Life is all about great memories!

Make some today!

30 Years: Hello Sailor

I had a few sails on the bay prior to 1984-5 but sailing hooked me in early 85 when I moved to the lagoon at Foster City.  I started windsurfing on the lagoon after a friend gave me a windsurfer that he was not using.  The sailing was fast and fun and it was right outside my door.  I would eventually start a windsurfing club and travel north and south to find wind.   Since then I have had a sunfish, a dory sailboat and now my 30' Newport.  I love everything about sailing.  Being outdoors, seeing the beautiful vistas from the water, and sharing it with friends.  Especially the beauty of the SF bay and ocean. 

Last night was a great example.  I took off at 5pm and most folks were already done for the day.  The coast was clear and the wind was in the low 20's.  Kona and I headed towards San Rafael on a nice hour long tack.  On our well balanced boat and a little jib out in these conditions, it is very relaxing to sit behind the dodger out of the wind and let the boat sail herself.  She does a great job once you get the right amount of sail out.  We did a few tacks towards the city and then headed in as darkness fell.  Here is to another 30 years of sailing the bay and well beyond.



Amazing skim board surfing!

Breach!

Start at the 1:30 mark.  Full screen.

Pics of the Weekend

Kona and I headed out to fog that cleared by noon.  We sailed to Angel but did not see a safe place to anchor.  Continued to Tiburon and it took a couple tries to get the anchor down.  Jumped in the kayak and got Kona over to the beach.  WInd shifting and I am worried about the anchor holding.  We get back to the boat and do a swim and sure enough the boat starts drifting.  Glad we are hanging on!  Had a great sail home and a little hove to near the channel.  Have a busy August so this may be my last sail of the month. 

Got in 5 sails since the new electric engine was installed last weekend.  Here is a note I sent my sailing buddies on our new electric engine: Our 20+ year old diesel engine on the Addiction finally expired in mid May due to corrosion from the salt water that is used to cool her.  My partners and I talked about many options including installing a new or rebuilt engine and even giving her away without a working engine.  It's been a long 10 weeks and now for the best part!

My partners have installed a new electric power plant in the boat.  It is truly awesome.  We now have 8, 70lb AGM batts secured, a charger and a new electric motor.  They pulled out the old diesel and put an ad on CL and it was taken away the very next day by some motor less sailors who plan to rebuild it.  Good luck!  We put the final touches on the install last weekend and she is quiet, no more fuel runs, and no more oil in the bilge.  We just plug her in after a sail and come back to a full charge.  It's called Tesla Sailing!  Very excited and I have to say, our partner Murray did a masterful job on the install.  I put in 3 hours helping with the install and he and the other partners did the rest!!! 

We have up to a 19 nautical mile range at about 3.5 knots.  Truth is, we use the motor in and out of the slip and maybe to a lunch stop at Angel (about 1 nm with each use).  The cool part is that as we sail, we let the prop spin and it regenerates power to the batts.  Today, I got them back up to 100% charged after an almost full throttle run out the channel.

We move our son down to San Diego this week where he will attend San Diego State.  He is very pumped about that.   Then my wife are off to Burning Man with a bunch of friends.  Going to be a great month!

Great Idea for Self Rescue

I was reading the rescue stories on my starboard side bar this morning and there was one where a guy was thrown into the water and his boat sank.  He had his phone in a waterproof case and was able to contact the rescue folks from the water and get help.  I had never thought of that.  We have a portable VHF in a waterproof case down below.  That won't help me if the boom knocks me in the water while I am single handing.  I plan to get a waterproof case for my iPhone, how about you?  Most of us have phones in our pocket when we sail and this makes a ton of sense.  No case, no phone usage once you are overboard! 

Read the story here.

Skiff Sailing 20kts+

Looks a lot like wind surfing...kinda.

