Hi all my ship shapers,
We’ve been keeping up with our ship shape but not with posting about it. Urg. We’ve been in the Sea Of Cortez enjoying lots of free diving, snorkeling, fishing, and hiking. We have also enjoyed the lack of Internet.
Here’s a few pictures from our satphone (low quality) with a few exercises to do on the boat underway.
Exercise #1 pull ups from the back stay. Not only does this strengthen arms and shoulders, but also gives your hands a good workout.
Exercise #2 chin ups from the Rat lines
Exercise #3 Toes-to-nose using whatever place (back stay for Christian, the dodger for Taj, I like to use the Companion way)
All the tanks (water and diesel) are filled and we are ready to set sail! I just have to work 4, 12 hour shifts in a row and spend Wednesday buying last minute fresh food and last minute purging of items. Wednesday night is our “send off” party at Galilee Harbor in Sausalito. We will be having friends and whoever else wants to join us in potluck style and live music (Peter B. and the Harbor Rats) shenanigans. We will have an abalone shell set out for people to place a bite of their meal in, so that at the end of the evening, before we cut the lines, we will make an offering to the Gods of the Oceans. After we “cut the lines”, we will head over to Horseshoe Cove (the little cove at the North end of the Golden Gate Bridge) to drop the anchor one last time in San Francisco Bay. Thursday morning, we will head out after breakfast with a max ebb around 8:30 am. If you happen to be on the Golden Gate Bridge, keep your eyes out for us! First stop: Half Moon Bay. We will try to update our positions to both Marine Traffic and Farkwar. Click on the links to sign up for email position updates.
We have been living “on the hook” for almost 6 months now. It’s hard to believe that this day is finally arriving! My commute to work for the last six month has been a 0.5 – 0.75 miles paddle to shore, then a 12.5 mile bike ride each way. Although challenging at times, overall it has been very rewarding and enjoyable. Today is my last round trip ride from Sausalito!
Well, it’s better late than never. I finally had enough time sitting in front of a computer with adequate wi-fi to post a semi-descent blog posting of our Sail/Motor up to Petaluma and back, May 14-18. The trip up to Petaluma was planned with a departure and meeting with our friends, S/V Sierra and S/V Gone Tomorrow, just off of the Berkeley Pier at 7am. We planned the early morning departure with the flood, in order to make our motor up the river easier. Going with the current and with a high tide is key for this trip. Another key point about this trip is making sure you schedule for the D Street draw bridge opening. This requires a minimum of 4 hour in advance notice during the week and a 24 notice over the weekend. We remember to call that morning at 9:30 am, but the bridge attendant was able to work with our schedule. Thankfully we arrived on time. The motor up was perfect; no wind and warm and sunny until mid way up, then it rained. Times like this, we really enjoy our dodger. The rain cleared once we arrived in Petaluma. There was a few old classic boats tied up when we arrived, shortly after, we learned that this was the “Salute to American Graffiti” weekend in Petaluma and that another 15 or more boats would be arriving in the next day or two. Sure glad we got there a day early!
No complaints for my 34th birthday. The weekend was filled with fun times; communal dinners, potlucks, festival activities, a birthday yoga class with Jen, more friends, walks to the park, more friends and one late night birthday celebration. I think this was the only time I felt my aging body. Late nights, although a great time had by all, can’t do those so much anymore.
On Sunday, we planned our departure for our return trip based on the tide again, but this time we also had to wait for most of the boats that were tied up behind us to leave first. We left just in time to catch the 1pm D Street bridge opening. A lovely motor down the river lead us to a lovely sail in San Pablo Bay. S/V Gone Tomorrow had to head back to their port, but S/V Sierra and our family afloat sailed in to China Camp for a night. We stayed anchored for the night. It was quiet and calm. A very different feel from Petaluma. It was a good way to decompress from the busy weekend.
On Monday, after some boatschooling in the morning, we sailed off the hook and in to Sausalito.
What a fantastic little weekend sail. It’s amazing how little distance you can travel by boat and feel so far away.
Picture from Andy’s boat on our motor up to Petaluma.
A view of the boat crew looking down the river at the city dock and market center. S/V Sierra in front, S/V Shawnigan second from front and S/V Gone Tomorrow third from front. Photo credit: to Andy on S/V Sierra.
A Family Afloat 