat show, giddy about the dream and talking about all the things they will do with a boat. Good boat brokers don't sell boats; they sell dreams. They are weavers of fantasy, beguiling liars telling tales of faraway lands. And it works! I'm on my fourth boat. But I shake my head and smile at the dreamers. They'll learn soon enough... ...that there are worse things to do with your money than buy a sailboat. In the end you may come to regret the purchase and may eventually get rid of her. We all eventually do. The two best days of a sailor’s life are the day you buy her and the day you sell her. But the days in between count too. And those are the ones you will remember fondly long after the money is gone and the boat has found a new home. And you won't begrudge them a bit. Years and memories will fade but the brightest will always be those days among the waves. Don't allow a sailboat into your life! Because once that bug bites hard enough it won't let you go. You'll be a slave to wind and the water. Addicted, entranced, enraptured. And you will be taken as far as you'll allow your soul to wander and your dreams will carry you. It is most definitely not worth it to own a sailboat! You have been warned.

My Favorite Surfer Dude