Irony is Ironic

About a week ago I wrote about fixing our old boat.  Then a few days later, we had our furler come down due to a failed casting at the top of the mast.  One of my partners hit something and the furler broke off.  More to fix!  It may be a while till we are on the water.  I am off to the Brittney coast of France to explore their maritime heritage and explore the region.  It would be great if a sailing opportunity presents itself.  The Bay of Biscay is a sailors paradise!

Best of Burning Man

The Bioluminesent Slug - our camp's two story art car 2014 sound machine!

 

I attended last years edition of Burning Man in Black Rock Desert.  My wife and I joined 30 other burners in a camp called High Maintenance.  Each night, part of the group prepared a gourmet dinner with fine wines.  It was amazing.  The highlight was our art car.  Charlie manned the helm each day and night for our pilgrimage to the Playa.  We picked up random strangers and gave them a ride to where ever we were going.  We met all sorts of people that were ecstatic to be at this extravaganza.  We even picked up a wedding party and took them to a make shift chapel and they got married as we blasted the tunes.  If you are on the fence about going...I say go!  It will be the best thing you ever did!

Scott London has been documenting the festival for the last 10 years.  He has done an outstanding job of picking the right lighting, contrast and background.  Check out his photo library here.

Here are a few samples of his fine work.

An Inspiration

One more!

15 Years of Repairing a 34 Year Old Boat

We purchased Addiction in 2000.  At that time, she was 19 years young (1981, she was built in Long Beach, Ca) and had 3 previous owners.  She was in pretty good shape but there were issues on the horizon.  The folks we bought her from seemed to have let her sit for long periods.  Once we started taking her out for long day sails on the winds of the San Francisco Bay, things started to break and fail.  It seemed every time we went out, some thing happened that would need repair or replacement.  First it was the water pump to say "no mas".  Then the batteries, and eventually the rudder needed a major overhaul.  The big projects (meaning expensive) have been the "butt cut" on the mast (a corroding base needed 4' taken off to be replaced by a hard material), a new dodger, roller furling, and finally a new engine (electric now).  It's been a long process and things continue to break, just on a less frequent basis.  If you add it up, I guesstimate we have spent an average of $9000 per year over the last 15 years for the care and feeding of our 30 foot sailboat.  That's $135k!  And this is a very modest sailboat.  The good news is, we have 6 partners to share the expenses.   We have old sails and we do much of the repairs ourselves (including taking out the old engine and installing our electric power plant).  It's been an amazing journey and we have had the time of our lives with this wonderful vessel.  The bottom line is:  I can not imagine my life without this boat!  I look so forward to my days on the water and the good times and incredible sailing grounds of this unbelievable body of water we live on.  The combination of wind, mountains, bridges, fog, cityscape, and natural beauty are unmatced anywhere on our planet!

I plan to make a video of some of the major repairs and will post it here on Monday.

 

Addiction on the 2012 Delta Doo Dah Rally 

Sidenote:  This picture almost ended up on the cover of Lat38.  We were trumped by a little race pic taken on the bay called...America's Cup!

The Winsurfing Movie

Found this gem on youtube.  There is also a II movie out there.  Enjoy!



Warriors win game 4 to even the series.  Welcome back home boyz!

Better Than the Movie "Wind"?

Received a note from Rob:

Better than Wind
I recently watched a movie on Youtube called Turning Tide. It was a French film, beautifully captioned into English about the Vendee Globe Race.  It was easily the best ocean race cinematically filmed I have ever watched. It beat the heck out of “Wind” not to mention the Robert Redford disaster that was a joke hardly worth the price of admission.  Turning Tide is about 90 minutes long and it’s a feast for any offshore racer’s eyes.
- Rob Peters; Halifax, Nova Scotia

 Check it out and send a comment. 

The History of Recorded Music (according to Apple)

They say this new service will change the way we consume music.  Hype or jive?  We will find out on 6/30...

Do You Remember Your First Time??

Have You Ever Tried This?

Too much fun!

Monster Multi's

Lots excitement and chatter about our home team:  The Golden State Warriors!  The team has been riding a wave of success over the last 8 months.  We have been so mediocre for the last 40 years that this is a momentous occasion.  I watched most of the games this year on TV and this team is exciting to watch.  Because their bench is so deep, Lebron is going to have his hands full.  And check out the defense of the Dubs.  It's going to be a great series.  Warriors in 5!

