Steve
12/28/2010, My Ex wife's house

Everyone rolls their eyes when you tell them that you're going to your ex-wife and her husbands house(pic) for Christmas...But I have a REALLY small family and she has a REALLY big family, so it only makes sense that instead of dragging the kids all over town we just suck it up and do Christmas all together...besides for the most part we get along, that's one reason our kids turned out so well. Never the less other people still seem to have a problem with it. You should have seen the year Gilbert and I co-coached the kids soccer team, it took the other parents most of the year to get use to the idea.
My next trip to Ensenada is approaching fast and I am once again glued to the weather forecasts (guesses), right at this moment it looks good for leaving on the 31st at around 0200 and being at the Marina Coral at around 1600 just in time for a Mexican New Years. There are a couple of concerns besides the weather; 1. Mexican pangas (small fishing boats) loaded with illegal migrant workers, unlit and traveling at a high rate of speed. 2. Aquaculture pens, also unlit and not marked on charts. Nether one of these things would be good to come in contact with, my plan is to reach the US Mexico border at first light so as to be able to spot either one of the above...the only thing that could throw a stick in the spokes is if we get heavy fog, in that case we may change plans and head in a different direction. Which ever way we go I am now busy in preparation stage and excited to get going....wherever that may be.

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Steve
12/25/2010, Coronado

Those that know me know that I am VERY spiritual....I pray before I get up in the morning...I pray before I eat...I pray before I go to bed at night and I pray many other times throughout the day, however I rarely go to church, I like to say I'm a three times a year guy. Well one of those times is Christmas and last night I went to the mega church The Rock (pic) with my two daughters and my son-in-law. The pastor , Miles McPherson (former SD Charger), always has a great message and presents it in an entertaining way. I hope that as we all go about our busy days today we stop to think about the real reason for this day, I hope we embrace our family and friends and give thanks to Jesus Christ for all that we have in our lives.
MERRY CHRISTMAS...now go open your presents.

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Steve/Sunny
12/24/2010, Coronado

Ok...so by now everyone has heard about the great So Cal floods of 2010...yes it rained in San Diego for a whole week almost non-stop, there were two days that we received over 2 inches within a 24 hour period...can you imagine that??? As luck would have it I left for Park City about an hour before it started to rain....I was gone all weekend and when I came back I took one look at the bay and called my good friends Kim & Paul to see if I could seek shelter from the storm...since Kim and Paul were escaping the storm in Hawaii, they were happy to offer me their comfortable home to seek refuge. Yesterday the clouds parted and I was able to return home to Si Bon. As they say "there's no place like home", My boat break was MUCH longer than I had planned...but that's life on a boat, I was able to revert to my old ways of reading the newspaper every morning (so negative) and having 100 TV channels to watch and not finding anything to watch! I've slid back into boat life and am amazed it how easy day to day things are becoming, things that use to take so much effort and thought are now becoming more second nature. My next mini cruise is to Ensenada with my friend Rich and another guy named Gary whom I haven't met yet. We will be leaving on the 31st at about 0300 and staying down for about 4-5 days. Of course all times and places are subject to change for any number of reasons.

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Steve/snowing
12/19/2010, Park City, Utah

So I know you're saying...what's a ski dude doing in a sailing blog? Most cruisers will tell you that in order to remain sane living on a sailboat that you must get off the boat periodically and get away, it's the only way you'll last long term. When my best ski buddy Russ Carlson, who at 67 will out ski most men half his age (except me of course), called me and invited me up to his beautiful Park City condo, it was just to good to pass up. I flew up to Utah on Friday and Russ and I skied most of the day Saturday, and a good part of the day today. Russ's condo is on historic Main Street right in the heart of Park City, we can walk to the lift, the restaurants and of course the bars. It's been snowing most of the time I've been here and after shaking off the rust from not skiing last season, Russ and I carved up the famous Utah powder on nearly empty runs. Skiing is one of my passions and although this has been a great little boat break, I'll be headed home in the morning and am looking forward to being back home on Si Bon.

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Steve
12/17/2010, Coronado

All of the parking meters throughout Coronado have been draped with green festive looking covers with the above message. What a novel idea....a community actually giving it's residents and visitors something for free...unlike the larger city across the bay, that other than large retirement benefits to it's former employees,
doesn't give anyone jack. Now I guess you could argue that it's some kind of marketing ploy (and not a bad one) to get people to spend their hard earned money in Coronado's rather pricey shops....but come on now, do you really think people are piling into their cars in Santee and flocking over to Coronado so they can save a few quarters...I don't think so...I think it's just one small part of this "Island Paradise" of which I'm falling in love with (it's not really an island).

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Steve
12/16/2010, Coronado

It was one year ago today that I drove up to San Pedro and closed the deal on Si Bon, I spent my first of many nights on her before driving back to San Diego the next day. I have learned sooo much in the past year, both about Si Bon and her systems and about myself, I couldn't even begin to put it all in a blog. My original goal of leaving for my cruise in late 2010 or early 2011 is right on track as I am now planning a March departure. My friend Ric told me while I was planning my cruising that "you don't need to leave California to have a good time" Ric was so right, I've done four Catalina trips (one on Jennifer K), I've spent almost two weeks harbor hopping up So Cal and I've done so many Mission Bay trips that I've lost count of them, throw in all of the day sails and it adds up to a lot of sea time. Every trip has been packed with fun and adventure and I always think back to Ric's words.
There has also been much help from God, both in keeping me and my crew safe and in teaching me somethings, there was the time I took out all of my anchor chain/rode at the dock to inspect it and see how the chain/rode was marked, I went to put the chain back into the anchor locker and my windless (that's the winch that raises and lowers the anchor) stopped working leaving me with 200 feet of 3/8 chain and 200 feet of rode (rope) laying on the dock, someone walked by and said "that sucks" I looked to the sky and said "thank you Lord". You see 400 feet of anchor rode laying on the dock is a hell of a lot better than 400 feet of anchor chain stretching down to the ocean floor and a 40 knot wind blowing. There are not very many times in a sailor's life that you would have your anchor chain out at a dock...thanks again Lord. There was also the time a thru-hull broke, effectively leaving a 1 inch hole below the water line with water pouring into Si Bon, luckily a well respected Marine repairman was onboard at the time and we went about plugging the hole, replacing the thru hole (in the water) and hooking everything back up...all in a very controlled non panicky manner....thanks again. There have been many other little "God things" that I find myself saying thanks a lot.
Over the past year I feel that I've accomplished pretty much everything I set out to, I now live on my boat in San Diego Bay (not at a slip), I feel comfortable single handing my boat, I understand most of the many systems on Si Bon, I've met so many new friends, I've learned to SCUBA dive and all the time i really do feel that I am "living the life".
This pic is of two of the three large hovercrafts inbound to Camp Pendleton taken on my way back from Dana Point.

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