[{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/trips/california-2004-2010/","summary":"","title":"California 2004-2010"},{"content":"A lot of things went right this year too. Here\u0026rsquo;s a list of things that continued to perform through the (okay fine… second) meanest ocean in the world.\nLove RK Drums/CBQ Frankenstein Coffee Roaster Kleen Kanteen water bottles Japan Porlex \u0026amp; Zassenhausen - Coffee Grinders (quality) Engel Refrigerators (all three) One of two Keep Cups (may the other rest in peace) Vitamix Convivia We have also added a few things to make Conviv stronger, safer, or more comfortable.\nSilentWind 400+ - It feels so good to see positive current at night A new spatula - It gets tired flipping omelets with a fork (no more scrambled omelets) The Hamilton Soundtrack - Oh my fucking god this is good A Diablo Kami rotary tattoo machine - because if you\u0026rsquo;re going to do something you may as well use good tools New (sensible pants) Hawkins pressure cooker ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/what-survived/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA lot of things went right this year too. Here\u0026rsquo;s a list of things that continued to perform through the (okay fine… second) meanest ocean in the world.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLove\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRK Drums/CBQ Frankenstein Coffee Roaster\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eKleen Kanteen water bottles\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJapan Porlex \u0026amp; Zassenhausen - Coffee Grinders (quality)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEngel Refrigerators (all three)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne of two Keep Cups (may the other rest in peace)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eVitamix\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eConvivia\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have also added a few things to make Conviv stronger, safer, or more comfortable.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Survived"},{"content":"Position: 48º 15.612\u0026rsquo; N 2º 54.162\u0026rsquo; W\nBoats on the hard. Crew swallowing the anchor for a bit in Northern France. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-11-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 48º 15.612\u0026rsquo; N 2º 54.162\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBoats on the hard. Crew swallowing the anchor for a bit in Northern France. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 11, 2019"},{"content":"Position: 12º 0.018\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.732\u0026rsquo; W\nStill in Prickley Bay, but we got our good spot back.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-22-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 0.018\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.732\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nStill in Prickley Bay, but we got our good spot back.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 22, 2018"},{"content":"This week we follow the kids on their Aquatic Adventure, and witness another one of the crew entering their teenaged years!\nOrdinary Extraordinary - S01E02 Crêptastic Birthday from Tucker Bradford on (https://vimeo.com).\nI\u0026rsquo;m eager for your feedback. What would you like to see more of, less of? Are there aspects of the production that are harder to watch? What did you love? Comment below!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/living-aboard/ordinary-extraordinary-s01e02/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis week we follow the kids on their Aquatic Adventure, and witness another one of the crew entering their teenaged years!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com/295912167\"\u003eOrdinary Extraordinary - S01E02 Crêptastic Birthday\u003c/a\u003e from \u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com/user3624831\"\u003eTucker Bradford\u003c/a\u003e on (\u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com\"\u003ehttps://vimeo.com\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m eager for your feedback. What would you like to see more of, less of? Are there aspects of the production that are harder to watch? What did you love? Comment below!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ordinary Extraordinary S01E02"},{"content":"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.\nThis video is a test case for a concept that Vick and I have been discussing for at least 6 years now. Our hope is that it brings to the foreground elements of our life that are ordinary (at least to us) and contrasts those against events and experiences which, though occasionally common, are extraordinary still.\nI would love your feedback. Is this relatable? Does the theme seem like a stretch? Do you want to see more?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-eva/ordinary-extraordinary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis video is a test case for a concept that Vick and I have been discussing for at least 6 years now. Our hope is that it brings to the foreground elements of our life that are ordinary (at least to us) and contrasts those against events and experiences which, though occasionally common, are extraordinary still.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ordinary, Extraordinary"},{"content":"Position: 11º 59.982\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.834\u0026rsquo; W\nBack in Prickly Bay. It was a lot harder to find a good spot this time but we are finally settled. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-01-2018-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 11º 59.982\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.834\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBack in Prickly Bay. It was a lot harder to find a good spot this time but we are finally settled. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 01, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 12º 27.342\u0026rsquo; N 61º 29.352\u0026rsquo; W\nEva and her crew are loving Carriacaou. The water is much clearer and the people more friendly. We will likely stay another week or so!\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-10-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 27.342\u0026rsquo; N 61º 29.352\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEva and her crew are loving Carriacaou. The water is much clearer and the people more friendly. We will likely stay another week or so!\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 10, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 12º 27.36\u0026rsquo; N 61º 29.34\u0026rsquo; W\nEva is in Tyrell Bay Carriacou. We wanted a change of pace so we headed up here to check out the regatta.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-04-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 27.36\u0026rsquo; N 61º 29.34\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEva is in Tyrell Bay Carriacou. We wanted a change of pace so we headed up here to check out the regatta.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 04, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 41º 27.27\u0026rsquo; N 69º 28.14\u0026rsquo; W\nI had a conversation with a coworker just before I left about how fresh\nthe ocean air smells. I was recalling the S. Indian ocean and the\nrarefied, pristine lungfulls I consumed there. When the sun finally came\nout this morning, I opened the hatches and took a deep breath of that\nmemory. It\u0026rsquo;s good to be underway again.\nThe first day out was a bit lumpy but we made good speed. Despite some\nseasickness, the younger crew delightedly leaped to the pilothouse when\nI sounded the whale alert this morning. We had a large pod (perhaps two\ndozen) humpbacks around us. They were enjoying what looked like a\nbountiful breakfast. At one point a juvenile swam right up to us and\ndove under Eva.\nWe are off Cape Cod right now, and hope to be crossing the Gulf Stream\nin a lull, mid-day tomorrow. After that, we may be motoring for a while.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-14/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 41º 27.27\u0026rsquo; N 69º 28.14\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI had a conversation with a coworker just before I left about how fresh\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe ocean air smells. I was recalling the S. Indian ocean and the\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003erarefied, pristine lungfulls I consumed there. When the sun finally came\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eout this morning, I opened the hatches and took a deep breath of that\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ememory. It\u0026rsquo;s good to be underway again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first day out was a bit lumpy but we made good speed. Despite some\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 29º 16.362\u0026rsquo; N 63º 30.06\u0026rsquo; W\nToday we saw a large potted plant float by. That may be one of the\nweirdest at-sea sightings I\u0026rsquo;ve heard of. We had jaffles for lunch, which\nis (for those of you who, like me did not know what these are) a kind of\npanini like grilled cheese sandwich. They were delicious.\nThe kids have been playing D\u0026amp;D all day, which is a major improvement\nfrom the device filled (sea-sick) days at the beginning of passage.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s lots of laughter. The kitties had poached flying fish for a\ntreat this morning.\nWe\u0026rsquo;re ticking away the miles, averaging roughly 150/day at an easy,\ncomfortable pace.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-13/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 29º 16.362\u0026rsquo; N 63º 30.06\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday we saw a large potted plant float by. That may be one of the\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eweirdest at-sea sightings I\u0026rsquo;ve heard of. We had jaffles for lunch, which\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eis (for those of you who, like me did not know what these are) a kind of\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003epanini like grilled cheese sandwich. They were delicious.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kids have been playing D\u0026amp;D all day, which is a major improvement\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 36º 40.218\u0026rsquo; N 67º 9.75\u0026rsquo; W\nWe crossed the Gulf Stream last night. I had delayed our departure,\nspecifically to avoid a wind against current situation, and as we\nprogressed, I routed to the most advantageous angle of attack, but\ndespite my best efforts, we ended up with 20+ knots against 3 knots of\ncurrent. It was a bumpy 12 hours.\nThat said, it was one of the best birthday\u0026rsquo;s I have had, and we came out\nthe other end, unscathed, if a bit fatigued.\nToday we\u0026rsquo;ve got 15-20 knots just aft of the beam and blue sky as we make\nour way toward Bermuda. With any luck we won\u0026rsquo;t have to motor more than\n12 more hours between here and Grenada.\nThe kids are in good spirits, and were totally amazed by the ice cream\nthat accompanied the birthday cake. Oh, and the temperature rose as we\nentered the gulf stream to the point where we are all in shorts!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-12/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 36º 40.218\u0026rsquo; N 67º 9.75\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe crossed the Gulf Stream last night. I had delayed our departure,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003especifically to avoid a wind against current situation, and as we\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eprogressed, I routed to the most advantageous angle of attack, but\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edespite my best efforts, we ended up with 20+ knots against 3 knots of\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecurrent. It was a bumpy 12 hours.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, it was one of the best birthday\u0026rsquo;s I have had, and we came out\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.72\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.328\u0026rsquo; W\nConveva is at anchor at PYS for a few more days before heading to Grenada.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-11/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.72\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.328\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConveva is at anchor at PYS for a few more days before heading to Grenada.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.492\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.874\u0026rsquo; W\nEva has cleared Customs and is about to shove off. Next stop, Grenada.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-10/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.492\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.874\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEva has cleared Customs and is about to shove off. Next stop, Grenada.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 39º 22.98\u0026rsquo; N 68º 7.182\u0026rsquo; W\nOur second day was fairly uneventful. The kids got their sea legs (a\nmixed blessing to be sure) and we lost wind for a while. Today is my\n(Tucker\u0026rsquo;s) birthday, so it\u0026rsquo;s likely to be amazing, if for no other\nreason than the flourless chocolate cake that Vick is going to make for us!\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-9/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 39º 22.98\u0026rsquo; N 68º 7.182\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOur second day was fairly uneventful. The kids got their sea legs (a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003emixed blessing to be sure) and we lost wind for a while. Today is my\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Tucker\u0026rsquo;s) birthday, so it\u0026rsquo;s likely to be amazing, if for no other\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ereason than the flourless chocolate cake that Vick is going to make for us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 34º 48.942\u0026rsquo; N 65º 27.81\u0026rsquo; W\nYesterday we eased into our groove. Easy sailing to weather, \u0026lt;1m seas,\nsunshine and good food was the order of the day. The night was partly\ncloudy and afforded us a pretty good view of the universe.\nToday has been wing on wing, dead down wind, with slight following seas.\nWe aren\u0026rsquo;t making great time, but the gribs said we would be motoring, so\nwe are grateful. Glasses stay put on the tables where they are left, for\nhours if needed. The kids are playing games and being chill. The weather\nis settled for the foreseeable future and good books beckon.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-8/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 34º 48.942\u0026rsquo; N 65º 27.81\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nYesterday we eased into our groove. Easy sailing to weather, \u0026lt;1m seas,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esunshine and good food was the order of the day. The night was partly\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ecloudy and afforded us a pretty good view of the universe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday has been wing on wing, dead down wind, with slight following seas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe aren\u0026rsquo;t making great time, but the gribs said we would be motoring, so\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 32º 0.228\u0026rsquo; N 64º 52.08\u0026rsquo; W\nYesterday we had a nice (but short) visit by some tiny spotted dolphins.\nWe passed Bermuda this morning and lingered for an hour (off-shore) to\nget an internet fix. We checked email, and I got some documentation for\nsome programming projects (one of which generated the NMEA lat/lon for\nthis position report), and then with raised the sails and continued\nsouth. It reminded me of the time, a little over a year ago, that Eva\nand Convivia ghosted by Ascension Island on our way to Martinique.\nToday has been good sailing (close hauled) punctuated by squalls.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-7/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 32º 0.228\u0026rsquo; N 64º 52.08\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nYesterday we had a nice (but short) visit by some tiny spotted dolphins.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe passed Bermuda this morning and lingered for an hour (off-shore) to\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eget an internet fix. We checked email, and I got some documentation for\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esome programming projects (one of which generated the NMEA lat/lon for\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethis position report), and then with raised the sails and continued\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esouth. It reminded me of the time, a little over a year ago, that Eva\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 25º 17.328\u0026rsquo; N 62º 10.776\u0026rsquo; W\nAfter 12+ hours of motoring, the crew needed a bit of relief so we\nstopped the engines and swan dove off the gantry into the Saragasso Sea.\nThe water was crystal clear (and 6km deep) and we took turns diving as\ndeep as we could, sinking cans, and other assorted nonsense. It was warm\nand refreshing and just what the crew needed.\nWhile the swimming was going on, two loaves of bread were just finishing\nup in the oven. Next on our busy agenda, lunch.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-6/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 25º 17.328\u0026rsquo; N 62º 10.776\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAfter 12+ hours of motoring, the crew needed a bit of relief so we\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003estopped the engines and swan dove off the gantry into the Saragasso Sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe water was crystal clear (and 6km deep) and we took turns diving as\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edeep as we could, sinking cans, and other assorted nonsense. It was warm\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eand refreshing and just what the crew needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the swimming was going on, two loaves of bread were just finishing\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 28, 2018"},{"content":"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.\nNevertheless, that is just what we have done. The trip from Portland to Grenada took us within shouting distance of Bermuda, was entirely upwind, and graced us with a Gulf Stream crossing that was a low scale version of the worst conditions we could have hoped against (wind against current). The first few days had much of the crew horizontal and green.\nOnce we crossed the current though, the skies brightened up, the seas moderated, and the breeze blew more or less constantly at 10-15 knots (at 45º-90º). For a boat like Eva, these are dreamy conditions. The kids played D\u0026amp;D and other imagination games all day, the adults had languorous, luxurious naps, and we all enjoyed the short peaceful watches (with 4 adults, nobody had to be up more than 3 hours at night).\nWe saw frigate birds, boobies, shearwaters, swallows (one landed on Claude\u0026rsquo;s arm), tropic birds, flying fish, dolphins saragossa weed filled with shrimp and other tiny critters, and even a large pod of whales.\nSee the whale tale, right next to the shroud?\nWhen the wind died for 48hrs, we took the opportunity to swim in the middle of the ocean. The last chance we had to do this was in the South China Sea in 2015.\nWe ate well too. Some claimed that, in 14 days at sea, they didn\u0026rsquo;t even get sick of cabbage. The author of this post may disagree, but we all concur that the food, especially the birthday cake, was of the highest quality.\nSpeaking of birthdays. Ruby\u0026rsquo;s personal goal was to get to Grenada before her 14th birthday. She lamented that her last two birthdays were at sea, and though none of the adults believe that this is gripe worthy, it was her birthday wish and we tried like heck to indulge it. We succeeded too, sort of. We made it to Grenada on June 18th at 10pm, but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t make a safe entry into Prickly Bay, so we stoped for the night in St. Georges.\nWe woke up before the sun on the 19th, and motored around to our final destination in time for the beginning of the day long feast which constitutes a Conveva birthday celebration. I was pleased with this situation because it gives her the right to claim three birthdays at sea, whenever she realizes how much cooler that it is.\nThe rest of the big day was rounded out with clearing in, sushi (reportedly very good), seven home made pizzas and a lemon curd filled, lemon cake with white chocolate butter cream glaze.\nWe managed to secure an anchor spot right up close to the public beach. There is relatively low swell where we are and at least two kid boats have already been identified (one of which was over for some splashing around this morning). I suspect that we will branch out over the upcoming months to visit the nearby islands, but Grenada seems to have been a great choice for hurricane season.\nPizza under the sun shade. At anchor in Prickly Bay, Grenada\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/portland-to-grenada/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSome 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNevertheless, that is just what we have done. The trip from Portland to Grenada took us within shouting distance of Bermuda, was entirely upwind, and graced us with a Gulf Stream crossing that was a low scale version of the worst conditions we could have hoped against (wind against current).  The first few days had much of the crew horizontal and green.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Portland to Grenada"},{"content":"Position: 12º 0.024\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.732\u0026rsquo; W\nEva has reached our destination. Prickly Bay, Grenada will be our base of operations for the summer. We found a great spot to anchor, right up close to the beach. We haven\u0026rsquo;t seen this many sailboats since leaving Martinique over a year ago.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 0.024\u0026rsquo; N 61º 45.732\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEva has reached our destination. Prickly Bay, Grenada will be our base of operations for the summer. We found a great spot to anchor, right up close to the beach. We haven\u0026rsquo;t seen this many sailboats since leaving Martinique over a year ago.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 19, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 12º 4.2\u0026rsquo; N 61º 46.92\u0026rsquo; W\nEva arrived in St. Georges, Grenada just after sunset. We will spend the night here and go around to Prickly Bay tomorrow morning to check in and celebrate Ruby\u0026rsquo;s birthday.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-28-2018-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 4.2\u0026rsquo; N 61º 46.92\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEva arrived in St. Georges, Grenada just after sunset. We will spend the night here and go around to Prickly Bay tomorrow morning to check in and celebrate Ruby\u0026rsquo;s birthday.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 18th, 2018"},{"content":"You may have seen this hint of a story, this boatyard photo of Tucker and I, Ruby, and Olive in front of EVA, everyone\u0026rsquo;s dreamboat.\nWe have spent much of the last year and a half with Claude and Jules and their three kids, Noah, Lilo, and Finn. We met the kids the moment we tied our dock lines in Cape Town; our kids were off in a flash to see the kids playing with sticks on another dock. \u0026ldquo;This is the tiniest boat I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen in my life,\u0026rdquo; said five year old Finn when she first stepped aboard Convivia. It turns out that her boat, built in her backyard, and launched only a few months before was quite a bit bigger. Claude and Jules still had many projects on EVA\u0026rsquo;s checklists during our time at the V and A Waterfront but still we managed to grab their kids for plenty of fun in Cape Town, shared a bunch of dinners together, and got out on a few excursions with everyone.\nClaude and Tucker at Wally\u0026rsquo;s Cave on Lion\u0026rsquo;s Head. We started this hike at 3am for a Table Mountain sunrise view.\nWindy day drive to Hout Bay and Chapman\u0026rsquo;s Peak\nIt turns out EVA was about to sail across the Atlantic towards Martinique. They had been building their boat for years, couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait to get cruising, and also wanted to just settle in somewhere for a while. Claude and Jules had spent a couple years pre-kids in the Caribbean and were ready to get back. Convivia was headed the same way on our way to Maine and we were excited to have friends along the way!\nBoth boats headed out of Cape Town on the same day. We were ready for our third ocean crossing; EVA was on her maiden voyage. We met up in both of the places we stopped in Namibia and again at St. Helena.\nWe found them again at the St. Helena immigration office. Luckily it wasn\u0026rsquo;t so formal that paperwork couldn\u0026rsquo;t be interrupted for giant hugs.\nBoth boats left St. Helena the same day bound for Ascension Island, and though we dropped sails and motored close into the anchorage when we arrived, we heard that the giant ocean swell that made landing in St. Helena difficult, would make landing in Ascension nearly impossible. With a few short VHF calls we decided we were all in a good passage groove and would raise the sails and carry on to Martinique. On that passage Convivia ran into rigging trouble and engine trouble so we made an emergency stop in Fernando de Noranha, Brazil. Fernando de Noranha was of course one of the prettiest places we have ever been, and, unfortunately, we didn\u0026rsquo;t have Brazilian visas in advance so everyone but the captain of our boat was required to remain on board for all of our days there. Everyone on EVA has a European passport that allowed them ashore so they brought back photos and watermelon. We all worked together to splice Dyneema, made aluminum deadeyes, and get Convivia up and running for the 2000 nautical mile stretch to boat parts in Martinique.\nWe anticipated a crowded anchorage, but not a rough one, so we rafted up in Le Marin, Martinique. While there we found ourselves in all the chandlers, at the customs office, on a few beaches, out on dinghy sails, in fabulous grocery stores, at some historic sites, in the botanic gardens, at the cafes, and spending time with lots of other friends.\nKids at Theatre de St Pierre\nIt was getting time to think about parting ways. We needed to get to Maine, before hurricane season, and maybe more importantly, before we ran out of money. We all decided it wasn\u0026rsquo;t time to say goodbye so Convivia dropped off the lines and EVA hauled anchor and we sailed together to the Bahamas. Conversations about sailing to Maine spread between both boats. We needed to go and they were interested in following. Claude and Jules flew to Nassau to apply for Visas and Tucker and I took care of five kids and two boats for a couple of days.\nAfter the Bahamas we sailed all the way to Portland, Maine. For us, it was our homecoming, the completion of our big gigantic goal. For Jules and Claude, it was a bit of a homecoming too. They both spent quite a bit of of their growing up in the United States and went to American schools. Not only that, Claude discovered that his childhood best friend was also moving to Portland. Tucker and I saw our parents and siblings and friends. Claude got to see his sister. All the kids got to see and meet their newest cousins.\nAnd so we settled into Portland, a city that I love so much. I got a job, Ruby and Olive went to public school, and Tucker searched for the perfect remote job to take with him someday. We anchored out until mid October when conditions called for moving to a dock.\nDimillo\u0026rsquo;s Marina was an awesome home for the winter. We loved the ease of walking off the boat! The kids hopped back and forth between the boats, and ended up on EVA after school more than they ended up at home. Talk of sailing to Europe was in the air, and yet the money/time/Convivia refit balance wasn\u0026rsquo;t quite right and we knew that Convivia wasn\u0026rsquo;t up for the task of a North Atlantic crossing just yet. Tucker got the job he wanted but then the fix up schedule couldn\u0026rsquo;t really meet the timeline of the season. Jules and Claude asked us if we would join EVA for a passage to the UK and France.\nIn the meantime we celebrated holidays, got outside, went to concerts, ate amazing food, drank perfect coffee, and talked about the possibilities.\nIt turns out Europe isn\u0026rsquo;t an option, and EVA must leave the US before a year is up. Convivia is still not up to the task of a major passage without a couple months worth of hard work, but Convivia\u0026rsquo;s crew is ready for more travel. We were invited to join EVA on her next voyage, which will be to Grenada in the near future, and perhaps Uruguay before the year is up. First we moved over the kitchen knife, then some toothbrushes, then LEGO, pillows made their way, as did the coffee roaster, our summer clothes, a candy thermometer, our snorkel gear\u0026hellip;.and over the last month we have been sharing space, and chores, and time.\nWe rowed out to Convivia for the last time for a while the other day.\nConvivia is now sitting pretty at Royal River Boatyard, all cleaned up and winterized while we plan on what we will do with her in the future. She is, in fact, a perfect boat for Maine summers so she is in just the right spot.\nWe arrived at the shipyard on one boat and left on another. We are thrilled to sail on EVA, no doubt we are going to be spoiled a bit. A shower! Hot water! A washing machine! She is everyone\u0026rsquo;s dreamboat\u0026hellip;those first details are lovely of course, but the boat is carefully thought out, very practical, and super tough. Claude and Jules love her up with meticulous care and we know that the boat will take care of all of us.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll have stories to tell for sure. There are going to be some really good ones now, of one amazing boat, four grown ups, five kids, and two cats.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/conviveva-the-crew-of-convivia-is-going-sailing-on-eva/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou may have seen this hint of a story, this boatyard photo of Tucker and I, Ruby, and Olive in front of EVA, everyone\u0026rsquo;s dreamboat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have spent much of the last year and a half with Claude and Jules and their three kids, Noah, Lilo, and Finn. We met the kids the moment we tied our dock lines in Cape Town; our kids were off in a flash to see the kids playing with sticks on another dock. \u0026ldquo;This is the tiniest boat I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen in my life,\u0026rdquo; said five year old Finn when she first stepped aboard Convivia. It turns out that her boat, built in her backyard, and launched only a few months before was quite a bit bigger. Claude and Jules still had many projects on EVA\u0026rsquo;s checklists during our time at the V and A Waterfront but still we managed to grab their kids for plenty of fun in Cape Town, shared a bunch of dinners together, and got out on a few excursions with everyone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ConvivEVA: the crew of Convivia is going sailing on EVA"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.702\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.298\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia is on the hard and the crew has moved onto Eva.\nEva is now at anchor in front of our old \u0026lsquo;home\u0026rsquo; in the PYS mooring field. The docks are back in. WOOT!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-24-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.702\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.298\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is on the hard and the crew has moved onto Eva.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEva is now at anchor in front of our old \u0026lsquo;home\u0026rsquo; in the PYS mooring field. The docks are back in. WOOT!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 24, 2018"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.798\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.52\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia is once again dangling at the end of her chain. We are anchored out in front of the former PYS mooring field. In a few days (weeks?) We will move her to the hard and join forces with the mighty s/v Eva for another epic adventure. Stay tuned\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-01-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.798\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.52\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is once again dangling at the end of her chain. We are anchored out in front of the former PYS mooring field. In a few days (weeks?) We will move her to the hard and join forces with the mighty s/v Eva for another epic adventure. Stay tuned\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 01, 2018"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a while since we have posted an update. Mostly we have been busy with school and jobs and planning for a great new adventure in the summer. But more on that later. For now, here\u0026rsquo;s a glimpse of an average morning… walking to work in a blizzard.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/a-day-in-the-life-walking-to-work-in-a-blizzard/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a while since we have posted an update. Mostly we have been busy with school and jobs and planning for a great new adventure in the summer. But more on that later. For now, here\u0026rsquo;s a glimpse of an average morning… walking to work in a blizzard.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Day in the Life: Walking to Work in a Blizzard"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.32\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.99\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia is at the dock for the first time since Cape Town. We are snugged in next to Eva, who is also at dock for the first time since Cape Town.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-14-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.32\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.99\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is at the dock for the first time since Cape Town. We are snugged in next to Eva, who is also at dock for the first time since Cape Town.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 14, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.6\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.982\u0026rsquo; W\nThis is our actual location. Hey, and how about that pretty map on the FB and Twitter posts :)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-08-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.6\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.982\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis is our \u003cem\u003eactual\u003c/em\u003e location. Hey, and how about that pretty map on the FB and Twitter posts :)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 08, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 40º 42.768\u0026rsquo; N 74º 0.36\u0026rsquo; W\nThis is our last week at anchor (for the season). On the 15th we will be heading in to dock at Dimillo\u0026rsquo;s Marina for the winter. Hopefully, our heater will arrive before then. It\u0026rsquo;s getting chilly.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-08-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 40º 42.768\u0026rsquo; N 74º 0.36\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis is our last week at anchor (for the season). On the 15th we will be heading in to dock at Dimillo\u0026rsquo;s Marina for the winter. Hopefully, our heater will arrive before then. It\u0026rsquo;s getting chilly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 08, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.612\u0026rsquo; N 70º 15.102\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia at anchor in Casco Bay\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-27-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.612\u0026rsquo; N 70º 15.102\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia at anchor in Casco Bay\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 27, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.762\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.292\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia is back on Anchor in Portland. The adults are looking for jobs, and the kids are enjoying \u0026ldquo;summer break\u0026rdquo;. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-15-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.762\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.292\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is back on Anchor in Portland. The adults are looking for jobs, and the kids are enjoying \u0026ldquo;summer break\u0026rdquo;. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 15, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 43º 56.592\u0026rsquo; N 69º 27.228\u0026rsquo; W\nZero miles to go. Convivia and crew have completed the Round the World trip that we set out on. October 1, 2011 to July 1, 2017.\nConvivia fits right in here.\nAll is well!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-02-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 56.592\u0026rsquo; N 69º 27.228\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nZero miles to go. Convivia and crew have completed the Round the World trip that we set out on. October 1, 2011 to July 1, 2017.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConvivia fits right in here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 02, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 43º 39.492\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.862\u0026rsquo; W\nWE DID IT!\nWe arrived in Portland, ME with the sunrise this morning after an ideal 1400 nautical mile passage. By lunchtime, we will be with our parents again for the first time in 3 years.\nConvivia had one last treat for us. As we entered the inner harbor, the fuel filter clogged, leaving us engineless in the shipping lane. A little quick thinking, and diesel soaked hands later and we were back in business.\nOur final destination on this six year long adventure is still Round Pond, and we expect to arrive there on the first day of July (Vick\u0026rsquo;s special, birthday month request). It\u0026rsquo;s impossible to articulate what this landfall means to us\u0026hellip; perhaps with time I will find the words.\nPortland Flatbread Co., here we come!\nAll is sure enough well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-27-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 43º 39.492\u0026rsquo; N 70º 14.862\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWE DID IT!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived in Portland, ME with the sunrise this morning after an ideal 1400 nautical mile passage. By lunchtime, we will be with our parents again for the first time in 3 years.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConvivia had one last treat for us. As we entered the inner harbor, the fuel filter clogged, leaving us engineless in the shipping lane. A little quick thinking, and diesel soaked hands later and we were back in business.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 27, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 38º 25.482\u0026rsquo; N 71º 59.202\u0026rsquo; W\nWell that was fun. Our little gale blew right on time, and gave us a post-Gulf Stream daily average speed of 7 knots. It is a strange thing to be sad to see such powerful weather evaporate, but now, as I look at our paltry 5.4 knot avg, and our (delayed) ETA, I find myself doing just that.\nPicture a man, wrinkled and greying, standing, head above the dodger, ducking to avoid the sheets of spray shooting over the weather decks. A giant wave (12-15\u0026rsquo;) crests behind him as he turns, smiling. The vessel under his feet has carried him and his family more than 25,000 nautical miles, in safety and relative comfort. He knows that she can handle the monster that is bearing down, now about to crash over the afterdeck. His boat lifts, and then takes off. An exhilaratingly fast (15.5 knots) surf on a 43\u0026rsquo; long board. At the trough, the boat turns out gracefully and her skipper smiles again, bidding goodbye to the swell.\nIt is not a bad way to close out an epic adventure.\nThe weather forecast shows light air from here on out. That was likely the last hurrah for Convivia and crew, on this leg anyway.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-25-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 38º 25.482\u0026rsquo; N 71º 59.202\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWell that was fun. Our little gale blew right on time, and gave us a post-Gulf Stream daily average speed of 7 knots. It is a strange thing to be sad to see such powerful weather evaporate, but now, as I look at our paltry 5.4 knot avg, and our (delayed) ETA, I find myself doing just that.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePicture a man, wrinkled and greying, standing, head above the dodger, ducking to avoid the sheets of spray shooting over the weather decks. A giant wave (12-15\u0026rsquo;) crests behind him as he turns, smiling. The vessel under his feet has carried him and his family more than 25,000 nautical miles, in safety and relative comfort. He knows that she can handle the monster that is bearing down, now about to crash over the afterdeck. His boat lifts, and then takes off. An exhilaratingly fast (15.5 knots) surf on a 43\u0026rsquo; long board. At the trough, the boat turns out gracefully and her skipper smiles again, bidding goodbye to the swell.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 25, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 40º 49.05\u0026rsquo; N 69º 15.21\u0026rsquo; W\nWe lost our wind entirely today. It\u0026rsquo;s been 12 hrs of motoring already, and we probably have a dozen more before the wind fills in. Match that with a 1.7 knot counter current, and you have some real slow going. We used the time to make power and water though. I should probably be glad we had so much time because, in these cold cold waters, the output is about half what it was in the tropics.\nThat said, we are smelling nostalgic scents on the breeze, and the fishing boats look normal for the first time in six years.\nall is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-25-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 40º 49.05\u0026rsquo; N 69º 15.21\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe lost our wind entirely today. It\u0026rsquo;s been 12 hrs of motoring already, and we probably have a dozen more before the wind fills in. Match that with a 1.7 knot counter current, and you have some real slow going. We used the time to make power and water though. I should probably be glad we had so much time because, in these cold cold waters, the output is about half what it was in the tropics.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 25, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 37º 46.848\u0026rsquo; N 73º 4.098\u0026rsquo; W\nI love me a good gale, which is a good thing because that\u0026rsquo;s what we will get tonight. 12-24 hrs of gale and 11\u0026rsquo; swell. Convivia is managing the conditions like a champion, holding her course like she\u0026rsquo;s on rails, and yawning at the occasional side swell as only an Indian ocean veteran could. The side benefit of this weather is that it should extend our amazing Gulf Stream mileage for another 24 hrs.\nSo we might not be eating anything too exotic or complicated tomorrow, but we sure will go like stink towards the finish line. Woot woot.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-24-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 37º 46.848\u0026rsquo; N 73º 4.098\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI love me a good gale, which is a good thing because that\u0026rsquo;s what we will get tonight. 12-24 hrs of gale and 11\u0026rsquo; swell. Convivia is managing the conditions like a champion, holding her course like she\u0026rsquo;s on rails, and yawning at the occasional side swell as only an Indian ocean veteran could. The side benefit of this weather is that it should extend our amazing Gulf Stream mileage for another 24 hrs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 24, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 35º 10.98\u0026rsquo; N 74º 38.358\u0026rsquo; W\nWe rounded Cape Hatteras (aka The Graveyard of the Atlantic) this evening. This seems momentous, our next waypoint is Cape Cod, then it\u0026rsquo;s West one last time to Portland.\nIf you had been a fly on the wall around dinner time, you might have heard us all belting out \u0026ldquo;Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home across the sea. Rolling home to old New England. Rolling home, dear land to thee.\u0026rdquo;\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-23-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 35º 10.98\u0026rsquo; N 74º 38.358\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe rounded Cape Hatteras (aka The Graveyard of the Atlantic) this evening. This seems momentous, our next waypoint is Cape Cod, then it\u0026rsquo;s West one last time to Portland.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you had been a fly on the wall around dinner time, you might have heard us all belting out \u0026ldquo;Rolling home, rolling home, rolling home across the sea. Rolling home to old New England. Rolling home, dear land to thee.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 23, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 31º 59.958\u0026rsquo; N 77º 33.072\u0026rsquo; W\nToday was the rainy, squally day that we have been expecting (while still hoping against) since we left Georgetown. Its been a lot of motoring and a lot of staying out of the rain. We had some pretty epic nachos for dinner though, so\u0026hellip;\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-22-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 31º 59.958\u0026rsquo; N 77º 33.072\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday was the rainy, squally day that we have been expecting (while still hoping against) since we left Georgetown. Its been a lot of motoring and a lot of staying out of the rain. We had some pretty epic nachos for dinner though, so\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 22, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 30º 19.368\u0026rsquo; N 78º 15.642\u0026rsquo; W\nToday\u0026rsquo;s big excitement was the mid-passage potato cull. How such a bland vegetable can smell so bad when it rots, is beyond me. Other than that, we are glad to see that the Tropical Storm is going to pass well to the South of us (thanks Suzy and Dave for the ground support). We expect to enter the Gulf Stream tonight, and start rocketing our way north. The crew is getting super excited to see family and friends and eat at the Portland Flatbread Co.\nAll is well!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-20-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 30º 19.368\u0026rsquo; N 78º 15.642\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday\u0026rsquo;s big excitement was the mid-passage potato cull. How such a bland vegetable can smell so bad when it rots, is beyond me. Other than that, we are glad to see that the Tropical Storm is going to pass well to the South of us (thanks Suzy and Dave for the ground support). We expect to enter the Gulf Stream tonight, and start rocketing our way north. The crew is getting super excited to see family and friends and eat at the Portland Flatbread Co.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 20, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 28º 21.492\u0026rsquo; N 76º 55.398\u0026rsquo; W\nDay 2 things are going pretty smoothly. Ruby celebrated her 13th birthday by going 3/4 of the way up the mast to save our lazy jacks. What a hero.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-19-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 28º 21.492\u0026rsquo; N 76º 55.398\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDay 2 things are going pretty smoothly. Ruby celebrated her 13th birthday by going 3/4 of the way up the mast to save our lazy jacks. What a hero.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 19, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 25º 38.28\u0026rsquo; N 76º 8.718\u0026rsquo; W\nThe first twenty four hours of our prospective Triumphant Return Home Passage (prospective because, un-hatched chickens) was pretty delightful. We sailed up the Exuma Sound, protected from the Ocean swell, while still attended by its winds. What a great start. Today is a little more rolly (fully exposed again) but we have decent wind.\nWe have started to talk about stoping in Nantucket on the way. It seems too suitably salty to miss, right?\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-18-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 25º 38.28\u0026rsquo; N 76º 8.718\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe first twenty four hours of our prospective Triumphant Return Home Passage (prospective because, un-hatched chickens) was pretty delightful. We sailed up the Exuma Sound, protected from the Ocean swell, while still attended by its winds. What a great start. Today is a little more rolly (fully exposed again) but we have decent wind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have started to talk about stoping in Nantucket on the way. It seems too suitably salty to miss, right?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 18, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 23º 30.654\u0026rsquo; N 75º 45.726\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia is rafted up to Eva in Georgetown. We did our checkin yesterday and then had a wonderful birthday celebration. We should be here for a week. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-08-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 23º 30.654\u0026rsquo; N 75º 45.726\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is rafted up to Eva in Georgetown. We did our checkin yesterday and then had a wonderful birthday celebration. We should be here for a week. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 08, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 23º 20.778\u0026rsquo; N 74º 33.282\u0026rsquo; W\nArrived at Long Island (Bahamas). we will spend the night here with Totem and then head to Georgetown in the morning to celebrate my birthday with Eva and crew.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-07-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 23º 20.778\u0026rsquo; N 74º 33.282\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived at Long Island (Bahamas). we will spend the night here with Totem and then head to Georgetown in the morning to celebrate my birthday with Eva and crew.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 07, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 23º 6.6\u0026rsquo; N 74º 3.012\u0026rsquo; W\nLast night out. The conditions continue to be dreamy. A bit of a lingering counter current have slowed us down a bit, but it is hard to complain when we have had 6 days that feel like catamaran sailing.\nTomorrow we will hopefully intersect with Friends We Haven\u0026rsquo;t Met Yet on Totem. We think that we have been in communication for 8 years now, so it may be the record for longest lead up. Should be a regular old hoot! The fact that we are meeting in the Bahamas when both Convivia and Totem are West coast boats is a bit of a trip. Life is good and\u0026hellip;\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-06-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 23º 6.6\u0026rsquo; N 74º 3.012\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast night out. The conditions continue to be dreamy. A bit of a lingering counter current have slowed us down a bit, but it is hard to complain when we have had 6 days that feel like catamaran sailing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomorrow we will hopefully intersect with Friends We Haven\u0026rsquo;t Met Yet on Totem. We think that we have been in communication for 8 years now, so it may be the record for longest lead up. Should be a regular old hoot! The fact that we are meeting in the Bahamas when both Convivia and Totem are West coast boats is a bit of a trip. Life is good and\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 06, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 20º 0.252\u0026rsquo; N 67º 38.448\u0026rsquo; W\nWe have rerouted to Georgetown on the recommendation of every single person we have talked to about the Bahamas. We hope to arrive ahead of a nasty looking trough that is promising to dumps lots of water out of the sky, in conjunction with some big wind.\nI think Georgetown will be an ideal place to turn forty someodd.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-03-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 0.252\u0026rsquo; N 67º 38.448\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe have rerouted to Georgetown on the recommendation of every single person we have talked to about the Bahamas. We hope to arrive ahead of a nasty looking trough that is promising to dumps lots of water out of the sky, in conjunction with some big wind.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI think Georgetown will be an ideal place to turn forty someodd.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 03, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 21º 4.392\u0026rsquo; N 69º 22.308\u0026rsquo; W\nThis passage had been so darn mellow, it seems like we must be cheating, or getting our due after some of the earlier passages this year.\nIts hard to believe that we have crossed two oceans in the past year, and that we were just leaving Cocos Keeling, this time last year.\nWith this adventure coming to a close, I have begun to shift my energy toward rentry. Thinking about jobs, where to live, and what to do next. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting, overwhelming, and distracting. Perhaps i can postpone that for a few more days and make the most of these last beautiful moments of crystal clear water, blue skies, and clean living.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-03-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 4.392\u0026rsquo; N 69º 22.308\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis passage had been so darn mellow, it seems like we must be cheating, or getting our due after some of the earlier passages this year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts hard to believe that we have crossed two oceans in the past year, and that we were just leaving Cocos Keeling, this time last year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith this adventure coming to a close, I have begun to shift my energy toward rentry. Thinking about jobs, where to live, and what to do next. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting, overwhelming, and distracting. Perhaps i can postpone that for a few more days and make the most of these last beautiful moments of crystal clear water, blue skies, and clean living.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 03, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 17º 48.258\u0026rsquo; N 64º 32.718\u0026rsquo; W\nI seemed to have dropped the ball a bit on position reporting for this passage. Our first two days have gone pretty smoothly. We had a great current with us until early this morning, and we expect to have a mild current setting in our general direction for much of the rest of the trip. As I write this, Convivia is gliding past St. Croix (thinking of you Mead), and we expect to pass through Culebra and St. Thomas tonight (Allen \u0026amp; Lee, we wil be thinking of you, for sure).\nThe wind and seas have been pretty beamy this passage, but for the most part they are behaving. I did get the most comprehensive pooping ever the night before last, strange, that it was here and not in that mean old Indian Ocean, just shows ta go ya!\nExpecting a June 6th arrival in Nassau now, just in time for my birthday :)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-01-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 48.258\u0026rsquo; N 64º 32.718\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI seemed to have dropped the ball a bit on position reporting for this passage. Our first two days have gone pretty smoothly. We had a great current with us until early this morning, and we expect to have a mild current setting in our general direction for much of the rest of the trip. As I write this, Convivia is gliding past St. Croix (thinking of you Mead), and we expect to pass through Culebra and St. Thomas tonight (Allen \u0026amp; Lee, we wil be thinking of you, for sure).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 01, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 14º 36.966\u0026rsquo; N 61º 3.528\u0026rsquo; W\nOur last full day in Martinique before shoving off for a long passage to the Bahamas. We have had a ball here, hanging out with Eva and exploring the island, but the season is closing out, and we have miles to cover.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-30-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 36.966\u0026rsquo; N 61º 3.528\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOur last full day in Martinique before shoving off for a long passage to the Bahamas. We have had a ball here, hanging out with Eva and exploring the island, but the season is closing out, and we have miles to cover.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 30, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 14º 26.568\u0026rsquo; N 60º 56.1\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are off. Farewell Martinique, next stop, Nassau, Bahamas.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-30-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 26.568\u0026rsquo; N 60º 56.1\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are off. Farewell Martinique, next stop, Nassau, Bahamas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 30, 2017"},{"content":"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 big van and took us on a tour. We visited the Theater of Saint-Pierre, had a little picnic on the steps and then motored a little way back towards the beach, where we spent the afternoon watching the kids play in the surf.\nToday we are looking forward to a trip to the Botanic Gardens.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/6408/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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 big van and took us on a tour. We visited the \u003ca href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_de_Saint-Pierre\"\u003eTheater of Saint-Pierre\u003c/a\u003e, had a little picnic on the steps and then motored a little way back towards the beach, where we spent the afternoon watching the kids play in the surf.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Martinique: Photos"},{"content":"Position: 14º 27.606\u0026rsquo; N 60º 52.296\u0026rsquo; W\nWe have moved in to the Le Marin anchorage. The kids have their own little mangrove island to play on and town is close. Life is easy these days.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-16-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 27.606\u0026rsquo; N 60º 52.296\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe have moved in to the Le Marin anchorage. The kids have their own little mangrove island to play on and town is close. Life is easy these days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 16, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 14º 26.292\u0026rsquo; N 60º 53.502\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia and crew are safe in sound in Martinique. Our third (and last, for this trip) ocean has been crossed. The water is turquoise and the air is warm. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-09-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 26.292\u0026rsquo; N 60º 53.502\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia and crew are safe in sound in Martinique. Our third (and last, for this trip) ocean has been crossed. The water is turquoise and the air is warm. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 09, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 11º 40.632\u0026rsquo; N 59º 11.76\u0026rsquo; W\nThe seas have flattened out, and we are making our northbound approach to Martinique. We have been chasing current since Fernando de Naronha, and it\u0026rsquo;s been paying off. Now we will beam reach at 7-8knots the rest of the way (I hope). It looks like we will arrive between 6pm-11pm tomorrow. We had delicious three cheese mac and cheese for dinner (mine with Sriracha, of course), everyone is happy and excited for landfall.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-07-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 11º 40.632\u0026rsquo; N 59º 11.76\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe seas have flattened out, and we are making our northbound approach to Martinique. We have been chasing current since Fernando de Naronha, and it\u0026rsquo;s been paying off. Now we will beam reach at 7-8knots the rest of the way (I hope). It looks like we will arrive between 6pm-11pm tomorrow. We had delicious three cheese mac and cheese for dinner (mine with Sriracha, of course), everyone is happy and excited for landfall.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 07, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 9º 42.84\u0026rsquo; N 56º 14.52\u0026rsquo; W\nTicking away the miles to Martinique. The sun is finally out, we are charging up the batteries and our spirits. The kids are happy and easy going, and we are really excited for landfall in a couple of days.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-06-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 9º 42.84\u0026rsquo; N 56º 14.52\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nTicking away the miles to Martinique. The sun is finally out, we are charging up the batteries and our spirits. The kids are happy and easy going, and we are really excited for landfall in a couple of days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 06, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 5º 56.778\u0026rsquo; N 49º 27.732\u0026rsquo; W\nYesterday was the pits. We had swell from three directions, and Vick took some seasick pills that had side effects worse than the malaise. Today is a lot more comfortable, despite the continued squalls. We are still trying to figure out if running the engine with raw water in the fresh water side, is going to kill it quickly or slowly. I\u0026rsquo;m hoping slowly, because it\u0026rsquo;s currently the only way to charge the batteries, until the sun comes out again.\nAll said, we are doing well. The kids are getting ahead in school work so they can enjoy friend bonanza in Martinique. Vick is continuing to delight us with surprisingly good food (despite an almost complete dearth of veggies, YAY!), and we are never bored (not really anyway).\nYesterday\u0026rsquo;s 24 hr time was 160 miles. WOot!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-03-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 56.778\u0026rsquo; N 49º 27.732\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nYesterday was the pits. We had swell from three directions, and Vick took some seasick pills that had side effects worse than the malaise. Today is a lot more comfortable, despite the continued squalls. We are still trying to figure out if running the engine with raw water in the fresh water side, is going to kill it quickly or slowly. I\u0026rsquo;m hoping slowly, because it\u0026rsquo;s currently the only way to charge the batteries, until the sun comes out again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 03, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 1º 22.572\u0026rsquo; N 42º 13.272\u0026rsquo; W\nToday has been back to back squalls. At one point we were getting 40Ah in from the wind generator, that was pretty exciting. The seas have picked up somewhat, so our Halcyon days may be over for a while. We also have wind more on the beam than I would like. That said, we are still eating (the last of our) fresh veg. So it\u0026rsquo;s not all gray.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-30-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 1º 22.572\u0026rsquo; N 42º 13.272\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday has been back to back squalls. At one point we were getting 40Ah in from the wind generator, that was pretty exciting. The seas have picked up somewhat, so our Halcyon days may be over for a while. We also have wind more on the beam than I would like. That said, we are still eating (the last of our) fresh veg. So it\u0026rsquo;s not all gray.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 30, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 2º 17.898\u0026rsquo; N 43º 13.188\u0026rsquo; W\nDarn has this ever been a gray and miserable day. We\u0026rsquo;ve been alternating between 3 and 7 knots as we pass from one squall to the next, and it\u0026rsquo;s been so dark that we need lights or headlamps for everything. This is the first passage I can remember that felt like time was dragging on. Oh well. We are still eating well, home made crackers and cookies so far today. When the motor is on, we listen to Hamilton at top volume and belt out all the lyrics we know.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-30-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 2º 17.898\u0026rsquo; N 43º 13.188\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDarn has this ever been a gray and miserable day. We\u0026rsquo;ve been alternating between 3 and 7 knots as we pass from one squall to the next, and it\u0026rsquo;s been so dark that we need lights or headlamps for everything. This is the first passage I can remember that felt like time was dragging on. Oh well. We are still eating well, home made crackers and cookies so far today. When the motor is on, we listen to Hamilton at top volume and belt out all the lyrics we know.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 30, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 0º 14.262\u0026rsquo; N 41º 2.4\u0026rsquo; W\nConvivia and her crew crossed the equator for the fourth time today. This time, in lockstep with Eva. We are almost exactly 500 nm due West from the mouth of the Amazon, and if the wind picks up as promised, we have 10 days of passage ahead.\nTonight we celebrated with cake and pizza (in that order). Every day out here is ideal, in its own way.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-29-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 0º 14.262\u0026rsquo; N 41º 2.4\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia and her crew crossed the equator for the fourth time today. This time, in lockstep with Eva. We are almost exactly 500 nm due West from the mouth of the Amazon, and if the wind picks up as promised, we have 10 days of passage ahead.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonight we celebrated with cake and pizza (in that order). Every day out here is ideal, in its own way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 29, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 1º 20.34\u0026rsquo; S 39º 6.18\u0026rsquo; W\nToday was a little bit of amazing. The wind was 10-15 knots from off our quarter, and the current was about 1knot from behind. Without the least bit of effort we managed a 144 mile day. To make a good day better, our friends on Eva crept up to within a few boat lengths for the day, and the kids experimented with sound and signs. At one point they swooped in and launched chocolate at us, FOR THE WIN!\nWe are racing towards the equator, and expect to cross for the fourth time tomorrow afternoon.\nAll is well!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-27-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 1º 20.34\u0026rsquo; S 39º 6.18\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday was a little bit of amazing. The wind was 10-15 knots from off our quarter, and the current was about 1knot from behind. Without the least bit of effort we managed a 144 mile day. To make a good day better, our friends on Eva crept up to within a few boat lengths for the day, and the kids experimented with sound and signs. At one point they swooped in and launched chocolate at us, FOR THE WIN!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 27, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 2º 53.142\u0026rsquo; S 36º 44.07\u0026rsquo; W\nOur last 24 hours have done its level best to tip our fun to suck ratio, and failed.\nWe have discovered a hole in our heat exchanger, which has rendered our fresh water cooled engine into a raw water cooled version.\nWe thought we had run out of water, a problem which was potentially exacerbated by low power and an inability to charge from the engine (18Ah from our 100Ah alternator). We found that the engine wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stop (morse cable first, then at all) and had to suffocate it. The secondary problem is solved, but I think the morse cable is corroded from the overflowing fresh water reservoir. Add to all of that a mysterious electrical failure when the boat lists heavily to starboard, and you may have reason to panic.\nI am happy to report that, after another mid-ocean major electrical refit, we are now pumping 60+Ah into the batteries, and have a fully functional electrical system. I have one little related project to complete in Martinique, but that should be easy with the right parts.\nOn the water side, it seems we have a vacuum compression on the intake side of the pump, that is causing our trouble. That can also be fixed in Martinique. So, as it stands, we are all set, and safe, and the sailing is blissful. Our friends on Eva are shadowing us, just in case, and we are headed to another paradise.\nIn other news, we had pizza for dinner, except really the only typical ingredient was mozzerella. Sauce was some left over arribetta, crust was super thin corn bread. The corn bread was made with egg substitute instead of eggs, GF flour instead of normal flour, pap instead of cornmeal, and powdered milk and vinegar instead of buttermilk. We called it pizza anyway and it was a win! We\u0026rsquo;re staring down the end of the \u0026ldquo;fresh\u0026rdquo; vegetables now but are happily digging into stashes of sauces and pickles and little treats in jars (sun dried tomatoes!).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-26-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 2º 53.142\u0026rsquo; S 36º 44.07\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOur last 24 hours have done its level best to tip our fun to suck ratio, and failed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have discovered a hole in our heat exchanger, which has rendered our fresh water cooled engine into a raw water cooled version.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe thought we had run out of water, a problem which was potentially exacerbated by low power and an inability to charge from the engine (18Ah from our 100Ah alternator). We found that the engine wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stop (morse cable first, then at all) and had to suffocate it. The secondary problem is solved, but I think the morse cable is corroded from the overflowing fresh water reservoir. Add to all of that a mysterious electrical failure when the boat lists heavily to starboard, and you may have reason to panic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 26, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 3º 49.92\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.498\u0026rsquo; W\nAbout to weigh anchor for Martinique. Despite our lack of actual tourism, Fernando de Naronha will be one of our favorite places we have ever been. Looking forward to 16 easy passagemaking days.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-24-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 49.92\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.498\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAbout to weigh anchor for Martinique. Despite our lack of actual tourism, Fernando de Naronha will be one of our favorite places we have ever been. Looking forward to 16 easy passagemaking days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 24, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 3º 49.908\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.492\u0026rsquo; W\nWith a tremendous amount of help from Claude and Jules on Eva, we managed to get our new rig up, and the outboard (which was submerged in a squall the other night) cleaned out. We are as provisioned up as we can be here, and ready to depart in the morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-24-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 49.908\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.492\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWith a tremendous amount of help from Claude and Jules on Eva, we managed to get our new rig up, and the outboard (which was submerged in a squall the other night) cleaned out. We are as provisioned up as we can be here, and ready to depart in the morning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 24, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 3º 50.058\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.018\u0026rsquo; W\nAlmost done at Fernando. We just checked out, but still need to finish repairing the rig. Probably leave tomorrow. Next stop, Martinique.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-22-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 50.058\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.018\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAlmost done at Fernando. We just checked out, but still need to finish repairing the rig. Probably leave tomorrow. Next stop, Martinique.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 22, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 3º 49.92\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.498\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are shipbound at Fernando de Naronha (waiting for parts in paradise). Because we are American, we are not allowed to get a Visa without visiting the Consulate in the USA. So we have spent our days playing with our friends on Eva, swimming, and watching the huge dolphin pods swim around and under Convivia. The geomorphology, water color, and weather are like a dream. Every morning I wake up and look out the port lights with gratitude.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-19-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 49.92\u0026rsquo; S 32º 24.498\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are shipbound at Fernando de Naronha (waiting for parts in paradise). Because we are American, we are not allowed to get a Visa without visiting the Consulate in the USA. So we have spent our days playing with our friends on Eva, swimming, and watching the huge dolphin pods swim around and under Convivia. The geomorphology, water color, and weather are like a dream. Every morning I wake up and look out the port lights with gratitude.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 19, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 3º 58.308\u0026rsquo; S 31º 39.552\u0026rsquo; W\nLovely wake up call this morning, \u0026ldquo;Dad, I just noticed the engine is overheating\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nThank god Ruby is sharp. We turned it off and found that without sails or engine, we were still drifting in the right direction at 3+ knots. It seems like our luck tends to balance itself out pretty immediately.\nI let the engine cool off a bit, had coffee and then tucked into the problem. The coolant water was murky (brown, black). Initially I thought maybe the oil cooler had leaked oil into it, then I remembered that that is hooked up to the raw water side, and now I\u0026rsquo;m just confused. I drained a bit out, and topped it off (running low on antifreeze now), and the engine has been running for hours, trouble free. Maybe we just sucked up a jellyfish into the raw water system. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to add that to the growing work list for Naronha.\nThe good news is that dad was able to get the parts ordered, they may arrive as soon as Wed. Stuck in paradise for five days. Rats.\nThe other good news is that Vick made an apple strudel with fresh whipped cream for breakfast.\nWe are looking good for a 5-6pm arrival.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-15-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 58.308\u0026rsquo; S 31º 39.552\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLovely wake up call this morning, \u0026ldquo;Dad, I just noticed the engine is overheating\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank god Ruby is sharp. We turned it off and found that without sails or engine, we were still drifting in the right direction at 3+ knots. It seems like our luck tends to balance itself out pretty immediately.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI let the engine cool off a bit, had coffee and then tucked into the problem. The coolant water was murky (brown, black). Initially I thought maybe the oil cooler had leaked oil into it, then I remembered that that is hooked up to the raw water side, and now I\u0026rsquo;m just confused. I drained a bit out, and topped it off (running low on antifreeze now), and the engine has been running for hours, trouble free. Maybe we just sucked up a jellyfish into the raw water system. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to add that to the growing work list for Naronha.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 15, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 4º 18.408\u0026rsquo; S 30º 5.088\u0026rsquo; W\nWe lost our lower shrouds today. This time it was due to the bolt that holds the tangs to the mast, breaking. The port shroud dropped immediately to the deck, and the starboard hung on by a few threads. Vick and I sprang into action, dropping sails and collecting the rigging. Next she sent me up the mast to recover the starboard shroud before we lost the end of that bolt (and any chance of getting a decent measurement). As I was going up, the shroud decided to come down. I was lucky enough to catch it, mid fall. We recovered all the pieces and my dad has new ones on order.\nWe are now motoring to Fernando de Naronha for refuge, and to await our shipment. We have plenty of fuel, and nobody is hurt. In fact we had haircuts, cookies, playful jumping dolphins, and butternut squash salad so\u0026hellip;.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-14-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 4º 18.408\u0026rsquo; S 30º 5.088\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe lost our lower shrouds today. This time it was due to the bolt that holds the tangs to the mast, breaking. The port shroud dropped immediately to the deck, and the starboard hung on by a few threads. Vick and I sprang into action, dropping sails and collecting the rigging. Next she sent me up the mast to recover the starboard shroud before we lost the end of that bolt (and any chance of getting a decent measurement). As I was going up, the shroud decided to come down. I was lucky enough to catch it, mid fall. We recovered all the pieces and my dad has new ones on order.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 14, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 5º 11.85\u0026rsquo; S 26º 53.88\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are 10 days out from St. Helena and have 16 days left to Martinique. We have tossed out quite a bit of our fresh veg due to rot, and the fridge is looking a little sparse. That said, we are still eating well and finding joy in our daily routine. The kids suffer minor bouts of craziness (expected), mostly when it\u0026rsquo;s time to do dishes ;P whoda thunk?\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-13-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 11.85\u0026rsquo; S 26º 53.88\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are 10 days out from St. Helena and have 16 days left to Martinique. We have tossed out quite a bit of our fresh veg due to rot, and the fridge is looking a little sparse. That said, we are still eating well and finding joy in our daily routine. The kids suffer minor bouts of craziness (expected), mostly when it\u0026rsquo;s time to do dishes ;P whoda thunk?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 13, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 5º 50.58\u0026rsquo; S 24º 27.06\u0026rsquo; W\nToday has been back to back squalls. We are reefed down and just riding them out. Sadly, the wind in the cell comes at 90° to the trades, so we are not making very good distance today. Yesterday we made 155 miles (our plan speed is 144). Still, we are happy enough, if a bit warm in this closed up cabin.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-12-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 50.58\u0026rsquo; S 24º 27.06\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday has been back to back squalls. We are reefed down and just riding them out. Sadly, the wind in the cell comes at 90° to the trades, so we are not making very good distance today. Yesterday we made 155 miles (our plan speed is 144). Still, we are happy enough, if a bit warm in this closed up cabin.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 12, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 6º 26.1\u0026rsquo; S 22º 9.198\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are having some really fantastic sailing today. Last night\u0026rsquo;s pizza was fantastic, and we are ripping along towards the site of the former ITCZ. it looks like there is a chance that we might be able to pass North while the ITCZ is absent. Fingers crossed.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-11-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 6º 26.1\u0026rsquo; S 22º 9.198\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are having some really fantastic sailing today. Last night\u0026rsquo;s pizza was fantastic, and we are ripping along towards the site of the former ITCZ. it looks like there is a chance that we might be able to pass North while the ITCZ is absent. Fingers crossed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 11, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 6º 41.742\u0026rsquo; S 20º 0.282\u0026rsquo; W\nLast night\u0026rsquo;s dinner turned out to be glorious chicken and slaw sandwiches. Ruby\u0026rsquo;s dough was used for focaccia instead of pizza (though we are having pizza tonight, I hear). And that was in turn made into sandwiches. For the non-GF non-cruiser set, this might sound under whelming, but I can assure you, there was much rejoicing on Convivia.\nToday we have been paraded by jumping fish. Hour after hour they jump. These are not the flying fish that we have become accustomed to, but large yummy looking fish. In related news, something really big bit right through my steel leader and stole my best lure today. Drat.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-10-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 6º 41.742\u0026rsquo; S 20º 0.282\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast night\u0026rsquo;s dinner turned out to be glorious chicken and slaw sandwiches. Ruby\u0026rsquo;s dough was used for focaccia instead of pizza (though we are having pizza tonight, I hear). And that was in turn made into sandwiches. For the non-GF non-cruiser set, this might sound under whelming, but I can assure you, there was much rejoicing on Convivia.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday we have been paraded by jumping fish. Hour after hour they jump. These are not the flying fish that we have become accustomed to, but large yummy looking fish. In related news, something really big bit right through my steel leader and stole my best lure today. Drat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 10, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 7º 7.47\u0026rsquo; S 17º 13.47\u0026rsquo; W\nThe kids have requested to make one meal a day for the family. Considering that Ruby\u0026rsquo;s chocolate chip cookies are the best GF cookies I\u0026rsquo;ve ever had, I think we can trust them to do a good job. Tonight, it seems, is pizza night.\nWe are making great progress towards Martinique, conditions are mild, sea is down and wind is stable (though other boats report lower wind speeds today). It is a great feeling to wake up at 3am and be excited for my watch, we are truly in passage making mode now!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-09-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 7º 7.47\u0026rsquo; S 17º 13.47\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe kids have requested to make one meal a day for the family. Considering that Ruby\u0026rsquo;s chocolate chip cookies are the best GF cookies I\u0026rsquo;ve ever had, I think we can trust them to do a good job. Tonight, it seems, is pizza night.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are making great progress towards Martinique, conditions are mild, sea is down and wind is stable (though other boats report lower wind speeds today). It is a great feeling to wake up at 3am and be excited for my watch, we are truly in passage making mode now!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 09, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 7º 47.01\u0026rsquo; S 14º 53.94\u0026rsquo; W\nWe approached Ascension as twilight broke and wrapped slowly around the northwest tip of the island and down to the Georgetown Anchorage. The conditions were mild, and it seemed that the swell we had been warned of had left the area. After talking with friends on Gaia, we decided to have a closer look, and found that the anchorage was untenable, given our limited time and needs.\nAfter a heartbreaking goodbye with our friends on Caminante (who we will likely next see by air) we aimed our bows for the Easternmost tip of S. America. Our intention is to find the thinnest part of the ITCZ to punch north into the Caribbean from. Once through we intend to continue directly to Martinique.\nDespite the sad goodbyes, and leaving a gorgeous remote island in our wake, undiscovered, we are all feeling good about maintaining our momentum, and getting that much closer to home. It\u0026rsquo;s looking like we will have all of May in the Caribbean, which is quite a bit longer than we had hoped for.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-08-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 7º 47.01\u0026rsquo; S 14º 53.94\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe approached Ascension as twilight broke and wrapped slowly around the northwest tip of the island and down to the Georgetown Anchorage. The conditions were mild, and it seemed that the swell we had been warned of had left the area. After talking with friends on Gaia, we decided to have a closer look, and found that the anchorage was untenable, given our limited time and needs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 08, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 9º 3.732\u0026rsquo; S 12º 47.802\u0026rsquo; W\nThe kids made cookie dough yesterday and stashed enough in the freezer that we can have 2 cookies each per week until Martinique. Another bird hit the boat last night, this time it disappeared before I could check on it. The Wha? It\u0026rsquo;s finally starting to feel tropical. Watches are in tee-shirts and undies, and I think I\u0026rsquo;ll make a batch of cold brew coffee today.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-07-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 9º 3.732\u0026rsquo; S 12º 47.802\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe kids made cookie dough yesterday and stashed enough in the freezer that we can have 2 cookies each per week until Martinique. Another bird hit the boat last night, this time it disappeared before I could check on it. The Wha? It\u0026rsquo;s finally starting to feel tropical. Watches are in tee-shirts and undies, and I think I\u0026rsquo;ll make a batch of cold brew coffee today.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 07, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 10º 56.76\u0026rsquo; S 11º 8.442\u0026rsquo; W\nMaking decent progress. Kids totally melted down yesterday, so much for sweet passage making mode.\nLast night on watch I got hit in the back of the head by a large seabird. That was pretty weird. It came to slowly and flew off after about an hour.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-06-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 10º 56.76\u0026rsquo; S 11º 8.442\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMaking decent progress. Kids totally melted down yesterday, so much for sweet passage making mode.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast night on watch I got hit in the back of the head by a large seabird. That was pretty weird. It came to slowly and flew off after about an hour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 06, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 12º 39.582\u0026rsquo; S 9º 17.202\u0026rsquo; W\nDay 2 was much like day 1. The conditions are very nearly ideal and we are making slower than normal but still good progress toward Ascension. It\u0026rsquo;s heartening that we are all slipping easily into cruising mode, given that we have 7000+ miles of it to do in the next two months.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-05-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 39.582\u0026rsquo; S 9º 17.202\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDay 2 was much like day 1. The conditions are very nearly ideal and we are making slower than normal but still good progress toward Ascension. It\u0026rsquo;s heartening that we are all slipping easily into cruising mode, given that we have 7000+ miles of it to do in the next two months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 05, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 13º 59.808\u0026rsquo; S 7º 44.802\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are on our way to Ascension Island. If everything goes according to plan we will be another 4 days at sea, then 3 days of rest before pushing onward for Martinique. The passage has been decent so far. The seas are a little lumpier than we had hoped for, but manageable, and the wind is constantly 15-20 knots from behind. The kids have settled into passage-making mode more quickly than usual, and are happy reading and doing other low key things (phew).\nThree of the kid boats in our fleet had their own \u0026ldquo;Kid\u0026rsquo;s Net\u0026rdquo; on the SSB/HAM radio this morning. I was pretty impressed with their effort!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-04-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 59.808\u0026rsquo; S 7º 44.802\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are on our way to Ascension Island. If everything goes according to plan we will be another 4 days at sea, then 3 days of rest before pushing onward for Martinique. The passage has been decent so far. The seas are a little lumpier than we had hoped for, but manageable, and the wind is constantly 15-20 knots from behind. The kids have settled into passage-making mode more quickly than usual, and are happy reading and doing other low key things (phew).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 04, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 15º 55.482\u0026rsquo; S 5º 43.488\u0026rsquo; W\nMoored in St Helena!\nUpon arrival we were greeted by the crews of no less than five boats who hopped right aboard for celebratory sundowners. Those who arrived before us report that this is a magical location, and our initial survey would lead us to concur. This most remote island is dramatic, to say the least and to be here with so many old friends will complete the package.\nAll is very much well.\np.s. I understand there is not much for internet here.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-22-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 15º 55.482\u0026rsquo; S 5º 43.488\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMoored in St Helena!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUpon arrival we were greeted by the crews of no less than five boats who hopped right aboard for celebratory sundowners. Those who arrived before us report that this is a magical location, and our initial survey would lead us to concur. This most remote island is dramatic, to say the least and to be here with so many old friends will complete the package.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 22, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 16º 6.18\u0026rsquo; S 4º 51.318\u0026rsquo; W\nLAND HO!\nVick spotted the faint outline of St Helena at 715GMT. We had 63 miles to go! It looks like we will make landfall just after sunset. I spotted a large turtle to port this morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-22-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 16º 6.18\u0026rsquo; S 4º 51.318\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLAND HO!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVick spotted the faint outline of St Helena at 715GMT. We had 63 miles to go! It looks like we will make landfall just after sunset. I spotted a large turtle to port this morning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 22, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 17º 0.852\u0026rsquo; S 2º 36.54\u0026rsquo; W\n@Raymarine we are hand steering. Truly wish the ST2000 that we paid so much for (less than a month ago) was working. :(\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-21-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 0.852\u0026rsquo; S 2º 36.54\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n@Raymarine we are hand steering. Truly wish the ST2000 that we paid so much for (less than a month ago) was working. :(\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 21, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 17º 2.148\u0026rsquo; S 2º 34.95\u0026rsquo; W\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been seriously overcast for two days and the batteries are showing it, so we had to turn the engine on this morning, just to top up. The wind has slacked off a bit too, so it works out just fine. A little boost to speed and power!\nThe kids are playing minecraft together and Vick and I are tearing through book after book. We expect to make landfall midday tomorrow.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-21-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 2.148\u0026rsquo; S 2º 34.95\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been seriously overcast for two days and the batteries are showing it, so we had to turn the engine on this morning, just to top up. The wind has slacked off a bit too, so it works out just fine. A little boost to speed and power!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kids are playing minecraft together and Vick and I are tearing through book after book. We expect to make landfall midday tomorrow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 21, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 17º 36.192\u0026rsquo; S 0º 45.708\u0026rsquo; W\nWe are in the Western Hemisphere!! The coconut oil is liquid and Vick reports that she did not wear shoes or socks for her pre-sunrise watch this morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-20-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 36.192\u0026rsquo; S 0º 45.708\u0026rsquo; W\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are in the Western Hemisphere!! The coconut oil is liquid and Vick reports that she did not wear shoes or socks for her pre-sunrise watch this morning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 20, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 19º 15.582\u0026rsquo; S 4º 4.392\u0026rsquo; E\nDay 5 and we are reveling in this rolling main. The sea is slight and orderly, the wind is constant the sun is out, and the reading and cuddling that we recall most warmly from our best passages are now the norm again. I could do this forever.\nOur little fleet is paced just about perfectly too. Our kid boat friends are making the same daily mileage, day after day, so we are staying fairly closely clustered. I expect them to arrive in St. Helen a within a day of us (if not less).\nPeregrine ( a day ahead) saw a pod of 7 humpback whales this morning. Our eyes are peeled for same!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-19-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 15.582\u0026rsquo; S 4º 4.392\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDay 5 and we are reveling in this rolling main. The sea is slight and orderly, the wind is constant the sun is out, and the reading and cuddling that we recall most warmly from our best passages are now the norm again. I could do this forever.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur little fleet is paced just about perfectly too. Our kid boat friends are making the same daily mileage, day after day, so we are staying fairly closely clustered. I expect them to arrive in St. Helen a within a day of us (if not less).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 19, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 19º 18.042\u0026rsquo; S 4º 13.212\u0026rsquo; E\nDay 4 and we are fully into the groove of this passage. The wind has been steady between 8-15 knots from the S to SE. We made 143 miles in the last 24hrs, not quite as good as day 1 but pretty much exactly what we budgeted in our planning. We just passed the half way point!\nThe kids are studying their US states. They were promised chocolate if they get them all right the first time. Vick finished reading Story of the World, and is now reading about the Oregon Trail. It\u0026rsquo;s funny how that brings back memories of my own education and of dying of dysentery in the Apple IIe game. Life is good!\nEverything that I have heard about this passage seems to be coming true. It is wonderful sailing, after day 2.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-18-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 18.042\u0026rsquo; S 4º 13.212\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDay 4 and we are fully into the groove of this passage. The wind has been steady between 8-15 knots from the S to SE. We made 143 miles in the last 24hrs, not quite as good as day 1 but pretty much exactly what we budgeted in our planning. We just passed the half way point!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kids are studying their US states. They were promised chocolate if they get them all right the first time. Vick finished reading Story of the World, and is now reading about the Oregon Trail. It\u0026rsquo;s funny how that brings back memories of my own education and of dying of dysentery in the Apple IIe game. Life is good!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 18, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 20º 4.332\u0026rsquo; S 6º 39.132\u0026rsquo; E\nThis is the stuff. The wind is just a little light (10 knots) but we are sailing well and the sea is super comfortable. The kids are reading their biographies (school work) and have finally chilled out enough to be allowed off their berths ;) Last night I watched Master and Commander for the first time and now I want to read the books. What a great way to gain perspective (we have it easy).\nLast night I saw a sea mammal that was bigger than any dolphin I have ever seen. Speculation in the fleet is that it might have been a pilot whale.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-17-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 4.332\u0026rsquo; S 6º 39.132\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis is the stuff. The wind is just a little light (10 knots) but we are sailing well and the sea is super comfortable. The kids are reading their biographies (school work) and have finally chilled out enough to be allowed off their berths ;) Last night I watched Master and Commander for the first time and now I want to read the books. What a great way to gain perspective (we have it easy).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 17, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 21º 28.26\u0026rsquo; S 11º 0.888\u0026rsquo; E\nThe weather has moderated finally and we are smooth sailing in 10-15 knots with 2m seas. The sun is out, and we are drying/airing out and fixing a few of the worst leaks.\nThe kids have been a bit nuts, so they are confined to quarters for the time being. Hopefully, by tomorrow, we will be back into our family cruising mode, where we are all happy and chill and cuddled up reading books together.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-16-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 28.26\u0026rsquo; S 11º 0.888\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe weather has moderated finally and we are smooth sailing in 10-15 knots with 2m seas. The sun is out, and we are drying/airing out and fixing a few of the worst leaks.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kids have been a bit nuts, so they are confined to quarters for the time being. Hopefully, by tomorrow, we will be back into our family cruising mode, where we are all happy and chill and cuddled up reading books together.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 16, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 21º 31.32\u0026rsquo; S 11º 6.882\u0026rsquo; E\nWell we didn\u0026rsquo;t get the send off we had hoped for from Africa, but after a very rough start we are starting to settle into what might be a nice passage. There has been a lot of water indoors and out which is a little disappointing since one of the major ingress points was a chainplate that I had just rebedded (oops). We are hopping for flatter seas and lower winds in the coming days, so we can dry out.\nSeas 3-4m, Wind 25-30. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-15-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 31.32\u0026rsquo; S 11º 6.882\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWell we didn\u0026rsquo;t get the send off we had hoped for from Africa, but after a very rough start we are starting to settle into what might be a nice passage. There has been a lot of water indoors and out which is a little disappointing since one of the major ingress points was a chainplate that I had just rebedded (oops). We are hopping for flatter seas and lower winds in the coming days, so we can dry out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 15, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 22º 57.024\u0026rsquo; S 14º 28.746\u0026rsquo; E\nAbout to weigh anchor for St Helena. Spirits are high aboard Convivia. Looks like ideal weather!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-14-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 22º 57.024\u0026rsquo; S 14º 28.746\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAbout to weigh anchor for St Helena. Spirits are high aboard Convivia. Looks like ideal weather!\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 14, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 22º 57.03\u0026rsquo; S 14º 28.752\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Walvis Bay. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-06-2017-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 22º 57.03\u0026rsquo; S 14º 28.752\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Walvis Bay. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 06, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 23º 43.098\u0026rsquo; S 13º 43.08\u0026rsquo; E\nThe last 24hrs have been uneventful. Fairly smooth downwind sailing in 20-25 knots. The wind has lessened now and we are looking at a late night arrival in Walvis Bay tonight. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-06-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 23º 43.098\u0026rsquo; S 13º 43.08\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe last 24hrs have been uneventful. Fairly smooth downwind sailing in 20-25 knots. The wind has lessened now and we are looking at a late night arrival in Walvis Bay tonight. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 06, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 26º 30.312\u0026rsquo; S 15º 1.812\u0026rsquo; E\nConvivia is outbound to Walvis Bay. A typically blustery start promises a quick passage!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-05-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 30.312\u0026rsquo; S 15º 1.812\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nConvivia is outbound to Walvis Bay. A typically blustery start promises a quick passage!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 05, 2017"},{"content":"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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/kolmanskop-ghost-town/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kolmanskop - Ghost Town"},{"content":"Here are a few of the things that we saw when the fog cleared on our newest anchorage. More to come\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/namibia-a-tease/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere are a few of the things that we saw when the fog cleared on our newest anchorage. More to come\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Namibia: A Tease"},{"content":"Position: 26º 38.37\u0026rsquo; S 15º 9.456\u0026rsquo; E\nSafe and sound on a mooring in Luderitz. Easiest check in since Malaysia. The town is surrounded by desert and it seems constant attention must be paid to keep the desert from taking it back. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-02-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 38.37\u0026rsquo; S 15º 9.456\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSafe and sound on a mooring in Luderitz. Easiest check in since Malaysia. The town is surrounded by desert and it seems constant attention must be paid to keep the desert from taking it back. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 02, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 27º 32.85\u0026rsquo; S 15º 6.222\u0026rsquo; E\nI can\u0026rsquo;t get over this fog. Yesterday it cleared to somewhere nearer the coast, but it still cast a grey over the day. The wind was unusable for much of the day as well, so we motored in windless overcast, in order to make water and progress.\nThat said, it was a pretty pleasant day. We read Story of the World and Ruby made a roasted potato dinner with bacon (yum). The tiller pilot took care of the tedious work of steering and we enjoyed the relatively flat seas.\nWe expect to arrive in Luderitz late tonight, depending on the wind.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-march-01-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 27º 32.85\u0026rsquo; S 15º 6.222\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI can\u0026rsquo;t get over this fog. Yesterday it cleared to somewhere nearer the coast, but it still cast a grey over the day. The wind was unusable for much of the day as well, so we motored in windless overcast, in order to make water and progress.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, it was a pretty pleasant day. We read Story of the World and Ruby made a roasted potato dinner with bacon (yum). The tiller pilot took care of the tedious work of steering and we enjoyed the relatively flat seas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: March 01, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 31º 35.22\u0026rsquo; S 17º 17.028\u0026rsquo; E\nIt has been a great day \u0026amp; night of sailing. The wind speed dipped to 6 knots last night, but Convivia was determined to keep sailing. She managed 4 knots throughout the lull. The new tiller pilot made all the difference.\nI think I have developed the opinion that a night watch without dolphins breathing close by and shooting stars, is not a real night watch. Lucky for me, last night was real.\nThis stretch of coast is foggy and cold. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-february-28-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 31º 35.22\u0026rsquo; S 17º 17.028\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIt has been a great day \u0026amp; night of sailing. The wind speed dipped to 6 knots last night, but Convivia was determined to keep sailing. She managed 4 knots throughout the lull. The new tiller pilot made all the difference.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI think I have developed the opinion that a night watch without dolphins breathing close by and shooting stars, is not a real night watch. Lucky for me, last night was real.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: February 28, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 31º 36.0\u0026rsquo; S 17º 17.082\u0026rsquo; E\nOur first 24 hours was fast. We averaged 8 knots in a gale with 3m seas. As big and fast as it was, we were well acclimatized to the conditions and for the first time in months, it was behind us. We were accompanied by scores of dolphins and saw our first albatross.\nToday the conditions have mellowed and we are grooving along on 10-15 knots in 1-2m seas. It\u0026rsquo;s pretty ideal. To make matters rosier, it\u0026rsquo;s warmed up considerably (though Vick is still bundled up). Somewhere in the afternoon yesterday it hit me how exciting this next few months will be. We are coming home!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-february-27-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 31º 36.0\u0026rsquo; S 17º 17.082\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOur first 24 hours was fast. We averaged 8 knots in a gale with 3m seas. As big and fast as it was, we were well acclimatized to the conditions and for the first time in months, it was behind us. We were accompanied by scores of dolphins and saw our first albatross.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday the conditions have mellowed and we are grooving along on 10-15 knots in 1-2m seas. It\u0026rsquo;s pretty ideal. To make matters rosier, it\u0026rsquo;s warmed up considerably (though Vick is still bundled up). Somewhere in the afternoon yesterday it hit me how exciting this next few months will be. We are coming home!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: February 27, 2017"},{"content":"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, and then it seemed like every second or third night, someone was getting inked.\nWe only have a few days left here, but the queue is still forming. It\u0026rsquo;s been gratifying to see my skill improve (marginally perhaps) and to share in the incredible bond of trust and openness that this ritual engenders. Huge gratitude to these special people who have shared their skin and trusted themselves to mark mine! \u0026lt;3\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/a-month-for-tattoos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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, and then it seemed like every second or third night, someone was getting inked.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe only have a few days left here, but the queue is still forming. It\u0026rsquo;s been gratifying to see my skill improve (marginally perhaps) and to share in the incredible bond of trust and openness that this ritual engenders.  Huge gratitude to these special people who have shared their skin and trusted themselves to mark mine! \u0026lt;3\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Month for Tattoos"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/seakids/seakids-s01e01/","summary":"","title":"SeaKids: S01E01"},{"content":"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 (probably 30-40 knots) and kids and adults all enjoyed it\u0026rsquo;s strength without having to worry about the consequences (save for one lost hat). We finished the day with a fantastic Indian food picnic with a view of the bay and surrounding mountains.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/hout-bay-field-trip/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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 (probably 30-40 knots) and kids and adults all enjoyed it\u0026rsquo;s strength without having to worry about the consequences (save for one lost hat).  We finished the day with a fantastic Indian food picnic with a view of the bay and surrounding mountains.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hout Bay Field Trip"},{"content":"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.\nVick and I take advantage of this new freedom to explore the town\u0026rsquo;s coffee shops and cafes. In the evening, we go to one of the neighbor\u0026rsquo;s boats for sundowners, tattoos, or an impromptu party. Life is sure enough good!\nCape Town reminds me of San Francisco, or what San Francisco would be if it wasn\u0026rsquo;t so convinced that it was the last best place on the planet. People here are engaging and welcoming, the natural beauty is astonishing. If we aren\u0026rsquo;t being taken out to a concert, we are at the top of a mountain looking at the sea on three sides and more mountains on the other. Or perhaps Vick and I are chowing the most amazing Mexican food we have had since La Cruz ( a meal so good, I emailed the management afterwards).\nThese events and scenes, as well as the incredible outpouring of hospitality and care from our friends (old and new), have cemented Cape Town as a place our hearts will yearn to return to.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/cape-town/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVick and I take advantage of this new freedom to explore the town\u0026rsquo;s coffee shops and cafes. In the evening, we go to one of the neighbor\u0026rsquo;s boats for sundowners, tattoos, or an impromptu party. Life is sure enough good!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cape Town"},{"content":"https://vimeo.com/203095918\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/sunrise-hike-to-wallys-cave/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://vimeo.com/203095918\"\u003ehttps://vimeo.com/203095918\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sunrise Hike to Wally's Cave"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/jeremy-loops-kirstenbosch/","summary":"","title":"Jeremy Loops @ Kirstenbosch"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/globe/","summary":"","title":"Globe"},{"content":"Position: 33º 54.498\u0026rsquo; S 18º 25.098\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived at V\u0026amp;A waterfront marina. We are so happy to be here that we keep looking at each other with enormous grins on our faces. I think Cape Town might give San Francisco a run for it\u0026rsquo;s money. As if that weren\u0026rsquo;t enough we already have dinner invites for Monday and Tuesday night, this might be a busy social stop!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-23-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 33º 54.498\u0026rsquo; S 18º 25.098\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived at V\u0026amp;A waterfront marina. We are so happy to be here that we keep looking at each other with enormous grins on our faces. I think Cape Town might give San Francisco a run for it\u0026rsquo;s money. As if that weren\u0026rsquo;t enough we already have dinner invites for Monday and Tuesday night, this might be a busy social stop!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 23, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 34º 52.14\u0026rsquo; S 19º 58.398\u0026rsquo; E\nDawn is breaking as we approach Cape Aguhlas (the Southernmost tip of Africa). As the nascent sun starts to burn away the crisp chill of the night, it dawns on me that our long hard southing is soon behind us.\nThis ocean has been demanding for sure and (as promised) it has also been proportionally rewarding. The next 7000 miles will all be north.\nWith elation, I realize that I will soon find the answer to that question my teenage self posed, sitting on a breakwater in Newport Rhode Island, \u0026ldquo;I wonder what it would be like to sail across that ocean. What is out there?\u0026rdquo;\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-22-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 34º 52.14\u0026rsquo; S 19º 58.398\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDawn is breaking as we approach Cape Aguhlas (the Southernmost tip of Africa). As the nascent sun starts to burn away the crisp chill of the night, it dawns on me that our long hard southing is soon behind us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis ocean has been demanding for sure and (as promised) it has also been proportionally rewarding. The next 7000 miles will all be north.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 22, 2017"},{"content":"The Indian Ocean is not my favorite ocean!\nPerhaps 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 \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s just what we do [for each other].\u0026rdquo; We\u0026rsquo;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, \u0026ldquo;The Indian is rewarding.\u0026rdquo;\nThe damage: Thing that Broke Cause Solution Strap toggle Fatigue broken, jury rigged, replaced (thanks Trevor \u0026amp; Gustaf) Monitor control line Chafe respliced/replaced Lazy jacks UV broken, repaired, broken, repaired North Sails Sail cover poor design/UV planning replacement Standard Horizon VHF totally dead replaced in Durban Shakespeare VHF antenna poor reception waiting for replacement Dinghy thwart for mast on Fatty snapped under pressure waiting for replacement Full River Batteries 1/2 totally dead, removed from system, replaced in Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay Raymarine Anemometer pretty broken rewired and epoxied back together (for the second time), reads wind direction Honda generator dead but not removed from the lazarette (Tucker!?!) Toilet one totally broken replaced in Durban Toilet reduction fitting broke during maintenance Gustaf, you are my freaking hero for welding us a new one Harken Profurl M3 Furler top of cage broken replaced with homemade substitute (also cage dropped into the sea and retrieved after an extensive SCUBA search, thanks again Gustaf you legend) Aeropress broken, second Aeropress overboard, third Aeropress broken ordered two new ones (of course) Glasses, lime squeezer, muffin pan broken, corroded and rusted through Drawer handle on one drawer smashed to pieces, massive bruise on my ass Hela Fans broken or pretty well worn out (god damn these fans) replaced with Caframo Flip flops approximately 10 pairs walked through or broken Favorite Keen sneakers worn through tossed in the trash at the end of a hike Clothing outgrown, stained, ripped and patched (100% of Olive\u0026rsquo;, less so for the rest of us) Engine overheating problem Kinked hose, \u0026amp; heat exchanger cleaning, also overhauled the impeller pump fixed (Gustaf again, seriously, this guy\u0026rsquo;s hands are in that picture because his hands are in EVERYTHING) Weather cloth ripped, ripped again patched and reinstalled Engine off switch (morse cable) seized repaired (thanks Gustaf for your help!) Monitor hinge broken welded and spare made in Phuket Lewmar Windlass broken and repaired electrical problem (Trevor, you climbed into my anchor locker and called it \u0026ldquo;spacious\u0026rdquo;) Windlass fire in Imtra solenoid replaced with spare International \u0026ldquo;Perfection\u0026rdquo; (I beg to differ) Paint scratched like crazy in a couple spots Slug on mainsail ripped out resewn Baja filter overboard (oops) Kitchen scissors overboard (MILES!!!) replaced Ruby\u0026rsquo;s favorite Adidas skirt overboard (78 knot gust, after she handwashed her own laundry) will be replaced A couple of jerry cans cracked, taped together trashed Raymarine Autopilot totally dead, hand steering now if we have to motor (what is it with this company?) awaiting replacement Snubbers broken, broken, broken, broken replaced Pillow overboard (possibly sabotage) replaced iPad chargers Dead replaced REI backpack zipper corroded, cut the flashlight out (lifetime warranty means nothing out here) T9 Outdoor Research rain coat that I LOVE, side zips corroded, front zip barely works T9 The book Hatchet Survival story, didn\u0026rsquo;t survive the wetness in Olive\u0026rsquo; berth (Sorry Gwynn but I promise no less than four people read it on two boats and two book reports were based on it) Three insulated water bottles (2 Hydroflask, 1 Swell) rusted trashed Teeth one grown up tooth broken (Olive, due to Ruby), one baby tooth broken (Ruby, due to Ruby) Engine dry exhaust rusted through again, black soot everywhere replaced in Mossel Bay Engine starter failed replaced, but in the meantime I learned how to hot wire a boat ;) iNavX All the things; from not being able to delete a waypoint from a route, to the NMEA disconnecting every 5 minutes (This program went from rock solid to a buggy pain in the ass in the span of 4 months. I\u0026rsquo;ve got words…) Looking at other options This is just my top of my head list, there must be more. My recommendation to future sailors: buy everything you need to get around the world and return back home in just under three years. Everything will be within warranty and you will have arrived in the nick of time before it all wears out. Alternately we can remember what Robin Lee Graham said, \u0026ldquo;At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.\u0026rdquo;\nStay tuned for the follow-up, \u0026ldquo;What Survived\u0026rdquo; Editorial note: This list was (of course) complied by Vick. The ultimate keeper of lists. The little parentheticals are mine (Tucker) ultimate keeper of snide and compliments!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/not-my-favorite-ocean/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Indian Ocean is not my favorite ocean!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePerhaps 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 \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s just what we do [for each other].\u0026rdquo; We\u0026rsquo;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 \u003ca href=\"http://maiaaboard.blogspot.com\"\u003eDiane\u003c/a\u003e told me a year ago, \u0026ldquo;The Indian is rewarding.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Not My Favorite Ocean"},{"content":"Position: 34º 10.602\u0026rsquo; S 22º 8.502\u0026rsquo; E\nSafe and sound in Mossel Bay. The difference between this town and Durban is like the difference between Nantucket and Detroit. The Yacht Club manager welcomed us with open arms and a card already in her hand. We were told that it was the safest beach in South Africa (the great whites are apparently well fed on the nearby seals, so they don\u0026rsquo;t bother people) and the town is safe to walk around.\nWe are here with Caminante and Yemaya, so there is no shortage of kids to play with. The kids have made me promise to DM their D\u0026amp;D adventure today, and I reckon there will be a parental party afterwards.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-19-2017-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 34º 10.602\u0026rsquo; S 22º 8.502\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSafe and sound in Mossel Bay. The difference between this town and Durban is like the difference between Nantucket and Detroit. The Yacht Club manager welcomed us with open arms and a card already in her hand. We were told that it was the safest beach in South Africa (the great whites are apparently well fed on the nearby seals, so they don\u0026rsquo;t bother people) and the town is safe to walk around.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 19, 2017"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m tucked into the corner of the settee, wedged in with seven pillows so I don\u0026rsquo;t move and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to support my own body. The bucket is next to me but I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t want to move much so the pillows and the settee and my down vest get wetter and wetter.\nI get up because a wave has broken over the galley hatch. This is the day that the sea hood we never built was meant for. The leading edge is filled with absorbent cloths, but this wave sneaks up under the side rails and pours over the galley counter, into all of the dishes, and onto the floor. I find more towels and wipe up the wet as much as possible.\nThe forward hatch has dripped enough to soak my side of the bed. I won\u0026rsquo;t be sleeping there for a couple nights so I put a couple towels in the water\u0026rsquo;s path. My latest embroidery project is wet. I toss it aside too and later remember that the needle and the hoop screw will likely be rusty when I go back to it.\nI drift to sleep but a loud crash wakes me. The galley cabinet has sprung open and there are projectiles. A new bottle of grenadine (the delicious sugary syrup from Madagascar without a long list of artificial ingredients) sriracha, and a gluten free soy sauce have jumped over their bungee cords and crashed to the floor and exploded. I use some salty wet towels to soak up the mess and tape the door shut. Tucker later finds a thousand ants in a place I\u0026rsquo;ve missed.\nLunch was a single package of crackers shared between all of us. I\u0026rsquo;ve been staring at the bottom of the stove all day, as our heel angle is rather steep. I watch for a while and declare that I can\u0026rsquo;t make dinner. I\u0026rsquo;ve pre soaked beans and pre diced onions, and I was planning my simplest beans in rice in one pot, yet I don\u0026rsquo;t think I can keep the pot on the stove nor my body from flying across the cabin. I dig out a secret jar of smooth sugary Yum Yum peanut butter and four spoons and declare dinner served. Olive cheers.\nI brace myself and brush my teeth and go to bed. Tucker has taken all the watches today. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have the energy to tell him I\u0026rsquo;m happy to take all of the noontime Equatorial watches in a couple months in trade.\nWhen I wake up for my night watch the wind has shifted as predicted, the wind and the waves are behind us, and it\u0026rsquo;s comfortable again. I\u0026rsquo;m wearing wool socks, pants, a t shirt, and two wool shirts already. I layer on Tucker\u0026rsquo;s down vest, my down vest, my insulated shell, a wool hat, warm boots, my foulie pants, my foulie jacket, a head lamp, and my PFD. I can barely move my arms enough to clip into my tether and reach my arms above me to the grab bar on the dodger.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s cold and crisp. The moon, though waning, is lighting up the sky. We\u0026rsquo;re sailing west again now and the Southern Hemisphere stars are familiar. The southern cross is low on my portside and Orion is on my starboard. Is it because of our latitude, or because it is summer now, but isn\u0026rsquo;t Orion usually a little behind us, above the starboard side stern pulpit? I double check that we\u0026rsquo;re on course. I don\u0026rsquo;t think the stars have ever appeared brighter. My empty stomach is settled, I drink rooibos tea to keep my hands warm, I grab my iPad for some silent midnight magazine reading. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/all-is-well/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m tucked into the corner of the settee, wedged in with seven pillows so I don\u0026rsquo;t move and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to support my own body. The bucket is next to me but I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t want to move much so the pillows and the settee and my down vest get wetter and wetter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"All Is Well"},{"content":"Position: 34º 16.2\u0026rsquo; S 24º 29.298\u0026rsquo; E\nBbbrrrr. It\u0026rsquo;s cold down here. The air is crisp and clean and today we were blessed with blue skies and a tail wind. Looking to port, the next land we could see is Antarctica, just 3000km to the south.\nWe are passing the time listening to the Hamilton soundtrack and napping. This stretch has been fast, and we expect to be in Mossel Bay by mid morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-18-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 34º 16.2\u0026rsquo; S 24º 29.298\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBbbrrrr. It\u0026rsquo;s cold down here. The air is crisp and clean and today we were blessed with blue skies and a tail wind. Looking to port, the next land we could see is Antarctica, just 3000km to the south.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are passing the time listening to the Hamilton soundtrack and napping. This stretch has been fast, and we expect to be in Mossel Bay by mid morning.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 18, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 33º 44.1\u0026rsquo; S 27º 4.002\u0026rsquo; E\n(these didn\u0026rsquo;t post initially, including for completeness)\nOur first 8hrs out of East London gave us 60 nautical miles good. This coast may be brutal, but at least it\u0026rsquo;s fast.\nWhile the rest of the family was taking a day off (seasickness abounds) I was smiling like a kid on a sailboat. Vick said if there was a Kinsey scale for sailors, I would be a perfect 6. I think she might be right!\nI saw a new type of marine mammal today. It was like a large dolphin but with a completely round nose. It was a dark gray (almost black). I wonder what that was?\nAt sunset we cracked off a bit and the wind dropped below 20 knots, I think it will get gradually more comfortable for the next 12 or so hours. If the 35 knots doesn\u0026rsquo;t come all the way to the coast, we should have pretty nice ride to Mossel Bay even.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-17-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 33º 44.1\u0026rsquo; S 27º 4.002\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n(these didn\u0026rsquo;t post initially, including for completeness)\u003cbr\u003e\nOur first 8hrs out of East London gave us 60 nautical miles good. This coast may be brutal, but at least it\u0026rsquo;s fast.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile the rest of the family was taking a day off (seasickness abounds) I was smiling like a kid on a sailboat. Vick said if there was a Kinsey scale for sailors, I would be a perfect 6. I think she might be right!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 17, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 33º 1.002\u0026rsquo; S 27º 52.998\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived safe and sound in East London. This was our fastest 24 hours ever at 254 miles (just over 10knots average). It wasn\u0026rsquo;t the most comfortable, and there was a bit of motoring involved but we are past the Wild Coast and looking forward to leaving for Port Elizabeth on Monday morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-14-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 33º 1.002\u0026rsquo; S 27º 52.998\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived safe and sound in East London. This was our fastest 24 hours ever at 254 miles (just over 10knots average). It wasn\u0026rsquo;t the most comfortable, and there was a bit of motoring involved but we are past the Wild Coast and looking forward to leaving for Port Elizabeth on Monday morning.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 14, 2017"},{"content":"Position: 29º 51.798\u0026rsquo; S 31º 1.422\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are looking forward to heading South tomorrow. The weather window looks good and, if we are lucky, we might be able to push all the way through to Cape Town. This next stretch of coast is called the Wild Coast, and has a reputation for bad behavior. Here\u0026rsquo;s hoping we found the mild wild window.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-january-12-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 29º 51.798\u0026rsquo; S 31º 1.422\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are looking forward to heading South tomorrow. The weather window looks good and, if we are lucky, we might be able to push all the way through to Cape Town. This next stretch of coast is called the Wild Coast, and has a reputation for bad behavior. Here\u0026rsquo;s hoping we found the mild wild window.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: January 12, 2017"},{"content":"Here\u0026rsquo;s a short but fantastic video done by the same guy that did New Year\u0026rsquo;s Ink\nAudio Credit: Ehrling\nVideo Credit: Wayne Willis\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/sani-pass-short-video/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere\u0026rsquo;s a short but fantastic video done by the \u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/user20261917\"\u003esame guy\u003c/a\u003e that did \u003ca href=\"/articles/2017/01/03/new-years-ink\"\u003eNew Year\u0026rsquo;s Ink\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAudio Credit: \u003ca href=\"https://soundcloud.com/ehrling\"\u003eEhrling\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVideo Credit: \u003ca href=\"http://vimeo.com/user20261917\"\u003eWayne Willis\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sani Pass: Short Video"},{"content":"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.\nOn New Year\u0026rsquo;s Eve we met Wayne, Robyn, Steve, and Mandy and invited them over to Convivia for a little celebration. They showed up with the 3am Delos tattoo party, and before they left had invited to take all seven of us up the Sani Pass to Lesotho. This pass is listed on Dangerous Roads dot com (let that name sink in for a sec) where they make special note of the carcass of 4x4s that didn\u0026rsquo;t make it, littering the ravine below. Vick was just elated by the proposal (sarcasm).\nThe trip up was fantastic, and I\u0026rsquo;ll let the photo\u0026rsquo;s do the story telling because it was all about the views. We were well prepared to be amazed by the rugged mountains and stunning views (which it turns out are uncommon due to clouds), but the unexpected joy of the trip was the easy camaraderie we forged with our generous hosts. From the early introduction to Old Brown, to our late night game of Fines Commission I felt like I had experienced an authentic taste of South Africa.\nOn the way back, I was treated to another unexpected gift. Out in the Midlands Meander, I was introduced to a coffee shop so good it could have been plucked right from the heart of San Francisco. Michael, the proprietor, seemed to recognize me as kin and his first words to me were \u0026ldquo;We changed the brew profile since then (pointing at the chalkboard), it\u0026rsquo;s 26s 18g 40ml now.\u0026rdquo; We bonded over travel, process and pour, and within minutes I was following him into his roasting facility to geek out over green beans. I left with a new friend and enough beans to get us back to the States.\nAs with almost every experience we have had on this trip, I feel like the interpersonal element is what anchors the breathtaking views, and unbelievable places. These friendships help delineate the thousands of miles into memorable vignettes.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/sani-pass-dangerous-road-stunning-vista/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne 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 \u003ca href=\"/articles/2016/04/28/panen-raya-harvest-time\"\u003elevel up our experience\u003c/a\u003e by showing us their favorite places.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn New Year\u0026rsquo;s Eve we met Wayne, Robyn, Steve, and Mandy and invited them over to Convivia for a little celebration. They showed up with the \u003ca href=\"/articles/2017/01/03/new-years-ink\"\u003e3am Delos tattoo party\u003c/a\u003e, and before they left had invited to take  all seven of us up the Sani Pass to Lesotho. This pass is listed on \u003ca href=\"http://www.dangerousroads.org/africa/south-africa/559-sani-pass-lesotho.html\"\u003eDangerous Roads dot com\u003c/a\u003e (let that name sink in for a sec) where they make special note of the carcass of 4x4s that didn\u0026rsquo;t make it, littering the ravine below. Vick was just elated by the proposal (sarcasm).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sani Pass—Dangerous Road; Stunning Vista"},{"content":"The tradition of [European] sailors tattooing each other dates back to the 1700s when Captain Cook\u0026rsquo;s crew picked up the practice from the Polynesians. Since then, countless sailors have followed in their intrepid wake. I have chronicled some of my own experiences here, and here, but haven\u0026rsquo;t spoken much about how we adopted this tradition or how it has evolved in our cruising community.