Had two great sails over the weekend.  The new electric power system has been awesome getting us in and out of the channel.  I hit the water Saturday evening about 5:30 and the wind was UP!  By the time I had tacked out to the end of the Berkeley Pier (took over 5 tacks as the wind was to the south), it was well over 20kts. Reefed jib only run and cloudy with fog but clearing up ahead.  As the sun set, the almost full moon came up.  What a beautiful thing.  I came roaring home with the full jib out as I hit the channel.  As I made the turn in towards the marina, (the wind was blowing over 25+) the boat caught a gust and rounded up toward the channel marker.  I screamed "No!" and turned the wheel as fast as I could. I grazed the marker sign and broke a couple starboard stanchions.  I was furious I made such an error .  It is the nature of sail boats to round into the wind and I learned my lesson to furl the jib in high winds.  Plus, the sea was angry that day, my friend.

Sunday was a bit of the same but less wind and sunny (I kept thinking this is deja vu all over again!) I took the cut in the pier this time which gives me an hour long reach towards Angel.  Great sail and on my way back, the fog was heading in and covering the sun.  A few shafts of light around peeking thru.  The highlight came when a huge shaft came down and focused on a schooner out for a sunset sail near Sausalito.

My partners and I are all very happy with our new power plant and are so grateful Murray took the lead and made this transition happen.  Excellent work my friend!

Pics You Like

Live to Surf and Surf to Live. Artic Circle Extreme

One more...



Head to the 6 minute mark for the heaviest waves on the planet...Teahupoo.

Americas Cup Location Update:
We are down to the wire for location selection and neither of the options are that great from a wind perspective.  San Diego is notorious for light winds and the current 62' foilers need a steady 15 to really start flying.  Remember the 40 knots of boat speed last summer?  You may have to visit YouTube to see that kind of sailing again.

The other is Bermuda.  I have not heard many positive things about this location and the teams are saying it would be too expensive to get the infastructure up and running.  I know nothing of the wind conditions but have read that they are variable.

Breaking news...
We can report that Larry Ellison and Russell Coutts managed to convene a secret late-Wednesday night meeting with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and members of the Board of Supervisors to plead, hat in hands, to let the Cup come back to San Francisco. "I'll pick up the tab for everything," said the fifth richest man in the world.

Sorry, stole that one from L38.  Just kidding about that last paragraph. When I read that bit on Lectronic, I jumped out of my chair!

Pacific Rowers Will See Trouble X's 2

Iselle and Julio are bearing down on the rowers as they approach the Hawaiian island chain.  They are in day 57 from Monterey and some teams are speeding up to miss the fury while others are slowing down and deploying sea anchors.  It's going to be tough going as 25-30 knot winds hit the fleet as well as very large swells.  This pair of storms in this part of the Pacific are very rare.  With the water warming in many areas due to El Nino, the flood gates have opened.  The next few days will be intense for all involved.  Read the latest reports here.

Breaking the 60 Knot Barrier

The new electric motor is working great.  Charging is going fine.  We have one more programming hurdle that will give us a bit more power and I think we will be golden.  Pretty amazing transition and so happy to be sailing again.

Out the other day and I was thinking that the Newport 30 is just the perfect bay boat.  If you are looking for a big bang for the buck boat, this is it.  Ours is going on 33 years young and she is awesome.  If you find a good one, buy it and sail her hard.  You will not be disappointed.

Boat is Turning into a Banana - Classic

Playboy Interview: Carl Sagan

Here is a great interview from Playboy mag with the man, the myth and the legend.  Click here.

Bonehead Move

Gettin' Blown Away

Here is some cool Led Zeppelin trivia:
THE BACKSTORY: Many fans think the title of the Houses of the Holy tune is
pronounced "Dire Maker"; in fact, you're supposed to say it more like the name of the Caribbean country, Jamaica.
THE TRUTH: Robert Plant has confirmed that the title "D'yer Mak'er" does, in fact, come from a rusty bit of Cockney humor, which usually goes something like this:
Cockney Man 1: My wife is going on holiday.
Cockney Man 2: D'yer make 'er? ["Jamaica," but pronounced quickly so that it sounds just like "Did you make her?"]
Cockney Man 1: No, she's going on her own accord.
The sly allusion to Jamaica made sense for the song: "D'yer Mak'er" is Zeppelin's reggae move.

We finished up most of the install on our new electric engine.  Murray and our other partners have done a masterful job with securing the 8 batteries, installing the charger and solenoid as well as installing the engine.  We finished up today with shaft coupler, shaft alignment and the display unit.

