Unplugged?

One of my super, uber favorite bloggers is gone for the weekend.  Karla, blogger of Foodologie.com, is in NY and has left her faithful following high and dry.  However, I've also been looking for a weekend away from the networking grind.  I thought I would take this whole weekend offline, but, alas, I am not ready for this "spiritual experience." 

An interesting article on CNN.com caught my eye.  I would recommend reading it in its entirety! 
In this article, Nicole Bliman writes about the Sabbath Manifesto. 

The Sabbath Manifesto consists of 10 principles.

1. Avoid technology.
2. Connect with loved ones.
3. Nurture your health.
4. Get outside.
5. Avoid commerce.
6. Light candles.
7. Drink wine.
8. Eat bread.
9. Find silence.
10. Give back.

Reboot and The National Day of Unplugging specifically promote the first principle.  Even as a blogger, I really like it!  I dig it!  I get it!  Apparently, March 19th is the official Day of Unplugging.  I eagerly await March 19, 2011!  The Sabbath Manifesto promotes a weekly technology fast starting Friday nights at sunset. The seaside life lends itself to at least 5 of the 10 principles.  For that, I am grateful.  Does this mean that I can still take TGIF sunset cruise pictures and post them on Saturday after sunset?

The point of the Manifesto rings true.  I recall the No Impact Man saying, "Why don't we remember this year as the year that we lost 20 pounds without going to the gym and we became better parents?"  In his blog, he advocates the observance of an Eco-Sabbath every week.

Food for thought.  Food for thought.

TGIF Sunset Cruise

TGIF!  We went on an open ocean sail after work today!  Captain's take: wind was 1-3 mph, 2-4 ft swell, 7 second intervals.  Basically, bobbing in the duldrums...

So, we headed back into the bay for some pictures in the "magic hour"!

Wondered about this boat from Las Vegas....???  Port of Call?  The Venetian?  Treasure Island?

Stopped in for Fish and Chips at the Local Hut!

I ordered a "Sex on the Beach".  Just so you know, this is out of my usual form--too much Red #5.  But, we are thinking that we have to come up with a drink called "Sex on the Boat".  The Captain says that it must stave off scurvy in order to be authentic. "Sex on the Beach" is Vodka based, but I wanted to come up with a Rum alternative.  But, isn't that a "Shipwreck"?  We don't want that!  Any suggestions?

Numbers and such for a 1970 Coronado 25 sailboat

Found this information at Sailboatdata.com from the original Coronado 25 sales brochure.  The stats will come in handy for my next post on picking the right outboard motor for your sailboat. I am sure I will also be able to refer to this in the future posts as well. ~Captain

Nautical Knots!

I bought this book-kit at Border's for the Captain.  He has been doing some pretty impressive stuff!  Hours of endless fun for about $5!  I was tickled pink to come home from work and see decorative knots hanging from every door knob! 

It really comes in handy on the boat too!  Look at some of the beautiful knots that he has made!  Nautical knot-tying is one of the arts of traditional sailing!

 

TGIF Sunset BBQ

Thanks to the good Captain, we had planned to take the boat on the Bay for BBQ Filet Mignon, photography, and local Sauvignon Blanc!  I was so grateful to have this evening cruise on the schedule, because it has been a super long busy crazy week!  And, I've been reading The Motion of the Ocean!  This is Janna Cawrse Esarey's book fully entitled: The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife.

So, I had planned to present the B-HAG concept to my Captain: Big Hairy Audacious Goal.  This is Janna and Graeme's grand concept, a'la stimulus package!  Basically, come up with a goal that is bigger than life, create a stategy for accomplishing it, and then throw caution to the wind and take a deep, cleansing breath, and go for it!!!!!!

If you have a big Goal . . . . would you dare even say it out loud? Would you share it with anyone? Would you keep it silent, secret and let it build momentum inside like a 2 Liter bottle of Pop shaken up? What do you think?

TGIF!  We had a wonderful sunset BBQ cruise!

