April 2012 Blog Posts (26)

The United States Coast Guard in response to the recent deaths at the Farralone Islands, have decided to suspend Offshore racing for a period of 30 days while they review the entire process of Offshore Racing from the Northern California area.

Sailors playing volleyball! Who'd a Thunk? So, here I am practicing sporadic unplanned movements once, twice and sometimes three times a week with a group of folks belonging to a recreational meet up. Years ago I attended a beach volleyball clinic and though I enjoyed the 4 hour instruction I was too busy surfing and sailing to get serious about ball whacking. Previous to that I tried a more serious team approach in college but my skills kept me on the bench during the first two games so…

Yeah, I did it. I took some of the cash from the sale of the Sabre, and bought another boat. A Columbia 8.7. Almost the same exact boat that I sail now. Just two years younger. The owner died, his son didn't have the wherewithal to maintain it. The sails blew off into the Poquoson River, and the boat broke free of her dock lines. She ended up across the creek, partially…

Gee, nothing like suffering from writer's block for a while....WHEW!!!  So, I am going to do better.  I promise to post more often, if only to myself...***snort***

Am contemplating moving out to the Owl in July permanently.  I am now living on her on the weekends, and it has been most challenging but do-able.  I enjoy being able to…

Big time offshore shakedown, 24 hour run westerly, tacking out of the gate, with an awsome headwind as usual.  Great trip, a little quezieness on board, cold and foggy throughout the night so the night watches froze.  We picked up a crab pot after firing the engine in the middle of the night, when we had zero wind, zero visibility and was time to start east.  Discovered crab pots can present and immediate emergency situation, crew performed admirably.  So far damage appears to be the…

Re-print from an upcoming newsletter  of the East Coast Sailing Association

So here we are again still moving forward to nprepare for the Pacific Cup, Sunday the 15th Cody and I attended Lee Chesneau's intense weather seminar at the Encinal Yacht Club, it was about 10 hours of very intense surface weather as well as the use of the 500Mb chart to help predict the surface weather and guess where the wind will be.  It was an amazing class and I learned an enormous amount.

Also the life raft has shipped from WQinslow in Florida and should be here in the…

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/sassea/

Hm, while being distracted by the myriad of websites flashing before my eyes, I found SAILBLOG. So, I thought, why not have two separate blogs. Sure I can post the same information on both; "redundancy you say?" Permy haps, but my #1 sailing fan tells me I have to get my story told. Besides, recovering from an emotional breakdown last night, I had to take the day off of…

During my mom's final days she reminded me to be thankful I was healthy enough to go to work everyday. If it weren't for my insistence on the way I lived my life, i might have been in a better position to sacrifice my measley salary and  spend more time reading her silly stories, holding her hand, and agreeing to disagree. Mom knew, though, that for me work was my salvation. It wasn't always the money as I asserted. We both knew that. There were just some issues we chose to let…

  I've been working on my Columbia Sabre for the past six weeks, making her nice for her new owner. Most of the work was interior cabinetry and cosmetic. I had to replace bunks, cabinet faces, counter tops, and I painted all of the wood work save two bulkheads and trim, bright white. It really perked up the interior.

While I was at it, I built a new sliding hatch, new lazerette…

After work on Thursday I drove down to the boat and spent the night.  In the morning I trudged up to the Captain’s Lounge for a shower and then back to the car to stop by the Waffle House for breakfast.  Back to the boat I got busy clearing Marina’s cabin out by pulling her beding and mattresses into the solon.  I removed all the access covers and stuck my head down into the…

After work on Thursday I drove down to the boat and spent the night.  In the morning I trudged up to the Captain’s Lounge for a shower and then back to the car to stop by the Waffle House for breakfast.  Back to the boat I got busy clearing Marina’s cabin out by pulling her beding and mattresses into the solon.  I removed all the access covers and stuck my head down into the…

Boat show yesterday, spent the day with the crew looking at goodies and talking to engineers, designers, builders, mnaufacturers and the inevitable sales people.  With the weather being so bad we are not accomplishing much right now.  I did receive the PHRF certificate for our boat (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet), our particular rating is 150, which means that we get a handicap of 150 seconds per nautical mile from here to Hawaii.  That's 2057 miles x 150 /   3600  gives us 85.71 hours…

Rigging is all down and in the shop so sailing’s out, weather sucks, so varnishing’s out.  Spent the afternoon tieing proper pulls for all the hooks, shackles and pelicans on the boat.

Old Age

The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er;

So calm are we when passions are no more.

For then we know how vain it was to boast

Of fleeting things, so certain to…

A four day weekend is just what I needed.  I turned in my data to my tax accountant last week and the relief of getting that behind me was ecstasy.  At any rate Marina, Josh and I drove down to New Bern and over to the Bridgeton Harbor Marina to select a slip, then we drove one of the cars back to our old marina to check out and get the boat underway.  We stopped first to have lunch at Persimmons for.  The food was great and we had a good time talking as we looked out at the rain through the…

A short Mexico story

WHAT A WAY TO RESTART MY RETIREMENT

It was Thanksgiving morning, Portland was cold, 45 degrees and drizzly, grey and very chilly for your basic Southern Californian.  I suffer in the winter anyway, never quite warm enough.

The telephone rang, it was our friend Bo on the other end of the line, not much of a line today but still it was a contact.  “Hey buddy’ would you like to come to Mexico”, after a short pause and a…

So last week we decided to take our 5 year old offshore liferaft To Sal's Inflatables, to be recertified, this being a major refit of the raft we decided to stick around to watch Sal open the case and inflate the raft with dry air.  When the raft case was opened we discovered the painter was wrapped around the raft in packing and therefore this raft could never have been deployed.           …

Imagine sitting under a full moon with a gentle 7 knot breeze tossling your hair on an otherwise clear night. The blue/black sky has featherlike remnants of clouds just south of the moon. The last fisherman, the same guy who has gone out every night for the past six days, left his slip about an hour ago. This evening he has a friend on board. Across from SPRAY is a new guy to the club who also set out before dusk; no doubt to drift along the coast on this beautifully, peaceful…

The Sailing Ketch Morning Star with a long and illustrious career, having been built in China in 1968 by the eminent Robin Fong Boat Yard, and cruised 1½ circumnavigations of the world from 1973 through 1981, as related in the book, Voyage of Commitment Morning Star Around The World, by Raymond F. Triplett;  1983.  And subsequently having come to us after setting idly in San Francisco Bay for nearly fifteen years, this little ship was in need of a good deal of remedial…

Witnessing the night sky transform into daylight continues to be magical. It only gets better when the viewing itakes place with someone who initiatates a rendevous at my favorite spot on the boardwalk in Indialantic. Just north of Melbourne Beach on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway is this sleepy little town. Not known for much other than surfing and as a gateway to other beach resorts, this square mile town boasts a quiet 1/4 mile boardwalk, two coffee shops, an ice cream parlor,…