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..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 o’ soup) in gut churning swell, Vick and I alternating in and out of the galley as the other got too nauseous to continue. By the time dinner was ready I had put together our exit strategy. We would nap for a few hours and then run before the weather all the way up to La Paz. We hoped to arrive at the Canal San Lorenzo in time for the flood tide to carry us through. We ate dinner and hastily got the kids into their berths for bed. We ship shaped and got ready to nap and just as I was dozing off, the swell abated and wind died. As my eyelids finally collapsed under the weight of the day’s exertions I said “We’ll stay tonight.” ...

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 boats. It seemed as though they must have organized a rally of their own, as if to prove that the ocean was still theirs. ...

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 sail and every day at the dock was chafing against that directive. Now we are South of the border (30°44.41’N 116°36.75’W) sailing at 7 knots with the wind behind us. The sun is out and it’s finally feeling like “south.” The kids, as always with passages, have settled into their routines and have been mostly joyful. They are looking forward to catching fish and reaching the beach party in Bahia de Tortugas. If conditions maintain we should be there in about 30 hours. ...

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)!

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 cosmic insignificance. On a boat that is arguably ballasted with technology, I found myself dwarfed, humbled, by the milk water fog. With less than a quarter mile visibility at times, I was on constant vigil. All of our technology was not enough to see through the wall of white to the possible hazards beyond. For a moment I wished that we had radar (the one category of tech that we don’t have) and then a timid voice inside suggested that maybe my desire to conquer my fear through technology might not be all that dissimilar from, say, our culture’s desire to buy happiness. Perhaps, the voice pressed, there is no end to this compulsion to dominate nature, and perhaps there is also no end to nature’s dominion over us. Perhaps, and I’m going out on a limb here, we are insignificant in the cosmic scheme of things, and even our grandest achievements will only be noticed by us humans, and only for a small flash of time. ...

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 sailed out of Red Hook Bay, St. Thomas over to St. John, Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, back to St. John, and returned to St. Thomas at the end of our ten days. ...

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 the appointed time (1430) but due to a project that was running long (a new alternator), we didn’t quite keep our schedule. Chris was totally laid back and even called in the big guns (Chuck of s/v Chester P) when it looked like we might need a second opinion. Luckily it turned out to be a small misunderstanding regarding a three position switch, and we were off the dock by 1600. ...

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 onto my stamp so that I could print onto fabric and notecards over and over again. A sailor friend of mine was expecting a little girl and so the inspiration and count down began. ...

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 baby has grown into a big girl. I feel my mother’s words coming to my lips and they almost spill out. Then I look at Ruby and realize that I wouldn’t hold on if I could. She’s growing, and I often feel like I’m not paying close enough attention; feel like I’m missing too many of the precious moments of her life, too many of the new facial expressions, thoughts, worries; feel like too soon she’ll be 14 then 21 and off on her own adventures. ...

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 excellent spinnaker. I can’t figure out how we’ll keep all of these sails of course. We’ll work on that later. North Sails Spinnaker ...

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 friend. You see someone at a friend’s party and then the next one and so on. At some point, have dinner with the friend of the friend and see what happens. ...

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 in fact preventing it from working at all. That’s all gone now so please, if you were a subscriber before, try again now. If you weren’t, its a great way to get your forgeover fix without having to type all those letters :)

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 that?” asked the mole, shyly… “Nice? It’s the only thing,” said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” ...

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 to give pointers, and when I was considering work that I would do later (on my own) he was outrageously generous with his time and experience. I’ve found that most yards take a pretty dim view of do-it-yourselfers, and though I am using a good amount of yard time, they have been more accommodating than most when I want to roll up my sleeves. Having the chance to work side by side with guys that have 25+ years of experience is a great way to fast track your education.

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. Enjoy, and please comment. Honeysuckle joy The purple blossoms welcome spring’s liberation #haiku 9:14 AM Mar 22nd frost bitten ear lobes deep greens and brown on cool blue ...