S/v Convivia on Forgeover

Cape Town

Sun, 12 Feb 2017 00:36:36 +0000

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 advantage of this new freedom to explore the town’s coffee shops and cafes. In the evening, we go to one of the neighbor’s boats for sundowners, tattoos, or an impromptu party. Life is sure enough good!

Not My Favorite Ocean

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 10:28:48 +0000

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 travel is well earned, and a shoutout to the folks who live that cruiser adage “it’s just what we do [for each other].” We’re not entirely done with the Indian Ocean, but we have certainly crossed it. These nine months on this ocean between Indonesia and South Africa were hard on Convivia and challenging for the crew but as my friend Diane told me a year ago, “The Indian is rewarding.”

All Is Well

Thu, 19 Jan 2017 09:20:42 +0000

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 vomit. The dorade vent that goes under water only drains on the outboard side of the box, so instead, when it fills, water pours on my right shoulder. Some of it makes it into the bucket so I feel pretty clever, but I still don’t want to move much so the pillows and the settee and my down vest get wetter and wetter.

Tany Kely - Sea Turtle

Tue, 18 Oct 2016 03:01:30 +0000

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 just took a breath and went for it.

Nosy Komba

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 10:37:50 +0000

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 like a cleaned up Nosy Be. The pathways were all kept immaculate and the arts and crafts stalls boasted some of the best finished work we have seen in Madagascar.

Madagascar: In Photos

Thu, 22 Sep 2016 12:14:21 +0000

Famadihada: The Turning of the Dead

Sat, 17 Sep 2016 09:11:03 +0000

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 awaits the decay of her corporeal form, so that she may finally join the spirit world. In the meantime though, she becomes lonely. The song and dance, the strong tradition of love and support that her village offered in life, is absent in death.

Four Days, Three Dinner Parties

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 02:20:45 +0000

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 local, and get to see a different perspective on our current locale.

This past week has been bomber. We had a birthday bash on Wunjo for Jean-Michel, an authentic Swiss Fondue with our good friends on Mares, and topped it off with an amazing BBQ with our new friends Herman and Jane.

Le Morne Brabant: Hike

Sun, 28 Aug 2016 10:17:50 +0000

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 those out before we leave.

On Friday night we ran into Herman again, and she invited us to join a group of her friends for a hike up Le Morne Brabant. We couldn’t turn down such a great offer, even when it came with a 5am wake up call.

Point Cotton Hike

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 01:40:56 +0000

Days to Remember

Fri, 01 Jul 2016 08:10:43 +0000

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 and brought back every single boat insult ever slung my way. I emotionally fled to a perfectly polished tiny cottage where I could live alone in shiny silence with a hand blown glass vase full of pink peonies on the table and not a single crumb on the floor.

Rodrigues: First Impressions

Sun, 26 Jun 2016 11:08:54 +0000

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 there is a familiar smell (chill in this case) to the air, and a landscape that seems ancestral, though your predecessors may never have come within 10,000 miles of the place.

Indian Ocean: Not That Much Fun

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:04:43 +0000

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 you, missing by inches. The jar (which you forgot to put the lid on between scoops) explodes, covering your last clean shirt in a delicious yet inevitably perishable blaze. You sigh.

Pulau Lasia

Mon, 18 Apr 2016 03:09:07 +0000

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 for the last (fun) bits of our Southeast Asia adventure!

Chillin' in Thailand

Tue, 22 Mar 2016 03:20:37 +0000

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 no transportation, have settled into leisurely days of kids floating beside the boat, easy conversation, and no plans to speak of.

This transition to cruising-proper is one that you can’t see but in hindsight. I think it started three or four days ago when we returned our scooter. It was given a boost by our recent depletion of funds, which strengthens our resolve to stay put. We’ve got another kid boat nearby (Quasar) so ours have a friend to occupy the day. They come home exhausted and hungry, and crash out early, leaving plenty of time for Vick and I to play games and share a couple of ciders.

Thailand so far

Fri, 26 Feb 2016 03:32:23 +0000

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 cruising again, but it ended up feeling a bit more like a boozy purgatory.

The second we dropped the hook on Ko Tarutao I felt months of tension drain out of me. It didn’t hurt that this was about the time when Olive discovered that she could talk endlessly about Minecraft to me if she rubbed my back and feet. It’s been amazing in many ways.

Yard Dogs

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 18:25:56 +0000

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!

