Very Cool, Very Strange

Happy New Decade!

Three Things That Make Our Boat Great

We are headed into our 10th year of owning our Newport 30 Addiction. It has been a great 10 years indeed. I estimate that I have sailed over 10,000 miles on our boat in that time. I sail 20 or more miles each time I go out (once a week) x 50 = 1000 x 10 years. As you can tell, I love sailing and all that comes with it. This quote says it all for me:
"Something about sailing a boat brings so many senses and sensations into play that it's very difficult to pinpoint what it is specifically that makes me like it so much: the sight of sails and sheets overhanging the water; the foam and spray flying as the bow cuts the water; the motion of the boat; the physical and mental ballet necessary to handle the boat correctly. A sailboat might just be the most beautiful, sensuous and intelligent blend of man/machine/and elements that exists in the world today. The relationship between the three is the most harmonious I have experienced so far. Besides you can have a beer while you do it". --anonymous
When we bought our boat in 2000, we were looking for a few things: turnkey and ready for sailing, standing headroom (I am 6'6"), 30 feet minimum, diesel engine, legal head, spinnaker, wheel steering, 2000lbs + ballast, and sleeps 4 comfortably for week long trips to the delta. We found all those elements and more in our Gary Mull designed vessel. After sailing her for the last 10 years, there are three things that have made this boat outstanding that I had not considered. Self tailing winches are such a convenient piece of equipment. It just makes sailing that much better. Number 2 is our dodger. The bay is cold and nasty in the summer with lots of blue water coming over the bow and the 35 knots of wind is downright frigid! The dodger keeps the ladies warm, dry and happy which is key. Lastly, the item that has changed our sailing lives the most is our beautiful roller furling jib! We added it about 4 years ago after dealing with a hank on. The conditions on the bay are so variable that this has been one of the best decisions we ever made. Looking at the boats in our marina, I would say 80-90% have this item. Many times, it is so windy out there we just roll out a bit of jib and she handles like a dream. Also nice for the many times I am single handing. So if you are looking to buy a boat in 2010, some of these criteria may help you in your selection process. Or, if you are looking to upgrade your own boat, these items might be worth considering. Whatever you decide to do, make sure you get out on your boat and enjoy your time there. As I like to say, "Sailing is the celebration of life!".

Wave of the Week

This Year in Sailing

Yachtpals takes a look back at the good, the bad and the ugly of 2009.

Sailing Reflections of 2009

What a great year of sailing we had. Lots of friends joined us on the boat and all were blown away at how beautiful it is on our wonderful bay. One day in October, I took out an old friend and her boyfriend. The winds were 12-14 as we set sail for Angel Island. I sent her and her beau to the bow for the reach to the island. With a glass of champagne in hand, they could not get over how lovely it was and the amazing scenery. It was a great day indeed. That's the thing about getting friends out for a sail, it makes you appreciate sailing your home waters because they get so excited about how cool this sport is. I look forward to getting more folks out there next year. This last year, I probably took close to 80 folks out on the bay. Like I say, it was a great year.

More highlights:
Night sails - I went out at least a dozen times and these were some of the best. My last night sail was amazing in that the wind was heavy and the waves were huge. Loved it and so did the boat
Sailing to the Giants games and then sailing back late at night about 1.5 hours to our slip
Bocce on Angel Island
Swimming in Paradise Cove
Raft Up in Clipper Cove with 4 other Newports
Kaboom Fireworks Show
Fleetweek Air Show
Napa sail with Tex and biking to local wineries in the Carneros area
Birthday sail with my wife, and our best friends Frank and Leslie
The sails from mid October to December have been amazing!
Sailing the creek in Redwood City with Arnie and friends
One of my favorite sailing jokes is to sail close to another boat and say "Excuse me, do you have any Gray Poupon?". Try it, it always gets a laugh. Except for that one guy who went down below to look and shrugged his shoulders saying no he did not have any. Now that was funny. Hope you had a good one out there too. Happy New Year!!

Christmas Card

Here is the pic we used for our card to friends and family. My son Connor (almost 14) and our pup Kona (almost 18 months). Happy holidays to all!

Great Sailing Quotes

"There is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not."

Spoken by Ratty to Mole in Wind in the Willows a children's book by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932).

THE RELIGION OF A SAILOR

A sea captain when he stands upon the bridge, or looks out from his deck-house, thinks much about God and about the world. Away in the valley yonder among the corn and the poppies men may well forget all things except the warmth of the sun upon the face, and the kind shadow under the hedge; but he who journeys through storm and darkness must needs think and think. One July a couple of years ago I took my supper with a Captain Moran on board the s.s. Margaret, that had put into a western river from I know not where. I found him a man of many notions all flavoured with his personality, as is the way with sailors. He talked in his queer sea manner of God and the world, and up through all his words broke the hard energy of his calling.
- William Butler Yeats, The Celtic Twilight

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.

- William Arthur Ward

I just thank God I don’t live in a trailer.

Jimmy Buffet , Son of a son of a sailor


The house was built on the highest part of the narrow tongue of land between the harbor and the open sea. It had lasted through three hurricanes and it was built solid as a ship.

- Ernest Hemingway

Sailing is just the bottom line, like adding up the score in bridge. My real interest is in the tremendous game of life.

- Dennis Conner

There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.

- Old Norwegian Adage

Any fool can carry on, but a wise man knows how to shorten sail in time.

- Joseph Conrad

I cannot not sail.

- E. B. White

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

The days pass happily with me wherever my ship sails.

- Joshua Slocum

At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.

