The Adventures of No Strings Attached

Vessel Name: No Strings Attached
Vessel Make/Model: Baltic 37
Hailing Port: Richmond, CA
02 July 2011 | Richmond
28 June 2011 | The 'hood...Richmond MBYH
Recent Blog Posts
24 September 2012 | home

Now the seats are all empty

as the roadies take the stage...."

24 September 2012 | Out there

Video from the trip down

http://vimeo.com/49089850

08 September 2012 | Richmond

Visitors!

Around five pm, NSA played host to a Pacific Whiteside Dolphin convention. We saw hundreds f these amazing, curious animals over the course of four hours. They appeared from virtually every point of the compass to play around the bow. Steve hung his head over the side for an hour making eye contact, [...]

08 September 2012 | Richmond

Still chugging along

171 to go.

07 September 2012 | Richmond

Good morning

292 to go. Slowly motoring to conserve fuel, though I suspect we'll have more tan enough breeze once it turns on again. Very quiet here. Steve and Tim are racked out, radar is keeping a vigil, and I go topside to stare into the fog every 10 minutes or so, until the slatting mainsail makes me nuts. [...]

06 September 2012 | Richmond

Ruminations with 380 to go

If you're tempted to offer God a small prayer for a "bit of breeze" to help you escape thee Pacific High, it pays to remember that He shops at Costco. You'll get your breeze in bulk.

Now the seats are all empty

24 September 2012 | home
Nick
as the roadies take the stage...."

Jackson Browne nailed the melancholy of an adventure completed.

NSA arrived home at 3:30am after 23 days at sea. We either had breeze enough for a large family reunion (right up until the last 100
miles) or not enough wind to lift a chiffon skirt. Today began with a pleasant 12-15 kt reach....progressing into a 30 kt heavyweight
slugfest in 10 ft seas from 70 miles outside of the Farallones. Typically, we finished under a reefed main and the ubiquitous storm jib,
making it from Pt. Reyes to the inboard end of the shipping channel (26 miles) in 4 hours.

There were parts of this passage that I loved, some that I hated, some that were exhilarating, some that scared me to death, and some
that I would do over again in a minute...and I'm probably talking about the same parts of each of every 23 days when I say that.

The absolute high points were my crew....Steve Cameron...unflappable; and Tim Swain....one very cool kid, smart as a whip, and a joy to
have on board....if you have enough money to feed the bottomless pit that is his stomach. How he weighs only 150 or so I'll never figure
out. He's one very cool hand though.
Laetitia...What can anyone say about someone that will man (sic) the helm through endless hours of motoring without complaint? Babe,
we couldn't have done it without you. You're worth your weight in dollars.

Angie...Thanks for the pizza and beer and the clean dry towel.
Mom...Sorry for the worries
Lin...Love ya.

That's it, thanks for checking in.

NSA out.

Nick, Steve, Tim, and Laetitia

Video from the trip down

24 September 2012 | Out there
http://vimeo.com/49089850

video courtesy of John Jensen.

Visitors!

08 September 2012 | Richmond
Nick
Around five pm, NSA played host to a Pacific Whiteside Dolphin convention. We saw hundreds f these amazing, curious animals over the course of four hours. They appeared from virtually every point of the compass to play around the bow. Steve hung his head over the side for an hour making eye contact, and was so taken by the experience that he pulled his fishing gear out of the water saying "I can't take a fish right now". They reappeared for the night watches, leaving iridescent green trails in the water as they cavorted. They looked like torpedos approaching when you first saw them.

209 to go. We just passed 127W, heading 068. Once the wind fills tomorrow, we're going to crack off to 078 to come in with some heat on south of the Farallons, pretty much in line with the Whiskey and Lightship buoys and the deepwater channel. We should be tying up very late on Sunday.

Cheers,

Nick

Still chugging along

08 September 2012 | Richmond
Nick
171 to go.

Good morning

07 September 2012 | Richmond
Nick
292 to go. Slowly motoring to conserve fuel, though I suspect we'll have more tan enough breeze once it turns on again. Very quiet here. Steve and Tim are racked out, radar is keeping a vigil, and I go topside to stare into the fog every 10 minutes or so, until the slatting mainsail makes me nuts.

Now that I've had a few hours of downtime to myself while the guys are sleeping...I'm staring at a virtual wreck of a boat. I have my work cut out for me to make her what she was before we left in July. I'm happy to have done it, but the wear and tear and damage is heartbreaking...and wallet busting on top of it. Oh well, nothing that $$$, stripper(the stuff that removes wax and varnish), a sander, and a bunch of coats of satin finish won't cure.

I'm going to head up and bump up the rpm's. Let's get this over with.

Nick and L. (who is feeling better today...she's not a big fan of driving in a big blow and 4m seas)

Ruminations with 380 to go

06 September 2012 | Richmond
Nick
If you're tempted to offer God a small prayer for a "bit of breeze" to help you escape thee Pacific High, it pays to remember that He shops at Costco. You'll get your breeze in bulk.

We pay Milspec prices for marine equipment that is in no way suited for a real marine environment. I don't consider dockside to be a marine environment.

We've made it through the worst part of it I think. We still have 20+ and 3m seas here at 130W, and the Low is still spinning off freezing squalls. Maybe it's better or maybe we quit caring.

Magic smoke escaped from some box last night. Don't know which one, but my AIS rx isn't doing AIS stuff any longer.

Tim disabled the solenoid so we can cook again.

Sweetie, we have a date to take you shopping for golf clubs. It's going to awhile before this boat leaves the sight of land. It's going to be awhile before it's even habitable.

See you all sometime Monday.

Nick, Steve, Tim, and the not feeling so well L.

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