11/11/2009, ssb

Hello guys,
nice day out here. I have been in a slump fishing. It really seemed like I should have been in them today. There were lots of flying fish getting chased by something and I saw a several hundred pound marlin eating something, but no luck. Im going to go into cabo san lucas tomorrow to clear in. Brian and erin are stopping in a sweet looking bay in between here and lapaz and it sounds easier to clear migracion. Im actually trying to slow down right now because Im only about 45 miles away from where I want to be at dawn. I also need to get some stuff like a snorkel and some things for the boat. I checked the oil today and it was below the low mark. I pumped out about the amount that dad and I put in and put in a quart and a half and it is still below the low mark. It also doesnt say how much it takes in the manual. Anyway I learned a lesson in engine maitenance and will be on it in the future. The racor and raw water filter are also a little grody since san fransisco. There is a marine store close and Ive been practicing everything in spanish. Hope you guys are well.
Love Eric

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11/10/2009, ssb

Hello everyone:

Not much to report today I fished really hard and wrote a song about fish and sang it in an attempt to get one on but as of this email it hasn't worked. The shark was really cool. It is, however going to make me think twice about swimming off the boat in the middle of the ocean again. Other than that I've read every word in the Cruising Worlds that I have. It has surpassed Seahorse as my favorite magazine now and I plan on writing to the editor. Tomorrow I am going to get back into my Solitude book. It turns out to be so-so and I have been slacking on it. I am at 24.29N 112.28W.
Eric

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11/09/2009, ssb

Hey everyone:

I am currently going 5kts at the mark with my jib poled out to port in about 10-15 kts of breeze. The solar panels did a little better today and I did not run the engine. It was sunny which probably had something to do with it. Also during the day the sail blocks a lot of the sun so we'll see how they do in the Sea of Cortez. Today I was sitting in the cockpit reading the Voyagers Handbook when I heard a bad and foreign noise. I am so used to all the noises of the boat that this one caught my attention right away. It took me about 90 seconds to figure out what it was. The pin holding the gooseneck of the boom on the mast had worked out and was making a very resonant screech. Long story short it was so loaded that I had to take the boom off and the boom kicker, not an easy task in a rolling seaway. It took about an hour and I learned some new combinations of bad words. Nothing else new. . I am a little less than 300 miles from Cabo and still have 30 gallons of fuel in jerry cans.

Eric

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11/08/2009, ssb

Hey:

Soooooo, I was just up keeping a really good watch because there is a fishing boat ahead of me but well clear. I was making fish standing at the sink and looked out the port side window and there was a pod of huge whales (twice as long as my boat) not 10 meters away. They were sperm whales, the same ones I saw on the Vic Maui race. I ran up to see if I was in them but they were all off to the port side. 7 or 8 of them, huge, massive. I grabbed my camera but didn't get any really good shots because of the settings I had on. Very cool. Big square heads. Definitely not pilot whales. Sooooo close. I am almost out of fish. My only problems are that the solar panels have a hard time keeping up with the electronics but I still have a lot of fuel. The prop is sketchy... don't know what the deal is but I dove the boat right before I left San Diego and it was loose on the shaft. I fixed it but right when you engage the gears it doesn't sound right. I hope it is the blades having a hard time coming out. I am leaning towards b-lining for La Paz. My friends are going to Bahia Santa Maria which is a little more than 200 miles away. It is really nice to talk to Brian twice a day on the ssb. I did not require clothes today which was nice.
Eric

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11/06/2009, ssb

Hello:

Well I was a bit down today but it just got better as I went to pull in my lines for the night and pulled in a nice Yellowfin tuna (15lbs). It is no easy task killing and cleaning a fish by headlamp in a very rolly cockpit that I lubricated last night by spilling almost all of my gasoline in the middle of the night. I am about to talk to Brian and Erin on the SSB hopefully and I'll write you all tomorrow.

