09/24/2008, Redwood City
Finishing up our last projects on the boat before we head out the gate and turn left.... Buoyweather shows calm conditions for Sunday, when we leave.
It took all day, but Rina and I installed our new 110A alternator and replaced the impeller, which, while it was in good condition, was 4 years old. Also installed a Speed Seal, which makes it MUCH easier to replace the impeller next time... thumb wheels, rather than a socket wrench.... Everything worked correctly the first time, contrary to my normal modus operandi. That was until we put the galley sink cabinet back in place. (It needed to be pivoted out of the way to get to the impeller) Once we put everything back together and turned on the water in the sink, only a dribble came out. Bummer, perhaps we kinked a hose when moving the cabinet.... In a classic case of "it's usually the simplest thing, not the most complex" we checked all the hoses, replaced the filter element under the sink, then thought.... Hmmm, I wonder if the little screen on the faucet is plugged up.... Sure enough...
All told, a very long, but gratifying day of boat projects.... Now it's just the little stuff left.... Locks here and there, a few more of "Rina's Racks" nets to sew to keep stuff where it belongs....
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09/24/2008, Redwood City
Winding down on boat projects. Above is a pic of our now completed navstation... Includes a chartplotter, moved from the cockpit, a freshly installed satellite phone with data kit, SSB Receiver with data kit for recording cruiser nets and downloading weatherfaxes, monitoring panels for the AC Inverter, charging system and genset, barometer/weather station, USB cables for the Wifi extender, SSB data, Satphone data and chartplotter integration. Now we just need to learn how to take advantage of all of this... I'm sure there will be learning curves on the SSB and Satphone data integration, but most of the rest is straightforward.
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09/11/2008, Alameda
Rina, Alyssa and I headed to the Baja Haha reunion party in Alameda last night and had a great time meeting Mexico-bound crews and catching up with friends from our last Haha in 2006. Alyssa was pleasantly surprised that the group was not a bunch of "rich, uptight snobs" LOL.
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09/01/2008, Redwood City
I counted 10 cartloads coming onto the boat.... OMG, where is it all going to go? The good news is that Alyssa was here to help Rina rationalize what clothes needed to stay and what needed to go. By the end of day two, we had successfully stored 80% of what we brought aboard, but something tells me the last 20% will be the hardest....
Oh yea, so far I've counted 3 cart loads going BACK to the car, yippeee!
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08/31/2008, Redwood City
Hot off the press, Latitude 38 profiles boats heading south for the winter....
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08/31/2008, Sutter Creek
Here's a pic of our life shoe-horned into a bedroom of our house. Good friends Paul and Amanda Schoen are renting our Sutter Creek home but graciously allowing us to store our stuff in one of the 3 bedrooms, which makes it MUCH easier. Given the crappy real estate market and rental market in particular, it is very comforting to know the house and Riley will be taken care of..... one less thing to worry about while out there...
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08/31/2008, Sutter Creek
Well, the day finally arrived. Rina and I, with great help from Megan and Alyssa, packed up the house, putting our remaining belongings in our two cars and headed for Redwood City. After packing everything up, Rina and I walked one last time to town to check out the farmers market and soak up the foothills atmosphere (and heat!) for the last time.... As we drove away from the house, we both commented on how strange it felt.... such a mixture of excitement, change, sadness, dislocation..... So much has happened, and 99% has been as we had hoped, from finding the perfect couple to rent the house AND take Riley, selling at least one of our cars (so far) work being very amenable to my leave, Rina really making the boat HER home, (nesting is a good sign, right?) Alyssa heading off to college as a confident independent young lady...
The sadness? We will truly miss being so close to family over the next year... Rina and Riley's daily walk with Josie, Cessna and Lucy, dinners and great conversation on Mom's back deck, Friday night music in the park, Alyssa's constant traffic of friends in and out of the house... With Megan visiting over the last week, it was a reminder of life with the 4 of us in the house, with a constant motion and positive vibe. That "home" vibe will always be with us whenever we are together of course, but the rhythms of home life will be inexorably changed with Alyssa heading off to college...
But the sadness is tempered by the excitement of what we are doing and the people we have already met and will meet in the future. Even yesterday as we moved our 10th cartload of stuff onto the boat, we ran into a couple from Santa Barbara who had recently returned from Mexico and Central America. We stood on the dock for 15 minutes talking about their past and our future adventures. They were the envious ones, wishing they could go back... Rina's gift of accessibility will serve her well, making many new friends as we embark on this grand voyage...
The above picture is from a card Josie gave us as we were sitting on main street in Sutter Creek... Very apropos...
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08/17/2008, San Francisco Bay
This weekend a new member was inaugurated to the Baha Ha Ha crew. His name is Covington and all though he is a little square the rest of the crew took to him immediately. That is everyone except Corey.
There is some speculation as to the the exact reason why Covington fell overboard on this day. But what is known is Corey had a lack of interest in his duty to hook the poor soul. Finally after much brow-beating from the crew Corey got a conscience and brought him aboard.
As punishment, the Captain decided Corey will sleep with Covington until they get over there differences and become the best of chums.
This leaves the crew, especially Corey, wondering as to the motivations of the Captains punishment!
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08/17/2008, South Bay
The crew forming for the Baja Haha got together for some boat familiarization and training.... Even Bernice, with her freshly scoped left knee attended and took copious notes and asked great questions. We reviewed safety equipment, excercised all thru-hulls, practiced man-overboard skills and even practiced our abandon ship procedure, getting all 6 of us in the dinghy with our ditch bag and flares.
The winds were 15-20 knots and seas on the stern quarter which brought out the Mal de Mer for Josie....
The crew is dialing in their skills well... Today we'll go over electronics, battery management and spinnaker deployment. Crew is going to be in great shape for the trip.
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08/17/2008, Just outside Redwood City on the South Bay
One Happy Crew! This was after everyone practiced MOB's! Look, everyone's still smiling!! Josie had the worst wind/waves for her MOB, but she pulled through like a champ! Good Job to everyone!
Had a great day! Good food and good friends!
| Sailing - Spring/Summer 2008 |
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