What Survived
A lot of things went right this year too. Here’s a list of things that continued to perform through the (okay fine… second) meanest ocean in the world. Love RK Drums/CBQ Frankenstein Coffee Roaster Kleen Kanteen water bottles Japan …
All Posts
Ordinary Extraordinary S01E02
This week we follow the kids on their Aquatic Adventure, and witness another one of the crew entering their teenaged years! Ordinary Extraordinary - S01E02 Crêptastic Birthday from Tucker Bradford on (https://vimeo.com). I’m eager for …
Ordinary, Extraordinary
I have been increasingly interested in video and multimedia storytelling lately. I enjoy the new challenges, and hope that the visual experience can expose different dimensions of this unconventional life. This video is a test case for a …
Portland to Grenada
Some might say that it is the very definition of madness to winter over in Maine and leave for the tropics as summer begins to burst onto the scene. Those people would be absolutely correct. Nevertheless, that is just what we have done. The …
ConvivEVA: the crew of Convivia is going sailing on EVA
You may have seen this hint of a story, this boatyard photo of Tucker and I, Ruby, and Olive in front of EVA, everyone’s dreamboat. We have spent much of the last year and a half with Claude and Jules and their three kids, Noah, Lilo, …
Martinique: Photos
Our first week and a bit have flown by. We have been busy getting the usual, post-passage stuff done (laundry, boat repairs, reprovisioning, etc) and have had little time to get out and explore this beautiful island. Yesterday, Eva rented a …
Kolmanskop - Ghost Town
We got up early early again this morning so we could get to Kolmanskop before the tour busses. It was a really good thing we did too. A surprising number of people showed up today to see this abandoned diamond mining boom town.
Namibia: A Tease
Here are a few of the things that we saw when the fog cleared on our newest anchorage. More to come
A Month for Tattoos
The exchanging of tattoos has been one of the absolute highlights of my time here in Cape Town. It started with a promise I made to Brady, back in Durban, to finish his calf tattoo. Once that was complete, Brian and Karin wanted ink too, …
Hout Bay Field Trip
Our friends on s/y Eva took us on a little road trip to Hout Bay today. We picked up some more green coffee beans, and some hard to find grocery items (black beans!) and then went off to see some natural beauty. The wind was raging …
Cape Town
The kids eat breakfast, tell us that their schoolwork is done and dash off to see their friends. There are two kid boats here right now (Eva and Yemaya) and five extra kids mean that there is never a dull moment for them. Vick and I take …
Not My Favorite Ocean
The Indian Ocean is not my favorite ocean! Perhaps there has been another blog post of the same name; this is not a fun blog post; or a feelings story. This is just a tally; an acknowledgment that our exhaustion after a year and a half of …
All Is Well
I’m tucked into the corner of the settee, wedged in with seven pillows so I don’t move and I don’t have to support my own body. The bucket is next to me but I’ve taken my seasick pill and I hope to sleep instead of …
Sani Pass: Short Video
Here’s a short but fantastic video done by the same guy that did New Year’s Ink Audio Credit: Ehrling Video Credit: Wayne Willis
Sani Pass—Dangerous Road; Stunning Vista
One of the things that I have been surprised with over and over on our trip around the world is how many times virtual strangers have offered to level up our experience by showing us their favorite places. On New Year’s Eve we met …
New Year's Ink
The tradition of [European] sailors tattooing each other dates back to the 1700s when Captain Cook’s crew picked up the practice from the Polynesians. Since then, countless sailors have followed in their intrepid wake. I have …
Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Park
“We need the tonic of wildness… At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us …
Madagascar's End
This is where we bid au revoir to this country that has fascinated us with its warmth, diversity, creatures, landscape, and spirit. Majhunga, a city that cruisers alternately describe as “too dangerous” or …
Tany Kely - Sea Turtle
Yesterday I unlocked a life achievement. While snorkeling at Tany Kely, I noticed a sea turtle. He was having a leisurely lunch on the reef far below. It was deeper than I normally free dive, but I wanted to chill with him so badly that I …
Nosy Komba
We have seen lemurs already (in Russian Bay) but all of us were excited to have a better introduction to them at the (locally) famed Nosy Komba lemur park. The island is a weird mix of eco-tourism and authentic Malagash culture. It’s …
Cascades d'Androadroatra
Brian and Brady offered to take us on a hike today. They promised fields of ylang-ylang and a waterfall swimming hole. We were not disappointed. It’s weird that after all this time on and in the water, I’m still renewed and …
Famadihada: The Turning of the Dead
Five years ago, a teenage girl died in the small Malagasy village of Antanambe. She was buried, as is her family custom, with all of her relatives, in a small plot cleared from the rain-forest in Verezanantsoro National Park. Here she …
Four Days, Three Dinner Parties
Cruising is a social experience. We hang out with our sailing friends almost every day out here, sometimes it’s for an hour at sunset, or a beach bonfire or potluck, and occasionally—if we get lucky—we strike up a friendship with a …
Le Morne Brabant: Hike
We have been here, in Mauritius, for a few weeks and haven’t really ventured out of the incredibly comfortable anchorage of Grande Baie. We see the impressive spires, off in the distance and remark that we should probably go check …
St Gabriel Hike
Alicia, from the boat On Verra, has been organizing hikes for the cruisers nearly every day that we’ve been here. It’s one of the best cruiser services I’ve ever experienced because it helps us to see the natural beauty of …
Days to Remember
A few days ago I was told that my dorades were dusty. The next day another person mentioned how dirty my decks were. And yet another person asked me why I had so much crap in my cockpit. All of these criticisms hit me deeply and personally …
Rodrigues: First Impressions
There are places in the world that feel like home from the outset. These are the places where you feel yourself exhaling in long comforting sighs; where you recognize people whom you’ve never met, and they greet you as friend; where …
Indian Ocean: Not That Much Fun
Imagine you are sitting down, enjoying dinner. It’s Taco Tuesday® (but on Thursday, because you have no sense of time). Suddenly the salsa jar becomes a projectile, it jumps straight up, then banks hard to the left and hurls itself at …
Cocos Keeling: A Slice of Paradise
There are places that you hear about from other cruisers, special places. Perhaps the first time will be over sundowners in someone’s cockpit, and then again online, or through the coconut telegraph. After a while, a few of these …
Jump for Joy
We have an odd tradition on Convivia. I would like to believe that it was modeled after a trait I picked up in my wilderness canoeing days, but really , it is probably more just good fortune. We tend to set a day for departure, work our …
Panen Raya (Harvest Time)
Back when I was a dirt dweller, I used to buy coffee beans from this little warehouse in Oakland. The company, Sweet Maria’s, was owned and operated by a guy who personally flew around the world, visiting plantations, sampling coffee …
Nias: Day One
Today we joined No Regrets, for a trip into town for fuel, groceries and a visit to a traditional, mountain top village. When we arrived a local kid came up and offered to do a high jump demonstration. In this village, young men must jump …
Pulau Lasia
Our last anchorage was so beautiful and relaxing that we didn’t want to leave. The thunder and lightning almost gave us the excuse we were looking for but, time and international clearance rules wait for no one. On to Nias and Telo …
Chillin' in Thailand
The pace of life aboard Convivia has shifted. The hectic days of boatyard stress are behind us, as are the days in the Marina, fixing those last few (critical) systems. We’ve found a sleepy beachfront to anchor in front of and, with …
Thailand so far
Thailand feels like cruising again. Our pace through Australia was breakneck, and Indonesia was challenging. Most of Malaysia felt like a race to the boat yard, and then there was that two month job. I thought Langkawi would feel like …
Yard Dogs
Our time in the boatyard was so long and the spectrum of emotions so vast, that I decided to make it into a little slideshow video. Enjoy!
