In Case of Pirates

Just before the Haha, I attended a seminar on cruising in Mexico.  The topic of pirates came up and the folks putting on the seminar said piracy was very rare in Mexico.   However, the conversation continued and the subject of guns was discussed briefly.  Everyone agreed that this was not they way to go as there are so many problems with checking in and out of countries and declaring that you have a gun.  Alternatives where discussed and this is where it got interesting.  The lecturer brought up an idea I had never heard of.  He said the best non lethal defense was wasp spray.  What?  Yes, wasp spray.  The cans are highly pressurized and can shoot 20 -30 feet in a long precise spray.  Legal, non lethal and very disabling when you get someone in the face.  Hopefully, you will never need to use this tactic, but I wanted to share this idea and see if there are any other thoughts from other cruisers.  Send me a note!

A Look Back at the World Series

San Francisco Giants 2012 Postseason Highlight REEL from Maniego Media on Vimeo.

Quote of the Day

This could also apply to boats?

Fastest Sailboat in the World!!!

more fun here:

2012 Baja Haha Trip was Awesome!

The Baja Haha is in its 19th year and this is my 3rd trip in a row down the coast. Last year the boat I was on ran into bad weather and could not make the starting line. I flew from San Francisco to San Diego anyway and at the last minute found another boat and had an amazing adventure with three other guys on a 57' steel cutter. The year before I joined a catamaran from my marina and joined the boat in SD for an amazing and fast trip down the coast with a skipper who did everything by the book. Learned a lot and had a great trip.

I was looking forward to this years adventure with the crew of Odyssey. Ken and Danita choose me and my friend John to help the bring the boat from San Diego to Cabo. They had some boat issues that delayed their departure and for the second year in a row, the boat did not make it down. I convinced John that we should go anyway and try to jump on a boat. He agreed and off to San Diego we went. We arrived on Friday for our Monday departure. As soon as we arrived, we started knocking on hulls and asking if any crew positions were available. No luck on Friday, so we would start again on Saturday and hit the main marina looking for haha boats.

There are 150 boats signed up for this years 750 mile journey from SD to Cabo. There must be an opening somewhere. On Saturday, we rented bikes and headed off to Cabrillo Marina about 2 miles away. We arrived and could see about 25 Baja Haha burgees flying in the marina. This was our chance. We worked the docks and met many of the skippers and crew. No one had any space. If they were not around, we left a note with our contact info. We had hit all the docks and were on our last boat when we met Andy and Kate. They were traveling to Pamama on their 43 Young Sun cutter. They have a 16 month old boy on board as well. They were happy to have us join them and help them get the boat down the coast. They were just getting ready to depart for Seaworld and asked us to join them in the evening to discuss the trip. We did and all looked good at our meeting. I told them John and I would assist them in provisioning the boat, do the cooking, clean the dishes and stand watch. I showed them the menus I had prepared and they were very happy. We would meet Sunday night after dinner and we would help prepare the boat for the next mornings departure. We arrived, stowed our gear and did a few chores. We had provisioned and stored the food earlier in the day. At midnight, we hit the hay and as I have discovered with older boats, the sleeping cushions are very uncomfortable. Luckily I had brought a thermarest and that helped.


Up at 7 for more preparations and we are off the dock at 9:30 for the parade to the starting line. There is a fire boat shooting water, cannons firing and the whole fleet heading into the Pacific. It's a beautiful morning and there is a breeze of 8-10 knots. We hit the starting line and head south. The boat is from 1984 and she is a 20 ton cruiser. Andy and his wife have traveled from Seattle to join the rally. They have been on the water for a month of their six month cruise. After the Panama Canal, they will ship the boat back up north. I am amazed at how well they work together and make this trip work. Kate is awesome and works very hard tending to her boy Nathan and he is amazing as well.


