2 SOUL SAILORS

Vessel Name: Kasbah
Hailing Port: Alamitos Bay Marina, CA
Crew: Barusch, Nina & Gigi
About: For an update on our travels please visit us @ www.2soulsailors.blogspot.com or email us @ 2soulsailors@gmail.com
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03 January 2009

MaP TrAcKeR

Locations of visitors to this page

30 December 2008 | Long Beach, California

Closing 2008

The eve of New Years Eve. It has been about a month now since Barusch has sold Shore Espresso. We have successfully cruised the Channel Islands. We were able to put some of our heavy weather skills to the test and after 9 days we came back feeling victorious. With more fire in our hearts to accomplish [...]

04 July 2008 | Long Beach, CA

In the beginning...

A Sailors attachment to the sea compels him or her to abandon all the ties that prevent them from knowing the complete freedom of life on the ocean.

MaP TrAcKeR

03 January 2009

Closing 2008

30 December 2008 | Long Beach, California
Nina
The eve of New Years Eve. It has been about a month now since Barusch has sold Shore Espresso. We have successfully cruised the Channel Islands. We were able to put some of our heavy weather skills to the test and after 9 days we came back feeling victorious. With more fire in our hearts to accomplish this wild and beautiful dream that we have, than ever before. Sailing to far away lands, meeting beautiful people, tasting the bliss, facing all of our fears in search for our mother earth's most beautiful sanctuaries.
Our trip stirred up many feelings. Any couple from California who is planning on going cruising, should definitely do this trip. This will either make or break you. This is a great simulation trip. It will give you a chance to work out the kinks as well as get a taste of what the cruising life can be like even in times when it is not always sunny and fair. They call it the Cape Horn of the North Pacific, and with it's unstable weather patterns, from the hair raising mountains of Point Conception to crossing "Windy Lane" where on an average fair day it blows 35 knots with gusts up to 45 knots.

We sailed from Long Beach to Santa Barbara spent 2 days in the town of haves and have nots. Then crossed windy lane and out to the Channel Islands. We experienced dropping our hook on a secluded calm beach that resembled a South Pacific Atoll. To waking in the middle of the night by the wind screaming through the rigging and the darkness all around us unable to get our bearings to hear on the radio that we had a gale heading right toward us. This meant that we would have to get everything stowed observe the conditions and as soon as the sun rose sail to the other side of the island right when the gale was arriving. After sailing around the point and finding that the wind was blowing over the island and whipping down on the other side causing us to broach with a double reefed mainsail and a deeply reefed head sail, for a moment we were worried that we were not going to find any refuge. After 3 attempts at trying to snug ourselves into Prisoner's Bay we finally dropped our anchor with our bow to the wind wind howling through our rigging but a calmness and sense of peace that you wouldn't believe. It was the most humbling experience. We were able to make a cup of tea, make necessary adjustments and get La Rosa cleaned up and ready to head home the next day. After a beautiful candle lit dinner for 2 we anxiously went to bed to get some rest for our long trip home.

The most beautiful moment of the trip was when we were sailing home we passed Anacapa Island, the final island on our trip home, what a sight. In the distance the stark mountains reach into the sky from the deep blue sea. Green grassy hills with a beautiful light house on it's peak. Waves crashing against the crescent shaped arches and rocks. A sight that Barusch and I could only look at each other and smile and burst into a cheerful laughter as we were taken by the breath taking view that was upon us. It looked like a painting our something you would see out of a movie the sky had a hint fuchsia in it as the sun was setting. It was the most enchanting of all the islands.

As night fell upon us we were out in the deep blue far away from the shipping lanes and cruising at a nice hull speed. As we noticed that both of our compassed were not working, we weren't able to get a gps reading and our autohelm decided that she was worn out too. With all of this Barusch was able to use a hand held compass a flashlight and after dinner steered her on his watch while I went down below to sleep. As he worked on keeping us out of the shipping lanes and heading home. When I woke for my watch we mounted an extra compass that we had and Barusch got to work on fixing the autohelm. Looks like she just needed to be opened up and sprayed with WD-40. Which was great advice from a fellow sailor. Though the idea seemed a bit of a long shot we did it and it worked.