Thaispusam in Penang
We had an Uber driver recently that asked us if we would be in Penang for Thaipusam. He was part way through forty days of preparation, fasting, celibacy and not shaving in advance of this important Tamil Hindu holiday commentating the God …
Yard Dog's Christmas
We have been in the boat yard for two weeks now. Things are moving along at the expected pace (slower than I would hope, but reasonable for this oppressive climate). The boat is covered, and has its first coat of primer. The propeller shaft …
Refueling Adventure
Continued from here Trying our luck, in this case meant speaking entirely in Indonesian, asking around for someone who might have a surplus, and then negotiating the purchase or trade without the benefit of local currency (which we had …
Nets, and Squalls, and Waterspouts
The last 72 hours have been some of the most surreal, exhausting, and exciting of my life. I wrote about some of the first two days’ highs and lows here. The following night and day were just as full on. Things started out calm enough …
Indonesian Halloween
In every other place that we’ve spent an October 31st, it has seemed like the holiday would at least have been heard of. Port Villa, maybe less so, but they get enough expats and tourists, that maybe someone spilled the beans. And …
Karimunjawa Scooter Tour
For the past four years Vick has not driven a motor vehicle of any sort. Today that streak ended. We picked up scooters and hit the roads of Karimunjawa to explore. No ID or paperwork was required, just a little cash and we were good for …
Passage Gratitude
I don’t know what exactly it is about passagemaking that brings out these feelings but it’s so common as to be a phenomenon. Despite the sleep deprivation, and subtle (and sometimes acute) hardships of crossing hundreds of miles …
I Want to See Dragons for My Birthday
We take birthday wishes seriously in Convivia. We keep presents small and homemade, as the real celebration is in the cake. Cakes are dreamed up layer by layer, often years in advance. Olive wishes for her eighth birthday were a stuffed …
Can't Get Home Without Leaving
We are sailing off the beaten path a bit in Indonesia. We skipped joining a rally and are making it up as we go along. Our pursuit is for language and connection, fresh food, day to day life, green coffee beans, handmade fabric, some …
Selamat Jalan
In Bahasa Indonesia, Selamat means “Congratulations” and Jalan means “to go” (or “road” or “walk”, but work with me). Together these worlds (Slemat Jalan) mean “Goodbye,” but as we …
Kupang Traditional Market
“Where are you from?” they ask us. “Where is your home in America?” “How long was your flight?” It is difficult to answer and it is hard to explain in our few basic phrases. Our home has been only the …
Taken for a Ride
Nobody likes getting ripped off and, for whatever reason, it hurts me on a personal level. At the end of the day I feel that the money I have paid was worth the service I received, but I was seriously chaffed by the way I was treated. When …
Darwin
The sky feels too low here. That was my first and most enduring sentiment about Darwin. I also have an overwhelming desire to open my photo editor and drop the exposure, turn up the contrast, add a bit of saturation, and mess with the white …
Position Report: August 11, 2015
Position: 12º 25.56’ S 130º 49.23’ E Day 4 in Darwin. Today is the day we start in on our worklist. Yesterday was entirely laundry, 13 loads, 5 hours + travel. This position report is also the first one that will post directly …
Dad Moments
Parenting is *hard.*I still find myself waking up at night to tend to bad dreams, or bug bites, and there’s the constant sibling squabbles, and, with us, homeschooling battles. That’s not to mention the challenges of ushering …
Cook's Look in Photos
Today we set out for what was listed as a 2.5hr hike for experienced hikers. It was what the Australian National Park system classified as an extremely difficult hike. We were definitely worried that Olive wouldn’t be able to make it. …
Off to See the Lizard
I don’t know what’s going on with me. We spent last night in this lovely ClubMed anchorage. This looks like a place you might like to stay at for a while right? I promise, the previous anchorage was even more picturesque. I, …
Impressions of Cairns
I feel like I’ve been moving at light speed for the last five days. We arrived in Cairns on Sunday. Unlike a lot of marinas in Australia, the arrival was really smooth. The marina left keys for us so we could access the showers and be …
Cruising Again
We were waiting for a bus to take us somewhere and Vick looked at me and said “It’s kind of amazing, we just took off and now we are cruisers again. Heading off, looking for beaches or towns to explore, no real …
So Hard
I don’t know how many times I uttered that terse phrase yesterday. Saying goodbye, it’s… Hard. Rather than sputter on sentimentally I’m just going to post a ton of random pictures of some of the people we’ve come to …
No Fresh Perspective
I’m sitting in the City Library. Olive is watching Minecraft videos and Vick is reading a cookbook. This is the place where I spend the majority of my waking hours recently. It’s been my “office” for the last several …
I Would Do This for Free
I just set up a Patreon.com page. If you haven’t heard of it yet, patreon is a service that allows content creators, artists, and musicians to accept the generosity of their adoring public (that’s you). The concept mirrors the …
Ready for Adventure Again (almost)
We arrived in Australia almost exactly two and a half years ago. Pulling into Brisbane after 15 months of cruising seemed decidedly like the end of our adventure. We were trading sun soaked beaches, a persistent, intimate awareness of the …
Preparations
After nearly a year of gathering moss, Convivia and her crew are overcoming inertia and getting ready to cruise again. This week, we took advantage of the public holiday and school break and got Convivia out of the river and onto her …
Coyote: The Trickster
When I met Robbie last year, all I knew about him was that he was inking all of my friends and that Gael thought that he could definitely help with this crazy octopus idea that I had. By the time that tattoo was done, I had made one of …
Frickin Hella Fans
To say I am annoyed with Hella Turbo Fans is an understatement. These very basic fans cost a mint and aren’t nearly as robust as one would hope. We lost 3 in the first year of cruising. Hella was kind enough to replace them for us, …
Community
From time to time, in the course of my travels, people have asked me about “home.” By this they usually mean the USA in general or one of the specific places I’ve lived. When I talk about the good things, I almost always …
Lyman Family Christmas: In Photos
We celebrated a late Christmas with Vick’s side of the family at her mom’s home. Despite our host getting sick at the last moment, it was a wild success, complete with two rounds of Cards Against Humanity for the bravest of the …
A (pseudo) Tourist in the Bay Area
Our trip to the Bay Area was surreal. We had the pleasure of staying with our Framily (the Logans). Their home feels like our home, even though they had only just moved in when we moved away. So much of our old community vibe lives there, …
Native Culture Shock
I’ve been meaning to sit down and put my thoughts to words for a week now. Arriving in the United States after 3 years abroad was certain to be a bit of a transition. This long separation is compounded by the nature of my lifestyle: …
The Best Thanksgiving Ever
Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever invented. Full. Stop. Granted it may come from questionable roots, but what it has become to my family and friends, is a holiday centered around gratitude, relationships, and gluttonous consumption of …
Olive Turns 7: A Parenting Win
It’s not an unfamiliar scene on Convivia. It’s the night before a present giving event, and Vick and I are wondering if we should run out and get one or two more things. “We have Ruby’s presents (the most substantial …
GBR 2014 In Photos
I was going to hold these for an epic post about our trip but time seems to have gotten away from us. In lieu of a narrative, here is a little photo essay!
What Sailing Feels Like
Most of the time when I’m sailing I feel like a 14 year old boy, getting into some harmless but possibly significant mischief. I stand looking over the dodger, just soaking it all in as if, at any moment some authority figure is going …
North Enough!
We spent a few lovely days at Middle Percy Island. We visited the legendary A-Frame, took a long hike up to the Homestead to visit Cate and John, and the Roundhouse to visit Steve. It was a lovely island with a storied and rich history and …
Best Day Ever
I have a hard time assigning superlatives. I tend to experience life in an abstract way that doesn’t depend heavily on specific, quantifiable metrics. So when I say that this was the best day ever, take that with a grain of salt. …
Great Keppel Island in Photos
We had been stuck on the boat for 6 days. First for sailing and second for weather in the anchorage (35 knots, come on). We finally rowed against said wind (maybe only 20 knots), to spend the morning on shore. We were greeted by a slightly …
Thirty Nine
The first day of my fortieth trip around the sun began in darkness. No, this isn’t a metaphor, it’s 3am. Vick woke me with a kiss. “Happy birthday, it’s your watch,” she said through her smile. I’m 39. …
Farkwar is Born
When I was younger (let’s just say I was 10) my uncle would entice me to row him across what seemed like an endless [Muscongous] sound to Loud’s Island, by making up silly stories about a fellow named Barfoolean Farkwar. Barf …
Migrations
It’s getting cold here. The crew of s/v Convivia has concluded that cold is stupid and, upon concluding that, realized that we don’t have to stand for it. We have a portable life and I have every programmer’s dream boss …
Another Post About How Awesome Brisbane is (i know…)
So this just popped up in our back yard. It’s been behind a fence for months now, slowly coming to form. I didn’t pay much attention but today I took the kids over there so Vick could have some space to put the boat back …
Gear Review: GoToobs
Okay, I don’t do a lot of gear reviews because, well, because this is really not that kind of blog. That said, there is one piece of gear that we use every day (except some of the crustier passagemaking days perhaps). When we use it, …
Sundowners
Is this even a term that non-cruisers know? If so, does it even mean the same thing? We went for sundowners on Condessa del Mar tonight. The last time we did that we were in a deserted island with 6 other boats, all of whom were sharing …
Tangalooma Easter Weekend Photots (part 1)
Photos after the break
The Sailing Me
“I wish everyone who knew me could know the sailing me!” I posted this on Facebook today. It was one of those thoughts that popped into my head ready to publish, and didn’t require a lot of fact checking. As the day passed though, I found …
(A)Typical Sunday
Olive wanted to make an explosion. Ruby remembered that you can win mentos at the arcade. I thought, “it’s about the most expensive way to do this experiment but it makes a great story” so off we went.
Octopus Tattoo
Today is Christmas Eve day so we did what any normal family would do and got some tattoos. Technically mine was started last night, but we did all of the shading today. Our artist, Roberto Galbiani, an Italian …
BOS -> AKL -> PPT -> BNE -> PPT -> BNE -> PPT -> VAV -> TBU -> NAN -> BNE
We were all excited to get to Tahiti of course. The excitement was partially because it was Tahiti and partly because it was one of the few places in the South Pacific that we were pretty certain we could receive birthday presents for …
Riverfire 2013
Riverfire is a-mazing. The city of Brisbane (with generous support from the business sector) light fireworks off all along the waterfront from the Story Bridge to Southbank, and from the tops of the largest buildings in town. They have …
A Tall Poppy in Oz
One of the very first things I learned about Australian culture was that it robustly supports the lopping of tall poppies. Unless you are from AU, NZ, CA, or the UK you probably don’t even know what this term means, Wikipedia …
Sliding in Sideways…
I’ve found myself having rather candid conversations about our finances lately. Inevitably I find myself saying “we’re skidding sideways into each paycheck.” Indeed last month we made it across the line by searching …
September in Brisbane
September has been a month of goodbyes and getting-to-know-yas. It’s been a month of changing weather (for the better) and changing government (for the worse). It’s been full of laughter, outdoor play and exciting summery …
Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Coffee is very important to us here on Convivia and we’ve expended quite a bit of time and energy, ensuring that we always have good coffee to drink. When we left the US we were aware that AMPs were king and decided to play it safe …
A Laundry Tour of the South Pacific
A reader on a women’s sailing group I’m part of asked if it was possible to sail the South Pacific without washing laundry in a bucket. Laundry was much harder for me than being on a boat for 24 days straight, cooking underway, …
School Holiday
School Holiday is our family’s newest novelty. Vick braved the first week (of two) on her own. It was cold and rainy and they spend a lot of time baking and visiting the museums. By the end of the first week though (despite heroic …
And Just Like That She's Nine
The count down to birthdays happens early with Ruby. She counts the months, the weeks, the days. She plans her cake, remembers the ones that have come before, and has a pending list of the cakes for three future birthdays. She knows that …
Slut Shaming — From a Man's Perspective
I’ve been noticing a lot of articles, podcasts, tweets, and other coverage lately about slut shaming and rape culture. Maybe it’s that I have decidedly feminist sexual politics and my friends and news feeds tend to reflect and …
Life Like a Story
There are many kinds of books and as many kinds of book lovers. So please read the following from your own perspective and not through my eyes. You know that feeling when you pick up a good book, and you just can’t put it down? You …
Autumn in Australia
It’s autumn here. I know that may not seem like it deserves its own line but you know what, it does! The year here starts in Summertime and then goes to Fall. Fall comes before Spring in the southern hemisphere. You can get all …
Crossing an Ocean with iNavX
Note: I wrote this post in September while making passage from Vanuatu to Australia. I was all fired up about it until Vick read it and crinkled her nose (or something like that). I relegated it to the drafts folder and forgot about it …
And just like that… I'm plugged in!