Yard Dog's Christmas

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 01:11:21 +0000

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 is off, the old swim ladder (which has been held captive by the Monitor for years now) is being removed and welded over. While we have the hull exposed, we are also adding glass around the keel (about 6mm at the widest point) and removing some blisters.

Refueling Adventure

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 00:00:55 +0000

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 divested ourselves of in Belitung, as we were intending to leave the country).

While we were attempting to nap, a precocious pre-teenager named Chandra paddled up in his dugout, asking for books, water, and/or footballs. We offered a few gifts, and then I asked (sensing his “can do” personality) if he could help me find solar (diesel). With the help of Google Translate, I learned that he could help, but only if I came with him right then. I hadn’t slept a consecutive 3 hours in the last 72 and the prospect of undertaking such an adventure was daunting, to say the least.

Nets, and Squalls, and Waterspouts

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 10:00:27 +0000

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 that I thought I might just watch a movie on my first watch. I was into a really high tension scene in Fury when I looked up and saw buoys all around. I had just scanned the horizon moments before using a combination of binoculars and a high powered flashlight.

Taken for a Ride

Fri, 11 Sep 2015 03:52:01 +0000

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 I arrived on the beach here in Kupang, I had just about no information about how to proceed through clearance. I had read the few sparse pages in our guidebook, and had one additional number to call for a local agent. I had already paid an agent for our CAIT (AU$260) and 60 day Social Visas (AU$280 for four of us). And when the local agent here approached me on the beach and asked for US$150 I said “too much.” She insisted that this was the standard rate, and no matter how much I negotiated I was in a weak bargaining position and felt forced to concede to her rate. I later found that even the US$100 I was asking for, was more than the going rate.

Darwin

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 17:55:59 +0000

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 balance.

What Darwin lacks aesthetically, it more than makes up for in hospitality. On the business side, I have never had more things gifted to me. Including engine parts (small but significant, and delivered to my door), ice cream for the kids, tiny glass bottles with a scroll for messages, and rides. The kids are free on the busses, sailing club, and generally (it seems) anywhere there isn’t a specific kids price.

Off to See the Lizard

Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:44:27 +0000

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, however, have no desire to stay. I don’t even feel the pull to slip into my brand new wetsuit and swim with the stunning fish that have been hanging out around Convivia. We are going to spend the day here, but only because the 100ish miles to Lizard will take us ~20hours, and we want to arrive with the sun overhead.

Impressions of Cairns

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 20:33:46 +0000

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 free to come and go at night, and they were very relaxed about check in protocols. After 12 days of passage making (with one trip to shore on Maggie) we were more than eager to grab a familiar burger at Grill’d. It was nice to finally relax and get a full night’s sleep.

dolphins on the bow

Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:34:14 +0000

Best Day Ever

Sun, 22 Jun 2014 01:19:06 +0000

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. There were other best days. They might have been better, who knows. Not me :)

Today started slowly, in the usual ways. After coffee and breakfast I headed up to the cockpit to knock a quick tiller repair project off the list. With that success behind me I focused on the horizon.

Sundowners

Sat, 19 Apr 2014 03:56:30 +0000

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 this quintessential cruiser experience.

A sundowner is, technically speaking, a drink shared with friends as the sun sets. It’s misleading though because, more often than not, sundowners last until late in the evening. When the bugs have come and gone and things are finally starting to get cool; the stars are out and the milky way fills the sky, that’s when we start to notice that maybe we’ve stretched the event a little long. That’s when we start to realized that the crackers and special recipe popcorn we brought doesn’t necessarily constitute dinner, and maybe the kids should get to bed soon.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 14:07:29 +0000

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 with a hand grinder. For the most part that grinder has been a joy. I love the ritual of grinding my morning coffee, and really only mind it when we have friends over for coffee and I have to grind a lot more.

Autumn in Australia

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 05:31:22 +0000

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 intellectual about this but until you feel it, you’re not going to understand why those three words get their very own line.

The weather has been getting cooler but I foolishly keep pretending that everything is “normal.” So when Ceilydh asked us if we wanted to do a little mini-cruise over Easter weekend, my mis-calibrated brain thought “it should be getting warmer every day, why not.” The day before we left the forecast was for four days of solid rain. Lucky for us we got nearly perfect weather for the whole trip and had enough sun that we could almost maintain the illusion of the season our bodies were expecting.