We head past the Coronado Islands and raise the spinnaker, main and stay sail. We are having a wonderful ride with about 2300 square feet of canvas up. I prepare breakfast of eggs and fruit and we are enjoying the breeze and 5.5 knots on the speedo. We set up a watch schedule of 3 hours each so that means 9 hours between watches. Great. Same as last year. I have the 3-6 watch in both the am and the pm. My watch comes up and it is delightful. The self steering is doing the work and I get to watch for other boats and adjust our position from time to time. I do that by pushing the buttons and not the wheel. We have lots of confidence in our skipper as he is a rocket scientist for Boeing. He is also an accomplished sailor and instructor. I hope to learn a few things from him along the way. During my watch, I head down to the galley to prepare dinner of pasta and salad. We have a sunset dinner in the cockpit with a glass of wine. My back is to the sun and we miss the green flash! Hope there will be more. After dinner, I head down to my bunk to rest and get ready for my next watch. At 0245, I am up and preparing for my full moon watch. I take over from Kate and have a very nice time on deck. The boat is moving well and the stars are shinning. The only problem is we are in a bit of a fog bank. We have radar and AIS which shows us where other boats are. I can see the moon but not much ahead. I check the radar every 15 mins. We are looking good. About 0430, the fog clears and we are fine. At 0600, John comes up and I head for the bunk. We have another beautiful day and the wind is building. It's up to about 15 and we are moving. I take a nap after lunch and then up for my watch. We have speakers in the cockpit which is great. My iPod is filled 17500 songs so we have plenty of variety. My watch goes fast and soon I am preparing a nice meal of chicken, veggies and rice. After dinner, I join John during his watch and we are cruising effortlessly at 6 knots with the moon shimmering on the water. It's a beautiful moment. I head to bed shortly after.


Up for my 0300 watch and it is lumpy and rough. We have the jib up and are hand steering. It's a long 3 hours but also fun. Several boats nearby and I am trying to keep the boat on our heading but with the wind direction it is tough. As John comes up at 0600, we prepare to gybe. Success. I head down for more sleep. I awake at 0730 to a bunch of commotion. We have two tuna on the line. I head up on deck but everything is taken care of. I head back down for a bit more sleep as last night was one of the roughest I have ever had on a boat. The boat was rocking so bad in the cross swells that we had to pull up the lee cloths. These stop you from rolling out of your bunk. I wake at 1000 and am bit groggy. The tuna is being prepared and in a short time we have fresh tuna sandwiches. Delicious. After lunch, we all spend time in the cockpit talking about all sorts of subjects. Nathan is active and walking around the boat. He is tethered in and very safe. After a few hours, I head down and take a much needed nap. Up for my watch and we are approaching the finish line of leg one. The skipper prepares a wonderful tuna over pasta dinner and we have a feast listening to Dire Strats. After a cool sunset on Halloween night, I head down to get some more rest. One note on the sunset, as it hit the horizon behind some clouds, it actually looked like a big scarey pumpkin setting over the ocean. We hope to arrive in Turtle Bay at sunrise.


We arrived at Turtle bay at 0530 and promptly went back to bed. Up about 0830 and had an oatmeal breakfast. Lots of chores were accomplished and soon we were on a panga to the fishing village. This is a dirt road town of about 2500 folks. Dusty does not really describe how this town looks. No yards, just dust. We walked down the beach to a restaurant overlooking the bay and had lunch with some fellow cruisers. One of the gentleman at our table was the famous bay area charter skipper known as Captain Kirk. He asked which boat we were from. Second Sun. He said he knew the boat from an incident at Point Conception. A boat had lost her engine and asked for a tow. Second Sun came to the rescue. During the tow, Sun lost her engine as well and Witch Doctor hit her causing damage to Suns stern. He said he had heard that Doctor attempted the rounding two more times and had to be rescued two more times. Boneheads! We headed over to the annual rally softball game. Lots of fun and laughter ensued as the game is just for fun. Then it was off to dinner with some new friends and the crew from Sun. Back to the boat and after two nights of little sleep, we drifted off quickly.


