Top Sailing Quotes

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  Mark Twain
 “There's no thrill in easy sailing when the skies are clear and blue, there's no joy in merely doing things which any one can do. But there is some satisfaction that is mighty sweet to take, when you reach a destination that you never thought you'd make”  -  unknown
I don't know who named them swells. There's nothing swell about them. They should have named them awfuls.   -Hugo Vihlen 
 
Red sky by morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor's delight.   - Anonymous
      
I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it - but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor.
- Oliver Wendel Holmes

Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made.   Robert N. Rose

There is NOTHING--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.    Kenneth Grahame
 
Boats, like whiskey, are all good.   Culler
 
A lot of people ask me if I were shipwrecked, and could only have one book, what would it be? I always say 'How to Build a Boat    Stephen Wright
 
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.   William A. Ward

 At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.    Robin Lee Graham
 
I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky.  And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.   John Masefield
 
"The ocean has always been a salve to my soul...the best thing for a cut or abrasion was to go swimming in salt water. Later down the road of life, I made the discovery that salt water was also good for the mental abrasions one inevitably acquires on land."   Jimmy Buffett
 
"The sea is the same as it has been since before men ever went on it in boats."
- Ernest Hemingway

 The lovely thing about cruising is that planning usually turns out to be of little use.
- Dom Degnon
 
 There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.
- Joseph Conrad
 
 "Cruising has two pleasures. One is to go out in wider waters from a sheltered place. The other is to go into a sheltered place from wider waters."   Howard Bloomfield
  
Mackerel skies and mares tails, soon will be time to shorten sails.   Old sailors proverb.
 
 There is nothing like lying flat on your back on the deck, alone except for the helmsman aft at the wheel, silence except for the lapping of the sea against the side of the ship. At that time you can be equal to Ulysses and brother to him.    Errol Flynn
 
"One of the best temporary cures for pride and affection is seasickness."
- Henry Wheeler Show
 
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Give him a fishing lesson and he'll sit in a boat drinking beer every weekend.   Alex Blackwell
 
A sailor’s joys are as simple as a child’s.   Bernard Moitessier
 
The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails.   Joshua Slocum

"The sea finds out everything you did wrong."   Francis Stokes

“I start from the premise that no object created by man is as satisfying to his body and soul as a proper sailing yacht.”    Arthur Beiser (The Proper Yacht)
 
"The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective."
- Henry David Thoreau
 
"Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit."     Brooks Atkinson
 
"Not all who wander are lost."     JRR Tolkien

There are three sorts of people; those who are alive, those who are dead, and those who are at sea. -  Old Capstan Chantey attributed to Anacharsis, 6th Century BC

The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea.   Isak Dinesen
 
The sea hates a coward.   Eugene O’Neill

To young men contemplating a voyage I would say go.    Joshua Slocum

A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives. - Anne Davison

 
"Men in a ship are always looking up, and men ashore are usually looking down."
- John Masefield
 
"A small craft in an ocean is, or should be, a benevolent dictatorship."   Tristan Jones

Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.   Joseph Conrad
 
"It isn't that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better."   Sir Francis Drake

Via Chris@Bluemoon 

What Would You Do?

Amazing!

More Pics

Double Code Red

More Surfing Videos

One of the biggest days ever at Teahupoo.  Would you ride this wave?  Go full screen no matter what.

Pic of the Day

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Happy Saturday

Your Turn

How to Drop the Spinnaker

Not!

Tip of the Day - Airfoil (stream everything everywhere)

So you have that shinny new Macbook Air and you are sending your music library to the Apple TV via Airplay.  That's pretty cool.  Then your friends come over and you splash a few vids up on the flat panel with your iPhone.  Not bad.   Then your friend comes over and says you have to hear this album he found on Rdio.  You pull it up on your computer but there is no way to get it on your stereo (Apple TV)...until now!  With a cool utility called Airfoil, you can stream anywhere in your house.  I am currently streaming my music station: H2uh0 Radio from my laptop to my iPhone which is in a Bose sound dock.  It sounds awesome and you control it from your laptop.   Any computer, iPhone, or iPad can become an Airport Express and receive the signal through your Wifi. Hook your device up to some speakers and suddenly your whole house is filled with music!!!   It is amazingly cool.  I have been using this for years and have turned major web radio companies on to the fact if they are streaming music to home computers, they need to let their customers know about this software.  Head to this website for the download.  It will be worth it!

