Tag Archives: family of 5 on a 40 foot boat

One year ago… we sailed out “The Gate”

We can’t believe that a full year has past since we left San Francisco to start cruising on our sailboat! We’ve experienced so much and all of it so wonderful: The emotions of leaving, the adjustments of boatschool, the adjustments of a life less “connected” but more connected as a family, the growth of world knowledge, the change in marriage dynamic, parenting dynamic, and educator dynamic, adapting to Mexico’s culture and food, meeting new and wonderful sailors/cruisers, and so much more I’m probably leaving out. All of these had their ups and downs, but all transformed into good experiences and contributed to our lives in such a positive way.

My friend Lara interviewed us for a radio and podcast she does out of Byron Bay, Australia. I feel like it summarizes some questions a lot of people wonder about when pondering what the life of a family of 5 sailing on a 40 foot boat is like. I posted the link on our blog and Facebook when it aired live and only on Facebook again when a link was available to the podcast version.

Here is the link to the podcast version below. It will take you to the 30 minute interview. Our 13 year old daughter, Nina, is interviewed as well and adds a lot flavor to the interview.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/pregnancybirthandbeyond/a-family-afloat

Anchored off of Halfmoon Bay, California (August 21, 2015)

Becalmed off the coast of California (Oct 2015) with Christian’s father, Gene Lauducci, aboard.
Ellamae posing with her polarized #teenytinyoptics glasses

Nina and Taj posing with their polarized #teenytinyoptics glasses

On top of a mountain in Turtle Bay, Baja Mexico (Left to Right: our crew Emma Casey, Taj sleeping on my back, Josie, Christian, Nina, and Ellamae) November 2015

Taj swimming in Chamela, Mexico (January 2016)

Barra de Navidad, Mexico (February, 2016)

Baja, Sea of Cortez, Isla San Francisco (May, 2016)

S/V Shawnigan with a beautiful backdrop of the Sierra Gigante Mountain Range, Baja, Sea of Cortez, Isla San Francisco (May, 2016)

My beautiful kids back in the United States (July 2016) Ellamae (8), Nina (13) Taj (3)

Refill the kitty in 3 months!

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After 10 months of sailing around, it was time to refill the cruising kitty. We spent over our $12,000/year budget in unexpected, yet typical, repairs and replacements. Since we were so close to the US and easy access to work, we decided to take the hottest time in Mexico (July, August, September) off of the boat and head to The States to refill our hungry cruising kitty.

If you haven’t read the “about me” part of our blog, then you may need to be informed of my profession. I’m a Registered Nurse, specifically a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse. If you’re saying to yourself “what’s that?”, I take care of premature and very sick babies. I’ve been doing this for over 12 years now and I still haven’t lost my passion for it. In fact, it was actually hard to put in my notice at UCSF 11 months ago so that we could sail away.

In mid May, of this year,when I was able to check my email from La Paz, I found out that my old Unit at UCSF was hiring Travel Nurses for June 28 start date. I checked in with the management team and they said that they would love to have me return for a 13 week assignment! It was too good to be true! June 28 was a little sooner than we wanted, and 13 weeks was a little longer then we wanted, but really, its perfect.

We made it to San Carlos, Mexico, by June 14th with plenty time to put away the boat in Marina Real for a 3 months detour to the US. It took about 3 full days to complete the check list of things to do. This included, but not limited to:

pickling the water maker
fresh water flush through the engine
taking down the sails and stowing them down below
Putting up the sun shades
Cleaning and leaving the heads (toilets) filled with fresh water and vinegar
fresh water washing as much salt waterlogged gear as we could
laundry and getting rid of clothes
eating and cleaning out the perishable food (we did leave cans of tomato sauce, so hopefully we don’t arrive back to the boat with exploded cans of tomato everywhere. Apparently this happens when it gets too hot.)
Placing Bay Leaves in almost all of our bulk food containers. Apparently the Bay Leaf helps keep the Weevils at bay (no pun intended). Thanks Deb on SV Coastal Drifter for that tip.
Packing clothes (REAL shoes, socks, pants AND A BELT, sweaters, and WORK CLOTHES!) , oops I forgot a beanie!
And a couple more odds and ends stuff.

Our pile of stuff to bring back to the US was huge. Mostly because we had to pack for 3 months of on the road adventures. I say “we” but I really mean Christian and the kids. My list of things to bring was small: work clothes, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shorts, and one “nice outfit”, flip flops and my work shoes. Oh and my awesome Brompton folding bike, that we store in our aft shower, for my San Francisco commuting, yay!

Our 10 hour bus ride on the Tufesa bus line ended up being more like 11 hours, but it still wasn’t bad. Reclining seats, AC, 2 bathrooms, 1 check point and 1 border check, and 5 movies later(3 of them, very inappropriate for kids), we made it to Phoenix, AZ for a nominal $80 fee.

After a few days at Christian’s sister’s house in Phoenix, I flew off to start my 3 months of work, leaving behind the family to road trip their way around The States visiting friends and family.

“Was it hard to leave?”, you ask.

EXTREMELY !!! After being so close with each other the last 10 months I’m finding myself really missing their company. But I also know it’s only a short time in the grand sceme of things and totally worth it !

So now I’m here in San Francisco. Christian is on super land nomad dad duty. Boat school is out for summer break and we’ll be doing this up through late September. After all is said and done, we should have overfilled (wishful thinking) our cruising kitty with enough $$$ to get us to New Zealand by our (Northern hemisphere) fall 2017. But you know how cruising works… “We’ll see as we go”!

Yummy grub next to (Cerca de) the bus station in Guaymas. Missing me some good Mexican food !
Christian visits the Grand Canyon while I meet Travel Nurses

Then use my trusty Brompton Folding bike to get to work. Here my “brommie” is sitting pretty on the Bay Area CalTrain.

Petaluma sail: part 2 (better late than never)

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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.