We took her out for a spin in the marina and half way up the channel.  The engine was moderatly quiet  and pushed us smartly.  In the channel with the wind at about 15, she struggled abit and slowed to about 3 knots.  We are heading out Sunday for a day sail and will know more then.

New Surf Film w/ Liz Clark

I have featured this solo sailor/surfer many times on these pages.  She has been out there sailing the Pacific since 2005.  She is an inspiration to me and all those who are touched by the sea.  Take a look at her part in the film and turn it up a bit!

Eddie Would Go!

25th Anniversary celebration of The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau a Surfing video by Mpora

Eddie Aikau was the first official lifeguard at Waimea Bay, on Oahu's North Shore, and at the same time developed a reputation as one of the best big wave riders in the world. Partnering with his younger brother/lifeguard Clyde, the pair never lost a life on their watch. Eddie surfed every major swell to come through the North Shore from 1967 to 1978. He attained a rank of 12th in the world on the early IPS pro surfing rankings. His best contest result was a win in the 1977 Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championship.

In 1978, Aikau was among a handful selected to join the cultural expedition of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule'a, which set sail from Magic Island, Oahu, bound for Tahiti, on March 16, 1978. Hokule'a soon encountered treacherous seas outside the Hawaiian Islands and the canoe capsized. After a wild night adrift, Aikau set off on his paddleboard on March 17 in search of help for his stranded crew members. He was never seen again. The ensuing search for Aikau was the largest air-sea search in Hawaii history.


Side note: They had a huge sendoff for the canoe and even though they knew a storm was brewing, they took off anyway so as not to dissapoint the crowd.  Note to self: Just because everyone one is there, you donot take off in a storm.

The Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau event was established in 1984 held at Sunset Beach in his honor. The event moved the next winter to Waimea Bay and has been a fixture there ever since. It celebrates it's 30 th year in 2014.  There is a great book out there about his life and times called, "Eddie Would Go".

Here is a website dedicated to Eddie.

Cool Pics!

Heading to Angel for an overnight on Tuesday with John.  On Wednesday, we sail to the baseball game on his Islander 41.

Conversion to Electric Engine Almost Complete!

I have to take my hat off to my partners Arnie and Murray as they have almost completed the conversion of our sail boat to an electric engine.  The 20 year diesel has been removed, 8 batteries have been placed and secured, the engine has been mounted, and after a few more tweaks, we will be sailing in August.

Here is what Murray says about our power plant:
"We have eight 12 volt 100 amp-hour batteries installed.  We will hook pairs of those together in parallel to form four 'super' 12 volt 200aH batteries.  Those four super batteries will be connected in series to produce 48 volts at 200 aH".  I believe they are about 75 lbs each.

I am not sure what the heck that means, but I think it's good.  Bottomline: we hope to have a cruising range, under motor, of 19 nautical miles at 4 knots.  In an average day sail on the bay, we used our trusty diesel about .5 to 1 mile a day.  Mostly to get in and out of the marina and motoring to a lunch spot for instance.  Our hope is that we will still be able to to enjoy 5-6 day trips up the Napa River (we will have charging available at our destinations), the Delta and beyond. 

They say it costs about .15 cents to charge the batteries after a day sail.  We shall see.  My partners and I are very excited about our decision to go green.  There will be very little sound from the motor, no maintenance, and no more fuel or oil on board.  The final cost will be about $9k.  Split between 5 partners helps a bunch.

Here is a picture of the newly mounted engine:

If you are interested in finding out more about our power plant provider, click
here.

Here is our old diesel being carted off.  This engine brought a ton of good times into our lives!  After my partners pulled it, an ad was placed on Craigslist for a free engine.   The next day, two engine less sailors came and took her away.  I wish them luck in repairing her and placing her on their boat.  We chose to replace our engine with an electric motor after this engine developed oil leaks due to saltwater corrosion ( the salt water is drawn from the bay to cool the engine).  Thanks for all the great times and getting us on the bay!!

Pics of the Week

From a Lake Bed in Nevada

My wife and I will be heading up near here in a month for Burning Man!  We are joining an established camp with a mutant vehicle called the Slug.  Should be life altering and amazing.  Some of our best friends will be joining.