\nIt started simply enough, with a proper anchor tattoo (Rocna), exchanged with a good friend on a buddy boat. In Johor Bahru, another sailor opted in, and since then, many more of our sailing buddies have asked (in spite of my strong disclaimer that I am not a professional) to exchange or receive tattoos. It\u0026rsquo;s become a bit of a thing.\nWhich is all just a rambling backstory introduction to how it came to pass that, on New Year\u0026rsquo;s Day, at approximately 3am, I found myself, machine in hand, poised to sink some ink into my man Brady. Vick and I had been sound asleep, when we heard \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m gonna wake those F\u0026amp;#*@ers up!\u0026rdquo; I had just barely enough time to get into my underwear before Brady came through the hatch.\nThere were exactly zero moments of contemplation between that event and my inviting all seven of them in to do the obvious first act of the new year. Lucky for us, Wayne Willis was there to capture the whole thing as it unfolded. May I now present to you, the first day of 2017, from our perspective.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/new-years-ink/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe tradition of [European] sailors tattooing each other dates back to the 1700s when Captain Cook\u0026rsquo;s crew picked up the practice from the Polynesians. Since then, countless sailors have followed in their intrepid wake. I have chronicled some of my own experiences \u003ca href=\"/articles/2013/12/24/octopus-tattoo\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"/articles/2015/03/16/coyote-the-trickster\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e, but haven\u0026rsquo;t spoken much about how we adopted this tradition or how it has evolved in our cruising community.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt started simply enough, with a proper anchor tattoo (Rocna), exchanged with a good friend on a buddy boat. In Johor Bahru, another sailor opted in, and since then, many more of our sailing buddies have asked (in spite of my strong disclaimer that I am not a professional) to exchange or receive tattoos. It\u0026rsquo;s become a bit of a thing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Year's Ink"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;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 because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.\u0026rdquo; —Henry David Thoreau\nYou cannot come to South Africa and not go to a game park. That much was clear. Unfortunately our driver\u0026rsquo;s licences had expired, so the cheap option was off the table. After some deliberation, we hired a guide and it turned out to be a fantastic choice. Throughout the 14.5 hrs we spent with Sibo, we saw:\nWhitefaced duck Kudu White Rhinoceros Giraffe Zebra Impala Dragonfly Vervet Monkey Christmas Beetle African Buffalo Butterfly Nyala Waterbuck (bird) Hammerhead (bird) Pintail Whydah Warthog White-backed vulture Wildebeest Wooly-necked stork Baboons Gosshawk Elephant I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure we would not have seen half of that without Sibo\u0026rsquo;s help, and he provided some fascinating cultural insights as we drove up and back as well.\nIn addition to the amazing scenery and wildlife, we re-learned an important life lesson about the value of tenacity. We had been looking for an elephant for the last two hours of our safari. We asked every guide and ranger we passed, and tore around the park on hints and speculation. Finally we had to make our way home. When we passed the entrance lodge, I had given up hope. I was starting to write a Facebook post when Vick yelled \u0026ldquo;STOP ELEPHANT!\u0026rdquo; and there it was, grazing by the side of the road, just meters from the exit gate. Never give up!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/hluhluwe-umfolozi-game-park/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"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-because-unfathomable-we-can-never-have-enough-of-nature\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;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 because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e—Henry David Thoreau\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou cannot come to South Africa and not go to a game park. That much was clear. Unfortunately our driver\u0026rsquo;s licences had expired, so the cheap option was off the table. After some deliberation, we hired a guide and it turned out to be a fantastic choice.  Throughout the 14.5 hrs we spent with Sibo, we saw:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Park"},{"content":"Position: 29º 51.822\u0026rsquo; S 31º 1.422\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Durban after the worst single night passage ever. Lucky for us, nothing broke and we are all happy to be here. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend Christmas and New Years in Durban with our friends, and then continue on to Cape Town and beyond.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-december-12-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 29º 51.822\u0026rsquo; S 31º 1.422\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Durban after the worst single night passage ever. Lucky for us, nothing broke and we are all happy to be here. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend Christmas and New Years in Durban with our friends, and then continue on to Cape Town and beyond.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: December 12, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 28º 47.688\u0026rsquo; S 32º 4.71\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are in Richards Bay, South Africa. I\u0026rsquo;ve been dreaming about this country since college and it seems fitting that we arrived here on the edge of a gale and on the very same day (4 years later) as we arrived in Brisbane.\nEveryone is excited to see their friends and get some ice cream.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-december-05-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 28º 47.688\u0026rsquo; S 32º 4.71\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are in Richards Bay, South Africa. I\u0026rsquo;ve been dreaming about this country since college and it seems fitting that we arrived here on the edge of a gale and on the very same day (4 years later) as we arrived in Brisbane.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone is excited to see their friends and get some ice cream.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: December 05, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 27º 33.558\u0026rsquo; S 33º 0.42\u0026rsquo; E\nWe had a really peaceful night and a fast first day. We are right on schedule.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-december-05-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 27º 33.558\u0026rsquo; S 33º 0.42\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had a really peaceful night and a fast first day. We are right on schedule.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: December 05, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 26º 2.832\u0026rsquo; S 33º 23.1\u0026rsquo; E\nHip hip hooray, we are underway, to Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-december-05-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 2.832\u0026rsquo; S 33º 23.1\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nHip hip hooray, we are underway, to Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: December 05, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 26º 0.882\u0026rsquo; S 32º 53.748\u0026rsquo; E\nWe decided that today\u0026rsquo;s weather window was too tight and the consequences too high, so we are waiting for the next one.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-23-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 0.882\u0026rsquo; S 32º 53.748\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe decided that today\u0026rsquo;s weather window was too tight and the consequences too high, so we are waiting for the next one.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 23, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 26º 0.882\u0026rsquo; S 32º 53.748\u0026rsquo; E\nSummers in Round Pond, looking out over Muscongus Sound, I imagined the world as fictitiously vast. My horizon was bounded tightly by Loud\u0026rsquo;s Island to the East, and New Harbor to the South. Once, when my father took me on an overnight sail to Boothbay Harbor, I was fairly confident that we had reached the edge of the known nautical world. It was an adventure, first class.\nAt the time, I was fully aware of the limitations of my perspective but, in that way of all children, I could not comprehend any other scope as real-real. The knowledge that there were continents and oceans beyond my horizon was as a fiction, and as with other children, fiction and reality seemed to have a permeable boundary.\nFast forward to last night. Vick and I were enjoying a rare margarita, unwinding after a long few weeks. Our conversation turned to the end of our adventure. Coming into Boston Harbor, then the passage up to Portland and on to Round Pond. I drew, unintentionally, on my childhood perspective and imagined weeks long duration. Then I broke out the chart plotter and found, to my amazement that Boston to Portland is 100nm (just under 24hrs of sailing) and Portland to Round Pond is 47nm, an easy day sail. PORTLAND TO ROUND POND is an /easy/ day sail. Portland might as well have been Istambul to fourteen year old Tucker. Mind. Blown.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s amusing to me, that at 41 years old, I am still subject to my 14 year old self\u0026rsquo;s perspective. Even after traveling the majority of the world, I find myself gleeful at the realization that I can sail my boat from Boston to Portland in a weekend.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-22-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 0.882\u0026rsquo; S 32º 53.748\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSummers in Round Pond, looking out over Muscongus Sound, I imagined the world as fictitiously vast. My horizon was bounded tightly by Loud\u0026rsquo;s Island to the East, and New Harbor to the South. Once, when my father took me on an overnight sail to Boothbay Harbor, I was fairly confident that we had reached the edge of the known nautical world. It was an adventure, first class.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 26º 0.522\u0026rsquo; S 32º 52.23\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Maputo, safe and sound. It was a raucous night but we reefed down and enjoyed the ride.\nSupplies are lean these days. Olive asked if we had straws (to draw lots, of course) and suggested that we had a rendang paste, and a \u0026lsquo;daddy rendang\u0026rsquo; might make a good dinner if I drew the short straw.\nEngine sprung a leak again (oil cooler this time) and the old exhaust leak seems to be back (despite the new dry section we installed in Cairns).\nThe next window is in 6 days, send help (by help I mean $20,000 and fresh produce). Just joking, all is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-21-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 26º 0.522\u0026rsquo; S 32º 52.23\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Maputo, safe and sound. It was a raucous night but we reefed down and enjoyed the ride.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSupplies are lean these days. Olive asked if we had straws (to draw lots, of course) and suggested that we had a rendang paste, and a \u0026lsquo;daddy rendang\u0026rsquo; might make a good dinner if I drew the short straw.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEngine sprung a leak again (oil cooler this time) and the old exhaust leak seems to be back (despite the new dry section we installed in Cairns).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 21, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 25º 22.458\u0026rsquo; S 34º 16.992\u0026rsquo; E\nWe had a fast night of sailing with (current assisted) speeds touching 10 knots, in only 10-15knots of wind. This morning things eased on both the current and wind fronts, and we are puttering along at a more modest 5 knots.\nVick made pizza for lunch, a luxury in these lean times. We expect to arrive in Maputo tomorrow morning. If all goes according to plan, we will make our final leap to Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay a few days later. We are looking forward to sleep, fresh produce, ice cream, and repairs for the boat in Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-20-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 25º 22.458\u0026rsquo; S 34º 16.992\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had a fast night of sailing with (current assisted) speeds touching 10 knots, in only 10-15knots of wind. This morning things eased on both the current and wind fronts, and we are puttering along at a more modest 5 knots.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVick made pizza for lunch, a luxury in these lean times. We expect to arrive in Maputo tomorrow morning. If all goes according to plan, we will make our final leap to Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay a few days later. We are looking forward to sleep, fresh produce, ice cream, and repairs for the boat in Richard\u0026rsquo;s Bay.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 20, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 24º 4.572\u0026rsquo; S 35º 33.792\u0026rsquo; E\nInhambane was much nicer than expected. Despite high winds and a current against wind, it was fairly calm. We had a quiet night and left at the crack of dawn. We are now on our way to Maputo or Richards Bay, depending on weather.\nLast night, we saw pink flamingoes. IN THE WILD. Day. Made.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-19-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 24º 4.572\u0026rsquo; S 35º 33.792\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nInhambane was much nicer than expected. Despite high winds and a current against wind, it was fairly calm. We had a quiet night and left at the crack of dawn. We are now on our way to Maputo or Richards Bay, depending on weather.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast night, we saw pink flamingoes. IN THE WILD. Day. Made.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 19, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 23º 44.13\u0026rsquo; S 35º 23.628\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Linga Linga (Inhambane) after a night spent hove-to waiting for high tide. We used the extra time to work on our storm tactics. Convivia, it seems, doesn\u0026rsquo;t particularly like to be still. Vick just beat a Two Dots level that she\u0026rsquo;s been stuck on \u0026ldquo;forever.\u0026rdquo; We are waiting on weather to make our next jump to Maputu.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-18-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 23º 44.13\u0026rsquo; S 35º 23.628\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Linga Linga (Inhambane) after a night spent hove-to waiting for high tide. We used the extra time to work on our storm tactics. Convivia, it seems, doesn\u0026rsquo;t particularly like to be still. Vick just beat a Two Dots level that she\u0026rsquo;s been stuck on \u0026ldquo;forever.\u0026rdquo; We are waiting on weather to make our next jump to Maputu.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 18, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 22º 54.198\u0026rsquo; S 35º 38.808\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are underway to Anhambane, a little roadstead anchorage on the coast of Mozambique. Last night Vick reports getting a better night\u0026rsquo;s sleep than at anchor, go figure. We have a line out, Vick is hoping for tuna for sushi.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-17-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 22º 54.198\u0026rsquo; S 35º 38.808\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are underway to Anhambane, a little roadstead anchorage on the coast of Mozambique. Last night Vick reports getting a better night\u0026rsquo;s sleep than at anchor, go figure. We have a line out, Vick is hoping for tuna for sushi.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 22º 54.198\u0026rsquo; S 35º 38.808\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are underway to Anhambane, a little roadstead anchorage on the coast of Mozambique. Last night Vick reports getting a better night\u0026rsquo;s sleep than at anchor, go figure. We have a line out, Vick is hoping for tuna for sushi.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-17-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 22º 54.198\u0026rsquo; S 35º 38.808\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are underway to Anhambane, a little roadstead anchorage on the coast of Mozambique. Last night Vick reports getting a better night\u0026rsquo;s sleep than at anchor, go figure. We have a line out, Vick is hoping for tuna for sushi.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 15.738\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.438\u0026rsquo; E\nMy watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night.\nI have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn\u0026rsquo;t require that kind of metric.\nYesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am \u0026ldquo;all adventured out.\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I\u0026rsquo;ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater.\nIn my moment of revelation, I concluded that I just want a month where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about our boat being damaged in the middle of the night; where I can ask for a carrot or a slab of bacon in my native tongue; where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to weigh the choices of the day against the possibility that that critical weather window might open, three days hence; where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to, figuratively, watch money flowing into the ocean, as nature patiently erodes our home out from under us. \u0026ldquo;I need a vacation,\u0026rdquo; I announced to our friends.\nLast night we had another brilliant lightning storm. This time it came with a great deal of rain. While I am supremely grateful that we were in this (much more protected anchorage), the quantity of precipitation was enough to literally sink our dinghy (which was hipped to Convivia). When your dinghy is hipped, it is attached (generally) to the masthead via a halyard. When that same dinghy sinks, it kinda takes the whole boat with it. So we were healed over about 15º this morning, because of it. But I\u0026rsquo;m ahead of myself again. Vick woke up at the standard 3am to check on our catchment. Water is precious these days, and we use our caught water to wash ourselves and our clothes. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t do to lose it. Suffice to say, I was up for hours after, dealing with leaks, wet beds, catchment, and other matters of urgency.\nAs I mentioned, my watch tracks my sleep. Here\u0026rsquo;s what it tells me:\nSaturday 1h 31m\nSunday 3h 12m\nMonday 1h 35m\nToday 4h 17m\nSaturday was the first night after passage. That\u0026rsquo;s the night where you imagine you will sleep like a baby, secure at anchor. Prior to that, we were at sea. I did not sleep well on this last passage.\nWhen I told Nick and Suzy (of Saltbreaker) about my adventure burn-out and my need for a vacation, Suzy said, \u0026ldquo;Maybe you could think about what you would want from that vacation, and get some of it sooner than later.\u0026rdquo; If I\u0026rsquo;m honest, what I want is a week of goddamn sleep.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-15-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 15.738\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.438\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMy watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn\u0026rsquo;t require that kind of metric.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am \u0026ldquo;all adventured out.\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I\u0026rsquo;ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 15, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 15.738\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.438\u0026rsquo; E\nMy watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night.\nI have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn\u0026rsquo;t require that kind of metric.\nYesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am \u0026ldquo;all adventured out.\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I\u0026rsquo;ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater.\nIn my moment of revelation, I concluded that I just want a month where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to worry about our boat being damaged in the middle of the night; where I can ask for a carrot or a slab of bacon in my native tongue; where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to weigh the choices of the day against the possibility that that critical weather window might open, three days hence; where I don\u0026rsquo;t have to, figuratively, watch money flowing into the ocean, as nature patiently erodes our home out from under us. \u0026ldquo;I need a vacation,\u0026rdquo; I announced to our friends.\nLast night we had another brilliant lightning storm. This time it came with a great deal of rain. While I am supremely grateful that we were in this (much more protected anchorage), the quantity of precipitation was enough to literally sink our dinghy (which was hipped to Convivia). When your dinghy is hipped, it is attached (generally) to the masthead via a halyard. When that same dinghy sinks, it kinda takes the whole boat with it. So we were healed over about 15º this morning, because of it. But I\u0026rsquo;m ahead of myself again. Vick woke up at the standard 3am to check on our catchment. Water is precious these days, and we use our caught water to wash ourselves and our clothes. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t do to lose it. Suffice to say, I was up for hours after, dealing with leaks, wet beds, catchment, and other matters of urgency.\nAs I mentioned, my watch tracks my sleep. Here\u0026rsquo;s what it tells me:\nSaturday 1h 31m\nSunday 3h 12m\nMonday 1h 35m\nToday 4h 17m\nSaturday was the first night after passage. That\u0026rsquo;s the night where you imagine you will sleep like a baby, secure at anchor. Prior to that, we were at sea. I did not sleep well on this last passage.\nWhen I told Nick and Suzy (of Saltbreaker) about my adventure burn-out and my need for a vacation, Suzy said, \u0026ldquo;Maybe you could think about what you would want from that vacation, and get some of it sooner than later.\u0026rdquo; If I\u0026rsquo;m honest, what I want is a week of goddamn sleep.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-15-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 15.738\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.438\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMy watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn\u0026rsquo;t require that kind of metric.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am \u0026ldquo;all adventured out.\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I\u0026rsquo;ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 15, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 15.762\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.408\u0026rsquo; E\nLast night we saw lightning that played like a firework display. The bolts would chain and burst. It went on for hours. As a result, we opted against our moonlit sail to the more protected anchorage.\nThis morning we made the move. It was 6 stressful hours of slow motoring against current, but we are now safely tucked behind a decent spit of land for the impending SE blow.\nThere is a little village here, so hopefully we can get some basic veg.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-14-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 15.762\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.408\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast night we saw lightning that played like a firework display. The bolts would chain and burst. It went on for hours. As a result, we opted against our moonlit sail to the more protected anchorage.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis morning we made the move. It was 6 stressful hours of slow motoring against current, but we are now safely tucked behind a decent spit of land for the impending SE blow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 14, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 8.742\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.378\u0026rsquo; E\nSo glad that night is behind us. We returned to Convivia after the taco party to find the boat pitching wildly in a Northerly 20 knots. We hipped fatty and checked our anchor snubber and went below to put the kids to bed. After a few rounds of cribbage, Vick and I retired to bed. Sleep was not forthcoming. The bow was scooping up water every few waves, and when I went up to check, the snubber had broken (for the third time). I replaced the snubber and checked the rest of the boat. Even though she was 3 feet up, Fatty was floating every few waves, and when she went airborne again, would crash (with a shudder) into Convivia. The flopper stopper was so loaded that the shackle that holds the topping lift (the weakest link in that system) was starting to bend open. Normally, in these situations, I just attached the main halyard to the boom\u0026rsquo;s clue, and relieve the strain, but that halyard was attached to Fatty\u0026rsquo;s bridal. The answer was obvious but unwelcome.\nIn the tumultuous sea (as we had no protection at high tide) and wind, we carefully lifted Fatty on deck and (in an unusual twist on our routine) just flipped her right onto her cradle (normally we do this while Fatty is aloft). It was a bit of a fire drill, but it worked and we didn\u0026rsquo;t do any damage to Convivia or Fatty in the process. Then I got the halyard on the boom, checked the snubber and stood watch for a while to make sure nothing else was in danger. I finally got to sleep (on the saloon settee) around 2am, only to be awoken by a surprised yelp from Vick, who had been attacked by a few flying books.\nAt seven am we were awoken by angry shouting. The local fishermen had set their nets in such a way that they were dragging down on our anchor. After some unsuccessful attempts at communication I decided that they wanted me to move the boat, a task made nearly impossible by the fact that their net was hard on my chain. The four of us (the kids were awesome) worked together and managed to inch up, drop the net (little by little) cut free the two broken snubber bits, and weigh anchor. We are now safely (I think/hope) anchored out of the way of the fishermen.\nI am pulling a weather forecast with this report to see if we will be leaving here on Wed. If not, I think we may take the 8 mile wind down this channel to the peninsula, where we may get better protection. This is nuts.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-13-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 8.742\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.378\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSo glad that night is behind us. We returned to Convivia after the taco party to find the boat pitching wildly in a Northerly 20 knots. We hipped fatty and checked our anchor snubber and went below to put the kids to bed. After a few rounds of cribbage, Vick and I retired to bed. Sleep was not forthcoming. The bow was scooping up water every few waves, and when I went up to check, the snubber had broken (for the third time). I replaced the snubber and checked the rest of the boat. Even though she was 3 feet up, Fatty was floating every few waves, and when she went airborne again, would crash (with a shudder) into Convivia. The flopper stopper was so loaded that the shackle that holds the topping lift (the weakest link in that system) was starting to bend open. Normally, in these situations, I just attached the main halyard to the boom\u0026rsquo;s clue, and relieve the strain, but that halyard was attached to Fatty\u0026rsquo;s bridal. The answer was obvious but unwelcome.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 13, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 8.718\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.492\u0026rsquo; E\nYemaya arrived today with tons of fish. The kids have been reunited with their friends, and are happily creating animals out of felt while we all bop our heads to Frances England.\nTonight is Trevor\u0026rsquo;s Birthday (Happy Birthday T) and we are talking about a fish taco and cake party on the sand spit.\nLooks like our next southbound window is Wednesday.\nAll is definitely well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-12-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 8.718\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.492\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nYemaya arrived today with tons of fish. The kids have been reunited with their friends, and are happily creating animals out of felt while we all bop our heads to Frances England.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonight is Trevor\u0026rsquo;s Birthday (Happy Birthday T) and we are talking about a fish taco and cake party on the sand spit.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooks like our next southbound window is Wednesday.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is definitely well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 12, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 21º 8.7\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.492\u0026rsquo; E\nWe arrived at first light in B. Diaz. There is nothing here but a little spit of sand and apparently it gets pretty rolly when the tide covers the sand. That said, it is beautiful in its way, and we are delighted to be here.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-11-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 21º 8.7\u0026rsquo; S 35º 6.492\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe arrived at first light in B. Diaz. There is nothing here but a little spit of sand and apparently it gets pretty rolly when the tide covers the sand. That said, it is beautiful in its way, and we are delighted to be here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 11, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 15.708\u0026rsquo; S 35º 50.328\u0026rsquo; E\nThe last 24 hours has followed the same pattern as the previous days of this passage. Many hours of tedious motoring (and hand steering) followed by some of the best sailing imaginable. Today the whole family was engaged in dreaming about our future. The kids both drew pictures of the tiny houses they would like to build and live in and we talked more about where and for how long we would like to live on land.\nWe expect to arrive at our destination in Mozambique early tomorrow morning.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 15.708\u0026rsquo; S 35º 50.328\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe last 24 hours has followed the same pattern as the previous days of this passage. Many hours of tedious motoring (and hand steering) followed by some of the best sailing imaginable. Today the whole family was engaged in dreaming about our future. The kids both drew pictures of the tiny houses they would like to build and live in and we talked more about where and for how long we would like to live on land.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 10, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 18º 48.222\u0026rsquo; S 37º 46.128\u0026rsquo; E\nLast night was one of the best nights of passage I have ever had. The exhilaration of gently flying across the ocean at 9 knots with nary a chop to the water, combined with the bright moonlit, star filled sky was an overwhelming experience. Add to that the difficulty of navigating this enormous gyre (to maximum benefit) and I was in a bit of sailor\u0026rsquo;s heaven.\nContrast that to my wakeup call this morning. \u0026ldquo;The Donald is ahead and it isn\u0026rsquo;t looking good.\u0026rdquo; This was two hours into my four our off-watch, but I couldn\u0026rsquo;t go back to sleep. We got more news at 11:30 (local) when we were told that Hillary conceded the race. Now we are weighing our options. This gyre will probably turn round and round indefinitely, that\u0026rsquo;s one option. Rendang Raja raja is also an option\nI have to say, and I have been saving this for a blog post, but here it is, that cruising under Obama\u0026rsquo;s administration has been amazing. The greeting that we receive in every country is peppered with praise for our leader. In Indonesia, after hearing that we are American, people would literally shout OH BAH MAHHH repeatedly until we smiled and did the same. I fear for our reception under the insulationist regime to come. I fear for our daughter, and our extended family, which are both targeted under the Trump presidency. I fear for our country\u0026rsquo;s future.\nThe boat is fine, the crew is fine, but all is definitely NOT well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-09-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 18º 48.222\u0026rsquo; S 37º 46.128\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast night was one of the best nights of passage I have ever had. The exhilaration of gently flying across the ocean at 9 knots with nary a chop to the water, combined with the bright moonlit, star filled sky was an overwhelming experience. Add to that the difficulty of navigating this enormous gyre (to maximum benefit) and I was in a bit of sailor\u0026rsquo;s heaven.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 09, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 17º 52.23\u0026rsquo; S 40º 23.952\u0026rsquo; E\nWe sailed really nicely all night under a starry sky. We have a 2.5 knot current with us now and are flying towards Mozambique at 8ish knots. It\u0026rsquo;s strange to be in the middle of the Mozambique channel on the biggest news day of the decade (in the USA) and we are torn between wanting the blow by blow and being grateful that we won\u0026rsquo;t know until it\u0026rsquo;s over. If you have our at-sea email, maybe send us the results (and a big virtual hug if the news is bad). We are working out our backup plans\u0026hellip; just in case.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-08-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 52.23\u0026rsquo; S 40º 23.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe sailed really nicely all night under a starry sky. We have a 2.5 knot current with us now and are flying towards Mozambique at 8ish knots. It\u0026rsquo;s strange to be in the middle of the Mozambique channel on the biggest news day of the decade (in the USA) and we are torn between wanting the blow by blow and being grateful that we won\u0026rsquo;t know until it\u0026rsquo;s over. If you have our at-sea email, maybe send us the results (and a big virtual hug if the news is bad). We are working out our backup plans\u0026hellip; just in case.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 08, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 17º 9.63\u0026rsquo; S 42º 9.3\u0026rsquo; E\nWe motored for 12 hours last night, hand steering the whole time. Not fun. To balance it out we had a small meteor storm and a gorgeous moon set. We are sailing again now and spirits are high. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-07-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 9.63\u0026rsquo; S 42º 9.3\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe motored for 12 hours last night, hand steering the whole time. Not fun. To balance it out we had a small meteor storm and a gorgeous moon set. We are sailing again now and spirits are high. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 07, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 16º 34.98\u0026rsquo; S 43º 47.178\u0026rsquo; E\nHeavy rains last night helped us balance our water supply. The sailing has been, by and large, excellent. Spending our days playing family games and listening to podcasts and our nights staring up at an impossibly starry sky. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-06-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 16º 34.98\u0026rsquo; S 43º 47.178\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nHeavy rains last night helped us balance our water supply. The sailing has been, by and large, excellent. Spending our days playing family games and listening to podcasts and our nights staring up at an impossibly starry sky. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 06, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 15º 52.002\u0026rsquo; S 45º 20.598\u0026rsquo; E\nWhat a fantastic way to start a passage. We have been steadily increasing speed all day. At the moment we are beam reaching at 7 knots in nearly flat seas. About an hour ago we overtook a big local schooner that had smoked us earlier in the day when we were both down wind. There was some light hearted teasing and lots of laughs when Olive brought out her homemade bow. Then we ducked them and took off. Let\u0026rsquo;s hope these conditions continue throughout our passage.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-05-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 15º 52.002\u0026rsquo; S 45º 20.598\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWhat a fantastic way to start a passage. We have been steadily increasing speed all day. At the moment we are beam reaching at 7 knots in nearly flat seas. About an hour ago we overtook a big local schooner that had smoked us earlier in the day when we were both down wind. There was some light hearted teasing and lots of laughs when Olive brought out her homemade bow. Then we ducked them and took off. Let\u0026rsquo;s hope these conditions continue throughout our passage.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 05, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 15º 46.026\u0026rsquo; S 46º 14.694\u0026rsquo; E\nKatsepe will be our final anchorage in Madagascar. Just five miles from the big smoke, but feels as remote as many of the small islands we have visited here. Lots of nets to dodge, kept the sail interesting!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-04-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 15º 46.026\u0026rsquo; S 46º 14.694\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nKatsepe will be our final anchorage in Madagascar. Just five miles from the big smoke, but feels as remote as many of the small islands we have visited here. Lots of nets to dodge, kept the sail interesting!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 04, 2016"},{"content":"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 \u0026ldquo;too dangerous\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;enchanting\u0026rdquo; is far from the crystal clear water of Tany Kely, but promises an easy clearance and provisioning for our trip across the Mozambique channel.\nReady as we are to see what lies beyond this next horizon, I feel now that our time here was too short. There were so many places that we sailed by that I would have liked to have lingered in, and so many conversations that (due to my failure to learn the local languages) were not had.\nNevertheless, the time is here. So without further delay, here are some of the \u0026ldquo;best of\u0026rdquo; photos from the last week.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/madagascars-end/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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 \u0026ldquo;too dangerous\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;enchanting\u0026rdquo; is far from the crystal clear water of Tany Kely, but promises an easy clearance and provisioning for our trip across the Mozambique channel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReady as we are to see what lies beyond this next horizon, I feel now that our time here was too short. There were so many places that we sailed by that I would have liked to have lingered in, and so many conversations that (due to my failure to learn the local languages) were not had.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Madagascar's End"},{"content":"Position: 15º 43.878\u0026rsquo; S 46º 18.762\u0026rsquo; E\nWell that was an interesting passage. We left Morumba at 5pm, hoping to arrive in Majunga by mid-day (to get a head start on our clearing out and provisioning exercise). Poor wind and counter current slowed our progress, and by midnight we had made only 40 miles good. By the end of Vick\u0026rsquo;s watch at 3am we decided to turn the engine on. Just before she tucked in we both smelled something awful and burnie and chemical coming from somewhere near us.\nAfter fifteen minutes of searching, I was ready to give up and attribute it to a trash burn on shore… until Vick mentioned that the wind was blowing in from the sea. Five minutes more searching lead me to a chain locker full of poison smoke. Cough. Our windlass solenoid had shorted out and caused a small smoulder. Thank god the chain locker is perpetually wet! I disconnected the breaker, and the fuse (both of which should have prevented this problem in the first place) and turned on some fans.\nWe finished off the night with little other drama, and in the morning I replaced the solenoid with my spare. We had great wind from about mid-day and sailed like the dickens to arrive in Majunga before sunset.\nShortly after we anchored down, the port authority stopped by to kindly request (in French, which we don\u0026rsquo;t speak) that we move to a spot between a cruise ship and the Coast Guard. \u0026ldquo;Dangerous\u0026rdquo; was all I could understand. After some pantomime we worked out that the danger was gangs. Apparently, we are now safely out of their turf.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-november-02-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 15º 43.878\u0026rsquo; S 46º 18.762\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWell that was an interesting passage. We left Morumba at 5pm, hoping to arrive in Majunga by mid-day (to get a head start on our clearing out and provisioning exercise). Poor wind and counter current slowed our progress, and by midnight we had made only 40 miles good. By the end of Vick\u0026rsquo;s watch at 3am we decided to turn the engine on. Just before she tucked in we both smelled something awful and burnie and chemical coming from somewhere near us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: November 02, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 14º 53.598\u0026rsquo; S 47º 20.4\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Morabma after a great sail. Glad we left early because the land and sea breeze pattern that is like clockwork around here didn\u0026rsquo;t manifest today. Instead we got a sea breeze that took a little siesta in the middle of the day. Half of the fleet left in the last two days and the remaining half is right here or on their way. I love this feeling of getting ready for a big passage, in good company.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-31-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 53.598\u0026rsquo; S 47º 20.4\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Morabma after a great sail. Glad we left early because the land and sea breeze pattern that is like clockwork around here didn\u0026rsquo;t manifest today. Instead we got a sea breeze that took a little siesta in the middle of the day. Half of the fleet left in the last two days and the remaining half is right here or on their way. I love this feeling of getting ready for a big passage, in good company.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 31, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 14º 31.8\u0026rsquo; S 47º 37.998\u0026rsquo; E\nNosy Saba has been one rolly anchorage. We are super grateful for the flopper stopper this morning. On the up side, it is a gorgeous spot and our friends on Yemaya say it is some of the best snorkelling they have seen so far. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-30-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 31.8\u0026rsquo; S 47º 37.998\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nNosy Saba has been one rolly anchorage. We are super grateful for the flopper stopper this morning. On the up side, it is a gorgeous spot and our friends on Yemaya say it is some of the best snorkelling they have seen so far. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 30, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 42.702\u0026rsquo; S 47º 54.0\u0026rsquo; E\nSpent two nights at Honey River. It was a lovely anchorage. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-29-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 42.702\u0026rsquo; S 47º 54.0\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSpent two nights at Honey River. It was a lovely anchorage. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 29, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 30.798\u0026rsquo; S 47º 58.002\u0026rsquo; E\nWe made a quick stop at the lemur island to see two new kinds of lemurs, what a treat. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-29-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 30.798\u0026rsquo; S 47º 58.002\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe made a quick stop at the lemur island to see two new kinds of lemurs, what a treat. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 29, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 32.202\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.988\u0026rsquo; E\nToday we went back to Tany Kely for a last visit with our turtle friends. The kids all went on a solo expedition to the lighthouse and we adults enjoyed a rare moment of peace and quiet.\nNow we are back in Russian Bay for the last time before heading south. We decided to take a rest day here after our two hour day sail turned into 6.5 hrs.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-25-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 32.202\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.988\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday we went back to Tany Kely for a last visit with our turtle friends. The kids all went on a solo expedition to the lighthouse and we adults enjoyed a rare moment of peace and quiet.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow we are back in Russian Bay for the last time before heading south. We decided to take a rest day here after our two hour day sail turned into 6.5 hrs.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 25, 2016"},{"content":"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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/tany-kely-sea-turtle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYesterday 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tany Kely - Sea Turtle"},{"content":"Position: 13º 24.0\u0026rsquo; S 48º 13.212\u0026rsquo; E\nIt\u0026rsquo;s always nice to return to a place that feels familiar. This is a mostly work stop for us, but I\u0026rsquo;m sure we will find some time to unwind too. Once we are done here, it will be mostly southbound until we cross to S. Africa.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-17-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 24.0\u0026rsquo; S 48º 13.212\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIt\u0026rsquo;s always nice to return to a place that feels familiar. This is a mostly work stop for us, but I\u0026rsquo;m sure we will find some time to unwind too. Once we are done here, it will be mostly southbound until we cross to S. Africa.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 28.998\u0026rsquo; S 48º 14.25\u0026rsquo; E\nWe made a day anchorage on Tany-Kely. Anyone who has said that there is no good snorkeling in Madagascar, hasn\u0026rsquo;t been here. This rivaled (though perhaps did not exceed) our Lizard Island snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I was gifted an unexpected deep free-dive with a sea turtle (a long held yen of mine), and everyone seemed pleased with the effort. The price has just gone up from 10,000Ar to 20,000Ar. Not sure if it\u0026rsquo;s seasonal, but it was worth it.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-17-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 28.998\u0026rsquo; S 48º 14.25\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe made a day anchorage on Tany-Kely. Anyone who has said that there is no good snorkeling in Madagascar, hasn\u0026rsquo;t been here. This rivaled (though perhaps did not exceed) our Lizard Island snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I was gifted an unexpected deep free-dive with a sea turtle (a long held yen of mine), and everyone seemed pleased with the effort. The price has just gone up from 10,000Ar to 20,000Ar. Not sure if it\u0026rsquo;s seasonal, but it was worth it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 24.792\u0026rsquo; S 48º 20.292\u0026rsquo; E\nLokbe - Nosy Be: This anchorage was a bit of a lark. We were only 5 nm away, which was a bit too close to feel like a real effort, but it was reputed to have a great guided nature walk. We were not disappointed. The anchorage was more settled than Nosy Komba, despite being more exposed. The tour was easily set up; after asking around at two villages, we were directed to Freddy, in a third village. It just so happened that Freddy was adrift (fixing his outboard) at the time of our last direction, so we were told to talk to \u0026ldquo;that guy.\u0026rdquo; After a nice chat, and a friendly tow, Freddy agreed to give our two families (Convivia and Yemaya) a tour of the old growth forest for 10,000Ary/person. It was money well spent. I will post photos of the experience on Forgeover.com, and you can let us know if you would have been able to find the chameleons without help. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have, for sure.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-17-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 24.792\u0026rsquo; S 48º 20.292\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLokbe - Nosy Be: This anchorage was a bit of a lark. We were only 5 nm away, which was a bit too close to feel like a real effort, but it was reputed to have a great guided nature walk. We were not disappointed. The anchorage was more settled than Nosy Komba, despite being more exposed. The tour was easily set up; after asking around at two villages, we were directed to Freddy, in a third village. It just so happened that Freddy was adrift (fixing his outboard) at the time of our last direction, so we were told to talk to \u0026ldquo;that guy.\u0026rdquo; After a nice chat, and a friendly tow, Freddy agreed to give our two families (Convivia and Yemaya) a tour of the old growth forest for 10,000Ary/person. It was money well spent. I will post photos of the experience on Forgeover.com, and you can let us know if you would have been able to find the chameleons without help. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have, for sure.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 26.472\u0026rsquo; S 48º 21.042\u0026rsquo; E\nAt Nosy Komba. The early shore party reports a very interesting village with houses built into the rocks, fantastic local art and crafts and a funky welcoming atmosphere. I\u0026rsquo;m really looking forward to the lemur tour today.\nAll is well!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-12-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 26.472\u0026rsquo; S 48º 21.042\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAt Nosy Komba. The early shore party reports a very interesting village with houses built into the rocks, fantastic local art and crafts and a funky welcoming atmosphere. I\u0026rsquo;m really looking forward to the lemur tour today.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 12, 2016"},{"content":"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.\nThe island is a weird mix of eco-tourism and authentic Malagash culture. It\u0026rsquo;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.\nThe park itself was like a zoo mixed with a Parisian cafe. All of the animals were more or less free to roam (granted the giant tortoises would hav to be feeling ambitious) and the pace was more of the \u0026ldquo;have another double espresso and chat,\u0026rdquo; mentality of the aforementioned cafe. The only strange part was the theme of the park which, to all outward evidence seemed to be \u0026ldquo;wearing animals as caps.\u0026rdquo;\nThe kids all had a tremendous time holding the lemurs, boa constrictor, and turtles, and when there wasn\u0026rsquo;t an animal to play with, they made up their own games. I am starting to feel like Madagascar might be worth another trip across the Indian.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/nosy-komba/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe island is a weird mix of eco-tourism and authentic Malagash culture. It\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nosy Komba"},{"content":"Position: 13º 43.5\u0026rsquo; S 48º 11.328\u0026rsquo; E\nAnother ideal day sail bright us to the anchorage at Nosy Manolo (Munoko).\nThe anchorage is quiet and picturesque but there was a weird tidal slop in the middle of the night. We are taking about a beach barbeque tonight.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 43.5\u0026rsquo; S 48º 11.328\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAnother ideal day sail bright us to the anchorage at Nosy Manolo (Munoko).\u003cbr\u003e\nThe anchorage is quiet and picturesque but there was a weird tidal slop in the middle of the night. We are taking about a beach barbeque tonight.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 10, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 34.512\u0026rsquo; S 48º 5.748\u0026rsquo; E\nWe had a relaxing daysail from Russian Bay to Nosy Kisimany today. The wind was behind us the whole way at about 10 knots and our newly cleaned bottom facilitated 7 knots with dinghy in tow. I was pretty excited about this because we had just switched the 153% genoa out for the much more efficient 110%. The 153 gave us about 4 knots VMG on our way to Russian Bay (granted there was an unfavorable current and our bottom growth was insane).\nThis is a lovely and tranquil spot with only one other boat. Two local boys came over to trade mangoes and we had a great time speaking in fractured language and gesture. They made off like bandits with a Smiggle pen case full of crafty stuff and a pair of kids sneakers, but we were happy with the deal.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-08-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 34.512\u0026rsquo; S 48º 5.748\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had a relaxing daysail from Russian Bay to Nosy Kisimany today. The wind was behind us the whole way at about 10 knots and our newly cleaned bottom facilitated 7 knots with dinghy in tow. I was pretty excited about this because we had just switched the 153% genoa out for the much more efficient 110%. The 153 gave us about 4 knots VMG on our way to Russian Bay (granted there was an unfavorable current and our bottom growth was insane).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 08, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-03-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 03, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-03-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 03, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-october-03-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 32.13\u0026rsquo; S 47º 59.868\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBack in Russian Bay after a productive and enjoyable week in Crater Bay. Looking forward to some chilling out without all the trips to town, errands, and chores. Time to change the oil, tighten the rigging, and clean the hull. ;)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: October 03, 2016"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s weird that after all this time on and in the water, I\u0026rsquo;m still renewed and reinvigorated by fresh water running over me.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/cascades-dandroadroatra/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBrian 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\u0026rsquo;s weird that after all this time on and in the water, I\u0026rsquo;m still renewed and reinvigorated by fresh water running over me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cascades d'Androadroatra"},{"content":"Position: 13º 24.006\u0026rsquo; S 48º 13.194\u0026rsquo; E\nWe had a great hike to the the Mozambique Channel today, followed by a little punch at the watering hole in Russian Bay. Then we set sail for Nosy Be (Crater Bay). Tonight we will hunker down here and then go into town for reprovisioning.\nAll is Well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-26-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 24.006\u0026rsquo; S 48º 13.194\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had a great hike to the the Mozambique Channel today, followed by a little punch at the watering hole in Russian Bay. Then we set sail for Nosy Be (Crater Bay). Tonight we will hunker down here and then go into town for reprovisioning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is Well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 26, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 32.19\u0026rsquo; S 48º 0.198\u0026rsquo; E\nIn Russian Bay for the Regata. Amazing light wind sail today (when the wind finally graced us). Put the 153 on for the first time since The South Pacific. Looking forward to meeting some boats we have been hearing about for years.\nAll is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-24-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 32.19\u0026rsquo; S 48º 0.198\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIn Russian Bay for the Regata. Amazing light wind sail today (when the wind finally graced us). Put the 153 on for the first time since The South Pacific. Looking forward to meeting some boats we have been hearing about for years.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 24, 2016"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/madagascar-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"Madagascar: In Photos"},{"content":"Position: 13º 15.756\u0026rsquo; S 48º 14.334\u0026rsquo; E\nMade it to Nosy Be. It was an almost perfect day sail complete with whales (perhaps too close) and sun, and toes dipped off the gunnwhale. We will celebrate Olive\u0026rsquo; 9th birthday here tomorrow in the company of our long lost friends!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-22-2016-5/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 15.756\u0026rsquo; S 48º 14.334\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMade it to Nosy Be. It was an almost perfect day sail complete with whales (perhaps too close) and sun, and toes dipped off the gunnwhale. We will celebrate Olive\u0026rsquo; 9th birthday here tomorrow in the company of our long lost friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 16º 43.2\u0026rsquo; S 49º 58.302\u0026rsquo; E\nSpent the night in this beautiful roadstead anchorage. Mild roll and a rough looking beach landing.\nOnward today.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-22-2016-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 16º 43.2\u0026rsquo; S 49º 58.302\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSpent the night in this beautiful roadstead anchorage. Mild roll and a rough looking beach landing.\u003cbr\u003e\nOnward today.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 16º 25.71\u0026rsquo; S 49º 50.628\u0026rsquo; E\nSlow, light wind sail across the Canal de Sainte-Marie today. A little rain didn\u0026rsquo;t dampen our moods at all though. This anchorage is a bit rolly, but beautiful as can be. Tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll see if we can stretch our legs on the endless golden beaches.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-22-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 16º 25.71\u0026rsquo; S 49º 50.628\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSlow, light wind sail across the Canal de Sainte-Marie today. A little rain didn\u0026rsquo;t dampen our moods at all though. This anchorage is a bit rolly, but beautiful as can be. Tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll see if we can stretch our legs on the endless golden beaches.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 12º 53.79\u0026rsquo; S 48º 34.71\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Nosy Mitsio. Happy reunion with old friends, but none happier than the kids who are reunited with their besties after FIFTY SEVEN long days (but who\u0026rsquo;s counting).\nIt is barren but gorgeous here. No internet here (the horror).\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-22-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 53.79\u0026rsquo; S 48º 34.71\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Nosy Mitsio. Happy reunion with old friends, but none happier than the kids who are reunited with their besties after FIFTY SEVEN long days (but who\u0026rsquo;s counting).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is barren but gorgeous here. No internet here (the horror).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 36.498\u0026rsquo; S 50º 10.26\u0026rsquo; E\nOur first day has been rolly but fast. Very fast. The wind is ripping up the coast of Madagascar, and I\u0026rsquo;m starting to wonder if the weather prediction was correct.\nCrew is happy and healthy.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-22-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 36.498\u0026rsquo; S 50º 10.26\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOur first day has been rolly but fast. Very fast. The wind is ripping up the coast of Madagascar, and I\u0026rsquo;m starting to wonder if the weather prediction was correct.\u003cbr\u003e\nCrew is happy and healthy.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 22, 2016"},{"content":"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.\nIn this part of the world though, she need not while her time away, forgotten and alone. This week is a full moon, and it is the fifth anniversary of her internment. There will be a party for her tonight. Everyone in the family will come, some from hundreds of kilometers, and today we will walk with them.\nAt the graveyard, her remains are dug up, lovingly cleaned, and placed in a silk shroud. While this process (which can take hours) occurs, her family sings and claps, while pouring jet-fuel grade sugar wine over her remains (and into my mouth as well).\nOnce it is done, the shroud is carefully wrapped in straw mat. A family member carries the bundle and sets it at the feet of the closest living relative. This is all done in a ceremony which is simultaneously joyful and respectful. The pouring of \u0026ldquo;whiskey\u0026rdquo; over the body (sometimes with a banana leaf funnel) is met with raucous cheers (like you might hear at a college party) while at the same moment, a teenager carefully hands a dusted off vertebrae to be placed in the shroud. The contrast is a head trip, beautiful and confounding to my \u0026ldquo;modern\u0026rdquo; perspective. It is a keg-stand in a Smithsonian museum.\nIn this moment, I come face to face with the gravity of what we (our little family of Convivians) have done. Vick has tears welling up in her eyes; not sadness for the departed, but gratitude for the warmth with which we were welcomed into this sacred \u0026amp; joyful family event. I, as mentioned, am spinning in chaos, as my perception of reality reorders itself to make this experience as \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; as it deserves to be. And while the adults are processing these emotions Olive is quietly announcing \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m bored.\u0026rdquo; My reality needs to be reconfigured to fit this. For Olive, this is reality. Her concept of life and death, of spirits and family, of her precious purpose here, have all been formed from these varied, colorful, and exotic experiences.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/famadihada-the-turning-of-the-dead/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFive 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Famadihada: The Turning of the Dead"},{"content":"Position: 17º 0.0\u0026rsquo; S 49º 50.868\u0026rsquo; E\nWe have arrived in FREAKING AFRICA. I can not recall exactly how long I have dreamt of this. It is hard to say if I will be more enchanted by landfall on the continent, but for now I am just basking in the realization of a 20+ year old dream. Madagascar looks gorgeous from the boat. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend the day aboard (quarantine) and clear in tomorrow.\nAll is (so) well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-11-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 0.0\u0026rsquo; S 49º 50.868\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe have arrived in FREAKING AFRICA. I can not recall exactly how long I have dreamt of this. It is hard to say if I will be more enchanted by landfall on the continent, but for now I am just basking in the realization of a 20+ year old dream. Madagascar looks gorgeous from the boat. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend the day aboard (quarantine) and clear in tomorrow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 11, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 17º 33.012\u0026rsquo; S 51º 40.188\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are fully in the passagemaking groove now. The kids\u0026rsquo; frenetic energy has reduced to a simmer and our sleep schedules are adjusted to night watch. We should arrive in Madagascar in the morning. For now we are enjoying nearly flat sailing under full canvas.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 33.012\u0026rsquo; S 51º 40.188\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are fully in the passagemaking groove now. The kids\u0026rsquo; frenetic energy has reduced to a simmer and our sleep schedules are adjusted to night watch. We should arrive in Madagascar in the morning. For now we are enjoying nearly flat sailing under full canvas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 10, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 18º 4.458\u0026rsquo; S 53º 48.438\u0026rsquo; E\nThe sea state has calmed way down and we are now in the most ideal conditions that we\u0026rsquo;ve seen in this ocean. The wind has picked up to around 18 knots, swell around 1.5m.\nThe kids are a bit stir-crazy, which is par for the course at day 2. After lunch Vick is going to read Story of the World, and that should settle things back down.\nWe added a day to the passage by keeping our sails shorter (to prevent flogging) so we expect to arrive on the morning of the 11th.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-9-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 18º 4.458\u0026rsquo; S 53º 48.438\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe sea state has calmed way down and we are now in the most ideal conditions that we\u0026rsquo;ve seen in this ocean. The wind has picked up to around 18 knots, swell around 1.5m.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe kids are a bit stir-crazy, which is par for the course at day 2. After lunch Vick is going to read Story of the World, and that should settle things back down.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 9, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 19º 14.058\u0026rsquo; S 55º 37.242\u0026rsquo; E\nFirst night out was great. The Indian Ocean continues to send us messy, uncomfortable seas (even though they were slight by comparison to our first passage) but the wind is just about perfect (15-18knots from abaft). Everyone is settling into passagemaking mode, but we won\u0026rsquo;t have much time to enjoy it, as this passage is scheduled to be just over 4 days.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-8-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 14.058\u0026rsquo; S 55º 37.242\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nFirst night out was great. The Indian Ocean continues to send us messy, uncomfortable seas (even though they were slight by comparison to our first passage) but the wind is just about perfect (15-18knots from abaft). Everyone is settling into passagemaking mode, but we won\u0026rsquo;t have much time to enjoy it, as this passage is scheduled to be just over 4 days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 8, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 9.606\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are back at the Marina in Port Louis. We had a great sail today and the conditions for Madagascar are looking fantastic. That said, we will all be sad to leave Mauritius behind. This place has been full of good friends and good memories.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-7-2016-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 9.606\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are back at the Marina in Port Louis. We had a great sail today and the conditions for Madagascar are looking fantastic. That said, we will all be sad to leave Mauritius behind. This place has been full of good friends and good memories.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 7, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 9.606\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are back at the Marina in Port Louis. We had a great sail today and the conditions for Madagascar are looking fantastic. That said, we will all be sad to leave Mauritius behind. This place has been full of good friends and good memories.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-september-5-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 9.606\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are back at the Marina in Port Louis. We had a great sail today and the conditions for Madagascar are looking fantastic. That said, we will all be sad to leave Mauritius behind. This place has been full of good friends and good memories.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: September 5, 2016"},{"content":"Cruising is a social experience. We hang out with our sailing friends almost every day out here, sometimes it\u0026rsquo;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.\nThis 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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/four-days-three-dinner-parties/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCruising is a social experience. We hang out with our sailing friends almost every day out here, sometimes it\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Four Days, Three Dinner Parties"},{"content":"We have been here, in Mauritius, for a few weeks and haven\u0026rsquo;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.\nOn 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\u0026rsquo;t turn down such a great offer, even when it came with a 5am wake up call.\nLe Morne was a place where escaped slaves fled to for refuge. After the abolition of slavery, the police came to let the slaves know that they had been freed. Misunderstanding the purpose of the visit, the slaves threw themselves from the spire, rather than return to slavery.\nOlive and I did this somewhat technical hike (there were ropes for the last kilometer or so) in our flip flops. A distinction that earned us some odd stares and comments from the mass of hikers that were coming up as we descended.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/le-mourn-brabant-hike/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have been here, in Mauritius, for a few weeks and haven\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn 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\u0026rsquo;t turn down such a great offer, even when it came with a 5am wake up call.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Le Morne Brabant: Hike"},{"content":"Position: 20º 0.612\u0026rsquo; S 57º 34.542\u0026rsquo; E\nStill in Grande Baie. Our weather window closed on us so we are taking the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Tomorrow we will take an adventure with our new friends to Le Morne (reputed to be the more picturesque beach in Mauritius). Looking forward to seeing more of the island!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-28-2016-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 0.612\u0026rsquo; S 57º 34.542\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nStill in Grande Baie. Our weather window closed on us so we are taking the opportunity to dig a little deeper. Tomorrow we will take an adventure with our new friends to Le Morne (reputed to be the more picturesque beach in Mauritius). Looking forward to seeing more of the island!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 28, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 9.588\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are on the wall in Port Louis now. It\u0026rsquo;s very public here (read, people unabashedly gazing in the windows at 11pm), but cool nonetheless. Speaking of cool, we are desperately hoping for not-cool showers today. Brrr. After showers, we hope to check out the amazing fresh market and the natural history museum, and maybe find a dosa. Tomorrow, I think we might get out of here and check out Grande Baie.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-06-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 9.588\u0026rsquo; S 57º 29.826\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are on the wall in Port Louis now. It\u0026rsquo;s very public here (read, people unabashedly gazing in the windows at 11pm), but cool nonetheless. Speaking of cool, we are desperately hoping for not-cool showers today. Brrr. After showers, we hope to check out the amazing fresh market and the natural history museum, and maybe find a dosa. Tomorrow, I think we might get out of here and check out Grande Baie.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 06, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 8.04\u0026rsquo; S 57º 28.932\u0026rsquo; E\nMade it to Port Louis, Mauritius after a really awesome 2 day sail. The Indian Ocean actually has it\u0026rsquo;s nice days, it seems. We had wind 10-20knots from directly behind the whole way, with gentle 3m seas. No real squalls (a few light sprinkles) and generally good spirits. We are all overawed by the city lights and kind of excited to seek out a coffee shop and maybe a bookstore :)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-04-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 8.04\u0026rsquo; S 57º 28.932\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMade it to Port Louis, Mauritius after a really awesome 2 day sail. The Indian Ocean actually has it\u0026rsquo;s nice days, it seems. We had wind 10-20knots from directly behind the whole way, with gentle 3m seas. No real squalls (a few light sprinkles) and generally good spirits. We are all overawed by the city lights and kind of excited to seek out a coffee shop and maybe a bookstore :)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 04, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 20º 0.198\u0026rsquo; S 60º 31.398\u0026rsquo; E\nThe first day of our passage to Mauritius has been everything we hoped for. The seas are slight (for this Ocean) and the wind mild (10-20 knots). It looks like we\u0026rsquo;ll get in either late tomorrow night or early the next morning, but we are conformable enough that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t much matter to us.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-august-03-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 20º 0.198\u0026rsquo; S 60º 31.398\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe first day of our passage to Mauritius has been everything we hoped for. The seas are slight (for this Ocean) and the wind mild (10-20 knots). It looks like we\u0026rsquo;ll get in either late tomorrow night or early the next morning, but we are conformable enough that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t much matter to us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 03, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 19º 40.698\u0026rsquo; S 63º 25.158\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are still in Rodrigues. After being down with the flu for a few weeks, the crew is just starting to crawl back into the light. We are looking forward to a few more days of exploring and enjoying this wonderfully chill and beautiful island, before continuing on to Mauritius with the next weather window.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-july-29-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 40.698\u0026rsquo; S 63º 25.158\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are still in Rodrigues. After being down with the flu for a few weeks, the crew is just starting to crawl back into the light. We are looking forward to a few more days of exploring and enjoying this wonderfully chill and beautiful island, before continuing on to Mauritius with the next weather window.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: July 29, 2016"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/point-cotton-hike/","summary":"","title":"Point Cotton Hike"},{"content":"Alicia, from the boat On Verra, has been organizing hikes for the cruisers nearly every day that we\u0026rsquo;ve been here. It\u0026rsquo;s one of the best cruiser services I\u0026rsquo;ve ever experienced because it helps us to see the natural beauty of the island, and gives us a much needed endorphin hit and kick in the pants to get moving in the morning.\nToday she took us by bus to the trail-head at St Gabriel crossing. From there we walked past the largest church in the Indian Ocean (also conveniently, the pit stop). The trail started just below the church and wound through lush forest, rock strewn pasture, and down a long slope with a stunning view of the lagoon and sea beyond.\nI was sick as a dog the night before, and somehow felt like doing the hike anyway. I am so glad I did. The kids, who are ever up for any social event, were amazing on the 10km hike. They never fell behind and didn\u0026rsquo;t complain once. At lunch Olive whipped out her stainless steel lunchbox and pulled out the two dinosaurs… and no food. Live and learn lady, live. and. learn.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/st-gabriel-hike/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAlicia, from the boat \u003cstrong\u003eOn Verra\u003c/strong\u003e, has been organizing hikes for the cruisers nearly every day that we\u0026rsquo;ve been here. It\u0026rsquo;s one of the best cruiser services I\u0026rsquo;ve ever experienced because it helps us to see the natural beauty of the island, and gives us a much needed endorphin hit and kick in the pants to get moving in the morning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday she took us by bus to the trail-head at St Gabriel crossing. From there we walked past the largest church in the Indian Ocean (also conveniently, the pit stop).  The trail started just below the church and wound through lush forest, rock strewn pasture, and down a long slope with a stunning view of the lagoon and sea beyond.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"St Gabriel Hike"},{"content":"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.\nAfter the first insult I scrubbed furiously. Neither my dorades nor my fans had a speck of dust at the end of the day. I desperately want to live minimally on a shiny, tidy, scratch free, polished, perfect and varnished boat. The reality is that there are footprints on the cushions, fingerprints on the mirror, crayon on the canvas, nail polish in the cockpit, scraps of paper on the settees, and glitter on the sole.\nAfter the second and third insults, instead of struggling towards perfection, I visited my friends, drank Scotch, ate baguette with fresh butter, let my kids skip school and sent them hiking for a day, and climbed back into bed with Tucker for a passionate morning. The two of us wandered through town, ate lunch out, visited art galleries, and drank coffee again and again.\nWhile I breathed deeply and shielded my eyes from the gleaming stainless on the boat next door Tucker and I talked about the days I will remember. It won\u0026rsquo;t be the days I scrubbed the cockpit, nor the days where he\u0026rsquo;s bloody knuckle deep in the engine compartment. It won\u0026rsquo;t be the four millionth spill of milk into the cracks, or the forty millionth time I\u0026rsquo;ve swept beach sand and rice off the floor. Those are the necessary days.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a year today since we set out from Brisbane. In a year, just this year, I\u0026rsquo;ve sailed thousands of miles, snorkeled in gin clear water*, climbed a volcano at sunrise, walked with Komodo dragons, painted batik in Bali, browsed the best bookstore ever in Singapore, went to cooking school in Thailand, spent 56 days enduring in the shipyard in Penang, flew to Kuala Lumpur by myself, learned to SCUBA dive, baked four birthday cakes, swam in the middle of the South China Sea, read many books, walked through several pairs of shoes, watched my boy turn into a swimmer and my girl become an incredibly responsible young woman, spent hours and hours with our wonderful friends, played games, rowed into caves, walked on beaches, spoke words in five languages, stayed up far too late in laughter and great conversation, stitched up fun little presents and sewn up huge boat projects, rode motorbikes, ate amazing cashews and mangoes, turned chocolate into tangible love, cried my eyes out and laughed until my ribs hurt.\nThese are the stories I\u0026rsquo;ll tell. These are the days all four of us will remember.\ncredit for this phrase to Behan Gifford and Diane Selkirk ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/days-to-remember/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Days to Remember"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/rodrigues-music/","summary":"","title":"Rodrigues Music"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\nRodrigues is one of these places. When the officials asked us (within our first hour on island) how long we would be staying, I replied with a question. \u0026ldquo;What is the longest Visa you offer?\u0026rdquo; When our neighbor answered the same question with \u0026ldquo;4 or 5 days,\u0026rdquo; the officer chuckled and said, \u0026ldquo;no, you\u0026rsquo;ll be wanting to stay much longer.\u0026rdquo;\nOn Friday night we (all the yachts in the harbor) were invited to a potluck BBQ. They played us their traditional music, and begged us to play ours. I sang \u0026ldquo;The Fox,\u0026rdquo; (my favorite, dark, children\u0026rsquo;s song) to a bewildered audience. Their music, accordion and guitar with judicious triangle, is lively,\nlovely and heart captivating.\nToday, I joined some other cruisers for a hike around the island. It\u0026rsquo;s topography is as lovely as it\u0026rsquo;s people, as the photo\u0026rsquo;s will attest.\nWe have no plans to leave, and all the boats in the harbor seem to nod and agree when I say \u0026ldquo;You know, I think I could live here.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/rodrigues-first-impressions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rodrigues: First Impressions"},{"content":"Imagine you are sitting down, enjoying dinner. It\u0026rsquo;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.\nPan out… you look around you, trying to gain a morale-saving perspective. You notice that, while you\u0026rsquo;re still at the dinner table, the room around you is a tropical rain-forest. Hot and damp—the air is approaching 100% humidity—you actually feel the occasional drop of rain from your condensed breath. Everything is wet, whether from salt water or fresh. Someday, this distinction will matter (when you try to dry it all out) but for now, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t. There is no hope of being dry.\nNow, it\u0026rsquo;s time to stand up to serve second helpings. It\u0026rsquo;s only two steps to the single pot that your food is sitting in, but it will take you five minutes to get there. First, you time the prevailing swell. Port, two, three, four, starboard, two, three, four. You wait for the next favorable pitch to stand up. KAPOW, a non-periodic wave hits from a completely different direction, throwing you back into your seat, by way of a hard wooden protrusion (the bruise will be beautiful, in its own way). You reconsider. Three points of contact are for lubbers, four will be better. You crawl to that pot on your hands and knees. Standing slowly, and watching the stove (which is gimbaled, so it swings out when the boat yaws) so it doesn\u0026rsquo;t hit your chin again. Success (and only 3:30 this time, everyone cheers)!\n10% or less, of that last paragraph was parody, the rest really happened.\nOutside, you have a 75% chance of finding a squall. As a result, you don\u0026rsquo;t get out much, nor do you open the hatches to let in fresh air (and fire-hose quantities of salt water). This is a very different style of cruising to the good old days of the South Pacific. We were inside virtually all of the 310 hours that we were underway. At least 50 of those hours, the \u0026ldquo;yacht\u0026rdquo; is functionally a submarine (waves breaking over the boat with such consistency that the port-lights were constantly awash).\nThat\u0026rsquo;s a taste of it. The Indian Ocean is mean. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to be your friend. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t care to inspire a Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. It\u0026rsquo;s just mean, and it wants you to be unhappy with it.\nUnfortunately for this miserable miserable ocean, we are a contrarian sort of crew. Despite the best efforts of the environment, we managed a few passage miracles. Food was our main salvation. Vick made a few days worth of hearty treats before we left, to buy her time to acclimate, and then got right into it with a series of condition-defying meals including flatbreads, birthday cake, chili con carne, chicken tacos, beef rendang, German potato salad, and breakfasts like huevos rancheros, omelettes, arepas and fried eggs, and scones.\nWe played a lot of games, and read and listened to stories, we cuddled. Somehow, in the midst of being (and I\u0026rsquo;m really not exaggerating at all*) hurled bodily about the boat on a constant basis, we actually did laugh, and enjoy ourselves a bit.\nWhen we finally arrived at Rodrigues, wet and exhausted, we were greeted by a large majority of the fleet. The first question everyone asked was \u0026ldquo;How was the passage.\u0026rdquo; I answered with a laugh, \u0026ldquo;Not my favorite.\u0026rdquo; They laughed with me. Nobody enjoyed this passage. It was one to suffer and survive. Having survived it together, we felt kinship. We compared notes of what broke (lots of rigging, and autopilots, and sails) and exchanged offers to help fix what we could. We were safe, and dry, and therefore happy, and we DID IT!\nStay tuned for the next chapter: Rodrigues, Worth All the Bruises\n* One fellow cruiser broke a few ribs on this passage. I dislocated one rib, and Vick has a real champion bruise on her hip.\nBelow you can see a short clip of the sailing conditions on the one good day of the passage.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/indian-ocean-not-that-much-fun/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eImagine you are sitting down, enjoying dinner. It\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Indian Ocean: Not That Much Fun"},{"content":"Position: 19º 40.002\u0026rsquo; S 63º 25.29\u0026rsquo; E\nWe arrived. The Indian Ocean is a very naughty ocean. A very very naughty ocean indeed?\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-20-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 40.002\u0026rsquo; S 63º 25.29\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe arrived. The Indian Ocean is a very naughty ocean. A very very naughty ocean indeed?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 20, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 19º 29.988\u0026rsquo; S 64º 57.192\u0026rsquo; E\nAlmost there. We expect to arrive in Rodriguez by daybreak tomorrow. Today has been more of the same with the notable distinction of it being Ruby\u0026rsquo;s birthday. As those who know us well would guess, this means cake, and since we\u0026rsquo;ll be having the \u0026ldquo;Real Cake\u0026rdquo; when we arrive, we made this surrogate cake special by having it for breakfast. The fast today was broken with a Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake. Not bad for a crew of sea-weary salts.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-19-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 29.988\u0026rsquo; S 64º 57.192\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAlmost there. We expect to arrive in Rodriguez by daybreak tomorrow. Today has been more of the same with the notable distinction of it being Ruby\u0026rsquo;s birthday. As those who know us well would guess, this means cake, and since we\u0026rsquo;ll be having the \u0026ldquo;Real Cake\u0026rdquo; when we arrive, we made this surrogate cake special by having it for breakfast. The fast today was broken with a Chocolate Chip Strawberry Shortcake. Not bad for a crew of sea-weary salts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 19, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 19º 16.272\u0026rsquo; S 67º 32.082\u0026rsquo; E\nToday was a rare good day on this passage. Convivia was more sailboat than submarine. We did have an exciting moment at dinner when, minding our own business, the jar of salsa jumped up in the air and hurled itself at Vick and I with as much force as physics would allow. Fortunately for all who enjoy slapstick, the jar was open at the time and much laughter ensued (if you conveniently masked out the officers, now dressed in their pico de gallo dress uniforms).\nAlso good to note, we intend to make landfall on Monday. So we are at least making good time.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-18-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 19º 16.272\u0026rsquo; S 67º 32.082\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday was a rare good day on this passage. Convivia was more sailboat than submarine. We did have an exciting moment at dinner when, minding our own business, the jar of salsa jumped up in the air and hurled itself at Vick and I with as much force as physics would allow. Fortunately for all who enjoy slapstick, the jar was open at the time and much laughter ensued (if you conveniently masked out the officers, now dressed in their pico de gallo dress uniforms).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 18, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 18º 43.08\u0026rsquo; S 70º 25.89\u0026rsquo; E\nToday I ventured outside of my own volition (I was outside during the night to fulfill my skipperly duties). The air had that crisp, chill smell, like an autumn night, and I was struck by the realization that this must be some of the most rarefied and pure air in the world. Even the places where the wind developed are pristine, unadulterated by humans and our pollution. I breathed deeply sensing that I might never breathe quite so clean again.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s eased up a bit today. The sea is mighty and impressive, but it\u0026rsquo;s all coming from the same direction for once, and the wind has at followed suit. Spirits are high aboard, though the officers may be a bit challenged keeping order in the ranks. This too shall pass.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-17-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 18º 43.08\u0026rsquo; S 70º 25.89\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday I ventured outside of my own volition (I was outside during the night to fulfill my skipperly duties). The air had that crisp, chill smell, like an autumn night, and I was struck by the realization that this must be some of the most rarefied and pure air in the world. Even the places where the wind developed are pristine, unadulterated by humans and our pollution. I breathed deeply sensing that I might never breathe quite so clean again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 18º 28.812\u0026rsquo; S 72º 14.148\u0026rsquo; E\nI have been inside for the vast majority of today, as has the rest of the crew. We have done so because to do otherwise, even for the briefest moment, has been to subject ourselves to a saltwater shower, with no hope of fresh water rinse.\nThe wind has been just on or even slightly ahead of the beam, and just hard enough that we have reduced sail to a double reefed main, with no jib. The sea, eager to do its part, have joined in the fun by being washing machine consistent and impressively sized. No single component of this package of dismalness has been dangerous, but taken together they are a touch unpleasant.\nSo inside we sat, doing things mostly as we normally would, except wetter. The water, thankfully, was of the fresh variety, a product of our exhalations and steam from Vick\u0026rsquo;s exceptional chicken chili (which I may or may not have had thirds of). Now the kids and Vick are sleeping, and breathing more slowly and the cabin is keeping up a little better with ventilation.\nI think the award for saltiest sailor must go to our galley goddess today. How she managed it all, without even a touch of seasickness is beyond me (who spent most of the day lying around moaning glumly).\nBelieve it or not\u0026hellip;\nAll is well.\np.s. If I am ever caught telling sea stories of the wildly unbelievable type, this is likely the day I was talking about.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-16-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 18º 28.812\u0026rsquo; S 72º 14.148\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI have been inside for the vast majority of today, as has the rest of the crew. We have done so because to do otherwise, even for the briefest moment, has been to subject ourselves to a saltwater shower, with no hope of fresh water rinse.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wind has been just on or even slightly ahead of the beam, and just hard enough that we have reduced sail to a double reefed main, with no jib. The sea, eager to do its part, have joined in the fun by being washing machine consistent and impressively sized. No single component of this package of dismalness has been dangerous, but taken together they are a touch unpleasant.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 16, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 17º 33.672\u0026rsquo; S 78º 4.11\u0026rsquo; E\nToday was a lazy day. After yesterday, we decided to take it easy. We had arepas and eggs for breakfast, and sampled the new coffee that I roasted last night (it was amazing, if I may be so bold).\nAfter the morning radio call, we set into our modest chores. I had to run the generator, and make water. Of course, nothing is ever easy, and by the time I got to second coffee, I had completely disassembled and reassembled the generator, which oddly, now only runs with full choke.\nWe played a bit of our new favorite card game (Sleeping Queens) and listened to Swallow\u0026rsquo;s and Amazons (reading along for fun) and then before we knew it, it was dinner time.\nIt was never easy to eat (GF) in Indonesia, and maybe that\u0026rsquo;s why having an Indonesian favorite felt so special. That or it might have been the 3 hours that it took for Vick to make it. Beef Rendang, you are delicious!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-15-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 33.672\u0026rsquo; S 78º 4.11\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday was a lazy day. After yesterday, we decided to take it easy. We had arepas and eggs for breakfast, and sampled the new coffee that I roasted last night (it was amazing, if I may be so bold).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter the morning radio call, we set into our modest chores. I had to run the generator, and make water. Of course, nothing is ever easy, and by the time I got to second coffee, I had completely disassembled and reassembled the generator, which oddly, now only runs with full choke.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 15, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 18º 1.452\u0026rsquo; S 75º 24.792\u0026rsquo; E\nThe wind shifted to the south early in the morning. We had mac \u0026amp; cheese for dinner. In between these two noteworthy events we did what we do most days: ate some popcorn, listened to books and read them, did schoolwork. As unexciting as this may sound it all surrounds a day which is also the anniversary of moving aboard Convivia. 6 years ago today we took one giant, significant step towards living the life we had dreamed of. Five(ish) days to go to Rodriguez.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-15-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 18º 1.452\u0026rsquo; S 75º 24.792\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe wind shifted to the south early in the morning. We had mac \u0026amp; cheese for dinner. In between these two noteworthy events we did what we do most days: ate some popcorn, listened to books and read them, did schoolwork. As unexciting as this may sound it all surrounds a day which is also the anniversary of moving aboard Convivia. 6 years ago today we took one giant, significant step towards living the life we had dreamed of. Five(ish) days to go to Rodriguez.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 15, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 17º 14.838\u0026rsquo; S 80º 27.462\u0026rsquo; E\nWe hit the half way point today!!\nLast night I saw something that every sailor dreads. Awaking to a thunderous bang, I rushed up to the cockpit. Vick pointed forward on the port side and I saw the lower shroud, dangling helplessly. We swiftly doused the jib and I tethered in to inspect the damage. The strap toggle, which holds the lower threaded rod for the turnbuckle, had shattered IN TWO PLACES. I asked Vick to keep us downwind, giving me time to think, while there was less pressure on the shrouds.\nI did some triage with some lengths of Dyneema, and satisfied that the mast would stay up through the night, settled in to nurse Convivia through the next several hours. After a good sleep, I decided to take the strap toggle from the leeward side of the boat (where our rig would see very little load over the next 1000 nautical miles) and move it to the windward side, which is fully loaded whenever the wind blows at or forward of the beam. This partially stabilized our rig, but left me with the leeward side to worry about. I used my temporary Dyneema solution until the noon radio call that is a standing date with our two buddy boats (Caminante II, and Peregrine). On the radio, I mentioned my problem and the solutions that I was thinking about. Our friends brainstormed with me for the next half hour or so, and finally Trevor (on Peregrine) came up with an innovation that would save the day.\nHe suggested that I use some of my 3mm Dyneema to reattach the threaded rod to the chainplate. The plan was to zigzag it back and forth through a pin led through the chainplate, lashing it at the end to hold it in place. It worked like a charm, and by noon we had a re-tensioned rig that looks like it will easily keep us sailing to Rodriguez, where we can find a permanent solution.\nAs cruisers we are all aware that tragedy can strike at any time. Knowledge, a cool head under pressure, and a well stocked spares kit can make the difference between a heart racing evening, and outright disaster, but when the cards are all played, the support of our tremendous community is the Ace in our collective sleeve. There\u0026rsquo;s an unwritten rule that we all pay it forward whenever we can, and today my good friends on Caminante and Peregrine did just that.\nConvivia is safe and making progress (albeit with shortened sails), and we have our friends to thank!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-13-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 17º 14.838\u0026rsquo; S 80º 27.462\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe hit the half way point today!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast night I saw something that every sailor dreads. Awaking to a thunderous bang, I rushed up to the cockpit. Vick pointed forward on the port side and I saw the lower shroud, dangling helplessly. We swiftly doused the jib and I tethered in to inspect the damage. The strap toggle, which holds the lower threaded rod for the turnbuckle, had shattered IN TWO PLACES. I asked Vick to keep us downwind, giving me time to think, while there was less pressure on the shrouds.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 13, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 14º 54.072\u0026rsquo; S 85º 23.388\u0026rsquo; E\nToday Ruby asked if she could go to the Eiffel Tower. We let her know that it would be quite a bit easier for her to do that than it would be to go to Rodriguez. What\u0026rsquo;s more, without looking anything further up about either place, we know a fair bit more about what she would find there. She seems determined to go there, with our without us, when she get\u0026rsquo;s back to the USA.\nOlive, inspired by Swallows and Amazons, has started planning her sailing dinghy, from which platform she intends to find her own adventures.\nThe winds have clocked up to our beam and we now have a bit more aggressive sailing. This chagrins Vick, who has to deal with it in the galley, and delights me, who gets to enjoy the surge of the boat over and through the moderate swell and wave. Convivia is handling like a dream. Our 24 hrs miles made good (MMG) have been slightly less than stellar these last two days (in the neighborhood of 150/day) but I have a feeling that we will make up for it tonight. Weather is expected to disappear by Tuesday, leaving us with the wallow/motor conundrum (a decision that would be easier if the engine hadn\u0026rsquo;t overheated again the last time we used it). I have a feeling it will be easier without at 25-30knot headwind though.\nAt our current rate, Rodriguez is 7-9 days away. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-11-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 54.072\u0026rsquo; S 85º 23.388\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday Ruby asked if she could go to the Eiffel Tower. We let her know that it would be quite a bit easier for her to do that than it would be to go to Rodriguez. What\u0026rsquo;s more, without looking anything further up about either place, we know a fair bit more about what she would find there. She seems determined to go there, with our without us, when she get\u0026rsquo;s back to the USA.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 11, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 14º 11.928\u0026rsquo; S 88º 8.592\u0026rsquo; E\nToday was just lovely sailing. It took me back to the South Pacific. The sea was closer to 2m and organized, and the winds hovered around 15knots. The kids made up codes and Vick and I rested and ate. We had huevos rancheros for breakfast. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 14º 11.928\u0026rsquo; S 88º 8.592\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nToday was just lovely sailing. It took me back to the South Pacific. The sea was closer to 2m and organized, and the winds hovered around 15knots. The kids made up codes and Vick and I rested and ate. We had huevos rancheros for breakfast. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 10, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 13º 42.318\u0026rsquo; S 90º 18.912\u0026rsquo; E\nThe sea state has settled a bit as did the winds. Vick made a delicious tuna steak salad with ginger, garlic, carrots and rice noodles.\nWe are all relieved that the worst seems to be behind us for a while. We may see another few days like this at the end, but we anticipate at least a week of smoother sailing first.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-09-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 13º 42.318\u0026rsquo; S 90º 18.912\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe sea state has settled a bit as did the winds. Vick made a delicious tuna steak salad with ginger, garlic, carrots and rice noodles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are all relieved that the worst seems to be behind us for a while. We may see another few days like this at the end, but we anticipate at least a week of smoother sailing first.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 09, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 12º 50.772\u0026rsquo; S 93º 3.822\u0026rsquo; E\nAnother rough and boisterous day for us. Mother Ocean gave me two late birthday presents though. 1. Our fastest day ever, 182 miles in 24 hours, and 2. A gorgeous blue tuna. The kids were joking around a bit more today but are still a bit wobbly on their feet. We are still doing well on, and grateful for the prepared food that Vick made before we left.\nWe expect the seas to settle down tomorrow. All is well.\n(now with correct position)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-08-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 50.772\u0026rsquo; S 93º 3.822\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAnother rough and boisterous day for us. Mother Ocean gave me two late birthday presents though. 1. Our fastest day ever, 182 miles in 24 hours, and 2. A gorgeous blue tuna. The kids were joking around a bit more today but are still a bit wobbly on their feet. We are still doing well on, and grateful for the prepared food that Vick made before we left.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 08, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 12º 12.792\u0026rsquo; S 95º 54.078\u0026rsquo; E\nAnother rough and boisterous day for us. Mother Ocean gave me two late birthday presents though. 1. Our fastest day ever, 182 miles in 24 hours, and 2. A gorgeous blue tuna. The kids were joking around a bit more today but are still a bit wobbly on their feet. We are still doing well on, and grateful for the prepared food that Vick made before we left.\nWe expect the seas to settle down tomorrow. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-08-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 12.792\u0026rsquo; S 95º 54.078\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAnother rough and boisterous day for us. Mother Ocean gave me two late birthday presents though. 1. Our fastest day ever, 182 miles in 24 hours, and 2. A gorgeous blue tuna. The kids were joking around a bit more today but are still a bit wobbly on their feet. We are still doing well on, and grateful for the prepared food that Vick made before we left.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 08, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 12º 12.18\u0026rsquo; S 95º 56.46\u0026rsquo; E\nSo it\u0026rsquo;s my birthday. I\u0026rsquo;m celebrating it the way any true salt would, by heading out into the ocean with a fresh breeze at my back.\nThe 3m+ square seas have made for a bit of a lumpy start, but the 8.5knots of average speed might make this our fastest 24 hour day ever and see us to Rodriguez in 10 days rather than the 14 we planned on.\nWe are all acclimating to the big seas, but generally happy. Convivia is stronger and more ready than she\u0026rsquo;s ever been, and we are in company with four other boats (who all left within hours of us).\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-june-07-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 12.18\u0026rsquo; S 95º 56.46\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSo it\u0026rsquo;s my birthday. I\u0026rsquo;m celebrating it the way any true salt would, by heading out into the ocean with a fresh breeze at my back.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 3m+ square seas have made for a bit of a lumpy start, but the 8.5knots of average speed might make this our fastest 24 hour day ever and see us to Rodriguez in 10 days rather than the 14 we planned on.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: June 07, 2016"},{"content":"There are places that you hear about from other cruisers, special places. Perhaps the first time will be over sundowners in someone\u0026rsquo;s cockpit, and then again online, or through the coconut telegraph. After a while, a few of these places rise to the top, they become legendary. We have had the incredible good fortune of having visited many of them, but this one, we almost missed.\nWe had originally planned to take the North Indian Ocean route, which would have shown us Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos (another storied cruiser destination) and possibly Seychelles. The wind died early for that route, this year, and we missed our chance. Then we decided to go from Padang, Sumatra, directly to Madagascar, but the winds weren\u0026rsquo;t really blowing that way and we didn\u0026rsquo;t have the fuel to motor to the wind. So we lucked out.\nCocos Keeling, is like Suwarrow done Aussie style. The Australians have figured out how to augment nature in a way that doesn\u0026rsquo;t detract from it\u0026rsquo;s beauty, but makes it more accessible to the general population. So here, nearly 1600 nautical miles from Perth, in the most remote reach of the Australian territories, there are benches, tables, BBQs toilets and rain catchment. There are moorings for the dinghies just off the low water line, and chickens, ripe for the pluckin'.\nIt is glorious here. Turquoise water mixes abruptly to navy just a few miles North of the island, and gradients of so many shades of blue exist in the dozen meters between Convivia and the shore, that it would be hard to count them, much less qualify them. The thing that clinches this spot though, is kids. There are two other kid boats here, which means that our kids disappear for hours each day and come home happy and full of stories.\nWeather will tear us away from this paradise, soon enough, but for now we will do what cruisers do best. Sundowners, BBQs, and messing about in boats.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/cocos-keeling-a-slice-of-paradise/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere are places that you hear about from other cruisers, special places. Perhaps the first time will be over sundowners in someone\u0026rsquo;s cockpit, and then again online, or through the coconut telegraph. After a while, a few of these places rise to the top, they become legendary.  We have had the incredible good fortune of having visited many of them, but this one, we almost missed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had originally planned to take the North Indian Ocean route, which would have shown us Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos (another storied cruiser destination) and possibly Seychelles. The wind died early for that route, this year, and we missed our chance. Then we decided to go from Padang, Sumatra, directly to Madagascar, but the winds weren\u0026rsquo;t really blowing that way and we didn\u0026rsquo;t have the fuel to motor to the wind. So we lucked out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cocos Keeling: A Slice of Paradise"},{"content":"Position: 12º 5.778\u0026rsquo; S 96º 52.788\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Cocos Keeling. We are all super glad to be not on passage. Vick celebrated by cooking 4 pizzas and now we are all celebrating by eating them. Later on we may celebrate with a margarita or two. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend our time here, beach-combing, snorkeling, and working on the boat (a few leaks may have been found on the way here).\nCocos is gorgeous. More to come. All is well\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-22-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 5.778\u0026rsquo; S 96º 52.788\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Cocos Keeling. We are all super glad to be not on passage. Vick celebrated by cooking 4 pizzas and now we are all celebrating by eating them. Later on we may celebrate with a margarita or two. We\u0026rsquo;ll spend our time here, beach-combing, snorkeling, and working on the boat (a few leaks may have been found on the way here).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCocos is gorgeous. More to come. All is well\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 10º 53.172\u0026rsquo; S 98º 31.272\u0026rsquo; E\nStanding, one foot on the weather deck and one foot in the cockpit, staring out over the bow and beyond, I am reminded of all the times in my youth when I stared over the deck of our Luders, out past Louds Island, to the deep water. I remember the sense of awe and fascination, the mystery of the ocean. I remember wondering what it would be like to cross one someday.\nAs I stand, I feel that same fascination, wonder, and excitement, and I realize that I am out here, with my own children, doing the very thing that filled my dreams as a child. I look down. Ruby and Olive are sitting at my feet, oblivious to my awe, making up magical creatures (\u0026ldquo;Pick any animal, give it 3 super powers, and mix it with another animal\u0026rdquo;). They, I realize, have never sat on a breakwater at night, looking out over the ocean, wondering what it holds for them. The ocean has been their home.\nSometimes I worry that this isn\u0026rsquo;t the best use of a life. Maybe there is something more grand or important that I should be contributing to the world, rather than this self-indulgent exploration. Then I look down at the kids playing their games, and worry that I\u0026rsquo;ve taken the wonder and awe, and made it so commonplace that everything else will be boring. Then Olive says \u0026ldquo;Mine is a bunny, with magical eyes that can look at two people at once, and make them fall in love. She will also be invisible and have dragon wings.\u0026rdquo; Focus regained. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-22-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 10º 53.172\u0026rsquo; S 98º 31.272\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nStanding, one foot on the weather deck and one foot in the cockpit, staring out over the bow and beyond, I am reminded of all the times in my youth when I stared over the deck of our Luders, out past Louds Island, to the deep water. I remember the sense of awe and fascination, the mystery of the ocean. I remember wondering what it would be like to cross one someday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 22, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 7º 10.278\u0026rsquo; S 101º 17.28\u0026rsquo; E\nWhen I hired Bob Perry to advise me on which boat to circumnavigate on, he hammered into me that \u0026ldquo;seakindly\u0026rdquo; was not a word, and that it was too ambiguous to be used in serious discussions about a sailing boat\u0026rsquo;s qualities. I accept the venerable man\u0026rsquo;s critique, but today, crossing our first segment of open Indian Ocean, with the wind crossing our bows at 12-15 knots I thought \u0026ldquo;to be close reaching in 15 knots in open ocean, and to say \u0026lsquo;I love sailing\u0026rsquo; must be the definition of sea kindly.\u0026rdquo;\nThe rest of the family spent much of the day acclimating to the motion, which is to say, battling nausea. We ate lightly, of leftovers, and slept much. Tonight Vick will serve up a pot of rice and some soup.\nThe seas have organized some though, and seem to agree that SSE is the direction to come from. We are all hoping for a slightly smoother ride tomorrow.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-19-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 7º 10.278\u0026rsquo; S 101º 17.28\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWhen I hired Bob Perry to advise me on which boat to circumnavigate on, he hammered into me that \u0026ldquo;seakindly\u0026rdquo; was not a word, and that it was too ambiguous to be used in serious discussions about a sailing boat\u0026rsquo;s qualities. I accept the venerable man\u0026rsquo;s critique, but today, crossing our first segment of open Indian Ocean, with the wind crossing our bows at 12-15 knots I thought \u0026ldquo;to be close reaching in 15 knots in open ocean, and to say \u0026lsquo;I love sailing\u0026rsquo; must be the definition of sea kindly.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 19, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 5º 33.828\u0026rsquo; S 102º 26.31\u0026rsquo; E\nEnggan pitstop successful. We had the anchor down just after sunrise. After breakfast and a 15 minute \u0026ldquo;power-nap\u0026rdquo; (power nothing, I promise) we were loading the dinghy for a shore trip.\nWe found the local business man, and arranged for diesel to be delivered, or maybe we would go pick it up, or maybe it would come in a hundred gallon sized plastic bags, details are hard to follow in a foreign language. 5 hours later we were loading up the dinghies with jerry cans and heading for distant shores.\nWhat happened in-between was that the Navy was called and we were (lightly) interrogated. The kids played ball with some village kids and made sharp sticks with the help of concrete and a local machete (made from truck shocks, I kid you not). In the end, the Navy was happy to let us go with a smile and a few \u0026ldquo;selfies\u0026rdquo; (the seemingly universal word for any sort of photo with people). I guess folks run out of fuel all the time around here.\nWe are off an running to Cocos Keeling, unless the wind shifts. It will be nice to be on Australian soil again, however far from our Austral center it may be.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-18-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 33.828\u0026rsquo; S 102º 26.31\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEnggan pitstop successful. We had the anchor down just after sunrise. After breakfast and a 15 minute \u0026ldquo;power-nap\u0026rdquo; (power nothing, I promise) we were loading the dinghy for a shore trip.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe found the local business man, and arranged for diesel to be delivered, or maybe we would go pick it up, or maybe it would come in a hundred gallon sized plastic bags, details are hard to follow in a foreign language. 5 hours later we were loading up the dinghies with jerry cans and heading for distant shores.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 18, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 5º 33.828\u0026rsquo; S 102º 26.31\u0026rsquo; E\nEnggan pitstop successful. We had the anchor down just after sunrise. After breakfast and a 15 minute \u0026ldquo;power-nap\u0026rdquo; (power nothing, I promise) we were loading the dinghy for a shore trip.\nWe found the local business man, and arranged for diesel to be delivered, or maybe we would go pick it up, or maybe it would come in a hundred gallon sized plastic bags, details are hard to follow in a foreign language. 5 hours later we were loading up the dinghies with jerry cans and heading for distant shores.\nWhat happened in-between was that the Navy was called and we were (lightly) interrogated. The kids played ball with some village kids and made sharp sticks with the help of concrete and a local machete (made from truck shocks, I kid you not). In the end, the Navy was happy to let us go with a smile and a few \u0026ldquo;selfies\u0026rdquo; (the seemingly universal word for any sort of photo with people). I guess folks run out of fuel all the time around here.\nWe are off an running to Cocos Keeling, unless the wind shifts. It will be nice to be on Australian soil again, however far from our Austral center it may be.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-18-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 33.828\u0026rsquo; S 102º 26.31\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nEnggan pitstop successful. We had the anchor down just after sunrise. After breakfast and a 15 minute \u0026ldquo;power-nap\u0026rdquo; (power nothing, I promise) we were loading the dinghy for a shore trip.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe found the local business man, and arranged for diesel to be delivered, or maybe we would go pick it up, or maybe it would come in a hundred gallon sized plastic bags, details are hard to follow in a foreign language. 5 hours later we were loading up the dinghies with jerry cans and heading for distant shores.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 18, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 4º 55.128\u0026rsquo; S 101º 59.418\u0026rsquo; E\nWe had a nice day of sailing today. Winds aft of the beam most of the day at about 10 knots meant less roll and less noise. Eventually, just as the GRIBs predicted, the fun was over, but we were pleasantly surprised that our misbehaving engine belt, behaved! We charged and made water while making great time. Tomorrow we will make a quick stop for fuel and then continue on to Cocos Keeling.\nThe kids had their best fight ever tonight. They were in near-violent disagreement about who would get the \u0026ldquo;good\u0026rdquo; encyclopedia. Our job as parents is nearly done ;)\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-17-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 4º 55.128\u0026rsquo; S 101º 59.418\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had a nice day of sailing today. Winds aft of the beam most of the day at about 10 knots meant less roll and less noise. Eventually, just as the GRIBs predicted, the fun was over, but we were pleasantly surprised that our misbehaving engine belt, behaved! We charged and made water while making great time. Tomorrow we will make a quick stop for fuel and then continue on to Cocos Keeling.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 17, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are underway!! We are heading towards Cocos Keeling, with a possible refueling stop on the way. It\u0026rsquo;s been a rolly start with a lot of motoring (which we expected). Unexpected was the new new belt that I installed in the final hours of our last passage, loosening up so much that our engine overheated again. It\u0026rsquo;s under control now, and we are wallowing along, hoping for wind!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-16-2016-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are underway!! We are heading towards Cocos Keeling, with a possible refueling stop on the way. It\u0026rsquo;s been a rolly start with a lot of motoring (which we expected). Unexpected was the new new belt that I installed in the final hours of our last passage, loosening up so much that our engine overheated again. It\u0026rsquo;s under control now, and we are wallowing along, hoping for wind!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 16, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 30.09\u0026rsquo; S 100º 47.148\u0026rsquo; E\nLast position was incorrect. This is our current position.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-16-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 30.09\u0026rsquo; S 100º 47.148\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast position was incorrect. This is our current position.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 16, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are underway!! We are heading towards Cocos Keeling, with a possible refueling stop on the way. It\u0026rsquo;s been a rolly start with a lot of motoring (which we expected). Unexpected was the new new belt that I installed in the final hours of our last passage, loosening up so much that our engine overheated again. It\u0026rsquo;s under control now, and we are wallowing along, hoping for wind!\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-16-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are underway!! We are heading towards Cocos Keeling, with a possible refueling stop on the way. It\u0026rsquo;s been a rolly start with a lot of motoring (which we expected). Unexpected was the new new belt that I installed in the final hours of our last passage, loosening up so much that our engine overheated again. It\u0026rsquo;s under control now, and we are wallowing along, hoping for wind!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 16, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\nStill waiting for wind. There is little to do but swim and catch rain water. We were visited today by a couple of local kids about the same age as Ruby. They spent hours jumping off Convivia with our kids. They left as the sun started setting. I could tell the kids were glad to have other kids their own age, even if they only shared a couple of words between them. We are thinking of leaving tomorrow, whether or not the weather cooperates.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-15-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nStill waiting for wind. There is little to do but swim and catch rain water. We were visited today by a couple of local kids about the same age as Ruby. They spent hours jumping off Convivia with our kids. They left as the sun started setting. I could tell the kids were glad to have other kids their own age, even if they only shared a couple of words between them. We are thinking of leaving tomorrow, whether or not the weather cooperates.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 15, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\nMoved anchorage this morning to a less rolly spot. This anchorage is closer to a little village as well.\nAt one point in the afternoon we were visited by a group of local kids in dugout canoes. One of them was leaking pretty seriously, but the kids were having fun bailing it, flipping it over, and bailing it again. Olive, little cruiser girl that she is, jumped right in and started trying to plug the holes. She started with paper towel, then a piece of rope. They used various items to shove the rope into the hole, and perhaps even had some success. These kids didn\u0026rsquo;t speak Bahasa Indonesia (some local language) so we didn\u0026rsquo;t even have the barest communication with them. Watching Olive help out fellow mariners filled my heart with pride.\nIn other news, Vick made mint chocolate truffles to share with our friends as a \u0026ldquo;passage present.\u0026rdquo; All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-11-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMoved anchorage this morning to a less rolly spot. This anchorage is closer to a little village as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt one point in the afternoon we were visited by a group of local kids in dugout canoes. One of them was leaking pretty seriously, but the kids were having fun bailing it, flipping it over, and bailing it again. Olive, little cruiser girl that she is, jumped right in and started trying to plug the holes. She started with paper towel, then a piece of rope. They used various items to shove the rope into the hole, and perhaps even had some success. These kids didn\u0026rsquo;t speak Bahasa Indonesia (some local language) so we didn\u0026rsquo;t even have the barest communication with them. Watching Olive help out fellow mariners filled my heart with pride.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 11, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\nMoved anchorage this morning to a less rolly spot. This anchorage is closer to a little village as well.\nAt one point in the afternoon we were visited by a group of local kids in dugout canoes. One of them was leaking pretty seriously, but the kids were having fun bailing it, flipping it over, and bailing it again. Olive, little cruiser girl that she is, jumped right in and started trying to plug the holes. She started with paper towel, then a piece of rope. They used various items to shove the rope into the hole, and perhaps even had some success. These kids didn\u0026rsquo;t speak Bahasa Indonesia (some local language) so we didn\u0026rsquo;t even have the barest communication with them. Watching Olive help out fellow mariners filled my heart with pride.\nIn other news, Vick made mint chocolate truffles to share with our friends as a \u0026ldquo;passage present.\u0026rdquo; All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-11-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 17.1\u0026rsquo; S 100º 26.952\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMoved anchorage this morning to a less rolly spot. This anchorage is closer to a little village as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt one point in the afternoon we were visited by a group of local kids in dugout canoes. One of them was leaking pretty seriously, but the kids were having fun bailing it, flipping it over, and bailing it again. Olive, little cruiser girl that she is, jumped right in and started trying to plug the holes. She started with paper towel, then a piece of rope. They used various items to shove the rope into the hole, and perhaps even had some success. These kids didn\u0026rsquo;t speak Bahasa Indonesia (some local language) so we didn\u0026rsquo;t even have the barest communication with them. Watching Olive help out fellow mariners filled my heart with pride.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 11, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 3º 9.69\u0026rsquo; S 100º 25.62\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived at our launching off point. Now we will wait for weather and try to find someone to sell us some diesel (in case it doesn\u0026rsquo;t come in time). We are anchored behind a spit of lightly vegetated sandbar in a horseshoe shaped cove. The break curls around the edges, menacingly, but where we sit the water is smooth and calm.\nThis should be a nice spot for the night, tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll likely find something with better shore access.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-10-2016-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 3º 9.69\u0026rsquo; S 100º 25.62\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived at our launching off point. Now we will wait for weather and try to find someone to sell us some diesel (in case it doesn\u0026rsquo;t come in time). We are anchored behind a spit of lightly vegetated sandbar in a horseshoe shaped cove. The break curls around the edges, menacingly, but where we sit the water is smooth and calm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis should be a nice spot for the night, tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll likely find something with better shore access.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 10, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 2º 59.55\u0026rsquo; S 100º 31.548\u0026rsquo; E\nOn passage. Our first night out was a bit rough: engine overheated, alternator stopped working, VHF/AIS/Radar voltage drop (overheated). We did get the sails up for a few hours and that\u0026rsquo;s been pretty nice. I\u0026rsquo;ve managed to solve everything but the voltage drop and I think that\u0026rsquo;s immanently solvable. Landfall this afternoon. We will wait for weather for the big jump.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 2º 59.55\u0026rsquo; S 100º 31.548\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOn passage. Our first night out was a bit rough: engine overheated, alternator stopped working, VHF/AIS/Radar voltage drop (overheated). We did get the sails up for a few hours and that\u0026rsquo;s been pretty nice. I\u0026rsquo;ve managed to solve everything but the voltage drop and I think that\u0026rsquo;s immanently solvable. Landfall this afternoon. We will wait for weather for the big jump.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 10, 2016"},{"content":"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 butts off to make that schedule, and then we realize that we have no real imperative to leave. So we postpone a day. This day, is a special kind of day because unlike other chilled out days, we really didn\u0026rsquo;t expect it (even after many many iterations). So we end up swimming around the boat (because Fatty is often either on deck or hipped and ready) eating popcorn, and generally being a family of extreme leisure. This photo pretty well captures that spirit.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/living-aboard/jump-for-joy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 butts off to make that schedule, and then we realize that we have no real imperative to leave. So we postpone a day. This day, is a special kind of day because unlike other chilled out days, we really didn\u0026rsquo;t expect it (even after many many iterations). So we end up swimming around the boat (because Fatty is often either on deck or hipped and ready) eating popcorn, and generally being a family of extreme leisure. This photo pretty well captures that spirit.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Jump for Joy"},{"content":"Position: 1º 12.918\u0026rsquo; S 100º 24.09\u0026rsquo; E\nAt Anchor for a couple of rest days. Waiting for wind to head W on.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-may-01-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 1º 12.918\u0026rsquo; S 100º 24.09\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAt Anchor for a couple of rest days. Waiting for wind to head W on.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: May 01, 2016"},{"content":"Back when I was a dirt dweller, I used to buy coffee beans from this little warehouse in Oakland. The company, Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s, was owned and operated by a guy who personally flew around the world, visiting plantations, sampling coffee beans at the source, and then buying small batches from the best of them. I have wanted his job ever since.\nWhen I imagined this sailing adventure, I pictured myself, sailing through the world\u0026rsquo;s finest coffee growing regions, making dozens (if not hundreds) of forays into the mountains to restock my ever dwindling supplies of green beans. As the journey wore on, it became apparent to me that this dream was (perhaps) a bit unrealistic. The resources and local knowledge needed to find and visit the farms change with every locale, and the time and money needed to make the trips is not insignificant on our modest budget.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve contented myself with buying green beans from the roasters in the cities, and sometimes getting ungraded (un-sorted) coffee from the markets. I saw lower grade coffee drying on the side of the road in Flores, and went to a tourist trap in Bali, but that was as close as I had come to a real working coffee farm.\nWith our time in Southeast Asia winding to a close, I had written off the dream. Maybe the next trip around the world would afford me more time and money. We arrived in Padang with only two objectives. Provision and check out. Next stop Mauritius.\nOur first day was a scouting mission, and it was off to a really rough start. Our initial dinghy ride to shore had to be aborted after an enormous, very localized wave nearly capsized the dinghy and soaked her crew. Our second attempt went only slightly better. After over an hour of idle chatting, we made it off the docks and into an overpriced cab. We spent the early afternoon terrorized by a techno-filled mall before escaping to the more comfortable street bustle of the city. Eventually we found ourselves, hot and tired, in a great little coffee-shop bistro in Old Padang called Coffee Theory. Our iced lattes were served cold cream over coffee ice cubes and was about the most divine thing in our world at the time. I asked the barista about filters for our Aeropress and a guy on the customer side of the bar said \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ve got some you could buy.\u0026rdquo; He introduced himself as Ary and we started talking about coffee. I asked the question I\u0026rsquo;ve come to ask anyone who seems to care about coffee; \u0026ldquo;Do you happen to know where I might be able to buy some green beans?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;I happen to be going up to a farm in the mountains tonight. It\u0026rsquo;s begun to get a really solid reputation for quality.\u0026rdquo; I went back to our table to tell Vick. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t even thinking of going myself, but I thought maybe we should ask him to pick up some beans for us. I told her what Ary told me and she started planning for my absence. Light dawned. Ary confirmed what Vick has intuited, there was a seat for me if I wanted it.\nSomewhere around 11pm that night, I got a call from Ary that he was on his way. Vick dropped me off and I waited beneath a streetlight in front of a gorgeous modern mosque. I waited. Then waited some more. Ary was checking in regularly, but also lost. Eventually a young guy came out of the mosque and started chatting with me. We called Ary together and the next thing I knew, I was on the back of a scooter, heading who-knows-where at high speed. 20 minutes of hairpin turns later we were pulling over to the warang (food shop) where Ary and friends were eating. We piled into the van, picked up seven other guys and headed for the hills.