I’ve always known that there is a flow to life. Swim with it and you move quickly towards your destination. Swim against and you may get where you think you want to go, but man do you have to work for it. After a year an a half of …
Brisbane is Seriously Awesome Folks, Seriously
You have seriously got to be kidding me. I love this city so much I want to dig up the homes of my family and friends and move them all here. Today we went to the Queensland State Library with the kids. We tricked them (yes, I am that …
Holding Hands
I was fortunate to have a pretty amazing/progressive sexual education. When I was an early teen I participated in a program called AYS (About Your Sexuality) that my church put on. You can read the wikipedia article for a slightly jaded …
Australia 2012 Recap in Photos
I have been pretty relaxed about my blog posting since we arrived. I think I thought I had little to say but the photos I have taken tell another story, so I will let them…
The Nature of Community
I’ve always been a pay it forward kind of guy. I love helping my friends out and I love to build community. Every once in a while I ask for help, and every time it’s hard. I don’t fully understand why, but I do know that I …
Ltd Espresso Blows My Mind
A double espresso is 15 grams of uniformly ground bean, 9 bars of pressure at the group head, and a 30 second pull at 92ºC (±2º). If you have ever stood by my side as I pulled a shot, you have heard this stated as fact. I suspect on some …
Oooh heaven is a place on Earth
Krister summed it up pretty perfectly over margaritas the other night, “This place is like a joke, it’s like they said let’s take all the money the US spends on the military and spend it on public services.” Nail, …
Goodnight Cruise
It is time to bid farewell to the star filled night sky, to the meteor showers, to the dolphins that scared the crap out of me on night watch. I am just settling in to my last chocolate watch (the salty watch is 8-12, 3-6 is for chocolate); …
Ten thousand thirty five photos
Tucker took 10,035 photos during our eight month voyage across the Pacific but what I hope I always remember cannot be captured with the camera. The excitement of checking out of Mexico and watching the shore disappear in the east The …
Photos: Port Vila, Vanuatu & Chesterfield Reef, New Caledonia
We’ve got a wordy type post in the making. In the meantime you can feast your eyes on some photos from Port Vila and the most spectacular Chesterfield Reef. Chesterfield was a safety option for us on our passage to Australia. I was …
Where have we been all this time?
During one of our last days of our Pacific crossing Tucker and I sat in the cockpit remembering out loud each and every stop since we’ve been out cruising. Convivia sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on October 1, 2011 and took a few …
Mystery Island
Mystery Island is a little sand spit in the lagoon that we anchored in at Anatom. The island is haunted—or so the locals believe—and this makes it uninhabitable for any ni-Vanuatu. The interesting thing is that they don’t mind going …
Everything Old is New Again
We’ve visited four of Vanuatu’s beautiful islands. We’re now in Port Vila experiencing the touristy city life, with ridiculous cover bands playing loudly on the harbor’s edge, gift shops filled with Chinese made …
Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavx without Jailbreak
Back in July of 2011 I wrote a pretty geeky post about adding grib files to iNavx by first jailbreaking your iPad and then doing a series of complicated steps to get the gribs from Airmail (or wherever you download them from) to the iPad. …
Dream Fulfilled
We are in Tanna Vanuatu. Last night we drove on a dirt road that was cut through a rain forest. It was just unbelievable that they could make a road at all here , and it certainly required 4 wheel drive. Krister and I stood in the bed of …
I <3 Uninhabited Islands
Here is a post that we really wanted to get up in Tonga but the slow internet stalled it out. We have been really fortunate to get a few very special places to ourselves on this trip. The island of Kenutu is located on the other side of a …
Ruby's First year of Cruising
This week we had a wonderful opportunity to reflect on our first year of cruising. A mother on a group that we belong to asked for suggestions for a reluctant soon-to-be-cruising 7 year old. We mentioned it to Ru and asked if she would like …
Flyin' Through Fiji
As we made our way across the Pacific we were perpetually asking “can we spend a little more time here?” After ~10 years of putting off today’s desires in favor of tomorrow’s dream it was finally time to say …
First Day of School
One of the things that our kids miss while cruising are typical stateside milestones like the First Day of School. Where I grew up the first day of school was the day after Labor Day, which happens on the first Monday of September. Five …
The Possibilities Are Endless
When I heard Zinnia was planning to move to Penrhyn I thought to myself, her mother may never see her again. And I thought that my children may end up moving to a place somewhere in the world, a place so remote that Lonely Planet only has …
I Should Get a Haircut EVERY Year
The Tropicana has become our hangout. It’s got good espresso, Internet, courtesy flags, a gluten free sensitized owner and is very cruiser friendly. Add to that the fact that Lisa(the owner) is our goto girl for local information and …
Whales
The aluminum tour boat pulled along side Convivia at nine am on a cool wet morning. It was the first gloomy day in 5 days and we wished we could change our reservation. Unfortunately we had put our money down and were committed. As the …
The Good
I should have known that I would eat my words… We left Samoa this morning under a bright blue sun filled sky. The wind was fresh enough to move us along nicely and so we decided to go between Upolu and Savai’i (the two main …
I Have Never Felt So Foreign
When I visit a new country I tend to see all the ways in which its culture is different first. A week or so into my visit the similarities with my native culture overtake the differences and I am overwhelmed (for a time anyway) by the …
We're. Not. Leaving
We have looked at the gribs (graphical weather predictions), the surface analisys, and read the tea leaves. All data clearly shows that tomorrow morning would be the best possible time to leave if we wanted a quick and comfortable passage …
Suwarrow
This is what I have been waiting for. Suwarrow is the dream that calls so many sailors into a cruising lifestyle. Remote, lush, pristine, and virtually unpopulated Suwarrow offers its raw self to its few annual visitors to explore, inhabit, …
Cooks Bay, Mo'orea & Fare, Huahine
Mo’orea and Huahine are my favorite islands in the Societies and close to my favorite in French Polynesia. They both have a laid back air and, as much as any of these heavily visited islands, seem less fatigued by the demands of …
Stretching Our Legs
The idea was to get off the boat and stretch our legs. We had been to swim with the rays the day before, but that doesn’t really count. Our feet hadn’t touched land in a few days and we thought a little walk would do us good. …
Stone Bench Vignette
Cruising kids, like kids everywhere else in the world come in all sorts of flavors, have unique personalities and in any anchorage you would be lottery-winner-lucky to find two the same age. Somehow they manage to forge the most beautiful …
The Anchorage of Doom!
Cue creepy music. We anchored in the north east conner of Opunohu Bay along with almost every other boat that crossed the Pacific from the Americas. (big exaggeration but it paints the right picture.) It was a tiny anchorage with reefs all …
The Frankenfold Myth
When I talk about our time in Papeete (Tahiti) I am inclined to describe it as all work and no play. When one is bogged down with projects like the Frankenfold (a.k.a the mainfold from hell), it is easy to forget that much fun has also been …
Are we crazy?
I am often asked about cruising with kids. Is it difficult? I’ve overheard people talking about us. We’re brave apparently, and it’s not because of the ocean, or the remote places we go, it’s because we took our …
Fakarava: First Days (in Photos)
I’m still catching up with my thoughts on Fakarava. The passage was too short to properly transition from the fierce rugged beauty of the Marquesas to the low, almost delicate Tuamotus. Our first night on Fakarava was spent catching …
Vaipo Waterfall
Peer pressure was (for once) well placed when it was applied to our reluctance to hike “5 hours” to see another waterfall. We had already seen one in Fatu Hiva and it was quite magnificent. That hike was great too, but I just …
Daniel's Bay: Aka Survivor 4 beach
I’m not sure I knew that Daniel’s Bay (aka Hakatea Bay) was the site of Survivor 4 when we decided to check it out. By the end of our 5 days there it seemed to be the theme for everything. So much so that when I organized a …
Taiohae and D'Anaho Bays
I kind of pride myself on having a “feelings” kind of blog. You know, the kind that is more interested in how a place, or thing, or experience made me feel rather than (strictly speaking) a description of the …
Photos From Tahuata and Ua Pou
I fear I may sound like a broken record if I continue to extol the many virtues and superlatives of these remote, exotic, and vibrant islands. So rather than continue along that path, I will just share a few photos of our time in Tahuata …
What Broke
Well we have covered about 3000 miles since we left Mexico and as any passage maker can attest, stuff breaks. I was actually kind of surprised by what broke and, by and large, how quickly and easily it was repaired. Most of our damage was …
How I found my, "It's Okay" in the hands of my Marquesan tattooist
I’ve been lucky to have a number of encouraging and reassuring people cross my path, people who have confirmed that what I was after was the right thing for me, and a couple of years ago I met someone who had such confidence and …
The most beautiful place
Four days after making landfall on Hiva Oa we sailed into Baie Hanavave on Fatu Hiva, the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It is the most beautiful place I can even imagine. The hills are high and covered with a hundred colors of …
Tahauta Mana
Our culture kind of falls flat on celebrations of personal success and accomplishment. The Marquesans however—and in fact Polynesians in general—have a long standing tradition of recording rights of passage and personal achievement in the …
Our Route Across the Pacific
I thought this might be interesting for some. These are our 24hr waypoints for the whole trip. What isn’t shown is the track (our actual path of travel) witch , more often than not, zig-zagged across the almost straight line described …
Our Days at Sea
I was stunned I think, when Ruby asked me why the days were so short. We were on our boat, sailing across the Pacific, from Mexico to the Marquesas, a passage that takes around three weeks (24 nights out for us) and my almost eight year old …
Landfall in Paradise
When we left Mexico we were headed to Nuku Hiva, one of the northern Marquesan islands, with an easy anchorage in a town that allowed us to clear in to French Polynesia. About a week into our passage we opened the Charlie’s Charts and …
Shellbacks.