Eric

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11/06/2009, ssb

Hi :

Just had a nice chat with Brian and Erin on the ssb. The first one ever! I am past them and way offshore compared to them but I had them loud and clear and we are going to try it in the morning too.

Eric

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11/05/2009, ssb

Hey :

My position is 32.16.900N 117.19.577W. It is mellow and I have the sails up and the engine on. Tomorrow I will try to put up the kite and sail fast without the engine. It is less than 250 miles to Bahia Tortugas and about 700 miles to Cabo. I don't know if I'm going to stop but I don't have to decide for a couple of days. I met a cool Swedish girl today whos name was Freya ?sp. They sailed here through the northwest passage and are going through the panama canal on their way home. We spoke Norwegian and I gave her a boat card. I'll call you in a couple of weeks.

Eric

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11/04/2009, san diego

Hey all,

Sorry for slacking on the blog, but hey, get used to it. I cant post at sea yet, though there is a way and ill figure it out in the future. I think I will give mom and dad my account info so they can post my emails while I am at sea but there will be no photos. San diego has been great. There was a DOD/police/coastguard bazar today here and I got to see how they spend our money keeping the ports safe. Two of the coolest things were an intersept boat with quad (yes 4) 300hp outboards and a $25000 radiation detector which looked like a flashlight. Anyway Im leaving and psyched to continue the trip but nervous in that I have sailed everyware on the trip before and knew what to expect and from now on I will be in uncharted territory and sailing farther and farther away from home. I miss my mom but I have found that the cruising comunity is a sort of family and we all share the adventure. Good luck to Voodoo Child racing aroung San Juan county this weekend. Ill look north and think about you guys. I have to say though, my foulies are put away.

Eric

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10/29/2009, Mariners Basin

Hey all,

This is Delos. My friends Brian and Erin's Amel 53'. It is french and pretty cool. They have been living on it for a couple of years now and have been cruising for several months now. They went up to desolation sound for a month or two this summer to shake the boat down, and got married in seattle in August and took off. Tonight is the Sounders first playoff game against Houston. ESPN2 at 7:00. Brian and erin went to sandiego bay today and I might do the same tomorrow because they are renting a car and going to costco and it would be really nice to reprovision before Mexico.

Go Sounders,
Eric

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10/27/2009, Mission Beach

Hello All,

Most of yesterday was spent surfing and sitting on the beach. Brian and Erin aquired longboards in Newport and were good enough to share their decks with Kevin and I. I heard the weather is pretty good up in Washington State, however down here in southern California I spent all day in the ocean without a wetsuit and was warm. The rate limiting factor in my surfing is the paddeling. When paddeling a surfboard, one uses muscles in ones shoulders that I have never made much use of and I was feeling it after a couple of hours. I caught some waves and stood up but still have to progress a lot before I should try to surf big waves. Right at the end of my first session I was tired and heading in and a big set came in. By big I mean five or six feet but I ended up getting washed. The first on I was on but too far forward on the board and endo'ed hard. The second one I also stacked on and the thrd one I was just trying to maintain. Brian and erin thought it was great. Anyway Im hooked and really psyched to surf mexico and the south pacific. Im in the market for a board.

Peace,
Eric

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10/27/2009, Mariners Basin

Hello all,

Last night Brian and Erin had Kevin, KT, Myself, and Zack, who is sailing down to PV with Kevin and KT, over for dinner. We all brought grillable food and snacks and had our first real cruiser dinner. It felt really good to have all our dinghies tied up to "Delos" like it was a parking lot. We had some chicken and I brought rice and some mango, jalepeno, tequila sauce that Allison and I had procured in Tacoma while we were provisioning. Sauce is a great thing to have on a boat because when you catch fish you can get really creative making a meal and any sauce goes a long way to making it spectacular. I still have to do some provisioning before I leave and will make sure to stock up on stuff like that.