\nWe arrived at the headquarters of Solok Radjo somewhere in the neighborhood of 2am. Four of us crashed out on the floor of the guest room (thanks guys for giving the old man the mattress) and the rest went to make coffee… for real. I suspect that they fell asleep eventually (because the room was packed when I woke up) but I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine how that happened. We got up at seven and (after the obvious coffee breakfast) loaded up to go to the most amazing lookout, on the way to the farm.\nI spent the day picking beans, learning about the various curing processes, roasting in a traditional clay roast pot, laughing and joking with my new posse (the Fruited-G crew) cupping (tasting) coffee from different micro-lots and generally living the honest-to-god dream that I have had for at least a decade. It didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt one bit that this was all happening on a gorgeous day in the very heart of paradise.\nOur ride home was an adventure as well, full of rain and raucous laughter and a movie worthy slalom down the mountain road. As we entered the city limits, I felt myself holding on tight to something. We dropped the crew off in small spurts, two here, three there. Until it was just four of us. Those stalwart few picked up the remaining Convivia crew and grabbed a delicious (and overdue) dinner before doing a few chores and dropping us off at the dock. As we pulled away from the dock I realized that I had forgotten the beans, it was then that the penny dropped.\nWhile it would be perfectly reasonable to assume that I had forgotten the very object of this adventure (the 10kg of farm fresh green coffee beans) because I was overtired, the actual reason was that somewhere between that scooter ride, and the dock the next day the bond of camaraderie, shared experience, and easy laughter had eclipsed the material objective so thoroughly, that I actually didn\u0026rsquo;t have a care for those beans.\nSo, to the Fruited-Gs and the Portafilter Posse, thank you! You\u0026rsquo;ve made my dream real, and given me something even more important, friendship. I owe you all some ink, though, so don\u0026rsquo;t think you\u0026rsquo;re off the hook. See you in 15 years (give or take).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/coffee/panen-raya-harvest-time/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBack when I was a dirt dweller, I used to buy coffee beans from this little warehouse in Oakland. The company, \u003ca href=\"http://sweetmarias.com\"\u003eSweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s\u003c/a\u003e, was owned and operated by a guy who personally flew around the world, visiting plantations, sampling coffee beans at the source, and then buying small batches from the best of them. I have wanted his job ever since.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I imagined this sailing adventure, I pictured myself, sailing through the world\u0026rsquo;s finest coffee growing regions, making dozens (if not hundreds) of forays into the mountains to restock my ever dwindling supplies of green beans. As the journey wore on, it became apparent to me that this dream was (perhaps) a bit unrealistic. The resources and local knowledge needed to find and visit the farms change with every locale, and the time and money needed to make the trips is not insignificant on our modest budget.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Panen Raya (Harvest Time)"},{"content":"Position: 1º 0.21\u0026rsquo; S 100º 22.746\u0026rsquo; E\nSafe and sound in Padang after a lightning (\u0026amp; cake) filled passage. It will be an interesting challenge to find our way around, as this appears to be the commercial port.\nWe have five days until checkout though, so I\u0026rsquo;m sure it will be fine.\nTomorrow is Convivia\u0026rsquo;s sixth birthday.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-25-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 1º 0.21\u0026rsquo; S 100º 22.746\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nSafe and sound in Padang after a lightning (\u0026amp; cake) filled passage. It will be an interesting challenge to find our way around, as this appears to be the commercial port.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have five days until checkout though, so I\u0026rsquo;m sure it will be fine.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTomorrow is Convivia\u0026rsquo;s sixth birthday.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 25, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 0º 8.166\u0026rsquo; S 98º 20.688\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived at Sipikia under moonlit sky last night. Coming around an enormous surf break without light is pretty disconcerting, even when you\u0026rsquo;ve got satellite view, charts, and radar all corroborating that the reef is where it should be. It went smoothly though, and we had enough energy left to roast up a kilo of fresh coffee. Mmmmm.\nConvivia and crew crossed the equator for the third time yesterday. We\u0026rsquo;re getting good at this.\nThis morning the kids made banana muffins out of our almost decaying bananas, and then took a walk around half the island. It\u0026rsquo;s remarkable here. If I were going to pick one part of Indonesia (from the hundreds of islands we\u0026rsquo;ve sailed by/to) it would be the West coast of Sumatra. All wow, all the time.\nPeregrine is slated to arrive tomorrow, and we\u0026rsquo;ll share the day with them before heading to Padang to checkout.\nQuote of the day: \u0026ldquo;000* We ran out of glitter, please send help.\u0026rdquo;\nSecond Quote of the day: \u0026ldquo;Having a freezer cold enough to make ice, and a Vitamix is enough to make up for being out of glitter.\u0026rdquo;\nAll is well.\n*911 in the USA\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-22-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 0º 8.166\u0026rsquo; S 98º 20.688\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived at Sipikia under moonlit sky last night. Coming around an enormous surf break without light is pretty disconcerting, even when you\u0026rsquo;ve got satellite view, charts, and radar all corroborating that the reef is where it should be. It went smoothly though, and we had enough energy left to roast up a kilo of fresh coffee. Mmmmm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConvivia and crew crossed the equator for the third time yesterday. We\u0026rsquo;re getting good at this.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 22, 2016"},{"content":"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 over this stone structure in order to win the right to marry (I guess they were breeding for height).\nThe jump was over so quickly that I am really glad I recorded it. You can enjoy it below the photos.\nIt was a remarkably busy and productive day, and we were all pleased to get to do some sightseeing. Tomorrow, we think we might try surfing this amazing break that is right behind us.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/nias-day-one/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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 over this stone structure in order to win the right to marry (I guess they were breeding for height).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe jump was over so quickly that I am really glad I recorded it. You can enjoy it below the photos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nias: Day One"},{"content":"Position: 0º 34.44\u0026rsquo; N 97º 44.064\u0026rsquo; E\nArrived in Lagundri, amidst surfers and world class break. We ran out of fuel and had to sail in, which was a bit hairy, but I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful that we had the wind to do it.\nS/v No Regrets was right behind us offering support. It\u0026rsquo;s so reassuring to have the comradery of fellow sailors out here.\nWe will probably crash out early tonight, having had basically no sleep in the last 24hrs.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-18-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 0º 34.44\u0026rsquo; N 97º 44.064\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nArrived in Lagundri, amidst surfers and world class break. We ran out of fuel and had to sail in, which was a bit hairy, but I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful that we had the wind to do it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eS/v No Regrets was right behind us offering support. It\u0026rsquo;s so reassuring to have the comradery of fellow sailors out here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe will probably crash out early tonight, having had basically no sleep in the last 24hrs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 18, 2016"},{"content":"Our last anchorage was so beautiful and relaxing that we didn\u0026rsquo;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!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/pulau-lasia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur last anchorage was so beautiful and relaxing that we didn\u0026rsquo;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!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pulau Lasia"},{"content":"Position: 2º 10.332\u0026rsquo; N 96º 38.94\u0026rsquo; E\nWe arrived at Pulau Lasai this morning after an exciting night of dodging shrimp boats and lightning squalls.\nThis place is gorgeous. The kids rate is as their second favorite after Suwarrow. The water clarity is superb (50-100\u0026rsquo;), the snorkeling is reported to be excellent, and the island is deserted. We share the anchorage with \u0026ldquo;On Vera,\u0026rdquo; another US flagged boat from Alameda.\nThe kids and Vick had a swim to shore, made a raft, and designed our next few day\u0026rsquo;s entertainment while I caught up on sleep from the passage. Tomorrow we may build a hermit crab racetrack, or a foot massage parlor, or a bonfire, or perhaps we\u0026rsquo;ll do it all. I think, despite the abysmal internet, that we will not be leaving too quickly.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-14-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 2º 10.332\u0026rsquo; N 96º 38.94\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe arrived at Pulau Lasai this morning after an exciting night of dodging shrimp boats and lightning squalls.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis place is gorgeous. The kids rate is as their second favorite after Suwarrow. The water clarity is superb (50-100\u0026rsquo;), the snorkeling is reported to be excellent, and the island is deserted. We share the anchorage with \u0026ldquo;On Vera,\u0026rdquo; another US flagged boat from Alameda.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 14, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 2º 58.536\u0026rsquo; N 95º 57.258\u0026rsquo; E\nWe are just off Pulau Simelu now, but it\u0026rsquo;s too late to make landfall tonight. Beyond that, we heard of a lovely little island just south of here that we are eager to see. We should make it before midday tomorrow.\nToday was spent mostly motoring. The kids signed up for my new Jr Watchkeeper Program and have racked up over ten sightings each. It\u0026rsquo;s great to see them excited about this. Olive is a pretty talented radar technician already.\nWe got the sails up just before dinner and were visited by the cutest dolphin babies, shortly thereafter. The wind decided to leave the party with the sun though, so we are left with the faintest puff. It\u0026rsquo;s enough to maintain steerage so we will enjoy the peace while it lasts.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-13-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 2º 58.536\u0026rsquo; N 95º 57.258\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are just off Pulau Simelu now, but it\u0026rsquo;s too late to make landfall tonight. Beyond that, we heard of a lovely little island just south of here that we are eager to see. We should make it before midday tomorrow.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday was spent mostly motoring. The kids signed up for my new Jr Watchkeeper Program and have racked up over ten sightings each. It\u0026rsquo;s great to see them excited about this. Olive is a pretty talented radar technician already.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 13, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 4º 59.034\u0026rsquo; N 95º 11.418\u0026rsquo; E\nThe anchorage was so rolly last night that we gave up on sleeping by 4:30am. This allowed us to make a early start and, with good wind, we were able to sail all day. The downside was that the swell continued well out to sea.\nLucky for us our first tack (about 30nm out) gave us a better attitude to the swell and we have had divine sailing ever since. We are breezing down the coast of Sumatra now, at around 3 knots (most of the day was 6ish) and thanking all that is good that we aren\u0026rsquo;t motoring.\nExpecting to make landfall after two sleeps.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-12-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 4º 59.034\u0026rsquo; N 95º 11.418\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe anchorage was so rolly last night that we gave up on sleeping by 4:30am. This allowed us to make a early start and, with good wind, we were able to sail all day. The downside was that the swell continued well out to sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLucky for us our first tack (about 30nm out) gave us a better attitude to the swell and we have had divine sailing ever since. We are breezing down the coast of Sumatra now, at around 3 knots (most of the day was 6ish) and thanking all that is good that we aren\u0026rsquo;t motoring.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 12, 2016"},{"content":"Position: 5º 29.616\u0026rsquo; N 95º 13.542\u0026rsquo; E\nMainland Sumatra is gorgeous folks. We opted to anchor tonight rather than make passage and it seems like the right choice. Sharing the anchorage with us are Zuleka, Salt Breaker, and Peregrine. It will be tough to pry ourselves away from the beach and promise of sightseeing. We\u0026rsquo;ll have to see how it goes.\nAll is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/position-reports/position-report-april-10-2016/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 5º 29.616\u0026rsquo; N 95º 13.542\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMainland Sumatra is gorgeous folks. We opted to anchor tonight rather than make passage and it seems like the right choice. Sharing the anchorage with us are Zuleka, Salt Breaker, and Peregrine. It will be tough to pry ourselves away from the beach and promise of sightseeing. We\u0026rsquo;ll have to see how it goes.\u003cbr\u003e\nAll is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: April 10, 2016"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\nThis transition to cruising-proper is one that you can\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\nIn a week, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to check out of Thailand. We missed our northern window so we\u0026rsquo;ll head South, taking in Sumatra\u0026rsquo;s westernmost islands instead. In mid April, we will leave SE Asia on route to S. Africa. It will be our longest passage (3500 nm unless it\u0026rsquo;s interrupted by Chagos) but we are all looking forward to it.\nUntil then, we\u0026rsquo;ll be chillin\u0026rsquo; right here, in our cozy little harbor, making delicious food, watching the sunset, chatting with the neighbors and recovering from the stresses that got us here!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/chillin-in-thailand/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis transition to cruising-proper is one that you can\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Chillin' in Thailand"},{"content":"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.\nThe second we dropped the hook on Ko Tarutao I felt months of tension drain out of me. It didn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s been amazing in many ways.\nThai food is actually so much better here than anywhere else I\u0026rsquo;ve eaten it (in my very limited experience). It\u0026rsquo;s so good in fact, that I think we should just call it \u0026ldquo;food\u0026rdquo; and the rest of the world should accept that theirs is ethnic.\nThe scenery is magnificent. It\u0026rsquo;s epic, imposing, and gives one the sense that there is no earthly reason that nature would create such majesty other than to impress the pants off of us.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve been moving fast, changing anchorage daily. The conditions have been by and large boisterous, so it\u0026rsquo;s been work, but that just contributes to it feeling cruisy again.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve added a gallery that will no doubt fail to convey the true glory of this country, but it\u0026rsquo;s still superior to words.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/thailand-so-far/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThailand 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second we dropped the hook on Ko Tarutao I felt months of tension drain out of me. It didn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s been amazing in many ways.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thailand so far"},{"content":"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!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/yard-dogs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yard Dogs"},{"content":"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 Murugan, representing goodness over evil. Because our stay in Penang was much longer than we anticipated the kids and I had an opportunity to witness the celebration.\nIn Penang, thousands of devotees follow a procession of a chariot to the Sri Mahamariamman Temple carrying small pots of fresh cow\u0026rsquo;s milk as offerings. Other devotees observe by piercing their skin with small hooks or large skewers and carrying large kavadi on supports around their shoulders and waists.\nWe joined in the celebration where the road closed and walked a couple of kilometers along the path to the temple. We listened to very loud religious music, drank many cool drinks and ate delicious vegetarian food that was handed to us along the way. We ducked into a couple of the hundreds of temporary temples that offered drinks, shade and a place to sit down. Ultimately we never made it up the hill to the temple but what we saw was quite impressive anyway.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/thaispusam-in-penang/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 Murugan,  representing goodness over evil. Because our stay in Penang was much longer than we anticipated the kids and I had an opportunity to witness the celebration.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Penang, thousands of devotees follow a procession of a chariot to the Sri Mahamariamman Temple carrying small pots of fresh cow\u0026rsquo;s milk as offerings. Other devotees observe by piercing their skin with small hooks or large skewers and carrying large kavadi on supports around their shoulders and waists.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thaispusam in Penang"},{"content":"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.\nOne of the outcomes of all of this bustle is that we have reached peak chaos. Christmas may be 4 days away, but it feels like it exists only in a parallel universe. We\u0026rsquo;ve experienced this before. In fact, 2011 has become known as \u0026ldquo;the Christmas that wasn\u0026rsquo;t.\u0026rdquo; We were in Mexico, at the docks in La Cruz, getting ready to cross the Pacific. We did not realize that Christmas was coming until the 24th, and madly scurried around to collect gifts. The stockings (and some of the stuffers) came from a generous boat neighbor. We pulled it off, but it didn\u0026rsquo;t feel like Christmas.\nOlive, how do you feel about Christmas in the boat yard?\nWe are doing slightly better this year. We have a few humble gifts (the kids think they are getting nothing except for their homemade gifts to each other, ssshhh), and we have a PLAN! Okay, that was a bit grandiose. We have a one way plane ticket to Kuala Lumpur and 4 bunks in a hostel for a week, but it will be something different, something to delineate this holiday from the drudgery of yard work.\nWe will still have to find gluten free (GF) groceries to provision for the Indian Ocean, and GF meals to feed ourselves each day. And do not forget the main event; renewing the kids\u0026rsquo; passports. That should leave us with a few precious hours each day to find bookstores and museums, libraries and parks. The stuff that our memories are made of!\nSomething shiny and unobtainable\nAll of this is a little bittersweet for me. I am one who firmly believes in living intentionally, and owning my outcomes. Victoria and I have chosen experience and relationships over stuff. Most of the time this is a drop dead easy decision to live with but, at this time of year, when gift giving has such a high (cultural) importance, the thought of not buying the kids and Vick something shiny, something that would be wildly unobtainable on other days, skewers me with an unreconcilable regret.\nAt these moments, waist deep in construction; groping for two Ringgit to rub together, I\u0026rsquo;m grateful for Victoria\u0026rsquo;s pragmatic reassurance. The kids are happy. We are doing the leg work for another year and a half of magic making. And all we really need is food, water , sunglasses, a bucket to pee in, and each other to love.\nMerry Christmas from our crew to yours!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/yard-dogs-christmas/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yard Dog's Christmas"},{"content":"Continued from here\nTrying 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).\nWhile 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 \u0026ldquo;can do\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t slept a consecutive 3 hours in the last 72 and the prospect of undertaking such an adventure was daunting, to say the least.\nIt had to be done though. By conservative estimates we could not make it to Johor Bahru on the fuel we had, and I did not rate my chances of finding fuel on my own. Chandra hopped aboard and helped us to empty our two remaining jerry cans. Then he followed me into Fatty, beckoned his reticent buddy aboard and took control of the outboard. My affection for this kid was cemented.\nChandra guided us expertly to his stilt village, waving proudly and announcing to anyone within earshot that he was taking this guy to get solar. In my under-informed imagination, this was a pivotal act in this boy\u0026rsquo;s passage to adulthood, but it might as possibly been a mundane and tedious act. I\u0026rsquo;m going with the former though, because at this point I was beginning the transition to that magical state (that I have only experienced a few times before) of complete immersion in the unknown. It\u0026rsquo;s a place and time where literally anything is possible. I was equally prepared to find fuel which I could buy with goodwill and bananas, as I was to have a conversation with a talking fish who would willingly tow us to Malaysia and, in this state, it\u0026rsquo;s best to shepherd ones thoughts towards the sanguine and fantastical.\nSo I followed the beaming Chandra through his village. His younger minions unburdened me of my jerry cans and swarmed around me, pointing, tittering and sneaking glances at my tattooed arm. Chandra took me to his home (also on stilts, but above dry ground) and introduced me to his (?) grandmother. He called his dad and explained the situation. There was some amused conversation and then Chandra grabbed one of the family\u0026rsquo;s quiver of motorcycles and showed me the plan in mixed pantomime and Bahasa Indonesia.\nI mounted up on the motorcycle, holding two cans sitting on the back seat. Chandra shook his hand and motioned me to the driver seat. \u0026ldquo;Oh great\u0026rdquo; I thought. This motorcycle was unlike anything I had ever seen. It had no hand brake, no clutch and a weird assortment of extra buttons, but I was to drive. That was painfully clear.\nThe kids gathered around and laughed uproariously at every unsuccessful attempt to kickstart the bike. I must have tried 10 times, but by the second time I was into full theatrical mode, performing the fool for the delighted crowd. Finally, I got the thing started and we were off, in first gear… because I hadn\u0026rsquo;t yet convinced myself that it was safe to just slam it into gear without a clutch. Chandra was talking a mile a minute, no doubt giving me instructions. He was unabashedly rattling on in Indonesian, expecting that at any moment I would catch on (as I did with the whole motorcycle starting process).\nSo, we were off, in first gear, on a single-track that would have been ambitious on a mountain bike. At the end of the track we turned onto a \u0026ldquo;road\u0026rdquo; which might have passed for one of your poorer sidewalks in La Paz, Mexico. Riddled with holes and missing cobbles, generously appointed with drainage pipe mounds, and shared with all manner of pedestrian and cyclist traffic, we were cruising the island\u0026rsquo;s highway. Chandra and I established a limited operational communication channel consisting of \u0026ldquo;Okay\u0026rdquo; (meaning you are doing good, or go faster, or go straight) and \u0026ldquo;Hati hati\u0026rdquo; (meaning slow, danger, or this is a village and they will be very upset with me if we barrel through). There was another phrase which I recognized, but can\u0026rsquo;t recall, which meant, we are here.\nI got that last message just in the nick of time and stopped at the site of a boat building project. We hopped off, and I half expected this to be the midpoint of my adventure. I would have been grateful too, it was quite something already, and enough to keep my entropy tank full for years.\nI shook hands with a guy who was likely my age, and he grabbed one of my jugs. He tipped it on it\u0026rsquo;s side and touched the top, \u0026ldquo;Is this going to leak?\u0026rdquo; he seemed to ask. I smiled, shook my head, and said \u0026ldquo;tidak,\u0026rdquo; and made the gesture of tipping it upside down. I think I may have been unclear, possibly indicating that it shouldn\u0026rsquo;t go upside down, so we had to go through several more iterations. Finally, with marked doubt in his eye, he accepted my claim and we approached the bikes. Once again, I offered to let Chandra drive, once again I was instructed to take the driver\u0026rsquo;s seat.\nWe wound our way through hill and valley, jungle and shoreline, and up over a hill towards the opposite side of the island. At the crest of the hill Chandra suddenly realized that he hadn\u0026rsquo;t shown me where the brakes were. The road terminated, at the bottom of the hill, into a perpendicular road. Continuing on would cast us directly into the ocean. His already rapid talk was now laced with excited fear.\nHaving developed a little bit of a playful report along the ride, I pretended to not understand, and sped up, cresting the hill at a rather terrifying speed. Chandra dug his fingers into my side and I \u0026ldquo;found\u0026rdquo; the brake just in time for the descent. \u0026ldquo;Ohhh kaaayyy,\u0026rdquo; I heard from behind, and I turned around long enough to shoot him a smile \u0026ldquo;OKAY!\u0026rdquo; I replied.\nThe view was stunning. Islands spread out before me, swimming in cloudy turquoise ocean, to my left, small villages peppered the shoreline, their stilt houses extending into the bay. My smile threatened to split my face.\nArrival at our destination was announced with the unremembered phrase. We dismounted and gathered our cans. Dad (I\u0026rsquo;m assuming it was Chandra\u0026rsquo;s father who joined us) pointed in the air between the cans and the bikes and said \u0026ldquo;Benzin?\u0026rdquo; (the Indonesian word for gas/petrol). \u0026ldquo;No. solar,\u0026rdquo; I said, pointing at the can. He nodded, pointed more at the bike and repeated his question. Light dawned. \u0026ldquo;AH! benzin for your bikes, of course, yes.\u0026rdquo; I smiled delighted that I had some small way to repay their kindness, or at least offset the cost of it.\nWe proceeded to the \u0026ldquo;gas dock\u0026rdquo; which was a series of stilt houses with a giant veranda (also on stilts) over the mud flats. Here I found about 18 fishermen, the fuel broker, and two dozen barrels of diesel.\n\u0026ldquo;Do you have money?\u0026rdquo; Asked Dad. \u0026ldquo;Yes, I said and produced my US$60. The broker looked angry, \u0026ldquo;No rupiah?\u0026rdquo; he asked. \u0026ldquo;No rupiah,\u0026rdquo; I replied. This conversation repeated at some length. Dad started to work the crowd. I assume telling the story of how incompetent I was on the motorcycle and how funny it was to help this clueless American do something so basic as procure fuel. I felt the mood shifting. There is an energy that I have been blessed to feel throughout my life that comes when people become invested and engaged in the spirit of an adventure or undertaking. It\u0026rsquo;s a swelling feeling that blooms as it touches and incorporates it\u0026rsquo;s participants. It was happening on the dock. The broker\u0026rsquo;s apparent anger changed to amusement, and then empowerment. He had the solution!\nMoments later a cell phone was thrust into my hand. \u0026ldquo;Hello,\u0026rdquo; said the voice on the other end.\n\u0026ldquo;Hello, do you speak english?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yes, of course\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Oh thank you. I am trying to buy diesel but only have American currency. Can you help?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yes, just tell me how much it is in rupiah, and I will convert it for my father.\u0026rdquo;\nI handed the phone back to her father. They chatted and he handed it back to me.\n\u0026ldquo;It will be US$47.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Perfect. Thank you so much!\u0026rdquo;\nI handed the phone back and when the broker hung up, I handed him my $60, indicating (I thought) that he could keep the change. He looked startled, then perplexed. Then he called his daughter (who I heard was in Singapore) again. Moments later, light dawned and he led me to his office, made change in rupiah, and looked quite satisfied.\nMy friends got their benzin while my cans were filled, and I just sat down next to a handsome, toothless salt and reveled in the shear weirdness of the moment. The sailors around me were animated, clearly making good natured jokes at my expense, and smiling. I took some photos and then we left.\nBack at the bikes Dad looked at me incredulously while tilting the fuel can at about 45º. \u0026ldquo;Ya! Bagus (good),\u0026rdquo; I said. I took my full can and inverted it, shaking it for effect. I heard minds exploding. This spawned another round of talking as I\u0026rsquo;m quite sure that nobody on this island, or maybe in all of this archipelago, has seen a leak free fuel can.\nSatisfied with the can\u0026rsquo;s ability to hold it\u0026rsquo;s payload, Dad strapped the jug sideways on his seat, and threw the other one between his legs. Chandra climbed on behind me with the remaining jug between us, and we lit off (in first gear) through the village.\nWhen we reached the hill where I scared Chandra, I put it into first gear. \u0026ldquo;VarroooOOOM\u0026rdquo; the engine powered up. Second gear \u0026ldquo;VAROoooooom\u0026rdquo; it powered down… to a stop. On the side of a very steep hill. Without any hand brake. SHIT!\nI gripped the handlebars and braced. Chandra slipped off the back and braced with me. A local guy darted up the hill and grabbed the other handlebar. The two pushed the bike to the top of the hill, and I carried the fuel. At the top, I laughed at myself and said \u0026ldquo;Satu!\u0026rdquo; holding up one finger. (First gear only). They laughed \u0026ldquo;Ya! Satu.\u0026rdquo;\nWhen we arrived back at the village the little ones swarmed. We took a few more selfies, and Chandra, Dad and perhaps little brother helped carry the jugs out to Fatty. Dad wished a warm goodbye, and Chandra cheeky, precocious boy that he is, said \u0026ldquo;Money?\u0026rdquo; I barked a laugh, and said (in English) \u0026ldquo;Really Chandra, money? How much money would you like?\u0026rdquo; He demurred and said \u0026ldquo;no.\u0026rdquo; I was grateful, not because I had any use for the remaining rupiah in my pocket, but because an exchange of money would have irrevocably changed the experience, stealing from it the magic and power of humanity at it\u0026rsquo;s best weirdest, and replacing it with yet another transactional relationship. In his retraction he granted me the greatest gift of the day. I took out my phone and asked it to translate one last phrase for me.\n\u0026ldquo;This has been the best thing that has happened to me in Indonesia.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/refueling-adventure/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eContinued from \u003ca href=\"/?p=5187\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrying 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).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile 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 \u0026ldquo;can do\u0026rdquo; personality) if he could help me find solar (diesel). With the help of Google Translate, I learned that he \u003cem\u003ecould\u003c/em\u003e help, but only if I came with him right then. I hadn\u0026rsquo;t slept a consecutive 3 hours in the last 72 and the prospect of undertaking such an adventure was daunting, to say the least.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Refueling Adventure"},{"content":"The last 72 hours have been some of the most surreal, exhausting, and exciting of my life.\nI wrote about some of the first two days\u0026rsquo; 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.\nMy heart, fueled by a sudden influx of adrenaline, leapt straight out of my chest. I followed it a split second later, throwing the gearshift into neutral, while grabbing the VHF to hail Peregrine and alert them to the danger. I woke Vick with the flashlight and then scanned the area to get my bearings.\nFor those of you who haven\u0026rsquo;t had this unique experience, the worst case in this scenario is that the prop (spinning at 3/4 of it\u0026rsquo;s full torque) gets immediately and abruptly stopped by cable and net, potentially bending the prop shaft. This, in a region aptly called \u0026ldquo;the land under the wind\u0026rdquo; means you have no propulsion of any sort, and no port within 200 nautical miles that can fix the problem. A more likely nasty situation is that you get caught up and have to dive into the water, in the dark (with sea snakes…) to cut the nets loose.\nLuckily we did not get caught up, and after another night of full vigilance we did discover that these buoys were likely attached to crab traps, similar to the kind Downeasters are well familiar with. This is, sadly, useless information because the hazard landscape changes with every island we pass. What were crab traps last night will inevitably be longlines by morning.\nThe morning came, and we were blessed by a pervasive overcast. It was cool and there were squall lines on the horizon. To me this meant a possibility of sailing, but Trevor told stories of his tropical squall experience that included a wind delta of 40 knots. I compromised by setting a second reef and watching the system develop ahead of us. We were speeding along, cool and content, getting an extra knot or so on top of our motoring speed when something terrifying and extraordinary developed.\nPeregrine was about two miles ahead of us. I had been talking about the weather with them and studying the squall through the binocs. I turned around to sweep the horizon and saw, for the first time in my life, a waterspout. This was not, by reports I have since read, an average sized spout, it was enormous. In a quick survey of Google images, I reckon that it was 90th percentile. And it was coming straight for us.\nI announced its presence to Peregrine and then just stood, staring at this monster. Trevor\u0026rsquo;s voice came across the radio, startling me out of my trance. \u0026ldquo;Take down your mainsail.\u0026rdquo; I made it to the mast in two steps, threw up the clutch and the sail dropped instantly. Back in the cockpit, we started working together to move everything below deck.\nI pushed us to max RPM and tethered in for what turned out to be the height of the squall. Visibility was near zero but I could still see the massive spout, diminishing as the rain stole heat from the surrounding area. Finally, I saw the last tendrils evaporate and the rain started to subside.\nThe remainder of the day was spent recalculating our fuel efficiency and motoring in cool overcast weather towards Mesanak. We determined that we would not have enough fuel to make it to Malaysia, and (though the guide claimed fuel was unavailable) we were going to have to try our luck.\nTo be continued…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/nets-and-squalls-and-waterspouts/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe last 72 hours have been some of the most surreal, exhausting, and exciting of my life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wrote about some of the first two days\u0026rsquo; highs and lows \u003ca href=\"/articles/2015/11/12/position-report-november-12-2015\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e. 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nets, and Squalls, and Waterspouts"},{"content":"In every other place that we\u0026rsquo;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 indeed, when Ruby traipsed through the markets with her fairy gown and Vanuatan headdress feather, it was taken as cute, at worst.\nHere on Pulau Parang, it is quite clear that our foreign holiday would be about the most mysterious and possibly offensive sort of festivity. So we decided to have a quiet celebration between the two boats (Peregrine and Convivia). Last night we got together (sans Vick, who was feeling ill at the time) and made arepas, and fried eggs, baked potato wedges, and watermelon drinks, while painting each other\u0026rsquo;s faces, and carving… you guessed it (no you didn\u0026rsquo;t) watermelons.\nIt was such fun that we decided to do it all over again tonight. So this year, we had two Halloweens. And since Vick was feeling much better today, she kicked the event up by making homemade candy corn. I do believe that this will be the Halloween that the kids (and adults) hold highest in their memories for ever more.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/indonesian-halloween/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn every other place that we\u0026rsquo;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 indeed, when Ruby traipsed through the markets with her fairy gown and Vanuatan headdress feather, it was taken as cute, at worst.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere on Pulau Parang, it is quite clear that our foreign holiday would be about the most mysterious and possibly offensive sort of festivity. So we decided to have a quiet celebration between the two boats (Peregrine and Convivia). Last night we got together (sans Vick, who was feeling ill at the time) and made arepas, and fried eggs, baked potato wedges, and watermelon drinks, while painting each other\u0026rsquo;s faces, and carving… you guessed it (no you didn\u0026rsquo;t) watermelons.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Indonesian Halloween"},{"content":"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 the day. We didn\u0026rsquo;t have gas, helmets, or even maps, and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t entirely clear that the scooters would start (p.s. they often did not). Google doesn\u0026rsquo;t show roads here (could be because most of them really are not actually roads). We had SO much fun!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/karimunjawa-scooter-tour/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor 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 the day. We didn\u0026rsquo;t have gas, helmets, or even maps, and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t entirely clear that the scooters would start (p.s. they often did not). Google doesn\u0026rsquo;t show roads here (could be because most of them really are not actually roads). We had SO much fun!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Karimunjawa Scooter Tour"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t know what exactly it is about passagemaking that brings out these feelings but it\u0026rsquo;s so common as to be a phenomenon. Despite the sleep deprivation, and subtle (and sometimes acute) hardships of crossing hundreds of miles of ocean. Despite being cramped in a small, often roughly rolling vessel with two lovely but demanding children, I often find a moment, or a long string of moments where I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for my great good fortune that it feels transcendent.\nToday the feeling was triggered when I wrote an email to a friend. After I hit send, I reflected. I have often claimed that I have few guy friends, but in that moment I realised that I have an abundance. Not necessarily in quantity but in quality. In this case, I had just poured a little of my heart out to someone who I knew would carefully catch it and put it somewhere safe and prominent, and he isn\u0026rsquo;t the only such friend.\nThis swell of gratitude lifts my transom and I know, from rich experience, that I am about to get a nice long surf. I reflect on this amazing life that I am blessed to live, the support that I have received from nearly every quarter of my life, and the amazing good fortune to be loved so well by so many.\nAs I ride out the end of this swell of gratitude, I thought I would share the experience with you, just on the off chance that it might lift you up and send you on your way down the long face of its exhilarating slope.\nWhat are you grateful for today?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/passage-gratitude/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know what exactly it is about passagemaking that brings out these feelings but it\u0026rsquo;s so common as to be a phenomenon. Despite the sleep deprivation, and subtle (and sometimes acute) hardships of crossing hundreds of miles of ocean. Despite being cramped in a small, often roughly rolling vessel with two lovely but demanding children, I often find a moment, or a long string of moments where I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for my great good fortune that it feels transcendent.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Passage Gratitude"},{"content":"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 mouse, a watch, pizza for dinner, and a caramel, chocolate, marshmallow and chocolate ganache layer cake. All of her wishes seemed totally reasonable thanks to my mom sending a birthday watch to us before we even left Brisbane. I had a stuffed mouse pattern on board, along with fabric and stuffing. I stowed a stash of Belgian chocolate under my bed in June and in Darwin I packed into my teeny tiny fridge the cream, butter, and mozzarella necessary for the big day. Somewhere along the way Olive decided on a bigger wish, \u0026ldquo;I want to see dragons on my birthday.\u0026rdquo;\nWe always remember back to her fifth birthday, a total flop. The Fijian butter was disgusting, the frosting inedible. Her only wish that year, an English speaking girl between the ages 4 and 10 to play with, impossible. Six and seven were good birthdays (complete with homemade dinosaurs and English speaking girls) but I still felt like we owed her a little something to make up for the fifth. Dragons! We could totally pull off dragons!\nIn a week where we saw the sun rise most mornings we arrived early to the waters of Komodo National Park. We watched monkeys play on the beach as we set our anchor in the harbor in Rinca. My day was filled with candy making and baking. My first cake pan was filled with Tongan vanilla marshmallow. I poured chewy caramel into the other. Our friends Gwynn and Trevor from the boat Peregrine sailed in and anchored close by. Coffees were brewed, more coffee was roasted. In spare moments I sewed ears and eyes and whiskers onto little mice. When the sun set and it got cooler I baked a cake. What a lovely lead up for a celebration!\nAt five the alarm chimed. \u0026ldquo;Good morning mom! Thanks for making my cake last night. Good morning dad! Thanks for sailing us to Rinca.\u0026rdquo; Olive opened her many handmade presents from Ruby, her mice from me, and her watch from Grand. She was thrilled and satisfied and it wasn\u0026rsquo;t even dawn.\nWe were greeted at shore by our guide Safe (pronounced Sa-Fay) and her stick. Safe alternately spends ten days at Rinca as a guide and ten days with her family in Labuan Bajo. Every single day she uses her stick to fend off dragons. She led us to the ranger station where Olive introduced herself and got a free entrance ticket for her birthday. I like the slow speed of business here, where each interaction includes shared introductions, finding out where everyone calls home and where they are from originally, and inevitably learning about their families.\nWe chose a medium hike, bringing us through the savannah and by the nesting female dragons, elevating us to the view spot on the hill, and back down through the jungle all following the game paths for a couple hours. But first, before we got started, we got to observe the Komodo dragons sunning themselves in the warm morning light. Safe brought Olive and Ruby quite close and I didn\u0026rsquo;t take my eyes off them for a second. These animals eat monkeys and deer whole, and poison water buffalo with their deathly bite. They even eat their own babies. Surely mine looked delicious. It ended well and we all walked on.\nThe forest was filled with monkey sounds, and bird calls, and fragrant plants that were all unknown to us. We asked dozens of questions and looked around everywhere. In the silence I thought about how this nature walk was similar to so many others. I\u0026rsquo;ve been taking walks in the woods all my life, using the same sort of clues to figure out who and what was hiding behind the leaves. The footprints of deer were familiar, as was the scat. It was obvious where the water buffalo had been. Footprints and scat were familiar, but dragon tail marks curving left and right, now that was something I never, in a million years, thought I would see. Only in this tiny part of the world, on Rinca and Komodo islands, can you find dragon tail trails. Oh my.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t even eight in the morning, and once again we had already been rewarded with something absolutely spectacular, a destination difficult to get to and hard earned, another one I\u0026rsquo;m so deeply grateful for. As we walked down the biggest hill Olive said to me, \u0026ldquo;do you think I could see a rhino for my ninth birthday?\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/i-want-to-see-dragons-for-my-birthday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 mouse, a watch, pizza for dinner, and a caramel, chocolate, marshmallow and chocolate ganache layer cake. All of her wishes seemed totally reasonable thanks to my mom sending a birthday watch to us before we even left Brisbane. I had a stuffed mouse pattern on board, along with fabric and stuffing. I stowed a stash of Belgian chocolate under my bed in June and in Darwin I packed into my teeny tiny fridge the cream, butter, and mozzarella necessary for the big day. Somewhere along the way Olive decided on a bigger wish, \u0026ldquo;I want to see dragons on my birthday.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Want to See Dragons for My Birthday"},{"content":"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 snorkeling, and volcanoes. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember when I first saw a photo of Kelimutu but it has been one of my must-go destinations.\nKelimutu is a high (1639 meters/ 5377 feet) volcanic mountain on Flores, deep inland near a small village called Moni. It last errupted in 1968. There are three enormous crater lakes filled with thickly pigmented water that changes color over time. Local lore says that spirits go to the lakes, and which lake a spirit is assigned to depends on the age and character of the person who died. There is one lake for young people (Tiwu Ko\u0026rsquo;o Fai Nuwa Muri- Lake of the Young Men and Maidens), one for old (Tiwu Ata Bupu- Lake of the Old People), and one for the thieves and murderers (Tiwu Ata Polo- Bewitched or Enchanted Lakes). Photos I had seen of Kelimutu were just stunning, I have a bit of an ongoing desire to see volcanoes, and since I was going to be in this part of the world I needed to figure out a way to go.\nI have a way of saying I want to do something and Tucker has a way of figuring out how to make it happen. I say the word and the gears will tick things into place. This pushes my comfort. Very often I have taken back my wish\u0026hellip;\u0026ldquo;No really, I didn\u0026rsquo;t say I wanted to go around Cape Horn. Norway is not even pretty at all, we should definitely not sail there. Forget I said that, let\u0026rsquo;s just\u0026hellip;..\u0026rdquo; Despite that, I got to Flores and was pretty much ready to do whatever it took to get to Kelimutu.\nPro/con lists form in my head. I wondered if leaving the boat unattended was okay. It\u0026rsquo;s a busy fishing harbor where some of the boats use buckets of cement as anchors. Would the next boat run into us? Would there be an earthquake and tsunami to wash the boat a kilometer inland? We packed our passports just in case Convivia wasn\u0026rsquo;t in the harbor when we returned. We locked the boat up and tucked things away carefully. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure everyone in town knew where we were headed despite telling them we were \u0026ldquo;jalan jalan,\u0026rdquo; just walking around.\nI didn\u0026rsquo;t know where we were staying. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know how we were getting there. I had no idea how terrible the main road to Moni really was. Had I heard about the road conditions, the rocks and cows and avalanches of gravel, I may have put a stop to it. I don\u0026rsquo;t really like being in cars. I especially don\u0026rsquo;t like being in cars on the edges of cliffs (maybe that started when I met the one armed shoemaker that drove over a cliff and was pinned for days until she decided to cut her own arm free).\nAnd then I was in a bemo, an Indonesian bus with the door open, crowded to fill all of the three dimensional space. Ruby was on my lap, the four of us were squished into a seat for two. We held onto our backpacks so they didn\u0026rsquo;t fly out the door. And we ascended away from the shore, away from the town, and into the hills. The Indonesian reggae was a bit comforting, \u0026ldquo;everything is going to be all right,\u0026rdquo; but the hills got bigger and the road got smaller and I found myself daydreaming of my happy place- a European car with airbags, and anti-lock breaks, and five point harnesses for my children in the suburbs. I have never come to this happy place before (it\u0026rsquo;s usually Suwarrow). Here, in some of the most gorgeous scenery I had ever seen, I was wistful for the life I used to have, sort of.\nThe drive wasn\u0026rsquo;t my only worry. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know how Tucker and the kids were going to eat. In my backpack, I carried a batch of banana coconut muffins and a few other snacks. I knewI could eat something, but finding food here without soy sauce (wheat) is tricky. I thought we might find some mangoes and a bunch of bananas and that would be it for 24 hours. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know where we were going to sleep, how we were going to avoid mosquitos, or how we were going to get the kids up before dawn for a 2k hike straight uphill.\nI\u0026rsquo;m a preparer, a have a plan-b-er, a first aid kit carrier. I have a fork and a spoon, some spare contact lenses, sunscreen, bugspray, and a headlamp in my bag on a regular day. On Convivia, just in case, I have two sewing machines, a book about the periodic table of elements, flash cards for Latin and Greek words, a candy thermometer, a malaria test kit, all of the ingredients for homemade laundry detergent, a spare coffee press, recipes for playdough, a book about making dinosaur stuffed animals, and a deck of cards in the ditch bag… you get the idea. Preparing for an overnight without all of my backups was a stretch for me.\nI packed Deet, a mosquito net, some food, a phrasebook, two liters of water, two spare pairs of contacts and my glasses, some long sleeves, and a pair of wool socks. I went anyway knowing that we may not arrive at our destination or have a place to stay when we did. But at the same time, from what I\u0026rsquo;ve observed in the world and even here in our short time in Indonesia, we have always been welcome, and will have a place, and be fed.\nWe got to Moni, we found a lodge to sleep in, we found snacks to make it through the afternoon, and we found bottled water to drink. Dinner found us. Eben, I think his name is, the chef of the Bambu cafe, showed us his \u0026ldquo;certificate\u0026rdquo; and convinced us that his food was the best in Flores. He spoke English and assured me he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be using soy sauce, or flour, or ketcap manis, and he kept insisting that Tucker and the kids would be safe when I asked for reassurance (in English and Bahasa Indonesia). We slept in a huge rectangular bed (with no sailboat rigging dividing the mattress in two) covered with a mosquito net, and covered the kids with the one we brought. We showered with plentiful hot-ish water. We could barely keep our eyes open when we set the alarm for 4.\nOur driver brought us to the carpark at Kelimutu National Park and we walked up the rest of the mountain as the sun rose. It was chilly and windy and, as it got light, absolutely beautiful. Layers upon layers of mountains appeared before us as the sun rose in the east. We urged the kids to walk quickly so we could summit before sunrise. I saw the powdery blue caldera first and then came the darker blue green one. We were shivering when we summited. It was 15ºC/59ºF (of course I carry a thermometer) as the sun appeared. The three calderas were stunning- aqua blue, blue/green, and very dark green/black. The rock walls, the peaks, the hills in the distance, the water in the lakes, the color in the sky- all were breathtaking. I could have happily stayed for hours. I imagined sailing our little dinghy in the powder blue lake. I wondered if anyone has ever climbed down in. I wondered what the water temperature was. I wondered how the colors might change. It was absolutely beautiful.\nWhen the kids got cold, we walked down, noticing plants, bird calls, and wild pigs along the way. We found our driver and meandered down the mountain towards Moni, stopping to admire the rice fields, the views, the hot springs (and even putting our hands in the women\u0026rsquo;s bath, while averting our eyes while the men bathed). We took a small walk to a waterfall, where the kids quickly walked over a bamboo bridge. \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s perfectly safe,\u0026rdquo; said Olive when she and Ruby nearly ran across. I walked timidly, and found another way to cross back.\nI was feeling great until we were driving back towards Ende, back towards the harbor, and back towards Convivia. We had to stop for a while because the road was closed. In preparing, I had packed enough food to get home in two hours, I had drunk enough water to be hydrated but not have to pee for two hours, and I could stay present and awake for two hours. The road opened and we drove again for a while before the road was closed again.\nThis time, \u0026ldquo;the road is destroyed and broken,\u0026rdquo; one of the road workers told us. I climbed up some rock rubble on the side of the road. I could see the bulldozers working on the road. What had been there yesterday wasn\u0026rsquo;t there today. The road had been covered by rubble. There was no road. On the way up I had imagined this, an avalanche blocking the way, keeping us from going up to Moni, but for some reason I hadn\u0026rsquo;t imagined being blocked from going home. The kids dug into their emergency snacks. We chatted with the young Indonesian bemo drivers and road workers, and we nodded to the European tourists that were trying to make flights to Labuan Bajo. I had paced myself for 24 hours and now I had no idea when I was getting home.\nI watched nervously as the road on the edge of the cliff got dug back out. There wasn\u0026rsquo;t even a way to walk home. I dug out my bravery potion, the same stuff I had rubbed on Olive\u0026rsquo; wrists when we stood on the edge of Mt. Yassur as it exploded and she told me that she meant she wanted to read more books about exploding volcanoes, not actually see them. Our side of the road went first; first the motorcycles (with babies in carriers, kids without helmets, a family of five), then the cars. Horns honked, motorcycles from the other direction squeezed by. The road was barely big enough for a car, but it worked.\nWe wound our way down the hills, down to Ende. We saw the mast first, and then the boat, bought veggies for dinner, wove our way through the fish market, emptied the dinghy of mango leaves, and rowed home. Home sweet home. Home, where though we have little space, no hot shower, and few comforts, we have everything we know, everything we need, and a way to see the world, bit by bit, slowly and thoroughly.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/cant-get-home-without-leaving/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 snorkeling, and volcanoes. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember when I first saw a photo of Kelimutu but it has been one of my must-go destinations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKelimutu is a high (1639 meters/ 5377 feet) volcanic mountain on Flores, deep inland near a small village called Moni. It last errupted in 1968. There are three enormous crater lakes filled with thickly pigmented water that changes color over time.  Local lore says that spirits go to the lakes, and which lake a spirit is assigned to depends on the age and character of the person who died. There is one lake for young people (Tiwu Ko\u0026rsquo;o Fai Nuwa Muri- Lake of the Young Men and Maidens), one for old (Tiwu Ata Bupu- Lake of the Old People), and one for the thieves and murderers (Tiwu Ata Polo- Bewitched or Enchanted Lakes). Photos I had seen of Kelimutu were just stunning, I have a bit of an ongoing desire to see volcanoes, and since I was going to be in this part of the world I needed to figure out a way to go.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Can't Get Home Without Leaving"},{"content":"In Bahasa Indonesia, Selamat means \u0026ldquo;Congratulations\u0026rdquo; and Jalan means \u0026ldquo;to go\u0026rdquo; (or \u0026ldquo;road\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;walk\u0026rdquo;, but work with me). Together these worlds (Slemat Jalan) mean \u0026ldquo;Goodbye,\u0026rdquo; but as we saw the words pass above us on a number of arches in our descent of the mountains from Kelimutu, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help find the literal translation amusing; \u0026ldquo;Congratulations on going.\u0026rdquo; This little side trip definitely threatened, several times, to not let us go.\nThis expedition was on our very short list for Indonesian attractions, and more importantly (to me) it was the thing I felt might lift my travel weariness and give me a new perspective on this leg of the voyage. To say it was difficult to organize would be to grossly understate the situation. There were a few points at which our plans fell through so desperately, that we seriously considered dropping the whole idea. This coupled with the very real concerns about leaving our boat untended overnight seemed, at times, a crippling obstacle.\nGetting There After a full 24hrs of half executed planning, we decided to take a series of public busses (\u0026lsquo;bemos\u0026rsquo;) for the two and a half hour trip to the mountain. This turned out to be a mixed bag. On the plus side, it was authentic, and cheap (AU$12 for the four of us). On the negative side, we had to sit the kids on our laps, the woman behind us got sick half way up the mountain, and the little van seemed at times, a bit precarious on the side of the cliff.\nFood and Lodging We kind of took what we could get on the lodging front. Our accommodations were clean, and had a shower (which we didn\u0026rsquo;t have to duck for cover in, and had hot water) but I think folks not accustomed to boat-camping, might have found it a bit… basic. It was great for us, and at AU$30/night, I\u0026rsquo;m not going to complain.\nDinner was a story unto itself. On the tail end of the bemo ride, the owner\u0026rsquo;s brother saw us in the van and hailed it for a ride. He chatted us up all the rest of the way to Moni. We learned that he was the Best Chef on Flores (and had the certificate to prove it), and that he would like us to join him for dinner at his restaurant. We were seriously balking at the price, which approached the price of our room, but the fact that he spoke impeccable English, and assured us that his specialty did not contain meat (which we seriously distrust here) nor gluten, sealed the deal for us. We put a deposit down on dinner (for real, that\u0026rsquo;s a thing) and scoped out the location so we could find it after dark.\nI am here to tell you that I was more than pleasantly surprised. We had a banana flower dish with a pumpkin-coconut soup and wild rice. It was divine and my only complaint was that, after eating only tiny snacks for lunch, the portion size was a bit smaller than my belly desired.\nMore Transportation After sorting out the food, I still had to figure out how to get from Moni to the mountain. There are two choices; a) join a man on a moped (ah, no); b) hire a car. A car would be about AU$40 for the four of us.\nThe AgentIt seems that, here in Indonesia, there is a standard business model. First there is the guy (I think it\u0026rsquo;s always a guy) that owns a thing. Then there is a person (generally the person in the community who speaks the best English) who brokers deals (the Agent). Then there is the person who does the work. This scheme leaves a lot of opportunities for details to change if you aren\u0026rsquo;t careful. I found myself an Agent and tried negotiating. I actually talked him down by AU$5. Then he offered me another \u0026ldquo;deal,\u0026rdquo; whereby his driver would take us aaall the way back to Ende for AU$75. This was a full AU$15 more than I had \u0026ldquo;negotiated\u0026rdquo; for a round trip to Kelimutu to Ende and back, a few days earlier. Being the expert bargainer that I am, I accepted the deal! It turned out that Frankie (our driver) was a gem, and the luxury of spending four hours in a vehicle without losing sensation in my tush, seemed a reasonable indulgence.\nWhen we discovered that the road between Kelimutu and Ende had temporarily disappeared (not once, but twice), leaving us to socialize with the Indonesian drivers and European tourists, on the side of the road, I was once again delighted with our choice.\nThe Main Event I\u0026rsquo;m going to leave the description of Kelimutu to Vick for whom it was a particularly special experience. In addition to the main event, we also stopped by a rather lovely waterfall, a hot springs, and a few vista spots (overlooking rice terraces), and accidentally came across a woman doing ikat back-strap weaving. I also got to see green coffee beans drying out (and later roasted some, back on Convivia).\nSelamat Jelan In the end, this trip, which almost didn\u0026rsquo;t happen; which we almost couldn\u0026rsquo;t return from (due to road failure); was awesome and challenging in all the best ways. I returned to the beachhead and was relieved to find Fatty, tied to the tree we left her on (oars still inside) and Conviv floating jauntily in her spot. Once everything was unloaded, I made us coffees and collapsed. I am so grateful for this experience, and will graciously accept the mountain\u0026rsquo;s well wishes; \u0026ldquo;Congratulations on going!\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/selamat-jalan/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn Bahasa Indonesia, Selamat means \u0026ldquo;Congratulations\u0026rdquo; and Jalan means \u0026ldquo;to go\u0026rdquo; (or \u0026ldquo;road\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;walk\u0026rdquo;, but work with me). Together these worlds (Slemat Jalan) mean \u0026ldquo;Goodbye,\u0026rdquo; but as we saw the words pass above us on a number of arches in our descent of the mountains from Kelimutu, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help find the literal translation amusing; \u0026ldquo;Congratulations on going.\u0026rdquo; This little side trip definitely threatened, several times, to not let us go.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Selamat Jalan"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Where are you from?\u0026rdquo; they ask us. \u0026ldquo;Where is your home in America?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;How long was your flight?\u0026rdquo; It is difficult to answer and it is hard to explain in our few basic phrases. Our home has been only the boat for more than five years and San Francisco, California is written on the transom, so it\u0026rsquo;s the best answer we can offer.\nI think the true answer may come when I start to feel homesick. It\u0026rsquo;s the big latte at Cafe Fanny on a cold Saturday morning. It\u0026rsquo;s the vegan yuba roll ups at the Berkeley Whole Foods Market, eaten in the car after making it through the busy store. It\u0026rsquo;s the endless vegetables at the Berkeley Bowl. It\u0026rsquo;s the carne asada tostada salad at Picante Taqueria. It\u0026rsquo;s Acme bread\u0026rsquo;s big round walnut loaf worth the long lines at the Mountain View farmer\u0026rsquo;s market. It\u0026rsquo;s the roast beef sandwich I crave from Whole Foods. It\u0026rsquo;s that smell in the air in the Penny Ice Creamery. It\u0026rsquo;s the dark chocolate salt caramels at Recchiuti. Maybe home is the San Francisco Bay Area after all.\nBut what about the perfect flat whites that Brisbane offered up every day? And the West End market for rostis and Blackstar cold brew coffees to go along with vegetables and live music. What about the massive beautiful piles of perfect herbs on the tables at the market in Port Vila? And the Indian food in Fiji? Those beautiful limes that reveal their orange flesh when you cut into them in Tonga? And the delicious Tongan eggs- worth borrowing a friend\u0026rsquo;s egg boxes because my three dozen seemed too few? Pamplemouse. Yes of course, I\u0026rsquo;d sail another 2600 miles for one. These are the things that mark my voyage around the world and signify my being home.\nWe don\u0026rsquo;t travel like tourists. We live where we are. We find groceries, a way to do the laundry, bits and pieces we need from the hardware store, do paperwork, wander, walk and look around. We don\u0026rsquo;t often eat in restaurants, we\u0026rsquo;re often home on the boat when the bars are open. So we rarely mix with the tourists. What we see is mostly normal daily life wherever we are.\nSo today we went to the \u0026ldquo;Traditional Market\u0026rdquo; to take a peek around and buy as much food as we could carry home to prepare us for a bit more sailing and being away from the city. I had in mind what I was after, but not much food is grown around Kupang, and it has been an extra dry season and mangoes are late, but watermelons are in season.\nWith a little language help from Raly we wandered through the market today. He told me what eggs were too small and where to buy good tempeh. I found lemongrass, ginger, garlic, galangal, chiles, and limes easily. I pointed at something that I thought was desiccated coconut, but instead I bought Kupang sea salt. I was served tofu straight out of the bucket by the man who reached his hand in. I wanted too little and he insisted I buy ten pieces, not five. I bought hundreds of tiny little shallots, some garlic, fresh nutmeg, some cloves, a pile of limes, a drinking coconut, cabbage, green beans, an enormous bag of tomatoes, two mysterious green vegetables, cucumbers, a watermelon and a dozen eggs. I had the choice of live chicken or dead. \u0026ldquo;AYAM AYAM AYAM,\u0026rdquo; they shouted at me, but I decided it was a good time to be mostly vegetarian.\nThe fish boys tried out their English and we were laughed at by the ladies selling greens. We figured out more numbers and probably got the right change. Kids waved at our kids. Motorcycles and people pushing carts whizzed by. We knew we were done at the market when we had as much as we can carry.\nOn the way home I whispered to the kids that we had spent around $15. Though they had asked for water coconuts many times in Australia I had said no at $5 each. It was not necessary today at about 50 cents each for the coconut that was big enough for all four of us to have a satisfying drink and snack on. Indeed our haul was quite remarkable.\nWhen I dug in and started cooking, it was fried rice, Nasi Goreng, made from Charmaine Solomon\u0026rsquo;s Indonesia, Malaysia \u0026amp; Singapore cookbook, modified for tofu instead of chicken and shrimp. The gluten free soy sauce was from our stores on the boat, as was the oil (it seems impossible to find oil other than palm oil here), but everything else was from the market today.\nI had some hesitations about dinner tonight. To buy a dinner of fried rice on the street we would pay around $1 each, and it was a little discouraging to set out cooking for an hour or so for a similar meal. I cracked an egg and it smelled okay, but the second one was horrible and I went on to throw four away before finding acceptable ones. The cucumber was full of seeds and devoid of taste. The tofu was a bit more sour than I would have hoped for.\nOverall everyone was happy with dinner and we found the watermelon delicious, but at the moment I don\u0026rsquo;t think that cheaper food and local food is better. We\u0026rsquo;ll move on tomorrow, and I\u0026rsquo;ll be looking for the next chance to get to the market, looking for the next great meal, and looking for that bite that feels like home.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/kupang-traditional-market/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Where are you from?\u0026rdquo; they ask us. \u0026ldquo;Where is your home in America?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;How long was your flight?\u0026rdquo;  It is difficult to answer and it is hard to explain in our few basic phrases. Our home has been only the boat for more than five years and  San Francisco, California is written on the transom, so it\u0026rsquo;s the best answer we can offer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI think the true answer may come when I start to feel homesick. It\u0026rsquo;s the big latte at Cafe Fanny on a cold Saturday morning. It\u0026rsquo;s the vegan yuba roll ups at the Berkeley Whole Foods Market, eaten in the car after making it through the busy store. It\u0026rsquo;s the endless vegetables at the Berkeley Bowl. It\u0026rsquo;s the carne asada tostada salad at Picante Taqueria. It\u0026rsquo;s Acme bread\u0026rsquo;s big round walnut loaf worth the long lines at the Mountain View farmer\u0026rsquo;s market. It\u0026rsquo;s the roast beef sandwich I crave from Whole Foods. It\u0026rsquo;s that smell in the air in the Penny Ice Creamery. It\u0026rsquo;s the dark chocolate salt caramels at Recchiuti. Maybe home is the San Francisco Bay Area after all.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kupang Traditional Market"},{"content":"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.\nWhen 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 \u0026ldquo;too much.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nThe following is a breakdown of the costs I paid, and what I should have paid. I hope it serves someone down the line and helps put them in a better position than I was in.\nItem I paid I should have paid Local Agent* IDR 2,005,000 (AU $205) IDR 1,000,000 (AU $100) Diesel** IDR 13,000/liter (AU$1.30/liter) IDR 10,000 (AU $1) Taxi IDR 100,000/hour (AU $10) IDR 65,000 (AU $6.50) I found all of this out when I got a ride with a much more honest agent. She told me what she would charge (the prices listed above) and said, \u0026ldquo;even then, I am making good money.\u0026rdquo;\nIf you are coming through Kupang, I strongly encourage you to look up Raly (ph: 0821-4541-9838).\nGet your sim card here!\nIf you don\u0026rsquo;t have a sim card to call her with, go into the square by the beach, on the right hand side there is a large electronics (cell phone) store. Towards the back, on the right, there is a Telkomsel booth where you can buy a sim card. The data is cheap (AU$5 for 3.5GB) and the phone minutes are about $1/100 minutes. This all expires in 45 days if you don\u0026rsquo;t top up, so keep that in mind. As a side note, make sure that your sim card is \u0026ldquo;activated\u0026rdquo; (\u0026ldquo;Aktivasi Kartu\u0026rdquo;), it costs a little more but I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure you can\u0026rsquo;t activate your card easily by yourself.\nArmed with this tool, you will be able to call Raly, and get information easily. I strongly recommend downloading the Google Translate app for your device, and then getting the Offline Indonesia language pack. I found that I could just hand the phone to whoever I was talking with and work through everything with that and a smile.\nIf you want to go ultra cheap and do clearance on your own, I have heard that you can hire a taxi for IDR 350,000 to take you to Immigration, Customs, Quarantine, and Harbor Master (in that order). Everything is negotiable.\nIf you go the independent route, keep in mind that Immigration takes siesta from roughly 12pm - 1:30pm. The quarantine officer was doing something on the beach when we arrived at 3ish, and the Harbormaster may leave around 3:30-4pm each day. Get started early in the day (8am) and leave two days to complete clearance.\nOn the plus side, every single department we visited was a lovely experience. I had people hiking up my sleeve at the Immigration office to have a closer look at my tattoo, at the Customs office, there was similar joviality with guys asking me where I was from and making astonished faces when I told them about our voyage so far.\nThe best though was the Harbormaster\u0026rsquo;s office. I brought the whole family for that one and we arrived in time to see the Friday morning exercise dancing in the parking lot. The staff got so excited when Olive and Ruby showed a little boogie woogie, that they started hooting and pointing. When the dancing was over, we were invited into an office and (it seemed) the entire staff was invited in as well. They asked a million questions (with the help of Google Translate) and one gal adopted Olive as her new little friend. Everyone wanted a picture with the kids, and there was much laughter. When we were driving away Ruby said, \u0026ldquo;I didn\u0026rsquo;t expect this to be fun but it was so much fun!\u0026rdquo;\nI recommend a very relaxed attitude and a big smile for the clearance process, and hope you enjoy the process as much as we did!\n* The agent\u0026rsquo;s fee should cover transportation, bribes, and any other incidentals (whatsoever) that may arise.\n** Dodged a bullet on this one and managed to get out of the \u0026ldquo;deal\u0026rdquo; before anyone was committed.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/getting-taken-for-a-ride/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eNobody 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen 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 \u0026ldquo;too much.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taken for a Ride"},{"content":"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.\nWhat 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\u0026rsquo;t a specific kids price.\nWe made friends with a prospective cruising family that I suspect we\u0026rsquo;ll bump into again out there some day. We were invited to their bush property over the weekend but got terribly sick and had to cancel.\nOfficialdom has been unexpectedly jocular here. Twice I\u0026rsquo;ve had the piss taken by Customs agents (of all people). It\u0026rsquo;s a bit off putting at first, but it\u0026rsquo;s so very Australian that it just underscores that Darwinians are just very comfortable in their skin.\nOther than that our focus has been steady. We are going to Indonesia, and there is a lot to consider when leaving the first world for the first time in 3 years. We have had to refresh our first aid and emergency supplies, repack the liferaft, replace countless worn bits of line and gear, reprovision, fix the head, fix the engine, fix the brand new outboard, the screens, replace the radar reflectors, the running lights, the cheese grater… the list goes on.\nAs it stands, we leave on Friday. The winds were supposed to be perfect, but now it\u0026rsquo;s looking like it might be a lot of motoring :( Oh well, it\u0026rsquo;s time!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/darwin/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat 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\u0026rsquo;t a specific kids price.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Darwin"},{"content":"Position: 12º 25.56\u0026rsquo; S 130º 49.23\u0026rsquo; E\nDay 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 to forgeover.com. It\u0026rsquo;s an early trial of a new \u0026ldquo;Post to Wordpress\u0026rdquo; feature that I\u0026rsquo;m working on. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/position-report-august-11-2015-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePosition: 12º 25.56\u0026rsquo; S 130º 49.23\u0026rsquo; E\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDay 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 to forgeover.com. It\u0026rsquo;s an early trial of a new \u0026ldquo;Post to Wordpress\u0026rdquo; feature that I\u0026rsquo;m working on. All is well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Position Report: August 11, 2015"},{"content":"Parenting is *hard.*I still find myself waking up at night to tend to bad dreams, or bug bites, and there\u0026rsquo;s the constant sibling squabbles, and, with us, homeschooling battles. That\u0026rsquo;s not to mention the challenges of ushering our kids through their self-identification. I have noticed, several times over the busy few years past, that I haven\u0026rsquo;t really been focusing on those moments that make parenting awesome.\nOn Lizard Island, we got our first real break of this leg of passage making. We snorkeled, and hiked and spent time together having fun. It really frustrated me that Olive wouldn\u0026rsquo;t get in the water. We know she can swim, and she is excited about her new wetsuit and mask, but she just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t take the plunge. Then one afternoon, after getting really upset about it, she and I were playing in the shallows and I started acting like godzilla, stomping and grunting, and she pretended to fight me. After a little of this horsing around, I asked her if she would like me to teach her something. She agreed, and we got her mask. I showed her how to clear her snorkel and how to put it on underwater. She was really good, and I let her know. She was visibly proud, and something changed in her. We spent the next hour or two snorkeling in the shallows and now she asks constantly when we will get another chance.\nEvents like these are what make parenting awesome, and I\u0026rsquo;m grateful that I woke up and started looking for them again!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/dad-moments/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eParenting is *hard.*I still find myself waking up at night to tend to bad dreams, or bug bites, and there\u0026rsquo;s the constant sibling squabbles, and, with us, homeschooling battles. That\u0026rsquo;s not to mention the challenges of ushering our kids through their self-identification.  I have noticed, several times over the busy few years past, that I haven\u0026rsquo;t really been focusing on those moments that make parenting awesome.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Lizard Island, we got our first real break of this leg of passage making. We snorkeled, and hiked and spent time together having fun. It really frustrated me that Olive wouldn\u0026rsquo;t get in the water. We know she can swim, and she is excited about her new wetsuit and mask, but she just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t take the plunge. Then one afternoon, after getting really upset about it, she and I were playing in the shallows and I started acting like godzilla, stomping and grunting, and she pretended to fight me.  After a little of this horsing around, I asked her if she would like me to teach her something. She agreed, and we got her mask. I showed her how to clear her snorkel and how to put it on underwater. She was really good, and I let her know. She was visibly proud, and something changed in her. We spent the next hour or two snorkeling in the shallows and now she asks constantly when we will get another chance.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dad Moments"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t be able to make it. She is not what you might call the most enthusiastic hiker on easy pitches. For this hike, I tried a different tactic. I told her upfront that this would be a tough hike and asked if she felt up to it. Of course she did, and with a little distraction* she was able to make it the whole way up and down, carrying her own weight.\nWe some some amazing views, and were treated to a few of the gigantic monitor lizards that the island was named for. In the end, the two and a half hour hike only took us five hours. It was exhausting, but we are so glad we did it.\nI told her that she could talk about Minecraft as much as she wanted, and I would pay rapt attention, as long as she kept putting one foot in front of the other. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/cooks-look-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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\u0026rsquo;t be able to make it. She is not what you might call the most enthusiastic hiker on easy pitches. For this hike,  I tried a different tactic. I told her upfront that this would be a tough hike and asked if she felt up to it. Of course she did, and with a little distraction* she was able to make it the whole way up and down, carrying her own weight.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cook's Look in Photos"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t know what\u0026rsquo;s going on with me. We spent last night in this lovely ClubMed anchorage.\nThis looks like a place you might like to stay at for a while right? I promise, the previous anchorage was even more picturesque.\nI, however, have no desire to stay. I don\u0026rsquo;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.\nWe plan to take a couple of days off at Lizard Island. For some reason that seems like a great place to stop. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s because it was our northern limit for last year\u0026rsquo;s Great Barrier Reef expedition, and we never made it, or maybe because it\u0026rsquo;s the last stop before we make the steep climb to the Torres Straights.\nWhen we do leave Lizard, we expect to stop again at Stanley Island (to see the cave paintings and take the boardwalk hike) and then really push hard for the northern tip of Queensland. I don\u0026rsquo;t suppose my lust for making miles will end there, but maybe by the time we get to Indonesia, I\u0026rsquo;ll feel more settled, and ready to slow down a bit. As I reflect on my haste, I long for the laid back attitude of previous cruises even as I plot our next route.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/off-to-see-the-lizard/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know what\u0026rsquo;s going on with me. We spent last night in this lovely ClubMed anchorage.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2015/07/untitled-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis looks like a place you might like to stay at for a while right? I promise, the previous anchorage was even more picturesque.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI, however, have no desire to stay. I don\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Off to See the Lizard"},{"content":"I feel like I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;d. It was nice to finally relax and get a full night\u0026rsquo;s sleep.\nMonday morning we started the furious process of tearing the boat apart to try to address all of the big outstanding work-list items in 4 days (Friday being a local holiday). With significant help from Evan on Ceilydh, I identified the best way to address the serious exhaust leak we had been suffering. I tore out the dry exhaust portion over the next two days.\nOld dry exhaust\nWhen I got stumped (seized bolts, timezone differences waiting for advice, etc.) I took the sails to John at Cairns Yacht Sails, for restitch and third reef. I love that guy. He was curmudgeonly, like Bob Perry, and had the same \u0026ldquo;I have strong opinions, you should have none\u0026rdquo; attitude. I learned a lot from talking with him and he gave us a very fair price on all the work. When it came time to make the sail bag he said \u0026ldquo;Your missus has a Sailrite, right?\u0026rdquo; And proceeded to give me all the parts to make it ourselves.\nTime after time we were in a shop, offering to buy something and the clerk would direct us to a cheaper or DIY option. I found this earnest honesty in every interaction and was just blown away by it. I find this part of Queensland to be exceedingly fair-minded.\nThe exhaust was the touchiest part of our whole week\u0026rsquo;s work. In order to get the job done I had to find a shop that would turn the project around in 24 hours (before the holiday). The first shop I went to came well recommended but the guy looked at the project and said \u0026ldquo;I might be able to, but I can\u0026rsquo;t promise, why don\u0026rsquo;t you go across the way and talk to Vinnie. If he can\u0026rsquo;t do it, come back.\u0026rdquo; Vinnie came through. I had the part in my hands then next morning, and when it didn\u0026rsquo;t quite fit, they altered it on the spot for me.\nWe now have the main back on (with it\u0026rsquo;s gorgeous third reef), the engine is purring, and the genoa will go back on when the wind dies a bit. My overall impression of Cairns is that it is the best place we could have done this work. Brisbane has more services perhaps, but it\u0026rsquo;s all so spread out that we would have likely burned an extra day in travel. Cairns has a more compact footprint, all the services, and a can-do attitude. That combined with the noteworthy honesty, makes this a clear contender for best city to do boat work! It ranks with Alameda, CA as our all time favorites.\nSomewhere in all this excitement and work we also found time for fun. We met a really cool cruising couple that were at the end of their sailing adventure, and had a nice night of chatting before they headed off on an epic Australian road trip.\nFleur de sel caramel covered chocolate brownie cake. Wow!\nThen, for Vick\u0026rsquo;s birthday, we caught up with another cruising family that we had met last year in Airlie Beach. This was one of those experiences that reminds you that the world is round and every goodbye is just an opportunity for a future reunion. We hunkered down over wine and pizza (and later the most insane cake) and rediscovered why we love cruising families so much.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/impressions-of-cairns/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI feel like I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;d. It was nice to finally relax and get a full night\u0026rsquo;s sleep.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Impressions of Cairns"},{"content":"We were waiting for a bus to take us somewhere and Vick looked at me and said \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;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 destinations…\u0026rdquo; It was clear that she expected it to take some reacclimation to get back into the swing of this. I remarked that I thought the ease of transition was because cruising is our natural state, and all the other things are what we have to do in order to make cruising possible.\nAs it turns out, we got a tip from a cruising friend that the fort walk was a good one. Through the help of a British backpacker, we figured out which bus stop to get off at, and enjoyed a great hike up to a spectacular lookout. Olive is developing an interest in military history, so the World War II story that was told (in signposts and installations) as we hiked, kept her riveted all the way up.\nAfter the hike we took the bus the rest of the way to \u0026ldquo;town\u0026rdquo; and did a little reprovision for our trip up to Cairns. Around sunset we were joined for a while by Preston, one of the new owners of Tao (our Buddy Boat from the South Pacific, and former big-boat to our dinghy).\nYou\u0026rsquo;ll see in the pictures that the kids had no trouble adjusting either.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/cruising-again/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe were waiting for a bus to take us somewhere and Vick looked at me and said \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;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 destinations…\u0026rdquo; It was clear that she expected it to take some reacclimation to get back into the swing of this. I remarked that I thought the ease of transition was because cruising is our natural state, and all the other things are what we have to do in order to make cruising possible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cruising Again"},{"content":"I don\u0026rsquo;t know how many times I uttered that terse phrase yesterday. Saying goodbye, it\u0026rsquo;s…\nHard.\nRather than sputter on sentimentally I\u0026rsquo;m just going to post a ton of random pictures of some of the people we\u0026rsquo;ve come to love in our too short stay here. Thank you all for making our going away party such a touching success. We will miss the heck out of you!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/so-hard/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know how many times I uttered that terse phrase yesterday. Saying goodbye, it\u0026rsquo;s…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHard.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRather than sputter on sentimentally I\u0026rsquo;m just going to post a ton of random pictures of some of the people we\u0026rsquo;ve come to love in our too short stay here. Thank you all for making our going away party such a touching success. We will miss the heck out of you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So Hard"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s been my \u0026ldquo;office\u0026rdquo; for the last several months. This is the place where plantefunder.org took its new shape. The colors and sounds are so familiar that they have become my norm. Boat, Library, Gardens, Library, Boat. That\u0026rsquo;s my daily route. Even the handful of coffee shops I frequent aren\u0026rsquo;t as comfortable as this space has become.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s Sunday, so I don\u0026rsquo;t have to work. We\u0026rsquo;re backing up our laptops, installing updates on our devices and just taking a break from the boat, which has become a bit damp, following the recent rains. Since I don\u0026rsquo;t have anything pressing, it dawned on me that I should write a blog post. So I sat, tapping my fingers lightly on the keys thinking of a fresh perspective to share. Nothing came. Recently the old theme of \u0026ldquo;where is home\u0026rdquo; keeps rising to the fore every time I sit down to feel.\nIn a lot of ways Brisbane feels more like home than anywhere I have ever lived. I know that I\u0026rsquo;ve felt this way before. I tend to romanticize the here and now a bit (perhaps that\u0026rsquo;s as it should be). But I wonder if this feeling will stick. There is so much about this place that resonates with me, maybe this will turn out to be the home we have been searching for.\nBut this is all old news. I started this post with the title you see above. I predicted that there would be \u0026ldquo;No Fresh Perspective.\u0026rdquo; But I\u0026rsquo;m writing it anyway. Vick just asked, \u0026ldquo;What are you writing about?\u0026rdquo; and I replied, \u0026ldquo;Nothing.\u0026rdquo; But in a way, I am writing about something. This is the moment, right before a big transition when what is now can be celebrated. Reflecting about home—clearly a central theme in our lives—and relating that theme to the present moment, is perhaps how I honor this passage in my life\u0026rsquo;s story.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/no-fresh-perspective/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s been my \u0026ldquo;office\u0026rdquo; for the last several months. This is the place where plantefunder.org took its new shape. The colors and sounds are so familiar that they have become my norm. Boat, Library, Gardens, Library, Boat. That\u0026rsquo;s my daily route. Even the handful of coffee shops I frequent aren\u0026rsquo;t as comfortable as this space has become.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Fresh Perspective"},{"content":"I just set up a Patreon.com page. If you haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s you).\nThe concept mirrors the ideal that Amanda Palmer talked about in her awesome TED Talk. Do what you do for love, then ask for help. I suspect that this idea is as old as art, but AFP puts a new spin on it by making it distributed.\nSo what the heck, I thought. My mother-in-law has been asking us to put up a donation button for the longest time. We resisted because it felt like selling inspiration (a gift that we believe can only be given freely). Then patreon gave me another way to look at it. I\u0026rsquo;m asking for your help so I can write more. So I can take my writing seriously, and so I can provide an opportunity to make a (possibly) more meaningful connection than simply consuming what I write.\nDON\u0026rsquo;T GET ME WRONG I\u0026rsquo;m not going to start charging for blog posts. That would be ridiculous. I\u0026rsquo;m not even going to mention this again. I\u0026rsquo;m going to just quietly put a tiny little link at the top of the page and see what happens.\nIF YOU BECOME A PATRON\nYou\u0026rsquo;ll have the opportunity to message me directly, tell me what you think, influence the creative process! I might even post some special \u0026ldquo;patron-only\u0026rdquo; exclusives. Patrons will be my VIPs, and where else will you get VIP status for a buck a month?\nSo there\u0026rsquo;s the pitch. Rock on up to the top of the page, or click here to become a patron.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/i-would-do-this-for-free/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just set up a Patreon.com page. If you haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s you).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe concept mirrors the ideal that Amanda Palmer talked about in \u003ca href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking?language=enA\u0026amp;amp;bvm=bv.94455598,d.dGc\"\u003eher awesome TED Talk\u003c/a\u003e. Do what you do for love, then ask for help. I suspect that this idea is as old as art, but AFP puts a new spin on it by making it distributed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Would Do This for Free"},{"content":"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 weather, sundowners with dear friends, and nearly daily boat maintenance for the relative ease of city life, a stable job, and weather that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t really affect us.\nWhat I soon discovered was that it was just the start of a new adventure, one punctuated by forging new relationships, and building a life in a foreign country. Making this foreign country feel native—navigating the subtle cultural differences, finding our community, as well as coming to the understanding that all the animals that could kill us here, wouldn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily (under normal circumstances) want to kill us— was just as challenging and exciting as when we sailed through Mexico, or the Marquesas.\nIn just a month, we will start moving slowly north. It\u0026rsquo;s time. The trades are established, and the air here in Brisbane has become crisp. I would have thought this would be the easiest decision in the world. Adventure awaits, as do deserted tropical islands, and a few friends we are eager to catch up to. But for all the undeniable magnetic pull of the North, I am not as eager as I \u0026ldquo;should\u0026rdquo; be.\nAll of us have found special people here. Ruby has made some really strong bonds with her schoolmates, and Olive has a friend that she \u0026ldquo;would marry, if I [she] weren\u0026rsquo;t already married to Rayna.\u0026rdquo; I have made a small handful of friends so dear that their absence from my daily life will leave a bruise on my heart.. Somehow we have all formed what feel like life long bonds with people here despite our stated transience. It boggles the mind.\nSo it is that I find myself torn between the excitement of adventure impending, and the overwhelming comfort of belonging and security of community. This, for me is the defining challenge of the cruising life. Finding the balance between the two, and accepting that the balance doesn\u0026rsquo;t always have to be simultaneous. Letting go, but recognising that a part of me will linger here, and that a new aspect of me, forged from my experiences will take it\u0026rsquo;s place. This is a harsh but rewarding reality, and one that, once the pain of goodbyes ebbs, leaves me with a unique gift… A new place to call home.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/ready-for-adventure-again-almost/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 weather, sundowners with dear friends, and nearly daily boat maintenance  for the relative ease of city life, a stable job, and weather that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t really affect us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat I soon discovered was that it was just the start of a new adventure, one punctuated by forging  new relationships, and building a life in a foreign country. Making this foreign country feel native—navigating the subtle cultural differences, finding our community, as well as coming to the understanding that all the animals that could kill us here, wouldn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily (under normal circumstances) \u003cem\u003ewant\u003c/em\u003e to kill us— was just as challenging and exciting as when we sailed through Mexico, or the Marquesas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ready for Adventure Again (almost)"},{"content":"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 anchor.\nBefore we could do that though, there were a number of boat-list items that needed to be knocked off.\nDodger repair Our dodger was hit hard during the big hail storm. Several large holes were punched in the old, brittle, windshield panes. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t go anywhere without fixing them. Unfortunately, this was a much larger task than it seemed at first blush. The old Sunbrela was worn out, and even if we could have salvaged it, the hardware was installed over the plexiglass, and the zippers were shot. The upshot was that the whole frame had to be remade.\nThe project started (more or less) at the laundromat. It was the closest place with a large flat surface to measure and cut on, and we had to go there anyway.\nBack on the boat, Vick got to sewing. She worked on the forward companionway hatch, under a temporary cover. It took two days of sewing (including interruptions, and other life stuff) to get the sewing done, but when she was done… wow!\nBefore (sort of)\nafter… WOW!\nAutopilot The autopilot died on our way back from the Whitsundays last year. I ordered new MOSFETs to fix it, but apparently there was a larger problem with it. The new MOSFETs exploded as soon as I turned it on. I considered fixing the board, but at 40 years old, I figured it might be time to step up our game. I ordered a new Raymarine ST-2000 and rigged up a fancy schmancy mount, to attach it to the Monitor. It didn\u0026rsquo;t work right away (the \u0026ldquo;Operating Sense\u0026rdquo; was reversed), but it appears to not only steer the boat, but also to interface with our NMEA network to steer to a route. What a difference that will make on the Brisbane river.\nRevamped navigation system (geek-out warning) When we got back from the Whitsundays, I sent our iMux-ST back to the manufacturer for an upgrade. I expected to get back a device that I could set up as an AP for the boat, and maybe even use as a WPA2 client (station) on our existing network. Sadly the new device had some significant limitations. The manufacturer doesn\u0026rsquo;t allow me to configure any of the parameters, so I was stuck (on the version I paid for) with an SSID of Brookhouse_iMux_2197 and an equally cumbersome password. This network can\u0026rsquo;t interface with my internet connection unless they happen to support WDS (the implementation of which is not uniform across vendors). The vendor suggested I send it back (at my cost again) for yet another upgrade. I was so fed up with the whole thing that I decided to just route around the problem. I created a new multiplexer with a Raspberry Pi B, the kplex software and two wifi dongles.\nCurrently the new NMEA multiplexer (total cost \u0026lt; US$100) routes SeaTalk and NMEA from the iMux-ST on it\u0026rsquo;s own network to any devices on the ship\u0026rsquo;s network. Next week I intend to move the GPS over to the new multiplexer, then the AIS, and finally the new tillerpilot. In the end I\u0026rsquo;ll probably keep the iMux for it\u0026rsquo;s Seatalk to NMEA conversion (though I think kplex might be able to read the Seatalk as well).\nIn addition to the NMEA functionality, I hope to get my new ModBus webfrontend on that multiplexer too, so I can access all of my NMEA and solar charge controller data from anywhere in the world.\nNew lamp shades Our lampshades in the saloon were another thing that had really shown their age. Vick had this great idea about replacing them with mason jars, and when she presented me with two, dyed jars, I was pretty eager to get them hung.\nBefore!\nafter.\nAll the other stuff The remaining tasks. Pink (obviously) for me, Blue for Vick and white are up for grabs.\nThe list of projects is still miles long, but we are plugging away. I rebed one of the stanchions today, last week we got rid of a metric ton of sh-tuff. Vick made travel doctor appointment for rabies shots, and prescriptions. And possibly most important, after almost 5 years aboard, we finally made viewing buckets!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/preparations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter 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 anchor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore we could do that though, there were a number of boat-list items that needed to be knocked off.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"dodger-repair\"\u003eDodger repair\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur dodger was hit hard during the big hail storm. Several large holes were punched in the old, brittle, windshield panes. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t go anywhere without fixing them. Unfortunately, this was a much larger task than it seemed at first blush. The old Sunbrela was worn out, and even if we could have salvaged it, the hardware was installed over the plexiglass, and the zippers were shot. The upshot was that the whole frame had to be remade.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preparations"},{"content":"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 those rare friends that defy the rules that erode normal friendships under the pressures of time, distance, and language. Roberto is a kindred spirit.\nWhen I heard that he was leaving Melbourne on an epic road trip to Darwin, I urged him to visit. If not for more ink, than just to catch up and hear how the last year had gone. When he arrived, I heard that he had only a few days to spend, I was certain the inking would have to wait. Robbie set me straight, \u0026ldquo;No bro, I\u0026rsquo;m here to finish your arm…\u0026rdquo;\nI had sent Robbie a primer of trickster stories, and why they were relevant to me. I told him about this idea I had about how the coyote would be made of geometry, and bound by geometry. About how, in the end, it would refactor the lines of its cage into its corporeal self, liberating itself in the process. I thought it was a nearly impossible tattoo.\nDays later, we were at a party, talking about the design and it was pretty clear that, while he had been thinking about it a lot, not much drawing had happened. Irene assured me that Robbie had been pouring over geometries, that he wouldn\u0026rsquo;t talk to anyone. He was focused. When I relayed this all to Vick later, I surprised myself, saying \u0026ldquo;I think he might just draw it freehand on the day. I\u0026rsquo;m not worried. He\u0026rsquo;s got this.\u0026rdquo;\nThe day of the tattoo there were additional trips to the copier to scale the templates; \u0026ldquo;to make it just right.\u0026rdquo; Roberto showed me the lines, the concept, the coyote. I loved it. The centerpiece turned out to be a Penrose Tiling. The Penrose Tiling is—in my opinion—the mathematical representation of the trickster. It blows my mind a little, every time I read about it (which is often, because I really don\u0026rsquo;t understand the math yet).\nThe inking was done in a flurry of activity. Feasts were made and served, a pop-up party was formed to celebrate one of the housemate\u0026rsquo;s doing an important news piece, and many spectators dropped in just to watch and comment. This last aspect may have been my favorite part of the experience. Congruent with the trickster theme, the tattoo was an emergent process. The geometry was fixed from the outset, but the interpretation and the piecing was overseen by a sort of tribal council. Robbie and I made the biggest decisions, but many of the fine details were influenced by the passing comment or opinions of my friends.\nThe result is a design that fully reflects the trickster archetype in theme, process, geometry, and spirit. I am not sure what tattoos mean to other people, but for me each one of the 29 hours that I\u0026rsquo;ve spent under the needle has been impregnated with meaning, color and experience that harmonizes with my values. I feel incredibly fortunate!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/coyote-the-trickster/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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 \u003ca href=\"/articles/2013/12/24/octopus-tattoo\" title=\"Octopus Tattoo\"\u003eoctopus\u003c/a\u003e idea that I had. By the time that tattoo was done, I had made one of those rare friends that defy the rules that erode normal friendships under the pressures of time, distance, and language. Roberto is a kindred spirit.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Coyote: The Trickster"},{"content":"To say I am annoyed with Hella Turbo Fans is an understatement. These very basic fans cost a mint and aren\u0026rsquo;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, but more continue to fail, and the RMA process was so involved that I\u0026rsquo;m just not inclined to try it again.\nThat said, they still receive high marks from reviewers, so I have concluded that they are simply the best of a very small and underwhelming pool of contenders.\nOne of the things that irks me to no end about these fans is that they tend to rattle when the boat\u0026rsquo;s voltage is topped (13.3v at the moment). This has been a problem with about half of our fans so far. Surprisingly, when I replaced the galley fan (which used to rattle) with the replacement fan, the new one rattled too. The replacement fan for my side of the berth also rattled. (Side note: the factory has also reversed polarity on the new batch of fans, so be careful to connect the striped wire to negative).\nSo here is my gift to you, fellow sailor with a rattling Hella Turbo fan. The next time that high frequency rattle interrupts your sundowners or morning coffee, jump right up from your comfy settee and grab a rubber band. Pull a small rubber band from the front/top (depending on mount orientation) to the back/bottom (see photo) of the bracket that doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a thumbscrew, and then sit back down to enjoy the breeze in silence for once.\nYou are welcome.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/outfitting/frickin-hella-fans/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTo say I am annoyed with Hella Turbo Fans is an understatement. These very basic fans cost a mint and aren\u0026rsquo;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, but more continue to fail, and the RMA process was so involved that I\u0026rsquo;m just not inclined to try it again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat said, they still receive high marks from reviewers, so I have concluded that they are simply the best of a very small and underwhelming pool of contenders.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Frickin Hella Fans"},{"content":"From time to time, in the course of my travels, people have asked me about \u0026ldquo;home.\u0026rdquo; By this they usually mean the USA in general or one of the specific places I\u0026rsquo;ve lived. When I talk about the good things, I almost always start and end with community. I tend to describe (my) New England as a place where community is valued highly, and then give specific examples of the types of activities that illustrate this value. The coffee social we organized when we lived Mountain View was one common example, but this New Year\u0026rsquo;s Eve will be my new favorite (if I can find a way to encapsulate it).\nOur friends Tom and Mary throw this amazing party almost every year. They make fondue and give an open invitation to all of their friends and family. My memory of it begins with a fire warming the delightfully renovated farm house, as I sat on a stool by the stove, stirring the cheese, waiting for the first guests.\nWithin a few hours there was a buzz of conversation, laughter, and kids making new friends. I knew only one other family prior to the party, but everyone I talked to felt like an old friend. Conversations were often somewhat polarized, but like almost every other difference of opinion here, our disagreements were respectful and productive.\nI made an effort at one point to wander into the other rooms (all full of people engaging in the delight of the season) but found myself drawn back to the heart of the house, to my stool by the stove. The kitchen is where all the best conversations happen. This may be a reflection of my bias, of my personal values (family, relationships, and nourishment) but I know that whenever things get hectic, there will always be a place for me in the chatter and bustle of the hearth.\nI stayed by that stove until Mary prodded me into the icy cold night to witness what was promised to be a spectacle of dramatic proportions. I was skeptical of this spectacle. The bonfire warmed my front, while my backside felt colder than the dark side of the moon. I pined for the warmth of the kitchen and, as we waited for midnight, the kids ran dangerously close to the fire.\nOn the stroke of New Year, Tom rolled an enormous wooden ball into the bonfire and we all watched as it was— slowly at first then surprisingly quickly— engulfed by flames. At its peak, the ball was sending fire 10-20 feet into the air. I reckon the amount of effort that went into the construction of this object multiplied by the inverse of the speed of its consumption roughly equaled our enjoyment at watching it burn.\nAfter the ball, most of us returned to the house to warm our extremities. Within an hour or so most of the guests had left, but Tom, Mary, \u0026amp; I managed to survive until 4am, when we all had to surrender to exhaustion and the irrefutable truth that the kids would not let us sleep in.\nThe next day we made a slow start over a hot breakfast and eased into the day with several cups of process oriented coffee. By midday we agreed that some fresh (chilled) air and a stretch of the legs would do us all good and maybe burn off some of that boundless energy that the kids were exhibiting (where do they get it from?).\nWe walked through hill and field to the mudflats of Muscongus Bay, and discovered some of the treasures of this part of the world\u0026rsquo;s ocean. The kids ran, climbed and discovered together while the adults talked and reminisced (Mary and I have been friends since I was 8, and we\u0026rsquo;ve all known each other for decades).\nWhen we got home, the littles crowded around the computer to play a cooperative game of Minecraft, and watch movies, while we played Cards Against Humanity and roared, tittered, and covered our faces with embarrassment.\nThis is my picture of community. When I think about \u0026ldquo;coming home,\u0026rdquo; no matter where that home is I think of this type of vignette. Good friends, food, family, dynamic and sometimes challenging conversation, laughter, maybe a bit of tears, and connection.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/community/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFrom time to time, in the course of my travels, people have asked me about \u0026ldquo;home.\u0026rdquo; By this they usually mean the USA in general or one of the specific places I\u0026rsquo;ve lived. When I talk about the good things, I almost always start and end with community. I tend to describe (my) New England as a place where community is valued highly, and then give specific examples of the types of activities that illustrate this value. The coffee social we organized when we lived Mountain View  was one common example, but this New Year\u0026rsquo;s Eve will be my new favorite (if I can find a way to encapsulate it).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Community"},{"content":"We celebrated a late Christmas with Vick\u0026rsquo;s side of the family at her mom\u0026rsquo;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 lot.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/lyman-family-christmas-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe celebrated a late Christmas with Vick\u0026rsquo;s side of the family at her mom\u0026rsquo;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 lot.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lyman Family Christmas: In Photos"},{"content":"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, that it was like stepping back into routine. And unlike our family, theirs is supremely tranquil. We also had the good fortune to connect with a few old and seriously dear friends, strengthening relationships that have been mostly on hold since we left.\nIn spite of our best efforts, including a coffee social to beat all coffee socials (30+ people showed up, the furthest came from Olympia, WA) there were still a few really important people we couldn\u0026rsquo;t connect with. I had a pretty serious drop on our last day when I accounted for the missed connections. But that is what happens when you try to squeeze 13 years of community into 10 days of visiting.\nThe city part of our trip was the beginning of the surreal. I had forgotten how much poverty and despair exist there. The vignette that will stick with me started as we approached Market and 8th, on our way back from Sightglass Coffee. The sound of a wailing, moaning, homeless man filled and overpowered my senses. I felt the long forgotten feeling of emotional withdrawal, and noticed, through my attenuated awareness, that others were drawing inward too, ignoring his obvious suffering. We were stopped, standing next to him, all eyes forward, waiting for the light. A silver Tesla was idling in front of me, waiting for traffic to clear.\nThis economic disparity, my immediate reactive withdrawal, and the almost as immediate desire to buy something pretty and shiny, all hit me in waves, punctuated by the slightly muted pain of this man in his wheelchair. The light changed and we lept off the curb towards the safety of the other side. We walked quickly until we reached the Old Navy and as I turned into the store, was greeted with a 5 year old mannequin dressed in a shirt that said \u0026ldquo;If it sparkles, hold on forever.\u0026rdquo; I excused myself, found a place to sit down, donned my headphones and retreated inward.\nThe flip side of this emotional tumult was gustative and kinky in nature. San Francisco maintains its place in my mind as the most open minded and delicious city in the world. I\u0026rsquo;ll keep testing this conclusion, but to date, it stands victorious. Where else can you find an entire warehouse sized coffee shop, a five star vegan restaurant, a taco joint with a 1 hour wait, and a kink cafe specializing in GF treats, coffee and BDSM gear?\nSo it was that my experience in the Bay Area ran the gamut from dear friends sharing parenting tips and wholesome conversation, to terrifyingly sad socioeconomic disparity, to sexy delicious adventuring. Throughout it all ran a thread of undercurrent, suggesting that I may have changed quite a bit, but that I still very much came from this place, and it and the people who I call my community there have contributed in a clear and measurable way to who I am today.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/a-pseudo-tourist-in-the-bay-area/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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, that it was like stepping back into routine. And unlike our family, theirs is supremely tranquil. We also had the good fortune to connect with a few old and seriously dear friends, strengthening relationships that have been mostly on hold since we left.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A (pseudo) Tourist in the Bay Area"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/trips/usa-2014-2015/","summary":"","title":"USA 2014-2015"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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 constantly shifting landscape (literally and metaphorically); the unique challenges of a life at sea; establishing myself for life and work in a (not so, but still) foreign country; and the very real fact that I have, over the past 3 years, manifested a life that is as close to my personal ideal as one can get while still balancing the needs and desires of three other individual beings.\nGiven these considerations, I should not have been at all surprised to find myself in a mild but persistent state of anxiety and disorientation. But it was a surprise. After all, I came back to visit family and good friends, in the place that I come from. I know the houses, and the faces, and the attitudes, and everyone sounds just like me. I can navigate any situation natively, without giving much thought to the social dynamics, even driving on the wrong (I mean right?) side of the road was no problem. But even though all of these things are just as I remember them, something has changed.\nFor the past week, I\u0026rsquo;ve been trying to put my finger on it. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s the cold, which I haven\u0026rsquo;t experienced like this in eleven years. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s the consumerism (I\u0026rsquo;ve been buying buying buying since I got here). Maybe its the… It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I started discussing this post with my mom that I (well, she actually) figured it out. New England is pretty much just as I left it. It\u0026rsquo;s me that has changed.\nI have created a life and lived an experience that is so tangential to the one I started from, that the people I grew up with don\u0026rsquo;t even have the context to understand my reality. The things people want to know about my trip seem irrelevant, superficial. I love talking about the beautiful places we visited, don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong. But the thing that has made this reality ideal for me, has more to do with the moments in between. This ideal reality is born of self-sufficiency and competence, of relationships and their safeguarding, of teamwork and camaraderie, of obstacles overcome, and yes, to some extent beautiful turquoise water and white sand beaches. But what makes the destinations so sweet is what it took to arrive there.\nMany of my cruising (and traveling) friends warned me that something like this would happen. I was almost prepared. But really, nothing can prepare you for feeling like a visitor in your native culture. As I struggle to adjust, to reacclimate (or reacclimatise as we say in Oz) a part of me worries that I might lose myself in the effort. That if I accept this reality, that my ideal might slip away. It is this struggle, the struggle to maintain my sense of self in a place where my self was born, that is causing me to feel lost where I know all the streets by heart.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/native-culture-shock/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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 constantly shifting landscape (literally and metaphorically); the unique challenges of a life at sea; establishing myself for life and work in a (not so, but still) foreign country; and the very real fact that I have, over the past 3 years, manifested a life that is as close to my personal ideal as one can get while still balancing the needs and desires of three other individual beings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Native Culture Shock"},{"content":"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 delectable foods. For a family that has named its home and lifestyle Convivia (a party centered around food and friends), it stands to reason that this holiday would be significant, and for me it is doubly so.\nSo when we planned to break from our lifestyle choice of eternal summer, it was for a very very good reason. We would be able to celebrate this greatest of holidays (for the first time in eleven years) with our family.\nYou can imagine, given the above, how traumatizing it was when an early snow storm threatened to shut us out of the celebration. Our hosts, Uncle John and his partner Laurie, and Laurie\u0026rsquo;s sister Karen, had suffered a power outage of unknowable duration, and it was pretty clear that the oven (needed to cook the bird) and the water (pumped up from a well) would be unavailable. It was looking like we would have to cancel, but our hosts put their heads together and came up with a plan.\nWe piled into three cars (10 people altogether) and headed out into the snow to John and Laurie\u0026rsquo;s farmhouse in Western Massachusetts. We arrived to a bustle of activity in the kitchen. Buckets of snow were melting on the woodstove for \u0026ldquo;dirty jobs,\u0026rdquo; the turkey was cooking on the BBQ, and every hot surface was cooking something. Possibly the best was the shrimp on the woodstove.\nThe sun went down before dinner was served, so we lit all the lanterns and candles we could find, and used our array of flashlights to illuminate the key job areas. When we finally sat down to eat, it was just candlelight. The feasters had managed to prepare, cook, and serve a meal for thirteen people without most modern conveniences. The food was probably ten times more delicious than it would have been without the extra hassle of preparation, and the fact that everyone had to work together, through some hardship seemed apropos, given the spirit of the holiday.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve attended a thanksgiving feast for each of my thirty nine years, and there have been many memorable ones. This one though will stand out for its circumstances, attendees, and our hosts\u0026rsquo; amazing fortitude.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-best-thanksgiving-ever/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanksgiving 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 delectable foods. For a family that has named its home and lifestyle Convivia (a party centered around food and friends), it stands to reason that this holiday would be significant, and for me it is doubly so.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Best Thanksgiving Ever"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/dolphins-on-the-bow/","summary":"","title":"dolphins on the bow"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/trips/india-2009/","summary":"","title":"India 2009"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/trips/circumnavigation/","summary":"","title":"Global Circumnavigation: 2011 - 2017"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s not an unfamiliar scene on Convivia. It\u0026rsquo;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. \u0026ldquo;We have Ruby\u0026rsquo;s presents (the most substantial expenditures this year at $24), and my 6\u0026rdquo; handmade felt pterodactyl, and… that\u0026rsquo;s it.\u0026quot;\nOur cultural programming was going haywire. I pretty much assume that a birthday or christmas is going to run ~$300/kid when it\u0026rsquo;s all said and done. Was this going to be the worst birthday ever?\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve told our kids over and over that it\u0026rsquo;s experience, connection, and purpose that make us most happy. Stuff, we assure them, only gives you a temporary boost, but it comes at a price. This birthday was going to be the ultimate test of whether Olive buys into this part of the family ethos. And if Olive has a love language, it\u0026rsquo;s gifts!\nAnd there you have it. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to say whether or not this was the \u0026ldquo;best birthday ever\u0026rdquo; but when Vick and I saw this little girl\u0026rsquo;s unqualified joy, any thoughts of gift inadequacy evaporated. For Olive, it seems, the thought and love that went into her tiny hand made presents outstripped all other considerations.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/olive-turns-7-a-parenting-win/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s not an unfamiliar scene on Convivia. It\u0026rsquo;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. \u0026ldquo;We have Ruby\u0026rsquo;s presents (the most substantial expenditures this year at $24), and my 6\u0026rdquo; handmade felt pterodactyl,  and… that\u0026rsquo;s it.\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur cultural programming was going haywire. I pretty much assume that a birthday or christmas is going to run ~$300/kid when it\u0026rsquo;s all said and done. Was this going to be the worst birthday ever?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Olive Turns 7: A Parenting Win"},{"content":"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!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/gbr-2014-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"GBR 2014 In Photos"},{"content":"Most of the time when I\u0026rsquo;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 to send me home.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/what-sailing-feels-like/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMost of the time when I\u0026rsquo;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 to send me home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Sailing Feels Like"},{"content":"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 the current leaseholders were warm and hospitable. I\u0026rsquo;ll look forward to going back on our way south. Sadly, weather and internet forced us onward. We stopped in Scawfell Island for two days, but the internet there was too sporadic to support my work, so we were northbound again. When we arrived in Thomas Island, with it\u0026rsquo;s workable internet and gorgeous coral beaches, we knew we had made it to \u0026ldquo;North Enough.\u0026rdquo; Our weeks of searching were over. From here on up to Townsville the weather will be warm enough for Vick, the connectivity conducive to my work, and the flora and fauna rich, diverse, and unusual enough to hold the kid\u0026rsquo;s interest for days on end. Here are a few photos of our journey from Keppel.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/north-enough/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 the current leaseholders were warm and hospitable. I\u0026rsquo;ll look forward to going back on our way south. Sadly, weather and internet forced us onward. We stopped in Scawfell Island for two days, but the internet there was too sporadic to support my work, so we were northbound again. When we arrived in Thomas Island, with it\u0026rsquo;s workable internet and gorgeous coral beaches, we knew we had made it to \u0026ldquo;North Enough.\u0026rdquo; Our weeks of searching were over. From here on up to Townsville the weather will be warm enough for Vick, the connectivity conducive to my work, and the flora and fauna rich, diverse, and unusual enough to hold the kid\u0026rsquo;s interest for days on end. Here are a few photos of our journey from Keppel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"North Enough!"},{"content":"I have a hard time assigning superlatives. I tend to experience life in an abstract way that doesn\u0026rsquo;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 :)\nToday 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.\nI had wanted to sail around the little islet in our bay, since we arrived. It looked just perfect and today, the conditions for sailing were too! I rigged up Fatty (our Fatty Knees sailing dinghy) and called down to Ru to join me. Though she had been keen earlier, she was busy helping Vick make hommus, and couldn\u0026rsquo;t be swayed, so I was left to my own devices.\nThe sail around the island was everything I expected it to be. When I rounded the western point, I found myself reflecting to my childhood. To sailing N10s and our little blue jay. To wishing that I was in crystal turquoise waters with a warm breeze blowing me on my way. I\u0026rsquo;m proud that I could honor that girl\u0026rsquo;s wish.\nI swung back around to Convivia to pick up Ruby and some snacks, and we did the loop around the island together. This was her first official sailing lesson (she\u0026rsquo;s been studying the Opti book), and she did quite well. At one point Ruby said, \u0026ldquo;Dad, can we stay here for ever?\u0026rdquo;\nWe returned home for lunch and afternoon coffee and then I took the kids to shore so Vick could have some time alone (read: clean the floors). The kids hit the beach running. They went shell hunting, made up games on the sand banks, and did some exploring. After a while, Olive came over and told me that she too was having the best day ever.\nAfter the beach, we decided to sail around the point to the next bay, and on the way had a short visit from a sea turtle. The kids took over Fatty and I sat back and enjoyed being cheaufered around.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s hard to capture what was so magical about the day. There was a rhythm to it for sure, but also something of the place, the time, and our collective mindspace.\nThe sun is setting on this best day ever and even as I reflect on it I\u0026rsquo;m starting to look forward to the next one. I guess that\u0026rsquo;s how it goes with best days :)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/best-day-ever/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have a hard time assigning superlatives. I tend to experience life in an abstract way that doesn\u0026rsquo;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 :)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Best Day Ever"},{"content":"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.\nWe were greeted by a slightly kitsch \u0026ldquo;cruiser\u0026rsquo;s camp\u0026rdquo; that sported a very helpful trail map. When you discover a map, there is only one thing to do…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/great-keppel-island-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe were greeted by a slightly kitsch \u0026ldquo;cruiser\u0026rsquo;s camp\u0026rdquo; that sported a very helpful trail map. When you discover a map, there is only one thing to do…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2014/06/IMG_1129.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2014/06/IMG_1343.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Great Keppel Island in Photos"},{"content":"The first day of my fortieth trip around the sun began in darkness. No, this isn\u0026rsquo;t a metaphor, it\u0026rsquo;s 3am. Vick woke me with a kiss. \u0026ldquo;Happy birthday, it\u0026rsquo;s your watch,\u0026rdquo; she said through her smile.\nI\u0026rsquo;m 39. This is one of those birthdays that should feel insignificant in comparison to it\u0026rsquo;s immediate neighbor, but I actually feel sorry for 40. I mean how could forty compare to a year that starts with stars, salty kisses, sea air, and phosphorescents.\nThis year will be filled with travel, by sea, by air, and by land. We will visit one of the most amazing natural treasures of our planet, and see our kids eyes and minds bulge with wonder.\nAs I type this, the coast of Fraser Island slips by sideways through the night. Before the sun sets we will be further north than we have ever been in Australia, at the threshold of a new chapter in this adventure. There is so much to look forward to.\nIf adult birthdays are supposed to bear some poignant mortal significance, I am happy to report that this one feels like a re-affirmation of my commitment to live each day fully, with as few regrets as possible.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/cruising/thirty-nine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe first day of my fortieth trip around the sun began in darkness. No, this isn\u0026rsquo;t a metaphor, it\u0026rsquo;s 3am. Vick woke me with a kiss. \u0026ldquo;Happy birthday, it\u0026rsquo;s your watch,\u0026rdquo; she said through her smile.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m 39. This is one of those birthdays that should feel insignificant in comparison to it\u0026rsquo;s immediate neighbor, but I actually feel sorry for 40. I mean how could forty compare to a year that starts with stars, salty kisses, sea air, and phosphorescents.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thirty Nine"},{"content":"When I was younger (let\u0026rsquo;s just say I was 10) my uncle would entice me to row him across what seemed like an endless [Muscongous] sound to Loud\u0026rsquo;s Island, by making up silly stories about a fellow named Barfoolean Farkwar.\nBarf would do things like set out to sail without a sail. When he realised his blunder, he would split all of his underpants in half, and sew them together to make a stinky sail (Barf wasn\u0026rsquo;t much for hygiene).\nStories like this tend to stick with you. That\u0026rsquo;s why, many many years later, when I was a little less occupied than I probably should have been, I thought to type whois farkwar.com into my terminal. When it came up as not-already-owned, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t believe my luck and snatched it right up. Then I wrote to my uncle to ask him what he thought we should do with it. He thought we should make it an heirloom tomato zine. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t really get behind that because, to be honester than I would like to be publicly, I don\u0026rsquo;t much care for tomatoes.\nNew Story:\nLast weekend I went to RailsCamp. RailsCamp is an event that brings together Rails programmers from all over Australia (and beyond) to code, drink (possibly too much), play games, and generally groove out on our similarities and differences. It\u0026rsquo;s unique (in my experience) in that there is an actual code of niceness called MINASWAN (Matz is Nice And So We Are Nice) that, by and large, people adhere too (they even have shirts, but I digress).\nSo I\u0026rsquo;m at RailsCamp and I need something to program. Something that I can get done in a weekend. Something that I can work on while I drink a lot of GF beer. Something without consequence…\nEnterfarkwar.com. farkwar is a service for cruisers. It lets us post a position report using the tool most of us use anyway (Airmail). We can do this from satphones or HAM radio or the internet. Then we can give our families a link and they can \u0026ldquo;Follow\u0026rdquo; us. Once they\u0026rsquo;ve done that, the rest is automatic.\nEvery time I send a position report to farkwar.com, it will send an email to my followers, letting them know where I am and how far I have to go. It will even include a little message from me (\u0026ldquo;Eating cake, weather is great\u0026rdquo;, that kind of thing). Clicking on the link will take them to a beautiful Google map, showing all of my position reports and all of my messages.\nThere are two other similar services that I know of that have some overlap in functionality. YotREPS is great for aggregating weather and position data for meteorology, and is easy for non-HAMs to use, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t store data longer than 6 months (which sucks for those of us on the long plan). And winlink is for HAMs only. Plus neither of them are particularly social.