For many years whenever I got cold enough to warrant socks or sleeves or worse, a jacket, or if I bought a new pair of long pants that needed hemming, my solution was simple, I’d ditch all those things and head to the equator. So when …
The Vastness
When I was a boy I would sit facing the ocean, on a beach, on a breakwater, on a boat and imagine myself surrounded by its vastness. In these youthful projections, I would never tire of its endless blue. I pictured myself a captain on a …
Convivia Gourmet
Okay, maybe a gourmet is a bit haughty when most of our meals are cooked in one pan but we have been having some seriously good food lately and I thought it was worth mentioning. If you search for a book or article and use the words …
The Awesome Ocean
Wow! We are currently rushing, racing, charging across the pacific at a sustained 7 knots with statistically significant periods of 8 knots. This speed, it seems, comes at a price. We have really enormous swell. If my estimation is correct …
Day to Day
We raced out of Bandaras Bay on Monday with good steady winds that moved us 173 miles in our first 24 hours. Even though we were bashing through swell and all a little queasy it felt amazing to be ticking away the miles so quickly. Since …
The Crew Gets Our Groove Back
Today was another slow and steady day. We had plenty of sun (enough to top off our batteries by 2pm) and the few clouds we saw were distant and fluffy. The wind was practically non-existent, but we ghosted along at 2-3 knots on what there …
Low Lattitudes High Levels of Awesomeness
I just had one of those rare pure moments of perfect bliss. It happened when I went forward to let out the boom vang. After letting it go I paused for a moment to look around (something we do almost constantly out here). Something about the …
First Days of Passage
The first two days of passage making went quickly. We got into our grove after about 12 hours. Ruby got to drawing (some pretty amazing stuff really) and Olive pretended to blow things up. Vick and I just stared out at the sea and (I at …
Zarpe diem or 6 busses for 6 Tacos
Today’s goal was to obtain a zarpe. For those who haven’t done this, a Zarpe is the official document that you get when you leave a country by boat. They aren’t strictly necessary, but you can be rejected from entering …
Land Ho…me
We have been living on dirt for a week now and it’s not as totally weird as I thought it would be. Of course, I have been working on the boat every day, so it’s not like Convivia and I are estranged, but it is strange to watch …
So Much Joy
Ah the pictures. I know I have gotten behind, and I apologize. This batch is less about beautiful places and more about smiling faces. This last month seems to have been overflowing with joy here on Convivia. Here are a few choice …
Big Drama in Little La Cruz
Someone dropped a bomb on the morning net today. We were speeding right through our regularly scheduled broadcast when the voice of Marina La Cruz came on to inform us of a policy change. “The dinghy dock” (which had hitherto …
"Admiral" of the Banderas Bay "Fleet"
Last week I failed to appear at a Pacific Puddle Jump planning meeting and was consequentially elected to be the “Admiral” of the Banderas Bay “Fleet.” It’s not entirely clear to me what this means so I am …
Preparing to Jump
We are about a month away from setting out across the largest ocean on the planet. The list of things to do; for the boat; for the kids; for us; just gets longer but we are confident that we will be able to make the trip safely and …
The things we do in Mexico
When we left California we knew that we’d have to lower our standards in certain ways. We left our carseats behind, sold our bike helmets, and stepped out of Whole Foods. We got to Mexico and ate ceviche, with salsa, from a street …
Falling Apart in Paradise
We are in our final port of the Mexican leg of our great adventure. The boat is falling apart around us*: port lights leak in the rain; blown gasket on the water heater causing fresh water to hemorrhage when we turn certain faucets on; …
Another Chapter in the "Why Love Mexico" Series
I know, I’m a broken record, but I feel I underestimated Mexico and want to shout its praises for all who, like me, didn’t know what they were missing. I know I’m not that first to blog about this, we aren’t even the …
Goodbyes & Circles
Today we said goodbye to a family that we have been traveling with since Mazatlan. In the cruising world this is called buddy boating. That term really falls short of the mark though. When you cruise intentionally like this with another …
Just Around The Corner
We’re in Manzanillo, anchored outside of Las Hadas resort and we’re on the verge of a transition. Our friends that are heading to El Salvador and Panama are heading south while we turn around and return to La Cruz in Banderas …
Photos: Chamela & Barra de Navidad
Chamela For some reason I didn’t take as many pictures as usual, but I did manage to capture the flavor of these two stops, with just a handful of good exposures. Chamela is an unassuming, quiet harbor frequented (it seems) more by …
Burn Out
I’m going to risk sounding slightly ungrateful or whiney—though perhaps other long term travelers will understand—in an attempt to bring some resolution to the way I am feeling today. I woke up this morning to this view: (note, I took …
FAQ: Cashing Out
Tonight I received an awesome email from a reader. She was wondering how we came to the decision to cash out a portion of our retirement to make this dream possible, and what struggles we had to overcome before feeling comfortable with the …
Yelapa Yeah
I am playing catch up now. After so many “best ever” posts I had to think of something original or risk sounding like a broken record. Thankfully I found some free space on my hard drive tonight so I can grace you with some …
101 Days of Cruising
We just sailed through our one hundred and first day. In this time we have begun to set the routines, behaviors, and mentalities that will be the foundations of our cruising lifestyle. After 101 days I can say with confidence that, while I …
Anatomy of a Passage
We just sailed from Yelapa, which must be blogged with photos, to Bahia Chamela, about 90 miles south. Ninety miles requires an overnight passage for us, which it turns out, we all love. The winds and seas in Mexico have made for very easy …
10 Reasons It Will Be Hard to Leave La Cruz
We have now visited and reported on so many beautiful anchorages and towns that I’m feeling a little sheepish about declaring the new best place. So rather than declare La Cruz “the most awesomest pueblo en Mexico,” …
The things we do now that surprise me
put our kids in cars without five point harness carseats heck, we put our kids in cars without seatbelts um, we even put our kids in cars without carseats, or seatbelts, or doors (usually we ride the bus) feed our kids foods without heavily …
Cha-cha-Chacala
Oh man. We had such an awesome time in Chacala. We sailed straight from Mantanchen Bay in pretty light and variable winds but the day was beautiful and we were all excited to see what was next. Chacala had been recommended by more cruisers …
San Blas
We were hesitant to go to San Blas. We’ve been warned about crazy Norm Goldie on s/v Jama. We’ve heard about dingy and surfboard thefts. We’ve heard about the terrible Jejenes (no see ums). Ultimately our decision to visit …
Mas de Mazatlan
When you ask a dozen cruisers about Mazatlan (as a potential stop) the resounding sentiment is “skip it.” I wanted to write a quick post to add some weight to the countervailing position. Mazatlan is a great city to visit, …
FAQ #4: Packed In Like Sardines
Q: What are some of the best things about traveling in close quarters with your family? A: I get this question phrased in many ways. The most generous and upbeat of which is reflected above in a question from my friend Penny. Other, less …
FAQ #3: Night Watches
Q: How about pulling watch all alone with the family below… How is Victoria handling the watches… how long are you on deck for at night? Are you clipping in? How are you staying awake? What was the sea state like? A: My first …
FAQ #2: Stuff We Don't Need
Q: Name something you packed and so far you find you really just don’t need. A: Thankfully, we really don’t have much of this category. We have gone through some clothes, worn through some shoes, and jettisoned a down comforter, …
100ish Reasons I Love Mexico
I love this country. I love the chaotic efficiency that I’ve observed in everything from a marina checkins to hopping off a bus (they don’t quite stop to let you off). Speaking of busses, I love that they are all different. …
Giving Thanks
The Crew of Convivia has so much to be thankful for. Amongst those: Our health Enough wealth that we can afford to be together all the time Enough love, patience, wisdom that we would want to be together all the time The realization of a …
Los Fralies to La Paz… in Photos
Okay here is another installment of …in Photos. I may have to add some to this gallery, so feel free to check back in a few days.
Convivia Coffee is Born!
For the last year or so Victoria and I have been harboring a secret desire. We hoped to combine our love of coffee and our new nomadic lifestyle and create from the union a more perfect coffee. Over the last week that dream has slowly …
La Paused
A few days ago I wrote the following on my Facebook wall: I’m pretty sure I’ve figured out why people get “stuck” in La Paz for decades. They come here to get a few small boat projects done. Then they decide to stop …
¡OMG That's a Lot of Photos!
Okay, it’s been a long time since I had enough bandwidth to upload photos. Now I have this Telcel data plan and I’m going to put it through it’s paces. So here it is folks, all of the pictures from San Diego through Puerto …
Ensenada de Los Muertos
..is poorly named. We arrived here last night in a near gale. The wind and waves were all coming from the one direction in which this precious little harbor is unprotected. We set to making the most basic dinner (tater tots and bowls …
Tropical Night Watches
this post was written on our passage to Cabo San Lucas Night watches are a fact of life for passage makers. It is the subject of many forum posts, articles, and dockside conversations. I have loved every night watch that I have stood, be …
Losing Track
A month ago my life was punctuated by weekends, days, hours, minutes, seconds. I vaguely recall leaving my office at 2 minutes to the hour to be on time for a meeting at 10am. I certainly remember wishing for the weekend or for 5:00. Lately …
We Made It to "South"
Our trip so far has been lived under a slight but constant disappointment. We have eagerly been anticipating something that felt southish. This feeling isn’t just about temperature, nor is it about turquoise water. There is a certain …
A Mexico-Addendum
I forgot to mention the amazing things we have seen so far. On our way across the Mexican border we were greeted by the largest pod of dolphins I have ever heard of. There must have been 100 of them, all leaping and playing around the HaHa …
¡A Mexico!
The Baja HaHa is officially underway and so, once again, are we. It felt so good to leave the dock at Cabrillio Isle Marina. The marina was fine and San Diego’s services were welcomed, but I seem to have a deeply ingrained need to …
Where I Need to Be
Other than Tucker not going to work it seems like our day to day routines are really normal. Tucker wakes up early with the kids and makes me coffee before he gives me my wake up call. We make a breakfast or two and get dressed for the day. …
Cuyler's Bay
Wow, what a day, woke to a beautiful island vista (San Miguel). Winds finally died enough to put the dingy together and head ashore. Had a nice play on the dunes and then decided to head back. Dingy nearly flipped trying to get over the …
Rounding Point Conception
As I sped down the front of another steep swell, propelled by near gale force winds, in a fog so thick it dripped, I was visited by an old fear. It was not a fear of death, though some may have felt that. My fear was one of smallness, of …
Ship's Log: First Overnight; Monterey to Morro Bay
Standing here, at the refrigerator/nav station/electronics table, and reflecting on our first overnight passage, what strikes me most was how noisy it was. Not up top (in the cockpit) but down below. We started the day with a strong WNW …
Thank You!
They say no man is an island and as we embark on this adventure—replete with our water maker, mini solar farm, new high tech rigging, etc—I feel it is appropriate to acknowledge and give thanks to all the people who helped us get here. As a …
Days -1 through 1
In lieu of a real post I present this photo montage of our last 3 days.
Day 0
We did it! I can’t describe the ellation I feel right now as we bob around at anchor in Horseshoe Cove. We set the anchor around 4pm. With the sails already tended to, the only thing to do was flip up the solar panels and tidy up the …
Boys Don't Cry
They came—finally—on the approach to the Bay Bridge. The saline evidence of a soul deep sadness that I have suppressed and longed for all week. This has been a week of goodbyes. A week of goodbyes, following another week of goodbyes on the …
Final Countdown: 4 Days
With just 4 work days between me and the life I have dreamed about, things are getting a bit hectic. We’ve been frantically dealing with last minute details like: shredding 25 hard drives and 26 backup tapes; buying a watermaker, swim …
Maine Vacation 2011 in Photos
This photo roundup covers the going away party and a few other highlights. Enjoy
…Where Everybody Knows Your Name
There is just nothing like a small New England Town. I am sitting in a coffee shop in Damariscotta Maine. This particular coffee shop is attached to a book store. The book store, though relocated, is the same one that got me hooked on …
Messing About In Boats
There is a distinct playful, childlike pleasure to be found in sailing a small boat. Sailing a bigger boat is blissful, calming, empowering, but it requires serious prep, planning, and attention too. When Olive woke up on Monday morning and …
Family Time in Maine
Our summer visits home to Midcoast Maine have always been transformative and inspiring. Slowing our pace and enjoying time together as a family reminds us how life is meant to be and helps us to refocus our energy on things that matter most …
Countdown: 35 Days
Vick and the kids are heading to New England this weekend to start saying goodbye to all of our East Coast friends and family. I’ll follow a week later and spend a week and a half there before we all return to Convivia to start the 3 …
~this moment~
A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via soulemama.
