Haha Here I Come!

This week I head to San Diego in an attempt to find a boat that will take me to Cabo San Lucas. The Baja Haha is in it's 31 year and is the largest sailing rally on the west coast. This will be my 9th Haha and 10th adventure down the Baja coast. The 750 mile voyage takes us to three anchorages for huge beach parties along the way. This year we have over 130 boats and 450 sailors. I will arrive Friday and attempt to find a ride. I knock on the hulls of the Haha boats and introduce myself to the skippers in hopes that a boat will need a third person on the crew. If that does not work, I head to the kick off party on Sunday and continue the hunt. The boats depart Monday for the 10 day trip. The first leg is about 350 nm to Turtle Bay. 200 nm takes us to Santa Maria. The last leg is 150 nm to Cabo San Lucas. Wish me a grand bon voyage!

I Don't Give a Shit!

What makes the waves at Nazare so big?

When I was a kid, surfing was just getting started. Endless Summer was released in 1966, the first major movie about surfing the coolest waves in the world. I spent many an hour at Indian River inlet (southern Delaware) growing up and getting to know waves that were at most 3 feet. After college in Las Vegas (1980), I moved to Northern California and the Bay Area. During the surf season, November thru April, the waves were big and powerful. The best waves were in Santa Cruz. My go to's were Steamers and Pleaure Point. Both offered great rights with long rides. My first tube was at Zuma Beach near Malibu. I dropped into a good size wave and it wrapped around my sholders and head while the green room opened up. They say getting tubed is like returning to the womb. However, this is a womb with a view!

Snowbirds Fly SF

Last weekend was Fleet Week in SF. Instead of the Blue Angels we got the Canadian Snowbirds air team due to the shutdown. They were amazing. Went both Friday and Saturday and got 15 folks to join over the 2 days.

Largest Wave Ever Surfed

Last winter Maverick's was going off. One lucky surfer caught a wave estimated at 108 feet. We are still waiting for the hieght to be confirmed. Cowabunga!

Message in a bottle

On this, my 1,335th day since I threw the lines, Left Los Angeles and my old life behind, I had a thought that made me laugh out loud: my original timeline for this trip. What I thought would be a small piece of my story turned into a saga stretching toward forever, and somehow that makes perfect sense. The daydreaming plan was simple: blast around the world nonstop — a “fast lap,” a one-and-done adventure I could tuck neatly onto my life résumé — and call it finished. Not careless, not clueless — just focused on the horizon like a horse with blinders, convinced the only prize was at the finish line. Six months to a year at sea, ignorant to any of the logistics. The charm of it was in its audacity — like deciding to sprint a marathon in flip-flops just to prove you could. Once I started digging into the details, though, my "fast lap” plan collapsed faster than a cheap beach chair. I wanted to actually see a bit of the world along the way — but like most humans my world geography skills were about as sharp as a soggy paper map. Fortunately, I stumbled into a pack of weather-worn, grinning sailors who’d already unlocked the secrets. They whipped out photos like smug magicians pulling rabbits out of hats — turquoise lagoons, volcano silhouettes, waterfalls draped like lace curtains. "I want to go there!" I shouted, jaw unhinged with envy. "Where is there?" And just like that, my world geography improved ten fold and my tidy six-month lap stretched into “two, maybe two and a half years,” and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Cut to Fiji six months later: I’d blasted through Mexico, French Polynesia, American Samoa, and Samoa, chest puffed with progress, with so many experiences behind me and beauty in the rearview, certain I was crushing it. But the chorus from every cockpit and anchorage I zipped through was deafening: slow down, this isn’t a race. I have since learned that “race” is a very subjective word out here. You’re skipping so much good stuff! So my plan mutated again, this time from my “augmented fast lap” to the more common “visa-burner plan.” Stay as long as the stamps allow. Wait for the right weather window. Dance between hurricane seasons like a kid dodging jump ropes on the playground. At three to four years, all of those factors somehow line up quite well. It keeps the boat moving at a good pace but with a ton of amazing stops along the way — like a playlist where every track is a hit. Now, after 28 countries and over 40,000 miles, about four years at sea, three oceans, and one big detour around Africa, I’ve collected a treasure chest of moments — some terrifying, most astonishing, all unforgettable. And here in Panama, I can see it clearly: there was never a finish-line race. This is the Lifetime Plan. The point is, some race it, some rally it, some drift into decades — and four years later, with a beard smelling like diesel and coconuts, I can tell you: it’s not just a journey, it’s a whole world within a world — and the absurdity of chasing it is exactly what makes it worth doing. If I were to give any advice to anyone plotting their own grand escape, it’d be this: plan the technical side like your life depends on it — because it does. Have your redundancies, your tools, your life jackets, your life rafts. That stuff matters. But when it comes to the trip itself? Let it breathe. Let it happen. Don’t strangle it with a schedule or script. Go here, go there, follow the wind, follow your gut. The magic of this whole thing isn’t in checking boxes — it’s in watching the story unfold in ways you could never have planned. Cheers, Brian

Delivery to Ventura

My friend Barry has fallen head over heels for sailing. He met up with us on our voyage to Mexico in 2018. We took him to Santa Cruz Island (off Santa Barbara) for a long weekend. Lots of highlights on one of my favorite islands. Then we chartered in La Paz, Mexico and Tahiti. He was hooked. He looked around for a suitable boat and deciided on a Catalina 36. He found a 2006 in Alameda. We waited a few months to get it to his home waters 300 miles south. We decided on late September. We took off on the 23rd of September and harbor hopped down the coast in calm and fogless coinditions. Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz and Monterey are all day sails with overnight stops in each port. Our first big hop was 90 miles to Morro Bay and our first overnigh sail on his boat. We arrived at sun up and spent the day at the Morro Yacht Club. Next morning we were off to Santa Barbara for another 100 mile overnight sail. As we were rounding Pt. Conception, we could see Vandenberg Airforce Base. Just for fun, I looked to see when the next Spacex lift off was. It was coming up in 30 minutes! We were 3 miles offshore when she took off, unload her payload and then landed on a barge for reuse. How cool was that? We made it into the Santa Barbara harbor about 10am the next morning. We love Santa Barbara and several friends visited. We went for a cool day sail the next day in 10 knot winds that was very relaxing. Barry is loving his new to him boat. The next day we were off to to his home port in Ventura. This is a huge marina. The next day we drove back to the bay after a very successful delivery. We saw some whales, lots of dolphins and 2 mermaids! Thanks to all of our visitors: Claire and Mark, Robin, Ricky and Cindy, Dan, Andy, Kendra and Joe.