I am off to San Diego this weekend for a work gig.  99% of our events are in the bay area.  Should be a great trip with a pool party, beach party, food truck bonanza and more.  About a 9 hour drive...but I love road trips.  Fair winds.

Ted's Great Race - 79' Fastnet Race

The 1979 Fastnet race was the twenty-eighth Fastnet race, a yachting race held generally every two years since 1925 on a 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via south of the Scillies. In 1979, it was the climax of the five-race Admiral's Cup competition, as it had been since 1957.
A worse-than-expected storm on the third day of the race wreaked havoc on over 306 yachts taking part in the biennial race, resulting in 18 fatalities (15 yachtsmen and 3 rescuers). Emergency services, naval forces, and civilian vessels from around the west side of the English Channel were summoned to aid what became the largest ever rescue operation in peace-time. This involved some 4,000 people including the entire Irish Naval Service's fleet, lifeboats, commercial boats, and helicopters.

AIS on Your Phone

AIS (Automatic Identification System) has been a nice addition to the boating world.  It provides a chart with ship and boat locations as well as info about the vessels.  Many recreational boats have them as well as the big ships, which are required to have them.  You can download Shipfinder for both iPhones and Android.  It has saved me a couple times on the SF Bay.  When I see a ship coming thru the Gate, I fire up SF on my iPhone and it tells me which port the boat is heading to, speed, origin and what type of credit card the Captain uses (kidding about the last one).  Anyway, if the boat is heading my way, I can take evasive maneuvers way before it gets close.  With these monsters moving between 14-16 kts, it's nice not to have to tangle with them.  I also got into a foggy situation in the middle of the night and it was great to be able to "see" what was around me.  Combining that with my nav app, iNavx, we knew where we were in relation to Alcatraz and Angel Island.  Peace of mind is a wonderful thing.  If you sail a bunch or if you get out only a few times a year, this is a great app to have in your back pocket.  You must have cellular reception for this to work on your phone.  I plan to install a real AIS package on my next boat for our sail to New Zealand.  There are two types of systems.  One is just a transponder and the other is a receiver and transponder.  I hope to get the latter.

Now That's Cool

A while back we were over in Tahiti.  We were in a small bungalow on the beach.  I always travel with my volleyball net and was looking forward to some beach volleyball.  What I did not know was that because of the reef surrounding the island of Huahine, there was very little beach.  I was undaunted and determined to find a spot.  I got on a rented bike and went down the road and found a beautiful stretch of grass.  I went back to the hotel and announced that there would be a volleyball game the next day at 2pm.  The hotel management heard about the game and the manager came over to my hammock to tell me that we could not do that.  The fact of the matter was that the grass area was owned by the President of French Polynesia and that it would be trespassing.  I was not to be swayed.  I jumped back on the bike and knocked on the front door of this palatial estate.  No one answered.  I went around back and there were some workers there and I explained that we were planning a volleyball game in the front yard the following day.  They said that was fine and I went back and told the manager that we had received permission.  The next day we put up the net.  The manger showed up with a referee chair from the tennis courts and a bunch of beer.  Awesome, game on.  About 2:30, the local villagers showed up with their families.  Little did we know that volleyball is the national sport of Tahiti.  These guys were spiking from the back line!  Even the small kids were amazing.  Needless to say, we had a great day and a wonderful vacation.  That was in 1992!

Pics of the Week

Old Dog New Tricks

Looks like I am going to have to get Kona more involved.

Witness One of the Fastest Tri's on the Planet

The wind is at 12 kts and the boat speed is 30+ kts. Can you believe it?

Had a nice Saturday sail out towards Alcatraz on a foggy day that turned quickly into a spectacular afternoon.  Arndog, Becca, Val, Tex and Kona joined the crew.  We had a beautiful spin run home at well over 7 knots.  Off to DE this week to help out my Mom and Dad.  Have a great week.