Our sail back home from the Channel Islands gave us some time to reflect on our experience and relate and communicate to each other what we each learned and our feelings of where we see ourselves going from there. The one thing that we couldn't agree on more was the fact of how much we loved it and how much we would love to just really go for this completely and not just us to but as a family. This would bring us to the conclusion that though we La Rosa has been completely modified to be blue water worthy it would still be a pretty tough and tight trip for all o3 of us and a dog on a 27 foot boat. The idea of purchasing a bigger boat came to mind. I nearly jumped at the thought because we could really do this. Not only just to one destination but having Gianna with us would give us the complete freedom of being completely FREE to go wherever we choose. Naturally, this idea appealed to us.

After spending countless hours and sleepless nights in search of the perfect boat we had not found the right one. Bigger boats are not only more expensive to maintain but now we are having to learn a completely new boat inside and out. With La Rosa we know her in EVERY SINGLE way. There are no surprises with her because we have worked on her so closely and studied her every move. It's a Buyers market right now and we have been on and looked at a few boats in our affordability class and when the pieces were being put together it was becoming more and more of a reality check. I mean here we are November , 1 month before our original departure date to Costa Rica in December,we are entertaining the idea of purchasing a boat, outfitting it, learning all of her ins and outs, selling La Rosa which has 3 years of outfitting already put into her and doing all of this in less than a month. This had us so stressed out and excited all at the same time that it finally wore on us and we broke down. Overwhelmed by fear of the unknown and frustrated with thinking that we will have to change our date. Which is something that we felt we wouldn't do. Realizing that we need to take a deep breath and be patient and continue praying. After the business sold we decided to take a 2 week sabbatical, a break from trying to figure everything out and relax and just love each other, enjoy the holidays and get ourselves balanced and ready to receive what God has planned for us. We had to accept that we may not have all the answers right now and that our faith must stay strong and we must do the things that we need to do internally and spiritually to prepare ourselves for what is to come. Life is work, and we knew that making this happen was not going to be easy.

After admitting that yes, we are boat junkies as we struggled with not speaking about anything that had to do with the boat. We quickly found ourselves right back to trying to figure things out. It took us some time and effort, but after a month of Barusch working on some unfinished projects on La Rosa, we are now at a point in moving ourselves in the direction of grounding ourselves out and strengthening our foundation with God which will keep our hearts light and open to receive the blessings that await us.

We love each other so much and every day living in this world has become more and more of a struggle. As we watch the economy crumble around us, the pain that our government is causing it's people and the world, the price increases at the grocery stores, a new president about to be elected. One that will offer change, yes CHANGE is good but no President is going to truly bring the change that we need. I can only hope that people evolve and enlighten to bring the change they need to themselves and not rely on our new president, who is still apart of the "system" and is backed by capitalistic institutions that only have one thing on their mind " ask not what I can do for my country but how much money will I make from this."

Am so thankful for my captain, soul sailor in life and beyond. Admire Gigi for the young woman she is becoming. Appreciate my family more than ever before.

Filled with the fragrance of coffee and roses, paint thinner and decoupage glue. Candles burning all around us. Sweetgrass fills the air. Fog rolls in. Wind chimes chiming. I can hear the Japanese flutes being played. Your smile and laughter brightens the room. Feel blessed for the beautiful life that I live.

Being able to reach deeply to connect with the understanding of our connection to the world not only here and now while we are living in this rat race; but also when we are are at sea and in far away places. With so much static and noise around us we must remember to silence ourselves so that the light within illuminates our path to freedom....Sat Chit Ananda

~FaIr WiNdS~

Nina

In the beginning...

04 July 2008 | Long Beach, CA
Barusch Lyon
A Sailors attachment to the sea compels him or her to abandon all the ties that prevent them from knowing the complete freedom of life on the ocean.

A Surfer will cut class, skip work, etc. to go out on a day when the swell is hitting.

Put the two together and you have created a dynamo of energy, whose volition will stop at nothing until the dream has been realized.

For us a life at sea in search of perfect waves, and a life integrated with the movements of mother nature offers the perfect solution.

At this point we are already in the middle of a dream-facing our wildest fears and anticipating the bliss and hard work. When we sleep it's usually visions of wild turbulent storms at sea or the unsurpassed beauty of a South Pacific atoll with a perfect six foot swell peeling around some uncharted point. Preparing for the trip means severing our ties from the land, and as a lifeline, we have chosen to write these logs. Hopefully, we can inpire others to go for their own dream and abandon all the voices that said they couldn't.

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