Happy 75th Anniversay Golden Gate Bridge

Today marks the 75th Anniversary of Opening Day for the Golden Gate Bridge.

Photo from
The Chronicle Archives: Golden Gate Bridge
Click on photo to see more images

Not only do I appreciate the ability to drive between San Francisco and the North Bay, I am consistently awestruck by the vision of this golden bridge by boat. If you have ever been on a sailboat or powerboat and sailed underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, you know that it is a magnificent feeling.

To celebrate the anniversary I have posted some photos of our first time sailing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in our early days of sailing together.

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Map of our Sailing Route from San Francisco to San Jose del Cabo

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San Diego says, Get Out!

Ok San Diego, we get it. Loud and clear. It is time to move on. The Christmas lights are hung at the marina, Christmas music can be heard from the restaurant upstairs and it is cold. Really, really cold. It is as if a cold front is physically sweeping us out with a broom. Get! Get!

Can you believe we actually found a place to stow all of this stuff?!

So off we go. We have done so much provisioning that we may accidentally sink out boat in the slip. We provisioned with plenty of food. We had to find a place to stash 60 beers. Hopefully we find them all over the next year! We provisioned with plenty of spares, 8 gallons of engine oil (which costs twice as much in Mexico) and 260+ feet of anchor chain! We provisioned with fishing gear- pole, fancy hooks, spear gun, trolling line, net, how to books. We even provisioned with fun water gear- surfboard, wet suits, kayak, snorkel gear. And we now have more clothes on the boat than we know what to do with. We are ready!

The first stop will be Ensenada where we will probably get a Mexican cell phone, an internet card, and a little sleep before we skedaddle down the Baja coast with a couple stops in small anchorages along the way. Our next big town stop will be San Jose del Cabo which is about 20 miles south of Cabo San Lucas. By the time we get to Cabo we will be sailing in T-shirts and shorts. Bring it!

We should (if it is working) have internet in Ensenada so we’ll be able to post one more time but then probably won’t have internet again until we get down to Cabo. The weather looks fantastic for sailing this week. Check out www.passageweather.com for a look.

We are hoping to leave on December 5th which, coincidentally is the same day my little sister is also leaving San Diego to travel through South America for 3 1/2 months. You can read about her travels at shvhiker.blogspot.com. Safe, happy, and fun travels Sabrina!

Hasta Luego!

Hasta Luego

Things you think when you are hanging from wires 45 feet above the ground. Or water.

Oh my gosh, I hope I don’t fall.

I don’t know how to fix this $#&% thing.

$&*@, I forgot the screwdriver/wire/sealant/etc. and now I’m going to have to go down and back up again.

Why won’t this $%^&*! thing work?!

$%#* I dropped a screw!

Wow, the view is great up here.

Can I come down yet?

Yes, there is a lot of swearing that goes on when you are up the mast. You never go up the mast just for FUN. It is always because something needs to be fixed. We find that it is best to just silently mutter the expletives as one’s voice carries quite some distance in a marina.

This past week we have been attempting to figure out why the mast lights do not work. There are three lights on the mast. The anchor light is up at the tippy top of the mast. It should be turned on at night when you are in an anchorage so others can see you. About ¾ up the mast you will find the deck light which shines down on the deck and the steaming light which is designed so boats next to you and in front of you can see you. The steaming light should be on when you are motoring at night.

In Monterey we realized that the steaming light did not work. We had been using the deck light which was plenty bright. I went up the mast in Monterey to ‘fix’ the problem. I inadvertently broke the deck light so we just had an anchor light left. So we used our anchor light as a steaming light as well. This week I went up the mast to try to fix the steaming and deck lights once again. I inadvertently made the anchor light go out. You would think that electrical wires would be relatively easy to figure out. Power is on at the base of the mast- check. Positive to positive and negative to negative and PRESTO the light goes on!

After several trips up the mast the PRESTO never came. I’m over it. I’ll volunteer to stand on the deck and hold a light up for 12 dark hours before I go up the mast again. We’re leaving for Mexico this week with at least one working light OR some home-brewed concoction on the mast. Heck, maybe we’ll even wrap the mast with Christmas lights!

Preparing for Mexico

San Diego has treated us well! We had a fabulous Thanksgiving hosted by my Aunt Ellen, Uncle Dick, and cousin Mark. My cousin Pat gifted us with a lapel of St Brendan, Patron of Navigators, and luckily I sold my mustang convertible last week (sniff). Thank you to my parents who helped us transport our Costco spree loot and most recent FUN additions!

Surfboard
Wetsuits
Fishing gear

Can you imagine us trying to take the bus with all of this?!

And thank you in advance to Bernadette and Sabrina who have both offered to help with last minute preparations today!

Barring anything major breaking we’ll be in Mexico by Wednesday afternoon!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

Thanks to a shared recipe from Krista our little propane Force10 boat stove was officially christened tonight. Pumpkin cookies ready for frosting! In case you are interested the link to this easy 2 ingredient recipe is below.
Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

http://cookiesandcups.com/2-ingredient-pumpkin-cookies/

SABRINA SAVES OUR SHIP FROM A SUBMARINE ATTACK!