Crossing an Ocean with iNavX

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:51:39 +0000

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 until now. Recently a bunch of this year’s puddle jumpers have asked about this topic, and I figured “what the heck” I’ll just post it in case it helps someone. If you aren’t about to go blue water cruising, I suggest you give this one a skip. If you’re leaving tomorrow, and you don’t already have an iPad, likewise, skipperoo. But if you are using an iPad for navigation and haven’t already learned these tricks, I think it would be a really good idea to read this, digest it and then ask me to fill in detail for anything that wasn’t clear. Please do leave a comment so everyone can benefit from the process.

Oooh heaven is a place on Earth

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 03:51:45 +0000

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, meet hammer. Brisbane has free museums, free multi-city-block-long-swimming-lagoon-with imported sand, free public transportation in and around the city center, free bikes to ride, reliable water fountains, tons of live music, and a government mandate that building owners provide public facing art installations. This place is like a joke, and I love the punchline.

Where have we been all this time?

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 00:02:00 +0000

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 weeks sailing down the coast of California. We spent five months in Mexico and in the spring of 2012 we began crossing the Pacific. We left Banderas Bay, Mexico on March 19th, 2012 and arrived in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia on November 16, 2012. Since we left North America we spent 60 overnights at sea (I didn’t count the days or parts of days for those passages) and had 23 additional day sails. We zig-zagged north and south moving from colder to warmer and back until making landfall last Friday in Australia.

Dream Fulfilled

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 22:08:00 +0000

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 the pickup with Olive and Ruby standing between our arms, staring up over the hood as it deftly negotiated lava rock, mud and volcanic dirt, up and over impossible hills all the way to our destination.

Flyin' Through Fiji

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 02:27:48 +0000

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 “Yes, why not!” The down side to this was that we knew that every extra day we spent in today’s paradise would be borrowed from tomorrow’s. You can only defer for so long before the cyclone threat starts making your choices for you.

We're. Not. Leaving

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 15:17:00 +0000

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 to Samoa. Normally that would be all we needed to know to set us on our merry way.

But we aren’t going. Not yet anyway. Suwarrow is all of those things that I said it was in the previous post. It’s also something more. None of us have tried to articulate what it is, but there is something deeply special about this place and the way our family has reacted to it.

Suwarrow

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 05:01:00 +0000

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, and love.

To put a finer point on this we have been cooped up in the boat for six straight days while the island has received (I would guess) more than its annual expected rainfall. In the few sunny moments we hop in the dinghy, bail it out for 10 minutes (all that rain could sink a dinghy) and rush to shore.

The Frankenfold Myth

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 01:54:25 +0000

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 had. So before elaborating further on All The Fun® allow me to describe this particular bit of boat owner’s misery.

Frankenfold

Convivia has had numerous small fresh water leaks since we bought her. These have been dealt with more or less as they came up, and along the way I have even managed to improve on the system. On passage we started to develop a leak at the kitchen faucet, the location and disposition of which made it very difficult to fix. The short term solution was to decommission the faucet. Plumbing then took top priority on my project list. I had plenty of time to think about how best to address the situation. I wanted to remedy the existing problem and also make a substantial improvement to the overall stability of our ship’s pressurized water system. Ultimately this would have meant removing all of the hose and replacing it with Sea Tech hose. This being the middle of nowhere, I was not holding out of that. Plan B was to replace as many of the nylon fittings as I could and add a manifold as close to the pump as possible. After several (though it seemed like several hundred) trips to several hardware and marine stores, I was able to get all of the part together and complete the project. The result (as seen below) is not beautiful, but it works and solves a problem that would have been inevitable had I not taken the time.

Vaipo Waterfall

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:44:21 +0000

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 couldn’t motivate for a much longer hike, even if it was the 3rd highest waterfall in the world.

“It’s amazing,” “It’s breathtaking,” “You’ve got to see it, really.” We heard nothing but praise and even from people who had already trekked to the one in Fatu. In the end it was Wondertime that brought us around to the hike. They hadn’t arrived yet and we didn’t want to leave for the Tuamotus without catching up with them. For so many reasons, this was the right call.

Daniel's Bay: Aka Survivor 4 beach

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:33:46 +0000

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 little beach bonfire on the last night, I sheepishly touted it as the Survivor Beach Bonfire.

Our stay there was nothing like the reality show though. We spent our first day on the beach, collecting limes and coconuts and generally making ourselves at home on the abandoned shore. The gendarme from Taiohae was there, which we thought was a little weird until we discovered that he was probably investigating the sensational cannibalism case* that has made the news (though thankfully not enough to catch our parents attention) lately.

