Kona in the WInd

Last summer at Coyote Hills in Fremont.  We hiked here hundreds of times over the last almost 12 years. He was a wonderful friend and companion as well as my best sailing buddy!

Ode to my First Mate

I could not have asked for a better sailing buddy than Kona, my golden retriever.  He has been sailing with me for the last 11.5 years on the SF Bay.  He has also been my constant companion off the boat.  On Sunday evening, after two day sails with friends, he fainted.  I got him into the berth and he did not move for 30 minutes.  We took him to the vet and an ultrasound revealed he had fluid in his lungs and heart.  He had cancer that had spread and there was nothing to be done.  He passed peacefully on Tuesday. 

He was our second golden and a 1 in a million dog!  He was an amazing friend and companion.  He never got in a fight with other dogs, was very friendly to small children and got compliments where ever we went.  I was approached by many strangers who had to say hello to him.  He was such a special boy.  I will miss him greatly.  His favorite part of the sail was when I anchored and put the kayak in the water so he could swim to the beach.  I love you boy!  You were the best!

Kona at Crater Lake in mid-July 2019.

Ultimate Frisbee

I was an Ultimate player from 79-94 and loved this sport.  I played on a team that practiced at Stanford called SCUM.  It stood for severely crazed ultimate maniacs.  We played most of our games in the Bay Area but also traveled to Santa Barbara, Chico, Honolulu, Santa Cruz and more for tournaments.   Most of my friends were from that team and we are still friends today.  I was out playing Frisbee golf last week with friends from the Bay Area and my oldest friend from the east coast Steve.  They alerted me to a movie on the history of Ultimate.  Called Flatball, you can watch it on Amazon.  Check out the trailer.

Winter Update

Heading into the last week of February, I have been doing some work on the boat and sailing a bunch as well.  The weather has been sunny and 60's with no rain the entire month.  And this is the rainy season.  We have a huge high-pressure system that is pushing the storms north into Oregon and Washington.  I have a friend in southern Oregon and they have not seen the sun in weeks.   With all the great weather on the bay, I have had some fantastic sails.  Winter winds are in the 12-18 range.  I have been getting out twice a week and catching those perfect winds.  Next week I head up to Sausalito for the night and hang out with my best east coast friend, Steve.  It should be a blast.

Had a great New Years on the boat!  Sailed to SF and got a slip at South Beach.  Had 2 friends join me for an epic dinner onboard.  Then we walked to The Chase Center for an NYE with Dead and Co.  Bunch of friends from Woodside were there and we had some fun.  Must have been my 35 show or so.  What a great way to bring in 2020.

We returned last April from our 7 month voyage to Mexico and back to SF.  The boat is finally getting back to her pre voyage self.  I recently took off the solar panels as they were not working.  My inverter/charger got fried in Mexico.  The manufacturer sent me a new one and Tex and I installed it without a hitch.  Now we have the ability to recharge the batts at the dock.  Did not have that luxury for many months, but it all worked out.  Taking her in for bottom paint next month.

Looking forward to another amazing summer on the bay.  This will be my 20th summer on keelboats on the bay.  Lots of amazing sails in that time.

AC - World Series starts this spring!

As you know, the AC has four teams for the 36th iteration of the Cup (NZ, UK and 2 USA teams).  It will take place in NZ in January and Feb. 2021.  Prior to the Cup, the World Series is shaking things up in different locations to promote the next go-round.

2020 ACWS Schedule:
April 23-26 – Cagliari, Italy
June 4-7 – Portsmouth, England
December 17-20 – Auckland, New Zealand

The practice boats are almost 40 feet (12 meters).  The actual AC boats will be 75 feet and can hit 35-40 knots.  Take a look at the weird and wonderful.  Go to the 13 min. mark for the AC boats.

Top Videos of Decade - Outside

I really enjoyed the paraglider as we have featured him on these pages several times.  I always wanted to paraglide...but never did.  Sailing is closer to the ground!

Cool Pics

 Quick sail with John on Road Trip and some 15-knot breezes with a passing front.  Back for a nap and dinner at Paradiso with the family.

That last pic is kinda interesting.  Anybody figure it out?

Kona's favorite moment!

Kona sails with me whenever I go out.  I figure he has been on 800 sails or so.  When I put the kayak in the water, he gets very excited in anticipation for a swim to the beach.  This picture captures the moment perfectly.  Thanks for all the great times Kona!!!

