Splash:

Now for the sailing part. Some people have the money to hire all of their work done. We aren't those people. We try to do as much of our own work as possible. The whole idea with TIJ has been to shine her up and get her in good condition. Well this year was the shine part. We washed the topsides (the area from the waterline to the deck), then we used cutting compound to get rid of the haze on the gelcoat, then we polished with wax. While the kids were doing that I was making sure that the engine started, the electrical was in good shape, etc.

Before:



After:



Oh yes there is lots of joy in getting kids to do work. It was a fight. Even though the kids new in advance what was going to be required of them it seems, in the begining, I was spending more time arguing with them then getting work done. In the end they all pitched in and you must admit the boat looks a lot better. They worked harder then they wanted and I lowered my expectations on the quality of the work. LOL. If they didn't listen I locked them in the lazaret with a screwdriver.



We picked up two additional crew members in Genoa:



Marina's friend Sarah (who for some reason Marina named Dave (Sarah named Marina Kevin))



And back for a second year my nephew Micheal.




TIJ went in the water on schedule. A crane came by and picked up the boat then drove the boat over land to the water and set her down. No leaks. Engine started.



We spent one night at the dock and off we went



Last year we had five people on the boat. Marina felt there was too much boy energy so we invited Sarah. (If she thought there was too much boy energy why did she call Sarah Dave) This means the boat was packed. There were 6 or us on a 33' boat. Remember what I did on the quality of the work? Yes I had to lower my expectations -- This time for peace and quiet. There were seven bunks on the boat but one was too small so we used that to store clothes. Remember camping in a pull trailer -- the table folded into a small double bed, a shelf converted into a bunk bed, etc it was like that but the travel trailer was more comfortable.



We all had to get up at the same time. Everybody got good at playing Chinese puzzle. e.g. Move this so we can get to that and then put that back so we can slide this over there. If we all wanted to go to shore it was in two shifts because the dinghy would only hold four people.

The best thing we did was buy a second mirror. The only mirror on the boat was in the bathroom and that was our only changing room. That meant that the girls would cause a traffic jam by putting on their make up. I stuck to the surfer change wrapping a towel around my mid section for modesty and only used the bathroom in the last few seconds. . .

Venice:

For those of you who don't know you can fly inside Europe cheap -- for instance five of us flew from Leed's to Venice for $450. It is a good value but you need to mind their restrictions.

On the other hand we caught the water taxi from the airport to our hotel and that was $162.50. But it was cool :

Venice was expensive but fun. My advice to anyone who goes to Venice -- Get Lost. Hugh Coffin gave me that advice. What he meant was just wander around. Walk until you are lost and find a nice cafe fulls of locals and eat there. That was my favorite part of Venice -- getting lost. To this I would add --1) Pick the sites that you want to see ahead of time, and 2) buy a one day bus pass. The busses are boats and you can go anywhere on them. Since there are so many sites dedicated to Venice I will let you guys figure that out for yourselves.

This is the water taxi I want as s personal vehicle and a picture of my garage. (Both of these assume money is no object)





Here is a side street.

Here is the dock for the hotel we stayed at.



Marina Loves Seafood. Can you tell.



Here is Abuela!!!



Here are Keegan Beth and Abuela on a Gondola. The ride really depends on the gondolier.

Frequent Flyer miles do not have a lot of flexibility. We had to make reservations ten months in advance, because I wasn't sure if I had to fly early to work on the boat I made reservations for the family on Thursday and by Friday when I made reservations there were no seats available to NYC. The family flew Sacramento to Seattle, spent the night, and then flew to Newark and caught a towncar to JFK. I ended up taking a very convoluted route starting in Sacramento then going to LA, staying overnight, then to Cincinnati, then to La Gurdia where I got a taxi to JFK.

We arrived at JFK and met Abuela (Grandma) for the flight to London. From there we rented a car to drive to visit our dear friend Margaret Hunt's children in Yorkshire. (We are all saddened that she had passed away.) When you rent a car in Europe think small. Five people and luggage that included sailing gear does not fit in a five person car. We upgraded to a Mercedes but it was a tight fit.