\nSo that\u0026rsquo;s it. Go check out farkwar.com and if you don\u0026rsquo;t like it, I don\u0026rsquo;t know, throw a tomato at me.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/farkwar-is-born/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I was younger (let\u0026rsquo;s just say  I was 10) my uncle would entice me to row him across what seemed like an endless [Muscongous] sound to Loud\u0026rsquo;s Island, by making up silly stories about a fellow named Barfoolean Farkwar.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBarf would do things like set out to sail without a sail. When he realised his blunder, he would split all of his underpants in half, and sew them together to make a stinky sail (Barf wasn\u0026rsquo;t much for hygiene).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Farkwar is Born"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s getting cold here. The crew of s/v Convivia has concluded that cold is stupid and, upon concluding that, realized that we don\u0026rsquo;t have to stand for it. We have a portable life and I have every programmer\u0026rsquo;s dream boss who said (way back when I was hired) that he didn\u0026rsquo;t care where I do my work as long as I do it well.\nSo we have decided to take this portable lifestyle of ours and move to the Great Barrier Reef for the season*. We have to be back for the Logan\u0026rsquo;s visit in September, which gives us almost exactly 4 months to enjoy the reef. We plan to leave late May or early June (I want to be in the tropics for my birthday, if possible).\nOur next four months are going to be an interesting new chapter. We\u0026rsquo;ve done living aboard while homeschooling. We have done proper cruising (two parents, homeschooling, and traveling). We have done living aboard with the kids in school, while I worked. Now we will try our hands at cruising, while I work. We haven\u0026rsquo;t decided yet if we will put the kids in school or homeschool, we\u0026rsquo;ll figure that out as we go.\nOne possible route\nOur first two weeks will be a vacation (as we move north) and then we\u0026rsquo;ll have to find home. Maybe it will be an island home for four months, maybe a new harbor every week. A lot will depend on how much reliable internet there is and how easy it is to keep the kids busy while I work.\nThere will be a lot of unknowns but one thing we all know for certain is that we are happier and healthier (as a family) when we are in nature. With luck and a little care we can slip right back into a life that is governed more by the rising and setting of the sun than by school and bus schedules.\nVick wants me to acknowledge that we won\u0026rsquo;t actually be living on the reef, but in nearby islands and mainland harbors. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/living-aboard/migrations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s getting cold here. The crew of s/v Convivia has concluded that cold is stupid and, upon concluding that, realized that we don\u0026rsquo;t have to stand for it. We have a portable life and I have every programmer\u0026rsquo;s dream boss who said (way back when I was hired) that he didn\u0026rsquo;t care where I do my work as long as I do it well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo we have decided to take this portable lifestyle of ours and move to the Great Barrier Reef for the season*. We have to be back for the Logan\u0026rsquo;s visit in September, which gives us almost exactly 4 months to enjoy the reef. We plan to leave late May or early June (I want to be in the tropics for my birthday, if possible).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Migrations"},{"content":"So this just popped up in our back yard. It\u0026rsquo;s been behind a fence for months now, slowly coming to form. I didn\u0026rsquo;t pay much attention but today I took the kids over there so Vick could have some space to put the boat back together after last weekend. This is what I discovered.\nAnd some genius solved a problem I had never even acknowledged was a problem. You know those noise makers that they sometimes have at playgrounds. The ones you want your kids to play because it seems indicative of an interest in music, until you realize it\u0026rsquo;s just their normal desire to make as much noise as possible.\nWell, I was sitting at the far end of the park when I first heard this. It was almost as if they were piping some meditation soundtrack through the park to keep the kids calm. Then I realized the sound was being created by kids. Amaaaazing!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/3952/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo this just popped up in our back yard. It\u0026rsquo;s been behind a fence for months now, slowly coming to form.  I didn\u0026rsquo;t pay much attention but today I took the kids over there so Vick could have some space to put the boat back together after last weekend. This is what I discovered.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd some genius solved a problem I had never even acknowledged was a problem. You know those noise makers that they sometimes have at playgrounds. The ones you want your kids to play because it seems indicative of an interest in music, until you realize it\u0026rsquo;s just their normal desire to make as much noise as possible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Post About How Awesome Brisbane is (i know…)"},{"content":"Okay, I don\u0026rsquo;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, we hardly notice it\u0026rsquo;s there. In my opinion, that\u0026rsquo;s a good way to feel about gear.\nThe GoToob is a silicone soap/shampoo container with a hard plastic top. The 2.5oz ones have a suction cup on them that sticks to many marina bathroom walls (YMMV). They are the perfect size for carry-on, and fit nicely in a slim bathroom bag. When I get in the shower, I pop them on the wall and tap for a perfect dose of Dr. Bonners or shampoo.\nIf that were all I had to say about them, I might never have written this post. Like I said, you kind of forget that they are there. Here\u0026rsquo;s what makes them exceptional. PEOPLE.\nYou know me, I\u0026rsquo;m a big fan of people, and when I find people that manage to be extra cool in their business, it makes me wicked happy. Such is the case with humangear.\nOver the past several years, I have had two occasions to write to their customer service. (The suction cups can lose their hold on some walls and the plastic caps can only take so much abuse before they give up the ghost). In both cases I got the most exceptionally warm and authentic email responses and enough caps to last me quite a while.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s stuff like this that makes me want to support a company, and it just so happens that we\u0026rsquo;ve been looking for some reusable cutlery for a while!\nLike I said,\nI wouldn\u0026rsquo;t think twice about my shower accoutrements, but I will always remember the pleasant banter and speedy resolution that humangear provided.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/outfitting/gear-review-gotoobs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOkay, I don\u0026rsquo;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, we hardly notice it\u0026rsquo;s there. In my opinion, that\u0026rsquo;s a good way to feel about gear.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe GoToob is a silicone soap/shampoo container with a hard plastic top. The 2.5oz ones have a suction cup on them that sticks to many marina bathroom walls (YMMV). They are the perfect size for carry-on, and fit nicely in a slim bathroom bag. When I get in the shower, I pop them on the wall and tap for a perfect dose of Dr. Bonners or shampoo.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gear Review: GoToobs"},{"content":"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.\nA sundowner is, technically speaking, a drink shared with friends as the sun sets. It\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s when we start to notice that maybe we\u0026rsquo;ve stretched the event a little long. That\u0026rsquo;s when we start to realized that the crackers and special recipe popcorn we brought doesn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily constitute dinner, and maybe the kids should get to bed soon.\nTonight we had sundowners with three other boat families that crossed the Pacific. One crossed with us, but we never met. They are pretty sure they heard Ruby on the VHF, but who didn\u0026rsquo;t, right?!\nAs the stars came out I mentioned how nostalgic I was for the just spectacular stellar show we routinely witnessed while crossing the Pacific. It was unexpectedly comforting to hear everyone present share the sentiment. So often, when I express my awe at the sheer density of stars in the night sky, people look at me funny or think I\u0026rsquo;m blowing smoke. These people got it, and they got the other stuff that we don\u0026rsquo;t have words to describe too. They got the Sailing Me that I was talking about yesterday, and they got why raising your kids on a boat isn\u0026rsquo;t courageous, but necessary.\nI often find myself unable to articulate what it is about this life that is so vital, not just to my own personal well being, but somehow also to the wellbeing of all people (even those that don\u0026rsquo;t participate in it) I reach for the grandiose. I look for some big truth that the cruising lifestyle reveals. Maybe though, I should be looking for the mundane. This event—that we almost take for granted—perhaps perfectly encapsulates the community and spirit that makes this life of ours so precious.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/sundowners/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIs 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA sundowner is, technically speaking, a drink shared with friends as the sun sets. It\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s when we start to notice that maybe we\u0026rsquo;ve stretched the event a little long. That\u0026rsquo;s when we start to realized that the crackers and special recipe popcorn we brought doesn\u0026rsquo;t necessarily constitute dinner, and maybe the kids should get to bed soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sundowners"},{"content":"Photos after the break\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/tangalooma-easter-weekend-photots-part-1/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePhotos after the break\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tangalooma Easter Weekend Photots (part 1)"},{"content":"“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 myself coming back to that thought. What makes the sailing me noteworthy, why do I prefer it to the geeky me, or the business me, or the city slicker me?\nI think in large part sailing has brought me perspective. I lose that perspective if I spend too much time in the city, or at my job, or anywhere where a lot of people agree that certain things are important. I’m lucky that my job reinforces that saving the planet is important, I can get behind that, but it’s still not exactly the perspective that I get from sailing.\nSailing, for me, is: …about family time. I see my kids when I’m sailing. I don’t mean that I don’t get to see them enough during the work week, I mean that, when I’m sailing, I. see. them. I see how incredibly witty and coy Olive is, and how clever and musical Ruby is. I realize that I’ve told Ruby to stop singing, and Olive to stop clowning about a dozen times, but really they are just doing what they are best at, and it’s awesome!\n…about getting to know people. There are these two guys that I say hi to at least twice a day. They are friendly and look out for us and our kids, but I don’t really ever get to chat because I’m busy coming or going. Today, they are anchored a few boats away. We stopped by in the sailing dinghy on the way to play in the surf, and chatted… for the first time! Later, they helped us out when the dinghy tires needed air. I love that about this lifestyle, there are no excuses not to get to know your neighbors. …about taking things slowly. Really slowly. Today’s schedule was: Make coffee; Eat breakfast; Sail Fatty; Clean Fatty; Halyard Jump \u0026amp; Swim; Walk on the Beach; Eat Dinner. That’s it. It took all day, partially because sailing fatty in 3 knots of wind is a time consuming prospect, but it was good!\n…about not having much, but loving and leaning on the things I have. I love our boat. I love my computer. I love my camera. I love my uke and my guitar. I don’t have a lot of stuff, but I know WHY I have it all, and I never feel like it owns me (any more). When I lived in a giant house and had a ton of stuff (multiples of some) I always felt conflicted; “should I be playing my guitar instead of watching a movie on the home theater?” Now my stuff enables me, and I use it hard. …about competence and immediacy. When I’m sailing, I know just what requires my attention at any time and I generally know how to handle it. Whether it is a refrigerator not refrigerating, or a squall on the horizon, or a kid with a nasty cut. The things that matter are clear and obvious, and the best course of action is, similarly, obvious. In our modern world, so few people ever get to experience this clarity, nor the feeling of competence that comes with really feeling like you are up to any challenge that life might throw at you. Time to Sail Away? Vick joked that she bought enough provisions for a weekend on Moreton Island or crossing the Indian Ocean. I won’t lie and say that a 24 day passage didn’t really sound appealing, it did. But I’m not done here. I love how Ruby’s ‘no’ and ‘home’ use all of the vowels (“Noaeiu”) and I want both kids to feel a little bit Australian before we leave (They sang We Are All Australian this morning, and it nearly made me cry). Vick and I have some deeper roots to sink here as well, and some money to save (any day now). But I do think that every trip out of the river breathes a little life back into me and reminds me where my values lie. Sailing is like coming home to me, coming home to myself.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-sailing-me/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"i-wish-everyone-who-knew-me-could-know-the-sailing-me\"\u003e“I wish everyone who knew me could know the sailing me!”\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI 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 myself coming back to that thought. What makes the sailing me noteworthy, why do I prefer it to the geeky me, or the business me, or the city slicker me?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Sailing Me"},{"content":"Olive wanted to make an explosion. Ruby remembered that you can win mentos at the arcade. I thought, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s about the most expensive way to do this experiment but it makes a great story\u0026rdquo; so off we went.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/atypical-sunday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOlive wanted to make an explosion. Ruby remembered that you can win mentos at the arcade. I thought, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s about the most expensive way to do this experiment but it makes a great story\u0026rdquo; so off we went.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"(A)Typical Sunday"},{"content":"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.\nOur artist, Roberto Galbiani, an Italian architect-turned-tattoo-genius, was introduced to us by friends that run our favorite cafe (Pablo). If you remember back to the post about my Marquesan Tattoo, you might recall that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure that I would ever get another one. This opportunity made for too good of a story to pass up, and I was at a moment where I had something that I wanted to record in skin, so I enthusiastically pursued it.\nWe met several times over the course of a week to discuss possible design options and work out the intricacies of a design that, at first, I thought was too difficult to undertake. Robbie loved the idea though and wouldn\u0026rsquo;t let go of it until he had a gorgeous pencil drawing worked out.\nWhen I saw the final drawing, I wanted to start right away. So we did, in my office in New Farm, after everyone left for the day. We set up a little studio, turned on some music, and Robbie got to work.\nIt took all night (5 hours) to do the lines, and another afternoon (5 more hours) to do the shading, but the result is magnificent. In addition to recording a part of my life in beautiful and complex detail, I also made a new friend. Ain\u0026rsquo;t life grand?\n(music: Starlit, by Erin McKeown, used without permission but I promise to split all the money with her)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/octopus-tattoo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur artist, Roberto Galbiani, an Italian architect-turned-tattoo-genius, was introduced to us by friends that run our favorite cafe (Pablo). If you remember back to the \u003ca href=\"/articles/2012/04/22/tahauta-mana\"\u003epost about my Marquesan Tattoo\u003c/a\u003e, you might recall that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure that I would ever get another one. This opportunity made for too good of a story to pass up, and I was at a moment where I had something that I wanted to record in skin, so I enthusiastically pursued it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Octopus Tattoo"},{"content":"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 Tucker and Ruby. We anchored by Marina Tahina for a bit and picked up our new spinnaker and even a wifi antenna (both shipped from the US). It was exciting to have mail from the States after many months without.\nA week later, we moved to the Med moorings right in the heart of Papeete, enjoyed the playgrounds, frozen yogurt, the bookstores (it didn\u0026rsquo;t matter that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t read them), and planned Ruby\u0026rsquo;s eighth birthday party. Both Tucker\u0026rsquo;s sister and his parents sent packages on the same day, June 5th. We got Kate\u0026rsquo;s package just in time but the other package remained missing. We checked in with the shipping agent in Papeete every day until the weather and time forced us to shove off toward Moorea. We consoled Ruby by reminding her that, with just a short ferry ride, we could have come back for the parcel… if only it would arrive.\nTwo islands and a month later, we checked out of Bora Bora without it. Every day Ruby asked when she was going to get her birthday present, but once we departed the French Polynesian islands we really didn\u0026rsquo;t know.\nWe sailed on and when we were between Bora Bora and Suwarrow we received a email over HAM radio saying that the package arrived in Papeete (it had travelled to New Zealand, no wonder it took six weeks). Since there were no reliable places to send it until Australia, we instructed CGM to hold onto it for us until we got to our final destination.\nWhen we finally arrived in Oz we asked the agent in Papeete to send the package along to the Post Restante address in Brisbane. We checked in at the post office every few days and got notice that it arrived on 5 February! But alas, each time we went to pick it up it couldn\u0026rsquo;t be found. Sadly on 4 March it was on its way back to Tahiti with \u0026ldquo;Return To Sender\u0026rdquo; stamped all over it. It would have been easy to be miffed about Au Post losing our package, but like so many places in Australia they had excellent customer service, and after filling out a lengthy form, they sent us a check for $37 so that we could try again.\nIn the meantime, Tucker rented workspace which finally afforded us a reliable address! So we called CGM in Papeete and asked them to send it again to Tucker\u0026rsquo;s New Farm address. Again excitement, and … disappointment. A month or so later we heard from CGM that the package landed again in Tahiti. Had Ruby\u0026rsquo;s package been to Tahiti even more times than even Carol and Livia? We couldn\u0026rsquo;t figure out what had gone wrong and they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t re-send without us paying again. Since we weren\u0026rsquo;t sure that we\u0026rsquo;d ever get it through the post we put out a call for help from fellow sailors, and it worked!\nThe family from s/v Mac Pelican was sailing from Tahiti to Brisbane and they offered to collect our package and sail it to us! We were expecting that sometime in November or December they\u0026rsquo;d arrive and deliver. But sailor\u0026rsquo;s plans often change as theirs did. They had a family emergency and left the boat in Tonga for the cyclone season (back in Anchorage 11 where we discovered buried treasure a year before). So the family and our package flew from Nieafu to Nukuʻalofa to Nadi, Fiji and then to Brisbane.\nWe got a call one morning in the beginning of October. They were in our neighborhood! They had the package! We grabbed the camera and hopped into the dinghy to meet them right that second! We had a quick and lovely visit with Bernadette, Paul, and Finnley, and learned that Paul and Bernadette had even lived here at the pile moorings a decade ago.\nWe had heard that there might be some clothes for Ruby in the package. In fact there was a swimsuit and a beautiful skirt among the treats and best of all they still fit!\nWe are very thankful for Bernadette, Paul, and Finnley for taking care of getting Ru\u0026rsquo;s present to her after sixteen months in transit. We\u0026rsquo;ll be sure to save a spot at the pile moorings for them next year when they sail in to stay for a while!\nThis epic story started out with tears and frustration, but like so many of the trials that come from a life of adventure, the discomfort transformed into a story, and with the telling of the tale a new light was cast on it. Ruby now tells it with a smile, knowing that it\u0026rsquo;s another unusual experience that most other kids never have.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/bos-akl-ppt-bne-ppt-bne-ppt-vav-tbu-nan-bne/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 Tucker and Ruby.  We anchored by Marina Tahina for a bit and picked up our new spinnaker and even a wifi antenna (both shipped from the US). It was exciting to have mail from the States after many months without.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"BOS -\u003e AKL -\u003e PPT -\u003e BNE -\u003e PPT -\u003e BNE -\u003e PPT -\u003e VAV -\u003e TBU -\u003e NAN -\u003e BNE"},{"content":"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 flyovers from impressive killing machines, and just an astounding amount of fanfare. We had a very small party on Convivia, where we enjoyed a front row seat to the best fireworks display I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/riverfire-2013/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRiverfire 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 flyovers from impressive killing machines, and just an astounding amount of fanfare. We had a very small party on Convivia, where we enjoyed a front row seat to the best fireworks display I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Riverfire 2013"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t even know what this term means, Wikipedia describes it as:\n\u0026ldquo;… a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above or distinguish them from their peers.\u0026rdquo;\n…and herein lies a problem. In Silicon Valley, where I spent most of my adult life, there was a particular way in which one could be successful without garnering any unexpected ill will from his or her friends, co-workers and acquaintances. False modesty was not encouraged, nor was shying away from the limelight when it was directed. It took me quite a while to adjust to this, but when I finally did, I realized that the people I most genuinely enjoyed being around had an easy relationship with their personal successes. They tended to be inspirational, rather than boorish and conceited.\nHere in Brisbane, on the other hand, I hear street performers joke, \u0026ldquo;Come on, I can\u0026rsquo;t clap for myself folks, only Americans do that…\u0026rdquo; That stings a little, though I understand where it\u0026rsquo;s coming from, but what stings more is when I realized that I am the tall poppy. Twice (recently) I was in a large social event and someone showed an interest in our trip. I reacted as I always do with huge enthusiasm and excitement. I mean, really, it was super cool. After rambling on for (probably) waaaay to long, I realized that I was supposed to say \u0026ldquo;oh, that, it was okay.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd here\u0026rsquo;s the rub. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what to do about this. On the one hand, I see my reaction as fair dinkum (an Aussie term that means a statement of truth), an honest reflection of my childlike enthusiasm for this amazing experience. On the other hand I truly appreciate the social value (fairness, and egalitarianism) from which this tall poppy cutting comes from. Max Webber had an interesting theory about social capital which posits that in certain social groups social capital is a zero sum game. In other words my social rise mandates another\u0026rsquo;s fall. I don\u0026rsquo;t know that I agree with this, and I don\u0026rsquo;t know what context he postulated that for, but it seems to resonate with what I\u0026rsquo;ve heard and read about the underlying motivations for this phenomenon.\nTo put a bit more of a spin on this topic, I have also noticed that there is a sub-culture here, that seems to partially (or fully) reject this notion. I\u0026rsquo;m still looking into that, and trying to find my own way though this interesting and complicated situation. If I were leaving Australia soon, I would probably just punt, but as this is my home now, I feel compelled to resolve this issue in a way that maintains my personal values and authenticity, while concurrently honoring the spirit of \u0026ldquo;fair go\u0026rdquo; that I respect so much in Australians.\nThoughts?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/tall-poppy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne 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\u0026rsquo;t even know what this term means, \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_poppy_syndrome\"\u003eWikipedia\u003c/a\u003e describes it as:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;… a social phenomenon in which people of genuine merit are resented, attacked, cut down, or criticised because their talents or achievements elevate them above or distinguish them from their peers.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Tall Poppy in Oz"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve found myself having rather candid conversations about our finances lately. Inevitably I find myself saying \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;re skidding sideways into each paycheck.\u0026rdquo; Indeed last month we made it across the line by searching pockets for laundry money. It would, if I were inclined to look at it that way, be a realization of one of my worst pre-cruising fears.\nOver the last week I conducted an informal survey of cruiser friends on Facebook. Of the 16 respondents 10 cited money as one of (if not the most significant) reasons that people fail to launch their cruising dreams. In About the Crew I described how we chose to throw financial responsibility to the wind, and I thought it suiting that I take a minute to let you know how that all shook out.\nWhen we were making the decision to cast off the dock lines we had seriously awesome friends cheering us on and telling us their success stories of finding better jobs on the other end, or taking back their old jobs with more flexibility and higher pay. It seemed almost as if it would be stupid not to go. I faced the anxiety of leaving a stupendously great job, with stable pay and benefits, head on. I stared that fear down and cut the lines… and had the best 18 months of my life.\nHere I am on the other side of the Pacific. Working again, and able, finally to let you all know if those fears were ill founded. Well, here\u0026rsquo;s the hard truth folks. In my case, they kinda weren\u0026rsquo;t. I did land a fan-freaking-tastic job. Cool boss, great office environment, great clients, the whole nine yards. That said my salary here is 15% lower, add to that 5-13% exchange rate , and maybe 20% more in taxes and my take home is about 40% less than what I used to make. Subtract from that another 30% that goes to the credit cards and IRS every month (penalties for early withdrawal), and allow for the fact that everything here costs about 2x what it cost in the US, and you\u0026rsquo;ll start to understand why I\u0026rsquo;m scratching my head at the end of every pay period, wondering where all the money went. That\u0026rsquo;s about as much detail as I\u0026rsquo;m comfortable sharing with the Interworld, but suffice to say, we\u0026rsquo;re close to broke. And I feel fortunate to have any job in this economy.\nThis is a pretty stark contrast to the \u0026ldquo;build it and they will come\u0026rdquo; sentiment that I had been planing on. I have, in fact, burned through much of my net worth and managed to land squarely in a completely different socio-economic strata than I had achieved shoreside. And while I promise there\u0026rsquo;s more to this story, I do want, at this very moment to impress upon you how precisely not like the story book, this particular tale is.\nSo here\u0026rsquo;s the million dollar question; would I do it all over again? Knowing that I\u0026rsquo;m lucky to be working at all, much less to have a great job that pays (net) something like 40% less. Knowing that we may be in Australia for an extra few years just to scrape together enough money to visit family in the states before continuing on this epic round the world trip, would I tell the me of 2 years past to \u0026ldquo;just go for it?\u0026rdquo;\nI sure as hell would. This has been, hands down the best experience of my life so far. Traveling the world with my kids; being with them 24/7 for 18 months; hearing all of their funny, weird, creepy and enlightening thoughts; seeing the world through their eyes; being afraid (sometimes solo, sometimes as a family) and working through that; realizing how incredibly competent we all are; and most importantly doing something that is inarguably fucking amazing™. These are things that money can not buy. If this experience has taught me nothing else about life it has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that stuff that does not directly enable experience will never make me happy. Experience is what makes life rich and gives it value, and experience is something that we have in buckets.\nOur morning starts like any normal American or Aussie family. Breakfast, kids squabbling, rush to get out the… (and then it starts to be an experience) companionway, and into the dinghy to get to shore to take showers in the semi-public city owned, local hotel chain operated bathrooms. Olive makes some loud comment about something inappropriate while we are showering and one of the OGs laughs in the stall next to us. We catch the bus to school and then I go off to work with some awesome artsy hippies at the co-working space. Every little aspect of our day is slightly different than the last, and packed with moments to remember. And this is just the \u0026ldquo;boring\u0026rdquo; part of the trip compared to the 18 months of P\nacific crossing behind us or the years of international destinations ahead.\nSo in case the message hasn\u0026rsquo;t been delivered, here it is, in digest form. All those yay-sayers were wrong (for me at least) in fact, but so balls on accurate in spirit. Cutting the lines and embarking on your dream is incredibly risky. You may well fail, you may never rise to the socially accepted measure of success that you currently \u0026ldquo;enjoy.\u0026rdquo; But on the other hand you might just find that your former measure of success is just wrong and that an experience that allows you to spread those wings is worth any price.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/sliding-in-sideways/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve found myself having rather candid conversations about our finances lately. Inevitably I find myself saying \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;re skidding sideways into each paycheck.\u0026rdquo; Indeed last month we made it across the line by searching pockets for laundry money. It would, if I were inclined to look at it that way, be a realization of one of my worst pre-cruising fears.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the last week I conducted an informal survey of cruiser friends on Facebook. Of the 16 respondents 10 cited money as one of (if not the most significant) reasons that people fail to launch their cruising dreams. In \u003ca href=\"/about-the-crew\"\u003eAbout the Crew\u003c/a\u003e I described how we chose to throw financial responsibility to the wind, and I thought it suiting that I take a minute to let you know how that all shook out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sliding in Sideways…"},{"content":"September has been a month of goodbyes and getting-to-know-yas. It\u0026rsquo;s been a month of changing weather (for the better) and changing government (for the worse). It\u0026rsquo;s been full of laughter, outdoor play and exciting summery events.\nWe are all feeling like Brisbane is home, and except for the outrageous cost; and missing our family and friends back home; we are just delighted to be able to say that. In the spirit of photo-blogging when I don\u0026rsquo;t have enough new things to say, here\u0026rsquo;s another montage of our month. Hopefully the captions will tell our story well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/september-in-brisbane/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSeptember has been a month of goodbyes and getting-to-know-yas. It\u0026rsquo;s been a month of changing weather (for the better) and changing government (for the worse). It\u0026rsquo;s been full of laughter, outdoor play and exciting summery events.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are all feeling like Brisbane is home, and except for the outrageous cost; and missing our family and friends back home; we are just delighted to be able to say that. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the spirit of photo-blogging when I don\u0026rsquo;t have enough new things to say, here\u0026rsquo;s another montage of our month. Hopefully the captions will tell our story well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September in Brisbane"},{"content":"Coffee is very important to us here on Convivia and we\u0026rsquo;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.\nMega Manual\nOur blissful coffee life recently took a bad turn though. Last week, we lost the handle that turns the grinder. After a frantic search of the boat we decided to improvise and I got out the crescent wrench. It got the job done but does give a bit of a blister, takes longer and tends to result in some nasty dents in the sole (floor). After grinding 4 cups this way, I decided that it was time to get a new grinder. I sourced one at one of our favorite coffee shops, and was all set to get it but the shop is closed on the weekends and we\u0026rsquo;re about to go sailing for the week. What. to. do. Enter necessity. It was actually so hard that I considered ordering an electric grinder from the US, or buying an inverter for here so I could get an electric grinder locally. So this morning, as I was manually grinding with the crescent wrench, I had what can only be described as an epiphany. Words can\u0026rsquo;t do it justice, so here\u0026rsquo;s a picture…\nFully Automatic\nBliss\nCoffee bliss regained!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/coffee/necessity-is-the-mother-of-invention/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCoffee is very important to us here on Convivia and we\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Necessity is the Mother of Invention"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/july-august-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"July - August In Photos"},{"content":"A reader on a women\u0026rsquo;s sailing group I\u0026rsquo;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, or seasickness, and something I stressed out about far more than the weather, ships, or squalls. I got over my stress about laundry by finding other people, and sometimes machines, to do my washing for me. It was expensive and it was worth it.\nMEXICO\nLaundry in Mexico, though not especially gentle on the clothes, was inexpensive and fast. We dropped off all of our clothes, towels, and sheets often and rarely paid more than $15 or $17. Setting off into the Pacific I was prepared to wash laundry by hand, in a bucket, or so I thought.\nAs we sailed from Mexico to the Marquesas I knew I needed to keep up with the wash, otherwise we\u0026rsquo;d surely run out of undies. So nearly daily I filled my bucket with the clothes and towels of the day and plunged away in the cockpit, quickly grabbing the bucket out of the way of the tiller if the seas weren\u0026rsquo;t perfectly steady. I wrung and rinsed and wrung some more, tethering myself in and hanging laundry on the upwind lifelines and on makeshift lines around the cockpit. We knew we\u0026rsquo;d be out at sea for around three weeks and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t let the smelly, salty, and often wet washing pile up.\nJOURNAL ENTRY: UNDERWAY TO THE MARQUESAS\nThe tears first came after the tiller lifted and hit my chin. I was leaning over my laundry bucket, plunging the grime out of the rags and wash cloths. Tucker asked me if I put in enough detergent. The water was incredibly grey and I felt unable to do a decent job. Convivia was sailing along in twenty knot winds rolling up and down the four meter swells and rocking from side to side from the wind waves. And here I was, nine days into my three week passage, a thousand miles from land, crying about the laundry.\nTucker reminded me that some things haven\u0026rsquo;t changed. Since Ruby was born it\u0026rsquo;s always been hard for me to keep up with the laundry. There were nights when we lived in a house that he\u0026rsquo;d be begging me to come to bed and instead I\u0026rsquo;d insist on folding just one more load. On the boat, every advantage was gone. I have no washing machine and little water. I needed that perspective. Here I was, in my own boat, sailing across the Pacific Ocean with my family, worried about the laundry again. I always have to do the laundry, I suppose, except for those glorious months with Mexican Lavenderias, I may as well be doing something absolutely awesome at the same time.\nI was sitting back in the cockpit later, wearing just a tank top, undies and finally, a smile, wringing out the rinse water. She looked at me again. She was watching me do my work and I was obviously happy and enjoying my rolly ride to French Polynesia. She told me that I was sexier then than I\u0026rsquo;d ever been.\nATUONA, HIVA OA, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nWe checked into Atuona, Hiva Oa and immediately found a laundry service. In Hiva Oa, Sandra, the woman we used as an agent for clearance also did our laundry. She brought it to her house and did load after load, hanging it to dry in her beautiful yard. Not only did she do our laundry, she gave us rides, let us use her Internet and gave us nice cold drinks. Our washing came to about $85 and I was fine with that. Fresh sheets!\nAlternately in Hiva Oa there is a faucet near the dinghy dock with water. Many people handwashed there. It\u0026rsquo;s much easier to be successful at handwashing when you can rinse properly.\nFATU HIVA, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nI did daily laundry in a bucket with the most amazing view I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen.\nJOURNAL ENTRY: VAIUTU, TAUATA, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nThe quai at Resolution Harbor, Vaiutu, Tahuata, had an amazing surge. Tucker stern anchored the dinghy and inched it in towards the jetty and I hopped off grabbing my bucket and Ruby. A huge wave splashed as I hauled Olive out of the boat. I asked the kids to run away from the water. They kept their lifejackets on and Ruby ran my soap and plunger and big bag of laundry to dry land. It was too rough by then for Tucker to tie up the dinghy.\nThe kids and I walked to the faucet, fifteen feet above sea level and began to add fresh water and detergent to the bucket and plunge the dirt out of our clothes. A huge wave crashed over us and as it retreated the kids gathered runaway undies and tees. The kids decided to play near the trees while I re washed that bucket load. And so it went, me plunging and rinsing and wringing and never turning my back on the ocean.\nI like to think my life is a lot about the sea and chasing sunshine and endless summer, but if someone were to make a true-life movie about my life, it would be fiction to omit me doing lots of laundry. When the sea calmed a bit Tucker came in and took the kids home for a while. I finished up and I was satisfied. I may always have to do laundry but it now means I collect rainwater or dodge rogue waves making even my laundry an everyday adventure.\nUA POU, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nIn Ua Pou I was back to laundry in a bucket. The board and wringer were clamped onto the cockpit combing and the lines were filled every day. I found I needed to wash a bucket or two every day or I\u0026rsquo;d get overwhelmingly behind. At least in Ua Pou I had constant entertainment in the form of a friendly French gal who would swim around the boat with a dingy old kick-board while I washed.\nTAOIHOE, NUKA HIVA\nNext stop was Nuka Hiva. Not only were there vegetables there, if you got up at 3:30 in the morning, but in Taoihae, there was a sort of cruisers services place that would do laundry. We dropped some off and left it there while we sailed to Anaho Bay. A few days later we returned to pick it up. Again it was expensive, much like in Atuona. There may have been another option for them to wash and you pick it up wet and bring it home to hang on the boat.\nOn our way out of the Marquesas we stopped for a few days in the fabulous Daniel\u0026rsquo;s Bay. This is where I lost my wringer overboard. This is an actual email (sent over SSB Radio) that I sent to the manufacturer.\nLETTER TO LEHMAN\u0026rsquo;S REGARDING THE WRINGER:\nI\u0026rsquo;m writing to express my disappointment with my Good Hand Wringer. I bought it last fall before sailing from California to Mexico and stashed it safely in my boat. We used the Mexican laundry services for several months and so I only took it out to use it after our Pacific crossing in April. I scrubbed rust off for hours and finally got it working after hiring a woodworker to make a mount that clamps on our boat where I could use it. I was happy. My water use went down, my laundry was faster and easier, and I could usually get it dried before the next rain squall. Unfortunately it only lasted a couple weeks (a bucket of laundry a day). When I was anchored in Daniel\u0026rsquo;s Bay in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas, French Polynesia, my daughter and I were running clothes through the wringer and the top roller popped off and promptly sunk to the bottom of the sea. A friend of mine offered to scuba dive and search for it, but changed her mind when she heard that a woman had been attacked by a shark the week before. So now I\u0026rsquo;m wringer-less and sad. I read that there was a one year warranty on your wringer and that you ship internationally. I\u0026rsquo;m hoping you are able to replace my wringer or at least the top roller, or possibly refund my money so that I can look for an alternative. We\u0026rsquo;ll be sailing to Tahiti in June (leaving from there on June 22). Thanks very much.\nLehman\u0026rsquo;s did send me a new roller, but because of (predictable) shipping delays, we didn\u0026rsquo;t receive it until just before we left Bora Bora. Ruby thought the package was her (also) long lost birthday present. That package still hasn\u0026rsquo;t arrived, so I consider myself fortunate.\nFAKARAVA, TUOMOTOS, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nWe sailed off to the Tuamotos after the Marquesas. We found that in the town of Rotoava (on the north end of Fakarava) there is a hotel that rents bikes and does laundry. We brought everything we had to them and rented bikes for the day. They had kid seats! Our range was so much further! We explored, got ice cream and our laundry was done before sunset. I believe it was something like $15 a load. The bikes cost less for the day.\nTOAU, TUOMOTOS, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nWe sailed to Toau next. I did our daily bucket load there, however Valentine and Gaston had a washing machine. I bet an arrangement could be made in trade for laundry.\nANCHORAGE NEAR MARINA TAINA, TAHITI, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nWe found washing machines for the first time at the marina for $8 a load. We had plenty of sunshine and wind to hang everything all over the boat. There were also dryers, probably for the same amount.\nTHE QUAI, PAPEETE, TAHITI, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nI found a laundry service in town. Find it by walking first, then walk back with your laundry. I believe it was about $19 a load for wash, dry, and fold. I sent them only our sheets. We stayed at the dock there for at least a week and I was able to handwash easily on our foredeck using our hose. Not lugging, plus seeing the rinse water actually go clear made it a much easier project. We also got great showers in the cockpit with the hose as a shower head!\nFARE, HUAHINI, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nThere is a drop off service close to the dinghy dock/happy hour bar.\nBORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA\nThe Bora Bora Yacht Club has a laundry service available near the moorings. You can either have them just wash or wash, dry, and fold. Again, it was expensive as all of the other services. We had a lot of rain in Bora Bora so we were glad they could hang the laundry under their shed. There is also a laundry closer to the Malakai Yacht Club that I believe can either be DIY or drop off. We didn\u0026rsquo;t try that service.\nSUWARROW, COOK ISLANDS\nEverything about Suwarrow was awesome. We stayed for 11 days and I did lots of loads in buckets. Fortunately it was probably one of the hottest places we stopped so there were fewer clothes worn during that time. We had perfect sunshine and breeze to dry it.\nAPIA, UPOLU, SAMOA\nWe stayed in Apia at a dock (same price as anchoring in their harbor) with access to inexpensive cab rides and inexpensive and excellent laundry service! We brought our normal loads and thought that quality was so good that we washed nearly every piece of fabric on the boat.\nNIEAFU, VAVAU GROUP, TONGA\nWe sailed around and stayed at many anchorages, but three times we went back to Nieafu for veggies and laundry. We used two different services in town, and they were both fine, moderately expensive, but nowhere near French Polynesian prices. Usually the turn around is 24 hours or so, and it could be more if it\u0026rsquo;s really rainy since everything is dried outside.\nLAUTOKA, FIJI\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t find laundry service in the city of Lautoka, but we had good luck in two places, and terrible luck in another. We anchored outside of Muscat Cove Resort where there was a nice big clean laundry room with at least three washers and dryers. I don\u0026rsquo;t recall it being expensive, maybe $2 a load, however I did need to go into the little store each time to collect the special coin and have them start the load. It was a busy and friendly place. We went into the marina at Vuda Point for a few days and found the laundry room there to be even more convenient (no dinghy ride!) and inexpensive. I never had to wait for a machine. It was the easiest laundry in two years and counting.\nWe also anchored out in a long shallow bay near a resort called Saweni Beach resort. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure anyone ever goes there. I had them wash a couple loads for about $12 a load, but the laundry came back with pink soap, dirt, plus the original grime that was on our clothes when we sent it in. It was as if they didn\u0026rsquo;t use water. So ridiculously gross. I handwashed those loads and hung them to dry outside of Lautoka. Sadly the sugar cane mills were working and the soot in the air covered the boat and the laundry with black dust.\nPORT VILA, EFATE, VANUATU\nIn the harbor at Port Vila where we picked up a mooring ball there was a laundry service that was adequate. After the awful Saweni beach experience it was a great improvement. We had access to water at the dinghy dock there so perhaps handwashing wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have been so terrible, but we had a serious stomach bug going around and I was glad to send the dirty sheets and towels away!\nMy experience may be different from other families. On land (as in living aboard but not cruising) I tend to do about six to eight loads of laundry a week. We hang our towels carefully in the sun after showers and re-wear our clothes as much as possible but it does seem to be a lot. We have three beds of sheets and duvet covers to wash, piles of dish towels and cleaning rags, and clothes for four people. When cruising I spent at least an hour a day handwashing and hanging laundry. I felt like I often had to make the choice to keep up with the laundry or go for a hike. When the laundry brought me to tears far too often, Tucker demanded that I go all in and hire laundry whenever possible.\nI suspect that the amount that I paid overall was more than an onboard washer and I\u0026rsquo;d gladly give up our aft head to make that happen. In Tonga Tucker installed a pressure hose in the cockpit. It made it a lot easier to fill buckets and rinse from the cockpit than before when I was carrying water from the galley, through the aft cabin, and up the companionway ladder each time. Some people sail from marina to marina and have everything (including laundry) done for them. I\u0026rsquo;ll still seek out the off-the-beaten-track spots, even if it means bringing out that bucket.\nWhen we arrived in Australia I got caught up, even washing things like our settee cushion covers. And finally, after many years, I don\u0026rsquo;t get overwhelmed by the laundry anymore. And there it is, the truth about cruising with a family. It\u0026rsquo;s not all sunsets and margaritas, but once the washing is done, it\u0026rsquo;s close!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/a-laundry-tour-of-the-south-pacific/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA reader on a women\u0026rsquo;s sailing group I\u0026rsquo;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, or  seasickness, and something I stressed out about far more than the weather, ships, or squalls. I got over my stress about laundry by finding other people, and sometimes machines, to do my washing for me. It was expensive and it was worth it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Laundry Tour of the South Pacific"},{"content":"School Holiday is our family\u0026rsquo;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 displays of positivity) it was getting pretty clear that if we the three of them spent the next week on the boat, in the rain, it was not going to be a good scene. We consider ourselves to be pretty stout, flexible cruiser types. When the condensation gets so thick that it starts collecting as drops on the overheads, we grin and bear it. But this wet season seems to have started when we arrived in Australia and 7 months later, is still going strong.\nWe needed to escape to somewhere with heat, somewhere it didn\u0026rsquo;t rain indoors. My boss just moved to Mullumbimby and touted it as the center of the hippy universe. With an endorsement like that, I felt we had to check it out. So we rented a car and and AirBnB and prepared for a 4 day thaw in a cute little farm-side cottage.\nOn Thursday morning we drove down and I realised about 30 minutes into the ride that driving 2hrs might well be harder on the kids than sailing across the Pacific Ocean. When we are sailing they have some degree of freedom. They can move around freely, play with their toys and make food when they are hungry. You can be quite happy with that limited range of options for 24 days. But strap them into the car seats and deny them food or loud play for 2 hours and (I discovered) you\u0026rsquo;ll have a serious revolt on your hands.\nThankfully we found a great cafe in Southport with a seriously friendly proprietor that fauned over the kids. The experience refreshed us and gave me (just barely) enough patience to make it to the BnB. The BnB was lovely; the wood burning stove was just what the doctor ordered; and it was blessedly dry. Vick and I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in a bed that didn\u0026rsquo;t require us to jam our shoulders together, but found that in spite of the palatial space the bed afforded, we still slept on one corner of the bed with no space between us.\nWe packed our short weekend full of adventures. Ruby really wanted to check out the Crystal Castle (which was described to us as a Hippy Disney Land). We ate out a lot and went to the Mullumbimby farmer\u0026rsquo;s market (which was awesome). We went to the beach and checked out a seriously unwelcoming bar and harbor entrance. Our last day was our most ambitious. Mark met us bright and early at the cottage and we packed the car to go home. We caravanned to the Byron Heads Lighthouse and did a rigorous little hike from the beach to the lighthouse and back. I\u0026rsquo;m still not sure how we pulled this off but after a light lunch we managed to get the kids to walk the entire craft market with almost no complaints.\nExhausted and somewhat recharged we headed back to Convivia. Despite the welcome change of scenery, warmth, and lack of internal precipitation, I am pleased to report that the crew of Convivia were all delighted to be home.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/school-holiday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSchool Holiday is our family\u0026rsquo;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 displays of positivity) it was getting pretty clear that if we the three of them spent the next week on the boat, in the rain, it was not going to be a good scene. We consider ourselves to be pretty stout, flexible cruiser types. When the condensation gets so thick that it starts collecting as drops on the overheads, we grin and bear it. But this wet season seems to have started when we arrived in Australia and 7 months later, is still going strong.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"School Holiday"},{"content":"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 she has about 50 weeks now to finalize the next one. So, as with every year, she invented and confirmed the cake, dug out the party flags and invited her friends.\nHer cake, was not chocolate of course. This year was one layer of lemon, strawberry whipped cream, one layer of orange, strawberry whipped cream, another layer of lemon, strawberry whipped cream, another layer of orange, a thick layer of strawberry whipped cream and strawberries on top, all served with whipped cream from a can, because she says, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s my favorite thing on earth.\u0026rdquo;\nNot uncommonly she had her party in the best playground around. Two major things were different this time around. It\u0026rsquo;s nearly winter solstice here, which means wool socks, long sleeves, and chilly air, but also that it gets dark very early. Perhaps the weather isn\u0026rsquo;t as significant for Ruby as it is for me (who finds it impossible to celebrate anything that requires wearing long sleeves). The kids ran around, climbed the play structures, snacked and enjoyed themselves, while keeping their shoes on.\nMore significantly though, was the way the party came about. Ruby handed out invitations to kids in her class, kids that were her own friends, kids that were not the daughters and sons of my own friends. She decided who was important, inviting both of the girls that each said they \u0026ldquo;can\u0026rsquo;t be friends with Ruby\u0026rdquo; if she\u0026rsquo;s friends with the other, a boy, many of the girls in her class, and Olive\u0026rsquo; favorite friend. At the party Tucker and I were barely introduced to the kids since they were off and running until we called, \u0026ldquo;cake,\u0026rdquo; but had a chance to chat with a few parents. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t surprise me that she\u0026rsquo;s made a place for herself among the kids in her Year Four class, but it does seem significant that she\u0026rsquo;s off in her own world, very grown up, independent, and nine.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/and-just-like-that-shes-nine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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 she has about 50 weeks now to finalize the next one. So, as with every year, she invented and confirmed the cake, dug out the party flags and invited her friends.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"And Just Like That She's Nine"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve been noticing a lot of articles, podcasts, tweets, and other coverage lately about slut shaming and rape culture. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s that I have decidedly feminist sexual politics and my friends and news feeds tend to reflect and amplify those topics, or maybe (I can hope) it\u0026rsquo;s because our society is starting to realize that feminism and (more basically) respecting women is an issue that men have a serious stake in.\nWhen I hear on the news that people are sympathising with rapists who\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;futures have been ruined\u0026rdquo;, I assume that the part of the population that thinks that way must be incredibly small, uneducated and dim witted. When I read the dozens of brave letters from women (some in their middle years, some in high school) who have been sexually bullied, slut shamed, and raped I would love to believe that they represented 100% of the population that has been saddled with such a burden.\nI know this isn\u0026rsquo;t true but I try to believe because the truth just doesn\u0026rsquo;t make any sense to me. I think about the kind of world that any rational human being would want to live in; a world where love was abundant, and personal safety was a certainty; a world where my daughter will grow up to be a mature version of the confident, competent, and powerful girl that she is today; a world where any woman walking down the street, or sitting at a bar stool can look a man straight in the eye and smile without a thought for her safety.\nThe thing about this ideal world is that it isn\u0026rsquo;t pure fantasy. It\u0026rsquo;s not like we need to solve world hunger or balance the economy. We just need to take a moment and internalize the obvious truth. When we stand by and allow a human being to sexually degrade another human being, WE ALL LOSE. Let\u0026rsquo;s leave aside the (hopefully better understood) effects of rape trauma, and just look at what it does to men.\nNaomi Wolfe (in her book \u0026ldquo;Vagina\u0026rdquo;) says:\nTo my surprise, many heterosexual men who were willing to talk to me about how they really felt expressed a kind of holistic (that is, not merely sexual) gratitude for the vagina, and they did not stress aspects of pleasure in isolation from what they often characterised as a sense of relief and joy at being so completely \u0026lsquo;accepted\u0026rsquo; and so fully \u0026lsquo;welcomed.\u0026rsquo; Indeed, acceptance and welcome were two words that came up again and again in men\u0026rsquo;s discussions with me.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re a hetrosexual dude, and this resonates with you as it does with me, throw a comment below. If this is indeed a core aspect of the healthy male heterosexual experience, then it follows that by hurting any woman (physically, mentally, or emotionally) or even allowing a woman to be hurt, we are desecrating or condoning the desecration of the trust that acceptance is founded upon. Not just for that one woman, but for ALL women.\nAnd for anyone who might think I\u0026rsquo;m pandering, or a wuss, or whatever emasculating adjective you care to ensconce me with, I have these words from a real man®.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/slut-shaming-from-a-mans-perspective/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve been noticing a lot of articles, \u003ca href=\"http://www.savagelovecast.com/episodes/345\"\u003epodcasts\u003c/a\u003e, tweets, and other coverage lately about \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabrina-nelson/rape-culture_b_3279668.html\"\u003eslut shaming\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://upsettingrapeculture.com/rapeculture.html\"\u003erape culture\u003c/a\u003e. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s that I have decidedly feminist  sexual politics and my friends and news feeds tend to reflect and amplify those topics, or maybe (I can hope) it\u0026rsquo;s because our society is starting to realize that feminism and (more basically) respecting women is an issue that men have a serious stake in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I hear on the news that people are sympathising with rapists who\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;futures have been ruined\u0026rdquo;, I assume that the part of the population that thinks that way must be incredibly small, uneducated and dim witted. When I read the \u003ca href=\"http://www.unslutproject.com/sharedexperiences\"\u003edozens of brave letters\u003c/a\u003e  from women (some in their middle years, some in high school) who have been sexually bullied, slut shamed, and raped I would love to believe that they represented 100% of the population that has been saddled with such a burden.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Slut Shaming — From a Man's Perspective"},{"content":"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.\nYou know that feeling when you pick up a good book, and you just can\u0026rsquo;t put it down? You know the feeling when you get to the end and desperately hope that the author writes a sequel, or another book as good as the one you just put down? I love that feeling. That\u0026rsquo;s how I want to feel about my life.\nA good book isn\u0026rsquo;t all about highs. The story has to have tension, context and emotion created by the contrasting of highs and lows, tragedy, reconciliation, and jubilation. A good life is like that too. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen a great deal of that spectrum over the last few years. I don\u0026rsquo;t write as much about the bad stuff because… well because I don\u0026rsquo;t want to bum you out. But it happens, and while we don\u0026rsquo;t actively love those parts I do recognise that without them the breathtakingly amazing stuff we experience would not be as dramatically awesome!\nSo here\u0026rsquo;s my advice to you. If you have the capacity to read this blog, and you aren\u0026rsquo;t sitting in a library or some other public computer, you probably have the rare luxury to live a storybook life. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean that you will sail the 7 seas, or climb Everest. Some of my friends that I admire the most live quieter lives, or travel extensively in short bursts as work allows, or build amazing things. Each of these lives is a story. The very most interesting of them require a modicum of planning and commitment though. If we don\u0026rsquo;t think about our lives as a cohesive story, I fear our chances of living our most interesting expression of ourselves will be slight.\nSo take a moment now. Think about the life you have lived so far. What is the dominant theme? Can you make a story of it? If not, do you have the time, energy and desire to change your course? If so, how can you focus the time you have remaining to make that story epic? Don\u0026rsquo;t try to be somebody else. Be authentic and powerful. There will always be a reader for your story, so live an epic one. Live the story that you want to keep reading!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/life-like-a-story/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou know that feeling when you pick up a good book, and you just can\u0026rsquo;t put it down? You know the feeling when you get to the end and desperately hope that the author writes a sequel, or another book as good as the one you just put down? I love that feeling. That\u0026rsquo;s how I want to feel about my life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Life Like a Story"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s autumn here.\nI 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\u0026rsquo;re not going to understand why those three words get their very own line.\nThe weather has been getting cooler but I foolishly keep pretending that everything is \u0026ldquo;normal.\u0026rdquo; So when Ceilydh asked us if we wanted to do a little mini-cruise over Easter weekend, my mis-calibrated brain thought \u0026ldquo;it should be getting warmer every day, why not.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nI cleaned the hull, checked the zincs, ran the watermaker, and generally started to feel like a cruiser again. We had a raft-up, sundowners on Ceildyh, surfed an enormous sand dune, sailed around in Fatty, and generally had every type of fun we could squeeze in to our days.\nThe spectrum and contrast of my emotional response to the trip surprised me though. On the one hand the permanent cheshire grin that I wore every sailing day across the South Pacific, sprang back to my face the moment the boat was underway downriver. On the other hand by the end of the first day I was uncomfortably cognizant of the fact that I was not in fact cruising again, and would have to return to the pile moorings soon enough.\nBy the time we hauled anchor I had resolved all of that discord. I realized that it is a precious thing to be able to sail off to the islands for a weekend, and the life that we are setting up in Brisbane is full of promise, opportunity, and joy. My reality check; we aren\u0026rsquo;t cruising at the moment, but we are still on an adventure!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/autumn-in-australia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s autumn here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know that may not seem like it deserves its own line but you know what, it does! The year here \u003cem\u003estarts\u003c/em\u003e 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 \u003cem\u003efeel\u003c/em\u003e it, you\u0026rsquo;re not going to understand why those three words get their very own line.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe weather has been getting cooler but I foolishly keep pretending that everything is \u0026ldquo;normal.\u0026rdquo; So when Ceilydh asked us if we wanted to do a little mini-cruise over Easter weekend, my mis-calibrated brain thought \u0026ldquo;it should be getting warmer every day, why not.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Autumn in Australia"},{"content":" 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\u0026rsquo;s puddle jumpers have asked about this topic, and I figured \u0026ldquo;what the heck\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;ll just post it in case it helps someone. If you aren\u0026rsquo;t about to go blue water cruising, I suggest you give this one a skip. If you\u0026rsquo;re leaving tomorrow, and you don\u0026rsquo;t already have an iPad, likewise, skipperoo. But if you are using an iPad for navigation and haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t clear. Please do leave a comment so everyone can benefit from the process.\nI’m an extroverted geek. This means that a lot of people ask me about my shipboard electronics. The primary system of interest tends to be my iPad based navigation. In every case I can remember when I gave a demo, the person said something like “that is the slickest navigation system I have seen.”\nIt’s hard not to love anything on the iPad, desire is designed into these things. So when I talk about why I love my iPad based navigation system I try to separate out the fact that my chart plotter also plays music/games/movies, is an ebook reader (super handy for electronic cruising guides) and serves about 10 dozen other functions. In this article I will give an overview of how I use iNavX in my day to day cruising, and why I think you should too.\nFirst the specs. I have the iPad 2 and my wife has a first gen. iNavX works like a charm on both, but mine is our primary. My iPad has the white bezel. I prefer it over the black because it helps the device to stay cooler in direct sunlight.\nI use a Brookhouse iMuxST to multiplex NMEA and Seatalk into a handy NMEA over TCP/IP stream. This is a fancy way of saying that it takes wires from my ship’s speed/depth/wind/AIS/GPS and sends them out over a WiFi network that it creates. This is super cool and if you don’t think so it’s only because I didn’t explain it well enough. This same device also allows airmail and other smart programs to pull in all of your ship’s data for it’s Position Reports or whathaveyou.\nI described the setup in an earlier article and that is by and large what we have crossed five kilo-miles of ocean with.\nWe use the Navionics Gold charts and in fact—for world cruising—they are the only real choice. Navionics are strongly DRMd and will allow two copies per paid license, this works great for our redundancy solution (one on my iPad one on my wife’s).\nI have tried other options (openCPN, MacENC, MaxSea) and have enough experience with them to know that they are a burden to use. The primary reason that iNavX on the iPad stands out over every other system I have seen (including Raymarine setups costing 5x as much) is the facility of the touch screen interface and the ability to quickly create, alter, and visualize routes. I won’t bore you with the details of specifically how I do all of this (though I would be happy to do a workshop at a boat show or just sit down over coffee with anyone who wants to get all hands on) but I will tell you what a typical passage workflow looks like for me…\nPlanning\nFact Finding\nWhenever I start thinking about a potential passage, I do a port search (“where is Apia, Samoa anyway) and drop a few waypoints for start, destination and any obvious obstacles. This lets me know about how far it will be and—with a quick grib overlay—which way the wind will be blowing relative to my rhumb line. Avg time 5 minutes\nInitial Plotting\nAs soon as I have settled on the destination and am ready to get serious I plot my way out of my starting harbor, and into the destination harbor by dropping consistently named waypoints (e.g. TNGFI 1,2,etc. for the Tonga to Fiji passage) after each waypoint is set a simple tap tap allows me to add them to the end of the current route. Avg time 15 minutes (for a 500 mile passage)\nWeather\nI download gribs twice a day and iNavX has a passable grib overlay so that you can see the wind and swell direction and strength right on the charts. This deserves an article of it’s own but it’s perhaps a bit too dry to feature here. It’s also one of the places that iNavX could improve. Regardless it’s part of every planning workflow and takes… Avg time 2 minutes\nPre Trip Prepare for new Tracks\nExport old tracks. INavX has a maximum cache size for tracks that is just big enough for a 800 mile passage on low res. If you remember to clear it before passage it also gives a useful average speed and miles traveled statistic. I don’t do this until I am underway in cases where there is a tricky pass at the start of my passage. Avg time 2 minutes\nCache Satellite Imagery\nDownload and cache satellite images for passes and obstacles, and compare them to the chart to ensure accuracy. I do this by going to an area that I want to verify and dropping a waypoint. Then I tap that area and select Map from the menu. iNavx will then download the satellite image and show my waypoint as a pushpin. When I wanted to verify that a pass was where I expected it to be. I would drop a pin on either side of the pass and then check to see if the satellite showed the reef in the same spot.\nDuring Passage Fine Tuning\nI expect to start changing my route as soon as we get underway. Once I know the reality of the wind direction and speed I can make fine adjustments to our course including my favorite pastime, tack planing. iNavX makes it too easy to draw angles and measure distance right over your route. As a result I tend to plot two, three or even four tacks with a fairly high degree of accuracy. In addition to giving me much more accurate trip time and time to waypoint data it has been a great tool for illustrating my intentions to the crew. I do a lot of this during night watches and all my wife has to do is glance at the screen when she comes up and ask any questions. Having a visual aide really helps to facilitate clear communication when I’m exhausted after a watch . Avg time 10 minutes per tack (most of that time is my inability to do math without using my finger\n24 Hour Time\nI drop a waypoint every 24 hrs and add that to my route. We love our stats and 24hr time has been our favorite benchmark. iNavX takes all the sting out of this and actually makes it fun. I just scroll through the tracks, find the one that corresponds to my starting time (0100 UTC in this case) and tap the “create waypoint” button. Avg Time 2 minutes if I have a lot of track points to scroll through.\nI also use the measure tool to figure a rough Olive Made Good. Avg time 5 seconds\nCourse Correction\nOn this passage to Fiji I had several possible routes to choose from. I left port fairly certain that I would take the Oneata Pass route but as soon as the wind resolved, I changed my mind (several times) and decided on the southern route. Even then there were about 3 possible ways to weave between the islands and reefs. I was grateful to have a quick way to duplicate a route and make changes. Later when I decided that the older route would work better, I just tap tapped and my route changed with my whim. Avg Time 1 minute. The cached satellite imagery really helped here too.\nOne huge benefit of this effort is super accurate trip time and time to waypoint estimates. iNavX brings the love by doing all the math for me, I get Distance to Waypoint, Time to Waypoint, and ETA at waypoint, and the same for the destination. I can guess time of arrival to within a half day at the outset of our passage, assuming the wind does what is forecasted. By mile 250 of a 500 mile passage I can usually estimate our ETA with ±3 hr accuracy. This is awesome information to have under any circumstances but it is beyond awesome when you need to time your arrival at a pass, port, or other rendezvous.\nCons\nI am going to switch gears now and talk about the cons for a bit. By far my biggest disappointment has been the way Navionics handles the Anti-meridian (AM) on it’s Pacific Charts. There is just no conceivable (to me) reason why these charts should not center on 180° longitude. They don’t though, and that means that when you sail across the AM you have to do a lot of painful kludging. As a result you age faster and die sooner. I’m not kidding Navionics, you are killing me here. Some of the pain that this needless oversight inflicted was:\nAntimeridian\nRoutes decide to bounce off the AM sending the dotted route line the long way around the world. This is just lame. At least it doesn’t mess with the distance calculations, but it means that I have to drop extra waypoints at 179° 59.99′W and 179° 59.99′E. You will never see the E waypoints because the text is on the wrong side of the AM and doesn’t render. This does allow you to see if there is an island on the other side of the AM that you would run into immediately after crossing that imaginary line (which was a real problem for our passage)\nA tip for other iNavX users for dealing with the AM issue. The Chart button at the bottom of your screen with center on your yacht. Also the Tonga/Fiji chart will show the same detail as the SE pacific charts and for a while (until you get close to the AM) they will remember the last position that they were focused on. So if you turn off “Pos Icon Loc.” you can quickly flip back and forth.\nAnother antimeridian related problem was that vector lines stopped working on infinite. I use this all the time to paint a helpful line showing where I am expected to go. Close to the AM it just stopped working. Lame.\nAreas for Improvement\nEvery once in a while iNavX doesn’t get a packet from the multiplexer in time. This triggers an alarm which wouldn’t be such a big deal except for the fact that it clears my goto and I have to go through the 4 step process to set it all back up again. Not a biggie except when it happens 4 or 5 times in a row, or during a pass.\nOn that note it would be sweet if iNavX would allow me to click on a waypoint and set it as the next goto in route rather than the kludgy way I have to do it now.\nThe gamma shift Night Mode (that reddens everything) is great but it would be nice if I could turn it on from the Charts screen rather than having to go all the way back out to Preferences.\nEven better if it could come on automatically when the ambient light dipped to darkness. Likewise it would be nice to have an additional dimmer effect inside iNavX, as the iPad doesn’t get quite dark enough to preserve my night vision.\niNavX caches a certain amount of Google Maps for overlays. This is insanely useful for planning to shoot passes. It would be stellar if it could give me a cache size adjustment and a way to tell how full my cache is so I can plan more effectively. Right now I have to cache as much as I think I will need (starting with the least necessary so that it will drop off the cache first) and then go offline to see if I got it all.\nIt would also be awesome to be able to tune the cache size for tracks, and better to be able to save and load tracks locally so that I could go back and refer to my tracks later. This has been an issue recently when I wanted to give someone waypoints for a pass and had to go through a lot of unnecessary technical massaging to get the answer.\nI would also love to be able to delete a selection of track data in bulk so that my anchor track doesn’t ruin my passage making speed average… for instance.\nConclusion\nIn spite of these annoyances, I still strongly recommend this setup for other cruisers. The fact that iNavX has been responsive and proactive in introducing new features and bug fixes only reinforces my high opinion. Other than the one Anti-Meridian issue, the Navionics charts have been amazing and though I wouldn’t recommend shooting a dangerous pass on charts alone, I have used them in conjunction with the awesome satellite overlay feature to plan a successful night time passage through a 1 mile wide pass here in Fiji. Unlike some other electronic charts, Navionics reduces resolution when it doesn’t have accurate information, so it is clear that the charts shouldn’t be used to navigate.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/crossing-an-ocean-with-inavx/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNote: 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\u0026rsquo;s puddle jumpers have asked about this topic, and I figured \u0026ldquo;what the heck\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;ll just post it in case it helps someone. If you aren\u0026rsquo;t about to go blue water cruising, I suggest you give this one a skip. If you\u0026rsquo;re leaving tomorrow, and you don\u0026rsquo;t already have an iPad, likewise, skipperoo. But if you are using an iPad for navigation and haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t clear. Please do leave a comment so everyone can benefit from the process.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Crossing an Ocean with iNavX"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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 cruising, I was well positioned to stay in the flow, but it was surprisingly difficult to maintain my conviction in the sleepy months surrounding the holidays. The city was all but dormant, there were no jobs posted, no real professional meetups, and I was starting to think of forcing, and leveraging. In other words, I was getting desperate.\nThen over the last two weeks three strangers came out of the woodwork to make introductions, bring me into their communities, and generally make me feel like Brisbane might be the best place on earth to be a young, talented, authentic person. Within a week I went from cold-emailing people and considering recruiters to having brunch with hotshots (including an eco-documentarian and a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize), and working with a QUT postdoc on a cool social-tech project for collaborative spaces. In the process of all this I fell into a community. Pretty much any time I interact with techies here, we have shared acquaintances, and at the most unexpected times, those people offer unsolicited help in my job hunt. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing. It\u0026rsquo;s humbling, and it freakin\u0026rsquo; cool.\nI\u0026rsquo;m now feeling pretty much plugged in. I\u0026rsquo;m meeting new people every day, and I\u0026rsquo;m sure I haven\u0026rsquo;t yet scratched the surface. The fact is though that Brisbane is small enough to make a difference in, but big enough to be able to move and express yourself. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen a lot of cities in a lot of countries, and I\u0026rsquo;m pleased as punch that we\u0026rsquo;ve fallen into this one. If you are one of those amazing people that has helped me feel at home here, thank you!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/and-just-like-that-im-plugged-in/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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 cruising, I was well positioned to stay in the flow, but it was surprisingly difficult to maintain my conviction in the sleepy months surrounding the holidays. The city was all but dormant, there were no jobs posted, no real professional meetups, and I was starting to think of forcing, and leveraging. In other words, I was getting desperate.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"And just like that… I'm plugged in!"},{"content":"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 devious) by telling them about the Augmented Reality treasure hunt that uses the ipad to find clues. In reality it is the best ruse ever to get kids to follow their parents on a magical tour of the coolest library I have ever been to.\nThe State Library is a non-lending library. This might cause you to ask, \u0026ldquo;what the heck does that mean?\u0026rdquo; I didn\u0026rsquo;t get it either. Basically they have an enormous collection that just starts at books. There is also an art collection, music practice rooms, and sheet music collections. There is an extensive set of private study spaces of all sorts and a children\u0026rsquo;s play area with a giant wall of magnetic poetry. Victoria was smitten with the cookbook section where all of the books were in perfect condition, since they have never actually been used in a kitchen. They even have a white glove room, which I really hope to be admitted to someday.\nThe library also has a technology center called The Edge where, for example, you can sign out a high powered Mac Pro for an afternoon to edit your movies on Final Cut Pro, newest versions of everything of course. Need to learn advanced Wordpress or want tips on photo post processing witH Photoshop, they have free courses for ya.\nThey have live music, and a people watching scene (if you are into the hip smart type) and this month they also have crown and costume making, kids performances, parades and much much more.\nWe went over this morning with a few bottles of water and the ipad and didn\u0026rsquo;t leave until 4. And then only kicking and screaming so we could get to Brisbane City Council Library (also tres cool) in time to get some kids books for bedtime.\nI\u0026rsquo;m sure that this city will quit impressing the hell out of me at some point, but I\u0026rsquo;m not looking forward to it. Maybe tomorrow we will hit the GOMA, also free, next door.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/brisbane-is-seriously-awesome-folks-seriously/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou 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 \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c/em\u003e devious) by telling them about the Augmented Reality treasure hunt that uses the ipad to find clues. In reality it is the best ruse ever to get kids to follow their parents on a magical tour of the coolest library I have ever been to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brisbane is Seriously Awesome Folks, Seriously"},{"content":"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 synopsis of the curriculum, but for me it provided all of the information that I needed to take it real slowly, sexually speaking.\nAs a result while most of my guys friends were losing their virginity, I was kissing and holding hands. I got really good at it. In fact I got so good at it that I had an entire (2 week) relationship once that centered around (shall we say) erotic hand holding. Twenty something years later I find that I still get a charge from it.\nThe beginning startles me sometimes. We are walking side by side. The back of her hand will brush against my hip as we walk. It\u0026rsquo;s been 18 years but it still makes me smile (sometimes privately) when she signals this way. On the next swing of my arm our open palms bush and our fingers lock, my hand goes below, hers above. Our pace synchronises, she gives a little squeeze and my perspective shifts. We are now walking together towards something. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter what that something is because we are getting there, together.\nMaybe I was lost in thought before. Perhaps I was a little pookie. With the locking of fingers, small concerns evaporate, bigger challenges seem surmountable, and the sunshine smells fresher.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/holding-hands/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was fortunate to have a pretty amazing/progressive sexual education. When I was an early teen I participated in a program called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Your_Sexuality\"\u003eAYS\u003c/a\u003e (About Your Sexuality) that my church put on. You can read the wikipedia article for a slightly jaded synopsis of the curriculum, but for me it provided all of the information that I needed to take it real slowly, sexually speaking.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a result while most of my guys friends were losing their virginity, I was kissing and holding hands. I got really good at it. In fact I got so good at it that I had an entire (2 week) relationship once that centered around (shall we say) erotic hand holding. Twenty something years later I find that I still get a charge from it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Holding Hands"},{"content":"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…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/australia-2012-recap-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Australia 2012 Recap in Photos"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s hard. I don\u0026rsquo;t fully understand why, but I do know that I am distinctly averse to receiving generosity. This past week has been a learning experience for me.\nIt started, I think, when the lights started to flicker. We nursed our failing batteries all the way across the South Pacific but when we got to Bundaberg we just let it go. By the time we arrived in Brisbane they were near dead. Then a few nights before Christmas, when Ceildyh was over for dinner they died for good. We were eating and making merry and the whole boat went dark and silent. I switched us over to the starter battery and we finished the night with light (but no music). The next morning Evan called to let me know that he could help out with some old (but hopefully not as dead as our batteries). Then the sink fell in…\nBy the end of the next day we had three previously loved batteries aboard. The following day Krister came over and helped me to completely rewire the battery to panel end of the boat. It was 5+ hours of tedious, knuckle bleeding work, and he was all in, with a smile. As usual, I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to ask for help, but when I let go of my anxiety and payed attention, I saw that he was delighted to have been asked; delighted just the way I would have been.\nOn Christmas Eve morning I woke up to 6v. To non-boatie people this means your batteries will never charge again. I called around and found a shop that was open and a price I could handle. All I had to do was get them from Staypleton (60km away) to our boat. I reluctantly called Ceilydh again, and Evan was roused from sleep to help. My heart sank, he had to take a bus to work to borrow a truck and then drive me to and from the battery store. Then, after returning the truck and bussing back, he spent another bunch of hours helping me to install the new batteries. I should mention here that he really knows his stuff and probably saved me half a day of hemming and hawing.\nRemember that sink?\nChristmas morning. We open presents and start making second coffee. Britannia calls and we invite them over for coffee and Christmas cheer. After opening more presents, and hanging out for a while Vick starts thinking about the rest of the day and realizes that she\u0026rsquo;s got a lot of cooking to do for the party. Cooking means dishes and dishes means sink. Vick looks like she\u0026rsquo;s going to cry. The parts I bought to fix it don\u0026rsquo;t work. Krister jumps right in to brainstorming mode. In a few minutes he\u0026rsquo;s talked me out of my project-funk enough to realize that the solution is quite simple. They head home and I start working. Then I break the tap in a piece of aluminum bar and it\u0026rsquo;s off to Ceilydh to borrow a replacement. On the return trip I see Chris (of Tao) and Krister hanging out in the companionway and they, of course, offer to help. At this point I am so glum I can hardly speak. Krister and Chris come over and basically finish the project for me.\nThat night all of the boat families in our little community (Convivia, Ceilydh, Britannia, Tao, and Mango) met in the park for Christmas dinner. Most of us have known each other for a few weeks and every one of us has helped the other in some significant way in that short time. As we sat, ate, and laughed I had a moment when I rose above it all and glimpsed the true nature of community.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/the-nature-of-community/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s hard. I don\u0026rsquo;t fully understand why, but  I do know that I am distinctly averse to receiving generosity. This past week has been a learning experience for me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt started, I think, when the lights started to flicker. We nursed our failing batteries all the way across the South Pacific but when we got to Bundaberg we just let it go. By the time we arrived in Brisbane they were near dead.   Then a few nights before Christmas, when Ceildyh was over for dinner they died for good. We were eating and making merry and the whole boat went dark and silent. I switched us over to the starter battery and we finished the night with light (but no music). The next morning Evan called to let me know that he could help out with some old (but hopefully not as dead as our batteries). Then the sink fell in…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Nature of Community"},{"content":"\nA 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 Platonic level it is fact. I also freely admit a certain amount of pride in both knowing this magical formula and being able to extract espresso that tastes great by using this formula. It\u0026rsquo;s not surprising then that I have invested a certain amount of confidence in said numbers. Today that confidence was utterly and totally shattered by the owner of Ltd Espresso.\n[\n](/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/IMG_8605.jpg)\nLtd was recommended to me by Katie of Black Sheep Coffee, a small roasting outfit here in Brisbane. After talking shop with her at the farmer\u0026rsquo;s market for probably way too long, she recommended that I stop by Ltd to speak with Luke about coffee. She seemed pretty confident that I would be psyched if I did. I stopped in this morning and Luke seemed to be expecting me. He sat me right down and started pouring. First a demitasse from a vacuum pot that he had just brewed for another customer, then a shot of espresso pulled by the numbers, then three more shots pulled with differing profiles. Each shot was unique and perfect in it\u0026rsquo;s way. The first, pulled by the numbers was super bright and effervescent. Yes, I said effervescent, it had a mouthfeel like carbonated water. Honestly, these are not my most favorite coffee characteristics, but they are a true representation of the origin and roast profile of these beans, and Luke pulled the shots perfectly.\nAfter a few shots Luke invited me to come behind the counter to watch him work. I stood behind his gorgeous La Marzocco Strada and blanched as he boldly stated that he doesn\u0026rsquo;t care about extraction time, or pressure. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t ignorant either, I had tasted his shots, he knew his art. He pointed out that ambient temperature and air pressure have a direct effect on the brew. He pointed out that coffee brews differently as it ages, and that different roast profiles need more or less pressure. I realized as he was talking, that I knew all of this intuitively, but had always adjusted the grind (the only thing I had any control over) to accomplish what he used his fantastic machine for.\nBy the time I left Ltd my nerves were a bit frayed by over-caffeination; my mind was a little blown by this new coffee worldview; and I knew with absolute certainty where I would be getting my espresso while in Brisbane.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/ltd-espresso-blows-my-mind/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2012/12/IMG_8599-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA 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 Platonic level it \u003cem\u003eis\u003c/em\u003e fact. I also freely admit a certain amount of pride in both knowing this magical formula and being able to extract espresso that tastes great by \u003cem\u003eusing\u003c/em\u003e this formula. It\u0026rsquo;s not surprising then that I have invested a certain amount of confidence in said numbers. Today that confidence was utterly and totally shattered by the owner of Ltd Espresso.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ltd Espresso Blows My Mind"},{"content":"Krister summed it up pretty perfectly over margaritas the other night, \u0026ldquo;This place is like a joke, it\u0026rsquo;s like they said let\u0026rsquo;s take all the money the US spends on the military and spend it on public services.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nWe got in to Brisbane after a very long overnight passage. These passages are worse than multi-night passages because you don\u0026rsquo;t get into the groove, and this one was even worse than normal because I only got 3 out of my usual 6 hours of sleep. Nevertheless when Diane, Evan, and Maia (from Ceilydh) offered to give us the quick tour we hastily accepted. When we got home, our heads were spinning and we hadn\u0026rsquo;t even seen 4 city blocks.\nThe following day we got the grand tour and we just fell in love with Brisbane. Every single person we have talked to has been super friendly. The library is 3 enormous floors and features everything from the obvious to conference rooms, free internet, TV and Movie kiosks, and amazing children\u0026rsquo;s programs. Then there are the free museums. We just wandered into one the following day because, well because they were there and they were free, and why the heck wouldn\u0026rsquo;t you wander into a free museum. The kids tore around floor after floor in varying levels of amazement and tripping-over-themselves-enthusiasm, and that was just a lark.\nWe left the Queensland Museum with many stones unturned so that we would have time to enjoy our main event, the colossal outdoor free swimming complex that the locals call \u0026ldquo;The Lagoon.\u0026rdquo; This park is at least 2 (generous) city blocks of water feature, beach, and pools. The Lagoon was wiped out in the 2011 flood and completely rebuilt in time for our arrival. Pretty sweet especially when the temp reached a blistering 39ºC (don\u0026rsquo;t ask me how hot that is in F, it\u0026rsquo;s too depressing).\nWhen our bodies were fully thrashed from a day of free-for-all frolic we hopped on the city\u0026rsquo;s free ferry (the City Hopper, think kangaroo). It gave us a scenic tour of the waterfront (both sides) before returning us to a terminal a few blocks from home.\nThe city also offers free electric BBQs in the parks. This is especially important if your living room only seats 6 and you have a party of 12 that wants to throw some sausages and steaks down and catch up on a season of cruising. This is exactly how we closed out day two in Brisbane, over at Kangaroo Point, with the crews of Ceilydh, Tao, Britannia, and Convivia. When I took a breather on a nearby park bench (overlooking the city lights and the river) it sounded like a trendy San Francisco restaurant behind me, but when I turned around I saw the faces of friends, old and new, enjoying the warm summer night.\nThe punchline of this colossal joke though is our new home. The Brisbane Piles offer a stunning view of downtown but protects it\u0026rsquo;s inhabitants from the bustle by buffering the boats with amazing botanical gardens. So when I wake up and look out the still-salt-encrusted portlights I see morning joggers, trees, and a lovely split-level esplanade. When I crack the companionway I hear exotic birds instead of cars, and the only thing that could possibly threaten to take some joy from it is the wake wash thrown up by the free city ferry. Not. Too. Shabby.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/oooh-heaven-is-a-place-on-earth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eKrister summed it up pretty perfectly over margaritas the other night, \u0026ldquo;This place is like a joke, it\u0026rsquo;s like they said let\u0026rsquo;s take all the money the US spends on the military and spend it on public services.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Oooh heaven is a place on Earth"},{"content":"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); in a few hours the sun will come up and we will line up for the first of several channels that will bring us to our new home.\nBrisbane, by all accounts will be a wonderful place for our family. Victoria imagines it to be Portland, Maine with a San Diego climate. I anticipate bike trails and baristas, live music and Aikido. The kids foresee toy stores, bike rides, and art classes. Maybe we are right, and soon we will know. No matter what though, it will represent the closing of one of the most amazing chapters of my life so far.\nIn the past year I have had the chance to experience my life exactly as it was meant to be. Father, husband, sailor, and friend. Responsibilities so clear and easy to identify that the question is never \u0026ldquo;is this the right thing to be doing,\u0026rdquo; but rather \u0026ldquo;how do I do this thing right.\u0026rdquo; The sails needed trimming, the children needed love, my relationship with Vick took center stage. Beautiful beaches, pristine turquoise water, and nature trails, we knew just what to do with those.\nAs I write these very words the first light of dawn is glowing faintly in the East. That light represents new adventure, new challenge and the beginning of the next chapter. By the time the sun sets tonight we will be tied to a pile mooring in front of the botanical gardens on Brisbane\u0026rsquo;s doorstep. With a little luck and presence of mind I will preserve the beauty, simplicity and lessons of our season on the Pacific Ocean through this transition. I hope to take that attitude and rediscovered sense of self into a new job, dojo, and community. I hope to spread the love.\nUntil the next time then; goodnight stars, goodnight gently following sea, goodnight dolphins playing in our bow wake. Goodnight to distant beaches and lazy reaches, goodnight cruiser potlucks and bonfires. Goodnight to children cracking up as they find the millionth new way to create joy on a deserted island, and Vick\u0026rsquo;s proud smile as she discovers a new way to make an exotic treat out of ingredients we forgot we had. Goodnight to the chocolate watch, and the chip watch, and the perfect bliss when the engine turns off and it\u0026rsquo;s just the wind through the rigging, the surge of the hull and lift of the sails. Good morning to a new day.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/goodnight-cruise-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt 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); in a few hours the sun will come up and we will line up for the first of several channels that will bring us to our new home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Goodnight Cruise"},{"content":"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.\nThe excitement of checking out of Mexico and watching the shore disappear in the east\nThe perfect sapphire blue of the ocean, hundreds of miles out, in the morning sun\nLooking up and seeing the Southern Cross for the first time\nThe feeling of arrival when the latitude ticked down to zero\nThe sight and smell of land after 24 nights at sea\nThe taste of a perfect pamplemousse\nThe discovery of foamy sprouted coconuts\nThe eeriness of Fatu Hiva\nThe satisfaction of reaching a waterfall or a view spot after a challenging hike\nThe anticipation I felt while sitting on the table as Fati drew my tattoo on my arm\nThe amazing water clarity in the Tuomotos\nThe apprehension of seeing sharks in the water but slipping in for a swim anyway\nThe pride of seeing both of my kids swim for the first time\nThe mad chase for the nearest ice cream after each landfall\nThe awe of swimming with a humpback mama and calf\nThe anticipation and joy of searching for the treasure our friends Krister and Amanda buried for us in Tonga\nMaking closer and closer radio contact with Krister until we switched from SSB to VHF to finally talking in person\nThe happiness that washed over all us whenever we anchored and explored an uninhabited island\nThe sight of more stars than I ever imagined\nThe beauty of the sun rise behind us and the moon rise ahead of us over Moorea\nThe sound of the woosh woosh boom and skittering of lava rocks at the Mt. Yassur volcano\nThe stunning solar eclipse on our last passage\nThe sweet taste of every water coconut given to us by a local person\nThe way we hugged and jumped for joy as we approached the channel markers at the end of our crossing\nI hope that as time passes and we look back at our 10,035 photos we\u0026rsquo;ve collected over the last eight months that we don\u0026rsquo;t forget the magic and wonder that this ocean has brought us.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ten-thousand-thirty-five-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTucker 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe excitement of checking out of Mexico and watching the shore disappear in the east\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe perfect sapphire blue of the ocean, hundreds of miles out, in the morning sun\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooking up and seeing the Southern Cross for the first time\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe feeling of arrival when the latitude ticked down to zero\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ten thousand thirty five photos"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;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 pretty sure that we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stop there but as we got close fate forced our hand. Am I ever glad it did. Chesterfield deserved a week but we had only a few days to enjoy it. We made good use of the time, fixing boat problems, snorkeling, beach combing, and hanging out with our friends on Britannia. Our time was up too soon and we headed out into some nasty weather to make it to Australia before the rally ended. Next time around we will definitely make more time for this sweet spot!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/photos-port-vila-vanuatu-chesterfield-reef-new-caledonia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;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 pretty sure that we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stop there but as we got close fate forced our hand. Am I ever glad it did. Chesterfield deserved a week but we had only a few days to enjoy it. We made good use of the time, fixing boat problems, snorkeling, beach combing, and hanging out with our friends on Britannia. Our time was up too soon and we headed out into some nasty weather to make it to Australia before the rally ended. Next time around we will definitely make more time for this sweet spot!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Photos: Port Vila, Vanuatu \u0026 Chesterfield Reef, New Caledonia"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s where we stopped:\nUnited States\nHorseshoe Cove, Sausalito, California\nHalf Moon Bay, California\nMonterrey Bay, California\nMorro Bay, California\nCuyler\u0026rsquo;s Bay, St. Miguel Island, California\nVentura Harbor, Ventura, California\nCatalina Harbor, Santa Catalina Island, California\nSan Diego, California\nMexico (not all city or state names are complete for Mexico )\nTurtle Bay, Baja California Norte\nBahia Santa Maria, Baja California Norte\nCabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur\nSan Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur\nLos Frailes, Baja California Sur\nEnsenda de los Muertos, Baja California Sur\nPuerto Ballendra, Baja California Sur\nLa Paz, Baja California Sur\nBahia San Gabriel, Baja California Sur\nEnsenada del Candelero, Baja California Sur\nMarina Mazatlan, Mazatlan, Mexico\nStone Island Anchorage, Mazatlan\nIsla Isabella\nMantanchen Bay, San Blas\nChacala\nLa Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit\nPunta de Mita, Nayarit\nYelapa\nBahia Chamela\nTenacatita\nBarra de Navidad\nLas Hadas (near Manzanillo)\nSantiago Bay\nTenacatita\nBahia Chamela\nLa Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit\nNueva Vallarta\nFrench Polynesia\nAtuona, Hiva Oa, Marquesas\nBaie Hanavave, Fatu Hiva, Marquesas\nBaie Vaitahu, Tahuata, Marquesas\nBaie Hanamoenoa, Tauata, Marquesas\nBaie Hanamenu, Hiva Oa, Marquesas\nHakahau, Oa Pou, Marquesas\nTaiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas\nAnaho Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas\nTaiohae, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas\nDaniel\u0026rsquo;s Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas\nWhite Sands Resort, Fakarava, Tuomotos\nRotoaura, Fakarava, Tuomotos\nAnse Amyot, Tuomotos\nanchorage near Marina Taine, Tahiti, Windward Society Islands\nPapeete, Tahiti, Windward Society Islands,\nBaie d\u0026rsquo;Opunohu, Moorea, Windward Society Islands\nCooks Bay, Moorea, Windward Society Islands\nFaie, Huahini, Leward Society Islands\nBBYC, Vaitape, Bora Bora, Leward Society Islands\nThe Cook Islands\nSuwarrow, Cook Islands\nSamoa\nApia, Samoa\nTonga\nPort Maurelle (Anchorage #7), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nNeiafu, Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nTapana Island (Anchorage #11), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nKenutu (anchorage #30), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nOld Harbor (anchorage #25), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nBen \u0026amp; Lisa\u0026rsquo;s island (anchorage #27), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nMatamaka (anchorage #15), Nua Papu, Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nNeiafu, Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nPort Maurelle (Anchorage #7), Vava\u0026rsquo;u, Tonga\nFiji\nLatouka, Viti Levu, Fiji\nMuscet Cove, Malolo Lailai Island, Fiji\nVuda Point Marina, Viti Levu, Fiji\nSawini Beach, Viti Levu, Fiji\nLatouka, Viti Levu, Fiji\nVanuatu\nAnelghowhat, Anatom\nPort Resolution, Tanna\nPort Vila, Efate\nNew Caledonia\nChesterfield Reef\nAustralia\nBundaberg, Queensland\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/where-have-we-been-all-this-time/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDuring 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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where have we been all this time?"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t mind going over there for the day to sell cheap \u0026ldquo;made in China\u0026rdquo; trinkets to cruise ship tourists. They get a lot of opportunities to do this too as a cruise ship pulls in every 3-5 days (in season) to barf out a few thousand pink gaudily dressed tchotchke-hungry consumers. As a result the island has been \u0026ldquo;developed\u0026rdquo; into a kind of Survivoresqe theme park, part tasteful thatch shelter, part gauche photo-op, but all very interesting if you happen to go over there when the show isn\u0026rsquo;t on.\nWe happened to hit the island the day before a cruise ship was due and the locals were busy setting up for the big day. We got a chance to hang out on the pristine (just raked) beaches, enjoy the \u0026ldquo;Cannibal Soup\u0026rdquo; photo-op and basically have a pretty ideal I-can-almost-believe-this-isn\u0026rsquo;t-a-put-on deserted island experience. I would rail on it a bit more but the pictures tell the truth, we had a great time, it wasbeautiful, and we didn\u0026rsquo;t get shaken down for a single vatu (.1 penny).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/mystery-island/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMystery 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\u0026rsquo;t mind going over there for the day to sell cheap \u0026ldquo;made in China\u0026rdquo; trinkets to cruise ship tourists. They get a lot of opportunities to do this too as a cruise ship pulls in every 3-5 days (in season) to barf out a few thousand pink gaudily dressed tchotchke-hungry consumers. As a result the island has been \u0026ldquo;developed\u0026rdquo; into a kind of Survivoresqe theme park, part tasteful thatch shelter, part gauche photo-op, but all very interesting if you happen to go over there when the show isn\u0026rsquo;t on.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mystery Island"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;ve visited four of Vanuatu\u0026rsquo;s beautiful islands. We\u0026rsquo;re now in Port Vila experiencing the touristy city life, with ridiculous cover bands playing loudly on the harbor\u0026rsquo;s edge, gift shops filled with Chinese made souvenirs, and inappropriately dressed tourist girls. While I love our access to the waterfront showers, the delicious juice bar, and the amazing produce market, this is a scene that could be experienced in any country. Where we\u0026rsquo;ve come from in Anelcauhat, Aneityum and Port Resolution, Tanna, is another world, a world I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful to have seen.\nWe sailed first to Aneityum, the most southern island of the chain. We were welcomed graciously by the customs and immigration officials and by each person we met along our walks through town. We attended a feast and drank kava with the village while our kids played freely with the local kids. I watched a two year old as she ran with the big kids and then sat on her father\u0026rsquo;s hip as her mother answered our endless questions. I watched her dad chase her away from the dancing so no one would stumble over her. I chatted with her mother while she settled into her arms and sleepily nursed. The babies here were born at home, or sometimes at the village clinic, with the local midwife. They live in the arms of their caregiver until they\u0026rsquo;re old enough to run barefoot. It felt so familiar.\nIn rural Vanuatu, Attachment Parenting, Continuum Theory, and Elimination Communication aren\u0026rsquo;t know by such names, it is just parenting. These mothers never read anything by Dr. Sears or Alfie Kohn. There are no special support groups like La Leche League or Diaper Free Baby. There is no controversy about sleeping with your baby here. What made sense to me intuitively about parenting is simply the way it is here. And it\u0026rsquo;s lovely.\nPort Resolution is a place where the fishing dads take their little girls with them in their canoes. In the villages around the harbor the babies are on their mama\u0026rsquo;s hips, or in the arms of an older sibling as the women go about their work. The village we spent the most time in is filled with smiling people, seemingly healthy, and undoubtedly happy. They are self sufficient, organic gardeners, foragers, and fishermen. They are connected to nature so closely that when I offered rice and other foods we carry on Convivia they looked blankly. They eat so locally that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t know what to do with my rice and beans. They offered me their vegetables with no names and told me to \u0026ldquo;cook it like a vegetable.\u0026rdquo; My cookbooks have no recipes for taro, manioc, island cabbage, and vegetables with no names, yet I went home with a bag full and several ears of corn as well.\nMany of the adults speak English, their village language, Bislama, and French, so we were welcome and able to ask questions when we visited. I asked a Natalie, a mother of a three year old, a six year old and a nine year old, about meeting her husband. With big smiles on both of their faces she told me that they met in Port Villa, but they were both from Tanna and her grandmother was from her village so that\u0026rsquo;s where she came to live.\nRuby and Olive spent a long time swinging with the local kids. When Ruby and I stayed in the village longer we were offered a tour of the gardens, given boiled corn to snack on, and fresh coconuts to drink from. Ruby sat and wove mats with a Ni-Vanuatan woman and our friend Amanda.\nIn both villages where we spent time our kids were as welcome as we were. When Olive had trouble drinking her coconut, a woman searched for the perfect piece of plant to make her a straw. When Ruby didn\u0026rsquo;t want to go on our hike a woman offered to bring her home to play with her own daughters while the rest of us walked onward. When Ruby cut herself a mother brushed her off and sent her back to play. Before I even acknowledged my children\u0026rsquo;s hunger or thirst they were offered something to taste and a coconut to drink from. When I worried that they were too rambunctious someone would inevitably say something like, \u0026ldquo;my kids are just like that.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Ni-Vanuatan men laugh when they work. The women smile together. They work together. Children fit seamlessly and joyfully into their community. I\u0026rsquo;ve read that they are among the happiest people in the world. This bit of Vanuatu is what I\u0026rsquo;ll remember.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/everything-old-is-new-again/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ve visited four of Vanuatu\u0026rsquo;s beautiful islands. We\u0026rsquo;re now in Port Vila experiencing the touristy city life, with ridiculous cover bands playing loudly on the harbor\u0026rsquo;s edge, gift shops filled with Chinese made souvenirs, and inappropriately dressed tourist girls. While I love our access to the waterfront showers, the delicious juice bar, and the amazing produce market, this is a scene that could be experienced in any country. Where we\u0026rsquo;ve come from in Anelcauhat, Aneityum and Port Resolution, Tanna, is another world, a world I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful to have seen.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Everything Old is New Again"},{"content":"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. I\u0026rsquo;m here to say that with newer versions of iOS (5+) there is an easier way.\nFirst I should explain why this is a concern. If you are bluewater cruising, chances are you will not be able to use iNavX\u0026rsquo;s built in GRIB downloader. This means that you will have to download them through Airmail, zygrib, Ocens, mailasail, or what have you. These programs all have decent grib viewers but it is sometimes nice to overlay these on your charts. Enter the solution.\nDownload the app \u0026ldquo;Air Sharing for iPad.\u0026rdquo; Connect your iPad to your ship\u0026rsquo;s wifi network, do the same on the laptop that has the gribs Open Air Sharing and make sure Sharing is On Click on the wrench Tap \u0026ldquo;Sharing\u0026rdquo; Slide the \u0026ldquo;Enabled\u0026rdquo; slider to \u0026ldquo;On\u0026rdquo; Make sure the port is 80 Click on the Wifi icon in the middle of the bottom bar. That will give you the various URLs you will need to access Air Sharing from your laptop\u0026rsquo;s web browser Open a web browser on you laptop and type on of the addresses in. I recommend using the \u0026ldquo;Bonjour\u0026rdquo; address that ends in \u0026ldquo;.local\u0026rdquo; if your laptop is a Mac. Use the numbers on a PC On the bottom of the webpage that comes up is a link to upload a file. Navigate the dialog and upload your grib file. In Air Sharing, find your new grib file and press-and-hold the file. When the file gets a blue check mark next to it, look for the three dots a the bottom right of the App Tap the three dots Tap \u0026ldquo;Open In\u0026rdquo; Tap the iNavX icon You\u0026rsquo;re done. The grib is now in iNavX\u0026rsquo;s weather library. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/faq/manually-adding-gribs-to-inavx-without-jailbreak/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBack 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. I\u0026rsquo;m here to say that with newer versions of iOS (5+) there is an easier way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst I should explain why this is a concern. If you are bluewater cruising, chances are you will not be able to use iNavX\u0026rsquo;s built in GRIB downloader. This means that you will have to download them through Airmail, zygrib, Ocens, mailasail, or what have you. These programs all have decent grib viewers but it is sometimes nice to overlay these on your charts. Enter the solution.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavx without Jailbreak"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/volcano-photo-essaymt-y/","summary":"","title":"Volcano - Photo Essay"},{"content":"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.\nOur destination (of many years now) was the active volcano at Mt Yassar. At 15000 Vatu (approx $150 USD) this was one of the most expensive expeditions we have done, and by all local standards we were taken for a ride. The ride was fantastic though, and when we finally climbed from the parking area to the lower lip of the caldera, we were immediately greeted with a great KA-BOOM and chunks of glowing lava (probably Olive sized) flew several hundred feet above us (though safely far away).\nWe skirted the caldera to a place with a better viewing angle and a slightly higher altitude and set up camp to wait for the sun to go down. As dusk set in the fiery glow from the two pits of lava started to overtake the sun\u0026rsquo;s fading light and by dark it looked as if we were staring right into a cannibal god\u0026rsquo;s terrible cauldron. Before long the volcano was going off in force spewing enormous ropes and chunks of molten rock high into the air. I left the kids with Vick and ventured closer to the eastern bath of fire where Krister and Amanda were. From there I could see the flames licking the air and could almost make out the bath itself. We took video and photographs and then just watched as pressure from the very center of the earth put on a surreal and spectacular show for us. I felt like the luckiest gal on the planet.\nOlive, who has been talking about this practically since her first words was a bit scared. She turned it into a bit of theatrics though (as she tends to) and came up with a few gems. \u0026ldquo;I have a better idea. Next time I want to go to an /inactive/ volcano,\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;I didn\u0026rsquo;t want you to actually /bring/ me to a volcano, I just wanted more /books/ about volcanos.\u0026rdquo; Today though she\u0026rsquo;s still talking about it and with any luck she\u0026rsquo;ll remember the day when, at age 5, she stood on the lip of an erupting volcano at the edge of the world.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/dream-fulfilled/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dream Fulfilled"},{"content":"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 tricky pass and we happened to get in just before a low pressure weather system rolled through. The net result was that we had the whole island to ourselves (with our good friends on s/v Tao) for almost a week. I think the pictures will tell the story best.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/i/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere 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 tricky pass and we happened to get in just before a low pressure weather system rolled through. The net result was that we had the whole island to ourselves (with our good friends on s/v Tao) for almost a week. I think the pictures will tell the story best.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I \u003c3 Uninhabited Islands"},{"content":"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 to write a letter to this girl and she jumped at the chance. Here\u0026rsquo;s what she said:\nHi My name is Ruby. I am 8 years old and have been cruising for a year. I left from San Francisco a year ago today with my mom and dad and little brother. I heard that you might be a little worried about cruising and I want to let you know that it is really awesome. When I got to Mexico I made a really good friend named Kara (on Taking Fight) and then a little while later I met two boys named Shandro and Matero (on Kenta Anae). All along the way I have made friends, sometimes we only play for a few hours and sometimes I get to travel with them for a while. Sometimes I even get to have sleepovers or sail with them on their boat while my brother sails with my parents. The only bad part is that you have to say goodbye a lot, but I always know that I will make new friends and that I will remember my old friends. There are also a lot of great grownups out here and they talk to me and play with me. So even when there aren\u0026rsquo;t a lot of kids around I still have people to play with.\nI have also seen so much cool stuff since I left. I see dolphins all the time and sometimes I see whales so close to the boat that I can almost touch them. I have seen waterfalls and rain forests, sea turtles, and islands that disappear when the tide comes up. My mom and dad even swam with giant manta rays, but I just watched from the dinghy. I\u0026rsquo;m also learning a lot of cool stuff. My dad lets me sail the boat sometimes and I am old enough now to stand watch and help with anchoring. My dad even lets me take the dinghy out by myself on calm days. I have learned a lot about money too. I can buy my own ice cream in dollars and peso, tala, pa\u0026rsquo;anga and francs. I can say hello in many languages too. If you want to ask me any questions you can send email to . All of the kids I have met seem to love cruising and I bet you will too.\n-=Ruby\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/rubys-first-year-of-cruising/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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 to write a letter to this girl and she jumped at the chance.  Here\u0026rsquo;s what she said:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi \u003cname omitted\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy name is Ruby. I am 8 years old and have been cruising for a year. I left from San Francisco a year ago today with my mom and dad and little brother. I heard that you might be a little worried about cruising and I want to let you know that it is really awesome. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby's First year of Cruising"},{"content":"As we made our way across the Pacific we were perpetually asking \u0026ldquo;can we spend a little more time here?\u0026rdquo; After ~10 years of putting off today\u0026rsquo;s desires in favor of tomorrow\u0026rsquo;s dream it was finally time to say \u0026ldquo;Yes, why not!\u0026rdquo; The down side to this was that we knew that every extra day we spent in today\u0026rsquo;s paradise would be borrowed from tomorrow\u0026rsquo;s. You can only defer for so long before the cyclone threat starts making your choices for you.\nSo that\u0026rsquo;s how we got into our current state of mind. For the last few months we have resigned ourselves to the fact that Fiji (the islands that everyone raves about) would be merely a quick stop to meet up with our long lost friends Krister and Amanda of s/v Britannia. We even decided to skip the lauded Astrolabe Reefs in Kadavu in favor of getting a few days closer to Britannia.\nNow that we have been here for a few weeks, we know that the praise is well founded. Fiji has delicious/cheap food, the hands-down-friendliest people in all of Oceania, amazing blue sky dipping into turquoise water, easy easy easy sailing, and supplies and consumer goods at near-American prices. There\u0026rsquo;s a lot to love here. So are we bummed that we doddled on our way here, that we have so very little time in an archipelago that could captivate our interest for a season. Nah. I love Fiji and I\u0026rsquo;ll come back, but on our way over here, when we were making the choice to see Kadavu or skip, we summed up our feelings pretty succinctly—\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s more about the people than the location.\u0026rdquo; We finally caught up with our friends and in doing so feel like we have sewed the seeds of community once more. We\u0026rsquo;ll head off to Vanuatu on Friday in company and when we arrive there we will drop back into our familiar rhythms and start developing some news ones.\nFiji—like so many of the places we have fallen in love with—will be here in 15 years when we make our second lap. I will look forward to the warm Bulahs, broad smiles, delightful Indian food, warm days and cool nights, and endless perfect sailing. In the meantime it\u0026rsquo;s onward and seaward towards the ever dwindling season, towards new community, opportunity, and challenge.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/flyin-through-fiji/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs we made our way across the Pacific we were perpetually asking \u0026ldquo;can we spend a little more time here?\u0026rdquo; After ~10 years of putting off today\u0026rsquo;s desires in favor of tomorrow\u0026rsquo;s dream it was finally time to say \u0026ldquo;Yes, why not!\u0026rdquo; The down side to this was that we knew that every extra day we spent in today\u0026rsquo;s paradise would be borrowed from tomorrow\u0026rsquo;s. You can only defer for so long before the cyclone threat starts making your choices for you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Flyin' Through Fiji"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/last-days-in-tonga/","summary":"","title":"Last Days in Tonga"},{"content":"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 year olds begin kindergarten, and while Olive doesn\u0026rsquo;t turn five for another couple of weeks, she would be a kindergartener now. We were lucky enough to send our kids to the General Primary School in Matamaka Village for their first day last week!\nWe sailed to a small Tongan island called Nua Papu and found the Matamaka village before dinner time. The village has forty-nine families, 20 children between the ages 5 and 11, and a two classroom school to support them. The principal, Pitisi, welcomed our family on the beach that evening and asked the kids to come to school at 8:30 the next morning.\nRuby carefully planned her clothes for the next day and insisted on shampooing her hair (which hadn\u0026rsquo;t been washed properly since the last country we visited). She calculated what time we would need to get up to make her breakfast and dinghy in on time. I baked a loaf of special gluten free bread for them to take sandwiches. We piled all of our extra children\u0026rsquo;s books to donate to the library. Ruby and Olive were both so excited!\nThey arrived on time the next morning to Pitisi\u0026rsquo;s classroom and started the day with singing and a prayer in Tongan. All of the kids leave their elementary school speaking English fluently, prepared for their secondary school work. My kids were called on to introduce themselves. \u0026ldquo;Hello, My name is Olive. I am four and a half years old. I am from America.\u0026rdquo; Pitisi asked about her school at home and she stated proudly that this was her first day of school. She asked her what she had at home and she replied, \u0026ldquo;Not very much, really.\u0026rdquo; As we walked around the village later I was grateful for her reply. These families live in houses with similar sized living spaces as we have but they do indeed have very very little. Ruby introduced herself shyly and then each of the students began their scripted introduction.\n\u0026ldquo;Hello my name is Maka. I am 8 years old. My father is a pastor. My mother is a housewife. In the future I would like to be a rugby player.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hello my name is Ata. I am 9 years old. My father is a fisherman. My mother is a housewife. In the future I would like to be a nurse.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hello my name is Kahi. I am 10 year old. My father is a pastor. My mother is a housewife. In the future I would like to be a nurse.\u0026rdquo;\nI could only conclude that every girl child would grow up and leave to play rugby, and that there might be a nurse or two around with a short lived career.\nIn their separate classrooms Ruby and Olive followed along with the lessons in Tongan and English. Olive worked through both alphabets and worked hard on her penmanship. Ruby learned to count first in Tongan before she worked on the math assignment with the older kids. She came home with a notebook full of copywork with Tongan songs written out and carefully translated. She found the division assignment too difficult but tried to work through it anyway. Olive was eager to skip class and head to the library, the third room at the school. She pulled stacks of books off the shelves for me to read her throughout the day. I soon found myself sitting under a mango tree reading Franklin to many of the younger kids.\nEveryone runs home for lunch and returns a bit later. We took Olive home and Ruby stayed through the rest of the afternoon. When we returned we found that Ruby had led her classroom through two craft projects which were hanging around the classroom. She seems to get by with a few words and some sign language everywhere she goes. The students finished their day with Phys. Ed, 30 minutes of play out on the lawn.\nRuby and Olive have concluded that school is hard and they love it. For me it was an amazing day of chatting with Mosese and Pitisi and getting a really good look at day to day life for these Tongan villagers.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/first-day-of-school/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne 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 year olds begin kindergarten, and while Olive doesn\u0026rsquo;t turn five for another couple of weeks, she would be a kindergartener now. We were lucky enough to send our kids to the General Primary School in Matamaka Village for their first day last week!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"First Day of School"},{"content":"When we were in Samoa, we met a lovely ten year old British girl named Zinnia. One of the first things we learned about Zinnia was that she had just been to Penrhyn, met and fell in love with an eight year old girl named Rio, and promised to move back to the island when she was eighteen to live there with her family. This darling yachtie girl had sailed the west coast of Europe, travelled through the Caribbean, transited the Panama Canal, explored the Galapagos Islands, spent a year in the Marquesas, sailed through the Tuomotos, and the Society Islands by the time her family decided to go to Penrhyn. Hardly anyone makes the choice to visit Penrhyn. I know six people that have ever gone there. It\u0026rsquo;s not on the way to anywhere. This family went, stayed for a couple of months, and loved the island.\nPenrhyn is in the Northern Cook Islands (roughly in the middle of nowhere; west of Tahiti; east of Fiji). It won\u0026rsquo;t show up on your globe. The Cook Islands are spread out over 2 million square kilometers of ocean and yet have a population of about 21,000. Sailboats transiting through the Pacific sometimes get lucky enough to go to Suwarrow, some go to Rarotonga, shallow draft boats go to Aitutaki, and a few others go to Palmerston Atoll. Penrhyn is in the far north and its population hovers around 200. A cargo ship visits about once a month, and takes 10-12 days to arrive there after leaving Rarotonga. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t always show up, consequently the population survives on fish, coconuts, old potatoes and onions, and if it is like most of the places we have visited in the Pacific, massive quantities of canned meat.\nWhen 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 five sentences to say about it. Convivia might be able to sail us to that sort of spot to visit, or we may be able to crew on another boat going in that direction, and stay behind until another, with space to offer, leaves again. But our kids, who are seeing a lot more of the world than we did as kids may end up loving the desert, or the arctic, or the high mountain tops where the logistics of visiting are as difficult as getting to Penrhyn.\nOur kids have started making their own plans too. Olive wants to marry her best friend Rayna (she can\u0026rsquo;t believe she\u0026rsquo;s already five, she keeps thinking about her when she was three). She wants to be an underwater explorer. She wants to sail to the Arctic, and also around Cape Horn. I guess when you introduce a kid to a couple of folks that have sailed around Cape Horn it\u0026rsquo;s easily added to their possibilities in life. Ruby plans on living in Maine, Mexico, and Santa Cruz, being an artist, having an amazing flower garden, sailing her own boat when she\u0026rsquo;s 14, and marrying Zach, a sailor girl one day older than her, just as long as she eats vegetables, likes whipped cream, and if she actually likes her when she meets her. But who knows, they might open a restaurant, build a house on an uninhabited island, live in a city, or go back to the Bay Area. They could easily end up somewhere I haven\u0026rsquo;t even noticed on the map yet. The possibilities are endless.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-possibilities-are-endless/","summary":"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 five sentences to say about it.","title":"The Possibilities Are Endless"},{"content":"The Tropicana has become our hangout. It\u0026rsquo;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 you start to see why we stop in every time we walk down the street.\nSo yesterday we were walking down the street, the kids were doing well, and we had a few hours to kill before the laundry would be ready (or so we thought). I realized that it was high past time to get that haircut I had been talking about for the last 6 months. Knowing that Lisa would be able to point me in the right direction, I popped my head in and asked the question. \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;the guy in the back is a barber,\u0026rdquo; she answered, turning back to her bookkeeping.\nI walked to the patio and identified everyone but one guy, he was arguably \u0026ldquo;the guy in the back\u0026rdquo; so I boldly asked if he was a barber. \u0026ldquo;who told you that?\u0026rdquo; he countered with a sly grin. I told him that Lisa pointed me in his direction and he said, \u0026ldquo;well I\u0026rsquo;m a stylist, that means it takes longer.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Great, that is just what I need. When are you available?\u0026rdquo; Billy the stylist looked at his watch, then at his cigarette and smiled, \u0026ldquo;let me just check with Lisa,\u0026rdquo; and he was off.\n\u0026ldquo;Okay we have the go ahead,\u0026rdquo; he said pulling a plastic chair from a table and making an elaborate gesture of cleaning the seat for me. \u0026ldquo;Have a seat.