History of Windsurfing - The Movie

I started windsurfing in the early 80's.  I had moved to the Bay Area from Carmel and was driving across the San Mateo Bridge when I saw a windsurfer cruising alongside the bridge.  I had been surfing for the last 12 years and was blown away by the speed this guy was going.  In '84, Peter Conmy lent me his board and I mastered it on the Foster City Lagoon where I lived.  Soon I was heading to Coyote Point on my Bic.  I soon purchased a faster board and was ripping the Delta.  I even started a windsurfing club called Windpower with 20 other like minded folks.  One of the many highlights was a midnight sail with glow sticks on our masts.  Finally, I purchased a high end board made for the bay and I started sailing a few times a week on the bay.  Flying across the water at 20 knots was the highlight of my summer!  Sailing in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge and all the bay traffic really got my heart pumping.  After I started sailing keel boats on the SF Bay in 2000, my windsurfing ended.  But during those great days at 3rd Ave in the 80's & 90's, I was living the windsurfing dream!!

Amazing Time Lapse in Amsterdam

This is a typical Saturday!

How to Surf and Sink a Boat

WSL Surf Awards 2019

If you are interested, here are the nominees.

Mates that Joned Us on the Voyage!

Ed and Yvonne (SB and HMB)
Sue and John
Barry
Lisa (SB and Cabo)
Steve
Andy (SD x 2)
Doug
Chris
Cyn
Tom
Julie
Dan
Connor (SD and PV)
John (SB and PV)
Kendall
Paul
Murray
Dave
Cindy
Kayla
Michael
Carl

Skipper and Mate Start Running into Things During Sex Romp on Luxury Yacht

A deckhand who enjoyed a drunken sex romp with her skipper while sailing a luxury superyacht from Brisbane to the Gold Coast admits she "did the wrong thing".
However, 26-year-old Cheya Handley pleaded not guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to risking the safety of people on board when she was sailing the 80-foot (25-metre) Crystal Blue on March 3 last year.

The boat's skipper, 46-year-old Jeremy Piggott, has previously pleaded guilty and was fined $4000 for recklessly contravening his duty to ensure safety.
The pair were returning the boat after a charter trip and began drinking before having sex.
"Yeah, I did the wrong thing, drinking on the job. I should have known better, I screwed up big-time," Handley admitted in an interview with a maritime safety inspector played to the court.
"We were chatting, laying down, looking at the stars and then got it on."
The court heard the skipper repositioned one of the yacht's CCTV cameras a number of times throughout the night, so it wouldn't capture him having sex with the stewardess.
While they were "getting it on," the Crystal Blue hit a channel marker at Long Island around 11.20 pm.  Further south at Steiglitz, the vessel struck a moored yacht.

And with that my friends, we award them bonehead move of the month!  And it's only the 3rd of the month!

Amazing Video

Love the Pink Floyd soundtrack!  "One of These Days" from Meddle 1971

Full screen only and crank it up!

The movie "Maiden" is now available to stream on Amazon.  This sailing classic is about the all women team who entered the Whitbread Around the World Race back in the good old days.  They were outcasts in a male dominated race, however, they ended up winning a leg or two of the race.

s/v Nereida

I am up in Victoria, BC on vacation celebrating my birthday with my wife Bridget.  We were on the main drag near the Empress Hotel when I spotted s/v Nereida on the docks below.  Jeanne Socrates just completed a lap around the planet on this fine vessal.  She set the record for the oldest person to go around at 77 years young.  And she is a tiny lady.  It took her 339 days to accomplish this amazing feat.  Congrats to you, Jeanne!!

This was her 4 time to attempt this and she has completed it twice.  On one of her trips, she was 60 miles from completing her lap when her boat crashed into the beach in Mexico.  She is an amazing lady.

Read her last log entry here: https://www.sail-worldcruising.com/news/222245/S-V-Nereida-sails-around-the-world-day-339

And now for something completly different...

Happy summer!

Highlights of the Voyage

We have been back in SF for a couple weeks now and after having time to reflect on the trip, here are some highlights that come to mind:

Departing SF and heading to port outside the Gate was amazing.  The wind was up as were the waves.  We sailed the 20 miles to safe harbor in Half Moon Bay.  Our very first landfall.

Sailing the Cali coast was a dream come true.  I have been up and down Hwy 1 so many times dreaming about being on a boat and here I was heading to Monterey and next, Santa Barbara!

Santa Barbara was delightful.  We spent 3 weeks in and around the harbor as well as extended stays at Santa Cruz Island with friends visiting from the Bay.

