Water in Zero Gravity

Departing for our bareboat charter - Belize!

On Saturday we will take off for a 7 day trip in Belize.  Our crew of 6 will sail on a 38 ft cat out of Placencia.  5 of the 6 are looking forward to some great scuba.  My friend Wayne will be the skipper as he is a skilled instructor and has chartered around the world.  It's great as it will give me time to relax and enjoy.  I will be keeping a log and will post it to this blog upon our return to California on the 29th of April.  I have been trying to get to this reef system for a couple years and now the wait is over.  In case you don't know this, the reef we will be diving on is the second largest barrier reef in the world.  Can you name the first?

California's Most Beautiful Lake

Over the last 33 years of living in California, I have been to Lake Tahoe over 60 times for skiing, boating, family fun, visiting my best friend from childhood, and I have biked around the 72 mile circumference.  It does not get much more beautiful than this.  It is at an elevation of 6200 feet and is over 1500 feet deep.  I can tell you from experience that it is very cold for swimming, even in summer.  The Flume Trail on the east side is mountain bike nirvana and I have biked the trail a half a dozen times.  It is considered the most beautiful mountain bike trail in the west. (although it can be dangerous in spots as 1000' cliffs abound).  The skiing in the area resorts is amazing and I have had the best skiing days of my life here.  If you have never been, please add a trip to the lake to your bucket list. Behold the majesty of the heavenly body of water!

Tahoe Blue from Josh Michaels on Vimeo.
Full screen me please!

The Best Speech You've Never Heard

In this 70 year old comedy, Charlie Chaplin plays the role of a poor Jewish barber mistaken for Adolph Hitler. This is a speech Charlie gives at the end of the movie that seems like it fits pretty well with the events of the world today.  The movie is called The Great Dictator.


One Of The Greatest Speeches Ever Made - Watch More Funny Videos

Bonehead Move of the Week

We depart in about a week for our sail charter/SCUBA adventure in Belize.  Really looking forward to warm water and cold beverages.

Cool View from the Space Station

Pic of the Day

Simple Trick for Tethering Phone to Computer

Wifi is everywhere these days...except on the boat.  Our marina offers wifi but it is too weak and spotty to rely on.  The phone signal on the boat is strong but who wants to surf the web on a phone?  You could pay one of the major carriers a boat load for the privilege of tethering your phone but you already give them a good portion of your paycheck.  I found a nice little way to make it happen for a fraction of the cost and you don't have to jailbreak your phone.  By using http://tether.com/ you can have blazing speeds (LTE makes a huge difference) on your computer, watch movies and more.  The cost is $30 and now you can surf anywhere.  Be sure to follow the directions closely and you finally have access when and where you want it.  Works with iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

Pics of the Week

You can see all 100 pics here.

Foiling Fools - Oracle 17 @ twice the speed of the wind

Test Drive Prank w/ Jeff Gordon

 
This one made me laugh out loud.

Double Code Red

I don't think I have to tell you to go full screen.

Shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean

Here is a sad story of running into two hurricanes out at sea and the importance of keeping an eye on the weather after you have left port.  Click here.

Big Fun H2O Style

Too much FUN!

Just Picked Up My Google Glass

Watch to the end!

Grey Poupon "The Lost Footage"

One of my favorite jokes is to sail by another boat and say, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?"  Found this on Youtube, enjoy!

Two Sails are better than none!

Wanted to put these in writing as both were very special.  On Friday, Dave and I headed out for what turned out to be a very nice sail to the City.  We met around 11am and we out there by 11:30.  The winds were light but freshened up within the hour.  We were in 15 knots in no time and headed for Sausalito.  Once over there, we hove to for lunch.  The wind was closer to 20 and we are heading back.  Great wind got us back to the barn quickly. 

On Sunday I arrived up at the boat at 1:30 and took off with Kona aboard.  The wind piped up to 18 pretty quickly and we were off.  Got out past the pier and the boat was doing a masterful job of sailing herself on jib alone.  Plenty of wind to keep us at 5 to 6 knots.  I continued on to the lee of Angel but tacked before we got out of the wind.  Out towards Angel for sunset and then a very nice dark return to the docks about 8pm.  The vid below is from Sunday and no I did not lose the hat!  Thank-you Addiction for a safe and memorable weekend!

Carib 600 and some Awesome Boats

From a little race down near Antigua.  Some classic boats in the 100' range head to this race year after year.  Be sure to go full screen and if you have an Apple TV, push it to the really big screen!

Off to sail today and should see some America's Cup boats screaming by.  Will try to get some vid to post here over the weekend.

Epic Session at Jaws

Bonehead Move # 324

This boat did not realize the tug was pulling the barge and next thing you know the Coast Guard is pulling the crew from the water.  This happens more than you might think.  Be careful out there!