Friday we headed to the beach party with about 400 of our fellow hahaers. It was an overcast day but still very nice. We set up the vball net and got a beer. Slowly the cruisers show and the pot luck lunch begins. Kate had prepared a delicious apple pie. All sorts of food and tons of fresh fish. One boat had caught 48 fish and shared 20 lbs at the party. Saw lots of old friends and made many more, a nice new activity was a talent show. One group did an amazing Maori dance. Another did a song about the haha. All in all, a nice new addition. After the party I joined the Moontide crew and we ended up at the jam session on Exodus. Brand new 40 foot cat with all the amenities. There was about 15 folks and my skipper Andy even showed up. Lots of great tunes and singing. Andy is an excellent musician playing the guitar and fiddle. One of the best nights of all the hahas!!! Up at 0600 to prepare the boat for departure. The winds are light and we have a rolling start. After some tuna sandwiches for lunch, we start to get a 10 knot breeze and the spinnaker and main are up. This leg is about 240 miles to Santa Maria Bay. This my favorite stop on the Haha.


Had a great day with winds near twenty in the afternoon. Beautiful weather and warm all the way till after dinner. We were under spinnaker all day and I saw 7 knots a few times. After a steak and veggie dinner, I hit the hay and watch the sci fi thriller Prometheus. My 0300 watch was sublime. Light winds, no boats around and some blues on the stereo. Saw a great shooting star. Morning is clear and light winds. We are motoring. I am off to prepare breakfast.
Motored a good part of the day. About 4 we raised the chute and we are doing 4.5 right now. Has a nice pasta and Brussels sprout dinner. Also hung my hammock in the boat and took a nice two hour nap. Lovely.


We arrive in Santa Maria at 1400 with a brilliant full sail into the bay. The mouth of the bay is a good 5 miles wide. We sail across most of it. The winds are at 15 and perfect. Finally a beam reach after all the downwind. The boat performs masterfully. We tack and the fleet is in front of us. This is a beautiful stop with no town or infrastructure. Just a few fisherman on the river. We get the hook down and the swimming begins. I swim over to Exodus to thank them for a grat jam session. They offer me a beer and I decline. I was there only to show my gratitude. I swim back, being on the lookout for any motor boats that might not see me. There is the annual party in the evening on Moontide and Talyon. Moontide did not make it last year so the boat I was on hosted this event. We show up promptly at 1900 and the party is in full swing. Meeting lots of cool folks and some with big cruising plans ahead. The party swells to 80 folks and the cat is full. The wind is blowing 30 but it is very warm. I see some old friends and have a great time. At 2230, we head home for some sleep. We stay dry even though the wind is pumping. In the morning, I jump in for a 0630 dip. I come to the surface and the sun is poping up for my first Haha sunrise of the trip and the water is perfect. Pancakes for breakfast and then I go for a long swim around the anchorage and introduce myself to several boats. They love the fact that I am swimming over to say good morning. I head back after an hour or so and prepare to depart for the party. The weather is blue skies and 80 or so. The fisherman and their wives have prepared a meal for the fleet and the band is warming up. We are on a small bluff overlooking the entire bay with the beach below. I grab a bite to eat and say hello to few of the skippers that I met knocking on hulls. The volleyball net arrives and I set it up with assistance from a young guy named Wilson. I head back to the party and say more hellow's. My skipper from last year is there and I buy him a beer. He is crewing on the Patrica Belle. I meet another skipper who just outfitted a boat and he gives me some advice on my pending sail to New Zealand. It's a fantastic party and everyone is in fine spirits. I make my way down to the volleyball game and we lose a best of 3 but I make some new friends and we have a ball. I donated the net to the fleet two years ago and it is still in great shape. We finish off the party and head back to the boat for a quick dinner. We need to get about up at 0530 for a 0700 departure so I am in bed after dinner. This day is also my 19th wedding anniversary so we toast to that.


Up early and off to the starting line. Before everyone is up, I go for a skinny dip and checkout the bioluminescence. It's beautiful. No wind as we motor south for a 170 mile leg to Cabo San Lucas. We motor till about 1630 and then pull up the spinnaker and hit 6.5 knots. It lasts about 2 hours and then we are back to motoring. We did have a nice curry dinner and some white wine. Resting now for my last watch at 0300.