We pulled into a tiny anchorage on Santa Cruz and challenged a boat load of other dudes to a game of bocce.  We kicked their butts and laughed so hard for hours.  These guys were a ton of fun.

Painted Cave on Santa Cruz was a huge hit for us and our friends.  The largest sea cave on the planet!

Newport Beach with my friend Barry and his wife took us out for an amazing evening of cruising the waterways and seeing some beautiful waterside homes.

I had never been to Catalina and that was a blast.  We played bocce near the plaza.

San Diego - we could not find a slip due to the Haha.  I ended up calling all the marinas and one got back to me saying they had plenty of space and we could stay for 2 weeks!  We arrive at Fiddler's Cove and it turns out they thought we were military folks and this was a military harbor.  They realized our predicament and their mistake and allowed us to stay a week.  We had a ton of fun and they were all very kind.

My friend from Delaware, Steve, came out for a week and we had an amazing time.   Swimming, Frisbee, 420, bocce, hanging with my son and meeting his cousin for a dinner party.

We had a pretty good sail down the coast of Baja.  The best was from Santa Maria to Cabo with 20 knots of wind.

San Jose del Cabo was a very cool stop.  We hitchhiked back and forth and folks were happy to give us a ride.  What a cool art district with great bars and restaurants.

My sisters and family came down to Cabo for NYE and I took them all for a very relaxing sail along the coast.

Our first real cruising anchorage was off La Pax at an island anchorage.  There were several other boats around and we invited them all to join us for a drink.  We had 2 couples join us for a fun evening of stories and lies!  I am kidding about the stories.  : )

Yelapa in Puerto Vallarta was one of my favorite spots.  In a deep valley and surrounded by green lush hills, it is idyllic.  My son and nephew also visited PV along with John.  We had great sails with them and saw lots of whales breaching.

The trip from PV to Ztown was spectacular.  There were a couple anchorages that really stood out.  One of my favs was Pariso.  Secluded and a small bay inside a bay with a pristine beach right off the boat.  Gorgeous.  We were the only boat there!

Ztown was the highlight.  We had a bunch of friends visit and the town was so cute.  We saw the Guitarfest and fell in love with one guy who played like the late Michael Hedges.  We even went to a private show with him playing his heart out.  The Smernoffs, Paul and Murray, Kendall, Michael and Carl all visited.  Good times indeed!  Grand Island was a place we visited at least 4 times and we always had a ton of fun!

My friends ask, would I do this trip again?  Even tho we had the time of our lives over a 7 month period, I would say no!  Why?  The 2000 mile motor from Ztown to SF took 5 weeks.  It was uphill and against mother nature.  If you are familiar with the west coast wind patterns, you know our winds are generated up north and arrive here mostly from the northwest.  You can't imagine how hard it is to motor against 30 knot winds and 14 foot swells.  Day after day.  Week after week.  For that reason, I won't do it again.

I have been home for 2 weeks now and have seen a bunch of friends and it is so nice to be back.  I will continue to sail the Bay twice a week as well as do more Haha's on other peoples boats and then fly home from Cabo.  I may even do the Puddle Jump across the Pacific but not on my boat.

All in all, the trip, the boat and crew all exceeded my expectations.  I could not be happier at this time.  The boat is waiting for me and I hear her call.  Oh yeah, and I am taking out 10 friends on Cinco de Mayo to celebrate my return as well as go see the races.  We have some foiling cats on the bay that will be approaching 50 knots on the race course!  I am looking forward to alot more chartering in exotic locales as well.  We have the BVI's coming up in 11 months.  Cheerio!

Here is what we will see on Sunday with 6 teams going at it.  SailGP

Trip Pics

Home at Last!

We departed Maz with a run across the Sea of Cortez.  We had a couple days of great sailing all the way to San Jose del Cabo.  We arrived at daybreak and took a nap!  I wanted to show Sean this cute town so off we went to get some food and check out the artwork.  We departed on Wednesday for the famed Baja Bash.  They call it the bash because you are going against the wind and waves and it can be a long slog up the 750 mile coastline.  We topped the fuel off in Cabo and took off.  We would be motoring a lot over the next 9 days.  Our first priority was to make the 400 mile run to Turtle Bay and get fuel.  About 130 miles out of Turtle we hit some big winds and could not make any headway.  We put up some sail and sailed in high winds for the next several hours.  Finally it calmed down and we continued to motor.  Next day we had more of the same and sailed a bit before the winds died for the evening.   We made it to Turtle about 1am.  I had been here many times before on the Haha.  I lingered in the cockpit and reminisced about the good times we had in this beautiful bay.