Sailing Forecasts, or lack there of!

Last week, I wrote about the difficulties I have with finding decent sailing forecasts to help plan or determine if I should go out to sail. Today's sailing adventure was a prime example.

For the first time in a month, the swells have gotten below 10 ft and I was a little exited to get off the surf board and onto the boat. Even though the swell had been tolerable, the winds for the last two days were gusting up to 50 Mph. Way more than I want to deal with!  But always the optimist, I keep thinking any day now it will be perfect. And waking up this morning, I knew today was that day.

The surf forecasts on http://www.surfline.com/ were for 4-5 feet at 12 seconds. Swell is good, now onto wind. http://www.weather.com/ listed the wind at 10-15 Mph.  Bingo, I am on!  But before I left, I decided to look at the bouy reports themselves, it showed a gradualy increasing 12 ft swell at 20 seconds. Not great, but 20 seconds is long enough to make these Pacific rollers a non-issue. I also decided to check a surf spot on the way to the boat and the wind seemed lighter than 10 Mph and waves looked barely 4 ft. Once again, I am stoked and good to go.

So, I am on the boat heading out of the slip and I am calling some bros to come out and experience this perfect day with me. Then I notice the wind seems a lot more than 10 Mph. I would have actually guessed more than 20 Mph. No way this is going to ruin my perfect day!  I needed some practice reefing and handling in stronger winds anyways.  My first view of the harbor mouth is pretty calm but as I get closer I start to see the waves are a little bigger than 4-5. They actually look more like 8 -9 feet. Not perfect but I usually put my limit at 10 feet so I am still good to go.  I decide to get my sails ready before I get out of the breakwater's protection. I unfurl the jib but only to about 40% original size and imediately take off hitting the boat's top speed, so I skip the Main altogether. A gentlemen I met at a bar said he owned a 1969 Coronado 25 and it handled better in heavy wind with Jib alone, so I decided to put it to the test.

Moments later, I have almost reached the breakwater at the harbor entrance and a swell comes in that is bigger than the 8 feet I saw earlier. These were more like 11-12 feet. Morro Bay's harbor is notorious for having large waves in the harbor mouth and they usually calm down about a half mile out. I charge on. The swells are making it slow going and just outside the harbor another set comes through bigger than the last. The first two waves were bit of a rush but the third wave of the set was 16 feet or larger and looked like it was going to crash right on the bow. Not having a lifeline yet, I wraped the jib sheet (rope from the front sail) around my arm, griped the tiller tighter and crouched down bracing for impact while thinking "is this auto-inflat life vest going to blow up if I am hit by a wave?". I hit the bottom of the wave trough and started to climb the wave. Yep about 16 feet, the 25 foot boat easily fit on the face of the wave. (waves are measured from the midline up, so the total face of the wave was about 30 feet.) The wave never broke and I easily made it over. Being by myself I decided to head in and declared my perfect day officially a bust.

What did I learn?  First, I should have checked the NOAA automated reports on the VHF radio, they probably would have given a clearer picture of the actual conditions.  I also needed to pay more attention to the bouy's live feeds than surfline's report which is specifically for near shore predictions.  I knew this, but I really wanted to go so wasn't going to let a bouy rain on my parade.

Next, I need to get a lifeline. A lifeline is just a rope that ties you to somewhere secure on the boat like the mast. It keeps you from going overboard. I had this as a lower priority item on my purchase/project list because I didn't really envision sailing by myself that often. I don't really want to, but I have come to the conclusion that I will solo sail from time to time.

Finally, I need to find a frakk'n better way to get surf forecasts at home so I can avoid these type of let downs. The day was a bust, but at least fitting in the Battlestar Galacticaism means I can end the day with a smile.

Over and out.
~Captain

Cabin and Galley

I should really care about his post...because this is my domain.  I know I should be really passionate about the work that we did to the interior.  And here in lies the dilemna.  What do you post when you don't really feel like posting anything? 