\u0026rdquo; And just like that I was getting a haircut in my breakfast nook, cruiser hangout, Internet cafe, and now salon. Billy just whipped two pairs of shears and a comb from his left pocket and went to town. As he started to work I found out that he is also the ringleader of the sensational Flea Circus that everyone has been talking about. I felt compelled to ask what he had in his right pocket and was floored when he checked and found it empty, I had expected him to pull out a baby elephant or something.\nWhile he cut my hair a Tongan came in and asked if he could go next. \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t want the George Clooney haircut this time, how about the John Travolta?\u0026rdquo; One patron took photos of the scene and others kibitzed. The whole scene was vaguely surreal, as if it could happen in the universe, but was just implausible enough that it never did happen.\nFifteen minutes later Vick and I strolled out of the Tropicana with huge grins plastered on our faces. I remembered back to when this trip was just a dream. I had often imagined that the highlights would be those things that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t even imagine from my then-current frame of reference. My Tropicana haircut was probably the best example of this frame-of-reference-shift I could have hoped for.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/i-should-get-a-haircut-every-year/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Tropicana has become our hangout. It\u0026rsquo;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 you start to see why we stop in every time we walk down the street.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo yesterday we were walking down the street, the kids were doing well, and we had a few hours to kill before the laundry would be ready (or so we thought). I realized that it was high past time to get that haircut I had been talking about for the last 6 months. Knowing that Lisa would be able to point me in the right direction, I popped my head in and asked the question. \u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip;the guy in the back is a barber,\u0026rdquo; she answered, turning back to her bookkeeping.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Should Get a Haircut EVERY Year"},{"content":"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.\nAs the drizzle pelted our eyes the Operator (guide) gave us the spiel and implored us to help keep a lookout for whales. I got the kids settled and poked my head out into the spray to keep watch. I was struck by how fast we were moving. The boat\u0026rsquo;s 20 knots could have been 100. After moving no faster than 9 knots for weeks, it felt like we were flying. Soon we saw our first spout and doubled back to take a closer look.\nThe first group went in and the mom and calf swam away quickly. The Operator seemed unconcerned. The group got back on the boat and we followed our whale family for another try. Again, they swam away. Our Operator got a good look at the calf this time and noted that it was just 3 weeks old, \u0026ldquo;the mother isn\u0026rsquo;t going to let us get close, we\u0026rsquo;ll find another pair,\u0026rdquo; and we were off at warp speed again.\nWe repeated this a few more times and eventually Vick and I rotated in to the dive group. The result of which was that we were now wet, blue lipped and shivering. Still nothing more than a slight glimpse of a whale under water.\nFinally we dove next to a playful calf that was old enough that it\u0026rsquo;s mom gave it some room to frolic. We got close enough to see the whole calf clearly under water and I was immediately impressed with the number and size of the remoras that were cleaning it. I suspect that our calf was trying to shake them off which would explain the strange flailing that I mistook for play earlier. Our calf dove and surfaced a few times and though I was approaching hypothermic, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t tear myself away from the scene.\nJust when I thought I would have to bail our Operator said \u0026ldquo;The mother should come up soon.\u0026rdquo; Moments later we saw the outline of our mother surfacing. As she resolved I saw her calf beneath her, nuzzling up under her \u0026ldquo;chin.\u0026rdquo; The pair were heading straight for me and got close enough that I had to back peddle to avoid touching them (something I was sorely tempted to do). As they swam away I replayed the image scene over and again until it was firmly lodged. I got out of the water and resolved not to go back in, this was the memory I wanted to keep.\nVick took the next two dives and had her own remarkable experience. (in her voice\u0026hellip;)\nWe had to swim hard to catch our whales! Four of us followed our guide Allister\u0026rsquo;s yellow fins and sprinted towards the whale. We all stopped to tread water. The whale was deep below us, floating around and fairly still. We were towards the middle of her body and needed to swim towards her face so she could get a look at us too. And much more quickly then us, she swam away. Allister signaled to Tonga (the driver of our boat) to come and pick us up. We climbed back into the dive boat, dripping warm salt water from our wetsuits, and sat shivering in the cold misty rain. We spotted another mama and calf pair and slowly motored over toward them.\nWith masks and fins on we sat on the edge of the boat waiting for Tonga\u0026rsquo;s call to drop in the water. Allister was in the lead, Chris and Shawn swam together, I was between them and Simon, a tourist from New Zealand. The baby was close and playful and very curious. I swam quickly towards Allister. I wanted to be close to him. If he told us to swim in a certain direction I wanted to be able to get there, instantly. I also wanted to keep Allister between the whale and me. When it came towards us Simon kicked harder; the whale just barely missed dividing our group. I tried to swim backwards. I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to turn my back to the whale. It was big, and fast, and close. Soon it\u0026rsquo;s mama had enough of her calf\u0026rsquo;s curiosity. She was ready for her baby to leave us alone. Her enormous body swam directly under us. Her pectoral fin just missed us, her tail stayed down. She shoed her baby away. We spit out our snorkels. Our dropped jaws couldn\u0026rsquo;t hold them anyway. It was time to leave these whales alone, and so for the last time that day we climbed back up into the dive boat to dry off a bit and head home.\nOur experiences were both unique and precious and we will remember them (hopefully vividly) for the rest of our lives.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/whales/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the drizzle pelted our eyes the Operator (guide) gave us the spiel and implored us to help keep a lookout for whales. I got the kids settled and poked my head out into the spray to keep watch. I was struck by how fast we were moving. The boat\u0026rsquo;s 20 knots could have been 100. After moving no faster than 9 knots for weeks, it felt like we were flying. Soon we saw our first spout and doubled back to take a closer look.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Whales"},{"content":"I should have known that I would eat my words\u0026hellip;\nWe 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\u0026rsquo;i (the two main Islands of Samoa) on our way to Tonga. As we rounded Upolu and started South I said to Vick \u0026ldquo;Shoot, I think we may have missed out by not going inland a bit.\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s true, I\u0026rsquo;m sure. I can only justify so much with the tired \u0026ldquo;we had so much work to get done\u0026rdquo; line. In retrospect though we did end up loving Samoa in spite of some of it\u0026rsquo;s odd officials. We had one of the absolute best meals we have ever eaten (Vick compared it favorably to the Slanted Door, our old favorite) at Tatua Bistro in Apia. Our friends Mark and Jenny on Condessa took care of the kids for the night so we could have a downright sinfully slow meal. Great food, perfect service and personal attention from the owner (when he found out I was GF and wanted to make sure everything was prepared safely for me) made it a night to remember.\nAnother perfect memory that we will take with us is our experience with John Neieuwehuizen at JN Woodworkers. I got in touch with John on the first day in Apia and commissioned him to make us a new tiller. The piece he delivered was just beautiful, almost too nice to put in such a functional role. He and I spent a lot of time talking about the directional loads and how best to overcome some of the weaknesses of the old tiller and I am confident that he nailed the design.\nOur time at the dock also gave us the freedom to do some long overdue projects. Vick knocked out a new sun-cover for the cockpit (which is gorgeous as well) and a tiller cover to protect the new stick. She also managed a screen for the forward hatch (the Samoan mosquitoes were not nice).\nOne of the big reasons we went to Samoa was that it was off the beaten path. As it turns out, we met a lot of other folks that were into the road less traveled there and our whole family made great friends as a result. The kids had several sleepovers with Cosmo and Zinnia on Pacific Bliss, and we finally got to meet and become friends with Shawn and Chris on Tao.\nAt the veggie market we had a great time chatting with the vendors about their (to us) mystery foods, and they all got a raucous laugh at my expense when I ate some tobacco (misunderstanding what they wanted me to do with it). And even though it was sometimes difficult to understand, everybody spoke English.\nIn the end it was like I said to Vick over that A+ meal, \u0026ldquo;We came here on a lark, and didn\u0026rsquo;t do much in the way of cultural prep. If this had been our 2 week vacation, we would have researched and found our groove much more quickly.\u0026rdquo; I think as cruisers it\u0026rsquo;s easy to get carried away in the flood of good times, sunny skys, and turquoise waters. It\u0026rsquo;s easy to forget that every place has its charm, its strengths, and its own drawbacks. It probably didn\u0026rsquo;t help that we had just come from one of my most favorite places on Earth. Thankfully the spirit of Samoa was strong enough to break through my initial attitude so that I could see its beauty.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/the-good/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI should have known that I would eat my words\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe 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\u0026rsquo;i (the two main Islands of Samoa) on our way to Tonga. As we rounded Upolu and started South I said to Vick \u0026ldquo;Shoot, I think we may have missed out by not going inland a bit.\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s true, I\u0026rsquo;m sure. I can only justify so much with the tired \u0026ldquo;we had so much work to get done\u0026rdquo; line. In retrospect though we did end up loving Samoa in spite of some of it\u0026rsquo;s odd officials. We had one of the absolute best meals we have ever eaten (Vick compared it favorably to the Slanted Door, our old favorite) at Tatua Bistro in Apia. Our friends Mark and Jenny on Condessa took care of the kids for the night so we could have a downright sinfully slow meal. Great food, perfect service and personal attention from the owner (when he found out I was GF and wanted to make sure everything was prepared safely for me) made it a night to remember.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Good"},{"content":"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 beauty of our world\u0026rsquo;s diversity.\nHere on Samoa (pronounced Sa\u0026rsquo; moa) I have yet to move fully into the second stage. Every time I feel like I am close, something alien is revealed to me that sets me back to seeing the differences. This (two) island nation is gorgeous. Its people are, by and large, incredibly outgoing and proud of their heritage, and they share a (second) language. I had expected this (amongst other things) to make it easy for me to fit in and feel welcome here. Not so much.\nFirst there was the clearing in ceremony. I say ceremony because there was a full day of visitors, many of whom expected to be warmly received with snacks and drinks (one even suggested rum drinks), by people who had slept something like 6 hrs a night for the last 4 nights. We did our best but by the time the marina official came by to scold us for leaving the dock without his permission, and then lectured us about the Samoan custom of serving your guest a drink, let me just say, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t feeling all warm and fuzzy. After the scolding he started asking us questions like \u0026ldquo;what do you think life is for?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;do you believe in god or do you believe we came from monkeys?\u0026rdquo; Then he invited us to come to his birthday party and, \u0026ldquo;do you have any rum to bring?\u0026rdquo;\nBy the time he left Vick and I were haggard and rattled. Subsequent interactions (especially with cab drivers) prompted us to observe that the Samoan culture must have virtually no line between professional and personal.\nWith a few exceptions (the markets being one) we have only interacted with men here. The two women that we have shared more than 10 words with were from New Zealand (tour guide) and Australia (missionary).\nChildren are not present, though they do occasionally harass us to buy qtips, pinching our legs when we refuse. Our children appear to be loved by the population but are expected to be seen and not heard. When they were out on the docks fishing one morning a marina guard brought them back to us and seemed to expect us to discipline them for playing.\nAnd then there is the ubiquitous god talk and the rigid, institutionalized patriarchy, both of which strike my personal values straight in the face. During the check in, I actually heard myself saying \u0026ldquo;Well, that\u0026rsquo;s a very personal question. In my culture we don\u0026rsquo;t talk about that unless we know someone very well.\u0026rdquo; Here, God and male dominion are public and central to almost every conversation we have had.\nSo what do we do when we feel like strangers in a strange land? Well, when the boat is at a dock, it\u0026rsquo;s not much of a sanctuary, so we hike. Even though the mountain we climbed was dense with unfamiliar rainforest flora, the act of walking together in nature—picking seeds and spotting fauna— restored a sense of focus and calm to our day. By the time we reached the summit where Robert Louis Stevenson was buried, the kids were laughing freely and Vick and I were breathing deeply again.\nWe have a few days left in Samoa and I am hopeful that we will start to feel the sameness in earnest by the time we leave for Tonga. If not at least I rediscovered an old tool for regaining my wellbeing.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/i-have-never-felt-so-foreign/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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 beauty of our world\u0026rsquo;s diversity.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere on Samoa (pronounced Sa\u0026rsquo; moa) I have yet to move fully into the second stage. Every time I feel like I am close, something alien is revealed to me that sets me back to seeing the differences. This (two) island nation is gorgeous. Its people are, by and large, incredibly outgoing and proud of their heritage, and they share a (second) language. I had expected this (amongst other things) to make it easy for me to fit in and feel welcome here. Not so much.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Have Never Felt So Foreign"},{"content":"We arrived in Apia, Samoa early in the morning yesterday. Thankfully the internet was fast enough here to upload a few photos.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/suwarrow-a-photo-recap/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe arrived in Apia, Samoa early in the morning yesterday. Thankfully the internet was fast enough here to upload a few photos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Suwarrow, a Photo Recap"},{"content":"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.\nBut we aren\u0026rsquo;t going. Not yet anyway. Suwarrow is all of those things that I said it was in the previous post. It\u0026rsquo;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.\nWhen we got home from tonight\u0026rsquo;s potluck (smaller than usual because 60% of the cruisers left today) Vick and I reexamined all of the available weather information, and decided that in spite of the great forecast, we just were not done with Suwarrow. We have tentatively extened our stay for another 3 days. This should still give us good (though not /as/ good) weather, and it will get us into Samoa on Monday (Sunday is a definite non-starter in Samoa). In the mean time we will snorkle and read, and just be\u0026hellip; here in paradise.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/were-not-leaving/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut we aren\u0026rsquo;t going. Not yet anyway. Suwarrow is all of those things that I said it was in the previous post. It\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We're. Not. Leaving"},{"content":"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.\nTo 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.\nOnce there, we are (often) greeted by Ant or Harry (the caretakers) who are about as laid back a pair of guys as you would expect to find on a deserted tropical island. I chat with them while the kids soar on a swing suspended from a coconut palm. Then we head to the beach for some underwater exploring. Or maybe we circumnavigate half the island, picking up trash that was brought in by the storms.\nEvery few nights we have a potluck on the beach, last night was Mexican themed.\nThis 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.\nTo 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.\nOnce there, we are (often) greeted by Ant or Harry (the caretakers) who are about as laid back a pair of guys as you would expect to find on a deserted tropical island. I chat with them while the kids soar on a swing suspended from a coconut palm. Then we head to the beach for some underwater exploring. Or maybe we circumnavigate half the island, picking up trash that was brought in by the storms.\nEvery few nights we have a potluck on the beach, last night was Mexican themed.\nThis group of cruisers (6 boats in all) seems to compete for the most elaborate spread. Last night Vick made gluten free key lime pie with meringue topping. To clinch it I torched the top with our Sur la Table kitchen torch. Everyone was duly impressed with how well stocked our galley must be until Vick fessed up that the torch lives in my tool bag and is used to heat-shrink wires. Our friends on Blue Rodeo also brought a key lime pie, and Island Bound brought flan. Waiting through (the equally impressive dinner spread) was a serious test of my self control and manners.\nToday we took the dinghy out to a reef that was reported to have manta rays. We ran into our friends on Silos and Kim gave me some tips on free diving (something I\u0026rsquo;ve been dreaming of doing since my buddy Ken told me about it back in Mountain View). I was having a lot of trouble staying down and not panicking when the spasms started. Then the mantas started to circle beneath me and suddenly I forgot to think and ghosted them for what seemed like minutes at 30 or so feet below the surface. 5 mantas danced with Kim and I until cold and fatigue sent me back to the dinghy. This was one of the most tranquil, beautiful, and unearthly experiences of my life.\nWe don\u0026rsquo;t know how much longer we will stay here but I know that when we leave Suwarrow will remain in my memory as the place where I first felt like I had experienced the ideal that I have always dreamed cruising would be.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/suwarrow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Suwarrow"},{"content":"Mo\u0026rsquo;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 tourism than I would have expected.\nAll that being true, what really made these spots shine was the social life. After the Rendevouz lots of boats hung around and made their ways, more or less together, through the remaining islands. In Cooks bay a few of us centered our daily activities around the Bali Hai Club. We sat by the pool while the kids ran and swam, made new friends, and generally took it easy for almost a week. We even got a rental car for an afternoon and toured the island.\nAnother highlight of Cooks bay was running into our friends Carl and Cristina who we had said goodbye to in Richardson Bay a year and a half ago. It was so much fun to hear about their adventures and spend time talking about what we had learned.\nHuahine had an insanely cheap Happy Hour that we suspected they were loosing money on. Nothing draws cruisers together like cheap booze, so every night at 5:00 you could be sure to find 5 or 6 tables drawn together with the merrymaking of a dozen or so cruising friends filling the space with positive vibrations. That this same bar would also do your laundry made it almost magical :)\nHuahine also distinguished itself with its Heiva dancing and Mexico like vibe. We spent the first two nights at the community center watching the non-dress rehearsals and the next two at the stadium watching the island wide competition. The dancing was amazing but we also felt like we had our own troupe to root for since we had watched their practices.\nAlmost every place we have been so far has seemed better than the last. What really makes one spot stand out above the rest seems to be the people we meet and the friends we spend time with. So maybe timing, more than other factors, is what made these anchorages so special.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/cooks-bay-moorea-fare-huahine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMo\u0026rsquo;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 tourism than I would have expected.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll that being true, what really made these spots shine was the social life. After the Rendevouz lots of boats hung around and made their ways, more or less together, through the remaining islands. In Cooks bay a few of us centered our daily activities around the Bali Hai Club. We sat by the pool while the kids ran and swam, made new friends, and generally took it easy for almost a week. We even got a rental car for an afternoon and toured the island.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cooks Bay, Mo'orea \u0026 Fare, Huahine"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t really count. Our feet hadn\u0026rsquo;t touched land in a few days and we thought a little walk would do us good. The Mo\u0026rsquo;orea Agricultural Center looked like it was close to the head of the cove we were anchored in, so we hailed Wondertime and met at the beach in our dinghies. As it turned out it took a pretty long time to get all the way up to the Agricultural Center. When we got there the kids were all pooped and it looked like we would be lucky to get back to the beach without carrying them most of the way. After a little ice cream though we were all talking about continuing up the mountain to the Belvedere lookout. We did have a few stops along the way for refueling (cheese, crackers, carrots, granola) but amazingly all 4 kids made it up to the lookout. We pulled out the last of our provisions expecting to dash back to the dinghies as soon as they were sugared up, but somehow, miraculously, the kids all got interested in this amazing nature trail and we headed off on a little loop hike to a \u0026ldquo;private\u0026rdquo; lookout.\nRuby and Leah made a fairy house while the adults just looked out over Cook\u0026rsquo;s and Opunohu Bays in wide eyed wonder. After relaxing for longer than we could have hoped we started back, stopping along the way and detouring through the woods once more. It was an unexpected and rewarding day for the adults and the kids fell dead to the world asleep after a quick pasta dinner.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/stretching-our-legs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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\u0026rsquo;t really count. Our feet hadn\u0026rsquo;t touched land in a few days and we thought a little walk would do us good. The Mo\u0026rsquo;orea Agricultural Center looked like it was close to the head of the cove we were anchored in, so we hailed \u003ca href=\"http://svwondertime.com\"\u003eWondertime\u003c/a\u003e and met at the beach in our dinghies. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stretching Our Legs"},{"content":"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 friendships out of this seeming chaos. This little gallery captures this dynamic in a way that I have never been able to put in words. Look at each one for a moment and then flip through quickly.\n(These are the Wondertime kids who we\u0026rsquo;ve been buddy boating with (on and off) since Emeryville)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/stone-bench-vignette/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCruising 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 friendships out of this seeming chaos. This little gallery captures this dynamic in a way that I have never been able to put in words. Look at each one for a moment and then flip through quickly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stone Bench Vignette"},{"content":"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 around and a very squirrely wind, a perfect recipe for doom (dun dun duuuuun).\nAs it turned out we had two lovely days there with no incident. On Sunday night somewhere around 11 the wind started to build and the rain started driving sideways from the east. I went into the cockpit to make sure everything was lashed down and stowed and stayed a little longer to watch the wind instrument. 30, 32, 35 knots; it was creeping higher. Then I looked up in time to see a massive blue hull grinding down our port side. \u0026ldquo;Holy Shit!\u0026rdquo; I yelled \u0026ldquo;we have been hit, Vick get up here.\u0026rdquo; I watched in startled terror for a moment as our outer lower shroud was plucked like a guitar string, twaaaaang then saw the dinghy (which had just been smooshed between the two boats) recoiling. A moment later the dinghy\u0026rsquo;s bow was 10\u0026rsquo; up in the air. I rushed to the shroud to fend but the blue boat was already receding, \u0026ldquo;crap, it\u0026rsquo;s going to hit the panel\u0026rdquo; but Vick was already there, lifting the precious solar panel out of harms way. As the blue boat departed the wind caught its bow and sent the stern on one last mission of destruction. It missed our self steering vane by inches and was gone.\nAfter the immediate danger had passed I ducked below to towel off and put on my foulies. After a thorough (enough) inspection of our boat I lowered the dinghy so I could go help other boats. From where we were we could see at least 5 boats that were in clear distress. I made towards the worst scene, 3 boats all tangled, to find that there were a half dozen dinghies already there, I moved on to another boat and another. Within a half hour or so everyone had been disentangled and we had were fairly sure that there was no immediate threat to life or property. The rain was picking up again and I had promised Vick that I would come back at the first sign of weather.\nThrough all of this Convivia didn\u0026rsquo;t budge from her swing radius (imagine a circle around where the anchor hits the bottom). When we outfitted for this trip we agreed that we would put the largest and strongest anchor we could carry on the bow. When I told this to a fellow puddle jumper last night I added \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s twice as large as it needs to be.\u0026rdquo; He winked and said, \u0026ldquo;Nope, I think it\u0026rsquo;s just as large as it needs to be.\u0026rdquo; And this is the moral to our story. When we bought the Rocna we thought of it as insurance. We didn\u0026rsquo;t really think of it as liability insurance though. We wanted an anchor that would keep us off a reef, but we are now equally grateful that we have an anchor that will keep us off other boats.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not saying that a skipper with undersized ground tackle is negligent, or that any of the unfortunate boats that dragged had not exercised prudent seamanship. That said I think in the future when people ask \u0026ldquo;what was the best thing you added to your boat to go cruising?\u0026rdquo; I might just say \u0026ldquo;A big honking Rocna!\u0026rdquo;\nP.S Convivia is fine. We have a little blue paint on the hull that should wipe right off. The dinghy has been repaired and the boat that hit us came right over in the morning to check on us. All is well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/outfitting/the-anchorage-of-doom/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCue 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 around and a very squirrely wind, a perfect recipe for doom (dun dun duuuuun).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs it turned out we had two lovely days there with no incident. On Sunday night somewhere around 11 the wind started to build and the rain started driving sideways from the east. I went into the cockpit to make sure everything was lashed down and stowed and stayed a little longer to watch the wind instrument. 30, 32, 35 knots; it was creeping higher. Then I looked up in time to see a massive blue hull grinding down our port side. \u0026ldquo;Holy Shit!\u0026rdquo; I yelled \u0026ldquo;we have been hit, Vick get up here.\u0026rdquo; I watched in startled terror for a moment as our outer lower shroud was plucked like a guitar string, \u003cem\u003etwaaaaang\u003c/em\u003e then saw the dinghy (which had just been smooshed between the two boats) recoiling. A moment later the dinghy\u0026rsquo;s bow was 10\u0026rsquo; up in the air. I rushed to the shroud to fend but the blue boat was already receding, \u0026ldquo;crap, it\u0026rsquo;s going to hit the panel\u0026rdquo; but Vick was already there, lifting the precious solar panel out of harms way. As the blue boat departed the wind caught its bow and sent the stern on one last mission of destruction. It missed our self steering vane by inches and was gone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Anchorage of Doom!"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s misery.\nFrankenfold\nConvivia 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\u0026rsquo;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.\nThe Work List\nIn case you are curious, here\u0026rsquo;s what else I\u0026rsquo;ve taken on:\nInstall new galley faucet Fix bilge pump Install LED spreader lights check tricolor light fix boom vang Fix large port lights (or make blanks) Install cockpit shower Make new light air vane for Monitor Repair jib All The Fun®\nIn between all that work we managed to squeeze in quite a bit of joy. Our first full day in Papeete was the transit of Venus. We had a once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the place where Captain Cook made his observations in 1869. The kids got a little hands on astronomy and history lesson and the day was beautiful and clear.\nWe also celebrated my birthday in appropriately understated glory. Vick made a new and improved flourless chocolate cake with fresh, hand whipped (by the kids) cream. Late we snuck the crew of s/v Obelisk aboard for a little low-key revelry.\nOver the next week we visited the numerous parks along the waterfront, awed ourselves with the selections at the grocery stores and markets, and spent time with long lost friends. We plan to leave Tahiti on June 23rd (with the PPJ Tahiti-Moorea Rendezvous) and though we came for work, I am sure we will remember the good times as well as the Frankenfold!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-frankenfold-myth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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\u0026rsquo;s misery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrankenfold\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConvivia 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\u0026rsquo;s pressurized water system. Ultimately this would have meant removing all of the hose and replacing it with \u003ca href=\"http://www.seatechinc.com/\"\u003eSea Tech\u003c/a\u003e 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Frankenfold Myth"},{"content":"I am often asked about cruising with kids. Is it difficult? I\u0026rsquo;ve overheard people talking about us. We\u0026rsquo;re brave apparently, and it\u0026rsquo;s not because of the ocean, or the remote places we go, it\u0026rsquo;s because we took our kids. We\u0026rsquo;re also crazy, according to a gal hiking behind us recently. And we love the commotion, mess, and noise of 5 little kids running around the boat, thought the gal in the slip next to us for a week in La Cruz. Most people out here have waited until their kids are grown up and from what I gather, most people are unwilling to live this closely with their kids day in and day out.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s how it is. I make breakfast, and do dishes, and read books, and bake bread, and perpetually come up with dinner ideas . I wash laundry and remind the kids to flush the toilet, and wash their hands, and pick up their Legos, and finish a chapter. I take the clothes off the line and sweep the floor, and tell the kids to get their shoes on and find their water bottles and get in the dinghy (read: car). I\u0026rsquo;m always behind on the laundry, the toilets need scrubbing and it\u0026rsquo;s difficult to take the kids to the grocery store. This is how my life is the exactly the same as any stay at home mom of two little kids.\nSo those cruisers without kids that wonder why I would travel this way in spite of having kids are asking me if it\u0026rsquo;s worth it to travel with kids rather than live in a house and send them to school and send my spouse off to work while I continue to do all of the above. They\u0026rsquo;re wondering why I would trade the ease of dropping my kids off at school, hiring out the cleaning, going out to dinner for the trouble of doing it all myself, while living with them in our tiny space.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s true, because of our kids we don\u0026rsquo;t get to spend a whole day snorkeling. We don\u0026rsquo;t get to take the longest hike and climb to the highest view spot around. We don\u0026rsquo;t get to go out to a fancy dinner or (successfully) sneak into a resort swimming pool. We don\u0026rsquo;t get to stay up late on any one else\u0026rsquo;s boat.\nOn the other hand, because of the kids we do get to meet locals. We connect to families we don\u0026rsquo;t share a language with because we figure out that our children were born weeks apart. We are understood when our little one\u0026rsquo;s legs get too tired and need a shoulder carry. \u0026ldquo;Fatigue,\u0026rdquo; they say. They\u0026rsquo;ve taken care of their own little ones too. Because of our kids we\u0026rsquo;re handed a couple more bananas before we walk home, and smiled at as we order ice cream, and laughed at because Olive walks right up to everyone and begins to speak, in English, without ever stopping to notice that they don\u0026rsquo;t understand a word. Because of our kids people seem to understand that we\u0026rsquo;re not on vacation.\nWe wanted to go cruising before we had kids. In fact part of the reason we had kids was because we wanted to travel with them. We always planned on taking care of our own kids (and that is not to say that I didn\u0026rsquo;t research boarding schools for three year olds in Switzerland once or twice) and that one of us would stay home with them. So for now we both stay home. And it is SO MUCH EASIER. We get to share in the work of child care and the joy of the kids making some pretty amazing discoveries.\nAnd what we get and give our children are life stories that include sailing across the Pacific, hiking to the third highest waterfall in the world, wading with black tip sharks, swimming from the boat in clear warm turquoise water, snorkeling around a coral reef, bike riding on an atoll called Fakarava, and birthdays that will be celebrated in Tahiti, Suwarrow, and Fiji. We\u0026rsquo;ll see mountains, and jungles, beaches, and volcanoes, full moons, and shooting stars. That is only part of it. That is only this year.\nTheir world view already includes three languages. They mix Spanish with their English and are adding French every day. That speed boat that went by looked like a panga, for example. They don\u0026rsquo;t look twice at a man wearing a boar tusk necklace, with a half tattooed face, and a pencil urchin spine through her ear. They are explorers with no end to their questions and discoveries.\nSo, for the people wondering why we\u0026rsquo;re out here in the South Pacific with our kids, we couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait! We worked hard to make sure this was one our our choices in our life, and OF COURSE we\u0026rsquo;re going to cruise with our kids. We love the warm breezes and beautiful ocean too. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing to be here, even if we miss out on a thing or two because we\u0026rsquo;re busy picking toys up off the floor, again. We\u0026rsquo;re working hard to take care of our home and our children, and we\u0026rsquo;d rather keep doing that with an absolutely stunning view.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/are-we-crazy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am often asked about cruising with kids. Is it difficult? I\u0026rsquo;ve overheard people talking about us. We\u0026rsquo;re brave apparently, and it\u0026rsquo;s not because of the ocean, or the remote places we go, it\u0026rsquo;s because we took our kids. We\u0026rsquo;re also crazy, according to a gal hiking behind us recently. And we love the commotion, mess, and noise of 5 little kids running around the boat, thought the gal in the slip next to us for a week in La Cruz. Most people out here have waited until their kids are grown up and from what I gather, most people are unwilling to live this closely with their kids day in and day out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Are we crazy?"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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 up with long lost friends from Estrellita. The next day was spent snorkeling and watching the kids learn how to swim on the beach in front of the White Sands Resort.\nThis place is just too… much. I\u0026rsquo;ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking and I\u0026rsquo;ll try to be more articulate in my next post.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/fakarava-first-days-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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 up with long lost friends from \u003ca href=\"http://thegiddyupplan.blogspot.com/\"\u003eEstrellita\u003c/a\u003e. The next day was spent snorkeling and watching the kids learn how to swim on the beach in front of the White Sands Resort.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis place is just too… much. I\u0026rsquo;ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking and I\u0026rsquo;ll try to be more articulate in my next post.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fakarava: First Days (in Photos)"},{"content":"Peer pressure was (for once) well placed when it was applied to our reluctance to hike \u0026ldquo;5 hours\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t motivate for a much longer hike, even if it was the 3rd highest waterfall in the world.\n\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s amazing,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s breathtaking,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ve got to see it, really.\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t arrived yet and we didn\u0026rsquo;t want to leave for the Tuamotus without catching up with them. For so many reasons, this was the right call.\nThe hike, first of all, was really disorienting and stunning. It started out on the main \u0026ldquo;road.\u0026rdquo; I put road in quotes because it was only about 3/4 mile long and then dead ended into a river. Everyone in the village had a truck though, and the road was well used. In any case this thoroughfare gave the distinct impression that the hike was going to be a bit of a yawner.\nCrossing the river changed that preconception in an instant. It\u0026rsquo;s out of the farm and into the jungle in 10 eel infested steps (of course we only suspected there were eels at that point). A mile or more into the jungle and we started to notice that we were walking along what seemed to be a thousand year old lava stone path. Some ancient Marquesan corps (it appeared) had spent the better part of a lifetime building a robust retaining wall and path through the ever consuming rain forest. That alone was worth the hike in my book. It was humbling and kind of creepy too. Those guys would have eaten me right?\nWe passed a ma\u0026rsquo;are with what appeared to be a pig trap and one of the trippiest patches of forest I have ever seen (and that includes the sculpted trees at Usal Beach). Then we came to the largest of the 5 or so river crossings. On account of our eel suspicions, we had been rock hopping our way across the other rivers, but this one had no such easy path. I took Ruby across first, carrying her for the last part, and then went back for Olive. I carried her the whole way and got the kids up on the (6\u0026rsquo;) high bank to watch Vick cross. She came right across (through the water) and was just about to step onto land when I heard her shriek and hop sideways out onto a rock. Then I saw a four foot long eel swim from where she had just been. I think she stepped on it\u0026rsquo;s home in the roots by the river\u0026rsquo;s edge.\nLaughing and slightly off balance we walked the final mile (ish) to the falls. Along the way we were warned about falling rocks and told (by a sign) not to proceed when it was raining. This confused us as it seemed to rain perpetually there (it was sunny when we left Convivia, but had rained on and off all day since we entered the jungle). We proceeded.\nWhen we got to the falls we ran into the crews of Panta Ray, Blue Rodeo, and Diamond Girl. As we ate our lunch the others started pushing us to swim to the falls. The water in the intervening lake was mud brown and we both knew what lived in there. There was no freakin way. We told them about the eels. They made fun of us. We told them it was too cold, they looked at us like we were a bunch of wusses. They pushed and finally Vick snapped \u0026ldquo;We can\u0026rsquo;t go with the kids and I don\u0026rsquo;t want to go without Tucker. Will YOU watch our kids?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;That will shut them up,\u0026rdquo; I thought, but Ann from Blue Rodeo took us right up on the offer. I should have known :)\nSo it was that peer pressure provided its second gift to us. Swimming through the muddy water was indeed terrifying, and cold. When I took a mouth full I thought of some weird parasite that was going to kill me in some colorful way and spat quickly and with vigor. But when we stepped through the crack in the rocks on the other side of the lake, and entered the final pool leading up to the falls I no longer cared. WHOOOSH, air and water buffeted us. It was freezing, and noisy and just out of this world amazing. We declined to swim under, which we later took more guff for, but I don\u0026rsquo;t think it would have added any more to my bliss. My mind had already been blown enough for one day.\nHiking back with the other sailors was a ton of fun. The kids happily raced back and forth along the line of hikers and made friends with everyone. When Olive ran out of steam (which came much later than I had expected) Mark (again from Blue Rodeo) put her up on her shoulders for the duration.\nAt the end of the hike we stopped at several farms and had lime aid, fresh fruit, fried plantain, and finally, at Teiki\u0026rsquo;s house demonstrations on coconut husking and grating. As we motored back to Convivia we saw Wondertime pulling in and immediately changed course to invite them for dinner. In retrospect I\u0026rsquo;m not sure how we managed to stay awake, but we did, until 11 or so.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/vaipo-waterfall/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePeer pressure was (for once) well placed when it was applied to our reluctance to hike \u0026ldquo;5 hours\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t motivate for a much longer hike, even if it was the 3rd highest waterfall in the world.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s amazing,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s breathtaking,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;ve got to see it, really.\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t arrived yet and we didn\u0026rsquo;t want to leave for the Tuamotus without catching up with them. For so many reasons, this was the right call.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vaipo Waterfall"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m not sure I knew that Daniel\u0026rsquo;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.\nOur 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.\nWhile we were loading the dinghy up to head home a couple motored up in a small boat and started to fish. I started to communicate (which is mostly smiles and hand gestures) and was invited to take a seemingly invisible trail back to his house. Teiki assured us that it was a road (holding his hands out to signify a road of superhighway proportions) and pointed to the lava rock on the adjacent shore.\nSun wearied though we were, we decided to give it a go and were so glad we did. The trail (which we later found out was cut and maintained by Teiki) was gorgeous and offered some amazing vistas and fruit. When we got to Teiki\u0026rsquo;s house we were shown their eel garden (a swamp with a giant eel that they were feeding/playing with) and then fed fresh coconuts, bananas and other treats. We shared some of our treats too and were pleasantly surprised when the refused our neon colored jelly bellies.\nWe headed home with a bounty of tropical fruit with Teiki\u0026rsquo;s admonishment that \u0026ldquo;real men carry their bananas in their out-stretched arm, like this,\u0026rdquo; ringing in my head. When a guy like Teiki tells you what a \u0026ldquo;real man\u0026rdquo; does, you kinda have to believe he knows what he\u0026rsquo;s talking about.\nCheck out the local perspective that Carol and Livia on s/v Estrellita picked up ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/daniels-bay-aka-survivor-4-beach/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m not sure I knew that Daniel\u0026rsquo;s Bay (aka Hakatea Bay) was the site of \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor:_Marquesas\"\u003eSurvivor 4\u003c/a\u003e 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur 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 \u003ca href=\"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/frenchpolynesiatahiti/8830733/Cannibal-fear-over-German-tourist.html\"\u003esensational cannibalism case\u003c/a\u003e* that has made the news (though thankfully not enough to catch our parents attention) lately.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Daniel's Bay: Aka Survivor 4 beach"},{"content":"I kind of pride myself on having a \u0026ldquo;feelings\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;ve been a little short on blog posts lately.\nThe 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\u0026rsquo;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.\nSo I am going to write a little about the details and leave the introspection for later.\nNuku Hiva has been, and this is quite a statement, the best all around island of our visit (for me). While it isn\u0026rsquo;t as friendly as Ua Pou, or as hauntingly magnificent as Fatu Hiva, or as polished as Tahuata, it has had kids (lots and lots of kids) and super easy goods and services (woodworking, rappa coco, groceries, laundry, music\u0026hellip;). It also has D\u0026rsquo;Anaho Bay, which I\u0026rsquo;ll get to.\nWe sailed to Taiohae on just our jib due to some blow outs. This made for a very slow crossing, but also let us be really amazed by the topography of Nuku Hiva. Entering Taiohae Bay I was swept away by the now expected but still amazing verdant mountains and cliffs dropping directly into deep ocean. These cliffs showed evidence of periodic waterfalls which we later got to see in action. The Bay was well enough protected while still being expansive enough to hold 50+ yachts including the enormous (179\u0026rsquo;) superyachts Marie and CV-9. We found a good anchor spot nestled in fairly close to the yacht\u0026rsquo;s quay. The holding is great but there is a crazy \u0026ldquo;waltz\u0026rdquo; that has boats moving 360º around their anchor and generally not pointing the same way.\nIn town we found every type of service including a woodworker named Kevin who not only filled our propane tanks (with butane) but also made a few things for Convivia that I had been wanting since Mexico. Within a few days we had re-provisioned (Vick has since promised that her \u0026ldquo;permanent\u0026rdquo; home will require a produce procuring option that doesn\u0026rsquo;t require a 4am wakeup call), fueled up, and reconnected ourselves with friends and family through expensive internet. We were ready to move on!\nAfter considering our many options the crews of Wondertime and Convivia decided to head up to D\u0026rsquo; Anaho Bay for a few days. Anaho is reputed to be the best, most beautiful, flattest anchorage in all of the Marquesas. I am here to tell you that it is all of that. It\u0026rsquo;s something else too that my travel numbed senses can\u0026rsquo;t quite put to words. I can say that that other thing is a feely sort of thing; a \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m really lucky to be here, with these people\u0026rdquo; kind of feeling. It\u0026rsquo;s quiet and flat, and the mountains that surrounded us seemed to be alternately cast in warm oranges and cozy slanting fog.\nOn land we were welcomed to help ourselves to coconuts which I diligently shucked cracked and served to our friends and the family. Afterwards we took a walk down Main Street, a 2 person wide trail edged with banana and coconut palms, fruit trees, vegetable gardens and one of the most amazing flower gardens I\u0026rsquo;ve seen since California.\nAfter the walk we joined the crew of Khaiulani for a pickup birthday party. Their son was turning 6. Between the three boats we had 6 kids under 8 years old. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have kids, or haven\u0026rsquo;t spent much time with them away from other kids let me tell you that this was like stumbling across a diamond the size of your fist on the beach. When we were invited to their gorgeous schooner for a potluck dinner on the following night we eagerly accepted.\nWe are back in Taiohae now and all provisioned up for the new best thing (the Tuamotus). On Monday we will make our last stop in the Marquesas to see the waterfall at Daniel\u0026rsquo;s Bay and then we\u0026rsquo;ll make our 4 day passage to Kauehi Island. Maybe along the way I will get some of my feelings sorted out and put them into a post.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/taiohae-and-danaho-bays/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI kind of pride myself on having a \u0026ldquo;feelings\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;ve been a little short on blog posts lately.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taiohae and D'Anaho Bays"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/photos-from-tahuata-and-ua-pou/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;t.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Photos From Tahuata and Ua Pou"},{"content":"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 small, interior, and caused by our kids. I left a lot of the little stuff off this list because it was already getting long. A few of the breaks were avoidable, and we have learned some good preventative maintenance lessons (like don\u0026rsquo;t let the sails flog at all). The remainder was either just old boat stuff, or general maintenance.\nThing that broke Cause Solution Hanging Locker door handle Olive tied something on it and pulled I used a barrel lock that I had in spares Silverware drawer handle old plastic still broken Spinnaker Washed overboard ordered a new one Main sheet car Too much flogging will replace when I find the spare Mascerator Not quite sure re-plumbed the whole darn thing Starboard portlight (large) I broke it while rebedding will replace in Tahiti Toilet Seat lid (forward) The kids probably epoxy, right now it just rests Bilge pump wiring, obstructions, etc constant supervision All DC power found a corroded battery jumper fixed with some spare 2/0 and lugs that I had in spares, also replaced the terminal bolt SSB/HAM Radio power button Vick turned it on Starter Battery bilge pump directly connected generator…phew! Countless Plumbing Problems (seriously 2/week) Fresh water pump too powerful replumb. reblumb. replumb. repeat. Salt water pump in galley Olive stepped on it Used the foot pump I got Vick for Christmas Fresh water faucet in galley crappy faucet rusted turned it off and used pressure filter water Topping lift shackle broke flogging Dyneema Oar on dingy no freakin clue none yet both pot handles rust or misuse screwdriver and muscle Stanchions/chainplate covers leaked caulk failed rebedded both inner lowers and several stanchions, no leaks so far Boom vang lost 3 bolts preventer/galvanic corrosion turns out they stripped their threads, will need to rivet and reconsider preventer system Gooseneck. 2 bolts constantly loosening preventer reconsider preventer system Three blades on fan in refrigerator operator error if we loose a 4th I will replace the fan from spares. each blade also represents a medium sized gash in an operator\u0026rsquo;s finger ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/what-broke/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell 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 small, interior, and caused by our kids. I left a lot of the little stuff off this list because it was already getting long.  A few of the breaks were avoidable, and we have learned some good preventative maintenance lessons (like don\u0026rsquo;t let the sails flog at all). The remainder was either just old boat stuff, or general maintenance.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Broke"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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 assuredness about his sailboat and his cruising plans that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help but admire him . As we became friends he repeated his mantra, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s okay\u0026rdquo; about any worries I had about living aboard, fixing up Convivia, and sailing away. He even called us just before we untied the dock lines to remind us that everything would be just fine. I\u0026rsquo;ve tried to remember /just/ the tone of his believable voice and though I\u0026rsquo;ve repeated his words a million times, I\u0026rsquo;ve been searching for my own authentic, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s okay.\u0026rdquo;\nFelix Fii, known as Fati, but who actually has a name much longer than either of those, is the Tahuatan tattooist we agreed to meet at seven on Sunday morning. I\u0026rsquo;ve been old enough to get a tattoo for half my life and I\u0026rsquo;ve wanted one for longer than that, but first I needed a story good enough to tell in permanent ink on my skin. I love the fact that Marquesan tattoos mark rites of passage and my Pacific crossing is certainly worthy of a mark.\nTucker went first. Fati drew with pen carefully on his arm and then moved onto inking it in. I watched Tucker\u0026rsquo;s face the moment the first buzz of the needle met his shoulder. He didn\u0026rsquo;t flinch. Marquesan men are supposed to endure the pain without a flinch. Tucker did so for several hours. When it was my turn Tucker suggested I \u0026ldquo;observe [the sensation] without judgement.\u0026rdquo; I practiced not judging the pain of my mosquito bites, sprayed myself with additional bug spray, and downed a few more drops of Rescue Remedy. It was my turn.\nFati showed me a little sketch of two elements of my tattoo we had talked about the day before. With my approval he held my arm firmly and drew. His concentration and his hands were steady and strong. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t long before I was lying on my back on his hard plywood table, my tranquil face displaying my assent as I heard the first buzz of the tattoo tool. I breathed deeply and felt without judging. At first it seemed like my blue ceramic knife tracing designs into my skin. In my mind I changed it to a burning feeling, and then to the sharp point of an ink pen.\nWithin a minute or two I found my comfort. Fati\u0026rsquo;s confident hand holding my arm was part of it. I am sure his potent \u0026ldquo;mana\u0026rdquo; is something like the reiki energy I am used to. He felt powerful and trustworthy and I knew that whatever mana he offered me was safe. I knew for sure that my tattoo would be perfect.\nFor a couple of hours at least I lay on the table, alternately staring up at the torn ceiling in his studio/shack, looking at the poster on the wall of a man heavily tattooed on half his body (including his face), and daydreaming. I was totally comfortable, peaceful, even smiling. When Tucker asked me how I was doing my, \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m okay,\u0026rdquo; was confident and true. My, \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m okay,\u0026rdquo; applied to my arm, the ink, my family, my boat, my voyage, and my life. And so it was that on that day, when I marked forever my passage with the sun the sea and my two children on my arm, I found my, \u0026ldquo;It\u0026rsquo;s Okay.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/cruising/how-i-found-my-its-okay-in-the-hands-of-my-marquesan-tattooist/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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 assuredness about his sailboat and his cruising plans that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t help but admire him . As we became friends he repeated his mantra, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s okay\u0026rdquo; about any worries I had about living aboard, fixing up Convivia, and sailing away. He even called us just before we untied the dock lines to remind us that everything would be just fine. I\u0026rsquo;ve tried to remember /just/ the tone of his believable voice and though I\u0026rsquo;ve repeated his words a million times, I\u0026rsquo;ve been searching for my own authentic, \u0026ldquo;it\u0026rsquo;s okay.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How I found my, \"It's Okay\" in the hands of my Marquesan tattooist"},{"content":"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 green. Palm trees lean toward the ocean cliffs. The grassy areas are dotted with mountain goats. The sky is a dark blue, heavy with mist, and threatens to explode into a squall or a rainbow. I wonder if rainbows are overlooked here. I can\u0026rsquo;t find a local person that can tell me what they\u0026rsquo;re called in French or Marquesan.\nThe people on shore are as generous as they are eager to trade. They have pamplemousse, limes, bananas, and coconuts and they ask for resin, sandals, perfume, tee shirts, bras, and cigarettes. We gather children\u0026rsquo;s clothes from our boat the next time we head to shore.\nWith hushed whispers two men ask us if we have guns. They instruct us not to tell but if we have them we should kill goats. Or perhaps they wanted to kill goats. We don\u0026rsquo;t have a gun, and we also avoid an offer a man named Stefan made to come to our boat to cook one for us. We hope to have a chance to eat chevre au coco (goat meat with coconut milk) or poissoin cru (raw fish marinated in lime juice and covered in coconut milk) but with so few people visiting Fatu Hiva we feel like inviting someone aboard would expose us to uncomfortable begging for what we have. Our boat is the simplest, smallest, and oldest in the harbor, but the amount and variety of food we\u0026rsquo;ve stashed under our cushions is greater than the entire supply in town. One man looked closely at me and offered pamplemousse for my Oakleys. I wondered just how many pamplemousse I could eat before they spoiled and hung on tightly to my sunglasses.\nWith vague directions we hiked to the waterfall, plucked limes from trees, and found a petroglyph in the forest. We bought a machete at the Magasin and followed the store owner to his house for a half a dozen coconuts. He shucked them and shook them and cracked them open with our machete, tossing some to his pig and chickens and offering us the foamy cotton candy insides of a sprouted coconut. We carried our heavy load home to Convivia.\nI baked bread, did sink loads of dishes, and hung clean laundry on the lifelines while staring at the most stunning view ever. I sailed to Fatu Hiva, one of the most isolated islands on the planet, and hiked to the waterfall with my children. I am so grateful these things will always be part of my history.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-most-beautiful-place/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFour 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 green. Palm trees lean toward the ocean cliffs. The grassy areas are dotted with mountain goats. The sky is a dark blue, heavy with mist, and threatens to explode into a squall or a rainbow. I wonder if rainbows are overlooked here. I can\u0026rsquo;t find a local person that can tell me what they\u0026rsquo;re called in French or Marquesan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The most beautiful place"},{"content":"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.\nVictoria 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.\nMeeting Felix “Fati” Fii was not unlike meeting a shaman, he held his space with a kind but somehow simultaneously fierce power. The “Imagining” (as Fati put it) was executed in mixed French, English, and drawing. My feeble stick figure was warmly rejected. Fati drew an oval (outlining the area on my shoulder that he would fill with ink) and instructed me to use my imagination. I felt proud when he looked at my drawing and smiled, “Yeah, Je pense, I will recreate this in Marquesan Motifs. Come back tomorrow.”\nWhen I returned at 7am, belly empty and mind clear, Fati presented his drawing. It was exquisite. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait to have it become a part of me. Hours later when he washed the left over ink off my shoulder and held the mirror up I felt different. In investing my skin with this story it seemed that Fati had invested something else. He called it Mana, and I am disinclined to define it differently.\nWe have tens of thousands of sea miles ahead of us and countless achievements to celebrate. I can\u0026rsquo;t say for sure that I will continue to write this history on my body in the Polynesian way, but I can\u0026rsquo;t say that I wont either. Regardless I will have a powerful permanent reminder that these accomplishments deserve, perhaps even demand to be celebrated.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/tahauta-mana/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVictoria 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tahauta Mana"},{"content":"I thought this might be interesting for some. These are our 24hr waypoints for the whole trip. What isn\u0026rsquo;t shown is the track (our actual path of travel) witch , more often than not, zig-zagged across the almost straight line described here.\nCruisers familiar with this passage will almost certainly understand what is going on around day 10 . This is where we decided that the ITCZ crossing would be much better a few degrees west. As it turns out those demoralizing days of heading west instead of south, were well worth it. We never really saw the ITCZ. Big thanks to my buddy Krister for keeping us informed of weather and routing us expertly through this area of turmoil.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/our-route-across-the-pacific/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI thought this might be interesting for some. These are our 24hr waypoints for the whole trip. What isn\u0026rsquo;t shown is the track (our actual path of travel) witch , more often than not, zig-zagged across the almost straight line described here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCruisers familiar with this passage will almost certainly understand what is going on around day 10 . This is where we decided that the ITCZ crossing would be much better a few degrees west. As it turns out those demoralizing days of heading west instead of south, were well worth it. We never really saw the ITCZ. Big thanks to my buddy Krister for keeping us informed of weather and routing us expertly through this area of turmoil.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Route Across the Pacific"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t find enough time in the day for everything she wanted to do. \u0026ldquo;The days were so much longer in La Cruz. Why are they going by so fast on passage?\u0026rdquo;\nOur time in La Cruz may have been a little bit vacation like for us, especially as Ruby and Olive filled their days with friends and play and excitement, and Tucker and I did too, all the way through many evenings with cocktails and long into the night conversations. We ate at taquerias and dropped off our laundry. The living was easy. If I look back through my crossed out to do lists and check lists and provisioning lists I know we worked hard too. And here I was on passage finding that I didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough time either.\nI found myself in the galley for many hours a day, cooking and baking and doing the dishes while bracing myself for the 15 degree heel and the rocking swell. I felt like I was always working on a meal or a snack or planning the next one. I swept the sole over and over and wondered why we had so much dirt still even though we were 1500 miles from shore. I plunged laundry in a bucket, mostly rags and towels from cleaning up jobs, and hung it on the windward lifelines and hoped for the salt water spray to not reach that high.\nI scribbled positions in the log book, read a few pages of my own book here and there, and chapter after chapter of children\u0026rsquo;s books until my voice was weak, played games with the kids, helped them find the next pieces for the puzzles they were solving, sewed a flag, turned the eggs, tidied up, and scanned the horizon again and again for ships.\nTucker adjusted the sails, many more times than I did, and spent his days fixing and fixing the little things that broke. We are very fortunate that our big loss was our spinnaker overboard and not our rudder or standing rigging or mast. The sea was gentle to us. However those two happy kids cooped up on our boat may have been responsible for the broken toilet seat, the broken salt water hand pump, and the broken hanging locker door knob. Tucker found solutions for most of that and spent far too much time scraping up his knuckles searching for the never ending fresh pressure water system leaks.\nThe kids, though they had some jobs like throwing food scraps overboard, sweeping, drying and putting away dishes, chasing down mildew, and checking for ships and squalls, found enough things to do for months, never mind weeks. Ruby insisted on teaching Olive to write all of her letters, which is pretty remarkable, given her history of only wanting to draw bombs and cannons, and draw the letter X (marks the spot). She did it in a day. Olive completed all the mazes in one book and started on a fresh maze book I had stashed away. Ruby read to herself and to her sister. She spent hours of concentration trying to solve a very difficult nine piece puzzle that they got as an equator crossing present from our friends on s/v Windarra. She drew and drew and drew and when she got frustrated I gave her a new drawing book to help her along and she drew some more. They both played Lego and dress up, and endless pretend games. They listened to audiobooks and watched movies, watched sunrises and sunsets, looked for phosphoresce and shooting stars, and counted the seconds after the lightning.\nOnly when we had been out three weeks did Ruby start mentioning that she really wanted to go for a walk and play with friends. She never once asked, \u0026ldquo;are we there yet?\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;how much longer?\u0026rdquo; though she could just check the charts on her own for the answer. At the beginning, Olive asked, \u0026ldquo;Is today the day we get to our destination?\u0026rdquo; After a few days she switched to, \u0026ldquo;Tell me the day that we\u0026rsquo;re going to be at our destination.\u0026rdquo; Of course we\u0026rsquo;ll tell!\nSo for twenty four nights, the four of us spent every minute on our forty three foot boat (we used the v-berth for storage so even smaller space). We didn\u0026rsquo;t go to the store to pick up groceries, didn\u0026rsquo;t get a glimpse of what was happening in the world via the Internet, and didn\u0026rsquo;t get to run out to tacos for dinner. Instead, we proved our self sufficiency and our cooperation and our harmony.\nWhen our French Polynesian agent (that helps us with our bond exemption, paperwork, and duty free fuel) asked me if it was difficult to travel with children, at first I said yes, but the traveling part is absolutely easy. The preparation was very difficult, and we were lucky in La Cruz to have a whole bunch of wonderful kids and parents that helped take care of Ruby and Olive, especially in the last week, but once we were gone (even with unchecked things on the lists), it was all good. While I\u0026rsquo;m envious of sailing couples that get to soak in sunsets together and read countless novels, it certainly isn\u0026rsquo;t worth waiting for the kids to grow up! We don\u0026rsquo;t have to choose between kids or adventure. Though we wont get a chance to hike the highest hills for the views, and maybe will only get to see as much of the world as a four and a half year old can handle, we are definitely seeing more stunning amazing beauty than most people ever even wish for.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/our-days-at-sea/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;t find enough time in the day for everything she wanted to do. \u0026ldquo;The days were so much longer in La Cruz. Why are they going by so fast on passage?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Days at Sea"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/photos-from-crossing-and-landfall/","summary":"","title":"Photos from Crossing and Landfall"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s Charts and our Lonely Planet guide books and decided to head for Hiva Oa, the largest southern Marquesan island. We don\u0026rsquo;t want to miss the nearby islands of Fatu Hiva and Tahuata. We are anchored now in Baie Tahuku near the town of Atuona.\nLand Ho! We saw land around 4pm, boat time (we weren\u0026rsquo;t ever exactly right on our time zones, and changed the clock back 2.5 hours when we got in). We knew we couldn\u0026rsquo;t make landfall before dark, so we plotted a course for a night time scenic route through the islands and sailed north of Fatu Hiva and between Tahuata and Motane on our way to Hiva Oa. The sky was clear and the moon was fairly bright so we had pretty clear silhouettes of the islands in view through our last night. As the sun came up we were headed straight for Hiva Oa with a giant rainbow framing Tahuata!\nThe Tahuku anchorage is crowded and was difficult to find a spot to fit our bow and stern anchors. At first we found an out of the way spot and just bow anchored, second we dropped the hooks in too shallow of a spot, and finally we took the spot of a friend\u0026rsquo;s boat when they departed. The anchorage is framed by high hills, mountain views, palm trees, and a dark sand beach. It\u0026rsquo;s absolutely stunning.\nWe found our way to shore in the afternoon for a shower, which turned out to be a faucet, higher than our heads, with a cement surrounding, lower than our shoulders, with only cold water. Our shower time turned into play time for the kids when we found a seven year old French girl ashore. The kids missed their shower (last one being almost a month ago) and came back dirtier than before. The days on passage went so quickly, and I know that the days ashore might pass even faster!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/landfall-in-paradise/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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\u0026rsquo;s Charts and our Lonely Planet guide books and decided to head for Hiva Oa, the largest southern Marquesan island.  We don\u0026rsquo;t want to miss the nearby islands of Fatu Hiva and Tahuata. We are anchored now in Baie Tahuku near the town of Atuona.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Landfall in Paradise"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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!\nYesterday, around two weeks into spring, we saw the 0°00\u0026rsquo; latitude show up on our GPS! Instantly we were in the Southern Hemisphere. We\u0026rsquo;ve arrived at South. We\u0026rsquo;ve arrived in the South Pacific. It is now fall and in my quest for endless summer I\u0026rsquo;ve skipped it entirely for a while. What I have instead of summer this year is the bluest, clearest water I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen, warm breezes, and air so fresh I find myself stopping several times a day to breathe it in deeply so that I can remember it forever.\nYesterday we completed 17 days at sea and watched the charts and the GPS as the latitude dropped from 2 degrees north, to 1 degree north, and into 0 (plus minutes). We put the final touches on our chocolate cake, smothering on plenty of vanilla frosting, sprinkles, and candles that we lit as we counted down the seconds to zero. We all cheered. We\u0026rsquo;re all shellbacks now. Having sailed across the equator on our own boat is definitely cause for celebration!\nSo we celebrated all day. We started with pancakes and real maple syrup. I baked a loaf of gluten free bread, a loaf of whole wheat bread, and a lovely chocolate cake in my biggest saute pan. Tucker made me an iced Vietnamese coffee, a very special treat indeed. We opened presents from my mom, and from our friends on s/v Kenta Anae, s/v Allegria, and s/v Windarra. We watched the water go down the drain counter clockwise (for the record it changed in the Northern Hemisphere). I brought out a beautiful geography book to look through, and we me made snow. Yep, aboard Convivia was a batch of instant, just add water, fake snow, saved for the occasion. (Maia from s/v Ceilydh- I read your post about your crossing last year imploring parents of Pacific crossing kids to bring plenty of presents- the snow was in your honor.)\nWe still have several hundred miles left in our passage to French Polynesia but we all feel really happy to have crossed that imaginary line around he earth and have arrived in the South Pacific, our gigantic home until late Spring (November). Our ocean crossing weeks in March and April are only the beginning of our adventures!\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll have pictures to share when we find the Internet again, all cropped for modesty of course, since all we\u0026rsquo;re wearing to keep warm these days is our underwear.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/shellbacks/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor 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\u0026rsquo;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!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shellbacks."},{"content":"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.\nAs 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.\nThen I (arguably) \u0026ldquo;grew up\u0026rdquo;. Convention schooled me, taught me that every child dreams but those fantasies are inevitably naive, flawed. The doubt takes hold slowly; what if I get tired of it; what if I discover I would rather have my career with all its security and predictability; what if my family hates it; what if\u0026hellip; that endless blue ocean isn\u0026rsquo;t as breathtaking, as awe inspiring, as life affirming as I had hoped; what if I become lost in my insignificance?\nTomorrow our little family will cross the equator. We will have sailed over 2000 miles in 17 days on this awesome ocean, and we still are not done. I sit here in the forward companionway, laptop on my knees, and face a seemingly endless horizon. The moon shines a silver path to the West and the Southern Cross marks our path forward. Hull and sails cut unerringly through wind and sea towards our next destination. And I reflect on that boy, on that young man that I once was. I can answer his unasked questions now. Yes the ocean will reveal your cosmic insignificance but if you live intentionally, follow your dreams and obey your personal wisdom you will rediscover your personal significance.\nDream on.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/the-vastness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Vastness"},{"content":"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.\nIf you search for a book or article and use the words \u0026ldquo;cruising\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;cooking\u0026rdquo; you are likely to find a lot of great resources. Great if you like canned (including canned meat) and and heavily processed foodstuffs.\nVictoria has read every one of these galley cookbooks that she could get her hands on and has summarily rejected the notion that she can\u0026rsquo;t sail the world and eat well. Let me tell you, this is one experiment that you want in on.\nSo 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\u0026rsquo;t enough to have you scrambling for a crew position, this list should seal the deal.\nLast night we had a one pot paella. Vick threw diced onion, red, yellow, and green bell peppers, sweet italian sausage, and veggie broth into the pressure cooker with some brown rice and a half hour or so later we were eating like Spanish kings.\nThis morning we had scrambled eggs (fresh eggs of course) and breakfast sausage. I know, not so special.. unless you have been at sea for a week, then it feels like the best food ever. FWIW our sausage (and all of our meat) came from Carnes del Mundo in Bucarias. If you are provisioning out of Banderas Bay this is the only place to buy your meat.\nThis afternoon we made chocolate chocolate chip peanut butter bars. They are just coming out of the oven now, but the batter was remarkable :)\nAnother delight was the pulled pork with pablano and red pepper, sautéed onions, all over rice with bbq sauce.\nAnd let\u0026rsquo;s not forget the Oh-heck-we\u0026rsquo;ve-got-to-use-all-this-produce-before-it-rots hot damn salsa! With fresh mango, tomatoes, avocado, onion, jalepeno, lime juice, salt and pepper, it was just awesome with the sushi rice that was left over from the (oh yeah) sushi we had earlier.\nSo there it is. We may have 2760 miles of ocean to cross before we get to a poorly stocked store, but we aren\u0026rsquo;t letting that dictate our diet. Vick is 1000 miles into this passage and not showing any signs of wavering. Lucky us!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/convivia-gourmet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOkay, 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.\u003cbr\u003e\nIf you search for a book or article and use the words \u0026ldquo;cruising\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;cooking\u0026rdquo; you are likely to find a lot of great resources. Great if you like canned (including canned meat) and and heavily processed foodstuffs.\u003cbr\u003e\nVictoria has read every one of these galley cookbooks that she could get her hands on and has summarily rejected the notion that she can\u0026rsquo;t sail the world and eat well. Let me tell you, this is one experiment that you want in on.\u003cbr\u003e\nSo 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\u0026rsquo;t enough to have you scrambling for a crew position, this list should seal the deal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Convivia Gourmet"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s really tough when you are in it) we are looking aft at 3-4 meter seas.\nIf you haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t. It is awesome! Really in both the modern and archaic meaning of the word. Water like this (though it won\u0026rsquo;t likely be the largest we will see) inspires awe, and is freaking cool.\nYesterday we were moving along at a pretty good clip and the sea was (comparably) flat. Small 1-2m swell was rolling under us with a long period. The sky was mostly sunny and the water color was rich blue. Today the clouds have obscured the sun for most of the day, the sea is a deep navy blue and the wind is licking the tops of the waves off and knocking them across our transom. All this and more is within the scope of our planet\u0026rsquo;s power, and it is humbling.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s freaking cool too. Did I mention that? Convivia, it is clear, is very buoyant! These monster waves roll up behind us and up up up she goes. We hang for a moment at the crest, propelled to even greater speed, and then gently descend down the backside. Every once in a while an opposing swell will approach at just the right moment and attempt to knock Convivia to her rails as she prepares to descend. No problem, she just heels a bit, dumps a little velocity and lifts over it to carry on with what she was doing. We have put the toe rail under a number of times but whatever water we take on sheds off her like she\u0026rsquo;s got a duck\u0026rsquo;s back.\nSo it is that I have spent the last several hours. Just staring out at this remarkable ocean, humbled and simultaneously grateful to be able to experience this gift of perspective.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/the-awesome-ocean/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow! 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\u0026rsquo;s really tough when you are in it) we are looking aft at 3-4 meter seas.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t. It is awesome! Really in both the modern and archaic meaning of the word. Water like this (though it won\u0026rsquo;t likely be the largest we will see) inspires awe, and is freaking cool.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Awesome Ocean"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;ve passed the 500 mile mark, the boat has become a lot more comfortable.\nOn Sunday night while we were sitting at the Port Captain\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m sure no one has a more comprehensive blog, about their day to day life and adventures. She knows what\u0026rsquo;s she\u0026rsquo;s talking about! So, Ali, this post is for you.\nIn no particular order this is what we\u0026rsquo;re up to:\neating lots of fruit, plain and in smoothies\nmaking plenty of power from the sun (enough for the Vitamix!)\nreading lots- I\u0026rsquo;ve read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids, and a new Elsa Beskow book The Land of Long Ago that was a gift when Olive turned 4 1/2.\nplaying new games- the kids can play Hiss together without any help.\nLegos. Lots of Lego time here.\nWatching sunrises and sunsets. I\u0026rsquo;ve been in the cockpit most mornings and Olive always wants to come up and snuggle and tell me how beautiful the world is.\nWatch keeping-looking out for ships, adjusting the sails, log keeping\nLaundry in a bucket- some of the wash water was from cooking the hard boiled eggs first and the rinse water was used to wash the Monitor down well.\nLots of cooking and dishes, which is a big change from most of our time in La Cruz, especially the last few weeks.\nRuby drawing and writing and working on math books\nSling shooting any rotten food overboard- even Olive will definitely not hit anyone here\nCalling random ships just to say, \u0026ldquo;good morning, have a good trip.\u0026rdquo;\nListening to music\nThe kids are watching a movie on most days\nI\u0026rsquo;ve cracked open The Lonely Planet guide to French Polynesia, French for Cruisers, Landfalls in Paradise, Blue Latitudes Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, and Charlie\u0026rsquo;s Charts to the South Pacific. I haven\u0026rsquo;t started a novel yet, but I\u0026rsquo;m sure that\u0026rsquo;ll come soon.\nFishing- no luck yet\nScaring birds away, although, some of them are doing a better job at scaring me.\nStaring at the most amazing blue color every day.\nStar watching through the night.\nListening to Olive when she asks me if we\u0026rsquo;re getting to our destination today, and her making me promise to tell her when it is the day.\nI can easily see wanting to go for a big long walk, and the longing for fresh produce that I\u0026rsquo;m going to have in a couple weeks, but I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine that we\u0026rsquo;ll ever run out of things to do.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/day-to-day/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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\u0026rsquo;ve passed the 500 mile mark, the boat has become a lot more comfortable.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn Sunday night while we were sitting at the Port Captain\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m sure no one has a more comprehensive \u003ca href=\"http://bumfuzzle.com\"\u003eblog\u003c/a\u003e, about their day to day life and adventures. She knows what\u0026rsquo;s she\u0026rsquo;s talking about! So, Ali, this post is for you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Day to Day"},{"content":"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.\nOn the \u0026ldquo;exciting\u0026rdquo; side, it was Olive\u0026rsquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t have much space in the fridge. We relented and Olive seemed delighted, though she never did finish that glass.\nWhile she napped Ruby got to work making her presents. Amongst the gems were a custom coloring page, a hand bound (sewn) notebook, and a few loaner toys (it was only a 1/2 birthday after all). She managed all that creativity, and did some math work too.\nLater, when everyone had awoken, and the gifts had been fully enjoyed, I put on some music and the boat livened right up. It\u0026rsquo;s strange that this hasn\u0026rsquo;t been a normal part of our passage making so far, but it certainly will be going forward.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s night time now and I am standing my first watch. Last night we saw the southern cross for the first time and I expect it to finish rising above the horizon any moment. Dolphin visits, reading, and stargazing are the highlights of these warm, low latitude nights. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t sound like much but it all makes me blissfully happy.\np.s. Here\u0026rsquo;s a funny little bit of Convivia culture. Something on the boat is ringing in the most beautiful way. It\u0026rsquo;s like a tiny glockenspiel and it only goes off occasionally. I bet we could find it if we wanted to, but the randomness of it and the moment of joy it brings when it rings are similar to the joy of the dolphin visits. \u0026ldquo;Oh there you are again, so nice to hear you.\u0026rdquo; So we have left it a mystery.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/the-crew-gets-our-groove-back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the \u0026ldquo;exciting\u0026rdquo; side, it was Olive\u0026rsquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t have much space in the fridge. We relented and Olive seemed delighted, though she never did finish that glass.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Crew Gets Our Groove Back"},{"content":"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.\nThe time-warp ended, leaving me planted on the prow of my own boat, crossing an enormous ocean with my family. A smile threatened to split my face open with it\u0026rsquo;s enormity. I gripped the forestay tightly and leaned out over the leading edge of our boat, out into the world, my dreams, and our future.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/low-lattitudes-high-levels-of-awesomeness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Low Lattitudes High Levels of Awesomeness"},{"content":"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.\nDay 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 \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m all done being sick now.\u0026rdquo; And she was!\nDay 2 we woke up to find that our spinnaker had washed overboard during the night. I should have known better than to have left it strapped to the bow. We had almost lost it once before in similar seas. That will be an expensive lesson, both in replacement cost and in the miles/day that we will loose on our crossing.\nDay 3 I came back on watch early because the wind had clocked off to our stern and the sails wouldn\u0026rsquo;t stay full. This would have been a really great time to launch a spinaker. I decided that there was no use worrying about what I didn\u0026rsquo;t have and pulled our drifter out. With the main down and the drifter up we are now making a measly 5 knots, but at least we are moving.\nDespite the mild sea sickness and the loss of equipment we are generally in good spirits. Victoria is reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the kids as I write this and we are planning to juice up some of the pineapple and banana to make a smoothie. If the wind cooperates we could make it to the Marquesas in as little as 15 days. If not, maybe 24.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/first-days-of-passage/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDay 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 \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m all done being sick now.\u0026rdquo; And she was!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"First Days of Passage"},{"content":"Today\u0026rsquo;s goal was to obtain a zarpe. For those who haven\u0026rsquo;t done this, a Zarpe is the official document that you get when you leave a country by boat. They aren\u0026rsquo;t strictly necessary, but you can be rejected from entering your next port if you don\u0026rsquo;t have one. We decided that a 2,800 miles U-turn was enough reason to jump through a few hoops.\nSo armed with a thousand opinions and rumors, we headed over to the Capitainia de Puerto in Puerto Vallarta. The Capitainia gave us a bit of a hard time but ended up giving us the paperwork we needed. After filling it out and giving them the correct paperwork we were directed to Immigration and Customs at the airport. The customs officer was very polite and very confused. I seems that the fact that our boat was in La Cruz created a bit of a jurisdictional problemo for our new friends. Finally one of the customs officers pointed us in the right direction.\nAnd so it was that we got on our 4th bus of the day to Nuevo Vallarta. We arrived at the Capitania de Puerto for Nuevo Vallarta just minutes before quitting time (2:30pm). The Capitania was expecting me (our customs friends had called ahead) and cut me off a few minutes into my sad story to tell me, \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t want to hear what all the other people said, this is what you need to do.\u0026rdquo; He proceeded to instruct me to return with my boat when I wanted to leave. I am to call ahead (on VHF Channel 16) and they will summon customs and immigration. They will do everything there after which I am expected to leave the country immediately.\nI left his office feeling pretty chipper. Sure I hadn\u0026rsquo;t got what I spent the whole day searching for, but I did get a gem to pass along to my fellow puddle jumpers and I learned something (possibly non-transferable) about Mexican bureaucracy.\nOn the bus home we transferred at Mescales. Tired and hungry, we took a chance on a taco stand that I had always noticed, but it was just outside our sketch-zone. The tacos were just fantastic and I kept ordering more until I couldn\u0026rsquo;t possibly eat another, then I ordered some plain tortillas and rolled them up with guacamole inside. It was a really good thing that Sitio (cab/bus thing) pulled right up outside the taquerilla or they might have had to remove me in a wheelbarrow.\nSo another day \u0026ldquo;wasted\u0026rdquo; on Mexican bureaucracy turned out to be another red letter day for the family of Convivia.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/cruising/zarpe-dim-or-6-busses-for-6-tacos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday\u0026rsquo;s goal was to obtain a zarpe. For those who haven\u0026rsquo;t done this, a Zarpe is the official document that you get when you leave a country by boat. They aren\u0026rsquo;t strictly necessary, but you can be rejected from entering your next port if you don\u0026rsquo;t have one. We decided that a 2,800 miles U-turn was enough reason to jump through a few hoops.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo armed with a thousand opinions and rumors, we headed over to the Capitainia de Puerto in Puerto Vallarta. The Capitainia gave us a bit of a hard time but ended up giving us the paperwork we needed. After filling it out and giving them the correct paperwork we were directed to Immigration and Customs at the airport. The customs officer was very polite and very confused. I seems that the fact that our boat was in La Cruz created a bit of a jurisdictional problemo for our new friends. Finally one of the customs officers pointed us in the right direction.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Zarpe diem or 6 busses for 6 Tacos"},{"content":"We have been living on dirt for a week now and it\u0026rsquo;s not as totally weird as I thought it would be. Of course, I have been working on the boat every day, so it\u0026rsquo;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).\nSo despite the disappointment of the delay, we have been making do with this dirt dwelling lifestyle and I have managed to get some really amazing work done on the boat. If all goes well I should get the new water maker through hull finished tomorrow and get the macerator through hull installed and terminated. I\u0026rsquo;ll finish the install later. With the completion of the new 2\u0026quot; scuppers last week, we will be ready to splash on Wednesday, a few days late but no worse for wear.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/land-home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have been living on dirt for a week now and it\u0026rsquo;s not as totally weird as I thought it would be. Of course, I have been working on the boat every day, so it\u0026rsquo;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).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Land Ho…me"},{"content":"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 vignettes.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/so-much-joy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAh 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 vignettes.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So Much Joy"},{"content":"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. \u0026ldquo;The dinghy dock\u0026rdquo; (which had hitherto for been free) \u0026ldquo;will now be $5USD/day. We will also be issuing a day pass for the cruisers in the anchorage; $20 for use of the \u0026lsquo;services\u0026rsquo; [VIP lounge, showers, etc.]\u0026rdquo; The net nearly imploded. For a few minutes all you could hear were boos and clicking as every boat that was listening echoed their dissent. $5/day is easily twice the most expensive dinghy dock fee in Mexico. We cleared out of Cabo (the former champion of excessive price) in just a few days, largely because of their API and dinghy dock fees. My mind was racing. Where could we go and still provision and get work done on our boat. Are the tacos in Punta de Mita anywhere near as good?\nThere were dozens of questions which Jeff of Casa Maru recorded and typed up for the meeting later that day. Some of the startling answers were:\nQ: If we are visiting a friend on the docks will we have to pay?\nA: Yes. People have already been asked to pay when visiting boats in the marina\nQ: Is there any flexibility on price?\nA: No.\nQ: Why are they doing this?\nA: Some cleats were stolen off the dinghy docks; someone left used oil on the docks; people are dropping trash off; people are parking on other docks and their friends are letting them in/out; security; order; we want people to stop using our other services.\nEveryone that I talked to about this seemed to be feeling yanked around. Sure, none of us in the anchorage have any right to the marina\u0026rsquo;s dinghy dock, but we are all here because of the accessibility of La Cruz and the generally laid back easy nature of it\u0026rsquo;s inhabitants. If we start having to consider cost in every trip to shore La Cruz (I suspect) will become more of a stop over and less of a seasonal destination for many cruisers. Another subtle detail that seemed to have slipped the management\u0026rsquo;s attention is the fact that almost all of us at anchor come into the marina once or twice a month. We are all paying customers with gobs of goodwill for the marina. That goodwill took a major hit today.\nTo it\u0026rsquo;s credit the owner and manager of the marina (Pedro and Rafa respectively) opened their doors to the cruisers this afternoon to discuss the situation. They listened, we listened, and with very little animosity we agreed on some more respectful terms. The cruisers noted that La Paz Marina charges $15 pesos for dinghy dock and trash, and another $15 pesos for showers. We asked that Marina La Cruz match this price and they (mostly) agreed. The new fee for day long dinghy access is $20 pesos. This does include trash (for now) but the marina was very reluctant to concede that and will reconsider a separate fee for that if the trash issue becomes a problem (though I admit I don\u0026rsquo;t know what sort of problem that might be). Showers are basically out of the question. The marina will still offer the $20USD \u0026ldquo;day pass\u0026rdquo; for \u0026ldquo;services\u0026rdquo; but a slip for our boat size is only $27USD/day, a fact the management openly acknowledged. They also confirmed my suspicion that they would just assume we come in with our boats if we want to shower.\nSo the day was a measured success for the cruisers. I personally don\u0026rsquo;t believe that this had anything to do with the stated grievances. There are rumors circulating that there may be a more personal reason for all this. Regardless, no one present at today\u0026rsquo;s meeting maintained that the marina didn\u0026rsquo;t have the right to charge for the dinghy dock, or that it shouldn\u0026rsquo;t exercise that right. I think we were all a little blown away by the ham handed way the decision was rolled out, and by how excessive the fee was initially. To this Pedro responded \u0026ldquo;We Mexican\u0026rsquo;s are not so comunicativo.\u0026rdquo; I have had the pleasure of knowing many Mexicans, both here and in the US and I had never noticed that before but I guess I will just have to pay closer attention.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/big-drama-in-little-la-cruz/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSomeone 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. \u0026ldquo;The dinghy dock\u0026rdquo; (which had hitherto for been free) \u0026ldquo;will now be $5USD/day. We will also be issuing a day pass for the cruisers in the anchorage; $20 for use of the \u0026lsquo;services\u0026rsquo; [VIP lounge, showers, etc.]\u0026rdquo; The net nearly imploded. For a few minutes all you could hear were boos and clicking as every boat that was listening echoed their dissent. $5/day is easily twice the most expensive dinghy dock fee in Mexico. We cleared out of Cabo (the former champion of excessive price) in just a few days, largely because of their API and dinghy dock fees. My mind was racing. Where could we go and still provision and get work done on our boat. Are the tacos in Punta de Mita anywhere near as good?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Big Drama in Little La Cruz"},{"content":"Last week I failed to appear at a Pacific Puddle Jump planning meeting and was consequentially elected to be the \u0026ldquo;Admiral\u0026rdquo; of the Banderas Bay \u0026ldquo;Fleet.\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;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.\nThis picture was taken in Paradise Village and I am really looking forward to taking another picture of this group in a village in paradise.\nThe Pacific Puddle Jump has never had a formal start date, end date, or starting line. The organizers offer no safety support (other than the informal moral, information, and relay support that the net provides). So to say that I am the \u0026ldquo;Admiral\u0026rdquo; of the \u0026ldquo;Fleet\u0026rdquo; is kind of like saying that I am the king of the anarchists. When I met with the group yesterday I put forward a few topics, organized a chart copying run, and suggested some things for the SSB NET controllers and participants to think about. I suggested that someone volunteer to get more information on each of the topics and perhaps best of all, talked with an artist about designing our shirt!\nI am actually quite honored that this group of experienced and knowledgeable sailors chose to saddle me with this responsibility, even if they thought they were dodging a bullet.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/admiral-of-the-banderas-bay-fleet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast week I failed to appear at a Pacific Puddle Jump planning meeting and was consequentially elected to be the \u0026ldquo;Admiral\u0026rdquo; of the Banderas Bay  \u0026ldquo;Fleet.\u0026rdquo;  It\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Admiral\" of the Banderas Bay \"Fleet\""},{"content":"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.\nThis 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 \u0026ldquo;on the hard\u0026rdquo; means no grey water, no potty, and a 15\u0026rsquo; 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.\nOnce she is back in we have to start provisioning, and finishing up some above the waterline projects. Amongst these are such gems as, revarnishing all the wood (we use Cetol if you\u0026rsquo;re wondering), re-beding the stanchions, addressing the portlight leaks, and re-plumbing the water maker. For the provisioning we have an ace in the hole. We just found out that Grand is coming right before we jump. She will be able to help out with some of the harder to find items. For the rest we have Costco and some amazing local markets.\nWe are also stocking up on gifts for the kids. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to imagine what 21 days on the Ocean will be like for them, but I would like to have some things to pull out and surprise them with if things get dreary, tense, or complicated. On the same topic, we need to think about gifts for other kids that we meet along the way.\nAnd 21 days is really just the tip of the iceberg. Once we arrive in the Marquesas we will be faced with insanely expensive provisions. Last year\u0026rsquo;s puddle jumpers reported $8 beer (yes just one), $16 hamburgers, and $12 melons. So while the 21 day crossing to the Marquesas is certainly the longest single passage, it\u0026rsquo;s not the only part that we have to provision for. For the big stuff, we are looking at 6-8 months.\nSo, are we totally stoked to be crossing the Pacific in a month. YES… but it is going to be a lot of work. I hereby apologize in advance for all the posts I\u0026rsquo;m not writing, the calls I\u0026rsquo;m not making, and the photos I\u0026rsquo;m not taking. We will resume normal operations (with less Internet) in April.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/preparing-to-jump/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis 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 \u0026ldquo;on the hard\u0026rdquo; means no grey water, no potty, and a 15\u0026rsquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preparing to Jump"},{"content":"When we left California we knew that we\u0026rsquo;d have to lower our standards in certain ways. We left our carseats behind, sold our bike helmets, and stepped out of Whole Foods.\nWe got to Mexico and ate ceviche, with salsa, from a street side vendor. When we order water at a restaurant we don\u0026rsquo;t worry if it comes from a bottle or a glass.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve accepted rides in cars without carseats. We\u0026rsquo;ve taken rides in taxis without seat belts. We once waited for a bus so long we got in a delivery truck in the front seat, with no seat belts, with a stranger.\nWe have shopped at Walmart and sprayed DEET on our skin. We drink Coke and cocktails from cans. We\u0026rsquo;re planning on buying precooked bacon and chicken from a can from Costco.\nWe send our kids to get ice cream, by themselves. Did I mention that they didn\u0026rsquo;t even eat dairy in the US?\nWe ate breakfast at a restaurant during the pole dancing lessons and watched the kids perform when it was their turn. They sure can spin!\nWe went nearly a month without a real shower.\nWe left our kids with someone we just met so that we could go snorkeling. We sent Ruby to a sleepover on a boat we hadn\u0026rsquo;t even been on.\nWe celebrated a birthday yesterday with ice cream sundaes, complete with colored sprinkles and gummy bears. Ruby and Olive didn\u0026rsquo;t know what ice cream sundaes were, and we let them veer from our old one piece of artificial color candy a year standard.\nWe got in a car with our friend and Olive sat in my lap in front seat. We didn\u0026rsquo;t even reach for our seat belts. I had just given Ruby permission to ride home on the pegs of her friend\u0026rsquo;s bike, with no helmet.\nLast night we stayed out late at Ana Bananas, listening to the loud classic rock cover band, until the kids needed to be carried back to the dingy and dropped asleep in their beds without having their teeth brushed.\nAnd tonight we\u0026rsquo;ll go to a wedding, of a couple we met yesterday, and celebrate with some sparkly boomy things that are usually reserved for American Independence Day, that we bought with the guidance of a nine year old friend of ours.\nThe thing about Mexico is that we feel safe, and we do what we need to with the resources and information we have here, and every day is a celebration of something. And girl do we have fun!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-things-we-do-in-mexico/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen we left California we knew that we\u0026rsquo;d have to lower our standards in certain ways. We left our carseats behind, sold our bike helmets, and stepped out of Whole Foods.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe got to Mexico and ate ceviche, with salsa, from a street side vendor. When we order water at a restaurant we don\u0026rsquo;t worry if it comes from a bottle or a glass.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ve accepted rides in cars without carseats. We\u0026rsquo;ve taken rides in taxis without seat belts. We once waited for a bus so long we got in a delivery truck in the front seat, with no seat belts, with a stranger.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The things we do in Mexico"},{"content":"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; little sun for power; water maker broken; and we are temporarily out of money. Note: I did not catalog any of the things I have fixed recently.\nYou know what is awesome about this scenario? We are happier than we have ever been. That\u0026rsquo;s not to say that we haven\u0026rsquo;t had moments of greater joy, but week after week our joy exceeds the meek attempts of luck and nature to harsh our mellow.\nThe only thing that detracts from my joy at the moment is this money thing. Our temporary condition will be put on long term hold sometime next week when we finally get the retirement check that will pay off Convivia and give us cruising kitty for the next 12 months. It remains stressful only because it\u0026rsquo;s a reminder that a) eventually someone in this family will have to work (thereby putting our adventure on hold) and b) that someone will probably be me.\nThat stress is balanced though. Today we spent a happy day together on Convivia. We listened to the rain coming down on the cabin trunk while we played games, read books, built Legos, and enjoyed our coffee. Later we ventured out into the rain for $1 tacos and flan at our favorite joint. As we walked the flooded cobblestone streets back to our tender, we were treated to the largest, brightest, most vivid double rainbow I have ever seen. It filled me with the emotions of youth and we—our merry family—rushed down street after street, looking for it\u0026rsquo;s end. As we pulled the tender out into the anchorage the rainbow faded into a magnificent sunset.\nDays like this make it easy to regain perspective. Sure we may not be completely free from the manipulations of economy and politics, but we are MORE free than we could be in any life I can imagine.\n* I may indulge in the occasional hyperbole.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/cruising/falling-apart-in-paradise/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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; little sun for power; water maker broken; and we are temporarily out of money. Note: I did not catalog any of the things I have fixed recently.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Falling Apart in Paradise"},{"content":"I know, I\u0026rsquo;m a broken record, but I feel I underestimated Mexico and want to shout its praises for all who, like me, didn\u0026rsquo;t know what they were missing. I know I\u0026rsquo;m not that first to blog about this, we aren\u0026rsquo;t even the first to get video, but still this is special.\nI took this footage after a long, stressful and slightly anti-climatic day. Afterwards I felt renewed, and ready to rock some bureaucracy. I can\u0026rsquo;t say public transportation in the USA ever gave me that much!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/another-in-the-why-love-mexico-series/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI know, I\u0026rsquo;m a broken record, but I feel I underestimated Mexico and want to shout its praises for all who, like me, didn\u0026rsquo;t know what they were missing. I know I\u0026rsquo;m not that first to \u003ca href=\"http://www.svwondertime.com/2011/12/10/video-riding-the-bus-home-to-la-cruz/\"\u003eblog about this\u003c/a\u003e, we aren\u0026rsquo;t even the first to get video, but still \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c/em\u003e is special.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI took this footage after a long, stressful and slightly anti-climatic day. Afterwards I felt renewed, and ready to rock some bureaucracy. I can\u0026rsquo;t say public transportation in the USA ever gave me that much!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Chapter in the \"Why Love Mexico\" Series"},{"content":"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 boat, especially one with kids the same age as yours, your lives get subtly interwoven. You tend to eat together daily, errands and activities sync up and within a few weeks you feel almost as at home on their boat as on your own.\nKara and Ruby were delightful together. They seemed to bring out the best in each other even when they were worn out. Every morning Ruby would wake up (way too early) and start begging to call Taking Flight. When Kara finally popped up on deck, Ruby would hail and start making our plans for the day. \u0026ldquo;How about Kara comes over this afternoon, the adults can sit in the cockpit and we will let you talk.\u0026rdquo; …and they did. Both families were equally happy to have the pair because when they were together they were happy, and very very occupied.\nSo this morning when \u0026lsquo;Fight\u0026rsquo; came over to drop Ruby off from their second consecutive sleepover, and say their goodbyes, Kara was (literally) shrouded in black. Her sweet head hung destitute over the gunwale of the dingy while Ruby cried her little heart out. It was heartbreaking, and even as I was witnessing her sorrow, I was so proud of the way she had handled it. She knew the goodbye was coming, knew it would hurt, but still gave her whole heart to the friendship right to the last minute.\nLater in the day we received an email from Britannia. It was the first of what will likely become a series of \u0026ldquo;how and when are we going to meet up\u0026rdquo; exchanges. The contrast of the expectation of reunion and the disappointment of farewell was somehow deeply comforting to me. It seemed to reenforce the promise that in this round world, the only thing standing between a \u0026ldquo;goodbye\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;hello old friend\u0026rdquo; is a few more miles under the keel.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/goodbyes-circles/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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 \u003cem\u003eintentionally\u003c/em\u003e like this with another boat, especially one with kids the same age as yours, your lives get subtly interwoven. You tend to eat together daily, errands and activities sync up and within a few weeks you feel almost as at home on their boat as on your own.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Goodbyes \u0026 Circles"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re in Manzanillo, anchored outside of Las Hadas resort and we\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\nBut where are we going? Well, we\u0026rsquo;ve said we\u0026rsquo;re going where the wind blows. We\u0026rsquo;ll go to the Marquesas to check into French Polynesia. They\u0026rsquo;re the closest islands to Mexico, about a three week sail away. We think we\u0026rsquo;ll spend Ruby\u0026rsquo;s eighth birthday in the Tuamotos and we are planning on getting to the Tahiti Moorea rendezvous at the end of June. And then again we\u0026rsquo;re free as birds to explore the South Pacific. We\u0026rsquo;re pretty sure we\u0026rsquo;re on our way to New Zealand except the wind blows to Australia. Our friends on s/v Britannia buried treasure for us in Tonga that must be dug up and our desire to catch up to them might be stronger than the wind on our bow between Tonga and New Zealand.\nHave you ever looked at a map of the Pacific? There are 20,000-30,000 islands. Could we find 10,000 and name them to be sure? How in the world will we choose? How will I ever feel satisfied that I\u0026rsquo;ve seen enough? I\u0026rsquo;m loving Mexico, every town, every hill climbed for the view, every beach, every anchorage. I want to go south and see more. I want to go into the Sea and see more. I want to go back to the islands north of La Paz just to see that amazing clear blue water again. It\u0026rsquo;s going to be very difficult to leave when we do. I\u0026rsquo;ll miss Mexico because it\u0026rsquo;s beautiful and wonderful in so many ways, and because I don\u0026rsquo;t yet know it well enough.\nAs the miles flow under the keel and I see more, the more I want to go just around the corner. I can only think of one way to make sure I get to see everything I want and to explore the world in intense detail. Have you noticed that if you rearrange the letters in Forge Over you can spell Go Forever?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/just-around-the-corner/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;re in Manzanillo, anchored outside of Las Hadas resort and we\u0026rsquo;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 \u003cem\u003enot\u003c/em\u003e to head to Panama, or El Salvador, or Columbia, or Costa Rica, or the Galapagos or even to Zihuatanejo, because it\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Just Around The Corner"},{"content":"Chamela For some reason I didn\u0026rsquo;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.\nBarra de Navidad and Chiuatlan Barra de Navidad was absolutely not on my list of places to visit… until I talked to Barbara and Tom on Hooligan. They strongly recommend Barra and we decided to give it a shot. I\u0026rsquo;m glad we did. Barra is another slightly sleepy beach town. Unlike Chamela it does draw a fair amount of foreign tourism, and from my very informal survey has a semi-permanent expat community as well. Barra is the kind of place that one could get stuck in, comfortable, relatively inexpensive, and very pretty. We speculated that if we didn\u0026rsquo;t leave when we had, we might have woken up in 50 years and realized that the last 5 decades had been spent chain smoking, drinking 5 margaritas a day (happy hour is 1-6), and hanging out at the Sands Hotel regaling passing through cruisers with our war stories (all fabricated). Not that that would have been a bad life…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/photos-chamela-barra-de-navidad/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"chamela\"\u003eChamela\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor some reason I didn\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Photos: Chamela \u0026 Barra de Navidad"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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:\n(note, I took this with the iPad, just now. No extra care was taken, it looks more beautiful in real life).\nIt\u0026rsquo;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.\nI knew the moment I started thinking about it that I was suffering from a mild case of travel fatigue. This is common enough for travelers and tends to be the result of over stimulation, homesickness, and/or repeated culture shock. Each of these has touched me to some extent but the over stimulation has been the most significant. Every few days we pull into a new harbor, gape at the unbelievable surroundings, and then have chain-social-events until we collapse into our berths. I meet a new cool cruiser every few days and wish that I could spend a week or two getting to know them, but then we are off again or other friends stop by and my attention is split. Split once, twice, thrice… and so on until I feel stretched as thin as a nanotube, at once greater and yet so minute.\nSo that\u0026rsquo;s how I\u0026rsquo;m feeling currently. My plan of attack is to try to minimize side trips, maximize chilling out, and try to remain present when that fails. In two weeks we will be back in La Cruz where I can fall into some sort of routine, see our good friends from California, and stay put for a month or so before heading out to the South Pacific. I would love to say that I planned it this way, but I guess I am just lucky.\nIf you are suffering from a similar funk, you might like to check out these two blogs.\n10 Ways to Kick Travel Fataigue\u0026rsquo;s Ass\nand\nSlowing the Pace of Travel\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/burn-out-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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:\u003cbr\u003e\n(note, I took this with the iPad, just now. No extra care was taken, it looks more beautiful in real life).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Burn Out"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s honor and reputation I should add that while he is incredibly supportive of us and our dream, I don\u0026rsquo;t believe he would recommend this course of action if I asked him directly. This blog post is for entertainment purposes only.\nJessica,\nEveryone has to make this decision for themselves, you seem to have already made it so I will be pretty caviler in my support of your decision. Let me start by giving my own context. My retirement was funded through 10+ years of working for a non-profit. They put in 8% of my annual salary and I put in significantly less. So when it came time to talk to my dad (a lawyer and financial analyst) about what I was thinking of doing, I was pretty much looking at it as free money. He, being the smart and loving dad that he is, gave me some pretty amazing insights into how interest compounds over 30+ years. Before you make any decision, make sure you understand what you are giving up.\nThat said, I firmly believe that the money we will be taking out (this month) from retirement will be paying a dividend much greater in personal happiness and familial harmony than what I could earn in compounding interest. I am willing to work harder, longer, and to impose on my children for both their education and my own old age, because I believe that this part of our lives (individually and as a family) is \u0026ldquo;worth more\u0026rdquo; to me than financial stability and material comfort in my old age. I could be wrong, but in a robust (though informal) canvasing of cruisers I have not yet met one that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t make the same decision, or was not happy with it if they had made it in the past.\nSo before leaving we both cashed out our poor performing 401ks (just enough to buy some big parts). Later this month we will cash in about a third of all the other money we have in the world. We will use this to pay off the boat and for our next year\u0026rsquo;s worth of cruising. This isn\u0026rsquo;t exactly easy to do but now that we have been out here for more than 3 months it\u0026rsquo;s pretty clear that it is the right choice for our family.\nI believe that when you are doing what you are meant to be doing (in the flow, following your bliss, or however you choose to phrase it) you can trust your intuition to guide your decisions. From the tone of your email I can guess that you are fully in the flow, you know what the right choice is, and don\u0026rsquo;t need me to tell you. I also know that when you are in the groove, it is totally awesome to be around other inspiring grooversters, and to get the amplifying effect of their camaraderie. So while I can\u0026rsquo;t tell you anything you don\u0026rsquo;t already know, I can tell you that I am super impressed with your intentional living, your straightforward email and your choice to take to the sea. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to meet you out there someday and share a boat drink in some ideal locale (they are all ideal). And I can also welcome you to whatever club it is that you have unintentionally joined by breaking the mold and following your heart.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/faq-cashing-out/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTonight 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\u0026rsquo;m going to post my reply in full, right here; with one caveat that I repeat in the body. \u003cstrong\u003eThis is a serious decision with serious consequences.\u003c/strong\u003e In this email I was preaching to the converted, but our path is not the best for everyone. Also, to protect my dad\u0026rsquo;s honor and reputation I should add that while he is incredibly supportive of us and our dream, I don\u0026rsquo;t believe he would recommend this course of action if I asked him directly. \u003cem\u003eThis blog post is for entertainment purposes only.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FAQ: Cashing Out"},{"content":"I am playing catch up now. After so many \u0026ldquo;best ever\u0026rdquo; 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 visual evidence of one particularly breathtaking harbor. Yelapa is a jewel of a pueblo. Tucked in among the mountains, it is only accessible by boat, or trail. There are no roads and the biggest powered vehicle is an ATV. If that isn\u0026rsquo;t enough to recommend the place, it is also community owned. Nobody in town owns any property, and you can feel it in the vibe.\nWithout further ado may I present my 21,000 words (plus captions).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/yelapa-yeah/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am playing catch up now. After so many \u0026ldquo;best ever\u0026rdquo; 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 visual evidence of one particularly breathtaking harbor. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYelapa is a jewel of a pueblo. Tucked in among the mountains, it is only accessible by boat, or trail. There are no roads and the biggest powered vehicle is an ATV. If that isn\u0026rsquo;t enough to recommend the place, it is also community owned. Nobody in town owns any property, and you can feel it in the vibe.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yelapa Yeah"},{"content":"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 haven\u0026rsquo;t experienced everything (who has) I am most definitely a cruiser, and I know that this life choice was the right one.\nAs with any milestone (and this one is arguably more arbitrary than most), I thought I would take a moment to publicly reflect on what life looks like at 101. So here, in no particular order, are some thoughts:\nPreparation All of those things on my todo list didn\u0026rsquo;t really need to get done. We probably could have left 3 months earlier, and 3 months more wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have made a bit of difference for the good. If you are preparing to cruise and think you might be ready, go (unless you live in Alaska and it\u0026rsquo;s winter).\nCruising with kids is easier, yes easier, than living in a house with kids and going to work every day. Sure, it\u0026rsquo;s different for different families, and this lifestyle comes with its own complications, but for our family it is 100% better to be together nearly all the time. Cruising has enabled that for us.\nLowered Expectations All of the beautiful places I dreamed about while reading those cruising guides. You know, when I was freezing my butt off even as the space heater was pointing directly at me, those places are more beautiful and breathtaking than I could ever have guessed. I always advise setting low expectations as a way to ward off disappointment but in this case, it\u0026rsquo;s really not necessary.\nHappiness Experience, rather than stuff, is the foundation of happiness. I tried stuff, even though I knew it was the wrong path. It was easy in Silicon Valley, stuff abounds and I had my way with it. Now I have very little, and smile a lot more often. What is the difference? I would argue that doing something big; something very few people actually believed I could do, is a big part of it. I think we are wired by our evolution to desire to grow and excel. Some people do this through their paid work, I do it this way. I firmly believe that everyone should set an audacious goal, flip the bird to the naysayers, and make something amazing happen in their life. If that something amazing lasts one day, and takes 10 years to clean up after, so be it. In our case it took 10 years to set up, that works too, as long as you know when to pull the trigger.\nObstacles \u0026amp; Perspective On the same tip, one of the things that has brought us the most joy on this (and other) journeys, is the joy of overcoming an obstacle. What some cruisers will do anything to avoid (checking in to customs for example) I look forward to as an opportunity to really learn what the place is like. The difference between my experience in Cabo and the experience of many of the other score cruisers in the same room was that I was smiling. I honestly can\u0026rsquo;t even tell you what I was smiling about, but I decided that I was going to smile all day, as big as I could, and strangely, it made all the difference. The only thing that brought me down at all that day (and it didn\u0026rsquo;t last) was the grousing I heard. Even then I was just bummed for them. That said, if this wasn\u0026rsquo;t part of one of my life\u0026rsquo;s goals, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have been able to smile about it.\nSo there it is, four observations from a lightly seasoned cruiser. In the next 101 days we will cross an ocean.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/101-days-of-cruising/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 haven\u0026rsquo;t experienced everything (who has) I am most definitely a cruiser, and I know that this life choice was the right one.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs with any milestone (and this one is arguably more arbitrary than most), I thought I would take a moment to publicly reflect on what life looks like at 101. So here, in no particular order, are some thoughts:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"101 Days of Cruising"},{"content":"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 and comfortable sailing (and unfortunately a bit of motoring when the winds die completely). We left our anchorage at noon so that our arrival would be during daylight. The boat was ship shape, the heads cleaned, the floors swept, every last thing put away, and even fresh baked bread before we left. Maybe passage making is so wonderful for me because all the chores are done first!\nIn a day and night at sea it seems like we have so much time! Piles of books get brought up to the cockpit for reading. Clip boards and colored pencils come out and Ruby draws for hours. Olive takes apart her toys and builds new ones. Pirates have battles, the toys come alive, Ruby dresses in homemade costumes made of playsilks and scraps of rope—\u0026ldquo;Silk is the perfect material for a hot day,\u0026rdquo; Ruby exclaims. Cookies are baked and devoured. Popcorn is always eaten. Naps sometimes happen. We attempt to fish (we\u0026rsquo;re terrible at it). We whale watch! The days are peaceful.\nThe nights are magical. The kids are allowed to stay up until their eyes close. Ruby pushes through until 10 but stays up long enough to watch the sun set and the moon rise. Olive asks about the stars and space. I go to bed before everyone to rest before my watch at midnight. When Tucker wakes me I head up to the cockpit, clip in, and figure out where we\u0026rsquo;re going. Then the watching begins. Boats appear from time to time. We were only about 5 miles offshore this time so the changing smell of land was always blowing by. The winds are warm here and we can be comfortable in shorts and t-shirts at night. Dolphins visit- you can hear them breathe before you see them. The moon sets a brilliant orange during my watch and after the sky darkens the stars appear to fill it back up again. I listen to music new friends gave us. When I get tired I read or watch a bit of a Twilight movie -and then when a dolphin appears I startle- it totally kept me awake.\nI was on watch again when the kids woke up. For them it\u0026rsquo;s perfect. There is no one telling them to go back to bed or to be quiet. Whichever kid wakes first can come up to the cockpit for a little time alone with me. They both wake up smiling. Ruby piles books into the cockpit again. We read an Ocean A-Z dictionary, decide that a math workbook about dollars and cents isn\u0026rsquo;t important any more since she can count in both dollars and pesos anyway now, Olive plays with tangrams and solves many of the puzzles in The Tangram Magician. We all look through a book about the seven wonders of the world, and some other wonders too, and we all get excited about what we can see. We flip through a geography pop up book that was just handed down to us.\nThe day gets hotter. Coffee is served, again. It\u0026rsquo;s warm enough, and remote enough, for a solar shower on deck, while we watch whales. We\u0026rsquo;ll never get tired of whales and dolphins. The piles of dishes are washed and the floors cleaned up again and we approach our anchorage, very slowly, 26 hours after we left. We find a place to drop our anchor and pull out our binoculars to have a look around on shore. And then we swim in the warm clear water we\u0026rsquo;re floating in. We\u0026rsquo;re very happy to live on the sea.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/anatomy-of-a-passage/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 and comfortable sailing (and unfortunately a bit of motoring when the winds die completely). We left our anchorage at noon so that our arrival would be during daylight. The boat was ship shape, the heads cleaned, the floors swept, every last thing put away, and even fresh baked bread before we left. Maybe passage making is so wonderful for me because all the chores are done first!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Anatomy of a Passage"},{"content":"We have now visited and reported on so many beautiful anchorages and towns that I\u0026rsquo;m feeling a little sheepish about declaring the new best place. So rather than declare La Cruz \u0026ldquo;the most awesomest pueblo en Mexico,\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ll miss until we return. In no particular order:\nFood\nTacos en Calle\n… tacos at Claudia\u0026rsquo;s\n… tacos pretty much everywhere\n…flan\nTons of great produce at the Tuesday and Friday night markets, super cheap. Vick hauled home 3 huge backs of produce for $166 pesos (that\u0026rsquo;s about $12US). The \u0026ldquo;bunch\u0026rdquo; of cilantro is bigger than our sink. It all looks awesome!\n\u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Nearly perfect weather. No bugs.\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Super awesome, drama free cruiser community. The cruiser scene here rivals La Paz, and that\u0026#39;s saying a lot!\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Kid\u0026#39;s club, and a half dozen 5-7 year old girls on our dock alone. Ruby has been gone nearly the whole time we have been in the marina.\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Ruby taking to the town for ice cream. I would never consider this in Emeryville or even Mountain View. Here it seems natural to send her off to get her own ice cream (with a friend).\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Cruising parents. Hanging out with other cruising parents on the dock, comparing notes and enjoying sundowners makes us feel \u0026#34;normal\u0026#34;\u0026amp;nbsp;in a way we hadn\u0026#39;t yet. It may be a while before we get such a concentration of normal again.\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;A big small town. La Cruz is small enough to walk in an afternoon but big enough to offer choices in almost every category. It\u0026#39;s also\u0026amp;nbsp;convenient\u0026amp;nbsp;to PV and Bucarias by bus. So far we have been either in cities or villages.\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Music, mostly live, almost everywhere. The music is fun to hear, but it also invigorates the community making it really feel \u0026lt;em\u0026gt;alive\u0026lt;/em\u0026gt;!\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;The most friendly locals of any place we have visited. I get a reply (usually with a big smile) to almost every \u0026#34;buenas tardes.\u0026#34; And more than a few times someone recognized me wandering around and greeted me warmly like an old friend. It also doesn\u0026#39;t hurt that several people have thanked us for bringing our kids!\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; \u0026lt;li\u0026gt;Belonging. One of our cruising objectives is to find home. It\u0026#39;s early yet, and I\u0026#39;m sure there are other spots that will feel like home but this is the first place so far that I can imagine growing roots in.\u0026lt;/li\u0026gt; So there it is. This place is 10x awesome and I\u0026rsquo;m not just effusing. I won\u0026rsquo;t apologize for being continuously blown away by everything that Mexico has to show me, and I won\u0026rsquo;t pretend that I think La Cruz is the last best place (though it may be). I will keep reporting with unrestrained subjectivity all of our experiences and impressions!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/10-reasons-it-will-be-hard-to-leave-la-cruz/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have now visited and reported on so many beautiful anchorages and towns that I\u0026rsquo;m feeling a little sheepish about declaring the new best place. So rather than declare La Cruz \u0026ldquo;the most awesomest pueblo en Mexico,\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ll miss until we return. In no particular order:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"10 Reasons It Will Be Hard to Leave La Cruz"},{"content":"put our kids in cars without five point harness carseats\nheck, we put our kids in cars without seatbelts\num, we even put our kids in cars without carseats, or seatbelts, or doors\n(usually we ride the bus)\nfeed our kids foods without heavily scrutinized ingredient lists\ndid we really let them eat peppermint candy with red food color?\nThis is a picture of all of the refrigerated food in the biggest natural foods market we have found:\nSo, organic, maybe we\u0026rsquo;re getting some, but probably not, but prioritizing eating vegetables and fruit is still important. We\u0026rsquo;re finding our way around the municipal markets reasonably well.