My last watch on Second Sun was a motor sail with a beautiful star filled night. Venus, Jupitar and Sirius loom large. At the western horizon, I see a line of 26 Haha boats. I head to the bow and let the auto pilot do her thing. As I stare into the darkness ahead, I can almost make out the lights of Cabo San Lucas. I think about the three Haha's I have been on and this one may have been my favorite. Great crew, wonderful weather and the fleet has been very kind to me. I have made some new friends and enjoyed some spectacular sailing. Had a couple midnight watches that were the best of my life. I finished off my watch at 0600 and we arrive in Cabo about 1230. Boat chores complete and we wish our Captain and his wife fair winds. Another Haha under my belt. I am so happy I made the trip and that I brought my friend John along for the ride. Thank you Latitude 38 for another successful rally to the Cape!!!!

Gales, Whales and the Baja Ha-Ha by sail444

Video: Oralcle's Pitchpole and Aftermath

Gettting Ready to Depart for the Baja Haha

We depart on Friday to meet our Cabo bound boat for a 750 mile sail down Baja coast from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas.  This will be my 3rd trip in a row.  We have almost 150 boats going and 500 folks.  The itinerary has sailing for three days to Turtle Bay, a small fishing village.  We stay for 2 days and end with a huge beach party.  Then another 3 days of sailing to Santa Maria Bay.  This beautiful bay is huge and only a few fisherman live on a nearby river.  The families of these fisherman throw us another beach party with a band and great food.  Our last sail is about 24 hours to Cabo where we have a few more events and then my friend John (who is also crewing with me on the same boat) and I will fly back home.  Our boat will continue around the planet on a 5 year lap.  I will be keeping a log and will post upon my return to this blog.  The trip takes 2 weeks so look for it mid November.  I leave you with a few vids that will knock your socks off.  Wish me a bon voyage.

Video: Oracle AC boat badly damaged in pitchpole

Oracle's 72' AC boat pitchpoled in the SF bay and was badly damaged.  Raw video here.

AC boat floats off, Rescuer wants $200k

The French 45' AC cat broke it's mooring and floated to a nearby island in the SF bay.  A local boater saw it on the rocks and towed it in on his Whaler.  Now he wants lots of money for his salvage rights.  The French say $25k is the reward for their "outdated" cat.  Interesting story.  Read the full account here.

Busiest Weekend of the Year for Bay Area

Just returning from a family trip to France and Spain.  Great weather, fantastic food and drink and fun for all.  Thanks Cyn and Ray!  We will be sailing on the bay today to kick off Fleet Week activities that include the Blue Angels Air Show, bookended by fleet racing with the America's Cup 45's.  The show and racing continue through the weekend.  We also have two play off games between the Giants and Reds, SF 49'ers play Buffalo on Sunday, the hugely popular and free Hardly, Strictly Bluegrass Fest, a Madonna Show in San Jose, Castro Street Fair, and the Italian Heritage Parade in North Beach.  The weather looks seasonable for this time of year and no rain is forecast.  It's going to be crazy...and fun!

The Importance of Having a Dream

A while back I was telling a friend about my dream to one day sail to New Zealand.  I am very passionate about my dream and how I am going to go about it.  I then asked my friend if he had any dreams?  He said he had never thought about it.  I was a little taken aback at his response.  I mentioned that dreams and goals are very important and that he should take some time to think about what is important to him and think about what he wants to accomplish in the future.  My sailing dream is so important to me.  It inspires me to learn everything I can about the proper care and feeding of a boat.  It gives me a reason to seek new knowledge about the sailing world which encompasses such a wide spectrum of knowledge and experience.  Have you thought about your dreams lately?  Get crazy and think about the one or two things that will make your life complete.  I have been dreaming about this for about 10 or more years.  It will take another 6 to complete the as I am not departing until 2018.  In the meantime, I am taking baby steps by sailing the Baja Haha, chartering in different locations, reading and planning and lastly, getting out on the Addiction for all sorts of adventures.  I hope I can inspire you to start making a plan to make your dreams come true.  Cowabunga!