Taiohae and D'Anaho Bays

Sun, 13 May 2012 02:06:56 +0000

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 place/thing/experience in question. Which is sort of by way of explaining why I’ve been a little short on blog posts lately.

The problem, in vague terms, is that I have been feeling the same thing over and over again. This whole chapter in my life can be summed up in one short word; WOW. I feel like I’ve been sailing, hiking, and bumming around in an ever increasing state of slack jawed amazement and revelry at the immense cultural and natural beauty. And while this is certainly no regrettable state to be in, it is a little overwhelming and, well, not entirely conducive to introspection.

Photos From Tahuata and Ua Pou

Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:32 +0000

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 (where we got the tattoos) and Ua Pou (where live the friendliest people in the Marquesas). Hopefully these varied snapshots will capture the essence of our last 2 weeks in a way that words can’t.

Tahauta Mana

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:15:00 +0000

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 skin. These tattoos become a living visual history of each inked individual.

Victoria and I had long known that we would participate in this tradition upon the completion of our first major ocean passage. It seemed congruous in so many ways. The adoption of this beautiful tradition, the telling of our story, and the celebration of this voyage which follows (in some small way) the spirit of Marquesan exploration.

Our Days at Sea

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:11:40 +0000

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 couldn’t find enough time in the day for everything she wanted to do. “The days were so much longer in La Cruz. Why are they going by so fast on passage?”

Shellbacks.

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:04:00 +0000

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 I was actually on my way to the equator you can imagine I was pretty darn happy to lose the layers and finally warm up!

The Vastness

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:41:00 +0000

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 small, seaworthy vessel.

As a young man I would sit on that breakwater, that beach, that boat, and contemplate my insignificance. I imagined living a life where I was more free to live as I chose, where my priorities could be manifest in my daily life, where I was not beholden to the compromises that modern life demands. I looked to the sea and saw what I believed might be the final fastness of freedom.

Convivia Gourmet

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:19:00 +0000

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 “cruising” and “cooking” you are likely to find a lot of great resources. Great if you like canned (including canned meat) and and heavily processed foodstuffs.
Victoria has read every one of these galley cookbooks that she could get her hands on and has summarily rejected the notion that she can’t sail the world and eat well. Let me tell you, this is one experiment that you want in on.
So without further ado I will taunt you with some of the treasures we have had over the last few days. If sailing to the South Pacific wasn’t enough to have you scrambling for a crew position, this list should seal the deal.

The Awesome Ocean

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:19:00 +0000

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 (and it’s really tough when you are in it) we are looking aft at 3-4 meter seas.

If you haven’t been out in huge, short period swell before you may not appreciate how high a 4 meter wall of water is. I sure didn’t. It is awesome! Really in both the modern and archaic meaning of the word. Water like this (though it won’t likely be the largest we will see) inspires awe, and is freaking cool.

Day to Day

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:41:00 +0000

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 then we’ve passed the 500 mile mark, the boat has become a lot more comfortable.

On Sunday night while we were sitting at the Port Captain’s dock our friends Pat and Ali and their two kids came to bid us farewell. Ali asked that we blog a lot, about everything, even the boring things. I’m sure no one has a more comprehensive blog, about their day to day life and adventures. She knows what’s she’s talking about! So, Ali, this post is for you.

The Crew Gets Our Groove Back

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 20:43:00 +0000

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 was.

On the “exciting” side, it was Olive’ 4.5 birthday today. We had a big celebration where Olive called in her half birthday wish for a glass of soy milk. This had been a hot topic lately, not because we are short on soy milk (heavens no) but because we didn’t have much space in the fridge. We relented and Olive seemed delighted, though she never did finish that glass.

Low Lattitudes High Levels of Awesomeness

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 12:22:00 +0000

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 familiar vista caught my attention and I went forward to the bow to figure out what it was. As my hand grasped the forestay I time-warped back to my childhood. In that moment I was standing on the bow of our Luders staring down Muscongus Sound. Ahead of me (it seemed then) was the whole world and my life, just waited to be experienced.

First Days of Passage

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:06:00 +0000

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 least) tried to wrap my head around what we were about to do.

Day 1 put 170 nautical miles under our keel. For the non-cruisers out there, this is a pretty astonishing pace. We were moving 7.5-9 knots with winds off the beam for most of the ocean time (Banderas Bay was quite a bit slower). The sea state was miserable with 2m swell at 15 seconds on the beam. Olive got sick once and then declared “I’m all done being sick now.” And she was!