The next day the fuel guys were at our boat early to fill up our tank and some deck jugs.  We did not have much cash so we waked thru the village to the owners house and put the bill on our credit cards.  We had a nice lunch at Maria’s Restaurant overlooking the bay.  All the guide books give you strategies on when to depart the nortoriously windy cape.  We didn’t listen and took off shortly after noon.  The winds were light and we moved up the coast towards Ensenada.  We had about 270 miles to go.  We arrived in the morning on Wednesday and checked out of the country here.  The town is crazy about micro brews so we headed to the local pub for some fresh suds.  Auga Mala was a place we had been before.  Great views and nice folks.  Then we hit the motherload: Lucky 4.  15 breweries in one spot.  I had a few nice porters and we enjoyed the ocean view. 

We departed at midnight for the 60 mile run to San Diego.  Upon arrival in the US, we are quickly approached by the Coast Guard.  They wanted to know where we were headed.  I told them the police dock for check in.  They allowed us to continue and we arrived about 12noon.  Nice to be back in the USA after 5 months in Mexico.  We checked in with customs and then anchored near the beach at La Playa.  On Saturday, my childhood best friend Andy joined for some drinks at the pool.  He was visiting from Reno. 

We departed a day early as there are some big winds heading our way.  We made to Santa Barbara after a 170 mile motor.  About 20 miles out we were boarded by the coast guard for inspection.  My first in 30 years of sailing.  They were nice and it took about 20 minutes.  We passed!  We will be here for a few days as we have lots of wind heading down the coast.  Saturday looks like our best bet to get around Pt. Conception.  Only 250 miles to go!!

We waited four days for the 30-40 knot winds to die down.   Pt Conception is known as the Cape Horn of California.  In heavy conditions, this can be a very dangerous place.  We departed at midnight and hit the point about 7am.  Very little wind and the conditions were ideal.  Only 200 miles to Monterey.  These were tuff miles and very cold during the night.  We saw winds in the mid 30’s for short periods but mostly 20-25 knots of wind on our nose.  We motored for several days and finally into Monterey.  Had a great lunch at a small Italian place near the boat.  Next day we had a 8am departure for a short run to Santa Cruz.  Arrived about 2 and headed to the local brewery for lunch.  Met a cool guy there and took him for a short sail.  To bed early for the 40 mile run to Half Moon Bay.  Arrived in HMB about 4pm and had dinner with my old friends Ed and Yvonne at Sam’s.

We have 20 miles to go to SF!!!  We took off about 6:30 and we hit our first fog of the entire trip.  We cranked up the radar and made it 6 miles up the coast and the fog cleared.  It was a perfect forecast for our arrival.  10-15 knot winds and sunny and warm.  We arrived under the bridge right about 11am.  It was a cool moment to be back on the bay after being gone for 7 months and 3600 miles!  It was a very warm and sweet ride across the bay.  We arrived safely in Emery Cove about 12 noon. 

I am so happy we did this voyage on this boat with my crew!!  The motor was the true hero!  We sailed only about 20 percent of the time.  The rest was on our trusty Yanmar 56!   We had no breakdowns and no major repairs on our adventure.  We met a few cruisers stuck for weeks at a time waiting for a part.  We had none of that.  The crew we had were awesome and the weather was nothing short of spectacular.   We had about 7 days of waiting for wind, we consumed 568 beers, we motored 678 hours, 24 friends and family visited and we caught one mermaid.  People ask if I will do this trip again?  I answer with, only if I don’t have to bash for 2000 miles into the wind and waves.  That was not fun.  But I believe we had a pretty good run without the truly gnarly conditions.  I hope to be part of the 2019 Baja Haha (my 7^th) but on someone else’s boat. 

With my original plan to sail to Australia, we were going to sell the boat.  Since we sailed her back home, my plan now is to partner the boat out with 3 other sailors.  I have two ready to join and will look for a 3^rd to make it 4 total.  I am looking forward to spending the next 20 years of sailing this amazing sailboat!  I will post some photos over the next few days.

One last note, I have been blogging on this site for over 16 years.  I thought I would be into blogging during the voyage but I was too busy running the boat and crew and having too much fun to worry about writing.  Plus connectivity was not easy with wifi to upload the posts to the internet.  I did not fancy writing long posts on my phone so the blog took a back burner.  Hope you enjoyed our adventure!!