The Hunts and the Garlands were perfect hosts. We had a great time enjoying Yorkshire. Rebecca and Marina as well as Stephen and Keegan who hadn't seen each other in over ten years were as thick as thieves within an hour or so. After all Stephen had a trampoline and at 6'1" could do back flips on the lawn and doesn't this picture say -- well 1000 words.



Our style of travel is different then most people. We like to share in the lives of the country we visit and do a quick visit of the tourist spots. Thus it fit us well since we were off to the Rugby Club for drinks while Stephen practiced. Sean and I talked about scuba diving and boats and supplied the women with drinks while they talked about -- well whatever it is that woman talk about. We had a lovely dinner at an old chapel that had been converted into a Pizza resturaunt (yes we were in England). I had Shepherd's Pie but the Pizza was good too.



It was a quick tour we arrived on 14 June and departed on 17 June. Guests - like fish - start to smell after three days. We packed a lot into the few days that we were there.





Yvonne, Victoria and her 10 month old son gave us a tour of York.








Ewa and Sean took us to their local Pub along with Yvonne, Abuela, and Will.





Sorry no picture of Yvonne's Brother Will.

We were going to go to the water slides but the web site was unclear as to their hours and we got there an hour before the slides closed. Another night we were supposed to go and watch Adam play cricket but it was rained out. I was disappointed. We went bowling and the kids played blacklight mini golf while we had drinks at the pub. Those of you who know me know I don't drink that often but the word Pub was a recurring theme. It was hard to find the correct ale to drink. I don't care for lager and it seems that each pub we went to had a different ale and I had to drink till I found the correct one. My liver suffered for it.

My favorite time had to be the feast at the beautiful Hunt household. (They built a lovely house on a farm. The codes require that the house have the same dimensions as a barn that had stood there in years past and it was "pulled off" to the 'T'.) Ewa and Sean are lovely hosts. It was the night before we were due to leave. The airlines had changed the flight from a reasonable 1100 to 0740. We really felt the warmth of the Hunts. We bought Chinese "Take Out" food and I had a good laugh because the Chinese owners of the store had a very thick Yorkshire accent. We bought beer and wine. The woman picked up Indian "Take Out." It was a feast. We all sat around eating and talking and drinking. Around Midnight we got ready to leave but it took us about an hour and half to say goodbye. It was evident that we didn't smell like fish. It was also evident that no one wanted to leave.

The next day we were on a plane to Venice. PS maps are better then GPS. We took the shortest route to Leed's airport -- thru the middle of the City on slow roads rather then the motorway bypass.

The Plan Part II

The plan fell into place quickly. When the economy was good I built houses. If I could by the materials on a credit card I did. Beth commuted from Montana to the Bay Area for work for a couple of years. These two things gave us over a million frequent flier miles on Alaska Airlines. One of the few airlines whose miles don't expire. That was good for our family of four to take four trips to Europe.

We scoured the internet for what I call "commodity" boats. Beneteau, Bavaria, Jenneau, etc. We started in Spain and then expanded our search. Our budget was the money we had saved for a new car. From Greece to Spain we looked for a boat in our price range that could sleep five. I found a nice Beneteau 31 in Greece but it was gone before I could make an offer. Found Beneteau First 35 in Malta and asked about making a low ball offer but the broker didn't want to do it. Greece was the place with the cheapest prices so we concentrated there. One day I expanded my search and found a 10 meter (33') Wauquiez Gladieteur. It wasn't on our list of "commodity" boats. Wauquiez made bluewater boats. I dismissed it. It came back and bit my subconscious. "I'm here. I'm in Italy. I'm a nice boat."

Now this is going to sound weird but Italy had never made my top ten list of places I wanted to go. The South Pacific, NZ, Australia, Scotland, Spain, the Galpagos, but some how Italy wasn't there.

I looked at the Wauquiez. It was priced right. The reviews said that this boat was capable of sailing around the world. The pictures looked good. Most of all Beth agreed. I contacted the broker by email, the boat sounded good, I called on Skype, we made an offer. The broker brought the offer to the owner. We haggled a little and then agreed on a price. The next day the broker from Malta emailed and asked if I would like to make an offer.