Sailing is Awesome!

What a great vid.  Now get out there and do some sailing.  We are heading out on Thursday to celebrate a birthday or two.

Two Sails are better than One

Headed up to the boat Thursday night with hope that our fuel delivery issues were over.  She started but died so I tried to bleed the engine and she started right up.  Still having issues I guess.  The previous week I had taken a part the fuel system to figure out the problem.  Thought I had cleared things up but maybe not.  The engine struggled to get me out the channel for a night sail but we made it.  As I headed out the 2 miles to the end of the Berkeley Pier,  the wind continued to build to 25 knots at 10pm.  Got about halfway to Angel and decided not to push my luck as the waves were pretty big.  Got back towards the channel and the wind was dying.  Tried the engine but no go.  Another sail her into the slip.  Hope I can make it.  As I rounded the corner and into the harbor, I had both sails up to give me the horsepower to get back to the slip.  Getting closer I dropped the main so now I can furl the jib from the cockpit.  There is but a whisper of wind pushing me down the fairway to my slip.  I furl the jib at just the right moment and drop into the slip no problem.  That's the second time in a month I have had to sail her in w/o the engine.  Glad I made it and I will attack the problem in the morning.

After a walk with Kona and some breakfast, I decide I need to replace the fuel filter/water separator.  I pull it and head to Sven's for the replacement.  Not an easy job but I get her in there, prime the lines and she starts right up.  Let's go sailing.  We need to test the new system.  We head to Angel again and as I round the corner to head over to Treasure, I see L'Hydroptere mid bay ripping by at 35 knots.  Amazing boat!  Over to Clipper Cove in about 20 knots of wind and a beautiful sail.  Kona and I go for a nice end of the summer swim and he is loving it.  We make it back around 7pm and I drift off into a 3 hour nap in the v-berth.  What a great couple of sails and I think we are good to go with the new filter.

Barely Legal

Cool Vids

The first one is about a seal who falls in love with a lady on the beach.  The second is talking about the universe and how were are all made of stars.  Both are worth a look.

Birthday week next week and I am planning a sail with friends to celebrate.  54 and there is SO much more!

Hunky Dory to a New Home

I purchased this 16 foot dory in January of 1999.  She was my first real sailboat and man could she sail.  Perfect for the lakes and sloughs in the area.  Once I got comfortable, I started taking her on the bay many times.  I would drop her in at San Leandro and had some amazing runs.  My first golden retriever Sierra and I would head out for some great times and fun sailing on this classic dory with a 505 sloop rig.  I had not sailed her in a year as I have been focusing on our 30' Newport and having a ball sailing her.  So I figured, if I did not sail her this past summer I would pass her on to someone else.  I put an ad in the local CL boat section and within an hour had 3-4 bites.  Nick contacted me and said his daughter was really getting into sailing and he wanted to see the boat.  He showed up at my door and I instantly recognized him.  We had met on the 2010 Baja Haha.  He had his family on a small cat and we were in the same division of the rally to Cabo.  What a small world.  We prepared the boat for travel and off he went.  It was sad as Kona and I watched her drive away.  Some of the adventures I had with her include Lake Del Valle (my fav!), Newark sloughs, Quarry Lakes, Tahoe, Shoreline, Redwood Shores, Redwood City sloughs, San Leandro, Lake Elizabeth, Oakland Estuary, and several others.  The last time I took her out, I almost got arrested for naked sailing.  A fisherman called the cops as I was au natural and the cops showed up.  I think they laughed at the guy for calling them out for my major crimes against humanity, cause they drove away as quick as they got there.  I will miss the Hunky and cherish the time that Sierra and I were sailing in the sloughs and a local newspaper took two pics of us that ended up on the cover.  So cool that I had it framed.  Loved that Hunky Dory.  Good news is she is just 20 minutes away and at a friends house!

Baja Haha 19 Here I Come!!!