Eric

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10/24/2009, Mission beach

Hello all,

Both of my cameras had issues for a while but Dave (kevins dad) has a car and I made it to the camera shop and got them sorted yesterday. We also went and checked out the BMW Oracle boat which was impressive. It was mostly shrouded but its size and the size of its rigs was worth seeing. They had it going 50 the other day on accident in a squall and they only have one chase boat that can hang with it which is a protector with tripple 275s on the back... pretty cool. People pulled this lobster out of the bay right under the dock Im at right now. Kevin is going to dive his boat again to put new zincs on it and is going to try and get some for a lobster dinner. The picture doesnt do it justice it was the biggest lobster Ive ever seen in my life.

Eric

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Sailing Anarchy
10/22/2009, Midway

Hello all,

For those of you who are sailors and read "Sailinganarchy.com" you will recognise this image. I would encourage you all to go check out the link on their website. There are lots of pictures of albatross chicks dead on midway island with tons of plastic in them. Me and Kevin were just talking about it and concluded that the ocean was OK and could deal with whatever pollution humans threw at it until we invented plastic. Plastic just does not go away.. ever... and that is the only kind of garbage you see out there. So people living in cities and towns in Washington and in other parts of America please be careful with plastic because if you throw your cigarett or soda bottle out of your car it could make it into the stomach of an albatross.

Thanks
Eric

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10/21/2009, mission beach

Hello all,

Things are great in southern california. I spent all day yesterday at the sailmail clinic near shelter island. Brad Baker was there and it was nice to catch up with him. I learned a lot and it was totaly worth the cab ride and the money. I can now get text weather, weather fax, and models derrived from grib ( gridded binary ) files. What that means is that I just exponentially increases my weather information and became way more independant at routing. Today was good. I dove the boat and gave her the "mean clean". Kevin and I went for a run. I fixed my outboard (touch wood), and we figured out how to call eachother using the DSC feature on our radios. It was a great feeling to talk on the single sideband radio for the first time. Kevins parents are getting in to town tonight and Im looking forward to the dinner conversation.

Peace
Eric

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eric
10/18/2009, lost at sea

Hello all,

My first word was "Bird" watching the birds in a garden in England. Today I befriended a bird in the middle of the gulf of santa catalina. She was a goldfinch. I was way away from land (40 miles) so she decided to hang out with me. She killed and ate every fly on the boat. (which had been bothering me all day). She flew off and came back lots of times and scoured every inch of the boat for bugs. She went downstairs a couple of times and checked it out, and I fed her some flys I had gotten earlier out of my hand. She was really tired and eventually found how warm the engine compartment was ans sacked out downstairs. She is still here asleep as I write at anchor in Mission bay and she will be stoked to wake up rested in sunny San Diego with only memories of being lost at sea.

Eric

Comments [5]

getting warmer
10/18/2009, San Diego

Hello all,

Well I made it to Mission Bay in San Diego. One of my main missions here is to go to the sailmail clinic on tuesday. Sailmail is what I use to email through the single sideband radio and the people who wrote some of the software are putting it on and there will be lots of yachties and radio people there. I am psyched to conversate with some knowledgable people and get better at using the radio in general and learn how to forcast my own weather. It was dark when I got in here and there were lots of crab pots. the anchorage is really good and there shrimp "snapping" in the water.

Eric

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10/18/2009, 50 miles west of monterey bay

Hello all,

So ive had my tuna line out pretty much every day since I left washington and besides hooking the great white shark that broke my line I had not had any luck up until half moon bay. But friday morning I caught an albacore. I need to get a scale for the future but I bet it was 15 lbs. It was really fortunate because I was low on good food and instead of week old 13 been soup, ive been eating tuna for breakfast lunch and dinner on this leg. The best meal that I made with it was seared with rice and mango jalepeno sauce. This was also probably the best meal of the trip and Im looking forward to learning how to cook fish in lots of different ways.

Eric

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