- Robin Lee Graham

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

Boats, like whiskey, are all good.

- R. D. Culler

Wind is to us what money is to life on shore.

- Sterling Hayden

I hate storms, but calms undermine my spirits.

- Bernard Moitessier

Being hove to in a long gale is the most boring way of being terrified I know.

- Donald Hamilton

The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.

- Edmund Gibbon

The chance for mistakes is about equal to the number of crew squared.

- Ted Turner

If you are going to do something, do it now. Tomorrow is too late.

- Pete Goss

Moonbow

Moonbow and Venus imaged by Rob Ratkowski (photography) in May 2004. Moonbows are very rare. The moon must be bright and not too high, the sky must be dark else the faint bow will not be visible and there must be rain in the direction opposite the moon. Orion was setting when Rob took this spectacular image, Venus is the bright object inside the bow. Mars is above it to the left and Saturn is above Mars and outside the primary. Capella is the bright star to the right (north) of Venus. Do not expect to see much colour with the unaided eye because moonbows are usually too faint to excite the colour sensors in our eyes. We therefore mostly see them as a series of grey shades.

Uh-O

Who the hell parked their car under my boat?

Noah's Ark

A man is building one here.

Pics of the Week

Bottom Picture: The police had them take this one down as it became a hazzard when folks pulled over and started climbing the ladder to help. It was a little too real!

Shark Bite

As a kid growing up on the outskirts of Chicago, Jonathan Kathrein spent hours and hours at Tower Lakes Beach playing the swimming chase game "sharks and minnows" with his family and friends.

"It's more fun being a minnow, because minnows can swim really fast to get away from the shark," he told his mom Marge one day as he dried off.

A decade later, after the family moved to Lucas Valley, the 16-year-old Kathrein was surfing at Stinson Beach and was unable to outswim a great white shark. It ravaged his right leg and spurred worldwide media attention that would forever change his life. In a new memoir more than a decade in the making, Marge Kathrein chronicles the deep impact the incident had on her, her son and her family and hopes others will learn the values they did in crisis.

"Far From Shore: A Mother's Memoir of a Shark Attack," self-published through a division of Amazon.com, documents in vivid detail the immediate and long-term aftermath of the Aug. 26, 1998 shark attack that left Jonathan Kathrein with wounds that took 200 stitches to close. It also addresses the emotional scarring Marge Kathrein sustained, her family's evolution after the event and Jonathan Kathrein's battles to overcome his fear of the ocean, capped by his participation in the Tiburon Mile ocean race in September. Read on.

Geminids Tonight!

We have a big storm brewing but if it clears about 9pm, they say we could see 50-100 meteors per hour. Look up!

Great Advice?

Click the pic to read.

Jaws Explodes

Just in from Wetass. Check out these waves from the monster swell that hit the islands earlier this week.

Enjoy Your Weekend

Pics of the Day

Not sure where this is but boy would it be fun to hang at this beach for an afternoon or two!

Take The Sailing Quiz

I found a fun sailing quiz online. Not to difficult and pretty fun to test your sailing knowledge. See how you stack up with your sailing know how. Check it here.
Here is my sailing question of the day: On a sailboat, what is a painter?

Long Wins With Perfect Ride

In last heat yesterday, California's Greg Long, 26, came from behind to win $55,000 and the Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational. Pardon the pun, but Long was a "long shot" to win "The Eddie" considering that this was his first time invited to this event.

Yet, yesterday was special for the San Clemente native and the iconic surf contest. It was exactly 25 years to the date when this big wave event first ran in 1984 as a tribute to legendary waterman Eddie Aikau. Aikau was one of the most prolific Waimea Bay surfers and was the first lifeguard at The Bay. He was lost at sea while attempting to paddle for help when the Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hokule'a, capsized off of O'ahu. "Riding big waves is my passion and I've been following "The Eddie" since I knew exactly what it was, I was probably 12-years-old just getting into surfing," said Long who lives out of his van in California for greater mobility to chase big swells. "I never would have thought that this being my first year surfing the event, to come away with a victory is really a childhood dream become real."

The biggest sets of "The Eddie" rolled into Waimea Bay during the final hour ranging from 22-to 25-feet. These mountains of water allowed Long to catch four high scoring rides to overtake 9-Time World Champ Kelly Slater. Furthermore, Long caught a perfect scoring 100-point wave in the final heat.

"There were a couple of big sets that started feathering out the back and you thought they were going to close out, but you had to hold your ground. I was checking my lineups and where I needed to be," said Long of his 100-point ride. "I turned around, put my head down and there was no way I wasn't going to go. And, it was one of the bigger and better paddle-in waves I got in a while. That heat lent itself to coming from behind."

While this event pays homage to Aikau's endearing legacy of aloha, the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational brings out the best in the sport of surfing according to Long. "It really is about the wave and celebrating the ocean," Long said. "The respect and camaraderie in the lineup you don't find in too many places in the world, and this event really encapsulates everything that's great about surfing: the friendships you make in the water and looking out for one another."

Former Eddie Aikau Champion Kelly Slater had an immense amount of respect for Long's performance and the event yesterday. Despite, finishing runner-up Slater was still psyching on the overall vibe of the contest. "One of the best days of surfing in my life, for sure." said Slater who won this event in 2002 and claimed $10,000 yesterday. "I had a couple of my most memorable rides I've ever had. That last heat was just pulsing with huge sets coming in, it had the biggest sets and Greg won the whole contest with one heat."

Here was a perfect ride from the previous contest in 2004 riden by Bruce Irons.