Goodnight ManVan (in memoriam)
ManVan, I salute you. You drove a ton of boat stuff down from Washington, saving us hundreds on U-Haul. Then you helped us move from Mountain View to Emery Cove. You were there for shuttling stuff back and forth to the marina, and …
Where are you going?
There is a time for departure even when there’s no certain place to go. Tennessee Williams It’s getting pretty obvious that Convivia is going somewhere. We’ve added a big anchor, a new Quickcover for our main, a life raft, …
Convivia: Powered by the Sun
Self sufficiency is one of the most glamorous (to us) features of boat life. We look forward to the day that we can travel the world under wind power, take our food and water from the abundance of the ocean (well the water anyway, the fish …
Victoria's 35th Birthday: Day Date
Our friend Merileigh gave me a “day date” last month for my birthday. We had a little trouble finding a weekend that was open, but it turned out that Victoria’s birthday worked for everyone. We dropped Merileigh and the …
Ten Years Ago Today—Launching The Dream
Ten years ago, with just my passport and a carry on, I hopped on a plane from San Francisco to St. Thomas, USVI. Tucker had arranged a flight and a ten day bareboat charter in the Caribbean. What an amazing way to spend my 25th birthday! We …
Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavX
iNavX is (as I’ve previously mentioned) a terrific product. It’s one greatest shortcoming is it’s inability to import grib files when the iPad is not directly connected to the internet. Since this is going to be our …
Parents Have HOT SEX Too
Mom, you might want to give this one a skip… Erica Jong does not speak for us. She doesn’t speak for many of the families I know, and those parents that she does speak of may want to distance themselves from her vitriolic rhetoric. …
DIY Navigation System of the Gods!
Convivia is one heck of a sailing boat. I love her dearly, but she is sadly lacking in two areas (no binnacle, no nav station) that made my navigation/chart plotter system decision somewhat harder than the typical, 1. Buy Raymarine, 2. …
A Night At the Sharks Bight
This weekend was the official opening of the Sharks Bight Yacht Club, a hyper-exclusive yacht club in Brickyard Cove. Chris & Kim (the Commodores) invited the crew of Convivia to be the inaugural guests. Chris met us in Emeryville at …
Nautical Craftiness aboard Convivia
Years ago I stenciled a sailboat and an anchor onto shirts for Ruby and Olive. I wanted to make updated shirts for them one day so I ended up moving onto the boat with a stamp carving kit and some fabric paint. I planned to carve an anchor …
Ship's Log: 4th of July Weekend, 2011
I’ve found, time and again, that no plan is the best plan. This weekend was a perfect proof of that theory. On Friday night we still didn’t know where we were going. Would we go back to our old tried and true anchorage …
Aeropress Disk: Improving An Already Great Tool
I love my Aeropress. If I could work two at once I would buy a second one. It makes great coffee, and it cleans up easily (read: less water). Consequentially, I had already elected to bring it along on our trip as our primary brewing …
Countdown: 90 Days
Today marks three months until departure. Or at least until the earliest possible departure. We’ve got 97 items on the list, so while we are still fighting a deficit (if one item = one day), at least we aren’t loosing much …
It Is In All Of Us
More than a year ago, when we had bought the boat but hadn’t moved aboard yet I found this print while reading Kind Over Matter. It says, “it is in all of us to defy expectations to go into the world and to be brave; and to …
My not-so-little girl
I remember when I was young my mother would say things like, “you’ll always be my baby boy,” and, “I wish I could put a brick on your head so you would stay little forever.” Now I’m a parent and my little …
Shine Bright!
New parents, new lovers, newly converted, people discovering a great new ashram, sport, hobby, or any other infatuation. We all share a common stigma. Most people want us to just shut up already. There is something about falling in love …
Ship's Log: June 13th—Monitor®/QuickCover® Test Sail
Convivia was ship shape and ready to sail by the time my work day ended. We decided in the morning that today would be the day that we tested out the North Sails QuickCover (similar to a StackPack) and Monitor windvane. I was a little …
Countdown: 99 Days To Go
We just passed the 100 day mark. On the upside, the anticipation of this 90º course change in our life has all of us sparkling. The recent addition of two Blue Latitudes cruiser’s guides to our library has us ooohing and ahhing over …
Countdown: Week 15 Dyneema®
This was a pretty productive weekend. I had hoped to get started on the Monitor install but instead got all of the New England Ropes (Dyneema) halyards run as well as one of the genoa sheets. I had a very simple method planned for swapping …
New England Ropes/Dyneema Line Has Arrived
Today I got home to find several large boxes waiting for me. Okay, true, I did have to walk 1/4 mile up to the marina office to pick them up, and I did have to call Ed (the security guard/awesome guy) to let me into said office and then …
Ship's Log: Memorial Day Weekend @ Horseshoe Cove
Convivia and crew spent the long weekend spinning around our anchor (very slowly) in Horseshoe Cove (a.k.a Sausalito’s Presidio, a.k.a Fort Baker). The anchorage was every bit as enjoyable as our last visit, and more so since they …
Dyneema® Experience — Line Shipping Today
I just got a note from Kevin at New England Ropes. Our Dyneema® line will ship from the West Marine rig shop today. With any luck they will arrive before the end of the week. I should be able to get at least the sheets installed before the …
Farewell to NBOG
This weekend we attended our last NBOG event. NBOG or Nature Based Ongoing Group, is a small community of home-schoolers and their families who strive to teach their children awareness and respect for the interdependence and interconnection …
Installation Blitz Begins
The Garhauer Rigid Boom Vang arrived today. This is the first major system install since the windlass and it marks the beginning of a series of complex installs that will last until we shove off. I didn’t really think it would be all …
Who Wants My Sh…tuff?
For the last week or so I’ve been in a terminal velocity free fall of stress. Yes it’s cruising related but probably not what you would think. The stress derives from the notion that I don’t want to own anything (after we …
Heading Home
Last week we had an unpleasant situation with a guy moving in next door to us. He claimed that he was going to be our new liveaboard neighbor. We would have been distressed if that had been the extent of it, but by the end of the day he had …
Easter Sunday in Photos
This low grade cold is demanding I go to bed, but I wanted to get at least some account of our Easter experience up before the day was over.
Ship's Log: Angel Island with the Richardson/Shamels
My best friend from elementary school (Ransom) and his family came out this Saturday for a sail. We planned this months ago, and as we seem to hold little sway with the weather gods, had to take what was offered on that front. When they …
~this moment~
A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via soulemama
Dyneema® Update
I met Kevin Coughlin of New England Ropes (NER) this weekend. New England Ropes is the vendor that will be providing the finished Dyneema® product, and Kevin has been awesome so far at liaising between us and the contest organizers. I …
Boat Show — Day 2
What an exhausting, fulfilling, and significant weekend. We purchased all of our major safety systems this weekend, and deferred the water maker for another day. We got the kids to sit for at least 20 minutes of Zac Sunderland’s talk …
Boat Show — Day One
So much fun at the show today. Merileigh took care of the kids (awesome!) while we went on our annual date. We picked up our life raft, wind vane, epirb, foulies, keel cooler, and met our New England Ropes contact. Friends are coming over …
Backpacking with Ruby
Way back in 2009 I promised Ruby that I would take her backpacking. She had forgotten for a while and I will admit that in the flurry of buying our dreamboat, selling all of our stuff, and moving aboard, I was happy for the furlough. …
Ship's Log: April 2-3 — Horseshoe Cove
“Olive, what was your favorite part of today?” “Anchoring out. Don’t you think it’s everyone’s favorite part? I bet everyone in the world loves anchoring out.” We almost didn’t anchor here. …
Cabin Fever Relieved
Sunday’s plan was to take the kids on a hike while Vick got some stuff done around the boat. Around 10:30 I got the kids dressed for the day and up to the car. Sitting in the parking lot looking out at the storm clouds moving over the …
Sails for Sale
Our boat came to us with 11 sails. Since we need to keep people on this boat some sails need to go. We’re keeping our main, our 153 genoa, our new 110 genoa, our #3 jib, a 3/4 oz drifter, a nice striped spinnaker, and a heavier …
Sailing Other Boats
“Ya think we should go out sailing tonight?” This kind of question only has one right answer. I checked with Vick quickly and when I got the okay I popped back up the companion way to give that right answer. Thirty minutes or so …
HAM HAM HAM HAM HAMMITY HAM
…I’ll have your HAM darling, I LOVE it. I passed my HAM Technician license exam on Saturday. I finished it in something like 10 minutes and aced it. They practically forced me to try for the General as well, which I did… and bombed …
Convivia To Be Powered By Dyneema®
We just got the word from the contest organizers. s/v Convivia will begin her circumnavigation with all new running rigging provided by Dyneema and their partners. This prize is doubly sweet for our crew. First it provides us with an …
Ship's Log: Golden Gate With Deneb & Seren
We had the boat ship shape and ready to rock by the time Deneb and Seren showed up at 10:30. The kids were overflowing with excitement to have little Seren aboard, and just couldn’t wait to show him everything. Seren, warmed up to the …
Tsunami Report
It’s 2:30 PST and the majority of the tsunami seems to have come and gone. Reports from around the Bay seem to be marginally more severe than what we experienced but still nothing serious. We observed 2’ walls of water moving at …
Book Review: Poke the Box
I just finished Poke the Box by Seth Godin. One thing I have always liked about Seth’s work is that he asks very little for the knowledge he gives. This book cost me $5 (Kindle version) and I finished it during my lunch break (alright …
Childhood Experiences… Missing
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the kids’ childhoods will differ from their contemporaries as a result of this wild adventure we’re about to embark upon. Ruby understands that there are many things we will be …
Conserving Water Aboard Convivia
Conserving water has been one of our biggest worries lately. With only 110 gallons of water tankage (plus whatever we can fit in cans on deck), we have a good reason to be concerned. The average Pacific crossing for a boat of our size is …
s/v Convivia and Forgeover Merge
Writing two blogs is stressful. Trying to balance content, cross linking, updating those plugins on both sites, it sure takes a lot out of a guy. So when Cindy of Zach Aboard suggested merging the two sites, I didn’t have much of an …
Dyneema® Experience: The Top 40