Pics of the Week

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Check Out Uwall.tv

If you have ever checked out the plethora of music videos on Youtube, you will agree that almost every music video known to man is on there.  Let's say you want to watch some old footage of Jackson Browne singing, "In the shape of a heart" along with many of the other videos of him and his music.  If you go to Uwall.tv you can watch all his videos in a playlist created instantly by the program.  It's a cool way to see some of the videos you missed while you were out living life during the MTV era.

Dear Diary

Her Diary,

Tonight I thought my husband was acting weird.  We had made plans to meet at a restaurant for dinner.  I was shopping with my girlfriends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I showed up late, but he made no comment on it.  Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested we go somewhere quiet where we could talk.  He agreed but he didn't say much.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "Nothing".  I then asked him if it was my fault he was upset.  He said he was not upset, that it had nothing to do with me and to stop worrying about it.  On the way home I told him that I loved him.  He smiled slightly and continued driving.  I can't explain his behavior and I'm not sure why he didn't say,  "I love you", to me.  When we got home, I thought I'd lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore.  He just sat there and watched TV.  He continued to be distant and absent.  Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed.  About 15 minutes later, he came to bed.  But I still felt he was distracted and his thoughts were somewhere else.  He fell asleep and I cried.  I don't know what to do.  I almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else.  My life is a disaster!

His Diary,  

Went out to the boat today and the engine would not start....can't figure out why.

Bonehead Move of the Year! - 2011

After much thought and deliberation we have determined the winner of last years contest.  Ladies and gentleman, I give you our distinguished winner!



Here are the top captions sent in:

Top Captions Contest:

"So what part of 'starboard' don't you understand, you big red behemoth?" — Walter Conner.
"Tanker Foils Yachts Attempt to Steal Ships Anchor." — Jak Ayres
"And now our top nominee for the Sailor's Darwin Award is. . ." or "Sailor's cure for constipation" — Dan Begonia
"Diagnosis: Crew suffers from acute case of SFB (shit for brains)." — Patrick Okey
"In the immortal words of Jim Kilroy, 'Mass times velocity equals right-of-way.'" — Chris Ericksen
"Vessel limited in her ability to maneuver runs down vessel limited in her ability to think." — Tim Schaaf
"Captain to crew, “hold my beer, watch this!" — Jim Van Cleve
"Does insurance cover new underwear?" — Bob C.
"Sometimes it sucks to be the frontrunner! — Ken Fouts
And our favorite: "Artist Cristo attempts to wrap a supertanker in pink," submitted by Paul Clausen.

I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Blog Nation.

Bonehead Move

Get Ready for a Great Year of Sailing

I know most of you sailors are done for the winter but on the west coast we look forward to winter as the winds are lighter 5-15k instead of the normal 25-35k here in the Bay Area summer.  It's a nice change and much warmer on the water in the winter than in the summer.  Next weekend I am taking out 6 ladies for a cruise.  They won a sailboat trip on my boat at an auction a year ago.  Should be fun to play charter captain for a day.  I will let you know how it goes.

Here is a vid to get you thinking about your next sailing adventure and get you excited about being out there again.  Enjoy!

The Ultimate Sailing Race - A look Back at 40 Years of Extreme

I present you with an awesome sailing video of the history of the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean race.  It's a 50 minute video, however you would be hard pressed to find another that would present more dramatic story lines or footage.  "If you want to be in the sailing game, this is the ultimate race". Enjoy and go full screen!

Merry Christmas from Lake Sunapee

We are in New Hampshire for the holidays with my family.  My sister has a beautiful home on Lake Sunapee and we had a lovely sunrise over the lake this morning.  I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2012.  Here's to many sailing adventures in the New Year!

Some of my sailing goals for this year:
Fix the base of our corroded mast
Take more friends out on the bay for a day sail
Sail to Tomales Bay
Enjoy the next round of promo races on the bay in preparation for the Americas Cup
Partner Sail
More spinnaker runs
Sail on other friends boats
Baja Haha 19
Delta Trip
Looking forward to another fantastic year on the water!

What Can Siri Do For You?

Siri plays a Yamaha Disklavier wirelessly via Wi-Fi and Airplay, complete with moving keys in full expression and moving pedals.  Maybe with the next iPhone, Siri will sail your boat!!

