Ship's Log

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. The kids dress and ask if they could go in the dingy for a while. Ruby rows (tethered) back and forth to Convivia’s transom while I observe from the cockpit. Within a few minutes she asks to go freely. I hop aboard and let Ruby row me around the anchorage. She rowes Olive and I to shore and we spend a half hour playing on the beach, finding ladybugs, searching for the best sea glass, skipping stones and destroying sandcastles. ...

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 drug anchor last night. To make matters worse, the direction of travel was towards the pier, the very pier that had been plaguing Victoria’s restless thoughts all night. So it was that, at 3am, I found myself firing up the engine and raising the anchor. I did a circuit of the cove to reorient against the other vessels and came back surprisingly close to our original spot. This time I wasn’t shy with the chain. Vick and I sat out in the cockpit in the surprisingly warm early morning air and tried to get comfortable with my mistake and subsequent resolution. We returned to our berth and tossed and turned while the boat did the same. I didn’t fall back to sleep after until Ruby called me. ...

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 raise the sails. I had intended to put a double reef in (the weather called for 20-25 knots) but Vick drew my attention to the complete dearth of wind and I put the whole monstrous sail up. With the main all hoisted and trimmed, and the jib unfurled we made our way West towards the gate at a pretty reliable 1 knot. ...

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 Christmas lights, and then headed back to Britannia while I put the kids down for nap. I followed him about 30 minutes later and helped figure some stuff out with the storm anchor, and life raft. After putting the headsail on I ran back to Convivia, helped Vick with the last of the stowing and preparing, and headed over to the pump out. ...

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 26 earlier in the morning, and we decided to invite them to come along. The day started wonderfully. There was just a puff of air but the sky was blue, the clouds were high and the conversation was easy and light. Around the end of the Berkeley Pier both boats decided to motor until the wind returned. We got just past Treasure Island when we decided we had enough to sail on. By Alcatraz we had about 20º of heel and Convivia was lively and quick. ...

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,” I told Vick as we were cleaning up from dinner. Saturday morning, we all woke up early and got moving. I’m glad we didn’t set the timer because the clean-up may have taken more than one hour. Still by 11ish we were ready to get under way. I was fiddling with something on deck when our friend and fellow cruiser Carl stopped by. “You guys going out today?” she asked. “Yup, probably out to the Gate and back, it looks like a great day for it, want to come along?” “No thanks, we’re going out too. After I pick Christina up, we’re going to drop anchor at Clipper Cove, do you want to go too?” At this point I’m thinking, “Victoria would never go for this.” but when she popped her head out and asked what we were talking about I implored Carl to talk her into it. I was relieved when I noticed the signs of her wheels turning as she figured out what we would need to do to get ready. “I guess we’ll need ice,” she finally said. ...

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 third tank (for an alleged total of 110 galons) just in case. We did our shopping the night before and got everything ship shape early on Friday morning for our guest’s 9am arrival. As expected it took a few hours to get Kate and her family moved in, and we took the opportunity to shower and pack a few more last minute maintenance tasks in. ...