Just got the email, the contest is closed! First, thank you so much to everyone that helped Team Convivia to reach the Top 10. It was so amazing to see our tribe come together in support of our dream like this. Truthfully, that was worth …
About our boat
Warning: the following treatise is a rather dry and detailed accounting of Convivia’s specs and equipment. If you’re not interested in this type of thing, may I suggest one of the following: Why I love boat life, But Planes are …
Ship's Log: China Camp — Take One
I am super King Kamehameha bushed; just completely wiped out from an overflowing fun (as Ruby would say) weekend. So I’m going to cheat and give you a little photo essay. Hopefully, one of the family or I will come back and fill in …
Courage & Sparkle
“Mom, can we read a story about someone who knows something is scary or hard and does it anyway?” Ruby and I have been reading from “Bringing Out Their Best: Values Education and Character Development through Traditional …
Ship's Log: Paradise -> Home
Sunday morning in Paradise Cove is glorious. The wind and swell from the previous night is gone and even the feeble dawn sun is enough to warm us in our PJs as we lounge in the cockpit. Ruby, Olive, and I eat breakfast and let Vick sleep. …
Confession and Corrections
First the confession. I didn’t set enough scope yesterday. I can blame that on the fact that our chain isn’t yet marked, but that would be another embarrassing admission ( and there it is). As a result of these two mistakes we …
Anchor of My Dreams
We’re on our new anchor for the first time. When we started telling everyone that we were leaving this year for our cruise the sailors around us came out of the woodwork with offers of help to make things happen. Over the past few …
20 Things You Might Not Know About Me
I was just updating my privacy settings on Facebook and found this Note from a year ago yesterday. I have played exactly two of these “games” on Facebook and this is the one that I took seriously. I decided to repost it here, …
(Playlist) Change is in the Air
I created a playlist (Music to Kick Ass By) for my ride to work that has plenty of ampy music to help me pass all of those foldable bikes and skateboarders on The Embarcadero. A month or so later it’s getting a little repetitive. …
Aft Cabin Lighting
I was all excited to start working on the new windlass install when I heard Olive yell, “Daaaaddyy. Can you please turn on the light. I can’t do it.” Within minutes I was tearing the boat apart looking for the source of …
But Planes Are Faster…
A four year old friend of ours wants to know why we live on a boat. Her mom said it was so we could travel around the world. “Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn’t know that,” she replied. “Is it so nice as all …
Farewell Britannia
Today we helped cast off the bow lines of Britannia, Amanda and Krister’s Canadian Seacraft 36. They have begun their two year trip around the Pacific. On November 22 I wrote this, “Last night we had a great time laughing and …
hellO 2011
2010 was an amazing year. Among the many significant milestones were our first family cruise, the purchase of our dreamboat, the jettisoning of most of our worldly possessions to move on to said dreamboat, lost teeth, first bike rides and …
Ship's Log — Logan's Mega Sleepover
The Logans came up on Thursday morning for a sail and “Mega Sleepover.” We left the dock around 12pm and headed straight out. With the wind out of the NNW we took a slightly southerly exit from the channel and then headed up to …
Ship's Log — December 26th with Krister & Amanda
Krister & Amanda came over for coffee this morning and we decided to help each other with a bunch of boat chores in order to (hopefully) save some time for a sail in the afternoon. Krister hoisted me up the mast to retrieve the …
Merry Christmas from s/v Convivia
Our family doesn’t have a strong Christmas tradition. A couple of years ago we celebrated Christmas and a birthday with friends. Last year we opened presents, ate breakfast, and jumped into the car for a big drive to Los Angeles for a …
The Relationship Paradox
Amanda (of Britannia) came over last night and we got on the topic of love. Specifically “True Love” and “Soul Mates.” I have a complicated opinion on the topic of soul mates that provided good fodder for our …
Wanderers and Planters
Life is an Adventure. There are as many ways to experience that adventure as there are (have been, and will be) people. In the interest of creating a readable post I will now slay my own pet peeve and propose this fictional dichotomy. …
Perfection vs. Done
They say that “Perfection is the Enemy of Done.” I guess I am my own worst enemy. When it comes to espresso, margaritas, and love I will not accept failure, half measure or even a half stop below perfection. I have spent years …
Dreamers and Naysayers
I often hear of people getting hassled over their desire to do something powerful, bold, and intentional. As a result I spend more time than I should thinking about what I would say to these nay-sayers. Tonight my perfect answer gelled and …
Who Am I?
I just got done reading Ashley Ambrige’s new e-book You Don’t Need a Job, You Need Guts. It’s an inspirational piece in the same vein as Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Guides. Both authors encourage their readers …
Web Hosting Review: Host Gator
It seems like every few weeks someone in my professional or personal life asks me what web hosting provider they should use. My answer has been the same for a dozen years. I have my own servers, want to put your sites there for free? Now, …
Best Photos of 2010
I’m testing using Flickr for my photo management. This is a proof of concept but I’ll keep adding photos to it if it works well. I moved the photos to after the break due to ridiculous load times (130something photos). Best of …
The Paper Bag Princess: A Play in One Act
It’s the rainy season and several people have expressed curiosity regarding how we might be surviving the inevitable cabin fever. I’ve been very carefully dodging this questions because I have no experience to base my conjecture …
Ruby's First Bike Ride
At the risk of overdoing the videos a bit, I will now share Ruby’s First Bike Ride (without training wheels). Yesterday was just such a huge day for her that I had to document and publicize her accomplishments. This morning I broke …
A dozen ways to make good friends
Say hello to a stranger on the street. If they look interesting and willing to chat walk with them up the block. Tucker met Andrea in Vermont many years ago this way and we had such a great time with her. Make friends with a friend of a …
So glad I'm here
Somehow music and song lyrics have worked their way into my life again after many years. The sleep deprivation of having young children has nearly faded (now that both of them sleep through the night most of the time) and I’m able to …
15 Years
Fifteen years ago today Victoria drove a borrowed truck, with her limited possessions into Brattleboro, Vermont to join me on what would be our first, longest, and most significant adventure together. I can still feel the crisp chill of the …
Ship's Log: Richardson's Bay
We ran into Carl early on Sunday morning and confirmed that they would be heading off on their great adventure later that day. We were planning to go sailing too, and agreed to see them off. I had seen Chris and Lisa working on their Ranger …
Lowered Expectations
One of my favorite pre-vacation practices is to intentionally lower my expectations. I contend that I am due a single 15-60 minute “moment of bliss” somewhere in a 2+ week vacation, and if I can get that I consider the …
Tons of Free Sailing Kindle Books
I just went over to Amazon to rate to the new Toshiba drive I purchased and saw to my excitement that a book by Joshua Slocum was free on Kindle. I snapped it up and then noticed that another of his book and, lo a metric ton of other …
Home
I wasn’t at home when we were tied into slip A58 in Monterey Harbor. I was homesick. Surprising yes, since I was on my own boat, tied up with my usual dock lines, cooking in my own galley, and sleeping in my own bed. I spent my time …
Why I Love Boat Life
There are dozens of reasons to love living on a boat. Some adore the gentle rocking as they fall to sleep; some like the gorgeous view from their cockpit and decks; some the ability to take their home on vacation with them; and others …
High|Low
Last week was hard. I’m not sure what aspect of the work/life package was hardest, but it wasn’t just me. The whole family was under strain. By Friday I knew we needed a reset. “We’re going sailing tomorrow,” …
Olive Takes a Shot
Just you know, he insisted on doing this. It was completely unprompted.
Knock Knock
Olive: “Knock Knock” Me: “Who’s there?” Olive: “Banana” Me: “Banana Who” Olive: “Aren’t you glad I didn’t say Orange?” At this point I’m thinking, at least …
This is Olive
This is Olive. I feel like I’ve just begun to know her. Recently she’s been relating her observations to us with her own clever interpretations. I find myself constantly amused, inspired, and uplifted as I watch this little …
The first day of the unschool year
I noticed on facebook today that many of my friend’s kids were dressed in fresh new clothes with hair and teeth brushed. Ruby and Olive weren’t actually all that bad considering they had a shower just yesterday (showering when …
Ship's Log: August 20-22
Victoria, Ruby, Olive, Jacob, Kate, Michael, and I left the dock at Emery Cove around noon on Friday for a 2 night stay at Alaya Cove, Angel Island. We’ve made this trip twice before but never with company. I decided to fill up the …
August 15th in Pictures
We spent a magical afternoon with Kate and Michael and cousin Jacob. Here’s the photo evidence.
Communing with Convivia
Last week I wrote a post on forgeover about the first chapter in my water heater replacement. To summarize, it didn’t go so well. I felt defeated before I even began, and things only went downhill from there. Today was a completely …
Boat Drinks: Perfect Pineapple & Tropical Daydream
Prior to moving aboard we determined that one of the must have items for life aboard was a VitaMix blender. I surprised Vick by presenting her with said blender on her birthday, and ever since have been monopolizing the thing to make all …
Pink Jobs & Blue Jobs
A few weeks ago I was lamenting to Victoria how we seem to have fallen right back into traditional gender roles in our household. It should not have come as a surprise to me, what with Vick being a stay at home mom, but after many years of …
Yin & Yang: Life as a Balancing Act
There has been a rash of theft in our marina lately. It started with a bunch of fishing gear getting stolen off of some power boats, but this Saturday I found my bike had been stolen. This kind of thing can really make you question the …
No Better Life Than This One: Choosing Joy
Today sucked royally. I started the day saddled with the dread of a project (replacing the hot water heater) that I just knew was going to go badly. This project was going to go badly because: I couldn’t get to all of the fittings to …
Guns
Olive: “You know what this is daddy?” Me: " No Olive, what is that" (she’s holding two paint stirrers) Olive: “Its a gun for catching gooses and ducks with fire and steam” Me: “Buddy, do you …
Dad Life
Thought this was pretty funny. Thanks to this article by the super funny and entertaining Janna Cawrse Esarey for hooking me up with this video.
No Better Life Than This One: Reevaluating My Primary Relationship
Can critically evaluating your relationship lead to a happier healthier self while simultaneously improving the relationship?