\nlet strangers touch them- Olive is guapo and everyone wants to touch her head (she doesn\u0026rsquo;t seem to mind though)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/the-things-we-do-now-that-surprise-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eput our kids in cars without five point harness carseats\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eheck, we put our kids in cars without seatbelts\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eum, we even put our kids in cars without carseats, or seatbelts, or doors\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(usually we ride the bus)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efeed our kids foods without heavily scrutinized ingredient lists\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edid we really let them eat peppermint candy with red food color?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a picture of all of the refrigerated food in the biggest natural foods market we have found:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The things we do now that surprise me"},{"content":"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.\nI think that Chacala is billed as a sort of eco-resort town. There are a bunch of mini mansions, all tastefully decorated with a great color pallet. The centro consists of the beach and a single (parallel) street, and there is no grocery store to speak of. It was almost comical to be asked to visit the port capitan in a town this size, but I did it anyway and was almost shocked when the process took all of 5 minutes.\nWe spent a morning walking around town and ended up at a little cafe for lunch. I was not expecting the truly superb food we were served, nor the eclectic music. In the hour(ish) that we were there we heard spanish opera, Bjork, Jarabe de Palo, Creedence, Ella Fitzgerald, and you can just let your mind riff from there. It was a breath of fresh air.\nWhen we got back to the boat we were invited for sundowners on Cat Two Fold. We were joined by the crews of Bella Star and Anon, and ended up having a little 3 guitar jam session. We got back to Convivia with enough energy to reset our stern anchor (an absolute necessity in this spot). I look forward to another visit to Chacala before we cross the pacific.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/cha-cha-chacala/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOh 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cha-cha-Chacala"},{"content":"We were hesitant to go to San Blas. We\u0026rsquo;ve been warned about crazy Norm Goldie on s/v Jama. We\u0026rsquo;ve heard about dingy and surfboard thefts. We\u0026rsquo;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.\nGetting Around When the time came to explore we set up the dingy and headed for shore in search of a man named Ishmel with a restaurant on the waterfront who has a reputation for looking after cruiser\u0026rsquo;s dingies. Restaurant Mantanchen is a beach shack with more tables and chairs than I ever imagine they fill, a baby swinging in a cradle, a barefoot girl running around, cats, dogs, and a dirt floor with trays of burning coconut husks. We were welcomed and told our dingy would be safe and we could leave it all day.\nWe ventured down the dusty road and walked to the little village to find the bus stop. The only clue that we might be in the right spot was a young man waiting by the side of the road. When she decided we had waited long enough (\u0026ldquo;the bus must be late,\u0026rdquo; she communicated) she flagged down a delivery truck (a friend perhaps) and got us all a ride to town. Five of us squeezed into the front of the truck with its cigarette smoking driver Fidel and rode right into San Blas. Though it was only the hardware store and the bank that we needed in San Blas we had an easy time getting all of our errands done right near the plaza. We even got home in time to avoid the most of the jejenes.\nJungle Tour The Tovara jungle tour is reason enough to visit San Blas. Olive had been scared for days because the highlight of the boat tour down the river is searching for crocodiles. But she went armed with her new plastic rake and Brian (from s/v Cat2Fold), who promised to fight all the big ones away if necessary. We got in our boat and our guide (Martin) motored skillfully down the amazing river through the mangroves. The tunnel of mangroves opened up to a marsh with sharp grasses and palm trees on the edges. We saw crocodiles, turtles, white pelicans, egrets, hawks, fish, iquanas, storks, and more plants than we\u0026rsquo;ll ever know the names of. We stopped for just 15 minutes at the zoo (I think if they left you there any longer you\u0026rsquo;d get too sad). A jaguar without proper papers (retired from the circus but not legal enough for a real zoo) would have eaten Ruby instead of her usual chicken for lunch if her bars has been down. She didn\u0026rsquo;t act as scared as the rest of us when she snarled and lunged at her but she did say she gave her a headache. We saw several crocs up close, resting in their cages with their giant mouths wide open, before we piled back into our boat to head for more.\nAs if we didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough to enjoy, at the top of the river there is a fenced off pool of clear fresh water to rope swing into and swim. Don\u0026rsquo;t ask us when we last took a shower; we were all grateful for a fresh water bath! We jumped off the rope swing, swam, sat in the sun, chatted with the local kids, and reluctantly headed back for our ride home.\nMantanchen Village The little village of Mantanchen is filled with sweets shops- banana breads, little pies, sugary coconut treats, fresh coconuts to drink from, banana trees, and coconut and citronella insect repellent and the after bite spray that we would need when it doesn\u0026rsquo;t work. Restaurant Mantanchen made us a delicious grilled horse fish for our early dinner, we bought a hammock and a coconut sweet, and we headed back to Convivia.\nYes, s/v Jama is crazy (she\u0026rsquo;s on the VHF radio ten times a day to let you know it- that gal needs some friends), the bugs are terrible (DEET works better than the natural stuff and a small dose of children\u0026rsquo;s Benedryl works much better than the coconut oil after bite spray), there is some theft from time to time, but it\u0026rsquo;s absolutely worth the trip.\nEpilogue It has been 5 nights since we left San Blas and we are still scratching from the bugs that showed up on our boat the second night in the anchorage. We had two sleepless nights from the bites and Tucker and I dosed ourselves with an entire package of benedryl (over the course of a few days) before the itches let up. Our boat was covered with black dots (jejenes) when we were leaving San Blas and the bugs only seemed to leave for good last night when we had thoroughly cleaned the inside of the boat and washed all of the sheets, towels, and clothes. Honestly, though I loved the jungle tour and felt so thrilled that that experience was part of my life. That said, I won\u0026rsquo;t be going back, and if I hear that another place has such a terrible reputation for biting bugs I may skip that too. (If anyone has any tricks to make me not so tasty I\u0026rsquo;d like those too.) So, is San Blas worth a visit. I will leave that up to you. If I knew someone who, like me hated bug bites, and seemed to attract the vile little things, but was interested in the jungle tour, I might suggest renting a car for the 2 hr drive from PV.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/san-blas/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe were hesitant to go to San Blas. We\u0026rsquo;ve been warned about crazy Norm Goldie on s/v Jama. We\u0026rsquo;ve heard about dingy and surfboard thefts. We\u0026rsquo;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 \u003cem\u003efelt\u003c/em\u003e 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"San Blas"},{"content":"When you ask a dozen cruisers about Mazatlan (as a potential stop) the resounding sentiment is \u0026ldquo;skip it.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nAfter 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\u0026rsquo;s grime, and apparently it has it\u0026rsquo;s crime (though we didn\u0026rsquo;t see or hear of any directly) but it also has character, a proud congenial populace, and some really great sights.\nWe had only planned to be in Mazatlan long enough to do laundry and wash the boat down. By day 4 we hadn\u0026rsquo;t done the second of those tasks because we had been too busy exploring. When we went up to the marina office to let them know we would stay another day the informed us that 8 nights cost as much as 5. We happily extended our stay. We got the boat washing done the next morning and spent the rest of our stay riding busses, visiting with and making new friends (both cruisers and land based) and eating out.\nMazatlan has a burgeoning arts and culture scene that seems to be centered (geographically) around the Teatro de Angela Peralta. I stumbled into an awesome gallery after taking the kids out for popsicles and proceeded to spend the next hour talking with the family that owned it. As we walked home we passed by the Teatro again and heard band practice in full swing. The kids danced, and popped bubbles that two local boys were blowing for them. When we got home we were still smiling.\n%0\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/mas-de-mazatlan/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen you ask a dozen cruisers about Mazatlan (as a potential stop) the resounding sentiment is \u0026ldquo;skip it.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 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\u0026rsquo;s grime, and apparently it has it\u0026rsquo;s crime (though we didn\u0026rsquo;t see or hear of any directly) but it also has character, a proud congenial populace, and some really great sights.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mas de Mazatlan"},{"content":"Q: What are some of the best things about traveling in close quarters with your family?\nA: 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 \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t you ever just want to get away.\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;You are so brave\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;I bet you want to throw them overboard sometimes.\u0026rdquo;\nTruth be told, I have actually threatened to throw the kids over once or twice, but I felt like the tone was understood when Olive replied \u0026ldquo;Dad you\u0026rsquo;re jokin\u0026rsquo;.\u0026rdquo; When I asked him how he knew I was joking he replied, \u0026ldquo;Because you just said something redicUlous.\u0026rdquo; He\u0026rsquo;s right, that whole line of talk is ridiculous. I spent almost half of my life dreaming about being a cruising dad and now that I have it I\u0026rsquo;m not going to complain.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s not to say that things are always roses. Our kids are kids after all. They have social lessons to learn and, to be honest, so do I. Being on a boat (or confined to any small space for that matter) amplifies issues in the short run, but in the long run it forces all of us to fairly and decisively resolve our problems. So if, for example, I have a problem with one of my children interrupting all the time, that will come to a head much faster than it would if we lived a \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; life (one where I was at work all day, and we had activities and school for the kids to go away to). But it will also get resolved in a more comprehensive way. In this case that means that I will have to address the fact that I interrupt all the time too. Sure I\u0026rsquo;ve figured out a way to do it that looks to the bulk of society to be a leadership quality, but to a 7 year old it looks just the same as shouting \u0026ldquo;DO I EVER GET TO SAY THE NAME OF OUR BOAT WHEN PEOPLE ASK\u0026rdquo; every time I say \u0026ldquo;Convivia\u0026rdquo; to someone.\nShe\u0026rsquo;s right, of course, I need to work on it too. So as a family we\u0026rsquo;re going to work through this one. In the end, I hope, she will feel like she has a voice, and will see that even adults can improve their behavior. She\u0026rsquo;ll also stop bugging the heck out of me which, in a super tight space, is always a good thing.\nSo, the best things about being packed in like sardines are:\nIssues get resolved holistically We get to be together… which is why we had these children in the first place We get to learn from our kids. I think so many parents miss out on this gift. Note: Please feel free to ask other questions on our Facebook page or here in the comments. I kind of love answering these, so if your questions aren\u0026rsquo;t left field wingnut ones, they\u0026rsquo;ll probably get a good long response :)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/faq-4-packed-in-like-sardines/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eQ: What are some of the best things about traveling in close quarters with your family?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA: 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 \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t you ever just want to get away.\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;You are so brave\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;I bet you want to throw them overboard sometimes.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FAQ #4: Packed In Like Sardines"},{"content":"Q: How about pulling watch all alone with the family below\u0026hellip; How is Victoria handling the watches\u0026hellip; how long are you on deck for at night? Are you clipping in? How are you staying awake? What was the sea state like?\nA: 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\u0026rsquo;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.\nI have an impression that couples that cruise and do night passages might have an easier time than we do. We generally split the night into three hour shifts starting around 8pm and trade off through the night. I imagine that couples without kids would get to make up their lost sleep during the day, but here on Convivia morning starts around 6 or 7 (passage or no) and although we can sometimes sneak in a nap, usually the lost sleep is made up for in coffee. On multi day passages (so far just 2-3 nights at a time) the days are passed easily with card games, bowls of popcorn, books, dress up, pretend, projects, and fishing and the passages are generally pretty darn easy. In rougher weather the kids nap or watch movies and we just push on through.\nAs night falls we clean up the cockpit, stuff napkins and towels between rattling dishes, quiet down any noises that might prevent the off watch person from sleeping, and sometimes make tea in a thermos for later on. Usually I\u0026rsquo;m in the cockpit during the kids\u0026rsquo; bedtime while Tucker gets them all squared away. We switch off as needed but often one of us will sleep from 8-11 to get a jump on the night. We haven\u0026rsquo;t used a formal schedule. It always seems to work out and we\u0026rsquo;re flexible enough to just show up for watch or take a longer one as needed.\nAlthough my first overnight was exhausting, and my second overnight, past Point Conception, very challenging with big swell and terrible visibility, the rest have been great. Essentially we set the sails and adjust the windvane and just keep watch. We look for windshifts (that would blow us off course), boats, check the electronic charts from time to time, look at the TTG feature to guess when we\u0026rsquo;ll arrive, check the AIS if we see any boats on the horizon (if they\u0026rsquo;re listed we can predict how close we\u0026rsquo;ll get to one another and call them on the VHF if they\u0026rsquo;re too close). But mostly we stargaze, marvel at the glow of the bioluminescence, and listen for the breath of dolphins coming to visit. Now that we don\u0026rsquo;t need foul weather gear the transition from watch to sleep and back is quick and easy.\nStaying awake on watch is easier now that we\u0026rsquo;ve worked out getting decent sleep when it\u0026rsquo;s our turn. I usually sleep on the settee in the saloon, low and centered on the boat. I find the v-berth, my normal bed, too loud and bumpy in all but the calmest conditions. Our settee pulls out and I\u0026rsquo;m wedged in next to the table without even needing a lee cloth. Tucker switches between the v-berth and the saloon. We tend to hot-bunk which is kind of a treat on a cool night (non-sailors it means to get into someone else\u0026rsquo;s warm bed instead of a fresh cool one).\nTo stay awake at night I sometimes listen to music (I get up after every song for a good look around) or read during my watch but usually I just enjoy the time I get all alone! In fact long before we set off cruising I was looking forward to night watches so that I\u0026rsquo;d have time by myself.\nFrom time to time something out of the ordinary will happen that I\u0026rsquo;ll need to wake Tucker for a another set of eyes or a hand with something. When we were sailing from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas there were a number of ships and over a hundred sailboats to be on the lookout for. Sometimes their navigation lights were confusing (it turns out that someone did in fact have their masthead light on backwards) or I needed help figuring out just how far away the other boats were or if we\u0026rsquo;d cross paths. Being alone in the cockpit has definitely made me a better sailor. Tucker used to startle awake but now I wake him up with, \u0026ldquo;Everything\u0026rsquo;s okay, it\u0026rsquo;s just time for your watch.\u0026rdquo;\nWe took our friend Merileigh as an extra crew member on the Baja Ha-Ha. Dividing up the night into thirds, and having a third person to play yet another game of Uno was really great! We easily got enough rest and there were plenty of hands to do sail changes or make snacks any time we wanted. We are even planning on taking her from Mexico to the Marquesas with us. Yep, 5 people on our cozy boat.\nAs for the safety detail, at night we always wear our PFDs and tether ourselves to our jacklines. We can clip in right from the companionway. When Tucker comes on watch I double check that he\u0026rsquo;s clipped in. We even have the fancy double tethers with two caribiners, meaning that even if we have to move around a line or piece of hardware we\u0026rsquo;re still attached to the boat. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t sleep without that reassurance!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/faq-3-night-watches/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eQ: How about pulling watch all alone with the family below\u0026hellip; How is Victoria handling the watches\u0026hellip; how long are you on deck for at night? Are you clipping in? How are you staying awake? What was the sea state like?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA: 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FAQ #3: Night Watches"},{"content":"Q: Name something you packed and so far you find you really just don\u0026rsquo;t need.\nA: Thankfully, we really don\u0026rsquo;t have much of this category. We have gone through some clothes, worn through some shoes, and jettisoned a down comforter, but there was a time when they were needed on this trip.\nThere are several things that I don\u0026rsquo;t need yet (spares galore, Christmas cookie cutters, secret chocolate stash) but their time will come. Then there are things that I hope to never need, 153% genoa, the life raft, and EPIRB. And then there\u0026rsquo;s that blow up shark Olive won for being the youngest kid on the HaHa. Technically we didn\u0026rsquo;t bring that, but we didn\u0026rsquo;t ditch it either. Vive El Tiburon!\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure what to hang this minor victory on? Maybe it was a ton of test sails. Maybe it\u0026rsquo;s that our boat is so stingy with it\u0026rsquo;s stowage space that we really needed to sort things out. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that we can see almost everything, every day, that we own, and had to be brutally honest about its utility. Whatever the cause, we are grateful that the result was optimal lading.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/outfitting/faq-2-stuff-we-dont-need/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eQ: Name something you packed and so far you find you really just don\u0026rsquo;t need.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA: Thankfully, we really don\u0026rsquo;t have much of this category. We have gone through some clothes, worn through some shoes, and jettisoned a down comforter, but there was a time when they were needed on this trip.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/12/IMG_5436-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are several things that I don\u0026rsquo;t need yet (spares galore, Christmas cookie cutters, secret chocolate stash) but their time will come. Then there are things that I hope to never need, 153% genoa, the life raft, and EPIRB. And then there\u0026rsquo;s that blow up shark Olive won for being the youngest kid on the HaHa. Technically we didn\u0026rsquo;t \u003cem\u003ebring\u003c/em\u003e that, but we didn\u0026rsquo;t ditch it either. Vive El Tiburon!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FAQ #2: Stuff We Don't Need"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/la-paz-to-mazatlan-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"La Paz to Mazatlan in Photos"},{"content":"I love this country. I love the chaotic efficiency that I\u0026rsquo;ve observed in everything from a marina checkins to hopping off a bus (they don\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m fairly certain) and a Hot Wheels® decal. Tonight\u0026rsquo;s bus was blaring tradtional mexican music alternating with hip hop.\nI love that you can feed a family of 4, well, on 170 pesos (about $15US). Or do two weeks of laundry for the messiest family in N. America for about $30US. I love that everybody that I\u0026rsquo;ve tried to speak with has returned my curiosity tenfold and, in most cases, been overwhelmingly friendly. I will admit to buying off a cab driver with chocolate, but it was worth it when I saw his smile.\nI love that there is a city block dedicated to a nativity scene, and it has live animals. I love the live music pouring out from the windows at the Theater as we walked home from dinner. I loved the musician\u0026rsquo;s friends outside, beaming with pride as they pointed their friends out to us.\nI love the beauty in decay. The cycle of death and rebirth that is persistently evident.\nAnd that\u0026rsquo;s just the city. Nature here is just as dramatic, just as foreign. The white sand beaches abut tall ochre mountains, covered in cactus and lizards and harried from above by condors. Tire of that and it\u0026rsquo;s off to the reef for some snorkling. Below the waves I discover violettes and indigos and golden yellows that I only dreamed of on animals. I lunge forward and spend a moment in the middle of a school of large fish, each one as long as my arm. Later, when I can swim not another span, I clamor back into the dingy and head back to our movable home. The kids greet me with smiles plastered on their faces because they just spent the morning playing with a couple of 20somethings while we were off on our underwater date.\nI love Mexico and when we have traveled 30,000 some odd miles, I hope to come back here and do it all over again.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/100ish-reasons-i-love-mexico/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI \u003cstrong\u003elove\u003c/strong\u003e this country. I love the chaotic efficiency that I\u0026rsquo;ve observed in everything from a marina checkins to hopping off a bus (they don\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m fairly certain) and a Hot Wheels® decal. Tonight\u0026rsquo;s bus was blaring tradtional mexican music alternating with hip hop.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"100ish Reasons I Love Mexico"},{"content":"The Crew of Convivia has so much to be thankful for. Amongst those:\nOur 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.\nSo to all of the convergences, coincidences, favors, and fortune that have brought us this bountiful and beautiful existence, we give thanks.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/giving-thanks/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Crew of Convivia has so much to be thankful for. Amongst those:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur health\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnough wealth that we can afford to be together all the time\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnough love, patience, wisdom that we would want to be together all the time\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe realization of a lifelong dream\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThis wonderful floating home\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe support and love of our families and friends\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA wonderful, diverse, and supportive cruising community (both near and far)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThanksgiving in a climate that demands we wear swimwear to dinner\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReflecting 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Giving Thanks"},{"content":"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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/los-muertos-to-la-paz-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOkay 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Los Fralies to La Paz… in Photos"},{"content":"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.\nThe 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.\nA few months later our electric roaster caught on fire and we were suddenly faced with a not-so-difficult decision; drink Charbucks the world over (or Nescafe when Charbucks couldn\u0026rsquo;t be found) or invest some serious time and money into our own roasting plant. You don\u0026rsquo;t have to know me well to know which way I went.\nI called up Shane at RK Drums and found him to be about the most enthusiastic, pleasant guy you could ever wish to collaborate with. To say that he was enthusiastic about my project would be a dramatic understatement. Through a series of phone calls and emails (the last of which delayed his family vacation by at least 15 minutes) we came to an agreement on a seemingly simple design. I measured and remeasured my bbq, and sent the dimensions in. A few weeks later I had my drum and a few custom parts that Shane had scrounged, fabricated, or sourced for me.\nThen came the disappointment. The drum didn\u0026rsquo;t fit my BBQ. I\u0026rsquo;m going to take full responsibility for this, I\u0026rsquo;m not sure how I mis-measured, but the drum was a standard size, so it clearly wasn\u0026rsquo;t their fault. Too late to do anything before leaving Emeryville, I threw the drum in a lazarette and nearly forgot about it until we got to San Diego… and we ran out of roasted coffee.\nI stopped by Downwind Marine and picked out (amongst many other things) a truly colossal BBQ. I had the drum with me and verified that it would fit, just as soon as I took it to a metal worker to customize a rotisserie slot. Luckily for me, there was just such a guy across the street. I pitched my project to them and got the owner excited enough about it that he authorized overtime to get it done that day (at no additional charge). The end result, as I hope you will agree, is perfectly functional and pretty nice looking too.\nYou would think that with all of this kit, I would be roasting up a storm. Sadly, no. When the time came to fire it all up, the grill wouldn\u0026rsquo;t start. I finally figured out that my propane hose was broken, and the safety mechanism was preventing gas to flow, but oddly, it is very difficult to find a Type 1 propane hose in Baja.\nAs a result I have borrowed a hose once and begged two camping canisters of propane from another cruiser. The good news is. the coffee is spectacular. I bought 30 lbs of a Costa Rican estate that I love and have made two batches so far, both great. Once I source a good mexican varietal, Convivia Coffee will be \u0026ldquo;in business*.\u0026rdquo;\nof course, this is a metaphore. As American citizens, we aren\u0026rsquo;t allowed to sell anything but we might be able to trade for coconuts… or margarita fixins. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/coffee/convivia-coffee-is-born/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Convivia Coffee is Born!"},{"content":"A few days ago I wrote the following on my Facebook wall:\nI\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure I\u0026rsquo;ve figured out why people get \u0026ldquo;stuck\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;m complaining, I\u0026rsquo;ve just never EVER seen a social scene so vibrant\u0026hellip; EVER.\nTo which our friend Diane Selkirk replied, \u0026ldquo;…we call it \u0026lsquo;La Paused\u0026rsquo;.\u0026rdquo; I still crack up a little every time I say that. It\u0026rsquo;s so true. Here you can find almost anything you want for your boat or your pleasure and it often costs less than it woud in the states; and the weather is warmer. Add to that that it feels somewhat exotic, and you can understand why people get la paused for a decade or two. I was really against getting settled here for more than a few days. After some soul searching I realized that the root cause of my anxiety wasn\u0026rsquo;t so much that we would get stuck here (we\u0026rsquo;re all about keepin\u0026rsquo; on) as it was about spending money. At the core of all of my anxieties since leaving SETI has been a strong, almost all consuming desire to not have to go back to work.\nThis pecuniary anxiety was seriously exacerbated when I misplaced a significant chunk of the money we had withdrawn (and subsequently stashed away) in Cabo. Thinking that I had spent it, I started to really worry that we would be incapable of transitioning to our new budget. Luckily the money was found and I started using my currency converter app as if it were a game. Little by little I\u0026rsquo;ve come to understand that we are living comfortably and not spending much money. Still I would prefer to be out in nature, where the hemorrhaging stops completely but, as I have learned again and again, true happiness is achieved through balance.\nSo we are in La Paz, and like many of our cruising brethren, we don\u0026rsquo;t really know when we are going to leave. The awesome popsicle stand and the $14 1/2 kilo of arrechera we have every afternoon may have something to do with my equivocation, or perhaps it\u0026rsquo;s the rumor of $400 bottom jobs. Whatever it is, we\u0026rsquo;ll have to figure it out manaña.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/la-paused/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA few days ago I wrote the following on my Facebook wall:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure I\u0026rsquo;ve figured out why people get \u0026ldquo;stuck\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;m complaining, I\u0026rsquo;ve just never EVER seen a social scene so vibrant\u0026hellip; EVER.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"La Paused"},{"content":"Okay, it\u0026rsquo;s been a long time since I had enough bandwidth to upload photos. Now I have this Telcel data plan and I\u0026rsquo;m going to put it through it\u0026rsquo;s paces. So here it is folks, all of the pictures from San Diego through Puerto Los Cabos… after the break\nSorry for all of the duplicate subject matter. I got a little lazy towards the end.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/omg-thats-a-lot-of-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOkay, it\u0026rsquo;s been a long time since I had enough bandwidth to upload photos. Now I have this Telcel data plan and I\u0026rsquo;m going to put it through it\u0026rsquo;s paces. So here it is folks, all of the pictures from San Diego through Puerto Los Cabos… after the break\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSorry for all of the duplicate subject matter. I got a little lazy towards the end.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"¡OMG That's a Lot of Photos!"},{"content":"..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\u0026rsquo; soup) in gut churning swell, Vick and I alternating in and out of the galley as the other got too nauseous to continue.\nBy 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\u0026rsquo;s exertions I said \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll stay tonight.\u0026rdquo;\nThe next thing I knew it was morning and I was somehow in my own berth again. The cove (ensenada) is gorgeous and there were practically no boats remaining, giving us a sense of belonging. (We had arrived to about 30something sailboats.)\nWe left Convivia early and headed to the beach to scope out the two local restaurants for lunch. We had a great time observing the reef that separated the two, as we hovered over the nearly transparent water. The second restaurant was way to glitzy for our cruiser\u0026rsquo;s budget, and we opted to leave before even checking the menus. Stay tuned for a picture or two. On our way out I learned that the cruisers behind us were informed that \u0026ldquo;this is a private party\u0026rdquo; and politely asked to leave.\nAfter an acceptable, but not exceptional lunch we retreated to the beach for some colder than expected snorkling. There we ran into some long estranged friends of our cruising buddies on Windara. We had a nice time chatting with them before returning to Convivia for \u0026ldquo;no-nap.\u0026rdquo;\nNo-Nap is one of my all time favorite institutions. As Ruby got to the age where naps were generally considered optional, I, with atypically selfish pragmatism, came up with this set of rules and dubbed it \u0026rsquo;no-nap\u0026rsquo;\n* You can do anything you want (within the normal boundaries of acceptable behavior)\n* But I should not know that you are awake\n* If I find out that you are awake, you will be put to real-nap\nIt works passably well after about 10 minutes of calibration, water bottle re-fills, reminders, and book/workbook fetching.\nSo, the kids had no-nap and Vick and I enjoyed our coffee, ebooks, and TJs peanut butter cups (smuggled these many miles from Emeryville).\nVick is now engaged in making two types of bread (from scratch of course) and a black bean soup (also from scratch). Life is still good, and we are still loving it!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ensenada-de-los-muertos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e..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\u0026rsquo; soup) in gut churning swell, Vick and I alternating in and out of the galley as the other got too nauseous to continue.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy 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\u0026rsquo;s exertions I said \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;ll stay tonight.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ensenada de Los Muertos"},{"content":"this post was written on our passage to Cabo San Lucas\nNight watches are a fact of life for passage makers. It is the subject of many forum posts, articles, and dockside conversations.\nI have loved every night watch that I have stood, be they starry and clear or foggy and tense. On one hairy night I had my spinnaker wrap around my forestay like a giant hourglass. There was one night (coming into Isla San Miguel) where visibility wss reduced to 1/4 mile or less and I had a white knuckle grip on the dodger for 3 hours. But there have also been countless nights where the stars fill the sky so impossibly full that I feel like a child again, looking at a universe full or wonder and possibilities. I have had nocturnal visitations from unidentified marine mammals, seen my wake lit up by bioluminescence, and seen a dozen breathtaking moonsets.\nTonight though, takes the cake. Tonight I arrived at my post to the most amazing and wonderful treat of all\u0026hellip; Warmth! I am sitting in the cockpit in shorts and a tee shirt with alternating warm and cool breezes blowing over me. The warm feels almost like body temperature and the cool is just warm enough not to induce goose bumps. I think that I love the tropics.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/tropical-night-watches/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ethis post was written on our passage to Cabo San Lucas\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNight watches are a fact of life for passage makers. It is the subject of many forum posts, articles, and dockside conversations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have loved every night watch that I have stood, be they starry and clear or foggy and tense. On one hairy night I had my spinnaker wrap around my forestay like a giant hourglass. There was one night (coming into Isla San Miguel) where visibility wss reduced to 1/4 mile or less and I had a white knuckle grip on the dodger for 3 hours. But there have also been countless nights where the stars fill the sky so impossibly full that I feel like a child again, looking at a universe full or wonder and possibilities. I have had nocturnal visitations from unidentified marine mammals, seen my wake lit up by bioluminescence, and seen a dozen breathtaking moonsets.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tropical Night Watches"},{"content":"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.\nLately I have been unable to site the day of the week. Weekends are entirely irrelevant and if I am a day late to a meeting (yes I still have them) I figure I\u0026rsquo;m close enough.\nMy days are dissected my jibes now. They are peppered with feedings. 3 meals a day (roughly at traditional meal times) and a snack every 15 minutes or so (I kid you not). For the longer intervals we have passages and destinations. Leave for Bahia de Tortugas, arrive 3 nights later at Santa Maria.\nMost interesting is that days no longer begin and end at artificial times. I wake for watch or sunrise and sleep at the end of watch or cruiser\u0026rsquo;s midnight (a few hours after sunset). I am finally rediscovering my natural rhythm as I lose track of time.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/cruising/loosing-track/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately I have been unable to site the day of the week. Weekends are entirely irrelevant and if I am a day late to a meeting (yes I still have them) I figure I\u0026rsquo;m close enough.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Losing Track"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t gotten there yet\u0026hellip; until today.\nToday we arrived in Bahia de Santa Maria. This subtropical harbor is located at latitude 24 46\u0026rsquo;. It\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t caused any real damage (just a little paint scratch).\nWe will be here for another 2 days before heading south again. There is nothing here in the way of modern comforts, and I strongly doubt that I will have real internet but please leave comments and I\u0026rsquo;ll approve (as needed) in Cabo!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/we-made-it-to-south/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur trip so far has been lived under a slight but constant disappointment. We have eagerly been anticipating something that felt southish. This feeling isn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t gotten there yet\u0026hellip; until today.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday we arrived in Bahia de Santa Maria. This subtropical harbor is located at latitude 24 46\u0026rsquo;. It\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t caused any real damage (just a little paint scratch).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Made It to \"South\""},{"content":"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.\nLater that day Merileigh spotted a humpback whale a few hundred yards off our starboard beam. I got up just in time to see it before it dove below, not to be seen by us again. Other boats reported dolphin and whale today, but we only saw a few seal flippers waving.\nI am on the first watch of the night now and the night sky is humbling. Jupiter is bright enough to leave a faint train across the ocean to port, and I have spotted more than a few shooting stars. Old familiar constellations are keeping me company and my iPad sky programs (Star Walk, and Distant Suns) are teaching me new ones. I am grateful for that technology on these long chilly nights.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/a-mecico-addendum/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Mexico-Addendum"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\nNow we are South of the border (30°44.41\u0026rsquo;N 116°36.75\u0026rsquo;W) sailing at 7 knots with the wind behind us. The sun is out and it\u0026rsquo;s finally feeling like \u0026ldquo;south.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nIn other interesting news, the water temp has reached 63°. It isn\u0026rsquo;t quite warm enough for me to relish a swim, but it\u0026rsquo;s certainly going in the right direction. Also new to me is being completely without Internet (in the traditional sense). We probably won\u0026rsquo;t have a real connection for another 10 days, but I\u0026rsquo;m finding the forced hiatus to be quite a welcome change. Don\u0026rsquo;t be expecting to see me on Facebook, or replying to email, but do check that \u0026ldquo;Our Position\u0026rdquo; link (on the top menu) every day or so to find out where we have been.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/a-mexico/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow we are South of the border (30°44.41\u0026rsquo;N 116°36.75\u0026rsquo;W) sailing at 7 knots with the wind behind us. The sun is out and it\u0026rsquo;s finally feeling like \u0026ldquo;south.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"¡A Mexico!"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/catalina-harbor-to-san-diego-photos/","summary":"","title":"Catalina Harbor to San Diego: Photos"},{"content":"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.\nWhen we\u0026rsquo;re underway, we have been for 7 days in the last two weeks, the kids tend to be peaceful and calm. Today Ruby came up to the cockpit with paper and a clipboard, workbooks, and story books and said, “I have so much to do!” Though it\u0026rsquo;s clear that they appreciate being able to run around when we go ashore I don\u0026rsquo;t think they\u0026rsquo;ll run out of things to do or claim boredom.\nAs far as the sailing goes\u0026hellip;The wind has been mostly at our backs. We have had one perfect sail from Half Moon Bay to Monterey with wind, swell, and sun all so comfortable that it became very clear to me why people get in their boats and sail off into the sunset and keep on going. We have also had a long cold overnight sail between Monterey and Morro Bay. It all went perfectly well, but I was so exhausted that when we dropped the anchor in the morning I laid down on the bow and took a nap right there. Another day was fierce, with 20+ knot winds combined, at times, with rolling swell, cold temperatures and little visibility. During that day we passed Point Conception, a major milestone in many sailor\u0026rsquo;s books.\nWe holed up in a remote anchorage (Cuyler Bay, San Miguel Island) waiting for the winds to drop so we could go to shore and explore. After two and half loud and windy nights we hauled the anchor and sailed towards the mainland again. We spent three easy nights at a marina in Ventura where we did boat chores (Tucker found a friendly chandlery close by with all the parts necessary for the watermaker install), laundry, groceries, and some exploring. And then we motored away from Ventura towards Santa Catalina Island where we\u0026rsquo;re anchored now.\nThis spot that we are anchored in is significant because before we bought our boat we chartered a boat from Marina Del Ray out to Catalina Island to see if sailing with kids would be as good as we hoped (and to rule out extreme sea sickness and the like). We spent from Christmas 2009 through the new year out here playing around on the west end of the island dipping our toes in the cruising life. We told the kids that we\u0026rsquo;d come back and it\u0026rsquo;s been high on the priority list for Ruby. Olive is excited that there\u0026rsquo;s a place called the Tucker Playground that we\u0026rsquo;ll walk to tomorrow. I don\u0026rsquo;t think we\u0026rsquo;ll get to hike high in the hills and take pictures of Convivia anchored in the harbor but it\u0026rsquo;s certainly one of those views we\u0026rsquo;d like to capture!\nI\u0026rsquo;m excited about our southbound progress and happy that our next stop is San Diego. I keep waiting to feel the great excitement of starting our trip and thinking that maybe I\u0026rsquo;ll find that in San Diego, or perhaps the Mexico border. For now I love coming into each new harbor and getting underway to the next one when we\u0026rsquo;re ready, and feeling, finally, that I\u0026rsquo;m where I need to be.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/where-i-need-to-be/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOther 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where I Need to Be"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/culyers-bay-to-ventura-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"Culyer's Bay to Ventura in Photos"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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)!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/no-subject/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow, 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\u0026rsquo;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)!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cuyler's Bay"},{"content":"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.\nOn 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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s dominion over us. Perhaps, and I\u0026rsquo;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.\nI mentioned that this fear is old. The first time I had it was sitting on a breakwater in Providence, RI, looking out over the Atlantic. I\u0026rsquo;ve had it on the tops of mountains, but almost any time I\u0026rsquo;m on open water, out of sight of land, it comes back. It\u0026rsquo;s a strange old fear. It\u0026rsquo;s visit feels like a wise old relative, reminding me of my place. I welcome it. Every time it leaves me I feel like I have grown; wizened myself.\nSo our rounding of the great cape of North America was eventful, if only in my head. The trip south from Morro Bay was speedy and rolly but not nearly what the books promised (in terms of wind or wave height). And while I would not seek to enter a rock strewn harbor in the dead of a foggy night again any time soon, I do feel that I have grown, and that is always worth some discomfort.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/rounding-point-conception/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn 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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s dominion over us. Perhaps, and I\u0026rsquo;m going out on a limb here, we  \u003cem\u003eare\u003c/em\u003e  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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rounding Point Conception"},{"content":"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 breeze which soon turned into 15-20 knts of NW. This was perfect for our southbound passage and if it had not been for that square swell, we would have been in total heaven. As it was the boat handled admirably and we sailed most of the late afternoon and evening on just the genoa. By 1 am the wind had completely died and we had to turn on the engine.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I went down below to sleep that I really noticed the noise. I would lay my head down and some loud clanging would commence above. Our boat is many many great things but insulated isn\u0026rsquo;t one of them. It\u0026rsquo;s like living inside a drum. So I would scramble upstairs (which requires putting on full battle regalia) and adjust the source of the commotion until it wasn\u0026rsquo;t so painful. A few minutes later I would be roused again and the process would repeat. I did this until the 5 second periodic roll-crash of two kids water bottles didn\u0026rsquo;t seem like it was worth the trouble, and fell into a sound sleep.\nSleep doesn\u0026rsquo;t last long on night watch rotation though, or at least it doesn\u0026rsquo;t last long enough. A few hours later (seemingly just as soon as I fell asleep) It was my turn on deck. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t be too upset though because I came up (around 11pm) to a path of moonlight illuminating our way and a sky full of stars (in spite of the bright moon). I was surprised how easily I passed the next 3 hours. I had an audiobook at the ready, but after about 10 minutes I started to feel like it was wrecking the mood, and put it away. The time was mostly spent checking out the charts, scanning for ATONs and other boats, and admiring the tranquil beauty of the sea at night.\nVick took the 2-5 shift and reported a beautiful orange moonset. I somehow woke up precisely on time and was more or less completely ready for the shift and, as it turned out, for the day. We arrived in Morro Bay around 9am and as soon as the anchor was set, Victoria fell asleep on the bow.\nTomorrow night we plan to continue our buddy boat passage making (with the Wondertimes) and head around Point Conception to San Miguel Island. The next week will be spent exploring the natural beauty of that small archipelago and then we\u0026rsquo;re off to meet the other HaHa boats in San Diego. It hasn\u0026rsquo;t quite hit me yet that this is my life. Right now it just feels like the best vacation ever!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/ship-s-log/ships-log-first-overnight-monterey-to-morro-bay/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eStanding 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 breeze which soon turned into 15-20 knts of NW. This was perfect for our southbound passage and if it had not been for that square swell, we would have been in total heaven. As it was the boat handled admirably and we sailed most of the late afternoon and evening on just the genoa. By 1 am the wind had completely died and we had to turn on the engine.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: First Overnight; Monterey to Morro Bay"},{"content":"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.\nAs a knowledge worker, my ability to fund this trip came from an excellent education. The formal education I received was one of the best in the world, but my parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents all contributed to developing my intense curiosity, troubleshooting skills, and general competencies. Without these skills, and the reassurance that I could do anything that I set my mind to, I would never have been able to contemplate such an outrageous undertaking.\nMy family and friends have all been tremendously supportive. When one attempts to break free of the gravity of conformity, the greatest inertial force is social pressure. If our friends and family had filled us with doubt, uncertainty, and fear, we never would have launched. Instead at nearly every step, they embraced our choices, bolstered our confidence and supported our dreams.\nThen there are the multitude of friends we haven\u0026rsquo;t even met (IRL) yet that have been offering support in various ways. As we got closer to our launch date, cruisers, liveaboards, and other adventurers found our blog and reached out to us. Through this network of friends we learned of the Dyneema Experience Team, and won a boatload of running rigging. We have also learned of places to visit, to fill up on diesel, and other cruising wisdoms. Some of these friends have even sent care packages, a totally unexpected and heart warming gesture of community.\nOur parents and our best friends had the most cause to hold us back. Instead, they acknowledged that they would be very sad to lose our presence but were happy and proud of us for making our dreams come true. The bittersweetness of this paradox wrenches at my heart, even as it fills me with a sense of belonging and gratitude.\nThen there were the small, timely gestures that made our departure smooth and kept us on schedule. My good friend Deneb offering to sell our car and take care of some administrative stuff; my friend Chris running last minute errands for us and bringing us the goods from West Marine; Chuck who not only made me standoffs for the HAM radio, but offered to send them to San Diego when he couldn\u0026rsquo;t make it in time for our sendoff; the Marina Staff (Diane, Mike, Andrea, and Chris) who helped with everything from bad neighbors, to freezing food, to space for our going away party); and those warm hearts (Jennifer, Anika, Rayna, Tincho, Gloria, Tati, Mike, Andrea, Ilia) who were there to throw off our dock lines and see us on our way.\nWhile it may seem that the sailing vessel Convivia and her crew are a completely self sufficient, globe adventuring machine, I am here to say that we have not gotten here alone, and will not complete this trip without countless small graces. I hereby acknowledge and give thanks.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/thank-you/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThey 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs a knowledge worker, my ability to fund this trip came from an excellent education. The formal education I received was one of the best in the world, but my parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents all contributed to developing my intense curiosity, troubleshooting skills, and general competencies. Without these skills, and the reassurance that I could do anything that I set my mind to, I would never have been able to contemplate such an outrageous undertaking.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You!"},{"content":"In lieu of a real post I present this photo montage of our last 3 days.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/days-1-through-1/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn lieu of a real post I present this photo montage of our last 3 days.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Days -1 through 1"},{"content":"We did it! I can\u0026rsquo;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.\nWe 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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/day-0/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe did it! I can\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Day 0"},{"content":"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 East Coast.\nAs my colleague and compadre of 12 years bade me an emotional goodbye on Friday, I felt my tears well up and then, mysteriously, they were squelched. I felt robbed. This week has been filled with replayings of that vignette; with a friend I\u0026rsquo;ve known almost as long as I\u0026rsquo;ve lived in California, to those who\u0026rsquo;s child I\u0026rsquo;ve seen birthed. Each time the tragedy of having to move away from these relationships that we have nurtured in order to pursue a life long dream, filled me to bursting. And yet, tears eluded me.\nBut then, as if the rain thick fog of San Francisco was the cue my spirit had been waiting for, the floodgates opened and I was awash. Awash and alive; with the relief of weeks of unexperienced emotions, came a moment of connectedness. In that moment I connected with myself in a way that has been lost since adolescence. I connected with the friends who have impacted, guided, and supported me through this adventure. In an inexplicable way, I also connected with the adventure we are about to embark on.\nThe cruising life is transience embodied. There will be many goodbyes ahead. With any luck I will get better at this as the miles flow under our keel. With any luck I will learn to embrace the full spectrum of my emotional palette, to laugh and dance and sing and cry with my heart fully exposed. If you run into me out there and catch me doing anything less, please remind me of this post.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/boys-dont-cry/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThey 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 East Coast.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs my colleague and compadre of 12 years bade me an emotional goodbye on Friday, I felt my tears well up and then, mysteriously, they were squelched. I felt robbed. This week has been filled with replayings of that vignette; with a friend I\u0026rsquo;ve known almost as long as I\u0026rsquo;ve lived in California, to those who\u0026rsquo;s child I\u0026rsquo;ve seen birthed. Each time the tragedy of having to move away from these relationships that we have nurtured in order to pursue a life long dream, filled me to bursting. And yet, tears eluded me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boys Don't Cry"},{"content":"With just 4 work days between me and the life I have dreamed about, things are getting a bit hectic. We\u0026rsquo;ve been frantically dealing with last minute details like: shredding 25 hard drives and 26 backup tapes; buying a watermaker, swim ladder, coffee roasting drum; fleshing out the amazing first aid kit that Vick\u0026rsquo;s mom made with prescriptions etc; trying to cram in as much time with friends as we possibly can; etc. We are in a strange state of limbo that leaves us feeling neither excited nor particularly stressed. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to be too stressed when you are counting down to a dream life, and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to be excited when you have so much to do. Instead I find myself looking ahead and feeling brief moments of exhilaration which I quickly squelch so that I can stay focused. It\u0026rsquo;s like dreaming about someone else\u0026rsquo;s life.\nSo in lieu of a real blog post, I\u0026rsquo;m going to drown you with some snapshots of the lighter moments of the last week. Stick with us. In just two short weeks I\u0026rsquo;ll be writing fascinating accounts of our trip south, replete with the full emotional bounty of the first days of our new life!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/final-countdown-4-days/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWith just 4 work days between me and the life I have dreamed about, things are getting a bit hectic. We\u0026rsquo;ve been frantically dealing with last minute details like: shredding 25 hard drives and 26 backup tapes; buying a watermaker, swim ladder, coffee roasting drum; fleshing out the amazing first aid kit that Vick\u0026rsquo;s mom made with prescriptions etc; trying to cram in as much time with friends as we possibly can; etc. We are in a strange state of limbo that leaves us feeling neither excited nor particularly stressed. It\u0026rsquo;s hard to be too stressed when you are counting down to a dream life, and it\u0026rsquo;s hard to be excited when you have so much to do. Instead I find myself looking ahead and feeling brief moments of exhilaration which I quickly squelch so that I can stay focused. It\u0026rsquo;s like dreaming about someone else\u0026rsquo;s life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Final Countdown: 4 Days"},{"content":"This photo roundup covers the going away party and a few other highlights. Enjoy\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/maine-vacation-2011-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis photo roundup covers the going away party and a few other highlights. Enjoy\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Maine Vacation 2011 in Photos"},{"content":"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 reading as a kid. The first memory I have of reading is a summer memory. It was June or July and we were staying at my grandparents\u0026rsquo; cottage. I tore through the ancient Hardy Boys anthology that seemed to have been read by generations of Bradford boys. When I got through with the last one a peculiar melancholy overtook me. My mother, wise parent that she is, took me into town to the Maine Coast Bookstore and introduced me to Ewan Walker, the owner. He asked me a few questions and started to recommend books.\nI read and enjoyed every book he recommended, and would look forward to my summer vacations in Maine because I knew he would be around to open my eyes to new literary joys. It\u0026rsquo;s been almost two decades since my last memory of Ewan\u0026rsquo;s shop but today I asked about him when I was checking out. The cashier reminisced about the old shop and how she helped move it across the street to where it is today. She recalled Ewan\u0026rsquo;s knack for picking out just the right book for her son and then asked, \u0026ldquo;Is Martha Bradford your aunt by any chance?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Either my aunt or my mother I replied.\u0026rdquo; She clarified that she knew Martha Bradford the artists (my aunt), and asked me to send her well wishes.\nThat, it seems, is the perennial theme of my visits to this area. Whether it\u0026rsquo;s the postmistress noticing an uncanny resemblance to my dad, or someone I haven\u0026rsquo;t seen since a visit to my grandparents church 20 years prior hailing me on the street, I am constantly reminded that here, everybody knows my name*.\n…or at least my family name. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/where-everybody-knows-your-name/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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 reading as a kid. The first memory I have of reading is a summer memory. It was June or July and we were staying at my grandparents\u0026rsquo; cottage. I tore through the ancient Hardy Boys anthology that seemed to have been read by generations of Bradford boys. When I got through with the last one a peculiar melancholy overtook me. My mother, wise parent that she is, took me into town to the Maine Coast Bookstore and introduced me to Ewan Walker, the owner. He asked me a few questions and started to recommend books.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"…Where Everybody Knows Your Name"},{"content":"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.\nWhen Olive woke up on Monday morning and exclaimed \u0026ldquo;Today looks like a GREAT day for sailing,\u0026rdquo; I immediately petitioned the Interwebs for local friends with boats. You can imagine my elation when, a few hours later, a Facebook friend (Diana Roberts) offered up Liliana, a Herreshoff 12.5 (aka, Buzzard\u0026rsquo;s Bay Girls Boat) for our pleasure.\nWe made our plan for Tuesday and got up and out early enough to catch the 10am ferry to Islesboro. Unfortunately that ferry was over capacity and we had to wait for the next one. Diana\u0026rsquo;s daughter Ben met us near the ferry terminal on the island and escorted us to the Tarratine Yacht Club. A curious aside, Ben was a fellow Malrlboro student. This is especially noteworthy since Marlboro College is a school of roughly 350 students.\nI was delighted by how quickly Liliana was brought from rest to sail. From the moment that we boarded to the moment the wind filled her sails couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more than a half hour. That included the stowing of gear, hoisting and backing of sails and paddling out to the wind line.\nAnother thing I forgot about small boats is their relative range. In looking at charts I naively expected to circumnavigate one of the smaller islands. We sailed for a little over two hours and never left Dark Harbor. This was, as it turns out, not at all disappointing. The kids both had a turn at the tiller and Ruby had an immediate affinity with the small craft. Just seconds after taking the tiller she notified us that she was going to \u0026ldquo;head up a bit\u0026rdquo; (the perfect response to our sail trim and position from the wind) and pushed the tiller to lee. My heart swelled with pride.\nAfter our sail we headed over to Pendleton Yacht Yard for a visit (Diana\u0026rsquo;s husband Stan owns the yard) and then followed Stan back to their house to hang for a while with the whole family. It was without qualification a fantastic day. A scenic drive, two ferry rides, messing about in boats, trip to a yacht yard, and visiting with warm interesting people is just about all a vacationing soul could ask for.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/messing-about-in-boats/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen Olive woke up on Monday morning and exclaimed \u0026ldquo;Today looks like a GREAT day for sailing,\u0026rdquo; I immediately petitioned the Interwebs for local friends with boats. You can imagine my elation when, a few hours later, a Facebook friend (Diana Roberts) offered up Liliana, a Herreshoff 12.5 (aka, Buzzard\u0026rsquo;s Bay Girls Boat) for our pleasure.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Messing About In Boats"},{"content":"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 to us. This trip, as short as it is, has been no different. Already we have been talking about possible change of itinerary, and certainly thinking of as many ways to return to this idyllic spot as we can. The future is as uncertain as ever, but being here reminds us to be mindful of the present.\nPictures after the break…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/family-time-in-maine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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 to us. This trip, as short as it is, has been no different. Already we have been talking about possible change of itinerary, and certainly thinking of as many ways to return to this idyllic spot as we can.  The future is as uncertain as ever, but being here reminds us to be mindful of the present.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Family Time in Maine"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m suspended in this twilight zone between the elation that this new life brings, and the stress of leaving behind so much that we\u0026rsquo;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.\nI know that in 35 days, as we are provisioning for our trip south, things will look entirely different. I know too that in 60 days, when we are in Mexico and have settled into the new tempo of a cruising life, that things will look different still. What\u0026rsquo;s strange is that I have less perception of what those feelings will be than I have for almost anything else I\u0026rsquo;ve ever done, in spite of the fact that we have been planning to do this thing for 10 years.\nI expect the next few weeks will be a bit topsy-turvy (emotionally speaking) for all of us. Right now I\u0026rsquo;m just trying to keep focused on what\u0026rsquo;s right in front of me, while still scanning ahead enough to avoid the big potholes. With luck I\u0026rsquo;ll also start to let go of some of that stress so I can spend more time reveling in this amazing life transition.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/countdown-35-days/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eVick and the kids are heading to New England this weekend to start saying goodbye to all of our East Coast friends and family. I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;m suspended in this twilight zone between the elation that this new life brings, and the stress of leaving behind so much that we\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Countdown: 35 Days"},{"content":"\nA Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week.\nA simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via soulemama.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/this-moment-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/08/IMG_9101-Version-2-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA simple, special moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - via \u003ca href=\"http://www.soulemama.com/\"\u003esoulemama\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"~this moment~"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;ve served us faithfully all these months as our nearby no-cost storage unit. When you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t start for me last weekend, I understood. You\u0026rsquo;ve been neglected, your fuel had been left too long, your headlights were probably left on by young, curious fingers.\nI bought you two new (to you) batteries, and patiently turned your engine over… and over… and over. When those new batteries were fully depleted, I called our good friends at AAA. They came slowly, but they did come, and when they did they gave you some ether to take your mind off your troubles. With a mind full of booze, you rocked it all the way to storage, and all you needed to get you back home again was another jumpstart from our buddies at AAA.\nThe next start was harder. I understand. At 27 you\u0026rsquo;re just not a morning person. It was so cold, your batteries were low again. But by noon, after hours and hours of backrubs and pep talks, I gave you some more booze, a lot of booze this time, and you rallied. And ManVan, you rallied hard. You may have missed the boat on dying young but you sure know how to live, well if not fast, at least large. I never turned you off ManVan. I did not ask you to go quietly into the night. You brought me and my stuff to the shipping company, and then back to the storage, without stopping that big brave engine of yours. And when, finally, at 56th and San Pablo, that brave heart gave up the ghost, I let you glide peacefully to the side of the road.\nYou have lived (I suspect) a full and rich life. You have served our family well these many months. In the end we carried your tired bones home to your final resting place. Your buddy the AAA flatbed driver lovingly deposited you right back in your spot (between the lines even) where you will await your reincarnation. Go in peace ManVan, you will be missed.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/goodnight-manvan-in-memoriam/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eManVan, I salute you.\u003c/strong\u003e 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\u0026rsquo;ve served us faithfully all these months as our nearby no-cost storage unit.  When you wouldn\u0026rsquo;t start for me last weekend, I understood. You\u0026rsquo;ve been neglected, your fuel had been left too long, your headlights were probably left on by young, curious fingers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Goodnight ManVan (in memoriam)"},{"content":"There is a time for departure even when there\u0026rsquo;s no certain place to go. Tennessee Williams It\u0026rsquo;s getting pretty obvious that Convivia is going somewhere. We\u0026rsquo;ve added a big anchor, a new Quickcover for our main, a life raft, a Monitor Windvane, and most recently four solar panels. People are now asking us where we\u0026rsquo;re going. The funny thing is we\u0026rsquo;ve had this plan to \u0026ldquo;go out the Gate and turn left\u0026rdquo; for a decade. We\u0026rsquo;ve been pretty sure for nearly as many years that we\u0026rsquo;d head south for the Baja Ha-Ha whenever it was that we went. And that\u0026rsquo;s all we have actually planned.\nWhen we moved aboard the kids told everyone we met on the docks that we were going sailing to see their grandmothers. That\u0026rsquo;s true. These dreams were started long ago when looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and imagining and wondering just how big it really was. Round Pond, Maine is definitely a goal. When we were boat shopping each boat was evaluated partially on whether or not we\u0026rsquo;d want to sail it into Round Pond. We\u0026rsquo;ll drop our anchor there someday most definitely.\nWe\u0026rsquo;d like to circumnavigate, someday. Circumnavigating has been Tucker\u0026rsquo;s goal since he was young. We are pretty sure we\u0026rsquo;ll complete a world circle, but there may be many stops and starts along the way. Olive asks often, \u0026ldquo;Is today the day we\u0026rsquo;re going sailing around the world?\u0026rdquo; He thinks, I imagine, that our trip will take a day, or maybe a few days to complete. Our start day is really soon but the world is much bigger than he can possibly imagine.\nI have my sights set on the South Pacific. This year and last we\u0026rsquo;ve been watching the Puddle Jumpers blog about their three months in French Polynesia and their passages and stops all the way to New Zealand and Australia. My calendar for 2012 once had our original departure on it but now it has just a few days in June and July marked for the Tahiti/Moorea rendezvous. We\u0026rsquo;ll keep watching our \u0026ldquo;Awesome Routers,\u0026rdquo; on s/v Britannia for the spots that they love.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve stocked the boat with charts, guidebooks, cruising guides, destination guides, and World Cruising Routes but haven\u0026rsquo;t had much of a chance to dig in besides a few peeks at the pictures. We could come up with a plan to follow Captain Cook\u0026rsquo;s route, or get around quickly, or spend a year somewhere, or head towards Panama instead of across the Pacific, or scoot out to Hawaii and up to Alaska and back. We have some ideas, certainly, but the real answer is that we\u0026rsquo;re going where the wind blows.\n(Check out Britannia and Cielydhfor some great pictures of 2011 Pacific crossings and Totem for 2010.)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/where-are-you-going/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"there-is-a-time-for-departure-even-when-there-tennessee-williams\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThere is a time for departure even when there\u0026rsquo;s no certain place to go.\u003c/em\u003e Tennessee Williams\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s getting pretty obvious that Convivia is going somewhere.  We\u0026rsquo;ve added a big anchor, a new Quickcover for our main, a life raft, a Monitor Windvane, and most recently four solar panels.  People are now asking us where we\u0026rsquo;re going. The funny thing is we\u0026rsquo;ve had this plan to \u0026ldquo;go out the Gate and turn left\u0026rdquo; for a decade. We\u0026rsquo;ve been pretty sure for nearly as many years that we\u0026rsquo;d head south for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.baja-haha.com/\"\u003eBaja Ha-Ha\u003c/a\u003e whenever it was that we went. And that\u0026rsquo;s all we have \u003cem\u003eactually\u003c/em\u003e planned.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where are you going?"},{"content":"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 will be a bonus) and draw our electrical power from the sun. As we prepare for our trip each thing that we have purchased and installed that helps the boat to sail better and safer has received a little emotional boost from the incidental fulfillment of the self-sufficiency goal.\nThis weekend I completed the 2nd—and perhaps most important—step in our off-the-grid goal; 420 Watts of Solar power is now bolted to our boat. The path to this solution was a long and arduous one. I started out looking at one giant panel that would rest on our dodger. Later, when I realized how easily it would be shaded, I changed my thinking to two large dodger mounted panels. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t until I started talking with Rob Tryon of Southbound Solar that I came around to the solution we have now. I had called Rob because I heard through the grapevine that he had a lot of panels that he had tested and was selling cheap. As it turned out, the system that he was selling \u0026ldquo;The Mariner\u0026rsquo;s Package\u0026rdquo; was great, but well below my robust desires.\nRob visited us on Convivia and together (between swapping yarns) we worked out a better system. Rob\u0026rsquo;s idea was to separate the system into two autonomous parts. The first part consists of two 80 Watt Solar Land panels mounted in a traditional stern pulpit configuration. These panels are tied together (in parallel) before going into a Flexcharge NC25A charge controller. The second bank is a pair of dodger mounted 120 Watt panels tied together and fed into another NC25A. The outputs of these controllers are then paralleled at the ship\u0026rsquo;s positive bus and a sensor cable (for charge monitoring) is connected from the battery to a small serial bus that the two controllers share.\nI thought that the physical install was going to be the tough part, and it was. Finding the right aluminum bar stock (3/8\u0026quot; x 2\u0026quot;) for the pulpit mounts was a trick (hint: Alco Metals). But the real fancy part was installing the dodger mounted ones. That, in the end, was done with L profile 1\u0026quot;x 1/4\u0026quot; aluminum stock. I used two pieces per panel to form a bracket. Once I had the panels and brackets laid out, I drilled the corner holes one at a time (replacing the Sunbrella between each iteration) so that I would never have more than about a third of the dodger disassembled at a time. This was important because the dodger looses it\u0026rsquo;s shape without the fabric, and you can\u0026rsquo;t drill through the fabric without shredding it. Rob actually showed up part way through this project to lend a hand, and stayed until the frame was almost complete. That night I strapped the whole thing together with webbing and went to bed feeling \u0026ldquo;almost done.\u0026rdquo;\nHa! Even though the physical mounting only took another couple of hours, the electrical part was savage. I had to drill holes in the afterdeck and cabin top; weatherize those holes; run nearly 75\u0026rsquo; of 10 guage duplex wire, with two 2-into-1 splices, 4 quick connect, and who knows how many ring terminals. There were some interesting challenges with the 2-into-1 splices too. The stern system was easy. I used the old nut and bolt trick; staggering the positive and negative leg by a few inches and zip tied together. I looked great and I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure they will be bullet-proof (as these things go). The dodger mount splice was going to have to rest in close proximity to a 1\u0026quot; stainless steel tube. I\u0026rsquo;m not terribly happy with my solution, so I\u0026rsquo;ll wait until it\u0026rsquo;s proven one way or another before I describe it. I can at least say that it works :)\nWithout going into all of the gory details I\u0026rsquo;ll say that the charge controllers (which I expected to be just plug-and-play) turned out to be a full days work. Even now I\u0026rsquo;m not sure I\u0026rsquo;ll keep the system as it was specified. I am fairly sure that Rob has the theory of it right, and with his balanced system (all 80 watt panels) it works like a charm. On my system though, it took forever to get them to stop tripping each other (they have a high voltage/low voltage trigger). One would turn on, then the other would. Then the voltage (of the pair) would spike up to 15+v and they would both shut down, bringing the system voltage to ~13.4v where they would both pop on again, spike and divert. By the end of the day I was able to get them to trigger in a slightly out of phase way that would avert the spike and keep both arrays in the game. I do think the charge controllers are good (maybe even awesome) and that a balanced system would work swimmingly, but I may end up just using one (and keeping a warm spare) as my total output is just in the neighborhood of their rated output (25amps). I\u0026rsquo;ll write more about that as it develops.\nSo now I am taking all of my DC from the sun. Tonight I am running a full compliment of DC appliances (including both of our 2amp bulkhead lamps) and tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll see if the batteries are charged when we get back to the boat. Once we have a good sense of our capabilities, we\u0026rsquo;ll start experimenting with the inverter. I can say that today, at 2pm I saw 22 amps coming in from the sun, and that feels an awful lot like self-sufficiency!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/outfitting/convivia-powered-by-the-sun/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSelf 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 will be a bonus) and draw our electrical power from the sun. As we prepare for our trip each thing that we have purchased and installed that helps the boat to sail better and safer has received a little emotional boost from the incidental fulfillment of the self-sufficiency goal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Convivia: Powered by the Sun"},{"content":"Our friend Merileigh gave me a \u0026ldquo;day date\u0026rdquo; last month for my birthday. We had a little trouble finding a weekend that was open, but it turned out that Victoria\u0026rsquo;s birthday worked for everyone. We dropped Merileigh and the kids off at the California Academy of Science around noon and then drove to the Ferry Building to kick off our date. We ate a wonderful lunch at the Slanted Door and then grabbed coffee at Blue Bottle before heading around to our favorite shops for treats.\nA few hours later, stocked up on delicious goodies, we headed back to Golden Gate Park in hopes of catching an hour or two at the Picasso exhibit at the De Young. We managed to get there in enough time to walk leisurely through. Moments after we left the exhibit, Merileigh called to let us know that the kids were bushed and hungry.\nWe met by the fountains in between the two museums and walked (with Merileigh and the kids) to Park Chow for dinner. Almost exhausted but not ready to call it a day we drove back to the East Bay and stopped at Scream for some of the best sorbet in the world. The kids fell asleep moments after arriving home and Vick and I enjoyed a quiet evening together.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/victorias-35th-birthday-day-date/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur friend Merileigh gave me a \u0026ldquo;day date\u0026rdquo; last month for my birthday. We had a little trouble finding a weekend that was open, but it turned out that Victoria\u0026rsquo;s birthday worked for everyone. We dropped Merileigh and the kids off at the California Academy of Science around noon and then drove to the Ferry Building to kick off our date. We ate a wonderful lunch at the Slanted Door and then grabbed coffee at Blue Bottle before heading around to our favorite shops for treats.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Victoria's 35th Birthday: Day Date"},{"content":"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.\nOur stop in Jost Van Dyke gave us our first taste of island time. We attempted to check in to customs and immigration around noon but were unsuccessful. They insisted we have lunch and come back later on. We dingied to another harbor later on to snorkel and visit the self-serve Ivan\u0026rsquo;s Stress Free bar. We moved on to a new harbor nearly every night. The little day sails were easy and comfortable between the islands. The swim at each new anchorage was refreshing and warm all at the same time. Ninety degree water and ninety degree air was simply paradise. I would need to get my hands on a Virgin Islands cruising guide to remember exactly each stop we made, but they made a great impression. This is the list I remember, however, I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure we only had ten nights so we must have spent some days in these places and moved on and found our night time anchorage in the same day:\nLienster Bay, St. John- our first night out on a mooring ball in front of an old sugar factory\nGreat Harbor, Jost Van Dyke- we snorkeled at White Bay, stayed up late at Foxy\u0026rsquo;s, poured self serve drinks at Ivan\u0026rsquo;s Stress Free Bar\nCane Garden Bay, Tortola- we listened to live music on the beach, and found a sailboat that had been out cruising for 13 years\nSoper\u0026rsquo;s Hole, Tortola- we restocked on expensive perishables, refilled water tanks, met some students that had been studying at Arecibo\nThe Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda- pretty and fancy\nLeverick Bay, Virgin Gorda- there was a shower near the anchorage (oh boy, this isn\u0026rsquo;t a great sign if I remember a shower from 10 years ago and don\u0026rsquo;t have one of my own)\nSpanish Town, Virgin Gorda- we went and swam at The Baths. Awesome!\nCoral Bay, St. John (two nights)- the real cruiser\u0026rsquo;s anchorage and luckily we weren\u0026rsquo;t on a big name charter company boat so we were able to sort of join in for a couple days. There were some beautiful boats there!\nCaneel Bay, St. John- this must have been a lunch anchorage for us, though we did go into the main part of town for a day\nTrunk Bay, St. John- underwater national park- amazing!\nCinnamon Bay, St. John- our last night\nI loved the charter! The boat was an incredibly comfortable Island Packet 32. Wow! The sailing was amazing, easy, and warm. The waters were well charted, the guide books were up to date, yet I still was discovering something new every single day. After sailing for so long in the San Francisco Bay it was amazing to not have to wear foul weather gear on an ordinary July day and to be able to raise the full sail (on our old boat we were always reefed down). It only took me until Cane Garden Bay to decide we should go cruising. Tucker dingied over to a pretty big sailboat with a Scottish flag. I don\u0026rsquo;t remember exactly how long he was gone, but when he came back he told me that that guy had been out sailing for 13 years. That was the instant I knew I absolutely would go cruising too.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll never forget sitting on the swim platform, dangling my legs in the water, late in the evening before we had to return the boat. I was heart-achy that it was over. Owning our own cruising boat is no where near as simple as hopping on a charter boat for a bit, but I am more than a little bit thrilled that ten years later we\u0026rsquo;re about to head out and make our dreams a reality!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ten-years-ago-today-launching-the-dream/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTen 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ten Years Ago Today—Launching The Dream"},{"content":"iNavX is (as I\u0026rsquo;ve previously mentioned) a terrific product. It\u0026rsquo;s one greatest shortcoming is it\u0026rsquo;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.\nStep 1. From your iPad (IOS version ≤ 4.3.3) go to jailbreakme.com. Click on Free, then Install.\nStep 2. Find the Cydia program (brown icon) and use it to install openssh and NetAtalk (hint: use the Search Function).\nStep 3. Restart your iPad (hold down the Home and Power button until the red swipe comes up, then swipe)\nStep 4. On your iPad go to Settings -\u0026gt; Network -\u0026gt; WiFi -\u0026gt; and click on the blue arrow next to your active network. Write down the IP Address.\nStep 5. On your Mac (god I hope you\u0026rsquo;re using a mac) go to Spotlight and search for Terminal. Type \u0026ldquo;ssh root@\u0026lt;IP Address\u0026gt;\u0026rdquo; (no quotes). When it prompts you for a password type alpine. when you see the \u0026lt;your iPad\u0026rsquo;s name here\u0026gt;# prompt, type passwd and hit return. Now type your new password in (twice) and close terminal.\nStep 6. On your Mac, open a Finder window. Find your iPad under SHARED and click on it. When it prompts you for your username and password it will be Username=root and Password=\u0026lt;whatever you just set in step 5\u0026gt;\nStep 7. Now comes the tricky part, start by clicking on root. Next navigate as follows private -\u0026gt; var -\u0026gt; mobile -\u0026gt; Applications. Next you have to find the directory that contains the iNavx application. You\u0026rsquo;ll notice that the directories at this level (Application) have hexidecimal names (looks like gibberish). Open them one by one until you find one that contains iNavX. Inside that directory is one called Documents. Make a shortcut to that on your desktop or dock by holding down + while dragging. Once you\u0026rsquo;ve dragged it you can rename it to something like iNavx Documents.\nStep 8. Request your gribs in the normal way. Once you have them, drop them into the iNavX Documents folder and open iNavx. You should see your grib files under the Forecast tab.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s it. Hopefully I didn\u0026rsquo;t miss anything or glaze over a difficult step. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.\np.s. If you do have a PC look for an ssh program like PuTTY. Install that and then follow along from \u0026ldquo;ssh root@…\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/learning-education/manually-adding-gribs-to-inavx/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eiNavX is (\u003ca href=\"/articles/2011/07/12/navigation-system-of-the-gods\"\u003eas I\u0026rsquo;ve previously mentioned\u003c/a\u003e) a terrific product. It\u0026rsquo;s one greatest shortcoming is it\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Manually Adding GRIBs to iNavX"},{"content":"Mom, you might want to give this one a skip… Erica Jong does not speak for us. She doesn\u0026rsquo;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. That said, this post is not a critique (per se) of her \u0026ldquo;Is Sex Passé\u0026rdquo; article. What I hope it will be is a wake-up call to our generation. Erica Jong was reflecting a secretly but widely held belief that many of my peers either struggle against, or become oppressed by; that sex after marriage, and more specifically sex after kids, is bound to be less steamy, less intense, less fulfilling, and less adventurous.\nI, fortunately, am the antithesis of what Erica is depicting in her article. For me sex after children has been more… of everything good. But even I am dogged by the persistant awareness that that is not normal; that we are lucky. In the last week—and thanks to Erica\u0026rsquo;s article—I have been seeing that amazing, passionate, wild, earth-shattering, post-child sex is not only normal but apparently common. Many of my peers have come out publicly against Erica\u0026rsquo;s sentiments, sharing intimate glances into their own experiences. What this has shown me is that while I may well be fortunate to be in a monogamous, post-child, firey-hot relationship, I am not lucky. Luck, as with most things, doesn\u0026rsquo;t have anything to do with this. What makes my sex life awesome is what seems to be working for many of my friends and peers; deep knowledge of our partners; trust and openness (which are a breeding ground for experimentation); and love. Yup I said it, love.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s enough about me specifically. I constantly walk the thin line between discretion and TMI… who am I kidding, I dive headlong into TMI and backstroke home. Let\u0026rsquo;s talk about you. Chances are you are a parent if you are reading this. Chances are you have unintentionally consumed the stereotype that we breeders aren\u0026rsquo;t supposed to have, or don\u0026rsquo;t deserve hot sex anymore. You may actually have great sex on a very regular (but unscheduled) basis, but you still think boring Wednesday sex with the lights off is what most couples get (cuz \u0026ldquo;there\u0026rsquo;s nothing good on TV\u0026rdquo;). I say this because I\u0026rsquo;m an introspective, self aware kinda guy, and that\u0026rsquo;s what I subconsciously believed until I read, and got all pissed off about, Erica\u0026rsquo;s article.\nSo if I\u0026rsquo;ve got your attention, here\u0026rsquo;s what I propose. Let\u0026rsquo;s blow the barn doors off this myth. Let\u0026rsquo;s take back sexuality for the monogomous, or post-child, or whatever \u0026ldquo;group\u0026rdquo; you belong to that\u0026rsquo;s been blanketed by this oppressive stereotype. We can do this by talking about sex. Talk about it in your blog, talk about it on Facebook, Tweet about it, and most importantly talk, in person, to your friends about it. You don\u0026rsquo;t have to talk about your sex if that violates a confidence or your sense of propriety, but talk about it! Let your married, with children, monogomous, friends know that you believe that everyone deserves to have fulfilling, life enhancing, regular (but not scheduled, unless you\u0026rsquo;re into that) sex.\nHow do you broach this topic with your friends? How has sex after kids, or after marriage, or after commitment changed for you? Does sneaking around (your kids) make you feel like a teen again? Please share, even if anonymously.\nOther articles on this topic:\nAnnie\u0026rsquo;s (of the Bad Mom\u0026rsquo;s Club) rebuttal\nBlame co-sleeping for a Lame Love Life\nDear Erica Jong\nCharity\u0026rsquo;s Response\nViolet Blue\u0026rsquo;s rebuttal (yeah we read tinynibbles) NSFW\n(I\u0026rsquo;ll post more as I find them)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/parents-have-hot-sex-too/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"mom-you-might-want-to-give-this-one-a-skip\"\u003eMom, you might want to give this one a skip…\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/opinion/sunday/10sex.html?_r=1\"\u003eErica Jong\u003c/a\u003e does not speak for us. She doesn\u0026rsquo;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. That said, this post is not a critique (per se) of her \u0026ldquo;Is Sex Passé\u0026rdquo; article. What I hope it will be is a wake-up call to our generation. Erica Jong was reflecting a secretly but widely held belief that many of my peers either struggle against, or become oppressed by; that sex after marriage, and more specifically sex after kids, is bound to be less steamy, less intense, less fulfilling, and less adventurous.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Parents Have HOT SEX Too"},{"content":"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.\nI started down the software chart plotter path thinking that I would adopt one of the open source solutions. While there are many good choices, none worked particularly well on my Mac (I know, proprietary/closed, ). I finally settled on MacEnc for my laptop and had pretty good success with it and a USB puck GPS. The US charts (raster and ENC from NOAA) were free and great, but the international charts were somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 per region. I mentally prepared to buy them all.\nThen I discovered iNavX (by the same people) for the iPhone. Shortly thereafter the iPad came out and iNavX was released for the iPad. iNavX on the iPad turned out to be the perfect chart plotter. It\u0026rsquo;s merits include:\nPortable (really, easily, more on that later) Intuitive interface. The top end hardware chart plotters are just now getting touch screen interfaces, and none of them (to my knowledge) are as easy to use or intuitive as iNavX on the iPad. Inexpensive charts. The average cost for a Navionics Gold region is ~$30 - $90. For that I get all of the US \u0026amp; Bahamas; all of Mexico; all of the South Pacific; or New Zealand. Compare that to any other system and lift your jaw off the floor. Redundancy. We have two iPads. iNavX runs on both (with one license). The charts can be downloaded on to up to 2 devices (with one license). Easy to stick in the oven during electrical storms. Multi-use.Convivia is small for a43\u0026rsquo;r. Everything has to serve multiple uses or space isn\u0026rsquo;t well used. OuriPadsare used daily for: Facebooking e-mail e-books reference materials (all of my manuals in pdf, HAM/SSB information, etc) kid\u0026rsquo;s movies (most importantly) clinometer (I kid you not, it works well) The biggest downside to the iPad is that it is not weather proof and it can overheat in direct and sustained heat. I will follow-up from the tropics to let you know if that turns out to be a problem, but I think it will not be.\nSo with the hardest decision out of the way I set to work on addressing the rest of the system. I decided that I wanted to have my windspeed/direction, SOW, and Depth available in iNavX too. The best way that I found to handle this was by installing the Brookhouse iMux ST. The iMux comes in two main flavors, a SeaTalk and non-SeaTalk. I have older instruments and decided the ST was the best option. I also got the high baud rate AIS option, in case I decided to add that later. I also wanted a better (faster, slightly more accurate) GPS, so I ordered a compatible PS2 puck GPS.\nInstallation Installation of the iPad was dead simple. I put some velcro on the back of the iPad (2 strips of 1\u0026quot;x 6\u0026quot; works well) and a strip anywhere on the boat that I wanted to mount it (bulkheads over the v-berth, inside the cabin trunk, in the cockpit under the dodger (on the outside of the bulkhead). This allows me to easily move the iPad out of the weather when it\u0026rsquo;s foul, and into the cockpit when it\u0026rsquo;s fair. (Incidentally, I have the same software on the iPhone and use that in foul weather, tucking it into my pocket when I\u0026rsquo;m not using it.)\nFor the iMux integration, I cut one of the sea-talk terminals off, exposing the wires. I connected the exposed wires according to the colors listed on the iMux (Silver, Ret, yellow, from top to bottom) and plugged the GPS into the PS2 port. When I turned the instruments on, the iMux sprang to life. Then I went into my iPad, set the network to Brookhouse_iMux (changing this voids the warranty :S) and configured the WiFi network like so:\n(click to enlarge)\nThen I opened up iNavX and went into the Instruments screen and tapped on Setup, then TCP/IP. I set the values as follows:\nWhen everything was right I saw that green text (in the black window) scrolling by at a rapid pace. That\u0026rsquo;s all the NMEA datagrams, and it means your iPad is getting instrument data.\nAIS AIS (Automatic Identification System) is an elective (for pleasure craft) ship tracking system employed by over 40,000 ships worldwide. What makes it particularly useful is that (in the US at least) it is required for vessels over 300 Gross Tons. This means that in pea-soup fog a vessel like ours, equipped with AIS, can \u0026ldquo;see\u0026rdquo; a tanker coming from 30+ nautical miles away. AIS displays that vessel\u0026rsquo;s COG, Bearing, Range, Name, Location and more. The name in this case can be critical when hailing large vessels for more information. We waffled on whether or not to invest in AIS but ultimately decided that, at ~$300 the Standard Horizon Matrix AIS+ GX2150, was a bargain. This sweet little device combines VHF, AIS, and DSC (Which can also be used for positioning) in one integrated package.\nInstalling the GX2150 Installing the GX2150 was as straightforward as it comes. I already had the antenna wired and terminated from the previous VHF, so all I had to do was cut and butt splice the power cord (you\u0026rsquo;ll need a crimper, wire cutters and the appropriate butt joint or step-down joints). The harder part was installing the AIS, DSC-In, and DSC-Out leads to the iMux. Here, a picture is worth 1,000 words:\n(click to enlarge)\nThe Top 3 terminals are the aforementioned SeaTalk terminals. The from the top it\u0026rsquo;s Grey, Green-jumper, Brown, Green-jumper, empty, empty, Green+Green-jumper, Blue. I included this picture because this wiring was by far the hardest part of the whole project. The GX2150 only provides a single ground, so you have to create your own ground bus. You could do this a number of different ways, but this was easy and seemed elegant.\nOnce it was finally wired up I had to program the VHF with the MMSI number. You have obtain your MMSI from the FCC by going to their website, and registering for a FRN (your FCC \u0026ldquo;account\u0026rdquo;), a SA (Ships Recreational License) and (optionally, if you carry an SSB) an RR (Restricted Radiotelephone). In the application for the SA you will be asked if your ship carries AIS (yes), DSC (yes), EPIRB, etc. Selecting the DSC option, promts the FCC to generate a MMSI number. I needed to program that into my radio for any of the DCS/AIS functionality to work. Once I had the MMSI number configured, I hit the AIS button on the front of the radio and was pleased to see my Lat/Long and a bunch of other helpful information on screen. Then I switched over to iNavX, started the TCP/IP service, and selected Show AIS = All from the Chart -\u0026gt; Setup screen. After hitting Save I marveled at all of the boats that popped up on my charts.\n(click to enlarge)\nNow I have a full featured chart plotter that is fully integrated into my ship\u0026rsquo;s instruments, AIS, and DSC systems. My charts cost a fraction of the going rate, and I can take it anywhere, and use it for miriad applications. Can you play Angry Birds HD on your chart plotter?\nI would be really interested to hear what experience others have had with off the shelf, custom, or home brewed navigation systems. Have you tried what I\u0026rsquo;ve done? How has it worked for you?\nUpdate: I realized this morning that I left out one of the most important details of this whole exercise, the cost. Here is a rough estimate of the system cost. Remember that two of the most expensive components have MULtiple uses.\nStandard Horizon GX2150 $300 iPad $500 iNavX $50 US Navionics Gold Charts $50 Brookhouse iMux ST $350 GPS $35 Total: $1,285 ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/navigation-system-of-the-gods/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eConvivia 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DIY Navigation System of the Gods!"},{"content":"This weekend was the official opening of the Sharks Bight Yacht Club, a hyper-exclusive yacht club in Brickyard Cove. Chris \u0026amp; 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\u0026rsquo;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.\nWe elected to throw up all of our canvas, which was (in hindsight) a really poor idea. Convivia handled the wind with aplomb until we could safely reduce sail, and we reached our way up the Bay to Richmond in record time (GPS recorded 8.7 knots SOG). The approach to the Sharks Bight was one in a million. Brickyard Cove has a really cool layout, with a giant horseshoe of houses on piers extended into the harbor. We skirted the NE side of the shoe and crept quietly to the very back of the Cove to an easily accessible single finger dock.\nThanks to the new gear, ship-shaping only took a few minutes and before I knew it we were being ushered through the Yacht Club\u0026rsquo;s wood shop and upstairs into the clubhouse. The clubhouse (or Kim and Chris\u0026rsquo; house, depending on the day) was adorned tastefully with a rich collection of nautical notions and furniture (handmade by the proprietor). My favorite touch was the ship\u0026rsquo;s bell hanging on the post by the stairwell. Sadly it was Ruby\u0026rsquo;s favorite touch as well, and she made superfluous use of it throughout the night.\nThe kids made themselves right at home (read, jumped on every cushion, pounded on the piano, terrorized the dog, etc.) and finally settled in to watch Wild Eyes, the Abby Sunderland documentary. Kim had already started the paella and she had it served up in what seemed like record time. We chatted and ate, and drank, and chatted some more until the kids were ready for bed.\nThe bedtime plan had been to take the kids down to the boat, give them instructions for hailing us on the VHF, and then head back up to the clubhouse for cocktails and a splicing lesson. I got the kids brushed and changed and read them a book. But as I started to sneak off Olive called me back. The poor little gal was really sad and \u0026ldquo;wanted a gwon-up to stay on C\u0026rsquo;ivia.\u0026rdquo; I talked to her for a while but realized that she wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to feel safe if I left so I hailed the club on the VHF myself, and asked them to move the party down to the boat.\nAfter a few more rounds, we started our slicing lesson. Chris is a fantastic teacher, and Vick and I were both feeling ready to start splicing in spite of the hour and our exhaustion from the day. We called it a night shortly thereafter and settled into our familiar berth.\nIn the morning we went back up for breakfast (fresh black beans that Vick soaked the night before, and eggs) and more splicing. Somewhere around 1245 we packed up and bid farewell to our friends at the Sharks Bight.\n…but wait, there\u0026rsquo;s more! We made it home in (once again) record time, which was a very good thing since my good friend Estelle and her boyfriend\u0026rsquo;s family were waiting for us when we arrived. They watched us pull Convivia in and Evan helped me to put her to rights. We snacked and caught up and caught an early dinner at… you guessed right, Picante Taqueria.\nBetween the rare treat of sailing two weekends in a row, joining a yacht club, learning a new skill, installing critical equipment, and a ton of friend time, this weekend will surely go down in the annals.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/a-night-at-the-sharks-bight/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis weekend was the official opening of the Sharks Bight Yacht Club, a hyper-exclusive yacht club in Brickyard Cove. Chris \u0026amp; 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Night At the Sharks Bight"},{"content":"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.\nTucker sent an email to Rocna. Yes, yes, my anchor stamp had to be The Anchor Of My Dreams. They sent a .pdf of the anchor and with that artwork I began carving my stamp. I used a Speedball Speedy Stamp kit. The material is soft, smooth, and very easy to carve. My very first stamp turned out just the way I wanted it to.\nThen came my order from Dharma Trading Company. I needed a few shirts for the baby ideas, several for my kids, dresses for Ruby, a pack of bandanas for the kids to dye, shirts for Tucker and I, then I added dresses for another gift\u0026hellip;.well, I kept adding to my order and even ordered a second time. I stayed up late and mixed dye and blended colors and added more until I had every color I could dream up stacked all over my little counter. I loosely followed the methods in the book Color By Accident and used low water immersion to color my piles of white things. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t dump the dye straight down my drain so I didn\u0026rsquo;t want to have too much to carry up to the marina bathrooms. Over the course of several days I had Ziplock bags and yogurt containers filled with colorful clothes. I needed a dock cart to carry my stash up to the marina bathrooms for rinsing. It was fast and fun to rinse three sinks at a time and next thing I knew the whole lot of them were coming out of the washer and dryer. It turns out I still didn\u0026rsquo;t get my fill so I brought all the dyes and dishes and bags to my friend Jennifer\u0026rsquo;s house for another day of dyeing. We even included six kids in the process and all of the little ones left with bandannas colored any way they wished.\nFreezer paper stenciling came next. Custom boat stencils for Convivia and our friend\u0026rsquo;s boat were cut using line drawings found on sailboatdata.com. Freezer paper is cut easily with an Xacto knife and sticks well, but not permanently, to fabric when you iron it on. It makes for a very easy and accurate stencil. I used Versatex fabric paint to paint the shirts.\nAfter stencils came iron on printer paper. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t resist ironing on a little local chart for a baby gown and a tee for Olive. Tucker printed out a \u0026ldquo;Southbound 2011\u0026rdquo; and added that to his Convivia tee shirt.\nUsing the same Versatex fabric paint I used a brayer to apply it to my anchor stamp and printed anchor shirts and dresses! My favorites of the whole batch are two semi-matching rocna dresses for two little girls we\u0026rsquo;ll meet in the fall.\nTucker had posted a sneak preview of my stamp and later of Olive\u0026rsquo; Convivia shirt on Facebook recently. I\u0026rsquo;m sorry to say that I won\u0026rsquo;t be taking custom orders, after all I have a 2000 thing t0-do list and 74 days to do it all, but I\u0026rsquo;m hoping to squeeze a few craft materials and some paint somewhere in the depths of the boat and take it all with me. I\u0026rsquo;m sure it won\u0026rsquo;t be long before I want to make another round!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/nautical-craftiness-aboard-convivia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYears 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nautical Craftiness aboard Convivia"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\nSometime late in the week, our dock mate and friend KC mentioned that she and her wife would be anchoring out at China Camp. We had spent a weekend there a back in February, and while it was a fun spot, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t in a huge rush to go back. But the lure of buddy boating with KC, and a little break from our developing cruising routine (Horseshoe Cove and the BADM) was all the convincing we needed.\nGear The sail out to China Camp was just awesome. Convivia has recently been outfitted with Dyneema® line from New England Ropes, a Monitor windvane, a Garhauer boom-vang, and a beautiful QuickCover from North Sails. With all of this new gear I expected some snags. We had put most of it through it\u0026rsquo;s paces in a brief evening sail, but this was a typical 25-30 knot San Francisco Bay sailing day and with currents working against the wind much of the time we had some pretty ideal conditions for a failure.\nThe Dyneema® provided the only real trouble of the weekend, and I\u0026rsquo;m fairly sure that both counts were my own fault. The biggest problem was that the gorgeous Salsa Line was a foot or so too short. I took my lengths directly from the previous rigger\u0026rsquo;s invoice, and there are countless ways that that could have been wrong. As a result I had one incident where the genoa didn\u0026rsquo;t furl all the way (it got close enough for safety), twice where it couldn\u0026rsquo;t unfurl all the way (better by far) and once when—after forgetting to tie a figure eight—I lost the line down the deck.\nThe only other problem was with the diameter of the genoa sheets which were sized to fit our non-adjusting tailers, as opposed to the SWL requirement. When our winches were installed in 1970 a 154% genoa for our boat required 5/8\u0026quot; diameter sheets. Now, with Dyneema, the same loads can be carried by 7/16\u0026quot;. Sadly our self-tailing winches can\u0026rsquo;t take advantage of this and we are stuck with comparably heavy and unwieldy sheets. No fault of Dyneema, but kind of a bummer. On the up side, I\u0026rsquo;m already feeling them breaking in, and I expect within a season of cruising, they will be supple enough to not bother me.\nAll of the other upgrades worked better than expected and I\u0026rsquo;m still having a really hard time deciding which of the QuickCover or Monitor are my all time favorite upgrades. The Monitor is so stupid-intuitive to use that I can\u0026rsquo;t believe I\u0026rsquo;ve been hand steering all these years, and the QuickCover has removed every shred of pain associated with raising and lowering the main. Both operations now take me roughly 2 minutes to complete and my sail gets put away quickly every time, which saves it from UV. I\u0026rsquo;ve heard some people have reservations about this type of sail management but I honestly can\u0026rsquo;t understand why.\nFolks As for the socializing, wow, just WOW! We anchored far enough from KC and Judy to give them some privacy. Ruby and Olive started angling immediately for me to blow up the dingy so they could row over and say hi! I put the boat to rights before relenting and soon we had KC and Judy over for sundowners and some awesome cruising talk. KC has been one of the most consistent positive influences on our cruising plans since we moved aboard, and it was totally fun to get to hang out with them at anchor.\nOn Sunday, after returning KC\u0026rsquo;s kayak I decided to stop over by a Cal 40 that had just re-anchored near us. I was greeted by a really friendly couple who introduced themselves as Stan and Sally and invited me onto their boat Illusion. Never one to turn down a social call, I gladly accepted the invitation and their offer of scotch. We talked about geekery, and sailing, and about Cals. I got a great many ideas for improving our boat (Stan and Sally have completely restored theirs and it. is. beautiful), and was sad when (after borrowing Sally\u0026rsquo;s phone) Victoria told me she needed me back. We saw them under sail on the way home the next day and marveled at their speed and grace. I would have been humbled by how fast they overtook us but for the fact that Stan and Sally are 11 time TransPac winners, and Stan was the navigator on the fastest circumnavigation ever.\nMonday we headed home for a quick battery charge and shower and then headed off to Clipper Cove (Treasure Island) to secure a seat for the fireworks. We pulled into the harbor, set the hook and immediately saw another harbor-mate\u0026rsquo;s boat closer to shore. We buzzed by in our dingy and said hello to Eva and Milton before continuing to the beach for some kid time.\nThe fireworks that night were amazing. The Marin side was a little underwhelming, but that may have just been because they were further away. San Francisco\u0026rsquo;s show though, well I may take this back later, but I think it was the best pyrotechnics display I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen. On the way back we ran into our friend Pete who we seem to run into all the time in random sailing related spots. We didn\u0026rsquo;t get to chat as long as we would have liked, but it was fun to see her there.\nTuesday morning I was back to work, but luckily from the boat. We had a brief but super fun visit with the crew of Del Viento, a soon-to-be-sailing family on their way to meet their new boat in Mexico. We have always made a point of meeting other sailors (and especially sailing families) as we travel and when they pass through. I have not yet been disappointed that we did. The Del Vientos went out of their way to meet us at anchor (and survived the dingy ride of doom), and we were glad they did. The girls got along really well and we\u0026rsquo;ll be looking forward to meeting up with them in Mexico in a few months.\nWe are back in our slip now and I\u0026rsquo;m mentally preparing for the rest of the work week. As I write this I\u0026rsquo;m filled with that particular cast of contentment that comes from fresh air, sun, warm conversation, relaxed schedules, and following the current of life. We started out with no plans and low expectations and reaped a weekend full of memories and new friends. What could be better?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ships-log-4th-of-july-weekend-2011/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve found, time and again, that \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/11/14/the-victory-of-providence-over-planning\"\u003eno plan is the best plan\u003c/a\u003e. This weekend was a perfect proof of that theory. On Friday night we still didn\u0026rsquo;t know where we were going. Would we go back to our old tried and true anchorage (\u003ca href=\"/articles/2011/05/30/ships-log-memorial-day-weekend-horseshoe-cove\"\u003eHorseshoe\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/articles/2011/04/03/ships-log-april-2-3-%e2%80%94-horseshoe-cove\"\u003eCove\u003c/a\u003e) 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: 4th of July Weekend, 2011"},{"content":"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 device. I had resigned myself to it\u0026rsquo;s one shortcoming, the consumable filters, and had decided to get dozens of packs (300 filters/pack) as soon as I used up my first one. Searching Amazon for Aeropress filters turned up an unexpected but welcome result, The Disk by Able. This is a stainless steel perforated disk that replaces the Aeropress filter. My only concern in buying the $15 item was that it would be difficult to clean. I figured I would be able to clean it up but maybe not fast enough to clean between pressings. As it turns out I just swiped it under running water and it was ready for the second brew. The full cleanup took little longer. I used the high pressure sprayer on our faucet and it cleared the micro perforations in seconds.\nThe coffee quality was virtually identical to the paper filters. I noticed no sediment, though I did use a slightly coarser grind. Since we are going to be water and consumable bound, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have asked for a better solution. If you are a traveler, or interested in being a little greener, this would be $15 well spent.\nUpdate:\nAfter pulling several more shots with the Disk, I did find that there was a quite noticeable silt deposit in the last sip or two. It\u0026rsquo;s no worse than a french press, and I suspect I could have ground more coarsely to avoid it. That said, I\u0026rsquo;m going to put the Disk into a backup role until I have time to diagnose. Still, for a green solution, or for travelers, you can\u0026rsquo;t beat the economy of it.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/coffee/aeropress-disk-improving-an-already-great-tool/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 device. I had resigned myself to it\u0026rsquo;s one shortcoming, the consumable filters, and had decided to get dozens of packs (300 filters/pack) as soon as I used up my first one. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Aeropress Disk: Improving An Already Great Tool"},{"content":"Today marks three months until departure. Or at least until the earliest possible departure. We\u0026rsquo;ve got 97 items on the list, so while we are still fighting a deficit (if one item = one day), at least we aren\u0026rsquo;t loosing much ground. This is a work weekend, so I hope to cross off a few big items. Wish me luck!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/countdown-90-days/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday marks three months until departure. Or at least until the earliest possible departure. We\u0026rsquo;ve got 97 items on the list, so while we are still fighting a deficit (if one item = one day), at least we aren\u0026rsquo;t loosing much ground. This is a work weekend, so I hope to cross off a few big items. Wish me luck!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Countdown: 90 Days"},{"content":"More than a year ago, when we had bought the boat but hadn\u0026rsquo;t moved aboard yet I found this print while reading Kind Over Matter.\nIt says, \u0026ldquo;it is in all of us to defy expectations to go into the world and to be brave; and to want, to need, to hunger for adventures; to embrace change and chance and risk so that we may breathe and know what it is to be free.\u0026rdquo; I knew with certainty that we were on the right life path—about to live on our boat while we got ready to travel the world—but I took her message as a huge encouragement. Her prints and her original works are listed on her etsy store and I\u0026rsquo;ve gone back many times to look and wished that I had a wall for a print. Last week I decided to order an 8x10 print even if I was only going to tape it up on the hanging locker door.\nWhen I got my package I found that she had surprised me with another print quoting Tennessee Williams, \u0026ldquo;Make Voyages attempt them! There is nothing else.\u0026rdquo; Thank you so much Mae for sending me a little extra! I love them both and bought frames and Velcroed them up. It\u0026rsquo;s fun to have art again.\nMae Chevrette is a young artist in Boston who is clearly influenced by the sea. I love art with words (even my wedding ring has words on it), love the colors she uses, and love the power of the sea. She\u0026rsquo;s someone I\u0026rsquo;m definitely watching!\nMaybe someday, long from now, after I\u0026rsquo;ve travelled the world and live by the sea, I\u0026rsquo;ll have a wall instead of a bulkhead and I\u0026rsquo;ll know this Emerson quote is true, \u0026quot; Though we travel the world all over to find the beautiful we must carry it with us or we\u0026rsquo;ll find it not,\u0026quot; and I\u0026rsquo;ll be looking for the original to remind me of my adventures. Maybe someone I know could buy it and save it for me?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/aesthetics/it-is-in-all-of-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMore than a year ago, when we had bought the boat but hadn\u0026rsquo;t moved aboard yet I found this \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/listing/62585178/to-be-brave-14-x-11-paper-print\"\u003eprint\u003c/a\u003e while reading \u003ca href=\"http://kindovermatter.com\"\u003eKind Over Matter\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/06/IMG_7376-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt says, \u0026ldquo;it is in all of us to defy expectations to go into the world and to be brave; and to want, to need, to hunger for adventures; to embrace change and chance and risk so that we may breathe and know what it is to be free.\u0026rdquo; I knew with certainty that we were on the right life path—about to live on our boat while we got ready to travel the world—but I took her message as a \u003cem\u003ehuge\u003c/em\u003e encouragement.  Her prints and her original works are listed on her \u003ca href=\"http://www.etsy.com/shop/maechevrette?ref=top_trail\"\u003eetsy store\u003c/a\u003e and I\u0026rsquo;ve gone back many times to look and wished that I had a wall for a print. Last week I decided to order an 8x10 print even if I was only going to tape it up on the hanging locker door.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"It Is In All Of Us"},{"content":"I remember when I was young my mother would say things like, \u0026ldquo;you\u0026rsquo;ll always be my baby boy,\u0026rdquo; and, \u0026ldquo;I wish I could put a brick on your head so you would stay little forever.\u0026rdquo; Now I\u0026rsquo;m a parent and my little baby has grown into a big girl. I feel my mother\u0026rsquo;s words coming to my lips and they almost spill out. Then I look at Ruby and realize that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t hold on if I could. She\u0026rsquo;s growing, and I often feel like I\u0026rsquo;m not paying close enough attention; feel like I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ll be 14 then 21 and off on her own adventures.\nEven as I worry about these moments flying by unobserved or under-appreciated I marvel at her. I marvel as she competently hops off our boat to cleat us off at the docks; wonder at the stories and songs she creates, her whole magical inner-self exposed; beam as she wakes me up with hot coffee (sometimes a little gritty, but still); cringe as she makes the same mistakes I made (and still make); and revel when she becomes—for a moment—her best self.\nMy not-so-little girl turned 7 yesterday. On her next birthday she will have crossed an ocean. She will, if her promises are to be believed, have bought her own sailboat and be sailing next to Convivia. She will (according to her) be almost a grown up. Will I be stemming the flood of cliches again next year, or will I finally have spent the time observing and appreciating her magnificent orbit around the sun?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/my-not-so-little-girl/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI remember when I was young my mother would say things like, \u0026ldquo;you\u0026rsquo;ll always be my baby boy,\u0026rdquo; and, \u0026ldquo;I wish I could put a brick on your head so you would stay little forever.\u0026rdquo; Now I\u0026rsquo;m a parent and my little baby has grown into a big girl. I feel my mother\u0026rsquo;s words coming to my lips and they almost spill out. Then I look at Ruby and realize that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t hold on if I could. She\u0026rsquo;s growing, and I often feel like I\u0026rsquo;m not paying close enough attention; feel like I\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ll be 14 then 21 and off on her own adventures.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My not-so-little girl"},{"content":"\nNew 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 that puts a shine so bright on us that makes some people just want to turn us off.\nWhat kind of trips me out about this phenomenon is that it is socially accepted that shining too brightly is annoying (at best). Like new parents who just can\u0026rsquo;t stop talking about their beautiful perfect babies are somehow rubbing the rest of our noses in it. I was that guy (okay, I\u0026rsquo;m always that guy). I couldn\u0026rsquo;t stop talking about my kids. Even now, I have to remind myself mid-emote, that the general contractor of our new headquarters really doesn\u0026rsquo;t care, he was just being polite.\nSo, as a moderately self aware and passably socially competent person, I\u0026rsquo;ve learned to temper my excitement so as not to piss everybody around me off. This makes me immediately more cool, while simultaneously and proportionally reducing my joy. What\u0026rsquo;s worse, I\u0026rsquo;ve been doing this for years. I have intentionally been hiding and diminishing my joy of and excitement about life for years in order to make other people feel more comfortable. That right there is messed up, and I\u0026rsquo;m going to start working on it right now.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not keen on making anybody else feel less important, nor am I interested in becoming a pariah. I\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking about this, and experimenting here and there and have come to the conclusion that the key to shining brightly is to make everybody you interact with feel awesome about themselves while you\u0026rsquo;re at it. My buddy Krister is a wizard at this. He exudes stoke, both about his own passions and others\u0026rsquo;. This is the way it should be. Stoke is an abundant force. It\u0026rsquo;s like love in that you can always make more. Endless supply meets infinite demand. This is a sustainable ideology.\nSo, how about it? There\u0026rsquo;s a comments section below. Let us know why you\u0026rsquo;re glowing, shining, going supernova. Are you annoyed by someone else\u0026rsquo;s obnoxious exuberance? Have you been stoked by someone lately?\np.s. I AM GOING TO START A CIRCUMNAVIGATION IN 96 DAYS. I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT THIS I CAN\u0026rsquo;T STAND MYSELF!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/shine-bright/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/06/IMG_0873-Version-2.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNew 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 that puts a shine so bright on us that makes some people just want to turn us off.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat kind of trips me out about this phenomenon is that it is socially accepted that shining too brightly is annoying (at best). Like new parents who just can\u0026rsquo;t stop talking about their beautiful perfect babies are somehow rubbing the rest of our noses in it. I was that guy (okay, I\u0026rsquo;m always that guy). I couldn\u0026rsquo;t stop talking about my kids. Even now, I have to remind myself mid-emote, that the general contractor of our new headquarters really doesn\u0026rsquo;t care, he was just being polite.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shine Bright!"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\nRaising the sail went fairly well. I\u0026rsquo;ve still got some work to do to make it totally fluid, but we got the first reef in in much less time than it usually takes (thanks to the collecting capability of the QuickCover). I also cheated today and used the windlass to raise the main. After doing such a fantastic job raising me up the mast the other day, I thought it was worth a try.\nWithin minutes of trimming the sail I had the monitor set up and working. WORKING! It was so dead easy that I practically couldn\u0026rsquo;t have messed it up if I had tried. We had every sort of wind/current condition I could have hoped for in the Bay. We had 25 knots on the nose with 3knots current on the nose. We had 4 knot winds on the beam with 5 knot currents on the nose. And the run/reach home was just amazing with winds puffing up to 15 knots and then subsiding to 10, with only our genoa up.\nThe real excitement of the night also justified the cost of the QuickCover. While sailing close hauled up the San Francisco waterfront (around the Ferry Building) I decided to drop the main. The wind was already howling and it looked to be worse just a bit to the NW. I headed up to the mast and released the main halyard clutch… too late to notice that I had cleated the coil just below the clutch. With the halyard fully jammed, I rushed back to the cockpit to instruct Vick to run south, back down the waterfront in the other direction.\nWith the boat and crew safe, I went back to the mast to sort out the halyard. I tried a gripping knot but it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t purchase on the new halyard. Then I tried adrenaline filled brute force and was relieved when it came loose. I hauled the rest of the halyard out of the water while I told Vick to wait on my word and then head upwind so I could drop the sail. We had to time it perfectly because we only had a few hundred yards before we would hit a pier.\nI yelled \u0026ldquo;head up\u0026rdquo; and as soon as we were into the wind I let the halyard go. The sail dropped perfectly into the cover and we popped through the wind on our original tack. With our old configuration that never would have been possible. It used to take me 10 minutes just to sea-furl and 15 to flake it well. This dousing took less than a minute (Vick didn\u0026rsquo;t even know the sail was down). I will have to go back tomorrow and straighten it out, but the sail was out of our way and will be UV protected until I can get to it.\nDinner took a bit longer that we had hoped. Vick was making homemade corn tortillas for the first time. She had made flour previously, but the corn threw some unexpected complications into the mix. We did get to enjoy dinner with the sunset though, and the kids practically put themselves to sleep afterward (Ruby brushing Olive\u0026rsquo; teeth was a highlight for me).\nWe sailed all the way to the first markers on the Monitor, and then hand steered (under sail) to the final markers. We doused the genny as we rounded the corner into the harbor. As I started making the turn into our slip I noticed a dark form waiting. I was delighted that someone would be there to grab the lines if needed, and then noticed Rocky (the best border collie ever) and knew it was K.C. waiting for us. I glided into our slip and stopped the boat on the mark. I was very proud when K.C. (a long time cruiser) congratulated us on our night docking (and only a little embarrassed when she mentioned that we didn\u0026rsquo;t have our steaming light on)\nIt was a fantastic night of sailing and really made me feel like our boat is nearly ready to cruise.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-june-13th-monitorquickcover-test-sail/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eConvivia 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\u0026rsquo;t had time to read the instructions on how one actually \u003cem\u003esails\u003c/em\u003e 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: June 13th—Monitor®/QuickCover® Test Sail"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s guides to our library has us ooohing and ahhing over lovely color photos of turquoise bays and vibrant seaside towns. I\u0026rsquo;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.\nWhich brings me to the downside of being under 100 days. As it stands, I have 115 items on the todo list (free registration required). With any luck I\u0026rsquo;ll knock one off today (Monitor Install). With 114 remaining projects in 90something days, maybe it\u0026rsquo;s time to suspend my \u0026ldquo;don\u0026rsquo;t postpone joy\u0026rdquo; philosophy for a few months.\n[UPDATE]\nI realized several days late that our math was off (probably the result of averaging). Thanks to some handy javascript we now have an accurate countdown (101 day). At the time of publication our actual countdown was 104 days.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/countdown-99-days-to-go/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980090121/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;camp=213381\u0026amp;amp;creative=390973\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as4\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=0980090121\u0026amp;amp;adid=0VD7QM0BJX0NP8M0ND5B\u0026amp;amp;\"\u003eBlue Latitudes\u003c/a\u003e cruiser\u0026rsquo;s guides to our library has us ooohing and ahhing over lovely color photos of turquoise bays and vibrant seaside towns. I\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Countdown: 99 Days To Go"},{"content":"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.\nI went up the mast Saturday morning and ran the halyard down by hand. This was a lot harder than I would have ever guessed (the sheave is buried and has a very tight corner), but I managed to get it with the help of my marlin spike. Pulling it out of the slot above the clutches was another challenge. The whole process made me acknowledge that my initial plan had been better. For all of the other halyards I sewed rigging twine through both halyards. The twine was stronger, smaller, and bent around the sheaves better. With one exception they all just went.\nThe spinnaker halyard needed a tiny bit of coaxing to get around the block. This adventure up the mast went quite a bit faster thanks to the windlass hack that I rigged up. I took the working end and ran it through a snatch block on the bow fairlead and then to the windlass. Vick hauled me up in under a minute, I pushed the halyard through, lubed up all the sheaves inspected the standing rigging and descended; all before my butt started getting numb :)\nVick and Ruby had a mother daughter date (sorbet and sewing store) and Olive and I had a nap and father/daughter project. We decided to install the liferaft mount. We measured about 2 dozen times; Olive alternating between reminding me that mama wanted me to measure, and complaining that measuring is boring. Then we drilled some test holes, measured again and drilled the 3/8\u0026quot; final holes. We then applied some 4200 around the holes, set the cradle in place, and dropped the bolts in. Olive took a wrench and held the bolt heads in place while I tightened the nuts from below. We were both very gratified by the teamwork and the perfect result.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/countdown-week-15-dyneema/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Countdown: Week 15 Dyneema®"},{"content":"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.\nIn said boxes were:\na) A Ukulele. Which I have been wanting for a long time but didn\u0026rsquo;t quite get over the hump until Merileigh (our boat neighbor) got one.\nb) A birthday present which I probably wasn\u0026rsquo;t supposed to see, but had to open because the box might have been roach infested (you never know).\nc) An Illustrated Dictionary of Math book, a couple of ukulele books and a Coyotes Guide to Connecting with Nature\n…and d) 50 lbs (not kidding, maybe more) of New England Ropes® Dyneema® line, courtesy of the Dyneema® Experience Team.\nYes folks the Dyneema line has finally arrived. Well 80% of it at least. I suspect there is another box following along soon with the last 9 segments. To say that I am giddy would be an understatement. This weekend\u0026rsquo;s projects include: Installing the Monitor windvane; Installing the North Sails Quick Cover; Installing the life raft mount. In spite of all that, I think the line will go on first.\nThere are so many projects to do in the next 16 weeks that I alternate between being totally stressed out and becoming overwhelmed with eagerness to forgeover. Right now, sitting amongst all the lines and the instrument I\u0026rsquo;m feeling more the latter. I want to string this boat up like a guitar and let the wind strum its chords.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/new-england-ropesdyneema-line-has-arrived/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn said boxes were:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ea) A Ukulele. Which I have been wanting for a long time but didn\u0026rsquo;t quite get over the hump until Merileigh (our boat neighbor) got one.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New England Ropes/Dyneema Line Has Arrived"},{"content":"Convivia and crew spent the long weekend spinning around our anchor (very slowly) in Horseshoe Cove (a.k.a Sausalito\u0026rsquo;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.\nWhen we arrived (around 1400 on Saturday) there were two other boats on anchor. Both the ~35\u0026rsquo; trimaran and the ~48\u0026rsquo; 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\u0026rsquo;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.