Land Ho…me

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 06:00:13 +0000

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 the kids spread out all over this little house like gas (filling all available space). The boat was supposed to splash on Friday, but they found hundreds of blisters and they had to be dealt with. The yard has been great. Their staff have helped me through countless hardships and even lent me tools (an unheard of generosity in the realm of boatyards).

"Admiral" of the Banderas Bay "Fleet"

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:57:22 +0000

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 assuming that I am the project manager of a cat herding operation. The Pacific Puddle Jump started nearly 20 years ago as a way for pre-gps, pre-accurate-long-term-weather sailors to support each other in crossing the largest ocean in the world. Over the years technology and knowledge base have matured and become fairly ubiquitous. The upshot is that nearly anyone can spend a little time on the internet and reap the wisdom necessary to cross the ocean. In spite of this sailors up and down the Pacific coast of the Americas still flock to the PPJ meetings in search of social connection, reassurance, and more information.

Preparing to Jump

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 10:08:51 +0000

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 comfortably.

This week we are working on the haul-out. We got an insanely high quote last week, and then subsequent tips from fellow cruisers gave us renewed hope that we might not have to spend a fortune for a few coats of paint and some holes in the hull. Once we figure out where and when to haul, we have to decide what we are going to do with the family. Depending on where we haul out we may be able to live on Convivia, but do we want to? Living on a boat “on the hard” means no grey water, no potty, and a 15’ drop if anything or anyone falls off the deck. It most likely means a lot of eating out. Right now I am leaning towards a cheap apartment or hotel for the week that Convivia is out of the water.

Just Around The Corner

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:00:07 +0000

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 Bay. Manzanillo is where we make the choice not to head to Panama, or El Salvador, or Columbia, or Costa Rica, or the Galapagos or even to Zihuatanejo, because it’s too far to just turn around. Boats are now making their plans to head south, or head into the Sea of Cortez, or like us, to sail across the biggest ocean on the planet.

Photos: Chamela & Barra de Navidad

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 07:00:41 +0000

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 Mexican tourists and RVrs than by cruisers and foreign tourists. I loved the chill, laid back beach scene and Ruby worked up the nerve to ask a spanish speaking girl to play. Once she got over the initial static barrier of communication, they played for an hour or so in the surf and on the beach, while Vick and I enjoyed a great grilled snapper. Perhaps we will get another chance to enjoy this harbor on our way back to La Cruz.

Burn Out

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:57:23 +0000

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 this with the iPad, just now. No extra care was taken, it looks more beautiful in real life).

It’s gorgeous right? I mean, more gorgeous than usual. Yet somehow my reaction to it was meh-ish. Vick thinks this might be the most stunning place we have been so far, but I am more interested in a nap and maybe a few days of book reading than going for a hike or zip line.

FAQ: Cashing Out

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:00:47 +0000

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 choice. I responded to her privately but then realized that I have been dancing around this in other posts. Rather than try to rephrase what I said, I’m going to post my reply in full, right here; with one caveat that I repeat in the body. This is a serious decision with serious consequences. In this email I was preaching to the converted, but our path is not the best for everyone. Also, to protect my dad’s honor and reputation I should add that while he is incredibly supportive of us and our dream, I don’t believe he would recommend this course of action if I asked him directly. This blog post is for entertainment purposes only.

10 Reasons It Will Be Hard to Leave La Cruz

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:00:43 +0000

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,” I’m going to provide some qualifications. Since we are planing to leave here tomorrow I have taken a moment to reflect on some of the things I’ll miss until we return. In no particular order:

Cha-cha-Chacala

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:55:34 +0000

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 and friends than pretty much any other harbor, so the bar was set pretty high. Truth be told, I was expecting a let down but that never materialized. From the moment we sailed around the point I was smitten.

San Blas

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:48 +0000

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 San Blas was made when we discovered that we needed a boat part and it was the closest port. We had an easy daysail from Isla Isabella and anchored before nightfall in Ensenada de Mantenchen (sometimes written as Matenchen). Our Mexico travel has been on the Baja and then in the city of Mazatlan, then a short trip out to a remote island, and this was the first place that really felt tropical. The bay is large and the land around it is low and surrounded by palm trees, the hills behind are amazingly green with a few obvious plantations, perhaps coffee, coconut and banana.

Mas de Mazatlan

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:00:08 +0000

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, especially if you are following the common pattern of Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Mainland.

