Steve
02/23/2011, San Diego, California

Yesterday my Max-Prop went back on Si Bon, taking the VERY high tech prop off with Si Bon in the water was one thing, putting the intricate prop back on was another, it didn't help that my diver Alex had injured his hand last week and was limited in his ability to work with the very small pins and screws needed to hold it all together. Once the prop was back on my crew member Peter (pic) and I did a little testing, with Si Bon tied tightly to the dock I put the boat in forward and reverse several times to make sure everything was working, we then untied the dock lines and headed out into the bay towards the mooring field to strip my mooring line off the ball.
Once we arrived at the ball we were treated to a very tightly wrapped mooring line of which the two of us struggled with for close to an hour to free up and remove my expensive shackles and line. I made the decision over the weekend that I would finish my time in San Diego here at the marina, it was kinda sad to be leaving the ball for the last time, I have many great memories and lessons from my time spent on my ball.
My sadness didn't last long as we had about 10 knots of wind, we put up the sails and with Peter at the helm for the first time on Si Bon, we glided up the bay doing about 6 knots towards Sun Harbor Marina....our home for the next week.....or so.

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Steve
02/22/2011, San Diego, California

It's kind of amazing to me that I will be talking to someone, someone who has known that I've been planning my trip for close to a year and a half, someone who knows that I've left my career of over 30 years, someone who knows that I've sold my condo (sort of), sold my Corvette, sold my waverunner, sold most of my furniture, someone who knows that I have spent countless hours and dollars on Si Bon...and when I tell them that I plan to be gone 5-10 years they respond with "oh I thought who were just going to be gone for a couple of months". Now I ask you why the hell would anyone do all of this for a couple of months.
So I thought I would let everyone know the plan, keep in mind that all of this is subject to many changes, modifications and deletions...I could be back in a week for all I know, but this is the plan as of 0713 on Feb. 22, 2011.
I will be leaving within the next 2 weeks and sailing down the Pacific coast of Baja California, I will round the cape and sail up to La Paz, Mexico where I will spend a month or so, I will then sail up into the Sea of Cortez where I plan to spend most of the summer and early fall. Sometime in the fall of 2011 I will start heading south along the coast of mainland Mexico and God willing in spring of 2012 will continue south through Central America and eventually through the Panama Canal and into the Caribbean. Once into the Caribbean I will head over to the Grenadiens where I will pick up my Uncle Ross on some dock and we will sail together through the islands that he has always wanted to see, from there I would like to sail through the British Virgin Islands, and after all that who knows what I'll do???
So it is now 0730 Feb. 22, 2011.... and that is still the plan....subject to change. God bless!

Comments [4]

Steve
02/20/2011, Sun Harbor Marina

I can remember the night I made my decision to buy a boat, quit my job, sell everything and go cruising, I was reading some things on some sort of cruiser blog type of web site, someone suggested that you make a list of the six things that you would want to gain from a cruiser lifestyle....and six things that you would miss most about leaving your current lifestyle. My list of things I would miss most were the following; 1. My kids, 2. my friends, 3.Reading my newspaper every morning, 4. watching TV, 5. My comfortable home and 6. security of a land based life. Well yesterday I was reminded of just how much I will miss my kids and my friends, my two wonderful daughters, Amber and Ashley threw me a going away party, they put it all together, bought all the food/drinks, and invited all my friends. It was a great day as I saw many of my friends both old friends and new friends and even my ex-wife and her husband (see christmas blog), everyone was enthusiastic about my trip and wished me well. I hope that the people who said they want to meet me along the way will follow up and strive to make it happen, as it would be great to see them and share with them for a few days a part of my new lifestyle.
Ohh... and as for the rest of the list, I haven't read the newspaper in months, and don't miss it one bit, I have watched the TV on my boat a total of about 5 hours in the past 1+ years, and don't miss it one bit, I still have a comfortable home (it floats), and I'm not sure why I thought a land based house was so secure???
Thank you Amber and Ashley for all your effort, thank you to all my friends for showing up on a cold rainy day to wish me Bon Voyage.....I'll miss you all more than I can tell you.

Comments [4]

Steve
02/17/2011, life

It was just pointed out to me that I'm slacking on blog posts, this is a good thing as it means that people (other than myself) are actually reading my blog. A few weeks ago I went to my very good fiend Paul's 70 birthday party and was approached by several people who were excited to tell me how much they were enjoying my blog. Two of these people were a couple, (not giving name for privacy), who would love to be doing what I'm getting ready to do....but she has diabetes, and has most of her life, she is currently struggling to stay healthy....and alive, she told me that he reads her my blog at night before they go to bed. When people hear what I'm getting ready to do they seem to think that I'm embarking on some sort of difficult journey, but the truth is that removing a few dock lines (still in marina) and floating away on a sailboat isn't really all that difficult. There are many things in life that make my journey seem like a walk in the park, there are many people throughout the world who have to struggle everyday to fight off illness, hunger or many other situations that are truly difficult. If brings me great joy to be able to share some of my planning, struggles and adventures with someone who may be fighting a truly difficult situation in their life.
I have been super busy this past week getting things that I won't need off of Si Bon and into storage to make room for my crew, whom start arriving in San Diego tomorrow, and getting things that I do need out of storage and onto Si Bon. I am now in the final countdown and feel very good about how it's all coming together.
And no this pic is not of a blog follower...just some odd duck I took a picture of a few weeks ago.

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Steve
02/14/2011, San Diego Bay

Saturday the U.S. Navy celebrated the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation by putting on a large flyover above San Diego Bay. My good buddy Frank came by and we took the dink out on the main bay and met up with Mark on Jennifer K. As usual Mark had a boat full of pretty girls and with the weather in the low 70s it made for a very nice afternoon...the flyover was not quite what we had expected, however it was still interesting to see all of the different planes and helicopters flying overhead. We were having so much fun we decided to continue celebrating the naval aviation anniversary over at Jimmy's and then on to Si Bon, we probably celebrated a little longer than we should have....but what the hell ya only live once. This pic is of a refueling plane simulating refueling two helicopters in flight.
Max-prop is going back on tomorrow, due to a few reasons, I probably won't go back to my mooring ball until after my going away party on Saturday.

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Steve
02/12/2011, Shelter Island

Most people who have been cruising in Mexico will tell you not to over provision the boat with food, believe it or not they do actually have grocery stores in Mexico. The things that they may not have are filters for your watermaker, or a fuel filter for a Westerbeke diesel engine, or a ....well you get the idea. Over the past year I have been slowly accumulating spares of many different parts, over the past month I've kicked it into high gear, ordering spare pumps, spare snatch blocks, spare anchors, LOTS of spare filters for the watermaker, generator, outboard and of course the main engine. I have spare shackles, spare hoses, spare water lines, even a spare halyard, spares of this and spares of that. I would like to tell you that this pic is of all my spares...but it's not, there is no way I would be able to fit all the spares in a picture, but it does give you an idea of what I have. I have this funny feeling that even with all the planning I won't have a spare of something when I need it...you know Murphy's law (turns out Murphy was a sailor). Gotta go now and figure out where I'm going to put all these spares.

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