Ripping in the Med

Cloudy cool week here on the bay.  Memorial Day weekend is upon us.  If you are heading to the water, keep a good lookout as there will be some yahoos out there not paying attention on this busy holiday weekend.  One thing I do when sailing.  I may be on a starboard tack and have the right of way, but if someone is challenging me on say a port tack, I always give them the right of way and assume they do not know the rules of the road.  The number one rule is avoid collisions at all costs...even if you have the rights! 

Letters From the Sea

I just received a note from a friend who sailed from SF to French Polynesia and back to SF.  Here is the note:

Aloha Capt. Craig,
Yep made the circle from Mex to Tahiti to Hawaii and back again. I learned a lot - about sailing, about people, about myself. No regrets. It was a great adventure, though I could have picked a better captain. Highlight was definitely diving in the Tumamotus. Fakarava is amazing. When you go plan to spend as much time there as possible, and stock up on fruit and veggies while you're in the Marquesas. One of the best shark dives in the world. And gorgeous fish. Make sure you're at the south pass the first full moon after the summer solstice for the massive grouper spawning. They're so tired you can pet them, and the sharks have a feast. Marquesas are fantastic too, but the water is murky. A few times I saw hammerheads hunting around the boat while sipping my morning coffee. Pretty incredible. Tahiti and the Societies are a little bit of a let down after the Marquesas and the Tumamotus, but I hear it gets better as you keep going West from there. Pay attention to the weather. And take lots of different kinds of glue. Help everyone you can. Got caught in a nasty storm headed back from Tahiti to the Marquesas. A 4 day crossing turned into 9 days beating into 50 knots (at least it was 50 before we lost the wind vane). I had busted my eardrum and was pretty much useless. But it was totally unnecessary misery. Lesson not to push a schedule. But that crossing from Mexico was a piece of cake. Downhill all the way. Going up to Hawaii was a fast broad reach all the way, but we were about 1 day away from a hurricane as we neared the Big Island. Crossing from Hawaii was pretty much misery. We left with a 1 foot tear in the main, without an extra sail, and it was soon shredded. Hit a big high and had no wind for days and days. Lost the transmission. Captain's borderline tendencies in full swing as we tried to sew the sail. I kept a blog for a while but the captain was very concerned about maintaining control of his spin on his decisions, so dropped it.

The electric motor sounds very cool! Don't know much about them. I like the reliability and distance we got out of the diesel. We used it often to charge the batteries in the Marquesas. It rained so much the solar panels were pretty useless.

Good luck on the prep for 2018! Make decisions with your head and not your ego. ;-)

Introducing Lilly - The Camera that Follows You

I just signed up to be a Lily beta tester when they come out in Feb!


Had a nice 26 hour overnighter with Dan, Kona and Tex.  We took off on Saturday morning around 11am for Angel Island.  The wind was from the south and about 12 when we headed out the channel.  This wind direction allows us to head towards the Gate and not have to tack all the way there.  We got out towards Alcatraz and the wind begins to build and shift to a more westerly direction.  We head towards Sam's around 2:30 but there are no parking spots available so we head back towards the city for a fine run.  Then to Angel for the night.  We snag the moorings at Ayala Cove and settle in for dinner.  The BBQ comes out as does the Coleman for a fine meal for Thai chicken and some brussel sprouts.  Kona needs a run on the beach so we get him over as I paddle and he swims.  We have a nice night and some good times.  Morning comes early and Kona is ready for the beach again.  After breakfast we head to the picnic grounds for a couple games of Bocbee.  We play a round of bocce and Frisbee golf.  Couple of great shots and fun games.  We head back to the boat and for the run home.  Winds are light so we rig the spinnaker.  She goes up easy and soon we are flying towards Emeryville.  As we come out of the lee of Angel the wind starts to build and we are over powered.  I send Tex up to douse the spinnaker.  A few feet down she jams badly.  We are headed into a race and the sock we are using to douse the kite is jammed.  We release the halyard and bring her down.  We throw up the jib again and we are cooking towards the channel.  At the dock it takes an hour to fix our jammed pulley and get the deck cleared.  We clean up and head home after a great night on our favorite Angel Island.  And I am exhausted!

32 Knots on a MOD 70

Did not know CNN has a feature called Mainsail and they have a gal that travels the world reporting on sailing.  This segment covers the amazing MOD 70 trimaran.  There are alot of other cool vids here and each is about 7 mins long.  If you have some time, watch them all.  Check it here.