After a solid month of desert landscape and beach towns, the bustle and unique character of Mazatlan was a welcome change. If I were to equate my two favorite Mexican cities (so far) with their familiar counterparts, I would say that La Paz reminded me of Santa Cruz and Mazatlan reminded me of Barcelona. For sure it has it’s grime, and apparently it has it’s crime (though we didn’t see or hear of any directly) but it also has character, a proud congenial populace, and some really great sights.

FAQ #4: Packed In Like Sardines

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 06:00:44 +0000

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 positive variations include “Don’t you ever just want to get away.” or “You are so brave” or “I bet you want to throw them overboard sometimes.”

FAQ #3: Night Watches

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:00:24 +0000

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 overnight passage was from Monterrey to Morro Bay California, early on in our trip. By morning I [Victoria] was so entirely exhausted that after dropping the anchor over the bow I just lay down to take a nap right there on the foredeck. I couldn’t even keep my eyes open enough to get back to the cockpit to sleep never mind peeling off my 14 layers of warm clothes to crawl into bed.

La Paz to Mazatlan in Photos

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:41:20 +0000

100ish Reasons I Love Mexico

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:49:55 +0000

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. Today I saw one with a spoiler (after market on this model of Mercedes bus, I’m fairly certain) and a Hot Wheels® decal. Tonight’s bus was blaring tradtional mexican music alternating with hip hop.

Giving Thanks

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:11:31 +0000

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 lifelong dream
This wonderful floating home
The support and love of our families and friends
A wonderful, diverse, and supportive cruising community (both near and far)
Thanksgiving in a climate that demands we wear swimwear to dinner

Reflecting on the overwhelming bounty of our life is a daily, or at least weekly occurrence lately, but on this day I observe our good fortune in the context of 36 previous days of Thanksgiving. I have never, on this day, felt anything less than a heart full of gratitude. If a heart full is the yardstick by which such things are measured though, I must surely have grown another heart this year.

Convivia Coffee is Born!

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:44:23 +0000

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 become a reality, but it has been a long and trouble fraught journey.

The project really took form when I discovered that there was a guy, in Georgia, making a small (4 lb) coffee roasting drum out of 304 stainless steel that was designed to fit into a backyard bbq. I started fantasizing about custom ordering one for my little SeaBQ, but got a little overwhelmed by the details.

La Paused

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 15:05:36 +0000

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 into Club Crucero for morning coffee. 10 years later they get their first errand done. Not that I’m complaining, I’ve just never EVER seen a social scene so vibrant… EVER.

We Made It to "South"

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:14:00 +0000

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 something that makes a locale feel southish, and we just hadn’t gotten there yet… until today.

Today we arrived in Bahia de Santa Maria. This subtropical harbor is located at latitude 24 46’. It’s 80 in the cabin and the water is 77. When we arrived and checked that statistic we all simultaneously decided to go for a swim. Mine was particularly satisfying after a night in full foul weather gear and a day sweating at winches and halyards. While I was in I decided to dive the keel and was pleased to find that I a) could do it, and b) that my little grounding in Morro bay hadn’t caused any real damage (just a little paint scratch).

Where I Need to Be

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:19:32 +0000

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. We go about our day doing boat projects or walk to a grocery store, or look for a place to do laundry. The kids play, read, do workbooks, make crafty projects, make messes, play games and video games, go for walks, find parks, climb trees, go to the beach, and visit with friends. All of our meals are at home or packed up as picnics. The pace is really perfect. Ruby has time to sew with my help; to concentrate on her cursive handwriting; or to sit in between Olive and I and give us very specific and serious lessons so that we can become competent Angry Birds players. Olive looks for jobs and fixing projects whenever he can. Today he very seriously threaded buttons onto embroidery thread (really a distraction so I could work with Ruby on her project) and made several strands as gifts for all of us.

Culyer's Bay to Ventura in Photos

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 18:13:03 +0000

Cuyler's Bay

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:49:00 +0000

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 breakers, then I got soaked taxing to pick up the kids. Later, on Convivia, gusts reached 35 knots and the swell picked up. We are now pretty sure that we’ll ditch our Channel Island plans and head for Ventura, just in case the local wisdom (High winds on I5 = Santa Anna winds on the water) is true. We should be able to post more from there (with pictures too)!

Days -1 through 1

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 21:51:31 +0000

In lieu of a real post I present this photo montage of our last 3 days.

Day 0

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:19:38 +0000

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 lines. Then we all retreated to the cabin for coffee and UNO.