\nSunday morning we all got up with a shared agenda; The Bay Area Discovery Museum. After breakfast we pulled out the tender and started the hours long process of inflating it. Usually it\u0026rsquo;s about a 15 minute process, but I got this new DC dingy pump which of course needed to be wired into the boat\u0026rsquo;s battery. Which of course meant tearing the boat apart, doing a little advanced electrical work and then putting the boat back together. The arduous process was further hampered by my losing an important nipple adapter. As it turns out I misplaced the adapter in the pump (it was a great spot for it, sure not to get lost there…), but it took at least 30 minutes to figure that out. Once I had the electrical work and the hide and seek behind me, actually inflating the 10\u0026rsquo; Achilles only took 1 minute. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait for next time.\nThe museum was everything we remembered, though this time it was jam packed. I was shocked when, at 1ish, the kids lightheartedly agreed to my suggestion that maybe it was time to head back to Convivia for coffee and naps. We had some awesome burgers for dinner and a much warmer night. The only downside to the anchorage on Sunday was about 3 hours of severe surge at the peak flood current (3 knots). Luckily the harbor settled down about an hour before our bedtime.\nWe had a leisurely breakfast on Monday morning and took our time getting the boat ready to go. I took the kids to shore one last time to hike up to the battery, and then to do some treasure hunting on the beach. When we got back the boat was all tidy and Vick was chipper. Ruby hoisted the dingy up on the main halyard and I deflated and stowed it. Within an hour we were ready to head out. Victoria took the helm and sailed us off the anchor. It was hairy for a few minutes as we sailed around the harbor with constantly changing (90º or more) winds, but as soon as we got the genny out, we were off like a shot.\nWe got home early enough to wash the boat down (thanks Vick) and shower before our customary dinner at Picante. As I finish this post the kids are settled in Olive\u0026rsquo; berth reading People with Vick. Once again I\u0026rsquo;m settled into my cozy sea berth at the end of a sailing weekend with sun kissed cheeks and a feeling of contentment. That feeling of contentment might even survive the realization that I have only 16.5 weeks left before… wait, 16 WEEKS?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-memorial-day-weekend-horseshoe-cove/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eConvivia and crew spent the long weekend spinning around our anchor (very slowly) in Horseshoe Cove (a.k.a Sausalito\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we arrived (around 1400 on Saturday) there were two other boats on anchor. Both the ~35\u0026rsquo; trimaran and the ~48\u0026rsquo; 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: Memorial Day Weekend @ Horseshoe Cove"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/dyneema-experience-line-shipping-today/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dyneema® Experience — Line Shipping Today"},{"content":"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 of all life. In addition to being a wonderful community for Ruby NBOG has provided us with an amazing group of likeminded parents. Saying goodbye was much harder than any of us expected.\nNBOG meant something different to each of us. Ruby loved playing with her friends, and being in the redwood forest every week. She loved her teacher Jody who lead the youngest group with love, compassion, and patience. Victoria enjoyed comparing notes with fellow home-schoolers and feeling the support and strength of parents that share a common experience. I loved watching Ruby\u0026rsquo;s emotional, social, and musical vocabulary develop. Olive, loved digging in the dirt at Chimonkey Land and complaining about singing circle.\nAs we prepare to push off for distant shores, I suppose we should get used to saying goodbye to people and communities that have given us so much. I suppose we should even get good at it, but I\u0026rsquo;m not prepared to do that. As I digest what yesterday\u0026rsquo;s goodbyes mean, I think that the discomfort, loss and sadness of saying goodbye provide the necessary contrast that helps resolve the joy, beauty and sacredness of those experiences. So if you are one of the many people that we have to say goodbye to over the next few months, please don\u0026rsquo;t be surprised if we are awkward, weepy, inarticulate, or seemingly distant, we are just processing.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/farewell-to-nbog/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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 of all life. In addition to being a wonderful community for Ruby NBOG has provided us with an amazing group of likeminded parents.  Saying goodbye was much harder than any of us expected.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Farewell to NBOG"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t really think it would be all that difficult when I ordered it at the boat show. \u0026ldquo;Just drill a few holes, tap them, and bolt it on,\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;m feeling much better about the install. I\u0026rsquo;ll try round two tomorrow (and document it if you\u0026rsquo;re lucky).\nThe next project will be the Monitor Windvane. That should arrive Tuesday. With any luck I\u0026rsquo;ll have it installed before Memorial Day so we can use it as we tool around the Bay on our 3 day weekend cruise.\nJuly 1st we\u0026rsquo;ll get our life raft. I will need to fabricate a set of stand-offs to go over the forward compainionway hatch rails, that will be easy if I can find bar stock and a bender. But that\u0026rsquo;s not something I\u0026rsquo;ve started to look into yet.\nAt some point I will need to find a window to order and install solar and the water maker. Once those are aboard we\u0026rsquo;ll be ready to head south. There is so much to do and so few weekends to do it all (18 if that counter is correct) that I\u0026rsquo;m really feeling the excitement/pressure of it all.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/installation-blitz-begins/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe 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\u0026rsquo;t really think it would be all that difficult when I ordered it at the boat show. \u0026ldquo;Just drill a few holes, tap them, and bolt it on,\u0026rdquo; 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 \u003ca href=\"http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Rigid_Boom_Vang_Installation_-_Photos\"\u003eblog posts\u003c/a\u003e later I\u0026rsquo;m feeling much better about the install. I\u0026rsquo;ll try round two tomorrow (and document it if you\u0026rsquo;re lucky).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Installation Blitz Begins"},{"content":"For the last week or so I\u0026rsquo;ve been in a terminal velocity free fall of stress. Yes it\u0026rsquo;s cruising related but probably not what you would think. The stress derives from the notion that I don\u0026rsquo;t want to own anything (after we drop the dock lines) that we can\u0026rsquo;t fit in the ManVan or on our boat. I don\u0026rsquo;t want a storage unit, or a bunch of stuff squirreled away in friends/family\u0026rsquo;s houses and I don\u0026rsquo;t want to save anything that I don\u0026rsquo;t love and expect to dream about regularly while we\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t want to hold on to any sh…tuff.\nWhat\u0026rsquo;s particularly strange about this stress is that I\u0026rsquo;ve always been the hyper-sentimental one. I\u0026rsquo;m the guy that saved every note that a girl passed me in Jr High School, or a token from a theme park I went to in High School. I was never a pack-rat per se but, well you get the drift. Over the last 17 years Victoria has slowly eroded some of that sentimentality. It\u0026rsquo;s been replaced with a sensible pragmatism. Our boathold is host to phrases such as \u0026ldquo;This toy is like a balloon, enjoy it while it\u0026rsquo;s here\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;we haven\u0026rsquo;t used that [xyz] in months, let\u0026rsquo;s get rid of it.\u0026rdquo;\nLately it\u0026rsquo;s been taken to a whole new level. For example. Tonight, Vick ran into a dock-mate at the laundry. Naturally, she invited him right over for drinks, and informed me about it after the fact. My reaction… \u0026ldquo;Do I have to wear pants?\u0026rdquo; No, I\u0026rsquo;m not a naturalist or anything, she had BOTH of my pants in the wash.\nSo back to the sh…tuff that\u0026rsquo;s stressing me out. We have this storage unit. When we moved there were a bunch of question mark items, or valuable things that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t sell in time (high end home theater, guitar amp, etc) . Also in storage are some really large things that we think make the pragmatic cut (my bike, our teak dinner table, blown glass, kitchen aid mixer…). The later can probably be Tetris stacked into the ManVan at the last minute; the former, well, they have to go. The problem is that every time I think about them, I start to space out, then realize I\u0026rsquo;m spacing out, then lock up, then get stressed. My stress response is to shut down. Wash, rinse, repeat.\nUntil last month our milestones were separated by years (or at least many months). This last month+ has seen several all on top of one another. This acceleration of perceived progress has really brought home how much we have to do and how little time we have to get it all done. So over the next few months stay tuned for more articles on \u0026ldquo;Minimalism as a Form of Torture,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Sh…tuff for Sale,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;How I Fit All the Sails On Board and Could Still Sit Down.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/who-wants-my-shtuff/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor the last week or so I\u0026rsquo;ve been in a terminal velocity free fall of stress. Yes it\u0026rsquo;s cruising related but probably not what you would think. The stress derives from the notion that I don\u0026rsquo;t want to own anything (after we drop the dock lines) that we can\u0026rsquo;t fit in the ManVan or on our boat. I don\u0026rsquo;t want a storage unit, or a bunch of stuff squirreled away in friends/family\u0026rsquo;s houses and I don\u0026rsquo;t want to save anything that I don\u0026rsquo;t love and expect to dream about regularly while we\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t want to hold on to any sh…tuff.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Who Wants My Sh…tuff?"},{"content":"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 become quite unstable and we were forced to move as far away as possible. (If you are FB friends with me you can read the whole freaky story here.)\nOur harbormaster was awesome. Within 24 hours our new neighbor was gone and we were free to move back to our old slip. We opted to take a little week long staycation and enjoy proximity to the marina office and a great floating neighborhood. Today our vacation ends and we head back to our old neighborhood. I thought I might be bummed about this but now I find that I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to our quiet dock-end location and friendly, easygoing neighbors.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/living-aboard/heading-home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast 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 become quite unstable and we were forced to move as far away as possible. (If you are FB friends with me you can read the whole freaky story \u003ca href=\"http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150234141001255\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Heading Home"},{"content":"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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/easter-sunday-in-photos/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Easter Sunday in Photos"},{"content":"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 arrived it was slightly overcast and the tide was negative. We wasted no time getting the boat ready to leave though, and made it off the dock in what seemed like record time.\nThe sail over to Angel Island was ideal. We had 6ish knots out of the SW until we passed Treasure Island and then it picked up to about 10 in the slot. We made a long tack towards the island and another back towards the city before reaching then running into Alaya Cove. The docks were crowded and we had a pretty hairy encounter with two smaller (~30\u0026rsquo;) boats that were trying to take the 50\u0026rsquo; slip that we were queued up for.\nWe spent a few leisurely hours enjoying the dockside and beach experience before we had to load back onto Convivia for the ride home. The trip back to Emeryville was exactly what I had hoped for. We sailed wing on wing almost the whole way with steady 15 knot winds on our stern. Just past Treasure Island I got a call from Chris and Lisa Holt. They had seen us sailing by and wanted to race back to the harbor. I doused the main to even out the sail ares and we spent some time sailing together until they had enough of humoring us and breezed on by. We\u0026rsquo;ll get you next time Holts :)\nAs we were cleaning up the boat the grey and blustery weather that had been holding back all afternoon started to spit and sprinkle on us. We hastily finished up and got the kids ready to disembark.\nWe rounded off a wonderful day of sailing with our usual, dinner at Picante. The Richardson/Shamels seemed to love the food as much as we did and we only lost one kid (completely) to sleep.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/ship-s-log/ships-log-angel-island-with-the-richardsonshamels/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy 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 arrived it was slightly overcast and the tide was negative. We wasted no time getting the boat ready to leave though, and made it off the dock in what seemed like record time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: Angel Island with the Richardson/Shamels"},{"content":"\nA 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\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/this-moment-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/04/IMG_3541-0-39-Version-2-2-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA 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\u003c/p\u003e","title":"~this moment~"},{"content":"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.\nI 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.\nThat should give me just enough time to install the new vang and the new Spinlocks for the reefing lines and outhaul. I\u0026rsquo;ll keep you all updated as the process unfolds. Once again, a huge thank you to New England Ropes and DSM Dyneema® for re-rigging Convivia for her big trip!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/dyneema-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI met Kevin Coughlin of \u003ca href=\"http://www.neropes.com/PleasureMarine.aspx\"\u003eNew England Ropes\u003c/a\u003e (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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI 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 \u003cdel\u003eConnecticut\u003c/del\u003e Newport, RI for splicing and then out to us to install on Convivia. He expects it to be here in 3ish weeks.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dyneema® Update"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s talk and Ruby even admitted that she wanted to hear more (but just couldn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo; steel schooner Seaward.\nI\u0026rsquo;m going to wimp out again and let the photos do the talking.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/boat-show-day-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat 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\u0026rsquo;s talk and Ruby even admitted that she wanted to hear more (but just couldn\u0026rsquo;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 \u003ca href=\"http://www.callofthesea.org/home.php\"\u003e82\u0026rsquo; steel schooner Seaward\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boat Show — Day 2"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;ll leave you with the photos. We\u0026rsquo;re headed back tomorrow with the kids in tow.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/boat-show-day-one/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo 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\u0026rsquo;ll leave you with the photos. We\u0026rsquo;re headed back tomorrow with the kids in tow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boat Show — Day One"},{"content":"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. Recently the topic came up again. First it was just \u0026ldquo;Daddy, do you remember that camping trip we were supposed to go on?\u0026rdquo; Before too long it turned into crying tantrums with doozies such as \u0026ldquo;You promised me you would take me hiking when I was just TWO (or three) and you\u0026rsquo;re never going to do it.\u0026rdquo; With our family adventure deadline looming, I feared she might be right.\nLast week though I thought I saw an opportunity. I started prepping Vick on Tuesday, and on Friday I made a last-minute reservation. I seriously didn\u0026rsquo;t think I would need a reservation. We were backpacking after all, don\u0026rsquo;t you just go? A little googling showed my the error of my assumption and I quickly righted that by reserving the last available backpacking site within 100 mile radius.\nI was expecting Sunol Regional Wilderness to be passable. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t expecting stunning, remote, or any other superlative. I am pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised on at least two counts. I think we could have had a slightly nicer (to my snobby taste) experience in Henry Coe, with just as much effort, but it was surprising how bucolic it was. This surprise was magnified by the fact that there were a million zillion people there. Seriously there were droves of people, dogs, cows, and cow shit. The press of humanity provided unexpected serendipity too though. When we finally completed the 6+ mile hike to our site we were warmly greeted by Maggie One (age 7) and her dad Kevin. Maggie had arrived just before us with her mom and dad, and came right up to play with Ruby. She was delighted to announce that Maggie Two (age almost 7) had just arrived at the site below us. Kevin and I chatted while I ate my dogs, and then they made their way back to their site and we cleaned up and hung our food up for the night.\nWe both woke up early, had our breakfast of mostly hot chocolate (and mocha for me) and broke camp. By sunrise we were chomping at the bit to do something. Just in time Maggie Two made herself visible on the rock across the chasm from our site. We loaded up and said goodbye to our site (Sky Camp). An hour later we were back with Carlton, the Maggies, and most of the adults looking for a Geocache.\nAfter a successful geocaching adventure we said our goodbyes and Ruby and I started the long hike back to the car. Going home is always tricky for me. No matter how awesome the trip was, I\u0026rsquo;m always in a hurry, and always a little grumpy. I never, ever, walk slowly on my way out. Ruby, on the other hand, had nothing motivating her (or so it seemed). She started dragging her heels within the first 200 yards and was actively complaining by 400\u0026rsquo;. Grumpiness was probably working against me at this point and it took an hour or so (I\u0026rsquo;m ashamed to admit) before I remembered how to be a good dad and trip leader. When I did I broke out my old favorite and started to sing. Ruby perked right up and started almost skipping along with me singing Old McDonald with every plant and animal she could think of, followed by Coming Round the Mountain and countless others that she could only hum (at striking volume).\nWe stopped at a pond to scoop tadpoles out, enjoyed some very close encounters with cows, and generally made a slow but enjoyable day of the hike out. The highlight of my weekend came close to the end. We had just completed a tricky section and the trail opened up to rolling pastoral beauty. We agreed to take a \u0026ldquo;packs off\u0026rdquo; break and before I knew it she was curled up in my lap with her head cradled in my arm. She dozed off for twenty or so minutes while I just enjoyed being her dad in that beautiful place.\nWe hiked the last mile with smiles on our faces, songs on our breath, and joy in our hearts. When we finally arrived back at the car we cracked open the flax, raisin and carrot muffins and devoured them. As I was eating mine I recalled what Ruby had said back around mile 2; \u0026ldquo;Dad, Carrot and Raisin doesn\u0026rsquo;t even sound that good to me, but I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to get back to the car and eat one. I bet it will taste like the best muffin ever.\u0026rdquo; I am proud beyond words that Ruby got that tiny glimpse of the power of perspective this weekend.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/backpacking-with-ruby/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWay back in 2009 \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/04/06/monte-bello-test-hike\" title=\"Monte Bello Test Hike\"\u003eI promised Ruby that I would take her backpacking.\u003c/a\u003e 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. Recently the topic came up again. First it was just \u0026ldquo;Daddy, do you remember that camping trip we were supposed to go on?\u0026rdquo; Before too long it turned into crying tantrums with doozies such as \u0026ldquo;You promised me you would take me hiking when I was just TWO (or three) and you\u0026rsquo;re \u003cem\u003enever\u003c/em\u003e going to do it.\u0026rdquo;  With our family adventure deadline looming, I feared she might be right.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Backpacking with Ruby"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Olive, what was your favorite part of today?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Anchoring out. Don\u0026rsquo;t you think it\u0026rsquo;s everyone\u0026rsquo;s favorite part? I bet everyone in the world loves anchoring out.\u0026rdquo;\nWe almost didn\u0026rsquo;t anchor here. The Cruising Guide to San Francisco Bay, had more caveats than usual for this anchorage— Don\u0026rsquo;t even attempt if it\u0026rsquo;s foggy; you might get sucked right out the gate as you approach; the Coast Guard won\u0026rsquo;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.\nWe briefly considered overnighting at Aquatic Park, but after some hemming an hawing we ended up turning back to Horseshoe Cove. We dropped the main outside the Golden Gate and then motored back in. We were treated to some lively dolphins playing around our stern, which came at just the right moment to soothe some freaking out kids. Unfortunately our schedule had been such that we didn\u0026rsquo;t even leave Emeryville until 3pm and our arrival at the anchorage at around 6pm didn\u0026rsquo;t work well for our family.\nOnce in the harbor we were faced with finding an adequate spot. It was quite obvious that we would not be welcome on the Western side of the cove (where the Coast Guard station is) and the flotsam wreathed mooring did indeed make for quite the obstruction. We took several spiraling circuits, sounding all the way, before settling on a spot pretty much smack in the middle of the harbor. We had enough scope to comfortably avoid the breakwater to the SW, the center of the main channel just to the west, and the flotsam heap to the east.\nWe quickly made the boat fast for the night and went below to cook up our dinner of TJs tofu burgers and tater tots (my favorite)… and broccoli. We all enjoyed the sunset together and got the kids to sleep as soon as possible. Vick and I remarked several times at how ideal this anchorage seemed. Promising not to post about it (recalling our gaffe with Paradise Cove back in Feb. After an incredibly restful night sleep I am pleased to report that Horseshoe Cove was everything that we hoped Paradise Cove would be.\nSunday morning got off to a great start. Before I was finished drinking my coffee, Ruby was lobbying for a row in the dingy. \u0026ldquo;You can just sit there dad, I\u0026rsquo;ll do all the work.\u0026rdquo; It was my own personal siren song. Moments later I had forgotten my coffee (and my breakfast) and was assembling and inflating the dingy.\nIt turns out we didn\u0026rsquo;t make it back to Convivia until 1pm. The intervening hours were spent exploring the Bay Area Children\u0026rsquo;s Discovery Museum. This is one of the very best children\u0026rsquo;s museums I\u0026rsquo;ve ever been too (and I\u0026rsquo;ve seen a few). Perhaps the best quality of the sprawling campus was that it emphasized the outdoors. Fort Baker is renowned for being a shelter from the pervasive fog that blankets the Golden Gate. I was impressed that the designers of the museum incorporated geographic strengths into the experience.\nExhausted and foot worn from the wee excursion, we returned to Convivia (with me at the oars). After a quick lunch the kids went down for naps and Victoria and I prepared to get under way. We decided to sail home (at a deep broad reach) on just the genoa. This turned out to be a fantastic idea. With just the one sail we made a steady 5.7-6 knots and didn\u0026rsquo;t have to fuss with wing on wing. We left the harbor at 3pm and were back in our slip (pump out and all) by 5.\nWe broke with tradition (Picante normally follows sailing) and had pork tenderloin and home-made steak fries with sautéed chard with shallots and garlic for dinner. The kids went to bed dreaming about their favorite things. Ruby of the camping trip she\u0026rsquo;s hoping I will take her on, and Olive of nights at anchor.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ships-log-april-2-3-horseshoe-cove/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Olive, what was your favorite part of today?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Anchoring out. Don\u0026rsquo;t you think it\u0026rsquo;s everyone\u0026rsquo;s favorite part? I bet everyone in the \u003cem\u003eworld\u003c/em\u003e loves anchoring out.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe almost didn\u0026rsquo;t anchor here. The \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0939837315/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=0939837315\"\u003eCruising Guide to San Francisco Bay\u003c/a\u003e, had more caveats than usual for this anchorage— Don\u0026rsquo;t even attempt if it\u0026rsquo;s foggy; you might get sucked right out the gate as you approach; the Coast Guard won\u0026rsquo;t take nicely to your presence on \u003cem\u003etheir\u003c/em\u003e 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: April 2-3 — Horseshoe Cove"},{"content":"Sunday\u0026rsquo;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 Bay, I suggested to the kids that maybe today wasn\u0026rsquo;t the best day for a hike. We decided the the California Academy of Science was a safer bet and drove in to San Francisco for a day of museuming fun.\nI found an awesome street parking spot and started to gather my stuff. Camera, √; Jacket, √; Snacks, √; Ruby\u0026rsquo;s Backpack, √; Wallet, … oh crap. So we were back on the road to Emeryville to get the wallet and drive back to the city. An hour later we were standing in front of the membership counter and the kids were regaling the cheerful docent with the story of their forgetful dad and the 3 trips over the Bay bridge.\nThe moment we got through the door Olive said \u0026ldquo;Holy Moley, HOLY MOLEY!, is that a real dinosaur?\u0026rdquo; And then she was off, pointing and exclaiming, head spinning in awe. Ruby stuck with her and showed her ever more wonders. They both forgot (for at least an hour) that they had been \u0026ldquo;starving hungry\u0026rdquo; for the entire car ride(s). It was so awesome to wach the two of them run around the museum discovering and wondering with their two big smiles beaming.\nWe were turned away from the planetarium but I think we hit everything else the Cal Academy has to offer (save the library). Hours later, tired and happy, we loaded back into the car to go meet Victoria at the N Judah. We had dinner at The Plant Café Organic. Sadly we had to rush due to the kid\u0026rsquo;s exhaustion. The kids were sleeping by 8 and Vick and I snuggled in for a tea, coconut popcorn, and a movie. The 4 trips over the Bay Bridge were a small price to pay for a wonderful day with the kids!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/cabin-fever-relieved/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSunday\u0026rsquo;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 Bay, I suggested to the kids that maybe today wasn\u0026rsquo;t the best day for a hike. We decided the the California Academy of Science was a safer bet and drove in to San Francisco for a day of museuming fun.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cabin Fever Relieved"},{"content":"Our boat came to us with 11 sails. Since we need to keep people on this boat some sails need to go. We\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t figure out how we\u0026rsquo;ll keep all of these sails of course. We\u0026rsquo;ll work on that later.\nNorth Sails Spinnaker\nLL 51.3\nMid G 26.2\nFW 28.7\nMax W 30.6\n10/31/1973\nNice sail. Softest of our spinnakers, some stitching pulled, but no tears, rips, or repairs. No stains, white still white, orange still bright.\nAsking $1200\nNorth Sails Spinnaker\nLL 51.7\nSF 29.2\nSMW 30.6\nSMG 29.7\n10/1/1981\nWhite with red stripes, no tears, rips, or repairs, but more faded than the other sails, yellowing near the head and clews where there are two layers of fabric for reinforcement. Includes launch bag. Asking $900\nNorth Sails Spinnaker\nSL 52\nSF 29.9\nSMW 30.6\nSMG 30\n3/18/1980\nVery nice! Bright orange and bright white, great pattern, very nice. Includes launch bag.\nAsking $1500\nWe also have a mainsail and a big 153% or 156% Genoa that we need to measure and photograph.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/sails-for-sale/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur boat came to us with 11 sails.  Since we need to keep people on this boat some sails need to go.  We\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t figure out how we\u0026rsquo;ll keep all of these sails of course. We\u0026rsquo;ll work on that later.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNorth Sails Spinnaker\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sails for Sale"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Ya think we should go out sailing tonight?\u0026rdquo; 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.\nThirty minutes or so later Ruby, Olive, Victoria, and I joined Chris on her Ranger 26 for an early evening sail. The wind was howling in the harbor so we donned our foulies and embarked with a week\u0026rsquo;s worth of snacks and things to distract the kids. We motored out the channel and set the sail in about 2 seconds flat. Chris had her all set up for a reef, and within another minute we had the genny out and the main tied down. I love smaller keel boats. We had an exhilarating beat upwind towards the Berkeley Pier and then tacked and fell off to a reach that tucked us in the lee of Treasure Island. Once we got on a starboard tack everything settled down and we took hoods off and loosened our coat collars.\nWe enjoyed the easy motion on the reach and decided to try going further downwind. A jibe later we were wing on wing (with Tucker the whisker pole on the foredeck) heading back to the channel. We flew home at 5-6 knots (surfing a bit) and sailed right into the harbor. Just in the harbor I asked Chris what he thought about sailing up to the end tie. A few seconds of careful consideration later we were making our plan of approach. The docking went like clockwork and we came to rest kissing the dock.\nThe best part of sailing on someone else\u0026rsquo;s boat is that when you are done sailing you just hop off and go home. I helped flake the sail and coil up the lines and halyards. But anything else that needed doing was done by our gracious skipper. That and the surprise of a Monday night adventure made for a pretty awesome sail!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/sailing-other-boats/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Ya think we should go out sailing tonight?\u0026rdquo;  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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThirty minutes or so later Ruby, Olive, Victoria, and I joined Chris on her Ranger 26 for an early evening sail. The wind was howling in the harbor so we donned our foulies and embarked with a week\u0026rsquo;s worth of snacks and things to distract the kids. We motored out the channel and set the sail in about 2 seconds flat. Chris had her all set up for a reef, and within another minute we had the genny out and the main tied down. I love smaller keel boats. We had an exhilarating beat upwind towards the Berkeley Pier and then tacked and fell off to a reach that tucked us in the lee of Treasure Island. Once we got on a starboard tack everything settled down and we took hoods off and loosened our coat collars.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sailing Other Boats"},{"content":"…I\u0026rsquo;ll have your HAM darling, I LOVE it.\nI 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\u0026rsquo;t even think I would bother with the General, but now I\u0026rsquo;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).\nIt took about 4 hours from when I got back to the boat until I was on the air (RX only) trying to bring up the SSB Nets. We are in a marina which is a notoriously poor RF environment. Hopefully we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to listen into the manaña, sonrisa, and amigo nets tomorrow morning.\nThe next step is figuring out the ground plane system and relocating the tuner closer to the antenna. More (extra-geeky) posts to come on that!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/ham-ham-ham-ham-hammity-ham/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e…I\u0026rsquo;ll have your HAM darling, I LOVE it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;t even think I would bother with the General, but now I\u0026rsquo;ve got to pass it so I started studying today. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/03/IC-700-Install-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 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).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"HAM HAM HAM HAM HAMMITY HAM"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t need to buy new lines before we cross our path.\nWe hardly got here alone. Dyneema deserves huge props for providing us with this opportunity but we never could have risen to the challenge without the enormous support of our friends, family, and tribe. Huge thanks to my mom, Victoria\u0026rsquo;s mom, A. Ann, A. Judy, C. PJ, Tim Russell, Bonnie Russell, Tracy Donahue, Carol Bickford, The Herndons, Bob Bickford, Brenda Sousa, Kim Boyle, Laurie Crane, Ben Sanchez, Shyla Pivin, Sarah Swanson-Dexel, Charity Terry-Lorenzo, Cindy Wallach, Cidnie Carrol, Laureen Hudson, Carol Pierson, and Jennifer Logan for sending out emails, writing blog posts, and plugging our team at every opportunity*. Thanks also to all of our Facebook (and IRL) friends that reposted (ad nauseum) our solicitations and spread the word, you all are awesome!\nThis is just the beginning. Throughout the summer sailing season, Dyneema will pose smaller challenges with prizes along the way and one Grand Prize at the end (September). Stay tuned and we\u0026rsquo;ll let you know what\u0026rsquo;s next for the Dyneema® Experience Team Convivia!\nTeam Convivia 2011 Honor Roll: Janna Cawrse esarey\nMartha Bradford\nVictoria Bradford\nTimothy Russell\nDiana Evans\nMary-louise Russell\nTracy Donahue\nKate Aleo\nMichael Aleo\nMary Boothby\nTom Boothby\nJohn Bradford\nCarol Bickford\nNancy Phillips\nJane Kalinski\nSarah Herndon\nBob Bickford\nBrenda Sousa\nSara Johnson\nKim Boyle\nJ Mckenna\nDeirdré Straughan\nLourdes Cahuich\nElizabeth Eaton\nBen Sanchez\nMead Norton\nCindy Wallach\nJon Logan\nAnn Phillips\nAllen Cohen\nAmy Karlgut\nSteve Brockbank\nLaura Aleo\nJane frost Jane\nSimon Frost\nJennifer Logan\nCarol Pierson\nJennifer pierson Pie..\nAndrew Pierson\nCharity Terry-lorenz..\nMaria O\u0026rsquo;shea\nJoy Blaser\nSilka Werness\nMelissa Polk\nNicholas Licht\nLara Scriba\nLynda Otvos\nJack Sullivan\nHeather Clark\nJudy Stott\nLynn Watson\nJennifer Bisek\nSerena Li\nLeeanne Bloye\nVerne Bradford\nAlane Murdock\nKate Thota\nNicole Murray\nAriel Valencia\nCindy Howard\nDarliegh Webb\nSarah S-d\nNancy Swanson\nCatalina Ventura\nEmma Golda\nKathie Veillette\nJen Bugnatto\nChris holt Chris\nKen Okutake\nAbigail Vr\nPete Bugnatto\nCaroline Cox\nKeila Blanco\nTara Mitchell\nCidnie Carroll\nEmily Mcdowell\nJessika Hudson\nLinda Mcmullen\nBarbara Colucci\nPete Dragula\nDoug Vibbert\nWesley Fredenburg\nJennifer Fredenburg\nEstelle Dodson\nBrian Murray\nDavid Drazen\nPenny Bryant\nLauren Fogarty\nAarti Turuvekere\nShyla Weathers\nAndrea Huyck\nAnabel Fitzmedrud\nSophia Fitzmedrud\nElisabeth Montegna\nJenn Albertine\nCraig Weir\nKatelyn Cashman\nPatrick Richardson\nJack Richardson\nRachel Pelletier\nMerileigh Moen\nRobert Dusablon\nRoland Dreier\nHeather Freels\nKristin Tedesco\nNicole Palermo cris..\nLaurie Crane\nLouise Aleo\nTara Parsons\nGwen Jensen\nDiana Roberts\nLaura Hamilton\nEmily Nathan\nBarbara Gerard\nAthena Weathers\nMerlin Weathers\nJohn Jones\nMichele Brann\nPaula France\nAnn Meredith\nJessica Troisi\nEllen Kunkle\nJanie Miniutti\nIndre Bernard\nLisa pelletier Harmo..\nGabriel Bernard\nHelen Thorgalsen\nEstelle Cohen\nCody Pelletier\nLin Burgess\nTonya Wellington\nPaul Wheeler\nJohn Burgess\nLaureen Hudson\nTobin Spohr\nDaniel pelletier Dp6..\nEllen Brain\nJeffrey Engel\nEileen Rounds\nEmily Enger\nGabrielle Lorenzo\nEric Fitzmedrud\nCasey Mcmullen\nMary jane Renz schle..\nHeather Palmer\nCaleen Meehan\nChase Young\nDonna West\nEmily Kilker\nNicole Kurtz\nAlicia Troisi\nMelanie Melanie\nEllen Pelletier\nMitzi Carter\nBehan Gifford\nChris Wible\nBethan Bailey\nJenna Robertson\nTeam redan Good wind..\nMolly O\u0026rsquo;rourke\nJenne Wible\nAnnie Grossjohann\nChris Wible\n* If I somehow forgot your name here, please let me know so I can grovel for forgiveness.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/convivia-to-be-powered-by-dyneema/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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\u0026rsquo;t need to buy new lines before we cross our path.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Convivia To Be Powered By Dyneema®"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t wait to show him everything. Seren, warmed up to the chaos and excitement much more quickly than I would have expected (being his second time aboard a boat).\nAfter a quick detour at the pump out we made our way, ever so carefully, out the channel. We were worried about the latent tsunami effects and the low tide, but between the chart plotter and the crew\u0026rsquo;s watchful eyes, we made it out at dead low tide without a snag. Once safely out of the harbor we were greeted with the sight of several races, replete with their golden and graphite sails, underway all around us. I engaged the tiller pilot (or Otto, as Deneb dubbed it) and headed up to the mast to raise sail. We quickly killed the diesel and everyone exhaled and inhaled the warm(ish) salty spring air.\nWe tacked a few times to avoid one race and then had one long tack by Alcatraz out to Richardson\u0026rsquo;s Bay. Ruby and Olive finally consented to take their naps, and with the new tranquility, Seren also found his sleep groove on dada\u0026rsquo;s lap. The adults, now free to socialize, did what any parent would do in a lul, we all breathed deeply and smiled… quietly, so as not to break the spell.\nWe had an unexpectedly easy passage under the bridge and the trip out past the headlands, while rolly, was surprisingly quick and pleasant. On the way back in we encountered a pod of dolphins and two harbor seals playing in our wake. The dolphins seemed to have a lot of fun playing hide and seek with us, and several times popped up right on our transom with a sharp breath before plunging below the water again.\nWith everyone else below, I ran back through the Golden Gate wing on wing. Something in my heart soared to see Convivia, sails abreast framed by that amazing human accomplishment. As I reveled in that moment, Vick popped up her third and forth batch of coconut popcorn while simultaneously maintaining harmony with the young crew.\nJust past Alcatraz I spotted a tall ship and called Olive up to take a look. She called below that there was a pirate ship and commanded Vick to bring up her cannon. With her sights set she fired volley after volley at the ship until it finally ran off to it\u0026rsquo;s garrison. Olive looked singularly triumphant and went below to announce her victory to everyone. Later, when she worked out that she was allowed to call pirates names, she squealed with delight \u0026ldquo;I have to tell Ruby. She\u0026rsquo;ll be so excited!\u0026rdquo;\nWe got back to the dock around 5pm and decided to give the boat the short cleanup so we could all head to Picante together for dinner. After our traditional, post sail meal, we headed home, exhausted and smiling to put the kids to bed. I\u0026rsquo;ll be the first to admit that I fell asleep right next to them for at least an hour.\nI have to say that it was quite a treat to finally take Deneb out without subjecting her to some horrendous boat job. Deneb was crew with us several times on s/v Halcyon, and more often than not she would get roped into fixing a broken head or towing a derelict boat, in lieu of actual sailing. I was quite happy to chauffeur her around they Bay, and out into the Pacific Ocean this time, without asking her to get sweaty, filthy or upside down on my behalf!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-golden-gate-with-deneb-seren/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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\u0026rsquo;t wait to show him everything. Seren, warmed up to the chaos and excitement much more quickly than I would have expected (being his second time aboard a boat).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a quick detour at the pump out we made our way, ever so carefully, out the channel. We were worried about the latent tsunami effects and the low tide, but between the chart plotter and the crew\u0026rsquo;s watchful eyes, we made it out at dead low tide without a snag. Once safely out of the harbor we were greeted with the sight of several races, replete with their golden and graphite sails, underway all around us. I engaged the tiller pilot (or Otto, as Deneb dubbed it) and headed up to the mast to raise sail. We quickly killed the diesel and everyone exhaled and inhaled the warm(ish) salty spring air.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: Golden Gate With Deneb \u0026 Seren"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo; 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.\nInside the harbor things were calmer. It looked for a while like the channel markers that were being swiftly carried around the harbor on the current might be a problem. Luckily the Emeryville Harbormaster was out there taking care of it (over and over again). We watched the depth sounder fluctuate by two and three feet. Luckily nothing broke loose and our boat acted like it was just an unusually fast changing tide.\nAll in all it was a great learning experience and a good drill for the kids. Both Ruby and Olive responded well to the challenge and it reinforced to me that, in a real emergency, maintaining calm should be the first order of business.\nAs glad as we are to have been spared any disasters here, our hearts and thoughts go out to the people of Japan who have been devastated by the earthquake that caused this. Our thoughts are also with the boating community of Santa Cruz, who have suffered losses to personal and harbor property.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/tsunami-report/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tsunami Report"},{"content":"I just finished Poke the Box by Seth Godin. One thing I have always liked about Seth\u0026rsquo;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 I read for about 2 hours last night too). His blog posts can be read on the way to the break room.\nPoke the Box is Seth\u0026rsquo;s rant on the importance of starting and shipping. In 83 pages he makes a compelling case for why we should not let the fear of failure prevent us from starting something that could pe potentially amazing.\nI feel like I could have written this book myself it resonates so well. I didn\u0026rsquo;t though, Seth did. Like the legion inventions that I thought up only to see actualized by someone else, Seth took the initiative and reaped the rewards. If you are afraid of starting, or (like me sometimes) finishing. Run—don\u0026rsquo;t walk–to the sidebar and drop $5 and 3 hours on this book. You\u0026rsquo;ll thank me for it.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/book-review/book-review-poke-the-box/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just finished \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J4XG0O?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=B004J4XG0O\"\u003ePoke the Box by Seth Godin\u003c/a\u003e. One thing I have always liked about Seth\u0026rsquo;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 I read for about 2 hours last night too). His blog posts can be read on the way to the break room.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePoke the Box is Seth\u0026rsquo;s rant on the importance of starting and shipping. In 83 pages he makes a compelling case for why we should not let the fear of failure prevent us from starting something that could pe potentially amazing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Book Review: Poke the Box"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking a lot lately about how the kids\u0026rsquo; childhoods will differ from their contemporaries as a result of this wild adventure we\u0026rsquo;re about to embark upon. Ruby understands that there are many things we will be giving up to go sailing around the world but I don\u0026rsquo;t think she\u0026rsquo;s got the context to understand it fully yet. The following are some of the experiences that Ruby and Olive might never share with their peers.\nWinter:\nOur plan is to navigate Convivia straight to summer and hold her course there for as long as possible. Sadly, It seems that our little California girl has read too much about the other three seasons and has set some goals of her own. A few weeks ago we had a \u0026ldquo;snow scare.\u0026rdquo; Every time the wind shifted or the rain changed three heads would pop out of the companionway to see if there were any flakes falling. Ruby gathered her snowman making supplies and we searched for and found 3 mittens (no matches) just in case. We did get hail on the boat, frost on the docks, and snow in the hills but no snow on our boat. As a consolation prize, we sometimes defrost the freezer and pull out thee slush for snowballs. While they have no problem figuring out any other kind of fighting, their one and only snow ball fight had to be heavily coached—\u0026ldquo;Okay Ruby, throw that snowball at Olive….\u0026rdquo;\nSpring;\nI promised her that before she grows up she will get so be part of maple sugaring. Tomorrow we\u0026rsquo;ll load up on books about maple sugaring from the library, and play on \u0026ldquo;Sugar Shack\u0026rdquo; by Phish. We know it\u0026rsquo;s getting to be the time in Maine when there is enough of a thaw for the sap to run, but I refuse to go back until Summer is in full swing. That said, boiling the maple syrup is about as good as it gets for a sweet Spring celebration and I\u0026rsquo;ll make sure she gets to celebrate that way at least once even if I have to send her by herself.\nSchool:\nOur kids carry bones and shells home in their pockets and go to sleep with field guides tucked under their pillows and make so many keen observations about the weather and the birds and the wildlife changing as the year passes. As we travel, they will learn geography, politics, world history, culture, and multiple languages. They will have friends from all over. They\u0026rsquo;ll be capable sailors and have strong bodies and good judgement, but they will probably never learn to square dance, won\u0026rsquo;t ever go sledding, and they\u0026rsquo;ll never have that eager anticipation of the school bell ringing and the elation of going to recess.\nWeighing these missed experiences with the bounty of rare and formative experiences they will have, I feel confident that we are making the best choice for our family but the protective worrisome voice in my head still pipes up from time to time.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/childhood-experiences-e2-80-a6-missing/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking a lot lately about how the kids\u0026rsquo; childhoods will differ from their contemporaries as a result of this wild adventure we\u0026rsquo;re about to embark upon. Ruby understands that there are many things we will be giving up to go sailing around the world but I don\u0026rsquo;t think she\u0026rsquo;s got the context to understand it fully yet. The following are some of the experiences that Ruby and Olive might never share with their peers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Childhood Experiences… Missing"},{"content":"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.\nThe 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).\nBesides the obvious consideration of running out of water in the middle of the Pacific, it is important to understand how one goes about obtaining potable water in the South Pacific (and the Sea of Cortez) if one doesn\u0026rsquo;t have a water maker. From what we have gathered the process is something like this:\nTake two 5 gal Jerry Cans (if you have two people) Row them to shore Walk (sometimes up sizable hills) to the spring, reservoir, cistern, etc where the locals get their water Get your 10 gallons of water Walk that 40 lbs (each) back to the dingy Row (or motor I guess) that extra 80 lbs back to your boat Fill your water tanks Repeat 10 times (or 21 if you\u0026rsquo;re on your own) Needless to say, I\u0026rsquo;m not keen on wasting water. That said we generate some dishes around here. LOTS of dishes. Vick reports (without hyperbole) that some days she does dishes all day. This uses a lot of water here in the marina where we can fill up easily with a garden hose. Once we\u0026rsquo;re out (in cleaner water) we can use sea water for washing, and rinse with fresh. That will cut down our fresh water usage quite a bit, but won\u0026rsquo;t solve the problem entirely. Something serious needed to be done about this…\nMy solution is two part. First I got a smaller pump. This pump produces about half as much pressure, at half the current (amperage), and half as many gallons per minute as the previous one. What\u0026rsquo;s better it makes practically no noise. It does take about a minute to fill a cup of water, but we can deal.\nThe second part was to put Instant-Off nozzles on all of our faucets. These little gems were recommended to me by KC (a dock friend) and have been a godsend in more ways than one. The Instant-Off is a faucet attachment that has a wand dangling down. Tapping the wand (with the back of your hand, thumb, or palm) opens the faucet. This allows us to set the mix on all the faucets and then just tap to activate. In the case of the kids head (which is a pullman basin) there is an additional drip prevention benefit. In the case of the galley faucet it means we don\u0026rsquo;t have to turn the water on and off for every rinse. This efficiency alone probably provides 75% of our total water conservation for this week.\nThe Results:\nThis week we filled up two of our three tanks (70 gallons) on Monday and ran out on Sunday. That amounts to about 11.5 gallons per day. We are still dialing the new systems in, and I expect to get down to 8-10 gallons/day before we leave. That will give us about 13 days before we add Jerry Cans and salt water washing into the equation. I will be writing more about this as we refine our methods and explore catchment systems to collect rain water.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/conserving-water-aboard-convivia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eConserving 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Conserving Water Aboard Convivia"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t have much of an argument. So it is with great pleasure that I announce Forgeivia. Just joking. I\u0026rsquo;m going to keep the Forgeover \u0026ldquo;brand\u0026rdquo; as the primary because it\u0026rsquo;s more established and more general. I\u0026rsquo;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.\nThe facebook pages are another issue. I really don\u0026rsquo;t need to update to both groups, as there is something like 80% overlap. If you are one of the 10 people who follows s/v Convivia\u0026rsquo;s FB page but not Forgeover, you might want to change that. I\u0026rsquo;ll cross post the next few articles, but then I\u0026rsquo;m canning the s/v Convivia page.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s all for now. Leave any questions or bugs in the comments.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/s-v-convivia/sv-convivia-and-forgeover-merge/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWriting 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 \u003ca href=\"http://zachaboard.blogspot.com\"\u003eZach Aboard\u003c/a\u003e suggested merging the two sites, I didn\u0026rsquo;t have much of an argument. So it is with great pleasure that I announce Forgeivia. Just joking. I\u0026rsquo;m going to keep the  Forgeover \u0026ldquo;brand\u0026rdquo; as the primary because it\u0026rsquo;s more established and more general. I\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"s/v Convivia and Forgeover Merge"},{"content":"Just got the email, the contest is closed!\nFirst, 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\u0026rsquo;re in the top 10, I don\u0026rsquo;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).\nFinally I would like to offer a HUGE thank you to Dyneema® for putting this contest together. In addition to giving us a chance to win some really awesome prizes, this has been an amazing networking opportunity. The Crews of Excellent Adventure, Majestic, Ceol Mor, and Convivia had a great time getting to know eachother and comparing notes on the contest and it\u0026rsquo;s progress. We are all excited for phase two. Thank you Dyneema® Experience!\nUPDATE: These numbers represent the leaderboard at the time Dyneema announced that the application phase had ended. The leaderboard has changed somewhat (most notably Laureen Hudson\u0026rsquo;s stratospheric advancement) but I\u0026rsquo;m going to lock this chart in to the March 4th scores as a reference point.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/dyneema-experience-the-top-40/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJust got the email, the contest is closed!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, 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\u0026rsquo;re in the top 10, I don\u0026rsquo;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).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dyneema® Experience: The Top 40"},{"content":"Warning: the following treatise is a rather dry and detailed accounting of Convivia\u0026rsquo;s specs and equipment. If you\u0026rsquo;re not interested in this type of thing, may I suggest one of the following: Why I love boat life, But Planes are Faster, or maybe even hellO 2011.\nConvivia is a 1970 CAL 43, hull number two. The hull is round bilged, has a raked stem with anchor roller, an internal lead ballast fin keel, a spade rudder, and a transom stern with swim ladder. There are (natural) teak toerails, stainless steel bow and stern rails, and double coated lifelines. The deck layout is a typical cabin trunk with an aft cockpit. There is a forward skylight hatch, and opening companionway hatch over the galley, and a primary companionway hatch on the starboard side of the cockpit. There are two windows and four ports on each side. The cockpit has coaming seat backs and tiller steering.\nThe forepeak contains a chain locker that opens to the V-berth. The V-berth is followed by a starboard side bureau. Next aft are the port side head and starboard side hanging locker with a passage between. The main cabin has port and starboard settees with pilotberths outboard. There is a folding table in the center, aft of the mast. There are four drawers under each pilotberth and water tanks under each settee. Aft of the saloon is the L shaped galley to port with the fridge to starboard (also used as a chart table underway). Next aft is a hanging locker to starboard and the engine compartment center. There is another head on the port side. Last is a starboard quarter berth and a port double quarter berth.\nWe have a 50 HP Westerbeke 4-107 with about 600 hours, a 16\u0026quot; three blade bronze feathering Max propeller. We have a tiller for steering and a tiller pilot for self steer. We\u0026rsquo;re looking into electronic autopilots as well as windvanes for additional self steer capability.\nOur ground tackle includes a Lewmar V3 windlass with the (5/16\u0026quot;) 002 gypsy. We have 300 feet of Aco 5/16\u0026quot; G40 HT chain (marked every 25 feet), and a Rocna 33 anchor (of my dreams).\nWe carry 110 gallons of water in 2-35 gallon monel tanks and 1- 40 gallon stainless steel tank. We have an Aqua King Junior made by Shurflo that pumps no more than 2 GPM at 4 amps. There is a Whale manual fresh water pump at the galley sink, plumbing (but no pump yet) for salt water, and a Multipure drinking water filter with a separate tap. We have a new 6 gallon AC/engine powered water heater.\nWe currently have 2- 6 Volt Lifeline batteries GPL6 CT in series and we need a new starter battery. We have a Magnum MS2812 inverter charger. The entire AC system has been re-wired. Some of the DC system has been re-wired. We\u0026rsquo;re shopping for solar panels and thinking about upgrading our alternator.\nThe galley has a small single sink, a 3 burner Princess LPG stove with oven, five drawers and lots of cabinet space. We installed a Frigoboat system when we bought the boat and have a large top loading refrigerator with a separate freezer compartment. The boat came with an engine driven cold plate system which remains in place in case we need a backup.\nFor heating we have two electric space heaters, wool hats, wool socks, lots of polar fleece, hot tea, and the warmest comforters from IKEA. We\u0026rsquo;ve never needed to cool off but we\u0026rsquo;ll shop for fans before we head south.\nAll of Convivia\u0026rsquo;s rigging is relatively new for her age. She was dismasted and rebuilt by her previous owner in 2005. We have a painted Lefiel mast and boom (and one brand new spreader from November 2010). Our shrouds and stays are SS 1x19, our turnbuckles are open bodied, our toggles are stainless, and our chain plates are stainless steel. Most of our blocks are Lewmar, our clutches are being quickly replaced with Spinlocks, and our halyards and sheets are Warpspeed (most new in 2006, jib sheets new in 2010). We\u0026rsquo;re hoping to win all new Dyneema running rigging (and you can help).\nWe have 12 winches to maintain: 2 Barient 32, 2 Barient 32 self tailing, a Barlow 24ST, a Lewmar 50ST and 44ST, 2 Barient 10H for mainsheet controls, and 2 Barient 10s.\nWe have a new North Sails 110 furling jib (on now), a 2005 North Sails Fully battened main, a North 155 furling genoa, a North 175% reacher, drifter, North .5oz spinnaker, 3 other .75oz spinnakers and a 1.5oz spinnaker.\nWe have the usual sail covers for hatches, a dodger, an African Queen (sunshade that we\u0026rsquo;ve never set up) and a full boat cover. There is no bimini due to the mainsheet and traveller configuration.\nOur dingy is an Achilles inflatable with a 2001 Mercury 3HP motor.\nThe original brochure for CAL 43s say \u0026ldquo;She was designed and built as a sophisticated package for the more experienced sailor who wants proven racing performance along with traditional functional features that make extended cruising or blue-water racing pleasant and comfortable,\u0026rdquo; and better than that, \u0026ldquo;She is virtually maintenance free.\u0026rdquo; Here we are 41 years later preparing her for extended cruising. She is lovely, but not, absolutely not, maintenance free at her age.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/aesthetics/about-our-boat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWarning: the following treatise is a rather dry and detailed accounting of Convivia\u0026rsquo;s specs and equipment. If you\u0026rsquo;re not interested in this type of thing, may I suggest one of the following: \u003ca href=\"/articles/2010/10/15/why-i-love-boat-life-4\"\u003eWhy I love boat life\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"/2011/01/but-planes-are-faster%E2%80%A6/\"\u003eBut Planes are Faster\u003c/a\u003e, or maybe even \u003ca href=\"/articles/2011/01/02/hello-2011\"\u003ehellO 2011\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConvivia is a 1970 CAL 43, hull number two. The hull is round bilged, has a raked stem with anchor roller, an internal lead ballast fin keel, a spade rudder, and a transom stern with swim ladder. There are (natural) teak toerails, stainless steel bow and stern rails, and double coated lifelines. The deck layout is a typical cabin trunk with an aft cockpit.  There is a forward skylight hatch, and opening companionway hatch over the galley, and a primary companionway hatch on the starboard side of the cockpit.  There are two windows and four ports on each side.  The cockpit has coaming seat backs and tiller steering.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"About our boat"},{"content":"I am super King Kamehameha bushed; just completely wiped out from an overflowing fun (as Ruby would say) weekend. So I\u0026rsquo;m going to cheat and give you a little photo essay. Hopefully, one of the family or I will come back and fill in the details.\nIn the meantime, check out these beautiful photos.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-china-camp-take-one/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am super King Kamehameha bushed; just completely wiped out from an overflowing fun (as Ruby would say) weekend. So I\u0026rsquo;m going to cheat and give you a little photo essay. Hopefully, one of the family or I will come back and fill in the details.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the meantime, check out these beautiful photos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: China Camp — Take One"},{"content":"\n\u0026ldquo;Mom, can we read a story about someone who knows something is scary or hard and does it anyway?\u0026rdquo; Ruby and I have been reading from \u0026ldquo;Bringing Out Their Best: Values Education and Character Development through Traditional Tales,\u0026rdquo; by Norma J. Livo. The book is organized in groups of stories about love, responsibility, compassion, cooperation and more. In it are traditional stories from around the world written in the most basic way with no embellishment and no pictures or illustrations. I know that Ruby can\u0026rsquo;t be told what to do or how to act but I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure that she can learn these values through story telling. Tonight we read about perseverance.\nToday Ruby got her ears pierced. She\u0026rsquo;s been admiring earrings for a while, yet she just has one friend her age with pierced ears. We\u0026rsquo;ve told her about the process from time to time and have told her that it would indeed hurt. Even though the topic of discussion had been open for a while she hadn\u0026rsquo;t ever asked to get her\u0026rsquo;s pierced. When she did we both said Yes! right away even though Tucker and I never actually discussed the topic.\nWe went to a Telegraph Avenue body piercing and tattoo shop that got great reviews. They were incredible there and I really appreciated that they treated Ruby as the customer exclusively and gave her all of the information she needed to take care of her piercings. The woman who helped us when we walked in was so enthusiastic and excited for Ruby and helped her choose her pair of ruby red studs to wear for the next month or so. The customer waiting on the bench near Olive even let her touch her studded belt (\u0026ldquo;Ruby, you need to see this it\u0026rsquo;s so beautiful.\u0026rdquo;) and play with her lion wallet chain while Ruby waited her turn. Tim, the piercer, was so soft spoken and gentle with Ruby. She gently brused her hair out of the way and told her there would be no surprises since she would show her everything and tell her how each step would go.\nWe weren\u0026rsquo;t at all surprised that Ruby sat in the chair, double checked the markings in the mirror, held tightly onto her worry doll, and waited for the first piercing. She wiggled and shouted. It hurt a lot as he pushed the hollow needle through her ear and set the earring and the backing. Before we went in Tucker was worried that Ruby would end up with only one ear pierced. Tim practiced deep breaths with Ruby (imagine you\u0026rsquo;re smelling a rose right here and blowing out a candle way over here) and told her she could say or yell anything she wanted for the second ear. Even knowing how much the first one hurt she took her big breath and did the second ear.\nSmiling and proud she checked herself in the mirror and walked out. Another customer complimented her on her pretty earrings and she was absolutely beaming. She just couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait to show Andrea in the marina office and she has plans to call friends tomorrow to tell them all about it. She\u0026rsquo;s excited and she feels absolutely radiant with her earrings.\nI think she was pleasantly surprised by us saying yes so easily to her wish. She\u0026rsquo;s been known to ask for unreasonable things so it\u0026rsquo;s important to us to look for the ways we can accommodate her. My friend Sarah posted on her blog today About Saying Yes. It\u0026rsquo;s wonderful when we recognize the opportunity to give children their vote. I think, for Ruby, today was about much more than a pair of shiny sparkly gems. Her expression of courage and self-confidence showcased her inner beauty more succinctly than any sparkly jewelry possibly could.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/courage-sparkle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2011/02/ear-piercing-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Mom, can we read a story about someone who knows something is scary or hard and does it anyway?\u0026rdquo;  Ruby and I have been reading from \u0026ldquo;\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563089343?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=1563089343\"\u003eBringing Out Their Best: Values Education and Character Development through Traditional Tales\u003c/a\u003e,\u0026rdquo; by Norma J. Livo.  The book is organized in groups of stories about love, responsibility, compassion, cooperation and more.  In it are traditional stories from around the world written in the most basic way with no embellishment and no pictures or illustrations. I know that Ruby can\u0026rsquo;t be told what to do or how to act but I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure that she can learn these values through story telling.  Tonight we read about perseverance.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Courage \u0026 Sparkle"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\nBack on the boat, Vick is waking up and I\u0026rsquo;m making my second (well earned) cup of coffee. I head up to the foredeck to sip it while I absorb the sun\u0026rsquo;s warmth. I\u0026rsquo;m joined by the rest of the family and we share a peaceful few minutes. As we are admiring our surroundings the wind picks up. Everyone seems to simultaneously come to the same conclusion; it\u0026rsquo;s time to sail.\nI do some quick math and realize that running the windlass for a minute (@70/amps) equates to about 1 amp/hr draw. I don\u0026rsquo;t have to turn the engine on. We hoist the sail (Ruby and Olive haul the first 20\u0026rsquo;), back the jib, and Ruby takes the helm as I lift the anchor. I inch to the foredeck while Convivia zooms off (@ 5 knots) under Ruby\u0026rsquo;s steady hand.\nThe wind holds all the way to the southern tip of Angel Island where it starts to shift and wane. Our boat speed dips to 2 knots and the sails start to loose their shape. The kids go below with Vick to read fairy tales and I\u0026rsquo;m left to my own devices. After a while I get tired of fighting the canvas and decide to practice my singlehanding skills. I heave to and yell my intentions below (so no one worries). Then I head to the mast to drop the main. It\u0026rsquo;s as hard as I remember it being. Convivia is about 60º off the wind and the sail keeps catching on the spreaders. I have to keep running aft to tug on the leach, but I get it down and nicely flaked. I release the jib, haul it in on the other side and start making 3 knots.\nBy the time we round the marker at the end of the Berkeley pier I\u0026rsquo;m cruising at 5+ knots again. I\u0026rsquo;m excited to pull into the harbor under sail. It\u0026rsquo;s looking good until I go on deck to put out fenders and lifelines. We are in the channel and making good speed when I drop one of the fenders overboard. I quickly head up, then tack and try to retrieve the fender but its drifting quickly out of the channel and into the shallows. I douse the jib, start the engine and hand the boat hook to Vick. We haul the fender aboard with just 2\u0026rsquo; under the keel and make our way back into the now crowded channel. Phew.\nBack at the dock we put away the sailing gear and prepare to scrub the decks from stem to stern. The job takes all afternoon but Convivia hasn\u0026rsquo;t looked this good since we bought her. Exhausted and famished we put away the cleaning stuff and make for Picante for dinner.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-paradise-home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSunday 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: Paradise -\u003e Home"},{"content":"First the confession. I didn\u0026rsquo;t set enough scope yesterday. I can blame that on the fact that our chain isn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s restless thoughts all night.\nSo 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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t fall back to sleep after until Ruby called me.\nNow for the correction. I don\u0026rsquo;t think Paradise Cove is so aptly named after all. Sure, it was warm and the air was dry while the rest of the Bay was cool and damp. Sure the sunset was beautiful, and highway noise is blessedly absent. The problem with this anchorage is that it doesn\u0026rsquo;t have any protection from N through ESE. We had a mere 10-15 knots out of the north last night and the boat was rocking harder that it ever has at any anchorage or mooring. I might stay here again if the forecast predicts W winds, but otherwise i think I prefer the noisier but more protected Clipper Cove anchorage at treasure island.\nSome have recommended China Camp, just north of the Richmond bridge. We will have to try that one some day that we can manage and earlier start.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/ship-s-log/confession-and-corrections/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFirst the confession. I didn\u0026rsquo;t set enough scope yesterday. I can blame that on the fact that our chain isn\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s restless thoughts all night.\u003cbr\u003e\nSo 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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t fall back to sleep after until Ruby called me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Confession and Corrections"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ve purchased and installed our Rocna 33, our Lewmar V3 Windlass, and 300 feet of G40 HT 5/16\u0026quot; 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.\nWe dropped the hook this afternoon in Paradise Cove in Tiburon. Shortly after we got settled Ruby and Olive both said something along the lines, \u0026ldquo;I want to anchor out every day.\u0026rdquo; And so do we. Having a reliable anchor was our top priority in outfitting our boat since it will both keep our home where we put it and be our insurance policy. When we travel to Mexico this fall and explore the South Pacific the following spring and summer everything we own will depend on our anchor every day (well, there will be a few overnights and then a few weeks of overnights in there that we won\u0026rsquo;t stop moving at all). Our anchor gives us the freedom to explore the world with a certain amount of self sufficiency.\nSince it\u0026rsquo;s only our first night and we\u0026rsquo;re in a well protected cove with little current or wind and no swell other than the wake of the ferry boats, this is certainly not my review of the holding power of our Rocna. I think I\u0026rsquo;m going to love it though. These anchors have an incredible reputation in the sailing world, even just among my friends:\nOh how I want a Rocna\u0026hellip;.\nAbsoLUTEly! I ♥ my Rocna!\noh yeah.\nI am in green with envy mode.\nyou\u0026rsquo;ll be psyched - miscalculated when anchoring today, and the rocna dug in like a champ with 2:1 - pretty impressive\u0026hellip;\nNothing like a bright, shiny new anchor to make the ♥ glad.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve wanted an anchor tattoo for years, but I\u0026rsquo;ve always said that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t get it until I had a good story first. In years past sailors might have gotten an anchor tattoo after crossing an ocean. It is often symbolic of well grounded hope and a well spent life. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure when or if the tattoo will come but I already feel the hope and excitement of a well spent life.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/anchor-of-my-dreams/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;ve purchased and installed our Rocna 33, our Lewmar V3 Windlass, and 300 feet of G40 HT 5/16\u0026quot; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Anchor of My Dreams"},{"content":"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 \u0026ldquo;games\u0026rdquo; on Facebook and this is the one that I took seriously. I decided to repost it here, today, partly because I think it\u0026rsquo;s neat that I wrote it a year ago (almost exactly) and partly because I think I would write pretty much the same thing today. Also, as I mention in the list, I long to be undersood.\nI want people to understand me, which is complicated by the fact that.. I have, historically, sent intentionally contradictory messages about myself (e.g dress one way, act another) in a vain attempt to keep people from drawing the \u0026ldquo;wrong\u0026rdquo; conclusion. Now I realize that everyone draws their own caricature, and that it has very little to do with me, so I\u0026rsquo;ve let that go. I\u0026rsquo;m also blessed with good friends that take their time about such things. I love the job I\u0026rsquo;ve had for 10 years but dislike the very idea of \u0026ldquo;a career\u0026rdquo; with the fiery hot intensity of a thousand suns going supernova. Being a great dad and husband is easily the most important goal I ever set for myself. (and for what its worth, I think I set it around age 10). Hopefully this explains a lot to those ex-girlfriends that wondered how a 15 year old boy could possibly be so intense. I recently learned that it is at least as important to forgive myself for all of my shortcomings, as it is to live up to my ideals. I\u0026rsquo;ve got a lot of shortcomings. When I grow up, I\u0026rsquo;m going to sail around the world with my wife and kids. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to growing up. I don\u0026rsquo;t fear growing old. I think about dying, specifically whether it would be worse to die before Vick and know that I am leaving her, or die after her and be alone. I do this, not to be morbid, but to remind myself how important it is to live life fully. It hurts but probably not as much as it would hurt to think about it at the other end of life. I\u0026rsquo;m just crazy about Espresso. I especially like making it for my friends, the more the merrier. I led outdoor expeditions in high school and college. I thought I was going to do that for a living. I also thought I would work in Zimbabwe or South Africa doing humanitarian work. I think I would make a great counselor, but I can\u0026rsquo;t stand the idea of going back to school. I might have to do that informally. I have a knack for communication but I can\u0026rsquo;t seem to stay in touch to save my life. What\u0026rsquo;s up with that? Sometimes I am overcome with love. I have never been able to figure out where it comes from, and its a little scary. I don\u0026rsquo;t cry, and get anxious when others do. This bothers me because I distinctly remember thinking that it was super lame that adults don\u0026rsquo;t cry when I was a kid. I was always torn between wanting to be cool and wanting to be individual. I still believe that both should be simultaneously possible. I\u0026rsquo;m not afraid of being wrong and will often go out of my way to admit it. I wish that I could do my life over and over again. At the end of each life, I would get to know everything I had learned in all the other lives, and could choose to make choices differently. Then I would promptly forget all that I knew, and be born. As I went through life, I would feel compelled to make choices according to my pre-life plan. I was more excited to turn 30 than 21. I always wanted to be as old as my dad. I know its a moving target, but try explaining that to a kid. I want to write a book someday. I\u0026rsquo;m an optimist, and get really annoyed by people who think that that means I\u0026rsquo;m naive, even though in another context, I would happily embrace my naiveté. I secretly (not anymore) believe that I have a superpower, I have no idea what it is, but its going to save my life someday, and might even save the world. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/20-things-you-might-not-know-about-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was just updating my privacy settings on Facebook and found this Note from a year ago yesterday. I have played exactly two of these \u0026ldquo;games\u0026rdquo; on Facebook and this is the one that I took seriously. I decided to repost it here, today, partly because I think it\u0026rsquo;s neat that I wrote it a year ago (almost exactly) and partly because I think I would write pretty much the same thing today. Also, as I mention in the list, I long to be \u003cem\u003eundersood.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"20 Things You Might Not Know About Me"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s getting a little repetitive. I\u0026rsquo;m going to post the current list and implore you all to contribute your favorite Ass Kicking music. Thanks in advance for the suggestions!\nName Artist White Knuckles OK Go Walking The Dog fun. Ventilaor R-80 Ojos De Brujo This Too Shall Pass OK Go Tanguillo De María Ojos De Brujo Super Bon Bon Soul Coughing Stargate Keller Williams Randall wheatus Oceans The Format The Monkey Versus The Robot Piebald Lucy Lawcy Keller Williams Kiss With A Fist Florence + The Machine The Key Speech Debelle Just A Simple Plan Piebald It\u0026rsquo;s a Disaster OK Go In A Big Country Keller Williams I Got This Feelin' Mates Of State Here It Goes Again OK Go Ha Ha Mates Of State Gotta Get A Problem Mates Of State Good To Go Grand Puba A Good Idea At the Time OK Go Go Hard Grand Puba Freak On wheatus Fluke Mates Of State A Duel Will Settle This Mates Of State Doobie in My Pocket Keller Williams Dog Days Are Over Florence + The Machine Do What You Want OK Go Dando vueltas y vueltas Hechos Contra el Decoro Crash the Party OK Go Circles Soul Coughing Calé Barí Ojos De Brujo Bulería Del Ay! Ojos De Brujo BMX Bandits wheatus Blame Soul Coughing Benson Hedges fun. Barlights fun. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/playlist-change-is-in-the-air/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;s getting a little repetitive. I\u0026rsquo;m going to post the current list and implore you all to contribute your favorite Ass Kicking music. Thanks in advance for the suggestions!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003cth\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\n          \u003cth\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n  \u003c/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eName\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eArtist\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eWhite Knuckles\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eWalking The Dog\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003efun.\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eVentilaor R-80\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOjos De Brujo\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eThis Too Shall Pass\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eTanguillo De María\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOjos De Brujo\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eSuper Bon Bon\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eSoul Coughing\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eStargate\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eKeller Williams\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eRandall\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003ewheatus\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOceans\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eThe Format\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eThe Monkey Versus The Robot\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003ePiebald\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eLucy Lawcy\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eKeller Williams\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eKiss With A Fist\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eFlorence + The Machine\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eThe Key\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eSpeech Debelle\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eJust A Simple Plan\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003ePiebald\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s a Disaster\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eIn A Big Country\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eKeller Williams\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eI Got This Feelin'\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eMates Of State\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eHere It Goes Again\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eHa Ha\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eMates Of State\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eGotta Get A Problem\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eMates Of State\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eGood To Go\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eGrand Puba\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eA Good Idea At the Time\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eGo Hard\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eGrand Puba\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eFreak On\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003ewheatus\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eFluke\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eMates Of State\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eA Duel Will Settle This\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eMates Of State\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eDoobie in My Pocket\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eKeller Williams\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eDog Days Are Over\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eFlorence + The Machine\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eDo What You Want\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eDando vueltas y vueltas\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eHechos Contra el Decoro\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eCrash the Party\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOK Go\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eCircles\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eSoul Coughing\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eCalé Barí\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOjos De Brujo\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eBulería Del Ay!\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eOjos De Brujo\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eBMX Bandits\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003ewheatus\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eBlame\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eSoul Coughing\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eBenson Hedges\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003efun.\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003eBarlights\u003c/td\u003e\n          \u003ctd\u003efun.\u003c/td\u003e\n      \u003c/tr\u003e\n  \u003c/tbody\u003e\n\u003c/table\u003e","title":"(Playlist) Change is in the Air"},{"content":"I was all excited to start working on the new windlass install when I heard Olive yell, \u0026ldquo;Daaaaddyy. Can you please turn on the light. I can\u0026rsquo;t do it.\u0026rdquo; Within minutes I was tearing the boat apart looking for the source of the problem. A problem that got worse as I went. Before the end of the following day we had no lights in the aft cabin or galley. What\u0026rsquo;s worse, most of the cable for those lights were the original 40 year old run, so it was built right into one of the few parts of the boat that I have no access to. My only recourse was to rewire the whole system.\nI still had to tear up all of the sole in the aft half of the boat, remove the quarter berth cushions and boards, the aft head door, and the case around the transmission. I still got bloody and fiberglass peppered, I still got to hit my head at least a dozen times, and I still got grumpy. I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to saw through the pan of the boat (a sub-sole structure used for???) and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have to do anything jankey. When I got done the solution was almost elegant. All of the old electrical tape splices (three into one, really?) were gone; replaced with a shiny black double bus. Each light now has its 40 year old wire freshly ring terminated, and I know more of my boat than I did yesterday.\nWhile I certainly don\u0026rsquo;t spend any time hoping for a job like this to come up, it always seems strangely worth it in the end. Tomorrow, I hope to start that windlass install though, that will be truly fun!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/aft-cabin-lighting/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI was all excited to start working on the new windlass install when I heard Olive yell, \u0026ldquo;Daaaaddyy. Can you please turn on the light. I can\u0026rsquo;t do it.\u0026rdquo; Within minutes I was tearing the boat apart looking for the source of the problem. A problem that got worse as I went. Before the end of the following day we had no lights in the aft cabin or galley. What\u0026rsquo;s worse, most of the cable for those lights were the original 40 year old run, so it was built right into one of the few parts of the boat that I have no access to. My only recourse was to rewire the whole system.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Aft Cabin Lighting"},{"content":"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. \u0026ldquo;Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn\u0026rsquo;t know that,\u0026rdquo; she replied.\n\u0026ldquo;Is it so nice as all that?\u0026rdquo; asked the mole, shyly\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;Nice? It\u0026rsquo;s the only thing,\u0026rdquo; said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. \u0026ldquo;Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing \u0026ndash; absolutely nothing \u0026ndash; half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Simply messing\u0026hellip;about in boats \u0026ndash; or with boats\u0026hellip; In or out of \u0026rsquo;em it doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter. Nothing seems to matter, that\u0026rsquo;s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don\u0026rsquo;t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you\u0026rsquo;re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you\u0026rsquo;ve done it there\u0026rsquo;s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you\u0026rsquo;d much better not.\u0026rdquo;\n-Wind in the Willows\nSo many of the little boys and girls that have stepped aboard our boat have said the words, \u0026ldquo;I want to live on a boat someday.\u0026rdquo; There is a certain magic to it, isn\u0026rsquo;t there? Ten years ago Tucker and I chartered a sailboat in the Caribbean and sailed by ourselves for 10 days around the US and British Islands. We were anchored off of Cane Garden Bay when Tucker went and talked to a man on another boat in the harbor. Tucker asked him how long he\u0026rsquo;d been out. \u0026ldquo;Thirteen years,\u0026rdquo; he answered. The 90º air and the 90º degree water didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt, but I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure that\u0026rsquo;s when I decided that I too wanted to be a cruiser.\nWanderlust is part of it. We have read stories of families on bikes, and in RVs, and those who buy round the world tickets and travel for a while. We think that mixing home and travel is part of the pull. We\u0026rsquo;ll get to travel the world and still stay home. We are certainly minimilists compared to most people and love that aspect, but we don\u0026rsquo;t have to pare all the way down to a backpack to travel this way. On Convivia, we get to travel and be with our kids and still have a place to mark their growth on the wall as the years pass.\nA quick review of a world map revealed that most of the places we want to explore are right by the sea. A boat is a perfect way to enjoy that. We get to travel places where airplanes never go and to places that few people ever go. We may even be able to stop and anchor in Beveridge Reef a Pacific coral reef atol that doesn\u0026rsquo;t even have land.\nSure, planes are faster, but from our boat we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to see sharks, whales, jellyfish, endless seas, night skies not blurred by any lights, amazing islands, and villages far off the beaten path. Travelling at a pace of 150 miles a day leaves a lot of time for looking around.\nEven marina life is good. We\u0026rsquo;re still closely attuned to nature and the weather around us. There is never a day that we don\u0026rsquo;t notice the sunrise, the tides changing, the birds of the season, and the light of the moon. We make decisions based on the weather. Every time we leave the dock we observe and choose conditions that make us as safe and comfortable as we can be.\nOur children absolutely need both of us around. Our family works brilliantly when all four of us are together. We are eager for the end of the blocking of the door (now companionway) each morning when Tucker needs to leave for his work day. By taking off this fall we\u0026rsquo;ll have at least a year or so when neither Tucker nor I need to go to work in the morning. We\u0026rsquo;re looking forward to having the freedom of a schedule that is all our own. We all are excited by new adventures, anchorages, and new landfalls.\nThe community is amazing. The sailors are amazing. I\u0026rsquo;m so lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of free spirited, self sufficient, adventurous, strong, supportive, encouraging, dreamers.\nI can pick up a globe and spin it slowly knowing that every bit of blue is somewhere that I can go someday. And that is why I live on a boat!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/but-planes-are-faster/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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. \u0026ldquo;Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn\u0026rsquo;t know that,\u0026rdquo; she replied.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Is it so nice as all that?\u0026rdquo; asked the mole, shyly\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Nice? It\u0026rsquo;s the only thing,\u0026rdquo; said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. \u0026ldquo;Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing \u0026ndash; absolutely nothing \u0026ndash; half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"But Planes Are Faster…"},{"content":"Today we helped cast off the bow lines of Britannia, Amanda and Krister\u0026rsquo;s Canadian Seacraft 36. They have begun their two year trip around the Pacific.\nOn November 22 I wrote this, \u0026ldquo;Last night we had a great time laughing and comparing notes with Amanda and Krister from s/v Britannia. We\u0026rsquo;re making it a habit of meeting and befriending people that are about to sail to Mexico though. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to spend some time thinking about friendship among people on the move.\u0026rdquo; Little did I know then how much fun we were getting into. We snuck our friends though our forward companionway many many times after the kids were all snug in their berths for the night. We\u0026rsquo;ve shared margaritas, bottles of wine, cups of coffee and lots of long talks, laughter, and smiles so big that our cheeks hurt.\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t know how much our chance meeting that day in the laundry room would change our lives. Tucker, Krister, and I stayed up until 2am one night talking about life and adventure and going because the time was right even before the details were right. For about a week Tucker and I calculated and made lists and gathered information to see if we could outfit and prepare and leave in February and do the Pacific Puddle Jump with them in March or April. We decided we couldn\u0026rsquo;t pull it off but we ultimately cut a year off of our own grand plan and we\u0026rsquo;re leaving this fall, in October 2011.\nThey\u0026rsquo;ve agreed to be our Awesome Routers (obviously so we can find the most awesome things along the way). We\u0026rsquo;ll be reading their treasure maps with Ruby and Olive and digging and searching until we find what they\u0026rsquo;ve left for us. We\u0026rsquo;re excited for them and excited because we\u0026rsquo;ll be sailing the same route in the next season.\nRuby spoke for all of us when she wrote in chalk on the pillar near their boat \u0026ldquo;Dear Krister and Amanda, I will miss you on your trip. All of us will miss you. Love, Ruby, Victoria, Tucker, and Olive.\u0026rdquo;\nKrister and Amanda, we\u0026rsquo;ll dingy over and knock on your hull somewhere in the South Pacific (or in Mexico, if we\u0026rsquo;re lucky). Until then fair winds and following seas.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/farewell-britannia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday we helped cast off the bow lines of \u003ca href=\"http://sailingbritannia.blogspot.com/\"\u003eBritannia\u003c/a\u003e, Amanda and Krister\u0026rsquo;s  Canadian Seacraft 36.  They have begun their two year trip around the Pacific.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn November 22 I wrote this, \u0026ldquo;Last night we had a great time laughing and comparing notes with Amanda and Krister from s/v Britannia. We\u0026rsquo;re making it a habit of meeting and befriending people that are about to sail to Mexico though. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to spend some time thinking about friendship among people on the move.\u0026rdquo; Little did I know then  how much fun we were getting into. We  snuck our friends though our forward companionway many many times after the kids were all snug in their berths for the night.  We\u0026rsquo;ve shared margaritas, bottles of wine, cups of coffee and lots of long talks, laughter, and smiles so big that our cheeks hurt.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Farewell Britannia"},{"content":"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 first ocean passage. Our transition to boat life, despite it\u0026rsquo;s smells, minimalism, and tight quarters has created a stronger, happier, more cooperative family than we had on land. 2010 looked like a very hard act to follow.\nBut 2011, oh 2011. If we can hit our goal with even 75% accuracy this will be a bumper year. If we do nothing else, we will plan for and depart on a sailing trip around the world. This has been our family\u0026rsquo;s largest, most ambitions, and most consistent goal for 10 years. Ruby and Olive were both born with the promise of an eventual trip around the world. Looking back, so many of their most precious observations, thoughts, and dreams have revolved around the themes of sailing, travel, and being together as a family. When we took our test run to Catalina both kids volunteered that it was their favorite vacation ever, they couldn\u0026rsquo;t wait until it was every day.\nI wish it were our every day too. Sailing, fathering, adventuring, and living with purpose is what I\u0026rsquo;m here for. I have spent 15 years working in technology and there is plenty about my career that I am grateful for, but it is not what defines me. In some ways I am envious of those who can derive their sense of self worth from their work. It would certainly be more efficient. If I\u0026rsquo;m not mistaken though 2011 will be the year that I finally, cleanly, and deliberately cleave my personal sense of worth and accomplishment from what I have been able to (or not able to) achieve in my work life. There is no question that I will have to work from here on out. I will probably have to work harder than I ever have before. It\u0026rsquo;s likely that I\u0026rsquo;ll continue to do IT, and maybe even (in some capacity) for my current employer, but I am quite sure that by November of 2011 when someone asks me \u0026ldquo;So Tucker, what do you do?\u0026rdquo; I will reply, \u0026ldquo;I sail, seek adventure, and love the bejesus out of my wife and kids.\u0026rdquo;\n2011 is going to be The Year of Intention for me. As we culminate towards our goal I will reflect on the deliberate way that we have structured our lives and choices. I will strive to continue to live in a determined and positive way. I will strive to teach my children the values that I most admire in myself and Victoria. I will continue to be mindful of myself, to identify new pathways for growth, and I will attempt find joy, meaning, and beauty in the world wherever it exists. I will do all of this, and share it with you.\nHappy New Year.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/hello-2011/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e2010 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 first ocean passage. Our transition to boat life, despite it\u0026rsquo;s smells, minimalism, and tight quarters has created a stronger, happier, more cooperative family than we had on land. 2010 looked like a very hard act to follow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"hellO 2011"},{"content":"The Logans came up on Thursday morning for a sail and \u0026ldquo;Mega Sleepover.\u0026rdquo; 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.\nI 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.\nAfter a dozen minutes of this frustration I shocked Vick by turning on the iron jib and motoring us out past Treasure Island where there looked to be more wind.\nBefore our friends arrived, I had spent some time playing around with the boom brake that came with Convivia. I decided to leave it on for the day and was pleasantly surprised at how well it damped the flogging of the mainsail when the winds went squirrely. It didn\u0026rsquo;t perform quite as well on the controlled jibe later that day, but I think I didn\u0026rsquo;t have it properly tensioned for the wind we were dealing with.\nBy the time we passed Alcatraz (following another brief motor) the wind was beginning to set up. The kids and moms were below and Jon and I took the building wind and 20º heel with giant smiles. Sadly Rayna had a little fall below and we were forced to level out (which was prudent, but not as much fun).\nWithin 20 minutes we were approaching the Golden Gate Bridge and it was obvious that we needed at least one reef in the main and a little less jib. Vick was occupied below with a screaming toddler and Jon and I opted to shorten the jib and fall off. It was getting late and we were in danger of coming in after dark anyway, so it was (again) the right choice, but as we ran off I looked back over my shoulder at the bridge with longing. It\u0026rsquo;s always nice to look up at that tremendous feat of engineering from the water.\nWe deep broad reached all the way back to Emeryville. Just passed Alcatraz we executed the first of the aforementioned controlled jibes. I instructed Vick to stop centering the boom just a little early because I wanted to see how the brake worked under load. It was quite a rough jibe but not nearly what it would have been if it hadn\u0026rsquo;t been slowed by the brake. After we were safely situated on our starboard tack, I tensioned the brake again and subsequent jibes (though more cleanly executed) were much calmer.\nThe current off of Treasure Island was the most incredible I\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen. We approached the shipping channel and watched with awe as the boat sideswiped just shy of the green buoy. With that information impressed on us, we were prepared (we thought) for rounding well north of the tip of Treasure Island. As we approached I slowly tuned our heading until we were close hauled to the NNW. We rounded the tip sideways and then the current and wind seemed to relax a bit.\nJon helped me to flake the main and we headed into the channel. We grounded in the dead center of the channel just shy of the 3-4 markers at mid-tide. The recent sounding in the marina office say there should be 9.5 feet there, but we had approximately +1.5\u0026rsquo; from the tide. With a 6.5\u0026rsquo; draft this means that the channel depth at that point might be as shallow as 5'.\nBack at the dock we quickly tidied up and then headed out to Picante for dinner. We had a great meal and returned to Convivia stuffed and happy. The kids went down easily and we stayed up until midnight chatting about meeting up in the South Pacific.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-logans-mega-sleepover/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Logans came up on Thursday morning for a sail and \u0026ldquo;Mega Sleepover.\u0026rdquo; 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log — Logan's Mega Sleepover"},{"content":"Krister \u0026amp; 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.\nKrister and Amanda met us there around 12:30 and by 1pm we were heading out of the harbor. After the 1,2 markers we headed SW and set the main. Falling off we found that we could make the Berkeley pier in just one tack. As we cleared the wind shed of Treasure Island the wind shifted slightly south and allowed us a straight shot for the Golden Gate. We sailed West until 3ish, dreaming about not turning back, and looking forward to meeting up again in warmer climates.\nBy the time we were ready to turn back to Emeryville, the wind had shifted again and we reached almost all the way home. Around the East side of Treasure Island the wind shifted one last time (ESE) and we came in close reached.\nKrister helped me to strike the sails in record time and we came in just as the sun was setting. I executed one of my all time best reverse docking maneuvers. What made this one so nice was that I managed to use the wind and the prop walk to set Convivia up perfectly in the main fairway. This early set up allowed me to pull straight back without any of the usual S shape that I have to plan on when the wind is not as cooperative.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-december-26th-with-krister-amanda/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eKrister \u0026amp; 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log — December 26th with Krister \u0026 Amanda"},{"content":"Our family doesn\u0026rsquo;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 week long sailing trip. This year we stayed home on our boat and enjoyed spending time with friends and neighbors in our marina.\nWe decorated Convivia with Waldorf paper stars, white lights, and ornaments on the inside; bought, decorated, and redecorated a tiny tree that fit nicely in the middle of the table; cut dozens of paper snowflakes; lit a peppermint scented candle; and enjoyed the company of our friends in the days leading up to Christmas.\nThis year Ruby asked to go up the mast in the Bosun\u0026rsquo;s chair with a red permanent marker, so that our mast would look like a candy cane. We loved the idea but thought it would be better with something less permanent, so we spiraled red lights down the mast, hung white lights from the mast head down the fore and aft stays, hung two paper stars from the spreader lights, and two more in the cockpit.\nWe celebrated at the Emery Cove Yacht Harbor\u0026rsquo;s Christmas party and walked each dock to judge the other decorations in a thunderstorm. The next day we knocked on the Harbormaster\u0026rsquo;s door first thing in the morning and waited and waited until the votes were tallied. Convivia won second place and a West Marine gift card! Ruby was beyond thrilled.\nAs Christmas approached I got worried about not having handcrafted any gifts this year and worked quickly to construct a Christmas stocking for Olive out of sailcloth found by my friend Amanda outside of Doyle sails.\nPiles of incoming boxes arrived. I worked with the kids to identify stuff that could leave the boat to accommodate the presents. The pile in the front was brought up to the truck to deal with later on. Christmas Eve went on and all of the presents got wrapped and piled up in the sea berth for the morning.\nThe kids were delighted with their day. Our first Christmas on the boat was an appropriately tiny affair. How proud and happy was I when Ruby said \u0026ldquo;this is the best Christmas ever!\u0026rdquo; So proud. So happy.\nWe settled down for the day in the cozy boat with chocolate from the stockings, homemade granola bars, buckwheat pancakes, naps, face-chatting, phone calls, playing with the new presents, a delicious dinner that took all three burners and the oven, and some cozy time coloring with Ruby after Olive went to bed.\nTucker got this book from his sister. Next year for Christmas we\u0026rsquo;ll be in Mexico, somewhere new. We\u0026rsquo;ll be running fans instead of heaters, and swimming in the ocean instead of cuddling up in warm fleeces. I think each and every year we will be somewhere new, finding our way to celebrate once again. I suspect next year too the kids will tell us \u0026ldquo;this is the best Christmas ever!\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/merry-christmas-from-sv-convivia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur family doesn\u0026rsquo;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 week long sailing trip. This year we stayed home on our boat and enjoyed spending time with friends and neighbors in our marina.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe decorated Convivia with \u003ca href=\"http://gardenmama.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/as-the-snow-continues-to-fall-outside-of-our-windows-we-gather-together-at-the-table-to-create-waldorf-inspired-kite-paper.html\"\u003eWaldorf paper stars\u003c/a\u003e, white lights, and ornaments on the inside; bought, decorated, and redecorated  a tiny tree that fit nicely in the middle of the table; cut dozens of \u003ca href=\"http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-make-5-pointed-paper-snowflakes.html\"\u003epaper snowflakes\u003c/a\u003e; lit a peppermint scented candle; and enjoyed the company of our friends in the days leading up to Christmas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas from s/v Convivia"},{"content":"Amanda (of Britannia) came over last night and we got on the topic of love. Specifically \u0026ldquo;True Love\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Soul Mates.\u0026rdquo; I have a complicated opinion on the topic of soul mates that provided good fodder for our conversation. Too soon we noticed it was midnight and had to say goodnight to our friend. As we were falling asleep I wondered aloud*:\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure how to reconcile the seemingly antithetical views I have on what makes a relationship work. On the one hand I believe that an awesome relationship demands that both partners periodically choose to remain in the relationship. On the other hand I know that it is essential to believe, with the completeness of your being, that your love is immutable. The latter, I believe, amounts to a sacred commitment to the relationship (spoken or not).\nSomehow I\u0026rsquo;ve subscribed to both of these views simultaneously and non-exclusively for years, though clearly half of the possible \u0026lsquo;choices\u0026rsquo; would defeat the immutability of love requirement.\nLaying there in our cozy berth, the answer came so fast it surprised me. There is a paradox, but it\u0026rsquo;s soluble, but only if both partners subscribe.\nIn our case, both Victoria and I recognize that our love is conditional and therefore a choice. We also both believe that we have made a lifelong commitment to each other. The solution, as I see it, comes in the specific nature of that commitment.\nIf the commitment is to stay together no matter what, we have a chance of success (depending on how stubborn we are about it). But if our commitment is to strive to make the other continually choose to renew the relationship, then we have set up a paradox that will work for us. In practice it works like this:\nI recognize that Victoria has an innate right to choose to be with me (or not). My commitment to her is to always be the man that she would choose to be with. If she reciprocates that commitment, we will naturally and effortlessly grow together.\nI am always won over by simple, elegant solutions. That this solution also seems to encapsulate the selfless nature of true love clinches it for me.\n* Victoria quickly pointed out that I didn\u0026rsquo;t say this exactly as quoted. I\u0026rsquo;m invoking creative license, as what I actually said probably didn\u0026rsquo;t make as much sense.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-relationship-paradox/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAmanda (of \u003ca href=\"http://sailingbritannia.blogspot.com/\"\u003eBritannia\u003c/a\u003e) came over last night and we got on the topic of love. Specifically \u0026ldquo;True Love\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Soul Mates.\u0026rdquo; I have a complicated opinion on the topic of soul mates that provided good fodder for our conversation. Too soon we noticed it was midnight and had to say goodnight to our friend. As we were falling asleep I wondered aloud*:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m not sure how to reconcile the seemingly antithetical views I have on what makes a relationship work. On the one hand I believe that an awesome relationship demands that both partners periodically \u003cem\u003echoose\u003c/em\u003e to remain in the relationship. On the other hand I know that it is essential to believe, with the completeness of your being, that your love is immutable. The latter, I believe, amounts to a sacred commitment to the relationship (spoken or not).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Relationship Paradox"},{"content":"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.\nImagine for a moment a world so simple that it has only two types of people. Wanderers and Planters. Each of these types are dedicated to spending their lives learning, spreading happiness, building community, making the world more beautiful, and ultimately defining their own meaning for it all. Each of them has their own distinct modality, but is one better suited to achieving the goals than the other?\nThe Wanderers are compelled to strike out into the world. They feel the need to see everything first hand, to delve headlong into the world\u0026rsquo;s mysteries, and to stare physical danger in the maw. A Wanderer slowly pieces together their community from the people they meet in their travels; makes the world more beautiful by collecting, sharing, and trading as they go; learns from the rich diversity of the world\u0026rsquo;s populations, geography, culture, history etc; finds meaning in the stories, spirituality, and experiences they collect along the way. The Wanderer views the Universe through a telescope.\nThe Planters view the world through a microscope. They gather to themselves all of the richness and diversity of the world through books, contemplation, conversation, and tale swapping. They build strong foundations and their gardens are populated with the friends, traditions, and experiences of a localvite. Their beauty is of permanence, of creation, and sustenance and patience.\nI was young when I first conceptualized this fantasy world. I suspect I was thinking about my mom at the time. She is the daughter of Wanderers but is herself more of a Planter. A very good, long time, friend of mine is a Planter, and early on I began to look to her as a control case to my Wanderer nature. I wondered briefly if there was anything inherently better about living one way vs the other before concluding that there wasn\u0026rsquo;t.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure why this theme has stuck with me but now, years later, I still take note of people who reenforce my belief that life can be just as fully experienced from sitting in a field for all of your days, as it can by walking across all of the fields of the world.\nSo now I will return you to the real world of complexity and nuance and beg you to forgive my flight of simplemindedness. But if you should ever meet or think of someone who fits neatly into one of these categories, I wonder if you might let me know about them. How do they make they world more beautiful. What wisdom have they gleaned from their way of living.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/wanderers-and-planters/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLife 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine for a moment a world so simple that it has only two types of people. Wanderers and Planters. Each of these types are dedicated to spending their lives learning, spreading happiness, building community, making the world more beautiful, and ultimately defining their own meaning for it all. Each of them has their own distinct modality, but is one better suited to achieving the goals than the other?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wanderers and Planters"},{"content":"They say that \u0026ldquo;Perfection is the Enemy of Done.\u0026rdquo; 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 on my espresso; working and saving to buy better equipment; laboring over each shot; reading and learning wherever I could. Likewise I have spent my whole life in pursuit of love, and then in its betterment and refinement. I can be nigh obsessive about some topics.\nOn the other hand is my boat. I love sailing, don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong. I love working on my boat too. I want her to be strong and capable and safe for my family. I don\u0026rsquo;t worry about the aesthetics though, and I don\u0026rsquo;t fret about the more minor details that affect our life within the boat. Things like rough woodwork, or a little plumbing improvement, or even matching plumbing standards, these things are a best effort consideration.\nOnce we started talking about it the reason for this dichotomy was immediately apparent to me. I spend my perfectionism where it can do me some good. World rocking coffee is achievable and worthwhile. A love nearing Hellenic proportions is, while not as easily attained certainly no less worthwhile. A perfect boat on the other hand seems to me to be a liability. The only ones I\u0026rsquo;ve known haven\u0026rsquo;t left the docks and if they did they would instantly cease to be perfect. So I choose my battles. With love, family, coffee, and margaritas, I pour on the effort and strive for perfection. With my boat, and those other things, I\u0026rsquo;ll accept done, and done well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/perfection-vs-done/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThey say that \u0026ldquo;Perfection is the Enemy of Done.\u0026rdquo; 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 on my espresso; working and saving to buy better equipment; laboring over each shot; reading and learning wherever I could. Likewise I have spent my whole life in pursuit of love, and then  in its betterment and refinement. I can be nigh obsessive about some topics.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Perfection vs. Done"},{"content":"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 I thought I would share it just in case it might help a dreamer out there.\nEither one of us may die tomorrow. I may be swept from the decks and drowned, you may be hit by a bus on your way to work. If I succeed I will snorkel, hike, and live truly, in paradise. If you succeed you will get to work.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t be a naysayer, and don\u0026rsquo;t let one get you down. If you know someone who dares to dream, hoist them up on your shoulders and carry them forward. If you are a dreamer, share your passion freely and lift those around you up too.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/dreamers-and-naysayers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 I thought I would share it just in case it might help a dreamer out there.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEither one of us may die tomorrow. I may be swept from the decks and drowned, you may be hit by a bus on your way to work. If I succeed I will snorkel, hike, and live truly, in paradise. If you succeed you will get to work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dreamers and Naysayers"},{"content":"I just got done reading Ashley Ambrige\u0026rsquo;s new e-book You Don\u0026rsquo;t Need a Job, You Need Guts. It\u0026rsquo;s an inspirational piece in the same vein as Chris Guillebeau\u0026rsquo;s Unconventional Guides. Both authors encourage their readers to do whatever it is that they are passionate about (though Ashley claims to be weary of the term passion). Every time I read one of these books I think, yeah, I can totally kick ass in that self motivated, self promoting, me against the big bad world way. Really, I\u0026rsquo;m perfectly wired for it… until.\nUntil I start trying to figure out what I\u0026rsquo;m passionate about. Ashley recommends putting your passion right up in the subtitle of your blog. What I have up there is the definition of the term \u0026ldquo;forge over\u0026rdquo; which, when it comes right down to it, is probably about as close to a concise statement of passion as you are going to get from me. [UPDATE: I have changed the subtitle since this writing] When I start thinking about what I\u0026rsquo;m passionate about I get nothing but paradox. Let\u0026rsquo;s delve:\nI\u0026rsquo;m passionate about community, and fierce individuality. I\u0026rsquo;m passionate about nurturing a family (in a very particular way), and about nurturing my own soul. I\u0026rsquo;m passionate about being excellent in my career, but want to take a 2-5 year vacation right about now. I\u0026rsquo;m really uncomfortable with the thought of anybody \u0026ldquo;following me\u0026rdquo; because I think what is so awesome about me is derived from following my own beat, but I would be totally wrought if I noticed my stats declining.\nSo I\u0026rsquo;m going to keep mulling this over, to see if there is an authentic me that I can boil down to a subtitle. In the meantime I would be really interested in your feedback. How would you define your \u0026ldquo;authentic self.\u0026rdquo; If you know me (or think you do) how would you reduce me to a soundbite—this should be interesting. And until I get a nice clear picture of what I\u0026rsquo;m passionate about I\u0026rsquo;m just going to keep writing about the legion colorful and diverse things that pop into my head, and hope that there is an audience for that!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/who-am-i/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just got done reading \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/TMFproject\"\u003eAshley Ambrige\u0026rsquo;s\u003c/a\u003e new e-book \u003ca href=\"http://www.themiddlefingerproject.org/you-dont-need-a-job-you-need-guts/\"\u003eYou Don\u0026rsquo;t Need a Job, You Need Guts\u003c/a\u003e. It\u0026rsquo;s an inspirational piece in the same vein as \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/#!/chrisguillebeau\"\u003eChris Guillebeau\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rsquo;s \u003ca href=\"http://unconventionalguides.com/cmd.php?af=1286259\"\u003eUnconventional Guides\u003c/a\u003e. Both authors encourage their readers to do whatever it is that they are passionate about (though Ashley claims to be weary of the term passion). Every time I read one of these books I think, yeah, I can totally kick ass in that self motivated, self promoting, me against the big bad world way. Really, I\u0026rsquo;m perfectly wired for it… until.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Who Am I?"},{"content":"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, as I set my sights on distant shores, I am preparing for a less tech-immersed life. As a result I had to go through the confusing and chaotic process of finding a web hosting provider.\nI started by looking for reviews. If any of you have tried this, you\u0026rsquo;ll know, 99% of all of the review sites are paid for. You can tell by the rainbow farting unicorn reviews you read on them, and the fact that their reviews are completely without nuance. I did find one review site that seemed to be less biased webhostingreviews.com. I looked at dozens of plans, including coops which I thought would be price competitive for a geek like me.\nAs it turns out I went with a cpanel based hosting provider. I thought this would be a really painful transition (unix to gui) but Host Gator is cool enough to provide a jailed shell if you ask, so the transition was smoothed over by some of my favorite tools (rsync, ssh, scp, and cron). My domains are all hosted under their Shared Hosting Business account, which runs be $14.96/month. For this price Host Gator serves my entire empire of domains (svconvivia.com, tuckerbradford.com, forgoever.com, victoriabradford.com, etc.)\nI did find installing my rails apps to be more difficult than I cared for. After several (pleasant) chats with the support guys I decided to just use the free services of Heroku (more on that in another post). For all of my other web based needs (email, static web, php, and webdav) the Unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Storage, and Unlimited domains made Host Gator a no-brainer.\nAs I mentioned I have had several chats with their support staff. They respond almost immediately to the online chat and find answers to my questions with reasonable haste and extraordinary curtesy. I have very little (save for my nightmares) to compare Host Gator to but I can report that I have been stoked with my experience so far.\nDisclaimer:\nI recommend and use Host Gator because I believe it to be a fantastic value. Because I use and believe in their services I have set up an affiliate account with them. This means that I may receive a commission for new signups.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/learning-education/web-hosting-review-gator-host/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt 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, as I set my sights on distant shores, I am preparing for a less tech-immersed life. As a result I had to go through the confusing and chaotic process of finding a web hosting provider.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Web Hosting Review: Host Gator"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m testing using Flickr for my photo management. This is a proof of concept but I\u0026rsquo;ll keep adding photos to it if it works well.\nI moved the photos to after the break due to ridiculous load times (130something photos).\nBest of 2010\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/photos/best-photos-of-2010/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m testing using Flickr for my photo management. This is a proof of concept but I\u0026rsquo;ll keep adding photos to it if it works well.\u003cbr\u003e\nI moved the photos to after the break due to ridiculous load times (130something photos).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/forgeover/sets/72157625546354862/\"\u003eBest of 2010\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Best Photos of 2010"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s the rainy season and several people have expressed curiosity regarding how we might be surviving the inevitable cabin fever. I\u0026rsquo;ve been very carefully dodging this questions because I have no experience to base my conjecture upon. This weekend we had our first substantial rainstorm (complete with thunder and lightning). As a result I can now say that we can make it two or three days without completely loosing our minds. You may however opt to disagree after watching the following video (after the break)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-paper-bag-princess-a-play-in-one-act/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s the rainy season and several people have expressed curiosity regarding how we might be surviving the inevitable cabin fever. I\u0026rsquo;ve been very carefully dodging this questions because I have no experience to base my conjecture upon. This weekend we had our first substantial rainstorm (complete with thunder and lightning). As a result I can now say that we can make it two or three days without completely loosing our minds. You may however opt to disagree after watching the following video (after the break)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Paper Bag Princess: A Play in One Act"},{"content":"At the risk of overdoing the videos a bit, I will now share Ruby\u0026rsquo;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 the news to her that she was going to have to do her own blogging from now on.\n\u0026ldquo;Ruby, do you remember what blogging is?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Yup. But if I\u0026rsquo;m going to do it, I\u0026rsquo;ll need my own computer\u0026rdquo;\nTime warping back to a similar conversation with my mom over my desire to have my own guitar, I shot back \u0026ldquo;Okay, you\u0026rsquo;ll have to get good at it first, then we\u0026rsquo;ll see.\u0026rdquo; She seemed okay with that, so stay tuned for a post by Ruby in the upcoming weeks.\nVideo after the break…\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/rubys-first-bike-ride/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt the risk of overdoing the videos a bit, I will now share Ruby\u0026rsquo;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 the news to her that she was going to have to do her own blogging from now on.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u0026ldquo;Ruby, do you remember what blogging is?\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\n\u0026ldquo;Yup. But if I\u0026rsquo;m going to do it, I\u0026rsquo;ll need my own computer\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby's First Bike Ride"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ruby-takes-to-the-sky/","summary":"","title":"Ruby Takes to the Sky"},{"content":"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.\nMake friends with a friend of a friend. You see someone at a friend\u0026rsquo;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.\nWrite an email to someone you admire or know about but haven\u0026rsquo;t met. Or friend them on facebook. I\u0026rsquo;ve done this only a few times but I\u0026rsquo;m always happy I do. We met up with Charlotte and Eric on Rebelheart this way and Nicole and Brian on Soul Rebel the same way. We were driving through their areas and stopped to visit and had great experiences! I\u0026rsquo;d been reading Laureen\u0026rsquo;s blogs for years (I knew her name from a few parenting lists I was on too). It felt a little shy writing to her to let her know that I sort of knew her and that I was her neighbor but it was so worth it!\nBring them along to do something you love. Sail, museum, lunch, whatever. Show them what is so exciting about what you love. Sailing is perfect. Unless your boat breaks, and they tend to, you get a few hours to chat in the sun and have a good time. (Sorry Deneb for the time you got to join us while we fixed our head. We\u0026rsquo;ll bring you out on Convivia asap… as soon as we get her fixed.)\nTry something new. We met Katherine in a swing dancing class year ago. Tucker and I took a dance class and made a friend\u0026hellip;.that\u0026rsquo;s all, the dancing didn\u0026rsquo;t stick.\nVolunteer doing something you think is important. You\u0026rsquo;ll have something in common. Many of my good friends are from my La Leche League days. Abigail, Anabel, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Kristi, Charity, and many more of my friends and their partners and children came from LLL. La Leche League is a group of mothers supporting breastfeeding mothers. We met twice a month or more for years as our babies grew into children. These people turned into friends that will long outlast our early parenting experiences.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t be afraid to befriend someone younger or older than you. Tucker became friends with Allen on business trips when he was 19 and travelling the country working for a software company. Allen and his wife Lee still live in Vermont and we see them every chance we can. They have kids our age (and older and younger).\nBirth your baby in a horse trough in your living room. Invite your friend to watch. Okay, maybe that\u0026rsquo;s too specific, and doesn\u0026rsquo;t happen all that often. But dare to invite a friend to join you for something extremely important.\nLive somewhere super friendly where you have to walk a lot. You\u0026rsquo;ll bump into the same people on the street or the dock and be able to strike up a conversation. Smile at them often or ask them something about their boat (or their garden, or their bike, or whatever seems interesting). Admire their anchor or britework or effort.\nUse your kids. Children are excellent ice breakers. These boat kids on s/v Rubicon were able to help their parents in a very important way. Love this story!\nBe spontaneous. Sneak them over for coffee or margaritas when the kids are sleeping and chat for an hour or so.We developed a wonderful friendship with Carl and Cristina entirely over spontaneous invitations to coffee, drinks, barbecues, and anchor-outs.\nInvite someone over for coffee on Sunday. Invite them every Sunday for a year. This is a big one. Tucker and I love coffee and maybe someday we\u0026rsquo;ll open a coffee shop somewhere but we decided that we loved the social aspect and getting to know the same people that came around, regulars. We figured out that we could sort of do the same thing for a lot less money by throwing a coffee social and inviting the world. For the cost of a pound of beans, a gallon of milk, and a batch of muffins every week we had friends to serve coffee to and to get to know better. It was a fantastic success (except the neighbors didn\u0026rsquo;t exactly like us).\nAll of these things require putting yourself out there and a little bit of risk. Six years ago someone who was very very shy braved talking to me, a stranger in a store. Not only did she talk to me but she invited me over (and then called her sister in law to make sure she wasn\u0026rsquo;t crazy). Because she dared, and because of the kids, and spontaneous visits, and LLL, and hundreds of dinners together, and coffee on Sunday she became my most precious friend! So, don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid to reach out to someone and make a new friend or an old friend closer.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/a-dozen-ways-to-make-good-friends/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSay hello to a stranger on the street\u003c/em\u003e.  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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMake friends with a friend of a friend\u003c/em\u003e.  You see someone at a friend\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A dozen ways to make good friends"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;m able to pay closer attention to the world around me. Tucker has been playing the song The Gambler by Fun lately.\nWe were barely eighteen when we crossed collective hearts.\nIt was cold, but it got warm when you\u0026rsquo;d barely crossed my eye,\nand then you turned, put out your hand, and you asked me to dance.\nI knew nothing of romance, but it was love at second sight.\nI listen and tear up every time I hear the song describe the life and love of this couple as they look back over thirty years and remember the times that have gone by and the two children they have raised. I met Tucker on my eighteenth birthday and a little more than a year later we moved in together. Fifteen years ago today, a friend let me borrow her truck and I drove the many hours from Bar Harbor, Maine to Brattleboro, Vermont by myself wondering what was ahead of me. Like the day that I went back to the beach to find Tucker, to find out who he was, I knew that I needed to jump right in to a life with him. This decision didn\u0026rsquo;t look good on paper and I wasn\u0026rsquo;t very well supported (um, actually told by many that I was ruining my life) but I knew.\nOn my 36th birthday I will have spent half my life with Tucker. We\u0026rsquo;ll have a 5 year old and an 8 year old and a boat just about ready to sail around the world. In fifteen more years we\u0026rsquo;ll have grown up kids. Looking back we will surely have had lots of love, and joy, and daring adventure, following our hearts and our instincts.\nI listen to a lot, seriously a lot, of kids music these days. These words adapted by Elizabeth Mitchell feel just right:\nSo glad I\u0026rsquo;m here. So glad I\u0026rsquo;m here. So glad I\u0026rsquo;m here every day. So glad I\u0026rsquo;m here.\nAnd I\u0026rsquo;m so glad I\u0026rsquo;m here every day.\nJoy brought me here. Joy brought me here. Joy brought me here, here today\nLove brought me here. Love broiught me here, here today . Love brought me here. You know love brought me here.\nLove brought me here, here today\nI\u0026rsquo;m so glad I\u0026rsquo;m here. So glad I\u0026rsquo;m here. So glad I\u0026rsquo;m here every day.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/so-glad-im-here/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSomehow 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\u0026rsquo;m able to pay closer attention to the world around me. Tucker has been playing the song \u003cem\u003eThe Gambler\u003c/em\u003e by Fun lately.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWe were barely eighteen when we crossed collective hearts.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So glad I'm here"},{"content":"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 pre-winter air as I chatted nervously with one of the local crazies and awaited her arrival.\nSeparated by hundreds of miles, without money or transportation, our relationship had just barely survived what we now know to have been its darkest hour. In the weeks preceding her arrival we had actually split up. Our friends, family, and advisors were in accord that our love was destined for disaster. We knew with unflappable, unassailable conviction that there was something about the other that we needed to explore, to know, and to grow from. This confidence and desire to grow together, it turns out, has been the foundation of our relationship.\nOur first three months were spent in the most gawdawful apartment. The ancient neighbors smoked and cooked disgusting smelling food and argued at high volume all the time. The drop ceiling was tinged yellow and we had nothing but love and a little bit of 99¢ Lipton\u0026rsquo;s Alfredo to nourish us. This relative hardship (contrasting the comfortable proto-freedom of College) did fairly little to overshadow our titanic happiness. We now only ever quibbled about who would do the dishes, and even that was short lived.