Next thing I know I'm flying to Italy. LA to Amsterdam to Milan. The broker met me at the airport and we drove 3 hours to where the boat was in dry storage. Everything was as the broker said -- except the engine. It was rusty as hell. The rest of the boat needed some attention but the engine . . . started right up almost. The broker managed to waterlock the engine but between him and I we let the water out of the cylinders and ran it on dry land for an hour with a hose and a bucket. The boat had been sitting for three years and you could see that the engine had been repainted but the rust had really gotten to it. I poked at the paint with the blade of my leatherman and a piece of paint half the size of a dollar bill flaked off exposing the rust beneath it.

I called Beth and spoke with her. I spoke with the broker and expressed my concern about the engine. We talked thru a few scenarios and finally I came up with this idea:
Everyone pitch in a little - The broker has a boat yard. He would get me a new engine at wholesale. The owner would come down in price a little. I would install the new engine. I now had a job in Italy -- The Italian Job.

We shook on the deal. The broker painted a good picture of me to the owner. The owner allowed me to stay on the boat for a few nights and made a list of the different things I would need to repair the boat. The engine only had to last one year. I was so confident in the deal that I started working on the boat. I rebuilt the windlass. Made a list of parts I would need and jobs that needed to be done.

The Plan Part I

Have you noticed how time slips away. It was a little less then 16 years ago that Marina came into the lives of Beth and I. A year and a half later Keegan was born. I had always wanted to raise kids on a boat but I could see that time was slipping away . . .

In 2007 we bought a Sceptre 41 just outside of Vancouver BC. We kept it in Canada and had a lot of fun sailing the PNW. We brought it down the coast in 2009 with the plan of keeping the boat headed south I really wanted to go to El Salvador where my Mom was born, then thru the canal, up the east coast, and then the Carribean. In 2010 we did the Baja Ha Ha as a family on our Sceptre 41.



It was fun. Above we are trick or treating by dinghy.



but not what I really wanted. How can you learn about a culture when 160 boats converge on one spot at one time? We kept the boat in Marina de La Paz for one season and made three trips down. I was figuring on keeping the boat pointed south but at the end of the season we decided to bring the boat back to San Diego. We had lots of fun trips to San Diego and enjoyed sailing in So Cal. It was a great place to keep the boat . . .

In 2011 the plan was restructured. Marina was starting High School and we didn't feel comfortable pulling her out of school for a week as we had done with the boat in Mexico. We needed a summer cruising ground.

"How about I sail the boat to Hawaii and then we cruise HI for the summer?" I suggested to the family. The family liked the idea.

Keegan replied, "Yeah Dad that sounds great but can we sail to Spain too. I want to go see Michael (his cousin)."

Keegan is a bit Geographically challenged.

I thought about it and came up with this idea. I'll truck Ohana across the states and then sail her across the Atlantic and then we can sail the Med for a few years.

Do you know how complicated it is to truck a boat across country, line up a crew to help sail her, etc. While getting the ducks in a row a cat came and scattered them. Then I tried doing it another way and the cat came back. Logistics wounded the idea. The cost killed the idea. I decided it wasn't going to work.

While working on our 1987 Mercedes Diesel station wagon I saw that it was time for a new car. Now I must say Beth is understanding. She doesn't want a fancy car or spend a fortune on clothes. She'd rather save that money for good vacations. But the car needed a new front end and shocks and AC and drivers seat and the Self levelling system wasn't working. They just don't build cars like the used to. Ok the Merc has 265k miles on it. We had the money to buy a new car . . . . . or a boat -- in the Med.

Thanks to the internet I rebuilt the systems that needed to be rebuilt and we are hoping to get another four year or 50k miles out of our car. Now in my opinion that is being green. Rather then the carbon footprint of building a new car we are continuing on with our 1987 vehicle.

Buy a boat in the Med. Spend the next four summers sailing with the family. After summer four sell the boat.