We expect to get an early start to Half Moon Bay tomorrow, and then (weather permitting) continue on to Monterrey Bay on Sunday. Our original plan to go to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this weekend was scrapped in favor of making some southbound miles before bad weather fills in early next week.

Countdown: 35 Days

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:35:38 +0000

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 week countdown to casting off. At this point I’m suspended in this twilight zone between the elation that this new life brings, and the stress of leaving behind so much that we’ve built (in our communities, in our relationships, and at work) and the stress of what we still must do to get off the dock.

Goodnight ManVan (in memoriam)

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:50:12 +0000

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 you’ve served us faithfully all these months as our nearby no-cost storage unit. When you wouldn’t start for me last weekend, I understood. You’ve been neglected, your fuel had been left too long, your headlights were probably left on by young, curious fingers.

Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavX

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:36:53 +0000

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 primary electronic navigation device, I needed to remedy that before we left. Luckily, the solution is neither painful, nor overly technical (one in the same?). It does require jailbreaking your iPad though, so if you have trouble breaking the rules, you had better stop reading here.

DIY Navigation System of the Gods!

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:42:19 +0000

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. Install Raymarine, 3. Enjoy Raymarine, process. Add to that the fact that I am a dyed in the wool hacker with a natural distrust of the closed and proprietary, and you have a recipe for innovation.

Ship's Log: 4th of July Weekend, 2011

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:50:27 +0000

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 (Horseshoe Cove) or brave the sail-in-sail-out anchorage at Aquatic Park? Would we prioritize getting a good view of the fireworks, shoreside activities, or visiting with friends? As it turns out, we managed all three.

Countdown: 90 Days

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:55:29 +0000

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 ground. This is a work weekend, so I hope to cross off a few big items. Wish me luck!

Ship's Log: June 13th—Monitor®/QuickCover® Test Sail

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:07:45 +0000

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 worried about the monitor because I had to guess on where to attach the control sheets and I hadn’t had time to read the instructions on how one actually sails with the thing. I was worried about the QuickCover because I have heard all sorts of complaints about the sail getting caught and other related issues.

Countdown: 99 Days To Go

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:47:03 +0000

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 lovely color photos of turquoise bays and vibrant seaside towns. I’ve also become enamored with the laid back, islandy sound of my ukulele, often playing it all evening instead of knocking items off my todo list.

Countdown: Week 15 Dyneema®

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 22:02:45 +0000

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 out the old halyards. I was going to tape the old halyard to the 5mm Dyneema®, run it back up the mast, over the sheave and down. Then I thought I would just tape the new halyard on and run it back up. I tried it Friday night and it worked great until the new halyard got back up to the sheave. Apparently the tight turn was too much for the tape and the halyard and 5mm fell back down.

New England Ropes/Dyneema Line Has Arrived

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:34:56 +0000

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 wheel those large boxes back to the boat; artistic license.

In said boxes were:

a) A Ukulele. Which I have been wanting for a long time but didn’t quite get over the hump until Merileigh (our boat neighbor) got one.

Ship's Log: Memorial Day Weekend @ Horseshoe Cove

Mon, 30 May 2011 21:39:45 +0000

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 removed the flotsam collection from the mooring ball.

When we arrived (around 1400 on Saturday) there were two other boats on anchor. Both the ~35’ trimaran and the ~48’ trawler had a lot less draft, and were closer into shore than I would have been comfortable with. The upshot was that Convivia dropped anchor almost exactly where she did last time (if the GPS waypoint can be trusted). We didn’t get off the boat at all on Saturday. Once we had settled the boat, covered the sails, and tidied up, we settled in for afternoon coffee (and lemonade). A few hours later (and in the pouring down rain) I turned on the grill for some awesome BBQ chicken. The kids fell to sleep quickly and early and Vick and made tea and read until the damp cold drove us into our berth.

Dyneema® Experience — Line Shipping Today

Tue, 24 May 2011 07:57:31 +0000

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 long weekend. If so we’ll be able to test our new vang and some beautiful new line on our long weekend cruise. That will take some of the sting out of not getting the Monitor installed.

Installation Blitz Begins

Sat, 14 May 2011 21:48:45 +0000

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 that difficult when I ordered it at the boat show. “Just drill a few holes, tap them, and bolt it on,” I thought. But when I started lining it up I realized I would need to dust off some of that trig that I had forgotten 15+ years ago. A few well written blog posts later I’m feeling much better about the install. I’ll try round two tomorrow (and document it if you’re lucky).