It is not really true to the author and not really fair for the reader, but here goes.  I do have some pictures saved up on the galley.  I don't have before pictures, unfortunately.  Just, after pictures.  And a shameless plug for the GREATEST UPHOLSTERY BUSINESS IN THE STATE: Shannon's!

Ok, I do have a before shot of the NASTY OLD MUSTY cushions in the galley.   ewuuhhhhh!

The zippers were rusted out!  I don't even want to know what happened on these cushions in the last 40 years!  NASTY!

So, we looked through about 400 vinyl marine quality samples with Mr. Shannon!  We chose "Cardinal"....any surprise?  Yes, it fits well with the Captain's USC fettish.  Check them out!

We made a new teak table which we high-glossed the same way as the exterior teak.  We also high-glossed the Galley cabinets.  The cutting boards are just wiped down with teak oil.  The faucet is new. 

I like the way it all turned out.  There are some older blue vinyl cushions and the bright cardinal cushions.  All of them wipe clean easily.  The interior is warm.  It is cozy.  Even if I never go on an ocean sail, the boat has enough charm to keep me happy in the dock. 

It has been so rainy lately that we haven't been able to enjoy it.  I miss it.

The Beautiful Spinnaker Sail!

Ode to the Spinnaker Sail that I do not have enough money to buy . . .

I wish you were Matthew Modine and I was Baby
And I owned a sewing machine in the floor….
Oh, how I would make a spinnaker.
Oh, how colorful she would be.

If anyone can get this slanted reference to a Disney movie called Wind, staring Matthew Modine and the girl called Baby in Dirty Dancing....it was basically a 13 year old girl's trashy romance about saucing sailors and a killer magnifico spinnaker.
 
At any rate, I love the Spinnaker Sail!  It is always bright and cheery and wonderful.  It fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat.  Can I just say it again: I love spinnaker sails!!! 
 
We saw several spinnakers this weekend.  I realized today that we will probably never have one on Training Wheels.  Flying a spinnaker is for the Big League-er.  We are just not on the level.  It is best flung with the help of a crew; extra hands are needed to fly it and reel it in.

Again, I apologize for not keeping the horizon horizontal.  I need a tripod or level attached to my camera!  I took these with the 55-200 mm lens on RAW setting.

The picture quality broke down even on the RAW setting when I zoomed in to get a close up of the blue spinnaker.  I am still not sure how to best capture these distant events!

The Magic Hours

Heather Angel, author of the book "How to Photograph Water", encourages me to photograph in the magic hour. This is the hour that light plays at sunset. The color is just right, and it is magic.

I drive to work during dawn and dusk.  These are the magic hours!  I used to drive to work in the dark and come home in the dark, but I'm enjoying the good life now! 

Daylight savings time might change all that!  Save the date: Spring Forward March 14th!

Photographs from the Magic Hour:

ps: yes, Timoteo, the last one is yours from July 2008!  Great pictures don't die!

The Search for Sailing Forecasts

I have had difficulty finding good or even decent sailing forecasts to help in planning out upcoming sailing outings. I am not looking for much, just an easy way to quickly read if the winds are between 3 mph and 20 mph and the swell is under 10 feet at an interval greater that 7 seconds. Is this too much to ask?

Maybe this is a product of the "want-it-now" generation, but I am a little amazed nothing is done on the internet (at least that I have found) for such a generally cash rich pasttime as sailing. For the most part, I have fought the desire to techno-ize my sailing experience.  I prefer "old school" sailing with no electronics on board except for the VHF radio required by the Coast Guard. This traditional Old Man And The Sea stance not only has saved a ton of money, but I hope will give me a firm foundation of all-things-sailing.

The best forecast I have found so far is a prerecorded telephone message done by a gentleman at a nearby power plant. He's actually very good . . . . but how 80's is that?  Online, I sometimes use a mix of http://www.weather.com/ for wind and storm info and http://www.surfline.com/ for swell height and period and sometimes wind that is not always that accurate (especially off-shore).