{this moment}
A Friday ritual, inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a …
Making the Bed
Most landlubbers take for granted that making a bed consists of removing linens from the closet (or what-have-you) and spreading them over a rectangular surface. For the salty amongst us, the chore begins the same way but quickly devolves …
{this moment}
A Friday ritual, inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a …
RSS Feed Fixed
I know that our RSS Feed has been broken for some time, but with the move and all I haven’t had time to fix it. Well today I discovered that the little stats program that was supposed to keep an eye on the popularity of the feed, was …
Why We Live Aboard
A four year old friend of ours wants to know why we live on a boat. Her mom said it was so we could travel around the world. “Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn’t know that.”, she replied. “Is it so nice as …
Yo Ho Yo Ho, Aboard is the Life For Me
For the past 9 years I’ve had less than 30 minutes of commute a day, total. Today I commuted a total of 3 hours. The two bike segments home were directly into the wind, with killer traffic, in my lowest gear. I got home and met Vick …
Moving Aboard
This is it. As of Monday we are officially live-aboards. To me that means that, starting on Monday, I will come home to the boat, sleep on the boat and wake up on the boat every day for the foreseeable future. This is deeply comforting to …
Becoming A Man
From time to time I am reminded that my culture has no coming of age tradition. Some of the effects of this deficit are subtle, some more obvious. This weekend, as I near my 35th birthday I experienced another Man Making Moment. Man Making …
Bringing Her Home
**** The plan was to meet Allison in Richmond at 9:00 and shuttle the ManVan back to Emeryville where we would pick Jon up and drive back to Richmond. Unfortunately the ManVan had other ideas. Somehow, after hauling a ton of gear over 700 …
Mast Prepped and Stepped
I spent last night on the hard. I’m not sure I can adequately convey how strange it is to be on a boat that isn’t moving. When I’m working on it, its not so noticeable(unless I look up, then I get severe vertigo), but …
Bay Marine
If you need to get work done in a yard in the Bay Area, you should definitely check with Kim Dessinger at Bay Marine. Kim has been incredibly attentive to me throughout this process. When I was working on the rig he came out several times …
A Working Vacation
This is the first chance I’ve had to sit down at my computer in six days. When in the last 15 years have I been able to say that? This vacation was certainly unique. Since it was a last minute (we decided at lunch two days before …
Bad Neighbors
Back in our wild youth we had this neighbor (Douglas Robbins) who was getting into producing documentaries. Before he moved on he made this video staring (amongst others) us. In case you don’t know by watching, its farcical… though …
Winning the Lottery
On the way to work this morning Victoria suggested that we play the lottery. “Its $166 million today, seems like a good time.” Now understand, we don’t play the lottery to win, that’s just crazy talk. We play for …
Pre-K Geography
Believe it or not this was spontaneous. I have no idea how Olive knew where the pirates are or where Hawaii is. I guess unschooling is working for our family.
Are the Kids ready?
If you’ve been wondering how the kids feel about this transition… [cue cheesy infomercial voice] …and if you liked “going marina” you’ll love some of these other instant classics. “I can’t wait to tell …
Strictly Sail Pacific 2010
We went to the boat show today, and we’re going again tomorrow. The going today part isn’t particularly big news, after all this is our 11th consecutive show but it does feel different. Part of what is different is that …
Haikus
I just looked back through my Twitter history to see all of my past haikus and realized how much easier it would be if I just kept them on my own blog. I’ll publish the old ones here, and then create individual posts for any new ones. …
Back in the Flow
Years ago, back when we lived in Vermont, and even later when we first moved out to California, I always knew just what to do. It was easy. I never stood at the crossroads of a big decision, I just jumped in and let the current take me. I …
Liveaboard Status… ?
Today I signed the application that will give us live aboard status at our old marina in the East Bay. We’ve been on the waiting list for 10 years and when I called the other day to find out our status, I learned that we had finally …
Feeling Inspired
Despite the boat related disappointment this weekend I’ve found myself unexpectedly inspired, motivated, and empowered these last two days. Vick linked me up to the blog of a nomadic family (Happy Janssens) last night, and I kinda …
Buying a Boat
I wish I could think up a clever analogy for buying a boat. It would be gratifying to package this whole experience up in a tidy little cliche and dispense that wisdom to people who, like us, are suffering the tumultuous ups and downs of …
Puddle Party
Welcome El Niño.
QUIET FEET: Harmony Restored
Yesterday we woke up before 5am for the 14th consecutive day. Our parenting style dictates that we just roll with this, as unnatural and seemingly untenable as it is. Vick and I believe that its our responsibility to call it a night so that …
Catalina in Retrospect
We are back home now and the verdict is in. This vacation was a resounding success. Its likely that this was our best and favorite family vacation ever. We had some logistical issues, and some moments of frayed nerves, but that is to be …
Catalina: New Year's Eve
Yesterday we went out for a pleasure sail. We sailed out of Catalina Harbor in the morning and puttered around the Outer Santa Barbara Channel. The wind was promising when we left the harbor. It had been assaulting our transom all night, …
Catalina: Avalon to Catalina Harbor
My face and belly are radiating that kind of inside out warmth that comes from a day of doing all ones favorite things. I don’t mean to lead my readers to believe that today was easy. The children were on again off again unmanageable …
Catalina: First Impressions
When we left off our family had just arrived in Isthmus Harbor (one of the Two Harbors). As soon as the sun set we were treated to the oddly festive spectacle of an entire harbor lit up with Christmas lights. All of the waterfront buildings …
Catalina: The Passage.
We arrived in Two Harbors last night, just after the sun went down. We left Marina Del Rey around noon and motored out of the immense harbor. When we got to Santa Monica Bay, I briefly doused the engine to get a sense of the wind. We headed …
Off to Catalina
Its Christmas Eve and as exciting as tomorrow promises to be the thing that Ruby and Olive claim to be most excited about is the sailing trip. That’s right, when given the choice between presents or sailing Ruby said she was more …
Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker
I just devoured this book. I started it last night (after completing the riveting final book of the Liveship Traders Trilogy) and finished it a few minutes ago. I bought this book (somewhat impulsively) after watching Scott give a webcast …
Buying a SIM card in India
I had a heck of a time purchasing and subsequently using my Indian Airtel SIM card. I learned a lot in the process that might be useful to other travelers visiting India. The following are some of my experiences as well as a few …
The Blue Bunny — Olive' First (collaborative) Story
We had a really first rate dinner at Amber tonight. When we arrived (at 5:15), there was one other family there and we were seated in the very back corner of the room reserved for families with little kids that look like trouble. Ruby was …
Yo Ho Ho Ho
We’ve really needed a relaxing family vacation for a while, and with time counting down to the big trip, we also need to make sure that the family is up for extended sailing. Last night, after weeks of thinking about these two items …
Ruby Sings About Respect
This is a slightly old video of Ruby singing a song she invented about respect. I love that as she’s singing it she grabs her brother and won’t let go of him when he yelps. Luckily she does let go when I ask her, so it seems as …
Hong Kong and India Pictures
I’ve just posted the best (331) pictures from our trip. I will be adding Titles and Summaries over the next few days but if there is one that you would like to know more about in the meantime, just add a comment here with the …
The Victory of Providence Over Planning
“It looks like the rain has let up a bit, should we make a run for it?” I asked, equivocating. “Its probably as good as any time,” Dad replied. We had been enduring monsoon rains for hours, holed up first at the …
RED SHIFT (VII) -- The Circle in the Square
Varkala, Kerala November 14, 2009 The muezzin’s chant wakes me at 5 am. It is still dark outside except for the occasional lightning bloom over the Arabian Sea. The early morning rumbles with ominous portents. First a ferocious dogfight …
Living in the Moment or Denial is the Lesser Part of Valor
Our trip is winding to a close. Tomorrow at 5:30 am we will hop in a taxi and with any luck be taken to a train station where we will be whisked away to Cochin. We’ll check our bags at the airport and then spend the day wandering …
Counter Planning - Gaming the System
Today’s plan was to make no plans. In completely surrendering the very most basic of control we hoped to avoid the loss of control that seems to be the norm here. It was an ingenious counter-plan if I may be permitted the immodesty, …
Please Welcome Forgeover's First Guest Author
I’ve finally convinced my dad to share his story with my readers. My dad is a fantastic writer. He was a classics major and then a newspaper editor, and then eventually the Editor in Chief of Law and Policy in International Business, …
Varkala to Kovalam - or Close Enough
We had a tasty breakfast at the local + organic ABBA restaurant (where, I kid you not, they play non-stop Abba), and then headed out for coffee and an Internet fix. I have to admit that the power surge that blew up my laptop power supply …
A Royal (Enfield) Adventure
After getting situated in our hotel room, the first order of business was to get a couple of motorcycles so we might regain a modicum of control over our adventure. Dad had an aesthetic interest in the Royal Enfield. So we asked our host …
Bangalore to Varkala
We left Bangalore last night on an overnight train. We were joined in our sleeper (2AC) car by two guys who were heading to Cochin for a business meeting. After chatting for a while they started making recommendations for our next few days. …
RED SHIFT (VI) -- Coffee Day
Kerala Express November 10, 2009 I am flying on the manic side of our India bi-polar experience today as T and I speed south on the “superfast” Kerala Express through the southern jungle. Our bunkmates on the Bangalore to Cochin train last …
Shopping in India
We knew that we sucked at haggling, and I’ve been fairly warned that Westerners have a harder than average time getting a good price without an Indian to support them, but for some reason I held out hope. After seeing the big smiles …
TEDIndia Recommendations
I’m staying in Mysore now, at the lovely Green Hotel. If you happen to be visiting Mysore, I can’t recommend it highly enough. I am still processing the conference and trying to sort out what it all means, and how what I learned …
RED SHIFT(V) -- House Call
Bangalore November 8, 2009 Darkness falls abruptly here. At 6 p.m. it is raining hard and the light is abandoning us. Tucker hangs onto the luggage rack of our ancient 100 cc. Hero Honda with a steely grip as I pitch and weave through the …
RED SHIFT (III) -- Connection
The Green Hotel, Mysore November 6, 2009 Here it is 3 a.m. and I have just awakened. It is as quiet as it gets in India. I know it is likely that I will still be awake when the big birds start crowing at 6 a.m. I still haven’t seen them, …
Red Shift (II) -- Hope and the Banyan Tree
I’ll write this while I still have power. It flickers off at irregular intervals, part of the official load relief program, so the Hindi Times says. This makes it sound planned, but it’s not. Sort of like “Quantitative Easing,” the U.S. …
Red Shift - Tippu Express
Tucker and I are planted on platform number 9 waiting where the porter has deposited us for the 3 p.m. Tippu Express to Mysore. It is 1:30 p.m. and Tuck has settled in for the long wait, putting his backpack down on the dirty cement …
India Adventure - Serialized
If you’re just tuning in now, please skip back to the post on Hong Kong, and read the remaining posts in reverse order. If you don’t I’m not sure they would make too much sense. Please leave comments (especially …
Food
I would guess that more than half of the average person’s enjoyment of food is subjective. There are clearly objective thresholds that must be met (and those differ from person to person) in order for a meal to be enjoyable. I would …
Lodging (Mumbai)
Soon we had our luggage and were clear of customs and the dozen or so passport checks that followed. It was time to discuss the hotel situation. At this point I believe both dad and I were panicked. Tired and overwhelmed we now had to find …
Arriving in India
The flight to Mumbai was as sublimely pleasant as the long haul to Hong Kong had been. It wasn’t until we started our descent that the uncertainty started to set in. Looking down on the city from the approach path you see slums …
Hong Kong
The e-mail from Bentley’s Hotel came while we were still in the relative comfort of our Hong Kong hotel. The management let us know that our “Tentative Reservation” could not be filled. We would have to find another place …
India Photo Gallery
For those of you following our adventures at home, you might want to keep an eye on the India 2009 Photo Album (located @ </v/India2009>). We fly out today at 1am. With the time change and the date line, I’m thoroughly confused …
Preparing for TED and India
3 days to go. I can’t remember ever being this excited for a trip. I haven’t packed a thing yet, but I spend every spare second thinking about what to bring (and perhaps more importantly what to leave behind). The anticipation …
Why Tweet
In a recent comment my buddy Dave asked: “Okay. I have a question I’ve been meaning to ask, even see if you would write a blog post on it. This seems like an opportune time. Why Twitter? I don’t get it. Am I not understanding …
140 Characters — A Review
140 Characters manages to convey a magnificent vision of the capacity of the Short Form to convey all forms of knowledge, to incite, or delight, to challenge and support.