It started out as a simple sail, really. We took my sister, Sabrina, out for a day sail and an impromptu sailing lesson. We saw not more than 15 knots of wind, no waves, and had the company of a few other sailboats in the San Diego Harbor. As we neared Point Loma, two large orange Navy tug boats sped past us to greet something in the distance. But, what could it be?! Sabrina kept a vigilant eye out for the potential obstacle we were about to face.

Sabrina keeps watch

Within minutes it became clear to us that a submarine was coming in to port and headed straight for us! Sabrina, being a seasoned sailor…for the last ½ hour… recommended that we alter course and we were able to do so just before the gray Navy police boats came rushing at our side. Other sailboats were not so lucky as they were circled by a Navy police boat and pushed off course and out of the way so far over that we feared they may run in to the rocks!

Yes, that is a large gun attached to the bow of the smaller boat in this photo.

The submarine is escorted in to the harbor

Getting closer… The Navy tug attached a line to the submarine

The other sailboat is starting to get a little too close for comfort.

We stayed clear of the submarine

We were so grateful that we scooted by the submarine without an altercation, as we left our machetes* and machine guns* back at the dock. Phew, good thing we had my sister to guide the way, for we surely would have perished otherwise. By the way, we did give her a passing grade on her first sailing lesson.

Sabrina rocked her sailing lesson

*To our parents, just kidding about the machetes and machine guns!

Reporting for Duty!

“Sign on, young man, and sail with me.

The stature of our homeland is no more

than the measure of ourselves.

Our job is to keep her free.

 

Our will is to keep the torch of freedom

burning for all. To this solemn purpose

we call on the young, the brave, the

strong, and the free.

 

Heed my call, Come to the sea.

Come sail with me.”

 

-John Paul Jones, captain 

Continental Navy (1775-1788)

Father of the American Navy

 

Dan tells the pilot to go "up"

 

Dan, former Navy officer (also our friend and crew from Monterey to San Diego) was stationed on a sistership of the aircraft carrier, USS Midway. It was such a special treat to have Dan give us a personal tour of this impressive ship before he himself reported for duty back home to his wife!

 

Dan, thank you to your service to the Navy and thank you for your service on our boat! Not only were you GREAT company, you helped us calm down a bit which was definitely necessary!

 

We took notes on the anchor system. Do you think we should get chain this large for our ship?

USS Midway anchor "locker." It is only slightly larger than ours... but not by much

I will never complain about electrical work on our boat again….

Electrical wires on the USS Midway

This is a photo of refueling at sea- scary!

 

 

The Tall Ships of San Diego

San Diego has a rich maritime history and we have wasted no time acquainting ourselves with it. 

We stopped off at the Maritime Museum with my sister in the second week of November. Conor practiced his line of sight navigation

Conor aboard the Star of India

And I worked on hoisting the sails

Lanea raising the sails on the Star of India

We visited the oldest active sailing ship, Star of India, H.M.S. Surprise (which was in film Master and Commander), and a Soviet submarine.

The submarine made me so thankful that we have chosen a sailboat and NOT a submarine as our mode of travel!

B-39 Soviet Submarine

On November 13th we went out for a sail with our friends, Jordan and Brett and saw both the Star of India and the H.M.S. Surprise under sail. Magnificent!

H.M.S. Surprise under sail

Here is a video of the boats sailing by us.

Thank you for visiting Jordan and Brett and helping us try out our BBQ!

Quarter Showers to Saunas. Moving up in the world.

An ocean of glass

We left Catalina Island with our main sail up and waited with baited breath for wind… for the entire passage. Unfortunately the ocean was calm and we motored over water as flat as glass.

Although it seems like we left not a moment too soon as they evacuated Catalina later that afternoon due to fast approaching Gale Force winds. We made friends with another boat that was anchored out at Santa Cruz Island and woke up to waves crashing on the stern of their boat and an anchorage that looked like a washing machine!

We got in early the next morning and tied up at Kona Kai Marina (not worth the price for the amenities they offer). We stayed long enough to give our boat and dinghy a good scrub

(apparently every single bird at Catalina Island decided to relieve themselves on our boat…) and then promptly made our way over to the docks of the San Diego Yacht Club.

Imagine being sleep deprived and going to the mainland from an island where you have to go from your boat in to a smaller boat every time you want to go ashore. This island takes their water conservation so seriously that they charge $0.50 for 90 seconds (yes, SECONDS!) of shower water. After this, the SDYC seems like nothing short of the Promised Land. Lovely showers, a lap pool, sauna, ice, and laundry at our fingertips not to mention a restaurant and bar on site.

And as an added benefit, we got to see my sister

Visit with Sabrina

and Conor’s lovely mother arrived to welcome us to the mainland bearing champagne, chocolate, and groceries! Life honestly couldn’t get any better. Things are starting to look up San Diego, we may just stay a little while.

We are so happy to see Bernadette!