Who Wants My Sh…tuff?

Mon, 09 May 2011 22:59:11 +0000

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 drop the dock lines) that we can’t fit in the ManVan or on our boat. I don’t want a storage unit, or a bunch of stuff squirreled away in friends/family’s houses and I don’t want to save anything that I don’t love and expect to dream about regularly while we’re cruising. In fact I want the few possessions that we hold on to to be so significant that I actually consider swallowing the hook in order to be able to use them again. I don’t want to hold on to any sh…tuff.

Dyneema® Update

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 11:21:40 +0000

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 finalized our inventory (who would have guessed what a project that would be) and sent it off with some additional questions. From NER the Dyneema® spools will be sent to West Marine in ~~Connecticut~~ Newport, RI for splicing and then out to us to install on Convivia. He expects it to be here in 3ish weeks.

Boat Show — Day 2

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 21:55:17 +0000

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 and Ruby even admitted that she wanted to hear more (but just couldn’t sit still). We saw 2 boats (a Lagoon 400, and a Morris 36) and completely lucked into getting a free, two hour ride (with marine biology mini-class) sail on the 82’ steel schooner Seaward.

Boat Show — Day One

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:51:09 +0000

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 in 10 for margaritas so I’ll leave you with the photos. We’re headed back tomorrow with the kids in tow.

Ship's Log: April 2-3 — Horseshoe Cove

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 22:24:39 +0000

“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. The Cruising Guide to San Francisco Bay, had more caveats than usual for this anchorage— Don’t even attempt if it’s foggy; you might get sucked right out the gate as you approach; the Coast Guard won’t take nicely to your presence on their side of the anchorage; etc.. After calling ahead (another recommendation from the guide) we were told that we were more than welcome to anchor, but there was a lot of surge, a few other people had called that day, and there was a pile of flotsam tied to a mooring out in the middle of the harbor that they were worried might work itself loose. But sure, come on down.

HAM HAM HAM HAM HAMMITY HAM

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:33:24 +0000

…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 (50%). I didn’t even think I would bother with the General, but now I’ve got to pass it so I started studying today.

After the test I took the kids for a walk in Muir Woods (the test was in Mill Valley). It was pouring rain, but we had a ball splashing in the puddles and doing the treasure hunt. After the kids got worn out we loaded back into the car and headed over to the Ham Radio Outlet in Oakland (by way of Blue Bottle) to pick up my new set. We got an iCom IC-7000 with an AH-4 antenna tuner and a Signalink sound card modem (for email).

Convivia To Be Powered By Dyneema®

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 19:15:29 +0000

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 outstanding spring board of safety and performance for our round the world trip. Second our old lines, which still have some life left, will be outstanding backups. Extreme disasters notwithstanding, we shouldn’t need to buy new lines before we cross our path.

Tsunami Report

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:40:35 +0000

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 several knots parallel to the Golden Gate Bridge. Just before the tsunami surge hit our breakwater the standing water receded and left the muddy bottom bare. Then the wave(s) hit and created a ton of turbulence, kicking up mud and causing an impressive flotilla of water foul to stream by in parade.

Conserving Water Aboard Convivia

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:20:29 +0000

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 ~21 days. Conservative water consumption for 4 people (adults) is 2 gallons per day per person (or 8 gal/day total). We have been using about 17.5 gallons/day since we moved aboard. At that rate we would have just a little more than 6 days worth of water (sans Jerry Cans).

s/v Convivia and Forgeover Merge

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:15:32 +0000

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 argument. So it is with great pleasure that I announce Forgeivia. Just joking. I’m going to keep the Forgeover “brand” as the primary because it’s more established and more general. I’ve split all of the s/v Convivia content out by Category and you can filter out the Forgeover stuff (and see just the sailing content) by clicking on the s/v Convivia link in the Navigation bar.

Dyneema® Experience: The Top 40

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:45:33 +0000

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 more than the re-rig. But since we’re in the top 10, I don’t have to choose. So without further ado here is the final scores for the Top 40 contestants (numbers may change slightly if they still allow activations).

Anchor of My Dreams

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:17:50 +0000

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 weeks we’ve purchased and installed our Rocna 33, our Lewmar V3 Windlass, and 300 feet of G40 HT 5/16" chain. We bought our anchor used, as a return to the store, for about a third of the retail price. The windlass and chain were also purchased at excellent prices. Still, for the cost of all of this ground tackle we could have stayed in a marina for a long long time. But staying in a marina is not our plan.