I attended the crew list party for the Haha on Wednesday.  I spoke to a few skippers and gave out my resume.  I received a call this morning from Ken on Odyssey this morning that I had been selected as crew.  Their boat is a Islander 41 ketch that will take them around the planet over the next 5 years.  I will join them in San Diego for the 750 mile run down the coast to Cabo with 500 like minded individuals on 180 other boats, at the end of October.  My friend John from the 2010 Haha will round out the crew of 4.  This will be my third Haha in a row.  I am looking forward to another exciting adventure down the Baja coast!

San Francisco: Center of the Sailing Universe

Lately all the cool sailing happenings have been taking place in SF.  Between the America's Cup, L'Hydroptere, the skiff racing and my own amazing sail on Sunday, SF seems to be the center of the sailing universe.  On Friday the St Francis YC hosted the 14th annual Bridge to Bridge run.  All the fastest boats, skiffs,  cats, kites and boarders get together for a 4 mile race from the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge.  An all out downwind sprint.  L'Hydroptere did the course before everyone else and the crew was disappointed they only hit 37 in 20 knots of wind.  The kiters won the actual race and good on them.  See the race in the vid below.

On Sunday we were hitting 7 knots on our speedo and humming along thru the fog and it was amazing.  We had a nice run up to Tiburon and lunch there.  After, we tore up Raccoon and then headed home.  Another beautiful day on our wonderful bay!

About Last Week...

Not sure why I have not written this report earlier but here goes: Made it over to pick up John at Sam's in Tiburon.  It was a gorgeous day and the wind was in the 20's.  We sailed to the city front and there were the America's Cup boats racing away.  There were lots of spectator boats so we sailed just outside them and took in what we could of the racing.  As we were heading north along the course I saw something I never thought I would see with my own eyes...cruising by in a cloud of spray was the fastest boat in the world, l’Hydroptère DCNS (check out their site http://hydroptere.com/).  It was a blogger/sailors dream come true.  The boat is waiting for a weather window to break the LA to Honolulu record of 4 days and change.  They got tired of windless LA so they shot up the coast for some good old SF blastings.  It was amazing to watch this boat top out at 35 knots right in front of us.  I heard that with some stronger winds on Saturday, they hit 45 without a problem.  Surely they did not men to upstage the AC but in fact, they blew them out of the water!!!  We sailed back to Sam's for dinner and then I headed to Angel Island for the night.

After getting situated on the moorings, not easy if you are alone with a front and end tie off, I slipped into a deep slumber.  As I was the only boat in the anchorage, I felt a little bit that the famous explorer Juan de Ayala, he being the first to sail a ship into the SF Bay back in August of 1775.  He spent his first night in this cove.  How cool.  Woke up in the morning to get ready for the event I was hosting for a local company.  I was supplying the drinks and fun for a group of 20.  Lunch was being catered by the cafe on the island.  Another glorious day and the group took the ferry over for the 11am arrival from Palo Alto.  We had a ton of fun playing Frisbee golf and bocce after lunch.  The group went for a hike and my buddy John showed up with a couple ladies and they had a picnic too.  After the hike it was on to volleyball for the group and I departed.  The engine was not receiving fuel so after some trouble shooting I decided to slip the lines and sail her home without the engine.  Off the dock with out a problem, I sailed out the strait and into a huge lee behind Angel.  I got stuck for an hour trying to get to the wind.  Finally it filled in and I took off like a rocket on a perfect reach for the end of the pier.  I was heading in about 7 and the wind was way down in the low teens.  I needed that wind to get me into the slip.  I made it into the harbor and there was just enough to get me down the fairway and into the slip without the engine.  It was a thing of beauty!  Exhausted, I cleaned up and then headed home.  It was an adventure to remember and cherish!  Thank you, Addiction!!!

Heading to the America's Cup Today

My buddy John and I are sailing out to the course today.  Winds will be in the mid twenties for the 2:05 start.  Eleven boats will be racing and it should be a great day.  Tonight I plan to moor in Ayala Cove at Angel Island.  On Friday, I have an event I am hosting fora local company on Angel Island.  Lunch, games and fun with about 20 folks.  Should be a great way to start the weekend.