2011 - A Look Back (according to Google)

Looking back on my 2011, I have been extremely blessed in so many ways.  My family is healthy, our event planning company is doing very well and heading into it's 20th year and I have some great friends to enjoy life with.  There are so many highlights and here are a few:  Lots of skiing this year including a week in Mammoth and Lake Tahoe with one of the biggest snow years ever (800"), one week charter out of La Paz to the islands with the boat partners, boys trip to Puerto Vallarta with Frank and company, a visit from Steve and family from Delaware, floating down the rivers of France for a week with my extended family, amazing day sails with lots of spinnaker action on the bay, several sails on friends boats (Olivier, Pete and John), Sailing with Ryan and his famous kegs on the boat, a darts party at the house, a week long trip up the Napa river with Tex and Julie, Baja Haha 18 to Cabo, Cancun and the Mayan Riviera with the family and Mo and Dan, awesome December events at the deYoung and Bimbo's, and a trip back east to spend the holidays with my family.  What an awesome year of my life!  I am really looking forward to 2012 and getting closer to the America's Cup!

One of the most exciting sails was a night sail coming back to Sausalito after a ballgame.  We were not expecting much wind, however when we got to the other side of the bay bridge, it was blowing 30 and very thick fog.  John was at the wheel and I had the chart plotter and AIS going to make sure we were clear of the islands and no boats were headed our way.  We made it and the adrenaline was a rush!  Hope you all had a great year as well, cheers.

What I Love About Sailing

I started sailing a windsurfer in 1984 when I was living on a lagoon in Foster City, CA.  I thought it was so cool that I could move across the water with this amazing invisible force (wind!).  When I started to sail on the bay, I felt the freedom of skipping across the water at 20-25 knots that I had always yearned for.  Now that I have been taken by the sport of sailing a 30 foot boat across the bay, I realize the true meaning of what sailing brings into my life.  Yes it's still that invisible force, but in many ways, it's about bringing me back to our natural surroundings.  The sun heats the earths surface which creates the high and low pressure areas and gets the air molecules moving in the form of wind.  The blue sky with its ball of fire burning brightly. The waves that help move the boat if you are sailing in the right direction.  The thousands of dolphins and porpoises that I have seen on the ocean and in the bay.  I really enjoy watching the sunsets and sunrises from the boat and the different light that it brings into the cockpit of the boat.  I have seen the Green Flash several times from the deck of the boat and those were all highlights.  Out at the Farallons, we had a humpback whale cross our bow and we have had a gray whale cuddle up to the boat inside the bay way back when.  One of the other reasons I enjoy sailing so much is that it also has brought many of my friends out on to the bay to share an afternoon sailing in these beautiful waters.  With some music, food, and a little wine, we have shared some magical moments on the San Francisco Bay.  Our Newport 30 has done a wonderful job of keeping us safe as well as being very forgiving when we make mistakes.  As we enter our 11th year of ownership, we could not have picked a better boat for our purposes of day sailing and the 5-6 day sojourns on the bay and beyond.  Even though I sail once a week, as soon as I get off the boat to start heading home, I am already thinking about the next time I will feel that invisible force pushing us across our beautiful waters.  If you have any interest in exploring the world of sailing, I encourage you to start talking to people in the sport and getting involved in this amazing endeavour.  It may change your life and bring you the joy that I have found in getting out on the water.

Cool Vids

Pics Of the Week

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Check out this great tune by JD McPherson

Sailors Are The Lucky Few

Found this cool article over at Sailing Anarchy:

Childhood experiences almost always have Americans avoiding the water for most, if not all of our lives. We worry about undertows, or sudden storms, or bacteria, or sharks, or the sure disaster caused by swimming too soon after eating. So the idea of sailing seems so risky and foreign that most, indeed 99% of Americans, will never seriously try.
But a few of us, about 1%, do end up going out in sailboats, as often as we can. Given a myriad of seemingly safer, more productive and comfortable options, 2.6 million of us band together knowing that every hour sailing is another hour of full and privileged living. Some sailors are wealthy, some just getting along. Some are old, some are young. No matter our wealth or age, sailors are alike in the feeling of richness that comes from a large commitment of time to sailing and to the tiny sailing social circle that does what we do and knows what we know.
The numbers suggest distinct haves and have-nots. But the chasm in sailing isn’t between the material or the financial haves and have-nots, it’s between the experiential haves and have-nots. When you ask the 1% who sail, you find out that the experiential haves have enough to share and generally want to do it. And among the 99%, it’s easy to find as many who are willing to see through the thick fog of school field trip perceptions as there are sailing in the first place. So the chasm need not be there at all. It just takes a commitment of time and experience to bridge it.
If you’re on Facebook, search for and befriend one Werner Meybaum of Sailing Lake Calhoun, and you’ll see what I mean. I doubt that Werner is a billionaire, at least in the monetary sense. Yet Werner is among the most generous sailors I’ve ever found. Inspired by childhood memories of sailing on small lakes in Germany, Werner docks an old boat to a city pier in the Twin Cities, and offers free rides to anyone passing by. First come first serve. Only payment: tell your friends. The scale of Werner’s generosity is matched only by a continuous flow of willing and eager newcomers.
Behind nearly every new sailor there is always a bold contrarian like Werner; a teacher, parent, mentor or a leader who provides the time, the access and the assurances; a trustworthy and caring soul who shows, unequivocally, that to be wet, cold and scared is also to be invigorated, refreshed and inspired.
And around every one of these contrarians is a network of friends eager to share their new contagious, authentic enthusiasm for sailing.
Now let’s be clear. All of these contrarians come from the 1% -- they have to, because they have a monopoly on experience -- but their reach is into the 99% and their impact is to the 100% and beyond. It’s a kind of grassroots movement with its tap roots in a tiny minority, precisely where you would think such a thing couldn’t exist.
Every week or so Werner posts another dozen images to Facebook of big-grinning newbies, dragging bare feet from transoms or toasting a golden sundown, and every week Werner's list of friends multiplies. Moms and daughters, old and young, college couples, teenagers, retirees, African-Americans, Indians, Asians, sometimes even infants and pets. Every week I count at least another 50 or 100 people no longer in the 99% and I press “Like”.
This has me wondering what it would take to send the Milwaukee second graders to Werner’s dock for the 2012 spring field-trip.
Happy Holidays, Werner. Thank you for reminding us how lucky we are to be in the 1% and for brightly lighting the path to becoming the 2%.
-- Award-winning author, Nicholas Hayes, has teamed up with renowned illustrator, Renee Graef, to create children's books using intergenerational sailing as an inspirational backdrop.

Top Ten Art Installations at Burning Man

Attended by 20 people on a San Francisco beach in 1986, the “Burning Man” festival has mushroomed into a desert pilgrimage for 40,000 people annually. For one week, Burning Man qualifies as Nevada's fifth-largest city, and climaxes on Labor Day weekend with the burning of four-story tall wooden “man.”  Click here.

Here is a gallery of photos from the last 10 years of BM.  Click here.

More Awesomeness

People Are Awesome 2011 - Koreus

Sailor Forced off Boat by Coast Guard

A legally blind sailor who was preparing to sail around the world on his 20' boat, was forced off his boat in a terrible storm, is now suing the Coast Guard.  His boat was in trouble after he had broken his boom, lost his engine and a big storm was approaching.  Read the full article here.and leave a comment below.

Beautiful, Amazing Planet

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

This super fast motion fly by of the Space Station is amazing!  Auroras, lightning, storms and more.  We live on a very special planet that needs our help.  When we were visiting Cancun a few weeks ago, my nephew Dan and I would go for a long jogs along the beach.  Dan is picking up trash as we jog and depositing it in trash cans along the beach and I join him in this endeavor.  Only one person acknowledged our work after passing 50-75 beach goers.  One morning we came upon a shelf of sand above the waves.  It was littered with tons of seaweed.  The seaweed had trapped a bunch of plastic and trash and our job was to pick it all up and clean this area of the beach.  It took us over 30 minutes to accomplish the task.  But we attacked it with gusto.  Dan found a huge half jug that we could pile alot of trash into and use it to carry the items to the trash cans.  It was mind blowing how much trash there was.  We made at least 6 trips to the closest hotel trash cans.  No one on the beach said a word or attempted to help us.  We finished that and continued picking up trash as we headed back to the hotel.  My nephew Dan (26?) is an inspiration as far as trying to make where ever he is a little more beautiful.  I hope to continue along this path and hope that if you see trash on the street or on a beautiful beach, you will make the effort to take care of it.  It's never too late to start! 

This next clip might inspire you...or at least make you smile.  Click here.

Land Ho!

Have a great Wednesday!

Land Yacht