Aquarius Turns 20 Years Young

Here is a letter from my Jeanneau 40 on her birthday!

Greetings from your Birthday Boat! I was born in 2001 in La Harve, France and am writing you this note to celebrate 20 years of sailing the planet. I was purchased from the factory and sailed to the Caribbean by a young French couple, Mauro and Fredriqa. We sailed the islands for 2 years and then they dumped me! But, they wanted to start a family so I forgave them. I was sailed to Florida where I was promptly sold to Tom Durig in Sausalito. They dropped me on a truck bigger than me and across land we went. I had never gone so fast! We arrived at the docks and like a duck in water, I was floating again. It seemed I did a lot of that in Sausalito! Tom was a busy biotech CEO and had little time for me. However, he did take very good care of me with maintenance and upgrades. In 2017. a famed sailor from Emeryville stepped on board and I smiled with delight as he is known as a sailor’s sailor. We had a few sails that were fun and exciting including a boat load of folks for the Blue Angles show. Then it was off to the yard for 6 weeks. We still sailed on weekends and some of the upgrades felt good. I finally departed KKMI and to my new home in Emeryville. We sailed like crazy and we kept adding new stuff like the Rocna Vulcan anchor and lots of chain. My bimini came back on board as I had not seen that since the islands. Soon it was time to shove off for a 7 month voyage to Mexico and back! Departing mid September 2018, we had a marvelous 2 months in Cali and then crossed the boarder in November. The crew was kind to me and I kept them safe. In mid April 2019, we returned to the Golden Gate and all were safe and sound. What a splendid voyage indeed. I am currently part of a partnership and I love all the attention I am getting. I go out most weekends as well as during the week and sail in one of the most beautiful estuaries in the world! What could be better? Lastly, if you partners take care of me, I will take care of you! Bon voyage! Aquarius

From the Archives: Tsunami Surge Hits Santa Cruz

Way back in 2011, a devasting earthquake hit Japan. It created a trunami that traveled at 600 mph across the ocean. It caused some major damage along the coast of California. Here is some vid from that day as it came into the Santa Cruz Harbor.

Skydio Drone is Amazing!

You may have heard about this drone but I just discovered it. Remember a while back when the much hyped Lily drone was the big thing? It followed you, it was waterproof and pretty cool too. Well it never came to fruition even after raising over $30m in preorders. Now, there is a new kid in town that is hands down the best drone on the market for collision avoidence while it follows you. I think this might be a perfect drone for boaters as you launch it and it flies around the boat while you do nothing to controll it. The technology does not come cheap but this looks like a paradigm shift in autonomous flying. Check out this review of the drone and you may want to consider adding the Beacon to the package. And look forward to some drone footage from high above Aquarius in the near future.

Dark Water

Dear Fungod, When I am out sailing, I will see a gust ahead of me and the water turns a darker shade. Why is that? Chaz Hi Chaz, Alot of folks donot uderstand what is happening here. Because the wind is at a higher speed in that area, the waves are steeper and they reflect less light from the sun and this makes the water darker. You see this phenomenon everytime you go sailing as long as there is wind. Now you know. Sail on, Chaz.

Strange and Wonderful

Finally getting our first winter storm here in the SF area. Winds are at 50 and we are expecting 3-4 inches of rain and 10 feet of snow in the Sierra's. We need everything we can get as it has been dry a long time. Did you recognize the song?

Flyin' Hawaiian

Head to the 2min mark for the action.

One of the photographers severed his spine on the landing. He is going to make it. "That set came and really caught everyone off guard. I hurried to put my camera away in my dry bag and then I told Cam to just ‘go.’ “I just remember feeling weightless and it taking a really long time to come down. I didn’t realize how fast Cam sent us over the lip of that thing. There was no handle on the ski, so I couldn’t stand up and hold on and hope my legs would have absorbed some of the impact. So, I was just sitting on the back with a death grip on the leather seat. Next thing I know I hear a loud thud. It felt like the ski buckled in half. Along with that, my back sent a shooting pain and tingling feeling from my waist down to my feet. I remember saying, ‘[expletive, expletive, expletive] I’m paralyzed.’ I legitimately thought I was.” On another note: we have had our share of big surf this winter in Northern California. So much so that almost every weekend folks are being careless and losing their lives around the surf. Please look out and never turn your back to the ocean!