I've the Lil' Kahuna out of the water for the winter. The main reason was to save a little money on moorage costs, especially during the time I'm not going to be using it much. But, truthfully my real motivation for taking out of the water is because I don't have a reliable kicker motor anymore, so I couldn't take her out even if I wanted to. I've been pooring money in a damn used Mercury motor, which is really an OEM Tihatsu or something. Anyway no more... I need to invest in a newer more reliable model, like a Honda or Yamaha. Its too bad they stopped making 2-stroke motor. I've heard those things can take quite a beating and still tick. If the motor still worked I can't say that I would've taken her out. Winter sailing while cold, I found to be a lot quiter and more serene.

I've always heard people describe sailing as long periods of boredom followed by short moments of shear terror. Well, unfornately for me, not only did I consider my performance during that first experience with shear terror a failure, but I also had to drag my untrained family along with me, quite possibly scaring them from sailing altogether. With my frequent trips out on the sound alone my confidence in my abilities were building despite my never having formal sailing training. My wife was getting increasingly more interested in joining me out on the water, and we have had a few perfect days out sailing together until this day. The day started out perfect as usual I tried to push myself to go alittle further than normal by circling Hat Island on Possesion Sound near Everett on a single trip a distant of about 8 nautical miles. We started perfectly and caught a good wind and was having fun on a close reach. after reaching my first waypoint we tacked to port and into a close haul which slowed us down. It's amazing how fast time flies on the water if you're not paying attention. My first mistake was not estimating an expected time for the trip. Long story short my lack of keeping time resulted in a tied change and an increased headwind about 15 knots, which made going around the island more difficult task then I was willing to partake with an unexperienced crew. We turned to head back on a broad reach under an ever increasing blow and angry sea. My second mistake was I waited too long to make a sail change. I discovered my weather helm getting increasely difficult to control. Not having a roller furling I had to go to the bow leaving the tiller with my wife to drop the head sail before we lost control. My wife being nervous by the growing waves could not keep the helm straight so we proceeded to spin out of control until I got genoa down. The stress level immediately went from 0 to 100 as my wife began panicing and the children taking queues from her also begun panicing. So I had a sail configuration that needed changing, a out of control helm, and paniced frozen crew to deal with. In my own fog of war mentality the only thing I could think of was of getting my family out of the situation. So another mistake I made was droping the main and trying to start the outboard to power my way back to the safety of the jetty channel. Mind you we were doing a steady 7 knots in 5 foot seas on just the main, but the combination of a paniced crew where I'm now feeling guilty of putting in this situation and my own inexperience in five foot seas proved too much. I couldn't get the outboard started and found a bad situation getting worst. I ended up calling the coast guard on the radio who got us a tow from another nearby sailboat a 35 footer Ironically named "Temperary insanity". The captain also had his family out but he was obviously very comfortable in the conditions. After getting back to safety with my now traumitized seasick family. I reflected on the situation a thousand times. My wife was surprisingly understanding, but I realised that if at least one more experienced crew member were there we wouldn't have had made that many mistakes and it would've been a more manageable situation. I've since taken the boat out of the water for the winter am not willing to go back out with such an unreliable outboard, but I feel I'm just making excuses.

My prayers go out to all the sailors on the east coast currently facing the cone of Hurricane Earl. Some very tough decisions are being made right now or need to made soon, and I wish you all the best. I know this is one reality all sailors must face someday or have faced several times already, and there is plenty of good advise out there so heed the warnings. Its better to be safe than sorry.
Good Luck!

Ever daydream? boy I do. I day dream frequently thinking about where I'd rather be when I'm a boring or stressful place. While in the waiting room at the dentist office or somewhere I'd rather not be I imagine myself pulling in the mainsheet, untying my makeshift preventer and tightening down the tiller-tamer in preparation for a jibe then I loosen the jib sheets and slowly turn across the wind. In my mind I let out mainsheet again on the other side and tie down the preventer, then I rush forword in the cockpit grabbing the jib sheets and... "Mr Sakin" I'm snapped back to reality "would you come with me please" the attendant would say. Some of my co-workers say that I have a condo in lala land because I find more comfort in dreaming and really don't get involved in the office gossip circles. I rarely know what's going on in peoples personal lives unless it comes up in direct conversation. I just don't care that much. I take an after lunch walk around the building then suddenly I'm on a big boat, a 40 or 50 footer in tropical waters where I'm looking over the bow pulpit and see the white sands 20 or 30 feet below the water as warm winds blow in my face. I'm looking for a good place to drop anchor, my wife is steering the boat based on my hand motions as we motor into some lagoon. The boat of course is never the same when I'm day dreaming, sometimes its a Tayana 37, or a Nauticat 44, sometimes I'm even on a catamaran depending on the last for sale ad that I saw that filled my heart with desire of ownership or the last yacht that I browsed on yachtworld.com. I've got it bad.

I've been taking care of my nephew for the pass few years. My brother was deployed to Iraq in the Washington Army National Guard in 2007 and then fell on hard times when he returned so we've been more than happy to keep his 10 year-old son in our home and raise him like one of our own. He's been a humorous addition to the family as he has great energy, enthusiasm, an out-going personality, and a refreshing zeal about life in general. He's a talented athlete, has a great since of discovery and has never feared a challenge even when he has no idea what he's doing. He's helped break my 8 year-old out of his shell and most importantly he loves to sail, and shows as much enthusiasm as I do to get back out on the water. He's been my first mate and helper since I bought Lil' Kahuna. I've been teaching him all about sailing but he still too young to understand some of the more complicated concepts. It's good to a little guy around that can crawl into small spaces and tighten or loosen screws. We have our children on a strict reading and writing regiment in addition to their normal school work even through the summer. My wife and I have watched his GPA soar since he's been living under our roof. Anyway the sad inevitable day is fast approaching and he will be moving back to Michigan with his mother to start the new school year in the fall. My wife and the boys are very sad that he's leaving as we all have grown to love him as one of us and yes I'm sad too. He's been the life of the party at our house and has made many friends who are all sad to see him go. I only hope he keeps up his studies when leaves because he has so much potential.

Had a great time day sailing Lil' Kahuna in the Sound this past weekend. Got a pretty consistant 8 to 10 mph out of the WNW for most of the day. Flew the jib and got about 7 knots on a close haul and scared the crap out of my brother once she heeled 20 degrees. Man what a perfect a day it was. Hope to go out again before this high pressure system leaves the northwest.