Humans Suck at Estimating Modern Odds
Bruce Schnier has given a similar talk in years past that I just loved. This one is Dan Gilbert talking at TED Global on the topic of how our ability to estimate risk/odds/value/etc. in our modern context just sucks. I don’t easily …
Ruby's 9th Kyu Test
Errata: I initially labeled this “Ruby’s 8th Kyu Test”, having counted backwards from 10. I forgot that she was a AikiExplorer before she was 10th Kyu. So when you see the movie title, you’ll know which to believe.
CupcakeCamp 2009
Today started off just like any other Sunday. We scrambled around to get dressed and ready for the Coffee Social and then to get Vick out the door to the Farmer’s Market. All of our friends came over for coffee and much fun was had. …
Trick: E61 Dispersion Screen Replacement
I replace my dispersion screen every couple of months and I’m always disgusted by what I find on the other side of it. The screens and gaskets don’t cost much, but I always drag my heels because getting the darn things back in …
Competition and the Ride Home
I have never considered myself to be a competitive person. Perhaps at one point I wasn’t, or perhaps I’ve just been deluding myself all this time. The first indisputable proof that I am indeed a competitive person came when I …
Foodzie
This is just too good to simply post to Facebook and retweet on Twitter. I just found out that there is a food centric counterpart to one of our family’s favorite sites, Etsy. If you’re not familiar with Etsy, its an online …
Single Origin Blend?
Last night I roasted up three batches of Yemen Mokha Ismaili (highlighted in my last post). The first batch was Full City + and the second and third were roasted all the way to Vienna (all roasts were at full heat). Today when it came time …
September Roast Report
I posted my first roast report in March, right after I got my new roaster. Since then I’ve been so busy with roasting, entertaining, traveling, and life that I’ve not reported back. Well here it is. Sometime in July I convinced …
TED India and Beyond
While I was on vacation, I received word that I had been invited to be a guest at TED India 2009. Tonight I completed the registration and made it official. My tickets are purchased and plans are being laid. When I mentioned to my dad that …
East Coast Family Vacation 2009
We just returned from a truly wonderful vacation. I took the family back East (Boston, Portland, Round Pond) for almost the whole month of August. We saw most of our family, got to welcome baby Jacob into the world, and many of our oldest …
Fixed Login Problem
I’ve received a few complaints lately regarding the gallery login. If you’ve tried to log in to see the photos, and found yourself redirected to a Profile Page, you will be pleased to hear that this problem has been …
Trying Out SnapShots
UPDATE: Based on feedback from @reese and Victoria, and my general sense that I was just doing this to avoid writing about something more interesting, I have removed the Snap plugin from this site. Phew. Read on if you must… …I am trying …
I Am A Radiant Being
Okay, I’m going to come right out and say this cheesy thing that sometimes runs through my mind. I am a radiant being. This is not to say that I am radiant and some other people are dull. I suspect that we are all radiant. In any …
Admitting Failure
I put this Title in my drafts folder on June 12th. Its been sitting there taunting me ever since. Then on Wednesday I attended a session at OSCON titled “Programmer Insecurity & The Genius Myth”. Ben Collins-Sussman and …
Amazon's Orwell Debacle: Afterthought
As the flame of this debacle grows dim, I find myself still bothered by the misrepresentation and poor fact checking done by fellow bloggers and reporters. Case in point… A lot of people are trying to link this unfortunate episode to DRM. …
Simple Kindle Backup
This week Amazon pulled a surprisingly ironic move. It removed an unauthorized version of George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal farm from all connected Kindles. Its important to note that these books were uploaded to the Kindle Store by a …
Forgeover: Now Available in 42 Languages
Thanks to the fantastic Global Translator Plugin, my site is now available in 42 languages. You can have the site translated to your language by appending your country code to the domain, or clicking one of the flags above. For example /es …
Being Your Best Self
I’m a crunchy, touchy feelie, hippie parent. As such its often hard to come up with just the right words to tell your kid that biting her mom and laughing about it makes you wildly, furiously, and deeply unhappy. As a hippie, touchy …
My Free Kindle Book Recipe
I love my Kindle. I knew that I would, because I borrowed my friends for a few weeks and read a book on it. I was worried about the lack of a “Kindle Public Library” and the whole loaning and selling Kindle books thing until I …
Putting the Kids to Sleep
Tonight, for the first time ever, I put both kids to sleep without help. Ruby went down first. I read her One Morning in Maine, and held her for a few minutes. Initially she wanted me to go away right after I was done reading, but I gave a …
Throw a Party, Invite the World
Years ago Victoria and I heard about a long standing Bay Area soup night. The premise is that the host makes a big pot of soup and invites anyone to come eat. Some people bring other food, others just eat. Since there is no controlling who …
Father's Day @ Hidden Villa
I started out the day, as I do most every Sunday, with the Coffee Social. Since the kids are finally over the chicken-pox we had a great turnout, and I got to spend most of the morning lounging around with coffee, chocolate crossiants, and …
Apple Color Picker Magic
I often have trouble coming up with good color palettes for my themes, icons, and applications. I think I have a good enough sense for what looks good together and for finding tones and hues that match the mood of said app, theme, or icon, …
Bacon or Meatballs, What Makes a Better Sundae?
I haven’t actually read this book, but I found the title intriguing. The title suggests that if you aren’t paying attention to your customers needs, then you may find yourself putting whipped cream and a cherry on a meatball. …
New Blog Engine
Hey there cherished reader, I bet you’re wondering where the photos went. How do I know, because you’ve both called me and asked, that’s how. Well here’s the scoop. I’ve migrated my blog over to wordpress. This …
Personal Philanthropy
I was talking with one of my fellow Akidoists last week about how much trouble he has had raising money for the Aids Ride. We speculated that, with the downturn in economy people are giving less. I started to wonder about this (aloud of …
Ruby Writes a Story
Once upon a time a bunny was hiding in a bush. It was sunny then started to rain. Butterflies came. A pig came. The pig was pink. She needed something to eat, but she couldn’t find anything so she kept looking. She smelled something …
Vick-e-Ohs
Last night after the kids went to bed Vick whipped up a batch of Oreo analogs that are so good that they may simultaneously cure cancer and bring peace to the world. Since words can not describe their splendor, I’m attaching a photo. …
Pretty Much Sums It Up
“If a man must be obsessed by something, I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most. A small sailing craft is not only beautiful, it is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble.” …
Parenting: What I've learned so far
Basically, what I’ve learned so far boils down to this. Parenting is not so much about managing your children, as it is about managing yourself. For example, in our family the kids wake up every morning (in the winter) at 6:30. 6:30 …
Productivity: The One Pen Challenge
A few weeks ago at our Coffee Social, a friend needed to write something down. Paper is everywhere in our house, so that was easy to come by. He naturally reached over and grabbed my fountain pen, which was sitting on the table beside him. …
Ruby Solved the Global Pirate Problem
After days of contemplation and discussion, I believe that Ruby has finally solved the pirate problem, for everyone. Ruby: I know, lets make a flag with a cake on it. I’ll make my favorite cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting …
Ruby Dispatches Pirates
While we were eating dinner tonight (hamburgers… yes its relevant) the subject of pirates came up. Ruby is very concerned about pirates, and how they might steal her or eat her. She asked what we were going to do about pirates, so …
Monte Bello Test Hike
On Sunday Ruby and I headed out for a test hike in Monte Bello Openspace Preserve. The hike starts a few thousand feet up, close to skyline, and heads deep into the mountains above Silicon Valley. I was impressed with Ruby’s ability …
Victoria's Latest Sewing Project
When we were over at our friends house a few weeks ago ruby fell in love with a nightgown. Last week Ruby and Vick went fabric shopping and by Friday, Ruby had her first nightgown. I think its quite the item.
Secret Garden
Victoria and I built a secret garden in our back “yard” yesterday. Vick has been talking about this for a few weeks/months now and the weather and my new found productivity finally converged in a favorable way. I can’t …
Losing Carma
Tonight I said goodbye to Kristy our hair stylist of 10 years. It was – oddly – the hardest thing I’ve done in quite a while. Carma Hair Company is in San Bruno, a one hour drive during rush hour. We have been commuting …
Ruby Earns Her Yellow Belt
I was as surprised as anyone when Ruby was called up to test tonight. She was asked to perform four forms and do some rolls. I was completely floored when she executed two forms that I didn’t even realize she could do. Her Uke …
Ruby and the Jedi Mind Trick
It all started last weekend when Ruby and Anika started angling for a sleepover No Ru, you didn’t have a nap today and it just wouldn’t be a good idea, Vick calmly states. I will have a sleepover, Ruby corrects. Ruby, listen to …
Halfy Birthday to Olive
Olive rang in her 1.5 year birthday like a princess. I arrived home to both kids yelling “ta-da” and showing me their beautifully painted faces. . We had some wonderful fajitas for dinner and then a 6 minute chocolate cake with …
Roast Report
Last night I roasted my first batch of coffee in 5 years. It was a Sulawesi Enrekang “Mount Alla” (from Sweet Maria’s, of course). I roasted it to Full City, as recommended. The first shot was sweet, earthy and fruited …
Sunday Morning Coffee Social
For the longest time after moving to California, Vick and I were convinced that this was a state (or at least a region) that seriously undervalued community. We were more than a little surprised to find, once Victoria got pregnant, that …
Making the World More Beautiful
I spend a lot of time thinking about how I’m going to leave this world better than I found it. This is a bugaboo of a thing to spend any time worrying about because the scope is grossly un-bracketed. I could satisfy my sense of social …
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