\nWithin three months we were out of that lousy apartment, living in an enormous, drafty, Victorian overlooking the town and river. Our lives rocketed along, each new adventures surrounding us and carrying us briskly to the next. We moved once more to Westminster West (our best landlord/apartment ever), and then out to the West Coast. We now stand at the cusp of another great adventure, 10 years in the planning, with two amazing children to challenge and delight us.\nLooking back on these 16 years together both Victoria and I agree that November 18th of 1995 was more significant to our relationship than even our wedding day (4 years later). It was when we committed to each other. It was when, without uttering a vow, I knew that I would spend the rest of my life growing with her, sharing with her, learning from her.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/15-years/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFifteen 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 pre-winter air as I chatted nervously with one of the local crazies and awaited her arrival.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSeparated by hundreds of miles, without money or transportation, our relationship had just barely survived what we now know to have been its darkest hour. In the weeks preceding her arrival we had actually split up. Our friends, family, and advisors were in accord that our love was destined for disaster. We knew with unflappable, unassailable conviction that there was something about the other that we needed to explore, to know, and to grow from. This confidence and desire to grow together, it turns out, has been the foundation of our relationship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"15 Years"},{"content":"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.\nThe 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.\nBoats racing in the Great Pumpkin Race were passing us all around, but we weren\u0026rsquo;t in any hurry. We tacked across the Bay and dropped sail around the Sausalito waterfront. When the sails were finally down and flaked we looked around to find that Bamboleiro was already circling the anchorage. They invited us to raft up to them and we headed slowly over while they dropped anchor.\nWe made what seemed like a pretty sweet approach, rafted up and got situated. I went below to make some drinks while the crew of both boats chatted happily on the decks. The kids were happily jumping back and forth between the boats and we were all really glad to have such a nice day to send our friends off on.\nFinally we were all at rest, toasts were made, smiles abounded, and I think we were all feeling just about perfect. Then the fishing boat came. We don\u0026rsquo;t know which one, and we only saw its wake when it was too late to react. I called to the kids to hold on and the first set hit our bows. Convivia pitched and rolled slowly through it while Bamboleiro pitched and rolled slightly faster. Bamboleiro\u0026rsquo;s rig ducked behind ours and when the next set hit the rigs of the two boats collided… repeatedly. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do anything but watch as spreaders and shrouds joined and parted with great guitar chord twangs. Our hearts fell into our stomachs when we saw Bamboleiro\u0026rsquo;s spreader fall and the rig go slack.\nWe quickly assessed the damage. Both boats suffered. Convivia had torn through the leading edge of the spreader, closest to the mast. Weld and aluminum were pulled away. Bamboleiro had torn the band that held its shrouds to the spreader, and the spreader—which is hinged—had fallen out of the way. We quickly decided that the safest course of action was to part ways. Everyone on Convivia was quiet as we left. I was heartbroken. Not only were our boats both damaged, but our send-off had gone from a wild success to a miserable failure in moments.\nLater, when the kids were asleep, I looked at the pictures. So many smiling faces, such a beautiful day. But what caught my attention was the fact that the rigs of the two boats were separated by at least 4\u0026rsquo;. We had properly spring lined and lashed the vessels and had followed every recommendation that I had read about rafting sailboats. I had hoped that at least the bittersweet experience would have taught me a valuable lesson. In retrospect I think perhaps it just taught me to be very reluctant when it comes to rafting.\nCarl and Cristina got Bamboleiro put back together the next day, though I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine their disappointment over repairing a boat that they have spent 3 years building, on the very eve of their scheduled departure. We had a rigger out today to survey the damage and make a recommendation. I\u0026rsquo;m still waiting to hear, but the preliminary guess was 2 weeks before the new spreader is installed.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-richardsons-bay/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://svconvivia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/L1020343-300x225.jpg\" title=\"L1020343\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: Richardson's Bay"},{"content":"One of my favorite pre-vacation practices is to intentionally lower my expectations. I contend that I am due a single 15-60 minute \u0026ldquo;moment of bliss\u0026rdquo; somewhere in a 2+ week vacation, and if I can get that I consider the experience a success. These moments of bliss generally take the form of reading a great book in the sun on a day with light breeze.\nOn this last vacation I got two moments of bliss. The first (which happened twice) was when the kids were playing happily in the cabin. Vick and I were sitting in the cockpit drinking coffee, and Convivia was sailing herself under nearly perfect conditions. The second was when I took the kids to Shorebird Park to play while Vick went to the store. Both kids were having trouble with relationships. I saw at least a dozen problems at the moment before they flared up. Somehow I managed to use just the right intervention every time and their conflicts effortlessly catalyzed into new friendships and joyful spirit. I was in a zone, writing a symphony of play with them and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been happier or felt more accomplished.\nIt has taken a long long time for me to begin to extend this vacation philosophy to other aspects of my life. But as the theme keeps whacking me upside the head, I\u0026rsquo;ve haltingly begun the process of personal change.\nLast night I was reading a blog post by a couple who are starting their cruise on the East Coast. They met (and wrote about) a barrista named June who had been an IT professional for 28 years and then realized that she wasn\u0026rsquo;t having fun anymore. She changed her focus and started getting all fired up by life. The thing is, she gets fired up by looking out at the sea. June\u0026rsquo;s expectations for her day must be pretty well optimized for something like that to take her breath away. The fact is that in almost every case, my vacation\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;moment of bliss\u0026rdquo; is derived from seeing something ordinary in a new light, personal growth, or just communing with nature.\nThis morning, as Vick and I were driving Ruby to her nature class, we started talking about how awesome it was that our kids are totally satisfied with a Halloween that contains only the following:\nA trip to the pumpkin patch to get two small pumpkins (and several bounces on the jumpy slide) Homemade (by the kids) costumes that utilize play silks and sticks as the primary components A Halloween bonfire at the neighboring marina Possibly more thrilling is that Ruby is over the moon that we accepted her request to decorate the boat with lights, a wreath, and a homemade star (which she will climb up the mast to position). This is likely to be nearing the extent of what we can do for decorations, but I know from previous holidays that it will be pure joy for the kids.\nSo, lest I seem like a raving minimalist I would like to put it in this perspective. I have had 30some years of full blown, highly anticipated, over the top, joy filled moments. I enjoyed (to varying degrees) every holiday that I\u0026rsquo;ve celebrated and every vacation that I\u0026rsquo;ve taken. I don\u0026rsquo;t eschew these experiences now and I don\u0026rsquo;t believe that lowering my expectations makes me intrinsically any better or happier than anyone else . What I am starting to see though is that, by lowering my expectations and still achieving the same level of joy as before, I\u0026rsquo;ve made it easier and thereby more attainable than it used to be. This is better… for me.\nCogitate and comment, please.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/lowered-expectations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of my favorite pre-vacation practices is to intentionally lower my expectations. I contend that I am due a single 15-60 minute \u0026ldquo;moment of bliss\u0026rdquo; somewhere in a 2+ week vacation, and if I can get that I consider the experience a success.  These moments of bliss generally take the form of reading a great book in the sun on a day with light breeze.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn this last vacation I got two moments of bliss. The first (which happened twice) was when the kids were playing happily in the cabin. Vick and I were sitting in the cockpit drinking coffee, and Convivia was sailing herself under nearly perfect conditions. The second was when I took the kids to Shorebird Park to play while Vick went to the store. Both kids were having trouble with relationships. I saw at least a dozen problems at the moment before they flared up. Somehow I managed to use just the right intervention every time and their conflicts effortlessly catalyzed into new friendships and joyful spirit.  I was in a zone, writing a symphony of play with them and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been happier or felt more accomplished.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lowered Expectations"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/photo-highlights-santa-cruz-cruise/","summary":"","title":"Photo Highlights: Santa Cruz Cruise"},{"content":"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 sailing books were also there for the taking. Many of these are in the public domain, and I\u0026rsquo;ve discussed how to search for and download them in my last post on the subject. Some however are either new to the public domain, or just lucky finds. I\u0026rsquo;ll post links at the bottom.\nWhile I was threading through the freebies I noticed an Earth Sciences textbook by an organization called CK-12. I did a quick google and found that CK-12 is a non-profit organization who\u0026rsquo;s goal is to make a full K-12 curriculum that is up to date and inexpensive. For a homeschool family about to travel on a budget, this is very enticing. If anyone has used this curriculum I would love to hear about it in the comments.\nSo here is the list (in no particular order):\nVoyage of the Liberdade Sailing Alone Around the World Pirates Blackbeard or the Pirate of Roanoke The Pirate\u0026rsquo;s Pocket Book Knots Splices and Rope Work The Sailor\u0026rsquo;s Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. Sailor\u0026rsquo;s Knots (Entire Collection) Gulliver\u0026rsquo;s Travels Treasure Island Kidnapped The Swiss Family Robinson Robinson Crusoe Mysterious Island The Sea Wolf Cruise of the Dazzler South Seas Tales Captain Cook\u0026rsquo;s Journal During the First Voyage Around the World A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Around the World ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/tons-of-free-sailing-kindle-books/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just went over to Amazon to rate to the new Toshiba drive I purchased and saw to my excitement that a book by \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-of-the-Liberdade-ebook/dp/B000SN6J40/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;m=AG56TWVU5XWC2\u0026amp;amp;s=digital-text\u0026amp;amp;qid=1288239691\u0026amp;amp;sr=1-2\"\u003eJoshua\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/Sailing-Alone-Around-World-ebook/dp/B000JQUNE8/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;qid=1288240123\u0026amp;amp;sr=1-1-catcorr\"\u003eSlocum\u003c/a\u003e was free on Kindle. I snapped it up and then noticed that another of his book and, lo a metric ton of other sailing books were also there for the taking. Many of these are in the public domain, and I\u0026rsquo;ve discussed how to search for and download them in my \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/07/06/my-free-kindle-book-recipie\"\u003elast post on the subject\u003c/a\u003e. Some however are either new to the public domain, or just lucky finds. I\u0026rsquo;ll post links at the bottom.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tons of Free Sailing Kindle Books"},{"content":"I wasn\u0026rsquo;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 in Monterey constantly checking the three forecast areas on NOAA to find our perfect weather window to head north. Again, I was surprised at myself. The trip north is usually hard, wet, and cold. Our boat is in great shape and we could actually (foolishly) cash in Tucker\u0026rsquo;s retirement accounts and head south for at least a year. I always want to go south, or anywhere warmer than wherever I am. But I wanted to go north, to go home.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve been thinking about the meaning of home for a long time. Years ago when we travelled back and forth from Maine to California I was going home in both directions. Tucker and I have lived in many houses and towns and cities over the years yet I was never settled. I was always looking for the next thing, our sailboat, and of course the elusive liveaboard status that we finally have.\nLike Miss Rumphius, I want to travel the world, live by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful. I wonder if traveling the world living on the sea will count as both (travelling and living) in the end, but I suspect I will live on land again someday. Will it feel like home to finally sail into Round Pond Harbor? Will there be many places that feel like home along the way? Santa Cruz might be right, but there\u0026rsquo;s an 18 year waiting list. Many people make Mexico their home for a season or two or more. Fiji is a cruiser\u0026rsquo;s favorite, yet as Americans we\u0026rsquo;re allowed only 90 days there. Some cruisers stop in New Zealand or Australia long enough to rent a house, get jobs, and send their kids to school. Some people like Lin \u0026amp; Larry Pardee and Fatty \u0026amp; Carolyn Goodlander have managed to round the world many times and never really stop.\nSome people go out in the world simply to explore. Janna Cawrse Esarey sailed Dragonfly during her 2 and a half year honeymoon searching for the meaning of wife. Karen on Syzygy is sailing to renew her spirit. Tucker and I want to show our kids as much of the world as we can. I\u0026rsquo;m certain though that I\u0026rsquo;ll be looking for home. Although I\u0026rsquo;ve hoped it is simply, \u0026ldquo;where you drop your anchor,\u0026rdquo; I\u0026rsquo;m now certain there\u0026rsquo;s much more to it.\nWe sailed Convivia out under the Golden Gate Bridge two weeks ago and returned yesterday. I was coming home. I was excited and relieved and looking forward to being in our usual spot. It may be next fall or the following that we head out the Gate and keep on going but for now I\u0026rsquo;m happy to be here at our marina and happy to know that I\u0026rsquo;m a sailor, a liveaboard mama, getting herself and her boat ready to sail around the world someday.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wasn\u0026rsquo;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 in Monterey constantly checking the three forecast areas on NOAA to find our perfect weather window to head north.  Again, I was surprised at myself.  The trip north is usually hard, wet, and cold. Our boat is in great shape and we could actually (foolishly) cash in Tucker\u0026rsquo;s retirement accounts and head south for at least a year. I always want to go south, or anywhere warmer than wherever I am. But I wanted to go north, to go home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Home"},{"content":"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 cherish the simplicity of living small. I\u0026rsquo;m sure the list goes on. For me though the thing I love most is the dockside social scene. At first I thought I had just lucked into the world\u0026rsquo;s best marina but now that we have spent a week in Santa Cruz harbor, I\u0026rsquo;m starting to believe that there is a universal chattiness amongst sailors.\nAs I mentioned in my s/v Convivia post, we were greeted in Santa Cruz by a fellow Cal 43 owner. It took Herculean self discipline to tell him that I would have to catch up with him on the morrow. When we finally did start chatting in earnest, it lasted hours, and would pick up at the oddest times (taking out recycling, walking back from the beach, heading to the showers). This is probably wy Vick is never surprised when it takes me an hour to take the trash down the dock.\nI love that there is always something to talk about, and that weather isn\u0026rsquo;t small talk. I love that age and class don\u0026rsquo;t seem to have any bearing on a person\u0026rsquo;s eagerness to engage. I love that within 10 minutes someone will be hooking you up with a wholesale deal on that pricy part you\u0026rsquo;ve been needing. And I love that you can be pretty sure that the people you meet at the docks would be delighted to run into you two years hence in Rora Tonga, or two hours hence in Trader Joes.\nSo even if my boat didn\u0026rsquo;t rock me gently to sleep in a beautiful vacation harbor, I would still choose a life aboard for no other reason than to chat.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/why-i-love-boat-life-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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 cherish the simplicity of living small. I\u0026rsquo;m sure the list goes on. For me though the thing I love most is the dockside social scene. At first I thought I had just lucked into the world\u0026rsquo;s best marina but now that we have spent a week in Santa Cruz harbor, I\u0026rsquo;m starting to believe that there is a universal chattiness amongst sailors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why I Love Boat Life"},{"content":"\nLast week was hard. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what aspect of the work/life package was hardest, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t just me. The whole family was under strain. By Friday I knew we needed a reset. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re going sailing tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; I told Vick as we were cleaning up from dinner.\nSaturday morning, we all woke up early and got moving. I\u0026rsquo;m glad we didn\u0026rsquo;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. \u0026ldquo;You guys going out today?\u0026rdquo; she asked. \u0026ldquo;Yup, probably out to the Gate and back, it looks like a great day for it, want to come along?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;No thanks, we\u0026rsquo;re going out too. After I pick Christina up, we\u0026rsquo;re going to drop anchor at Clipper Cove, do you want to go too?\u0026rdquo; At this point I\u0026rsquo;m thinking, \u0026ldquo;Victoria would never go for this.\u0026rdquo; 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. \u0026ldquo;I guess we\u0026rsquo;ll need ice,\u0026rdquo; she finally said.\nI was howling with joy inside, but I just put on my getting things done air and picked up the pace. I ran up to the van to get the bigger anchor. Within an hour we were on the water enjoying the calmest day I can recall. The breeze was fresh, about 5-8knots and the boat was routinely beating the windspeed.\nAround mid day we got hailed by Carl and Christina and arranged to meet just west of Treasure Island. Moments later Todd and Susan of Sugata hailed us and let us know that they would also be joining our merry flotilla in Clipper Cove. By 3pm we were all anchored and ship shape(ish) and the socializing began. We took a quick trip over to Bamboleiro to arrange our dinner plans, and then zipped over to Sugata (who was rafted with another friend for the night). We enjoyed a glass of wine and Ruby got right to business playing with the big girls. When we had to leave to start dinner, Susan offered to watch Ruby for a bit. As we pulled away Vick commented that leaving our kids on nearly stranger\u0026rsquo;s boats is one of the things that most resonates with her about cruising. I heartily agree.\nThe one shortfall of the weekend turned out to teach us a great lesson. Our new batteries hadn\u0026rsquo;t yet arrived and we knew that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t run the refer, but when we discovered that that manual water pump had failed, we realized that lights at night might mean no water in the morning. We opted to err on the side of caution and went practically electricity-free for nearly 24 hours. The lesson: We don\u0026rsquo;t need electricity to be happy and comfortable. This weekend will doubtless have a significant impact on our Big Trip planning, as we shed even more of our perceived needs.\nWe had an awesome lamplit improve potluck with the Bamboleiro crew (I was introduced to pork loin) and managed to get the kids both to sleep without having to send our guests off. The warm easy conversation lasted until we couldn\u0026rsquo;t keep our eyes open any longer and we reluctantly conceded that it was time to call it a night.\nThe next morning we woke up, made an awesome egg and sausage breakfast and then I took the kids to the beach so Vick could recharge. We had a blast building sand things and sailing Olive\u0026rsquo; new toy sailboat. A few hours later we joined up with Carl and Christina again as they paddled their kayak in circles around us as we struggled to keep pace. After a simple lunch we decided to motor straight home, just in case the starter battery only had one kick left in it.\nComing back is never fun but this weekend was so completely joyful and satisfying that I don\u0026rsquo;t think any of us minded being back in our slip. Plus, in two weeks, we\u0026rsquo;ll be off to Monterrey Bay for a 2.5 week cruise.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/highlow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2010/09/IMG_0335-300x224.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast week was hard. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure what aspect of the work/life package was hardest, but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t just me. The whole family was under strain. By Friday I knew we needed a reset. \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re going sailing tomorrow,\u0026rdquo; I told Vick as we were cleaning up from dinner.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaturday morning, we all woke up early and got moving. I\u0026rsquo;m glad we didn\u0026rsquo;t set the timer because the clean-up \u003cem\u003emay\u003c/em\u003e 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. \u0026ldquo;You guys going out today?\u0026rdquo; she asked. \u0026ldquo;Yup, probably out to the Gate and back, it looks like a great day for it, want to come along?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;No thanks, we\u0026rsquo;re going out too. After I pick Christina up, we\u0026rsquo;re going to drop anchor at Clipper Cove, do you want to go too?\u0026rdquo; At this point I\u0026rsquo;m thinking, \u0026ldquo;Victoria would never go for this.\u0026rdquo; 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. \u0026ldquo;I guess we\u0026rsquo;ll need ice,\u0026rdquo; she finally said.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"High|Low"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/septembers-end-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"September's End in Photos"},{"content":"Just you know, he insisted on doing this. It was completely unprompted.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/olive-takes-a-shot/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJust you know, he insisted on doing this. It was completely unprompted.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Olive Takes a Shot"},{"content":"Olive: \u0026ldquo;Knock Knock\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Who\u0026rsquo;s there?\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Banana\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Banana Who\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Aren\u0026rsquo;t you glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t say Orange?\u0026rdquo;\nAt this point I\u0026rsquo;m thinking, at least he got the right fruit in there but Olive scrunches up his forehead as I fake laugh and says \u0026ldquo;Daddy what\u0026rsquo;s the real joke?\u0026rdquo; So I decided to humor him again.\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Knock knock\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Who\u0026rsquo;s there?\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Banana.\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Banana who?\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Knock knock\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Go Away!\u0026rdquo;\nWe both fall to pieces in real laughter.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/knock-knock/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Knock Knock\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Who\u0026rsquo;s there?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Banana\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Banana Who\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Aren\u0026rsquo;t you glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t say Orange?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt this point I\u0026rsquo;m thinking, at least he got the right fruit in there but Olive scrunches up his forehead as I fake laugh and says \u0026ldquo;Daddy what\u0026rsquo;s the \u003cem\u003ereal\u003c/em\u003e joke?\u0026rdquo; So I decided to humor him again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Knock knock\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Who\u0026rsquo;s there?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Banana.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Banana who?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Knock knock\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Knock Knock"},{"content":"\nThis is Olive. I feel like I\u0026rsquo;ve just begun to know her. Recently she\u0026rsquo;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 girl interact with the world. She\u0026rsquo;s developing a piercing wit that she casually melds with her uncomplicated but somehow sophisticated (for a 2 year old) understanding of how people and things work.\nRecently he was talking to us about death. He stated without aparent concern that each of us (Ruby, Mama, Aunt Kate, Jake, Michael, and Daddy) will die some day. Then he continued with, \u0026ldquo;when I die, I want to be next to a volcano.\u0026rdquo; We all looked at each other, stunned, and nodded.\nI have so much to learn from and about these two!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/this-is-olive/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2010/08/L1010209-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is Olive. I feel like I\u0026rsquo;ve just begun to know her. Recently she\u0026rsquo;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 girl interact with the world. She\u0026rsquo;s developing a piercing wit that she casually melds with her uncomplicated but somehow sophisticated (for a 2 year old) understanding of how people and things work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"This is Olive"},{"content":"I noticed on facebook today that many of my friend\u0026rsquo;s kids were dressed in fresh new clothes with hair and teeth brushed. Ruby and Olive weren\u0026rsquo;t actually all that bad considering they had a shower just yesterday (showering when you don\u0026rsquo;t have one of your own can be a little more of an adventure). When we went out for the morning I decided to drag along Tucker\u0026rsquo;s good camera to snap a few shots of our first day, and what a beautiful day it was. We had sun and warmth starting in the morning and lasting until evening. Ruby came home from swimming lessons after 6 without wearing her winter hat. Remarkable! Here\u0026rsquo;s why I\u0026rsquo;m glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t send my daughter to school again today.\nBoth kids have fairy dust necklaces (though Olive lost her fairy dust in the bilge). Ruby offered Olive a wish on her fairy dust every five steps so we could make it down the dock in a reasonable amount of time. Yep, stopping every five steps was an improvement. You might think that the B dock was a straight line from our boat to the shore, but for the kids each and every finger has something to explore and they surely can\u0026rsquo;t be done until they know every boat name (and why they were named that); see every shell left by a sea bird; compare how each boat ties their dock lines; count how many boats have and anchor or two, or not; why one boat has a pirate flag; why someone is cleaning a certain way; why someone left their hose on; \u0026hellip;.it could go on and it does, and we needed to get down the dock to go on a bike ride.\nWe managed to drop off the PFDs and sun hats in Tucker\u0026rsquo;s truck and trade them for bikes and helmets and then they were off. But a bike ride is easily interrupted by a stick that begs to be thrown into the water.\nThat was the end of the bike ride because Olive needed to head back to the bathroom. Then it was time to play on the grass.\nRuby\u0026rsquo;s tag game seemed to be chase Olive and then push her over. She\u0026rsquo;d get up, she\u0026rsquo;d chase, she\u0026rsquo;d push (hard) and eventually she didn\u0026rsquo;t want to play that anymore. Ruby got mad at me for asking her to be gentle and stormed off to play in the mud at the edge of the grass. Olive joined and and they got pretty darned muddy. I didn\u0026rsquo;t think it was a terribly big deal because we had access to bathrooms and 64 faucets and hoses between the lawn and our boat that I could rinse them off in. And again it was a remarkably warm day out so we could even string their clothes on the lifelines to dry.\nAt some point they started to itch so I grabbed my bag, Tucker\u0026rsquo;s camera, Olive shoes, and Ruby\u0026rsquo;s backpack, and pushed her bike while he held her shoes and she pushed his bike (not touching the handle bars) back to the ManVan. Then we packed most of our stuff into a dock cart so I could roll them down to our boat for some cleaning up, as they weren\u0026rsquo;t clean enough to go into the showers without a pre-wash. Ruby did come up with the clever idea that we could make a path of disposable bathmats from the bathroom door to the shower for them to walk across (but by now you can probably imagine that my kids aren\u0026rsquo;t exactly capable of remaining on the path so we skipped that).\nThe sheer volume of mud must have been spectacular, as two old ladies and one of the maintenance guys stopped to comment that we \u0026ldquo;must have been having a lot of fun.\u0026rdquo; I texted Tucker for help (he was telecommuting from the boat) and he showed up a few minutes later with a bucket. It turns out that it wasn\u0026rsquo;t mud at all, but tar from the recent resurfacing of the foot path. This would require some scrubbing.\nAnd did we scrub. Olive was upset because the bucket couldn\u0026rsquo;t get any fuller with the sink faucet, Ruby got dipped in the sink, and both kids were scrubbed with old wash cloths that will go in the trash instead of the laundry this week (can I wash a tar stained shirt at the laundromat?). As we kept scrubbing and scrubbing I kept wondering if she\u0026rsquo;d be allowed into the pool at the end of the day for swimming lessons.\nWe scrubbed until it was time to drop everything, grab some coffee and get to my eye doctor appointment. While I got my new prescription, Tucker took the kids for lunch and to Shorebird park.\nWhen we got back on the boat Olive napped, Tucker worked and Ruby engaged in a pressing project to paint with a feather that she found on Angel Island. Naturally the first order of business was avian identification. We looked for the feather in a bird identification book and then a sea bird book. At one point Ruby piped up, \u0026ldquo;Mom, find the section that tells you which birds live on Angel Island.\u0026rdquo; After the feather had been satisfactorily identified, Ruby attempted to apply a tree frog temporary tattoo onto the feather and then, finally, got out the watercolor paper and the liquid water colors in a glass and she painted.\nIt says, \u0026ldquo;Dear Mom, I love you so so so much. Love, Ruby.\u0026rdquo;\nThe day ended with Ruby and Tucker going to Ruby\u0026rsquo;s swim lesson; Olive and I painting with the feather (feather end, not quill end); playdough; math workbooks, Curious George Gets a Medal (read for the thousandth time); dinner of hardboiled eggs, sliced turkey, kale chips and pineapple-banana-strawberry-orange juice smoothies. I am not quite sure how I managed to get dinner on the table, but after a day like today I am sure that anything can happen. What a Day!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-first-day-of-the-unschool-year/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI noticed on facebook today that many of my friend\u0026rsquo;s kids were dressed in fresh new clothes with hair and teeth brushed. Ruby and Olive weren\u0026rsquo;t actually all that bad considering they had a shower just yesterday (showering when you don\u0026rsquo;t have one of your own can be a little more of an adventure).  When we went out for the morning I decided to drag along Tucker\u0026rsquo;s good camera to snap a few shots of our first day, and what a beautiful day it was.  We had sun and warmth starting in the morning and lasting until evening. Ruby came home from swimming lessons after 6 without wearing her winter hat.  Remarkable!  Here\u0026rsquo;s why I\u0026rsquo;m glad I didn\u0026rsquo;t send my daughter to school again today.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The first day of the unschool year"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;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.\nBy 1pm we had the sails up and were close hauled on a single tack that took us clear to Angel Island. We did make 2 more tacks in Raccoon Straights before dousing the sails and motoring in to the Cove. The wind was strong enough to require a 40% reduction in our 150% genoa, but it was a gentler ride than many we\u0026rsquo;ve had this summer.\nWe approached the harbor, made a few passes, and settled on a nice mooring close to shore and the SW cliffs. I was feeling pretty confident after our last experience but was more than happy to accept the help of the commodore of the Encinal Yacht Club and other neighbors. Within a few minutes we were on the ball and preparing the landing party.\nWe spent most of Friday and Saturday exploring the island and enjoying each other\u0026rsquo;s company. Friday\u0026rsquo;s priorities were: Olive wanted to go for a hike; Ruby wanted to go to the beach; Kate, Michael, Tucker, and Victoria wanted to chillax* in the cockpit with some frozen rum drinks; Jacob, well, he can\u0026rsquo;t talk so we did our best to guess, but he seemed happy. Everyone got to follow their bliss and we all went to bed smiling.\nSaturday Ruby exclaimed that she wanted to hike to the hospital that we had seen on our previous trip (from the bus). We explained that it was a long hike and Olive joined enthusiastically in the plea. Vick and I didn\u0026rsquo;t need any more prodding and before long we were all plodding up giant hills toward the parade grounds. Once there we made our way down to the shore where we eventually met Boom Boom, the cannoneer. She informed us that she would be giving guided tours of the Bake House and the Victorian House with some historical narrative. Both Ruby and Olive demanded that we stay the extra hour to see the tours, and were completely engrossed in the experience.\nOn Sunday morning we all got ready early for a cruise by the Golden Gate Bridge and back to Emery Cove. The weather on Sunday was the most ideal of the summer. Blue sky combined with a gentle 15-20 knots of wind meant that we could have our full genoa out without being over powered. Everyone had a turn at the helm and we even did a sail by of the extraordinarily expensive A yacht.\nWe made it back home by 1pm and by 3pm we were showered and in the car to Mountain View for a house warming party. The quick transition was abrupt after such a memorable weekend, but the pictures and memories are sticking with me in spite of it.\nOkay, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t normally use \u0026ldquo;chillax\u0026rdquo; except that NPR just reported that it was added to the Oxford American Dictionary—effectively signaling the official death of its cool— and making it fair game for me :) ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/ships-log-august-20-22/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eVictoria, 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\u0026rsquo;ve made this trip \u003ca href=\"http://svconvivia.com/2010/07/ships-log-july-18th/\"\u003etwice\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"http://svconvivia.com/2010/06/emeryville-?-angel-island/\"\u003ebefore\u003c/a\u003e 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ship's Log: August 20-22"},{"content":"We spent a magical afternoon with Kate and Michael and cousin Jacob. Here\u0026rsquo;s the photo evidence.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/august-15th-in-pictures/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe spent a magical afternoon with Kate and Michael and cousin Jacob. Here\u0026rsquo;s the photo evidence.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 15th in Pictures"},{"content":"Last week I wrote a post on forgeover about the first chapter in my water heater replacement. To summarize, it didn\u0026rsquo;t go so well. I felt defeated before I even began, and things only went downhill from there.\nToday was a completely different story. I woke up with the knowledge that I had to install this beast today, and that I was going to have to squeeze the chore in between long anticipated visits with my sister, brother in law, and nephew. Vick got me started on the right foot: \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re going to do it, it\u0026rsquo;s going to be easy, and you\u0026rsquo;re going to feel GREAT when its done.\u0026rdquo; That was exactly the pep talk I needed and it probably made the difference between 90% success and utter failure.\nThe first part of the job was to remove the stove. I was hoping that there was a removable pannel behind the heat shield that would be large enough to squeeze the old water heater out, and get the new one in. I got the stove out and the gas disconnected in a matter of minutes. After removing a few dozen screws from the heat shield I was rewarded with an opening that was 16\u0026quot; on the nose. This would be just enough room to get the new one in, and more than enough to get the old one out.\nOnce the leaky old heap of scrap was removed I left Vick to clean out the scummy hole while I made a trip to the ManVan to get parts and gather my gusto.\nA half hour later I was back on the boat and running the new hoses. I got things in their general place and then started in on the fittings. Within minutes I was positive that I was in for another trip to Home Depot. Damn, I was sure I had all the right parts this time. I took inventory of every single junction, nipple, elbow, and flange, and headed off. An hour later, when I was back on the boat fitting everything together I realized that I had made a critical incorrect assumption that rendered my entire trip to HD fruitless. The hose I had was 5/8\u0026quot; not 1/2\u0026quot;. I decided to make do with what I had and got the galley and forward head re-plumbed, leaving the aft head for whenever I could get to it.\nI wired up a new outlet to plug the water heater into and asked Michael (my brother-in-law and partner in grime) to flip the water pressure switch. There were two little and easily adjusted leaks and then we were rewarded with the delightful sound of water flowing into the empty water heater. I ran around the boat looking for leaks, and expecting the worst, but everything was remarkably dry.\nA few hours later, after we returned from dinner at Picante, there was hot water pouring out of the galley faucet. There are still a few jobs left to do. The aft head has to get hooked up, and the engine heat exchanger has to be plumbed through, but I don\u0026rsquo;t foresee more than a half dozen trips to the hardware store for both jobs combined.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/communing-with-convivia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast week I wrote a \u003ca href=\"/articles/2010/07/31/no-better-life-than-this-one-choosing-joy\"\u003epost on forgeover\u003c/a\u003e about the first chapter in my water heater replacement. To summarize, it didn\u0026rsquo;t go so well. I felt defeated before I even began, and things only went downhill from there.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2010/08/Why-Do-I-Look-So-Happy-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday was a completely different story. I woke up with the knowledge that I had to install this beast today, and that I was going to have to squeeze the chore in between long anticipated visits with my sister, brother in law, and nephew.  Vick got me started on the right foot: \u0026ldquo;You\u0026rsquo;re going to do it, it\u0026rsquo;s going to be easy, and you\u0026rsquo;re going to feel GREAT when its done.\u0026rdquo; That was exactly the pep talk I needed and it probably made the difference between 90% success and utter failure.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Communing with Convivia"},{"content":"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 manner of icy drinks. Today I will share my two favorites.\nPerfect Pineapple Banana Smoothie: 1/2 fresh pineapple (sliced in 3 or 4 large slabs)\n2 bananas (whole)\nJuice of two limes (fresh please)\nA generous handful of ice\nBlend until silky smooth and drink immediately\nTropical Daydream 1/2 cup of coconut flakes blended to powder\n1 banana\njuice of one lime\n2oz Tommy Bahama Dark\n2oz Patron Citrónge\na cup or so of frozen pineapple (we used all the fresh last night)\nBlend until smooth\n…and yes, parrot head friends, I am listening to Reverend Jimmy as I write this post and sip my Tropical Daydream.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/boat-drinks-perfect-pineapple-tropical-daydream/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePrior 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 manner of icy drinks. Today I will share my two favorites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"perfect-pineapple-banana-smoothie\"\u003ePerfect Pineapple Banana Smoothie:\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1/2 fresh pineapple (sliced in 3 or 4 large slabs)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 bananas (whole)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boat Drinks: Perfect Pineapple \u0026 Tropical Daydream"},{"content":"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 mixing and matching roles based on personal strengths rather than gender roles, I was somewhat irked by our lapse into traditionalism.\nIrked until yesterday that is. Yesterday I washed sink-load after sink-load of dishes while Victoria sanded the cove stripe in preparation for a new coat of paint. I took care of the kids and looked after the domestic chores (poorly) while Victoria inflicted countless splinters on her paint dust covered hands.\nGranted, when the anti-syphon valve on the head overflows, or the toilet plugs, I still get the call, but then that\u0026rsquo;s probably just playing to my strengths!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/pink-jobs-blue-jobs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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 mixing and matching roles based on personal strengths rather than gender roles, I was somewhat irked by our lapse into traditionalism.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2010/08/L1000878-300x224.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pink Jobs \u0026 Blue Jobs"},{"content":"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 quality of the average person… until you come back from your errands to find an annoymous gift in your cockpit.\nWe think one of our friends down the dock left the toy castle for the kids. They had a ball playing with it but agreed that it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit in our boat. The next morning Ruby and Olive raced down the dock to return it and were perfectly delighted to put it back aboard Gemini.\nI\u0026rsquo;ve enjoyed reflecting on the local and super-local balance that all of this demonstrates:\nSuper-locally we have found an equilibrium on board. This equilibrium favors reading, crafts, and make believe play over toys and accumulation of stuff.\nLocally we have—as a community—overcome the selfishness of the common thief with the utter selflessness of anonymous gifts, warm smiles, and friendly conversation.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/yin-yang-life-as-a-balancing-act/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere 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 quality of the average person… until you come back from your errands to find  an annoymous gift in your cockpit.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe think one of our friends down the dock left the toy castle for the kids. They had a ball playing with it but agreed that it wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit in our boat. The next morning Ruby and Olive raced down the dock to return it and were perfectly delighted to put it back aboard Gemini.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yin \u0026 Yang: Life as a Balancing Act"},{"content":"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:\nI couldn\u0026rsquo;t get to all of the fittings to measure what size they were and therefore didn\u0026rsquo;t know for sure what to buy to replace them. The old water heater may have or may not have fit out through the available hole… Oh no. It didn\u0026rsquo;t. The beginning of the project involved cutting the safety net (all of the hoses, strapping, and electrical) thereby completely committing me to raving success or miserable failure. The space that I had to work in was miserably small, virtually guarantying several minor concussions, gashes, and bruises (check, check, and check) The very best that I had hoped for was to get enough done that I could safely turn on the pressure water in the evening (cold only) to do the dishes from the margaritas. So after a grumpy breakfast, and a grumpy trip to the chandlery and the hardware store, I grumpily made by way back down the dock with not quite enough parts to complete the project, and a pretty bad attitude. I was short tempered all morning, and when I finally remeasured the new hot water heater and found that it was something like 10\u0026quot; too tall for the space it was going into, I was pretty certain that I was going to go stratospheric. When I then remeasured the old heater and found that there was no possible way to get it out without removing the countertop, I thought I would cry.\nAt about this point Victoria called me from the end of the dock (she had left about 30 minutes before with Olive) and—after hearing my sad story—wisely suggested that I take a break for lunch. By 3pm we were back on the boat and I had (after a final trip to Home Depot) finally enough parts to route around the water heater so we could turn the pressure back on.\nI was in a black black mood, and really didn\u0026rsquo;t want to see or hear from anyone. I was snippy with the kids and Vick was just staying out of my way. I was so deeply enfunked that I didn\u0026rsquo;t even want to take my tools back to the man-van, but I knew that I at least had to do that much. For reasons that I\u0026rsquo;m still not sure of, I asked Ruby to join me and we headed down the dock at a good clip. She was chipper and full of bounce. I said something like \u0026ldquo;this has been a pretty rotten day for me.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Not for me,\u0026rdquo; she replied with an smile, \u0026ldquo;I thought it was a great day.\u0026rdquo; I think this was the moment that things started to shift. By the time we walked back through the gate I was aware of the supreme calm of the water and air. My personal rain clouds had been parted by the deep red sunset, and the disappointment in my failure had been replaced by forgiveness and reflective understanding that I was doing more to harm myself and my family by choosing to respond to my failures in this way, than by depriving them of hot water for a week.\nTonight, at bed time, I put my ego aside and reveled in my father role. I horsed around with the kids and we made up silly stories together in Olive\u0026rsquo; berth. We roared with laughter and everyone went to bed happy. It strongly reinforced one of my core beliefs: \u0026ldquo;You can\u0026rsquo;t control your life, but you can control how you respond to it.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/no-better-life-than-this-one-choosing-joy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI couldn\u0026rsquo;t get to all of the fittings to measure what size they were and therefore didn\u0026rsquo;t know for sure what to buy to replace them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe old water heater may have or may not have fit out through the available hole… Oh no. It didn\u0026rsquo;t.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe beginning of the project involved cutting the safety net (all of the hoses, strapping, and electrical) thereby completely committing me to raving success or miserable failure.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe space that I had to work in was miserably small, virtually guarantying several minor concussions, gashes, and bruises (check, check, and check)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe very best that I had hoped for was to get enough done that I could safely turn on the pressure water in the evening (cold only) to do the dishes from the margaritas.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo after a grumpy breakfast, and a grumpy trip to the chandlery and the hardware store, I grumpily made by way back down the dock with not quite enough parts to complete the project, and a pretty bad attitude. I was short tempered all morning, and when I finally remeasured the \u003cem\u003enew\u003c/em\u003e hot water heater and found that it was something like 10\u0026quot; too tall for the space it was going into, I was pretty certain that I was going to go stratospheric. When I then remeasured the old heater and found that there was no possible way to get it out without removing the countertop, I thought I would cry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Better Life Than This One: Choosing Joy"},{"content":"Olive: \u0026ldquo;You know what this is daddy?\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026quot; No Olive, what is that\u0026quot; (she\u0026rsquo;s holding two paint stirrers)\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Its a gun for catching gooses and ducks with fire and steam\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Buddy, do you think you\u0026rsquo;re old enough for a gun?\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Oh yeah, Im a very big girl. Very tall\u0026rdquo;\nMe: \u0026ldquo;Okay then i guess you\u0026rsquo;re big enough to go to bed without nursing then?\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Aye Aye\u0026rdquo;\nSure enough the kid went to bed in a jiffy, without even mentioning nursing. Still\u0026hellip; No guns\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/guns/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;You know what this is daddy?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026quot; No Olive, what is that\u0026quot; (she\u0026rsquo;s holding two paint stirrers)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Its a gun for catching gooses and ducks with fire and steam\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Buddy, do you think you\u0026rsquo;re old enough for a gun?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Oh yeah, Im a very big girl. Very tall\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMe: \u0026ldquo;Okay then i guess you\u0026rsquo;re big enough to go to bed without nursing then?\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOlive: \u0026ldquo;Aye Aye\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Guns"},{"content":"Thought this was pretty funny.\nThanks to this article by the super funny and entertaining Janna Cawrse Esarey for hooking me up with this video.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/dad-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThought this was pretty funny.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to \u003ca href=\"http://blog.seattlepi.com/happilyevenafter/archives/215581.asp?source=rss\"\u003ethis article\u003c/a\u003e by the super funny and entertaining \u003ca href=\"http://www.byjanna.com/\"\u003eJanna Cawrse Esarey\u003c/a\u003e for hooking me up with this video.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dad Life"},{"content":"A few days ago I posted a status update to Facebook that ended \u0026ldquo;I can imagine no other life that I would prefer to this one.\u0026rdquo; Sometime during the following evening I began to appreciate how very very true that statement was. I decided that the concept was important enough to me that I should dedicate some time to sharing it. Today I will attempt to describe my ongoing process of evaluating, improving, and appreciating my primary relationship.\nStep 1. Evaluating: I believe that I have a fundamental responsibility (to my wife and myself) to ask the questions \u0026ldquo;Is there another actual person who I would be happier, healthier, more complete, etc. with\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Is there an imaginary person who would fulfill those needs.\u0026rdquo; I phrase it this way because it makes it more personal, immediate, and to be honest scary. That moment when I allow myself to think about my choice in concrete terms is like diving into winter run-off, it makes me fully present.\nThe first question is usually a no-brainer. I take stock of the surprisingly small group of people that would even come close and can eliminate each one in a matter of seconds by (if nothing else) the \u0026ldquo;Could they tolerate me*\u0026rdquo; test. As it turns out, I can\u0026rsquo;t imagine a person better suited to put up with my shenanigans and idiosyncrasies than Victoria. Other considerations include:\nPhysical Attraction Complementary attributes (fit) Complementary goals (growth) Mutual Support Shared Experience The second question is more difficult but in many ways much more valuable. Its difficult because I have to be a) prepared for imagination, and b) able to remain in the realm of reality. The value though, is that it gives me the most amazing tools for improving my relationship. Like anything I have to approach it with the right spirit. This isn\u0026rsquo;t a what\u0026rsquo;s wrong with my spouse/lover/partner exercise. Instead I ask the question with earnest curiosity and and open heart and am quite often surprised to find that:\nI\u0026rsquo;m happier, more satisfied, and better off than I thought My relationship problems have more to do with me than her There is a specific and addressable concern that I have with her that would dramatically change my happiness/satisfaction/personal well being We are growing apart, rather than together We are growing together Step 2: Improving/Appreciating Once I\u0026rsquo;ve established the relative state of my relationship I move on to step two; improving and/or appreciating. Improving can be challenging because after all, it was me, not Victoria, that initiated this exercise. It would be unfair to assume that she\u0026rsquo;s ready to \u0026ldquo;improve\u0026rdquo; our relationship on my schedule and terms. Also I have to be prepared to entertain her evaluation. Most importantly, if I discover that I\u0026rsquo;m creating a problem I\u0026rsquo;ve got to be ready to address it or I\u0026rsquo;m doomed to another cycle of the same situation.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure how I know when the time is right, and I\u0026rsquo;m quite sure that I\u0026rsquo;ve been wrong (perhaps often), so I try to approach this conversation with care. Regardless of when I open the conversation, it is critical that I always approach it from the perspective of \u0026ldquo;I am in this relationship for life and want to make sure we both are getting the most out of the time we\u0026rsquo;re sharing.\u0026rdquo; Its amazing how powerful this perspective can be, and I strongly recommend it for everyday problem solving.\nIf I\u0026rsquo;m lucky enough to come out of the evaluation process with a completely satisfied result I start right in on the appreciation. There are a million ways to appreciate the person you love, and there is never a better time to let yourself go crazy with it than when you\u0026rsquo;ve just realized that this person consistently and demonstrably makes your life better.\nOne of the very first things I do when I come out of my head in these cases is to say \u0026ldquo;You know, I love you so much!\u0026rdquo; and then just start listing the reasons why. Its awesome how good this makes me feel, and I\u0026rsquo;m sure it makes her feel good too. Verbalizing why I feel I\u0026rsquo;ve made the best decision possible for my long term emotional health also acts as a balm against the dreaded creeping doubt. As a side note, its also important to verbalize these positive aspects if I\u0026rsquo;ve had a less than perfect accounting of my relationship\u0026rsquo;s status. In fact it can be a great segue into the things I would like to work on, just as long as I remember to use \u0026ldquo;and\u0026rdquo; and not \u0026ldquo;but\u0026rdquo; when I conjunct my pros and cons.\nIf you try this at home please remember the law of unintended consequences. Both the exercise and the changes that it will likely precipitate will have unintended consequences. If you don\u0026rsquo;t like change, and taking responsibility, don\u0026rsquo;t engage in this risky behavior. If you have done something like this, I would love to hear what worked and didn\u0026rsquo;t work for you. * Glib self-deprecation aside, the \u0026ldquo;Could they tolerate me\u0026rdquo; test is just a fun way of saying, do my strengths and weaknesses complement hers (and vice versa) or not?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/no-better-life-than-this-one-reevaluating-my-primary-relationship/","summary":"Can critically evaluating your relationship lead to a happier healthier self while simultaneously improving the relationship?","title":"No Better Life Than This One: Reevaluating My Primary Relationship"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your \u0026lsquo;moment\u0026rsquo; in the comments for all to find and see.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/this-moment-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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\u0026rsquo;re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your \u0026lsquo;moment\u0026rsquo; in the comments for all to find and see.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"{this moment}"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/4th-of-july-weekend-in-photos/","summary":"","title":"4th of July Weekend in Photos"},{"content":"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 to wrestling rectangular bedding around the odd and unaccommodating shapes that berths tend to come in.\nIn our case the traditional vee-berth came with the added challenge of the affectionately named Chastity Cable. Because of this lovely piece of below decks rigging, we don\u0026rsquo;t have a need for the little wedge shaped piece the many vee-berths have and we require either two completely independent sets of sheets and covers, or some clever way to work around the obstacle with one.\nThis was Victoria\u0026rsquo;s chosen project for the week. By Friday evening she had the serger out and was madly cutting up and reworking our old wool topper and cotton flannel mattress pad. By 10pm she had our sheets, comforter and comforter cover all cut and sewn half way up their length.\nPerhaps the most entertaining aspect of this live-aboard rite of passage was the ad-hoc sewing table that we had to engineer. If you\u0026rsquo;re familiar with our boat you\u0026rsquo;ll notice that, where our saloon used to be, there is now just fabric. We put the vee-berth cushions across the table and unto the sea-berths in order to trace and cut out the pattern for the topper. Victoria then used that to pattern all of the other bed clothes.\nThe result of all of this labor and smiling is a fantastic new (up-cycled) set of bedding that allows us to get a tiny bit closer in spite of the best efforts of the Chastity Cable.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/making-the-bed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMost 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 \u003ca href=\"http://rebelheart.squarespace.com/charlottes-blog/2010/4/4/custom-fit-covers-top-sheetsblankets-for-the-v-berth-tutoria.html\"\u003esalty amongst us\u003c/a\u003e, the chore begins the same way but quickly devolves to wrestling rectangular bedding around the odd and unaccommodating shapes that berths tend to come in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn our case the traditional vee-berth came with the added challenge of the affectionately named Chastity Cable.  Because of this lovely piece of below decks rigging, we don\u0026rsquo;t have a need for the little wedge shaped  piece the many vee-berths have and we require either two completely independent sets of sheets and covers, or some clever way to work around the obstacle with one.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Making the Bed"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your \u0026lsquo;moment\u0026rsquo; in the comments for all to find and see.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/this-moment/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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\u0026rsquo;re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your \u0026lsquo;moment\u0026rsquo; in the comments for all to find and see.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"{this moment}"},{"content":"I know that our RSS Feed has been broken for some time, but with the move and all I haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s all gone now so please, if you were a subscriber before, try again now. If you weren\u0026rsquo;t, its a great way to get your forgeover fix without having to type all those letters :)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/rss-feed-fixed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI know that our RSS Feed has been broken for some time, but with the move and all I haven\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;s all gone now so please, if you were a subscriber before, try again now. If you weren\u0026rsquo;t, its a great way to get your forgeover fix without having to type all those letters :)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RSS Feed Fixed"},{"content":"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. \u0026ldquo;Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn\u0026rsquo;t know that.\u0026rdquo;, she replied.\n\u0026ldquo;Is it so nice as all that?\u0026rdquo; asked the mole, shyly\u0026hellip;\n\u0026ldquo;Nice? It\u0026rsquo;s the only thing,\u0026rdquo; said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. \u0026ldquo;Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing \u0026ndash; absolutely nothing \u0026ndash; half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Simply messing\u0026hellip;about in boats \u0026ndash; or with boats\u0026hellip; In or out of \u0026rsquo;em it doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter. Nothing seems to matter, that\u0026rsquo;s the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don\u0026rsquo;t; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you\u0026rsquo;re always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you\u0026rsquo;ve done it there\u0026rsquo;s always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you\u0026rsquo;d much better not.\u0026rdquo;\n-Wind in the Willows\nSo many of the little boys and girls that have stepped aboard our boat have said the words, \u0026ldquo;I want to live on a boat someday.\u0026rdquo; There is a certain magic to it, isn\u0026rsquo;t there? Ten years ago Tucker and I chartered a sailboat in the Caribbean and sailed by ourselves for 10 days around the US and British Islands. We were anchored off of Cane Garden Bay when Tucker went and talked to a man on another boat in the harbor. Tucker asked him how long he\u0026rsquo;d been out. \u0026ldquo;Thirteen years\u0026rdquo;, he answered. The 90 degree air and the 90 degree water didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt, but I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure that\u0026rsquo;s when I decided that I too wanted to be a cruiser.\nWanderlust is part of it. We have read stories of families on bikes, and in RVs, and those who buy round the world tickets and travel for a while. We think that mixing home and travel is part of the pull. We\u0026rsquo;ll get to travel the world and still stay home. We are certainly minimilists compared to most people and love that aspect, but we don\u0026rsquo;t have to pear all the way down to a backpack to travel this way. On Convivia, we get to travel and be with our kids and still have a place to mark their growth on the wall as the years pass.\nA quick review of a world map revealed that most of the places we want to explore are right by the sea. A boat is a perfect way to enjoy that. We get to travel places where airplanes never go and to places that few people ever go. We may even be able to stop and anchor in Beveridge Reef a Pacific coral reef atol that doesn\u0026rsquo;t even have land.\nSure, planes are faster, but from our boat we\u0026rsquo;ll be able to see sharks, whales, jellyfish, endless seas, night skies not blurred by any lights, amazing islands, and villages far off the beaten path. Travelling at a pace of 150 miles a day leaves a lot of time for looking around.\nEven marina life is good. We\u0026rsquo;re still closely attuned to nature and the weather around us. There is never a day that we don\u0026rsquo;t notice the sunrise, the tides changing, the birds of the season, and the light of the moon. We make decisions based on the weather. Every time we leave the dock we observe and choose conditions that make us as safe and comfortable as we can be. We\u0026rsquo;re on our own schedule.\nOur children absolutely need both of us around. Our family works brilliantly when all four of us are together. We are eager for the end of the blocking of the door (now companionway) each morning when Tucker needs to leave for his work day. By taking off this fall we\u0026rsquo;ll have at least a year or so when neither Tucker nor I need to leave to go to work. We\u0026rsquo;re looking forward to having the freedom of a schedule that is all our own. We all are excited by new adventures, anchorages, and new landfalls.\nThe community is amazing. The sailors are amazing. I\u0026rsquo;m so lucky to be surrounded by a bunch of free spirited, self sufficient, adventurous, strong, supportive, encouraging, dreamers.\nI can pick up a globe and spin it slowly knowing that every bit of blue is somewhere that I can go someday. That\u0026rsquo;s why I live on a boat.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/1281/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA 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. \u0026ldquo;Planes are faster. In case you maybe didn\u0026rsquo;t know that.\u0026rdquo;, she replied.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Is it so nice as all that?\u0026rdquo; asked the mole, shyly\u0026hellip;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Nice? It\u0026rsquo;s the only thing,\u0026rdquo; said the Water Rat Solemnly, as he leaned forward for his stroke. \u0026ldquo;Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing \u0026ndash; absolutely nothing \u0026ndash; half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why We Live Aboard"},{"content":"For the past 9 years I\u0026rsquo;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 and the kids in the parking lot and spent nearly an hour searching for food and clothing in the ManVan.\nTonight, with winds howling at ~20 knots in the harbor, we finally relented to the worsening head smell in our cabin. It was obvious what needed to be done but with the cold and wind and dark, we were hoping it could wait until morning. Not so. After one aborted attempt for a pump out at the fuel dock (turns out that pump out must have gone away when they relocated the fuel dock) we headed back to our slip to do some reconnaissance on foot. Once I had confirmed that we could get over and back to the Emery Cove pump out we pushed off again and made our way over, did the deed, and got Convivia back into her slip.\nNext on the docket was filling up the water tanks. These tanks seem to need a filling at least once a week, if not more often, and always on the least agreeable nights.\nI could enumerate the arguable shortcomings till the cows come home but I won\u0026rsquo;t \u0026lsquo;cuz I love it. I love the immediacy of life aboard. Really, the heads are backing up. That\u0026rsquo;s not a job you can \u0026ldquo;just do tomorrow.\u0026rdquo; I love being close to my family. Really close. I\u0026rsquo;m making coffee in the morning and I can hear the very moment that Ruby wakes up. I know the little \u0026ldquo;\u0026lsquo;morning Ruby\u0026rdquo; that I sing out to her gets her day started right.\nI love that since day one on Convivia, Olive has slept in her own berth and (with only a few exceptions) slept soundly through the night. She wakes up happy too. I love that. The kids seem to genuinely love this home too. I love Vick\u0026rsquo;s easy smile, and the fact that she is wearing it more than ever lately.\nThere are little things too, like lying here in this sea berth, typing this post up, while Vick types her email on the settee below. I can reach out and touch her… just like that. Its simple, intimate, immediate, and real. Just the way I want my life to be.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/yo-ho-yo-ho-aboard-is-the-life-for-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor the past 9 years I\u0026rsquo;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 and the kids in the parking lot and spent nearly an hour searching for food and clothing in the ManVan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonight, with winds howling at ~20 knots in the harbor, we finally relented to the worsening head smell in our cabin. It was obvious what needed to be done but with the cold and wind and dark, we were hoping it could wait until morning. Not so. After one aborted attempt for a pump out at the fuel dock (turns out that pump out must have gone away when they relocated the fuel dock) we headed back to our slip to do some reconnaissance on foot. Once I had confirmed that we could get over and back to the Emery Cove pump out we pushed off again and made our way over, did the deed, and got Convivia back into her slip.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yo Ho Yo Ho, Aboard is the Life For Me"},{"content":"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 me. To Vick it means a week (only a week) of final push to sell everything that we own that doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit this new life, or doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit in the boat/manvan/storage unit. Monday is not deeply comforting to Vick.\nThis morning Vick made the brilliant and unexpected decision to call our good friend Katherine in for some professional organizing help. Katherine arrived late in the afternoon and the two of them lit into the piles of stuff that we\u0026rsquo;ve accumulated over the years and reduced it to a tidy stack of boxes and neatly organized piles. They made it through two rooms. Tomorrow Vick will be flying solo, but she\u0026rsquo;s already significantly more optimistic.\nRuby seems genuinely overjoyed with the prospect of moving onto a sailboat. I think she\u0026rsquo;s even given it significant and rational consideration. She knows that she\u0026rsquo;ll have next to no toys for example, but seems to think that is a good compromise for being close to each other and eventually spending much more time as a family.\nOlive—I believe— is just along for the ride. Her good nature and relative flexibility are a godsend right now. She knows we are moving, and sometimes jokes about going early or not at all. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure she\u0026rsquo;s gauging our reaction, but we just play it cool.\nThe house is of course a disaster. There\u0026rsquo;s nothing like a good comprehensive purge to reduce a seemingly orderly life to smoldering piles of Cerberean effluence. The upside to all this chaos is that there is almost certainly a phoenix* of simple living in our near future. I have read a bit about this kind of purging, and don\u0026rsquo;t recall anyone speaking of any kind of effluence, so I felt it important to add that note to the record.\nOn the boat there will be quite literally no place for disorder. At least not if we want to sail, and oh how I want to sail. Our stated goal is to keep the boat ready to sail within one hour. From what I gather, this is not a reasonable goal, but its ours and we\u0026rsquo;re sticking to it… for now ;)\nplease pardon the mixed metaphor ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/moving-aboard/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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 me. To Vick it means a week (only a week) of final push to sell everything that we own that doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit this new life, or doesn\u0026rsquo;t fit in the boat/manvan/storage unit. Monday is not deeply comforting to Vick.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Moving Aboard"},{"content":"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 Moments are different for everyone. I suspect many are like me and derive some significant part of their manliness ideal from their fathers. For me, the image of my dad under the hood, fixing, tuning and explaining our car\u0026rsquo;s inner workings, has left a mark.\nWhen the AAA guy confirmed my suspicion that the starter had failed on the ManVan I was both anxious and eager. This was going to be a greasy, cramped, and physical repair, but I knew I could do it. Never mind that I had never even heard a story about someone replacing a starter. I grabbed my socket set (thanks again Dad) and crawled under the truck. An hour later I had the starter motor out and Allison and I headed down to Kragen to get a replacement. I was quite surprised when the Nick (the Kragen sales guy) handed me a huge honkin box. Aparently I had only removed part of the starter. The rest of the job was going to be a lot harder than I had anticipated.\nHours later —after dropping a wrench on my face, getting tons of dried grease in my eyes, mouth, hair, and beard, bending and bruising my arms in all manner of unacceptable ways, and nearly breaking my arm with the weight of the starter— I had finally replaced the starter. With a quick look around to ensure my privacy I let out a huge whoop and threw my arms to the sky. Hear me roar!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/becoming-a-man/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFrom 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 Moments are different for everyone. I suspect many are like me and derive some significant part  of their manliness ideal from their fathers. For me, the image of my dad under the hood, fixing, tuning and explaining our car\u0026rsquo;s inner workings, has left a mark.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Becoming A Man"},{"content":"**** 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 miles, the ManVan decided to give up the ghost right in the Bay Marine parking lot.\nSo, we changed the plan. By 10am everyone was on the boat and by 11 we were pushing off. After a hair raising shove off we headed out the channel and into the Bay. The wind was gentle in the morning and we put up full sails but by the time we were lined up with Racoon Straights it was blowing hard enough to warrant a first reef. By the time we were lining up with the Gut it was howling and a second reef would have been prudent. I was loving the speed (6.5 SOG according to the iPhone) and we were so close to Emeryville that it was nearly time to douse the sails anyway, so we let out a bit and enjoyed the wind.\nThe only small mishaps of the day were: Running through a small boat race and confounding the contestants somewhat. I sheepishly picked my way through the group but a 43\u0026rsquo; boat doesn\u0026rsquo;t just zip through a small fleet like that; Forgetting to close off the sea cocks for the basins. Once we got to a 25º heel the water was just pouring in. I leveled us out and went to inspect, but of course the problem had abated. We dropped a few towels and I closed the remaining sea cock. I\u0026rsquo;ll have to remember to do that first next time :)\nEntering our fairway at Emery Cove we found that there was someone in our slip. I called the harbor master and got a back up slip just two slots down from ours. The docking went more smoothly than I had feared, but not as cleanly as I had hoped. I\u0026rsquo;ll be practicing that more as I find time.\nShortly after we arrived the rest of the Logan Clan (Jennifer, Anika, and Rayna) showed up by land. We gave a quick tour of the boat and then headed off to a lovely (though slightly chaotic) dinner at Chevy\u0026rsquo;s.\nI was pleased as punch to find out, the next day, that the three boats I had identified as CALs—further on down our dock—were in fact CAL 39s.I hope to enlist the help of one of the owners in my docking practice. All in all our first Bay sail on Convivia was a raging success. I\u0026rsquo;m going to be hard pressed to choose the necessary maintenance work over more days of sailing, but I know it needs to be done!\nDon\u0026rsquo;t miss this related post.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/bringing-her-home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e**** 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 miles, the ManVan decided to give up the ghost right in the Bay Marine parking lot.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, we changed the plan. By 10am everyone was on the boat and by 11 we were pushing off. After a hair raising shove off we headed out the channel and into the Bay. The wind was gentle in the morning and we put up full sails but by the time we were lined up with Racoon Straights it was blowing hard enough to warrant a first reef. By the time we were lining up with the Gut it was howling and a second reef would have been prudent. I was loving the speed (6.5 SOG according to the iPhone) and we were so close to Emeryville that it was nearly time to douse the sails anyway, so we let out a bit and enjoyed the wind.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bringing Her Home"},{"content":"I spent last night on the hard. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure I can adequately convey how strange it is to be on a boat that isn\u0026rsquo;t moving. When I\u0026rsquo;m working on it, its not so noticeable(unless I look up, then I get severe vertigo), but sleeping on it my body demands the gentle rocking. It is very disorienting, and I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to have her back in the water again. Enough of that, this is a work post, so on to business.\nToday I started at sunrise. Coffee, Gruel, and then off to inspect the mast. After a brief walk around I had my list.\nLED lights Wash the Pacific Northwest Green off everything (requires bucket, sponge, and Bon Amie) Finish minor standing rigging chores (burgee line, inspect and retape spreader tip boots, etc) Paint long thin scratch on mast Step the mast Apply SparTight Wire up the new ST60 wind instrument Things got off to a somewhat slow start. Svendsons (my favorite chandlery) had run out of one of the two bulbs I needed. Aparently they were a hot item at the boat show. I did get the rigging tape, bucket, sponge and the LunaSea tricolor LED, and high tailed it (as fast as rush hour trafic would allow) back up to Bay Marine to do my work.\nI finally got the mast scrubbed clean, spreader tips inspected and re-covered, and the long scratch on the mast painted by around noon—just in time for lunch. This meant that we didn\u0026rsquo;t get the mast over beside the boat and up onto the crane until somewhere around 1pm. I worked side by side the 4 riggers as we brought the mast up, stepped it and loosely set the standing rigging.\nAfter the mast was secure and the crane was away, Ed and I started the slow work of tuning the mast. I learned a really useful trick for static (pre) tuning. Ed attached a tape measure to the halyard and hoisted it up to almost the head. We then took the other end and measured to dead-center on the clevis pins for each shroud adjusting where needed.\nOnce the shrouds were set and the prebend was added with the baby stay We got to work prepping for the SparTight. I helped Ed to cut up the foam that would provide the bottom of the dam, and then we added clay to the top of the collar. We smoothed it out, added a little clay to all of the welds, and lubed it up with Vaseline. When it was all done, Ed mixed up the \u0026ldquo;snot\u0026rdquo; and poured it in. I watched, fascinated, as the stuff started to cure in the first minutes after he poured it.\nAfter he finished cleaning up, Ed took off to his other tasks and I got down to the business of rewiring all of the mast electronics and lights. Thanks to the fantastic labeling that Steve and Glen (Something Special Boat Services) did before the unstepping, this went like clockwork. Within 10 minutes I had everything rewired except for the wind instrument. That was a big exception. The wire pull alone took the better part of an hour, and then I got to the hard part. As it turns out (and I should have known this) the ST60 has a different connector than the ST50 and to make matters even more interesting, its got a different sized backing and a different bolt configuration. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more stymied. I decided to put everything back the way it had been and deal with it all when I was fresh.\nDefeated, but not dismayed, I packed everything up, cleaned up my work area, and headed home by way of Picante Taqueria. It was a hard days work and I feel better for it!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/maintenance/mast-prepped-and-stepped/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI spent last night on the hard. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure I can adequately convey how strange it is to be on a boat that isn\u0026rsquo;t moving. When I\u0026rsquo;m working on it, its not so noticeable(unless I look up, then I get severe vertigo), but sleeping on it my body demands the gentle rocking. It is very disorienting, and I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to have her back in the water again. Enough of that, this is a work post, so on to business.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mast Prepped and Stepped"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/bay-marine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf 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\u0026rsquo;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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bay Marine"},{"content":"This is the first chance I\u0026rsquo;ve had to sit down at my computer in six days. When in the last 15 years have I been able to say that?\nThis vacation was certainly unique. Since it was a last minute (we decided at lunch two days before departing) decision, the expectations were low. Regardless, none of us were prepared for the highs and lows of this last week.\nOn the high side:\nThree nights on Convivia. We all loved falling asleep to the ocean sounds, and waking up in a gently rocking home. Bedtimes were serene and several were augmented by the soothing sound of rain on the cabin top and decks. Meals were simple (or had at restaurants), the boat was nearly Baltic cold, we ate meals on the sole, and we couldn\u0026rsquo;t use the head, but none of that seemed to be a bother.\nFun With Friends. We spent almost every free moment (and some busy ones too) while we were in Washington with Sarah and Ricky. Ruby and Olive just loved playing with \u0026ldquo;Little Blue Eyes\u0026rdquo; (a.k.a. Kiera). We met some new friends in Oregon who are new to living aboard. We spent an afternoon and evening laughing and comparing notes with Nicole and Brian. And to cap off the trip we finally made it to see Wes and Jen in their (now not so) new digs. Seeing their family there, and sharing mother\u0026rsquo;s day morning with them was a fantastic way to cap off the trip.\nHundreds of miles of natural beauty. We were overwhelmed by the beauty of I5 from Reading, CA all the way up to Seattle. Snow capped mountains, redwood trees, meandering rivers, and ginormous lakes dominate my memory of this exhausting drive. We covered the entire northbound leg in one long 14.5 hr sprint, and then took our time coming south. In Oregon we kept finding new reasons to say \u0026ldquo;Why didn\u0026rsquo;t we move here 10 years ago?\u0026rdquo; or \u0026ldquo;We could totally live here.\u0026rdquo; Our die has been cast, and there is so much waiting for us back in New England, and here in California that I don\u0026rsquo;t know if it will ever come to be, but if I had the chance and had to swallow the hook, I think Ashland, Oregon would be the place for me.\nA week of real travel with the family. Its reassuring, on the cusp of a major transition to a travel based lifestyle, to see your family thriving in a trial run. Sure it wasn\u0026rsquo;t a cake walk, but it certainly was no more difficult than an average day in and around Mountain View, and the highs were giant size. Considering that the process of inspecting, financing, insuring, purchasing, documenting, moving, and making this boat ready for living aboard has been one of the most difficult and stressful of my life, I take \u0026lsquo;better than average\u0026rsquo; to be a screaming success.\n…and speaking of screaming.The lows:\nGod damn was there a lot of screaming this week. It seems that Olive has developed a full tonal scale to suit every need, want or desire, and Ruby has learned how to use her scream to whip Olive into a frothing banshee of primal proto-communication. I am sad to report that I resorted to covering of mouths more than a few times this last week. I\u0026rsquo;ll try to do better in the future. We kept those kids cooped up in the car for hours upon hours, and gave them way too little freedom to run and be wild, so its no surprise that they exploded, but it was hard on the nerves. So hard that I was guiltily glad for the \u0026lsquo;opportunity\u0026rsquo; to drive the stinky, squirrely, cruise controlless, ManVan. A telling example of how much we\u0026rsquo;ve asked of the kids came this morning.\nVick: \u0026ldquo;Olive you need to nurse?\u0026rdquo;\nOlive: \u0026ldquo;Yes. Not one minute, not five minutes, not any minutes, just nurse\u0026rdquo;\nYes Olive has earned \u0026ldquo;just nurse\u0026rdquo; and Ruby has earned \u0026ldquo;just run around and be crazy till you drop. And Vick and I, I do believe, have earned the moment of quiet that we are now enjoying.\nThe incompetent salesman. I\u0026rsquo;m not usually one to publicly lambaste people for their shortcomings so I won\u0026rsquo;t name this gal directly, but the gal who promised to leave a marina key for our family, and then forgot, and then tried to tell me that no one ever told her to leave that key even though I called her 6 hours earlier and told her to leave that key. that gal… is a douche bag. The fact that she (a very large, and slightly scary gal dressed in full biker leather) then got all up in my face and yelled down at me \u0026ldquo;Hey kid, don\u0026rsquo;t you get all up in my face\u0026rdquo; when I told her that I thought it was better that we not talk about it anymore, kinda left me in a fighting mood. Although I extricated myself unscathed and with the key, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t escape the resulting emotions. I found myself trying to force things all morning that I normally would have finessed, and finally decided to cancel the day sail that we had planned, lest I put myself, my boat, or my crew in danger. My best self knows that this was a golden opportunity to master myself, but my wicked witch self can\u0026rsquo;t quite let it go yet.\nThe Gale Force Wind. I must have transgressed one of the legion unwritten superstitions of the sea because there is no other earthly reason why, on the very first time leaving the slip on my own, into a fairway just 7 feet wider than Convivia is long, the winds would suddenly whip up to their highest speeds in any local person\u0026rsquo;s recollection. I now know that I had no chance of a successful departure under those conditions. Had it not been for a couple of very anxious, very helpful yachties, I would have spent all day doing the Austin Powers back and forth in the fairway. As if that weren\u0026rsquo;t enough, with nerves completely shot, I departed the fairway only to run aground in the shallows at the end of the lane.\nOut in the Sound, it looked as if the winds would die down. Just as we were preparing to set the sails, the gale blew in full force again and we were heeled over (under motor only) to about 15º, all the way to Tacoma. Upon reaching Hylebos Marina, we realized that docking under these conditions was going to be as difficult as leaving the dock had been. This time I took about 20 minutes to prepare myself and the crew, and we had a safe (if not adrenaline boosting) end to our day. Looking back down the dock from the gangway, I noticed that, even then, the boat was heeled over a good 5+º.\nThis, That, and That Other Thing. Okay, there were plenty of other lows, but I don\u0026rsquo;t want to overwhelm this post with the myriad petty grievances. Sure the ManVan experience was death defying, and the million little details that I spent the last few weeks getting in place almost to the last one changed, fell through, or exploded when it came to go time. The beauty though—the life affirming, awe inspiring, splendiferous fact of the matter—is that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have traded a moment of it for any other moment. This is my life, and as I sit here and reflect on the week I\u0026rsquo;ve just had I have to say that I\u0026rsquo;m as happy as a clam with how things are shaping up. I know that there is a lot to be learned from the lows. I know that they define me, and test me, and show me what I need to work on. I know that even Mr Douchebag has served a valuable purpose in my personal development. And then good lord. The highs!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/working-vacation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the first chance I\u0026rsquo;ve had to sit down at my computer in six days. When in the last 15 years have I been able to say that?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis vacation was certainly unique. Since it was a last minute (we decided at lunch two days before departing) decision, the expectations were low. Regardless, none of us were prepared for the highs and lows of this last week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn the high side:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Working Vacation"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t know by watching, its farcical… though Vick can make 16 different muffins without processed flour.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/bad-neighbors/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBack 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\u0026rsquo;t know by watching, its farcical… though Vick \u003cem\u003ecan\u003c/em\u003e make 16 different muffins without processed flour.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bad Neighbors"},{"content":"On the way to work this morning Victoria suggested that we play the lottery. \u0026ldquo;Its $166 million today, seems like a good time.\u0026rdquo; Now understand, we don\u0026rsquo;t play the lottery to win, that\u0026rsquo;s just crazy talk. We play for entertainment value. When we were younger we would go out an drop a cool Washington on a ticket and then spend all night talking about our fantasy future. As we got older, and started to live that fantasy, we did this less often. Still, a couple times a year, the mood strikes us and we splurge.\nThen Vick said something that pretty much sums it all up. \u0026ldquo;If we won, I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t change anything. Well, maybe spruce the boat up a bit with upgrades, and leave sooner, but everything else would stay the same.\u0026rdquo; That, I believe, is the surest sign that we\u0026rsquo;re on the right track. If we won the lottery today, we would just do more of what we\u0026rsquo;re doing, faster.\nLet the good times roll.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/winning-the-lottery/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn the way to work this morning Victoria suggested that we play the lottery. \u0026ldquo;Its $166 million today, seems like a good time.\u0026rdquo; Now understand, we don\u0026rsquo;t play the lottery to win, that\u0026rsquo;s just crazy talk. We play for entertainment value. When we were younger we would go out an drop a cool Washington on a ticket and then spend all night talking about our fantasy future. As we got older, and started to live that fantasy, we did this less often. Still, a couple times a year, the mood strikes us and we splurge.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winning the Lottery"},{"content":"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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/prek-geography/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBelieve 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.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pre-K Geography"},{"content":"If you\u0026rsquo;ve been wondering how the kids feel about this transition…\n[cue cheesy infomercial voice] …and if you liked \u0026ldquo;going marina\u0026rdquo; you\u0026rsquo;ll love some of these other instant classics.\n\u0026ldquo;I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to tell Anika about Oakland, there\u0026rsquo;s so many things to see\u0026rdquo; — Ruby\n\u0026ldquo;Me going to live on a sailboat… with no bathtub\u0026rdquo; — Olive\n\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not sure which of my things I\u0026rsquo;m going to sell quite yet, but I\u0026rsquo;ll think about it\u0026rdquo; — Ruby (spontaneously)\n\u0026ldquo;I WANT TO SLEEP ON MY SAILBOAT RIGHT NOW\u0026rdquo; x 20 — Olive\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/are-the-kids-ready/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;ve been wondering how the kids feel about this transition…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e[cue cheesy infomercial voice] …and if you liked \u0026ldquo;going marina\u0026rdquo; you\u0026rsquo;ll love some of these other instant classics.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to tell Anika about Oakland, there\u0026rsquo;s so many things to see\u0026rdquo; — Ruby\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Me going to live on a sailboat… with \u003cem\u003eno\u003c/em\u003e bathtub\u0026rdquo; — Olive\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m not sure which of my things I\u0026rsquo;m going to sell quite yet, but I\u0026rsquo;ll think about it\u0026rdquo; — Ruby (spontaneously)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Are the Kids ready?"},{"content":"We went to the boat show today, and we\u0026rsquo;re going again tomorrow. The going today part isn\u0026rsquo;t particularly big news, after all this is our 11th consecutive show but it does feel different. Part of what is different is that we\u0026rsquo;ve got our boat all but purchased, and can legitimately talk about it as if its ours. For some reason that small distinction has made today catalytic for me.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll admit, I\u0026rsquo;ve been tender this week. Okay, perhaps I\u0026rsquo;ve been raw, and a little hard to be around. I can\u0026rsquo;t help it. So much of our last 10 years of dreaming, and 5 years of debt reduction, saving, planning and dreaming some more is now coming together in a chaotic maelstrom of activity. I haven\u0026rsquo;t really got a clue about half (or more) of the things that I am responsible for, and I don\u0026rsquo;t have enough hours in the day to get a clue.\nSo I\u0026rsquo;ve been cranking (as in cranky) through my days trying to get to the finish line and today I got a chance to get out of my head and see that we have really—depending on your perspective—already crossed the line. Sure we\u0026rsquo;ve got 3 more years (or so) before we actually cruise, but we\u0026rsquo;ve made the jump and all that\u0026rsquo;s left to do is fall.\nThe highlight of today came after I introduced Victoria and the kids to our new harbor master (Dianne). Dianne gave the family a really warm greeting and reassured Vick that her slip would be waiting when we got there. As we walked away I looked over and saw Vick, with a huge smile on her face, wiping a tear from her eye.\nSo while I still have a lot to do I now know (from my heart) that we are going to make this work. And if I had any residual doubts as we left the show, the sound of Olive yelling from the back seat \u0026ldquo;I WANT TO LIVE ON MY SAILBOAT RIGHT NOW!\u0026rdquo; would have cleared them right away.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/sailing/strictly-sail-pacific-2010/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe went to the boat show today, and we\u0026rsquo;re going again tomorrow. The going today part isn\u0026rsquo;t particularly big news, after all this is our 11th consecutive show but it \u003cem\u003edoes\u003c/em\u003e feel different. Part of what is different is that we\u0026rsquo;ve got our boat all but purchased, and can legitimately talk about it as if its ours. For some reason that small distinction has made today catalytic for me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ll admit, I\u0026rsquo;ve been tender this week. Okay, perhaps I\u0026rsquo;ve been raw, and a little hard to be around. I can\u0026rsquo;t help it. So much of our last 10 years of dreaming, and 5 years of debt reduction, saving, planning and dreaming some more is now coming together in a chaotic maelstrom of activity. I haven\u0026rsquo;t really got a clue about half (or more) of the things that I am responsible for, and I don\u0026rsquo;t have enough hours in the day to get a clue.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Strictly Sail Pacific 2010"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;ll publish the old ones here, and then create individual posts for any new ones. Enjoy, and please comment.\nHoneysuckle joy\nThe purple blossoms welcome\nspring\u0026rsquo;s liberation\n#haiku 9:14 AM Mar 22nd\nfrost bitten ear lobes\ndeep greens and brown on cool blue\nspring is coming soon\n#haiku 9:21 AM Mar 9th\nDamp loam underfoot\nSunglasses and umbrellas\nRainbows expected\n#haiku 12:08 PM Jan 13th\nFresh frosted footpath\nSnowy summit surprises\nChilly cheeks chapping\n#alliteration #haiku 9:25 AM Dec 8th, 2009\nslick tires, wet path\ndescending from the foot bridge\nI ate the pavement\n#pseudohaiku #bikefail 9:16 AM Oct 19th, 2009\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/haikus/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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\u0026rsquo;ll publish the old ones here, and then create individual posts for any new ones. Enjoy, and please comment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHoneysuckle joy\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe purple blossoms welcome\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003espring\u0026rsquo;s liberation\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/search?q=%23haiku\" title=\"#haiku\"\u003e#haiku\u003c/a\u003e  \u003ca href=\"http://twitter.com/mtuckerb/status/10878941525\"\u003e9:14 AM Mar 22nd\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003efrost bitten ear lobes\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003edeep greens and brown on cool blue\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Haikus"},{"content":"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 was sensitive to it, and I could tell somehow when it was time to hop out and look around but I never thought to second guess the current of my life. This flow took me from place to place, job to job, adventure to adventure, always at precisely the right moment. As long as I kept my vision clear and my wits about me, things seemed to just work out.\nI think it bugged the crap out of some people, and scared others. Some people probably thought I was unreasonably lucky and others probably thought I was reckless. I knew better. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line I started resisting it. It didn\u0026rsquo;t happen all at once, and I will never be able to tell you when I became so numb to it that I forgot it was even there, but the fact is I lost my touch. Strangely, I had enough of a sense of it that it still tugged me, but I just as often thought my way around it as heeded it.\nThen two days ago, when I was really least expecting it, I just fell back in. It happened so naturally that I didn\u0026rsquo;t even notice what was happening until today. It started with an impulse. I called Emery Cove Marina to see where we stood on their live aboard list. At the moment it seemed like nothing noteworthy, a mere ticking of a check box. In retrospect I can see that it was completely outside of the norm. Victoria and I hadn\u0026rsquo;t talked about that marina in ages; I had less than no reason to expect that we would ever get live aboard status there; we don\u0026rsquo;t have a boat; and we had agreed that we would be 6-9 months before we would move aboard. There was clearly no good reason for me to call on that day but I did. As if it were all laid out in advance, we were offered live aboard status, just like that, on the spot. That slot would have gone to someone else, probably that week, had I not acted on that impulse.\nSo I was back in the flow, somehow, but didn\u0026rsquo;t even recognize it yet. I still didn\u0026rsquo;t recognize it the following day when I (once again impulsively) left work at lunch to jet up there to sign the paper work and seal the deal. This afternoon when I marched into my boss\u0026rsquo; office and suggested that I go back to my old 10-4 Tuesday - Friday office hours (with the remainder telecommuting), I didn\u0026rsquo;t have the slightest doubt that it would work out, but I still didn\u0026rsquo;t realize that I was swimming in the grand current of my life again.\nIt wasn\u0026rsquo;t until tonight, when Victoria was going over her to-do lists, that I realized I was back into it. I heard myself saying \u0026ldquo;You don\u0026rsquo;t need to worry about a thing. This is what we are supposed to be doing…\u0026rdquo;, and it dawned on me that I had that confidence back. I have—for lack of a better word—faith that my family and I are heading in the right direction. The beautiful thing is that Victoria felt it too. Right after I finished telling her what I\u0026rsquo;ve just laid out here, I saw a peace come over her. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure, but I suspect she remembers the feeling of being swept away in our life\u0026rsquo;s current as well.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/back-in-the-flow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYears 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 was sensitive to it, and I could tell somehow when it was time to hop out and look around but I never thought to second guess the current of my life. This flow took me from place to place, job to job, adventure to adventure, always at precisely the right moment. As long as I kept my vision clear and my wits about me, things seemed to just work out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back in the Flow"},{"content":"Today I signed the application that will give us live aboard status at our old marina in the East Bay. We\u0026rsquo;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 made it to the top. This is a huge step for our family because it means that we can live aboard in a marina that will allow us to sail on the weekends. Everyone we\u0026rsquo;ve talked to at Pete\u0026rsquo;s harbor seemed resigned to the fact that they could not sail and live aboard. I\u0026rsquo;m hopeful that, with the Golden Gate Bridge clearly visible from our marina, we\u0026rsquo;ll be reminded that we\u0026rsquo;re in this to sail, not to sit at the dock.\nThe down side is that we will be far far away from the amazing community that we\u0026rsquo;ve become a part of here in Silicon Valley. We are already working on plans to try to bridge the distance but its still going to be a difficult transition for all of us.\nNow for the real clincher, buying a boat. Stay tuned for more on that in the next few weeks.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/liveaboard-status-e2-88-9a/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday I signed the application that will give us live aboard status at our old marina in the East Bay. We\u0026rsquo;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 made it to the top. This is a huge step for our family because it means that we can live aboard in a marina that will allow us to sail on the weekends. Everyone we\u0026rsquo;ve talked to at Pete\u0026rsquo;s harbor seemed resigned to the fact that they could not sail and live aboard. I\u0026rsquo;m hopeful that, with the Golden Gate Bridge clearly visible from our marina, we\u0026rsquo;ll be reminded that we\u0026rsquo;re in this to sail, not to sit at the dock.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Liveaboard Status… ?"},{"content":"Despite the boat related disappointment this weekend I\u0026rsquo;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 went link crazy, hopping around to a bunch of similar blogs. These families\u0026rsquo; stories have been a balm on my chapped spirit. This morning the kids and I sat around watching videos from various blogs showing their kids living happy, nomadic, unschooling lives. True our adventure is just where we left it on Friday, but somehow we all feel closer to it.\nAt work today I finally had The Talk with my boss. It came up naturally enough, and was quite a relief to have it all laid out. I had mentioned our family\u0026rsquo;s dream in an abstract sense before but was a little surprised that he remembered it and even more surprised that he took it in stride. He even guessed almost to a day when we were planning on leaving—though I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure we\u0026rsquo;ll have to push that back 6+ months now.\nLiberated by that disclosure, I spent the remainder of the day kicking ass. We\u0026rsquo;re in full swing with the Institute\u0026rsquo;s relocation now, and I just lined up my tasks and knocked them down. I haven\u0026rsquo;t had focus like this for a few months and it felt good to be back on track.\nSo regardless of the state of the Windekind deal, I\u0026rsquo;m feeling more confident than ever that we will, indeed, push off one day; I\u0026rsquo;m certain that it will be close to our forecasted date; and I\u0026rsquo;m bolstered by the conviction that it is absolutely the right choice for our family.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/feeling-inspired/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDespite the boat related disappointment this weekend I\u0026rsquo;ve found myself unexpectedly inspired, motivated, and empowered these last two days. Vick linked me up to the blog of a nomadic family \u003ca href=\"http://www.happyjanssens.com/\"\u003e(Happy Janssens\u003c/a\u003e) last night, and I kinda went link crazy, hopping around to a bunch of \u003ca href=\"/blogroll/tuckers-blogroll\"\u003esimilar blogs\u003c/a\u003e. These families\u0026rsquo; stories have been a balm on my chapped spirit. This morning the kids and I sat around watching videos from various blogs showing their kids living happy, nomadic, unschooling lives. True our adventure is just where we left it on Friday, but somehow we all feel closer to it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Feeling Inspired"},{"content":"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 buying a circumnavigating sailing vessel on a small budget. Maybe, \u0026ldquo;Buying a boat is like high school girlfriends\u0026hellip; but without the kissing.\u0026rdquo;\nI have fallen in love 3 times in 3 weeks. So far, no kisses. Maybe its a little melodramatic to say that these inanimate objects have \u0026ldquo;dumped me.\u0026rdquo; After all, my sentience should give me the upper hand in these relationships, but if you ask my wife, she\u0026rsquo;ll corroborate. I am reduced to a sappy, romantic, drooling boy when presented with high combings, a butterfly hatch, or a fancy cabin. I even tell myself not to let my emotions cloud my judgment, but its no use.\nThankfully I\u0026rsquo;ve got some terrific advisers. My dad plays the devil\u0026rsquo;s advocate like it\u0026rsquo;s his job and keeps me honest (with myself). My buddy Mike (4k miles away) cheers my every decision while gently pointing out things to watch out for. After the breakup, he cheerfully badmouths the ex with me so I can move on. My new friend Dave Martin (17 year circumnavigater) gives me the seasoned viewpoint. His dire warnings about the evils of teak on deck ring in my ears even as I consider yet another teak decked boat. And then there\u0026rsquo;s Bob Perry, the venerable and highly opinionated naval architect. I\u0026rsquo;ve hired Bob as a consultant, and he\u0026rsquo;s been worth absolutely every penny and more. Bob gives me the straight scoop (as he sees it), carving up these ladies as if they were chunks of fiberglass, wood, and steel (which they SO aren\u0026rsquo;t :) ).\nSo, I must conclude that buying a boat isn\u0026rsquo;t really like anything. The girlfriend analogy comes close enough that my wife asked me tonight \u0026ldquo;have you found a new girlfriend yet?\u0026rdquo; But it still misses the mark. Buying the boat that will take my family safely where we want to go is like nothing that I\u0026rsquo;ve ever done before and I guess that\u0026rsquo;s a good thing.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/buying-a-boat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 buying a circumnavigating sailing vessel on a small budget. Maybe, \u0026ldquo;Buying a boat is like high school girlfriends\u0026hellip; but without the kissing.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have fallen in love 3 times in 3 weeks. So far, no kisses. Maybe its a little melodramatic to say that these inanimate objects have \u0026ldquo;dumped me.\u0026rdquo; After all, my sentience should give me the upper hand in these relationships, but if you ask my wife, she\u0026rsquo;ll corroborate. I am reduced to a sappy, romantic, drooling boy when presented with high combings, a butterfly hatch, or a fancy cabin. I even tell myself not to let my emotions cloud my judgment, but its no use.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Buying a Boat"},{"content":"Welcome El Niño.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/puddle-party/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWelcome El Niño.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Puddle Party"},{"content":"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 we can rise with the kids (see my earlier article for more on this). So we\u0026rsquo;ve been dutifully rising and shining at 4-5am and using lattes to get us through the week.\nThis is all just an intro to the weekend…\nSaturday morning. We\u0026rsquo;ve got big plans. After some really tasty Puffed Pancakes we motivate for a day of chores. Vick is going to run out to the library while Olive takes her (blessedly) early nap. She heads out and Ruby and I settle into a few rounds of Fairy Queen followed by some highly interactive Lego time. Olive wakes up. 9 times out of 10 this is a non event. 1 in 10 she screams bloody murder until Vick nurses her. Saturday was such a day. It was probably a half hour in which I couldn\u0026rsquo;t put her down for fear of her hurting herself. When Vick finally arrives she has not relented but to cough or choke on her screams. It is bad and I am as frayed as I can remember being. We regroup, nurse and get ourselves ready to go out for lunch. We are going to hit the hardware store on the way back and commence tackling our list of chores.\nThat plan didn\u0026rsquo;t make it past the front gate. As I put my hand on the gate to open it, I noticed a note sticking out of our mailbox. Inside was a very carefully and respectfully written note from our neighbors. \u0026ldquo;We would like to talk to you guys about the noise level in the units\u0026rdquo; it began. My heart dropped. I know how loud the kids are, and our floors, if anything, amplify the noise over to our neighbors. Combined with the paper thin wall we share and the gate that (despite our best efforts) is always crashing into their wall, it can\u0026rsquo;t be fun for them. In our defense, we are constantly reminding the kids to walk softly and \u0026ldquo;keep it down,\u0026rdquo; but they\u0026rsquo;re kids. One of them is two and the other seems instinctively defiant. I was dreading the meeting.\nWe finished lunch (Los Charros almost lifted my spirits) and headed home to face the music. I texted our neighbors to invite them over and fifteen minutes later they were sitting at our table.\n… it didn\u0026rsquo;t help that they were nice. They were nice and reasonable too, and they went out of their way not to blame or whine. It was just too much for me. I am an empathetic person. My only real defense against feeling everything is that so many people are jerks. I can tune out the jerks. Right there I entered my funk. Victoria was right (this can\u0026rsquo;t work with our parenting style). The neighbors were right. And the kids were right to be kids. Nobody was doing anything wrong but nothing was right.\nSo we listened. And I, though I intended not to, empathized. We didn\u0026rsquo;t promise to keep the kids quiet, but we did offer to make some adjustments (gate noise) and talk to the landlord about some others. Still, there didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be anything we could do about the floor noise. To make matters much worse it was Saturday which meant that on the morrow, all of our wonderful, caring, and supportive friends would come over for coffee, bringing with them the lovely cacophonous symphony of children playing. This was exactly not the way to follow up on a sincere yet ineffectual conversation about noise pollution.\nBut Sunday is Coffee Day, and I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t trade it, so I bucked up and prepared. I wanted to be my best self but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t. I was, in fact, a shadow of my best self. I was following the kids around reminding them to not make noise, and basically worrying both sides of the equitation to the bone. Finally I took the kids to the park, which was awesome. Shortly after we returned the party thinned out and the Logans remained. We played a few rounds of Dominion and someone revisited the idea of moving the house around to minimize noise.\nWithin an hour we had paused the dinner prep and were moving every single thing out of Victoria\u0026rsquo;s area into Ruby\u0026rsquo;s room and vice versa. By the end of another hectic hour we were \u0026ldquo;done.\u0026rdquo; Now everything that a kid could want in our house (save the bathroom) is in the addition (porch). This part of our space is blessedly detached from the rest of the house and carpeted, so the kids can romp and stomp to their hearts content and the neighbors won\u0026rsquo;t hear a peep. Also, it\u0026rsquo;s not a cross the house run to get from one play area to the other. It\u0026rsquo;s a virtually perfect solution to a conflict that just hours before seemed irreconcilable.\nI\u0026rsquo;m sharing this story partly because I needed to write about it to help process, but also because I hope that it reminds me and others who need it that there is always a solution to every problem. This solution, in this case, isn\u0026rsquo;t ideal (the kids will ever share our bedroom in this setup), but its doable. My buddy Chris, when I was relating the early part of this story to her this morning, said something like \u0026ldquo;I would like to remind you that when you are under stress, there are always options that you have not yet considered.\u0026rdquo; I thanked her for her sage direction, and hoped that the stress would abate long enough for it to do me some good. The Logans, through their supportive, solicitous company, and perfectly timed suggestion were the perfect catalyst at that moment when I was distracted enough to think.\nLessons? Hardly. Just food for thought. Please share your parallels, comments, or suggestions below.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/quiet-feet-harmony-restored/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYesterday we woke up before 5am for the 14th consecutive day. \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t\u0026amp;amp;source=web\u0026amp;amp;ct=res\u0026amp;amp;cd=1\u0026amp;amp;ved=0CAkQFjAA\u0026amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.attachmentparenting.org%2F\u0026amp;amp;ei=5qZKS4PdE46wsgPSprHLAQ\u0026amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNGwkKAfvVSa0reZp5yv2LieJ0cFBA\u0026amp;amp;sig2=XaJn_ILAHIv_Y9j88f0XSA\"\u003eOur parenting style\u003c/a\u003e 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 we can rise with the kids (see \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/04/23/parenting-what-ive-learned-so-far\"\u003emy earlier article\u003c/a\u003e for more on this). So we\u0026rsquo;ve been dutifully rising and shining at 4-5am and using lattes to get us through the week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"QUIET FEET: Harmony Restored"},{"content":"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 expected. What really impresses me is how we all worked together to make sure that everyone could enjoy the trip.\nRuby was a total champ. When Vick and I were busy, she would entertain her sister down below. She devised a multitude of games, and when we finally bought a couple containers of Play-dough she would spend hours with her making pretend food and serving it up.\nOlive was also amazingly capable of helping out. She wasn\u0026rsquo;t so psyched about having to wear her PFD or tether, but she loved driving the dingy and going on deck. Most impressive was how she managed deferring gratification. Often we were would be coming into port when she was most fragile. In spite of the odds she, more often than not, would abide us doing what needed to be done before having her own desires addressed.\nVictoria and I came back with a list of concerns that will need to be addressed. Thankfully many of them will be addressed simply by waiting for the kids to get a little older. Time we have. I am so grateful that we had this opportunity to learn more about our families needs. I am confident that we are well equipped for the next stage of planning.\nTo round off the trip we spend most of yesterday looking at boats. The one we expected to love (Cheoy Lee Offshore 40) was beautiful, but was obviously going to require way too much maintenance. We decided to take a trip to the other end of the spectrum to see a Morgan North American 40. This boat has next to no external wood. It was built for speed and has a surprisingly open cabin. The boat we saw was very raw inside, and would need months of cosmetic work, but for some reason both Victoria and I were okay with that. We are waiting to get Bob Perry\u0026rsquo;s opinion on the Morgan before we pursue it further, but our excitement marks a shift in our priorities (away from aesthetic and towards performance and flexibility).\nStay tuned for boat hunting posts!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/catalina-in-retrospect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 expected. What really impresses me is how we all worked together to make sure that everyone could enjoy the trip.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRuby was a total champ. When Vick and I were busy, she would entertain her sister down below. She devised a multitude of games, and when we finally bought a couple containers of Play-dough she would spend hours with her making pretend food and serving it up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catalina in Retrospect"},{"content":"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, smacking the harbor against the hull loudly enough that we almost turned the boat on our mooring.\nBy the time we got under sail the wind died. This has been the great frustration of sailing here. We can see wind on the ocean all around but wherever we are seems to be becalmed. Since we didn\u0026rsquo;t have any destination I wasn\u0026rsquo;t inclined to turn on the engine. We just wallowed, boom creaking in the light puffs of wind that would occasionally grace us. Our speed over water was 0 knots for at least an hour.\nBy lunchtime the winds had picked up enough to hold the sail\u0026rsquo;s shape. We crept along at ~1 knot. The highlight of this part of the day was reading fairy tales to Ruby up on the bow, while Vick nursed Olive to sleep.\nThen just after the Ruby went down for nap the wind kicked up. Suddenly we had 15 knots off the starboard bow, and we were surging through the channel at 4-5 knots. The exhilaration was incredible. I dialed in the sails to eek out every bit of power they could provide and we gracefully cut through the swell.\nThe kids slept right through it. By the time they woke up I was on a deep broad reach and the seas were rolling across our port quarter. We got almost all the way back to the harbor on sail power. We did have to turn the engine on about 1 mile out in order to make it in before sunset. As we entered the harbor the sun touched the horizon and reflected pink, orange, and gold hues over the water. It was a beautiful way to bid goodbye to the two thousand naughts.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/catalina-new-years-eve/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYesterday 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, smacking the harbor against the hull loudly enough that we almost turned the boat on our mooring.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the time we got under sail the wind died. This has been the great frustration of sailing here. We can see wind on the ocean all around but wherever we are seems to be becalmed. Since we didn\u0026rsquo;t have any destination I wasn\u0026rsquo;t inclined to turn on the engine. We just wallowed, boom creaking in the light puffs of wind that would occasionally grace us. Our speed over water was 0 knots for at least an hour.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catalina: New Year's Eve"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t mean to lead my readers to believe that today was easy. The children were on again off again unmanageable and Victoria was regularly overwrought by her prognostication that, due to said children, and an unfortunately poor choice of words on my part the night before, she didn\u0026rsquo;t know if \u0026ldquo;this was going to work.\u0026rdquo; (She was of course referring to the Big Trip.) Normally when my family is assaulted by this severe a maelstrom I am emotionally and pragmatically debilitated for the duration. The whole of my attention is consumed trying to determine what I am going to do about it.\nToday was different. Something about the 10-15 knots of wind, steady 4-5 knots of speed over water, and a 20-30º heel put my spirits out of reach of my family problems. That is not to say that I was detached from the problems, but I was able to approach it with more emotional autonomy. The elation that my environment and physical situation provided allowed me to engage every situation with an imperturbable calm. I skipped gently from one endeavor to the next, balancing sail, nutrition, nurture, discipline and joy with a finesse I didn\u0026rsquo;t know I was capable of. I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t say that it was easier than any other day, but I felt significantly less bad about everything as it was happening, and by the end of the day we had a harmonious family again.\nAnd the sailing was ideal. We turned off the engine as soon as we left Avalon and sailed around the eastern point of Catalina and as far as Mill\u0026rsquo;s Landing before I was forced to turn the engine back on (we had too much ground to cover before dark). The sky was nearly cloudless, and the ocean was emerald green and turquoise for much of the time under sail. The motoring was assisted by wind and we pulled close to 8 knots all the way to Catalina Harbor. Along the way we were visited by more seals and porpoises, though they didn\u0026rsquo;t seem to be as curious about us on this side of the island.\nWe arrived in Catalina Harbor just as the sun was setting. Tonight, as with every other night on this trip, the sunset was gorgeous. I watched it with split attention as I also kept an eye on Ruby watching a 5 year old girl from a neighboring boat try to row over to us. She tried valiantly for ten or so minutes before accepting a tow back to her parents sailboat. We heard later that there are four or five other girls Ruby\u0026rsquo;s age in this harbor. So I suppose I\u0026rsquo;m only nearly as excited as Ruby to see what tomorrow brings.\nThe boat and ocean are quiet now. All of my people are sleeping soundly as I record the events of this memorable day. My body aches from exertion, and my mind and emotional body are strained from the exposure to new ideas and a rigorous workout. This kind of full being exhaustion promises a thorough sleep. With any luck all of those \u0026ldquo;muscles\u0026rdquo; will arise tomorrow with more mass.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/catalina-avalon-to-catalina-harbor/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy face and belly are radiating that kind of inside out warmth that comes from a day of doing all ones favorite things. I don\u0026rsquo;t mean to lead my readers to believe that today was easy.  The children were on again off again unmanageable and Victoria was regularly overwrought by her prognostication that, due to said children, and an unfortunately poor choice of words on my part the night before, she didn\u0026rsquo;t know if \u0026ldquo;this was going to work.\u0026rdquo; (She was of course referring to the Big Trip.) Normally when my family is assaulted by this severe a maelstrom I am emotionally and pragmatically debilitated for the duration. The whole of my attention is consumed trying to determine what \u003cem\u003eI\u003c/em\u003e am going to do about \u003cem\u003eit\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catalina: Avalon to Catalina Harbor"},{"content":"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 and many of the boats were sporting multicolored lights. It reminded me (for whatever reason) of Jimmy Buffet\u0026rsquo;s song \u0026ldquo;Christmas in the Caribbean,\u0026rdquo; thereby putting a huge smile on my face. We ate a mediocre yet unbelievably expensive dinner at the only restaurant in Two Harbors—from which I had to hastily extricate my kids when they simultaneously decided to be the loudest kids in the harbor(s). We enjoyed a brief moonlit motor back to the boat and everyone fell asleep quickly.\nThe following morning we set \u0026ldquo;sail\u0026rdquo; for Avalon. Neither Victoria nor I were very excited about this port, but it did have a supermarket (of sorts) and we needed to reprovision (another meal at that restaurant would kill our budget). Making the trip less exciting was the complete lack of wind. I navigated us past the mouth of Isthmus Harbor and past the last hazard to navigation and doused the windmaker. We were soon greeted by the complete tranquility of the day. I stubbornly tried to sail for the next half hour but eventually had to admit the futility of it as we made exactly 0 nautical miles over land.\nWith the engine back on we made Avalon just after lunch and were fueled up and ready for a day on the town by three. The city of Avalon reminds us of a cross between Old Orchard Beach and oh I don\u0026rsquo;t know Capitola. It was kinda scummy and kinda upscale at the same time. I loved all the punk teenagers and the wicked friendly little kids that kept introducing themselves to Ruby. I was slightly less enthusiastic about the usual tourist trap stuff and the eerie sense of chill I got from the shop and restaurant owners who seemed to be subtly vibing at us that it was off season and they would rather we not be there.\nWe got a quick (and much more affordable) bite to eat at Coyote Joe\u0026rsquo;s. The food was passable, but not great, and the margaritas were just what the doctor ordered. Ruby was lobbying hard for ice cream, so we decided to pick up a pint of B\u0026amp;Js when we reprovisioned. Once again we had a fairly easy bedtime for both kids. Vick went down by 8:30 and I was out cold at 9:30. At home a 9:30 bedtime would be a great concession to a cold or some other ailment. After a day of sailing it just seems like the natural thing to do. So, I snuggled into bed and stared up through the hatch. The moon (nearly full, nearly blue) was perfectly centered in the fore hatch. There were dark clouds moving by it, but the moon seemed to cut right through them. No matter how dark the approaching clouds appeared, when they got within the moon\u0026rsquo;s radius they seemed to part and thin out. I was a magical way to fall asleep.\nI woke up with Ruby next to me. Victoria had left at some point in the night to nurse Olive, and never made it back. I came gently awake (this is unusual) and we enjoyed an uneventful breakfast. As Vick started to wash up, we ran out of water (in the first tank). This is when we discovered that the last people to use the boat had broken the valve. I\u0026rsquo;m fairly well resolved to the fact that any time I go sailing there will be something to fix by the end of the day. By this logic, I had already had 3 free days of sailing, so I wasn\u0026rsquo;t too bummed when I went into town to get a replacement part. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t even that surprised or off balance when I was told that this port town didn\u0026rsquo;t have a chandlery (boat parts store). The upside is that I got to visit the local hardware store. If you want to get to know good people, anywhere in the world, go to a hardware store. Of course, because I was looking for a boat part—in a hardware store—I didn\u0026rsquo;t expect to find a piece that fit (thread size, direction, and diameter) but the process of finding the kludge that would work was infinitely more rewarding than the trip to the chandlery could have been.\nAfter the hardware store adventure I met up with Vick and Ru and grabbed a cup of coffee. Olive drove the dingy back to our boat and we implemented the kludge. By noon we were on the water again.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/catalina-first-impressions/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen 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 and many of the boats were sporting multicolored lights. It reminded me (for whatever reason) of Jimmy Buffet\u0026rsquo;s song \u0026ldquo;Christmas in the Caribbean,\u0026rdquo; thereby putting a huge smile on my face. We ate a mediocre yet unbelievably expensive dinner at the only restaurant in Two Harbors—from which I had to hastily extricate my kids when they simultaneously decided to be the loudest kids in the harbor(s). We enjoyed a brief moonlit motor back to the boat and everyone fell asleep quickly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catalina: First Impressions"},{"content":"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 up and set the main. The wind sustained us for all of 15 minutes (at a measly 4 knots) before it died out completely. I reluctantly conceded that there was no chance of making it to Catalina on wind power alone and powered up the diesel.\nTime passed and the family went below to assemble the first of the few dozen snacks that we consumed on the 5 hr passage. I was sitting at the helm, reclining against the lifelines when I saw roiling seas to port. I\u0026rsquo;ve only seen fish move like that at the surface when there was a fearsome predator nearby. My guard went up. I bellowed to Vick to hold the kids and kept a watchful eye on the water.\nWithin moments a saw a whale breach about 100 yards to port. I called it out, partly to warn Vick of the potential danger, and partly to encourage the kids to come and see. They got their life jackets back on and bounded up to see. The whales were moving aft quickly and the kids were lucky to see a few breaches and blows before they swam out of view. Later in the day we saw porpoises (probably a dozen), and a handful of seals.\nRuby took a turn at the helm, and taught herself how to walk to the bow using a double harness for safety. I am impressed with how quickly she learns everything, from boat parts and names, to concepts.\nOlive took a late nap around 2pm and Ruby conked out at 3:30, after playing a few rounds of Fairy Princesses with Vick. Vick and I were psyched because it gave us hope that the mooring could be accomplished without distraction. We plowed through relatively calm and windless seas anxiously watching the sun setting and estimating our arrival time against that deadline. By the time we arrived at the harbor entrance, the sun had set.\nThe already hazy air, combined with the waxing twilight made it almost impossible to see our landmarks and ATONs. I managed to sight a water tank on a hill, and created a sight-line with a small outcropping called Ship Rock. I estimated how far off that line we had to be to avoid the reef and held that course. I was relieved when I saw bird rock and the green flasher behind us. I had survived the reef, and we were close enough to radio to the harbor master and request our mooring ball. Within a few minutes we were happily bobbing at our mooring, the kids were melting down, and it was too dark to see. We decided to set the ship to rights and head to shore for dinner.\nOur first day of family sailing was a resounding success. Stay tuned for Catalina: First Impressions.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/catalina-the-passage/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 up and set the main. The wind sustained us for all of 15 minutes (at a measly 4 knots) before it died out completely.  I reluctantly conceded that there was no chance of making it to Catalina on wind power alone and powered up the diesel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catalina: The Passage."},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s right, when given the choice between presents or sailing Ruby said she was more excited about sailing.\nIn preparation, Victoria and I are frantically working down the todo list. Here\u0026rsquo;s what the next few days look like\nOur good friends Sarah and Ricky are stopping by for a lightning visit this afternoon. Tonight we make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This year we\u0026rsquo;re adding Peppermint Molten Chocolate Cakes to the feast. After dinner we\u0026rsquo;ll do a video chat with Papa Verne and Gramora where Papa V. will read \u0026ldquo;The Night Before Christmas\u0026rdquo; (another family tradition.) After the kids fall asleep we\u0026rsquo;ll pack everything up for the trip, put out the presents, and hopefully get to bed early. In addition to the expected Christmas morning hullabaloo we will be preparing to leave (at noon? really?), and video chatting with the Logans. We\u0026rsquo;ll drive down to LA and spend the night there. Early on the 26th we will drive over to the marina where Vick will drop me off to do the check-in. She\u0026rsquo;ll head over to WF in Santa Monica to provision and we\u0026rsquo;ll hopefully be on the water by 11am. I\u0026rsquo;ve been told that the sail is ~7hrs to Two Harbors so we\u0026rsquo;ll be racing against the clock to get to the mooring before dark.\nThe weather report looks reasonable (though I\u0026rsquo;m not excited about the slight chance of rain). If the weather holds, we\u0026rsquo;ll have a lovely week of sailing and can finally develop a sense for how our family will adapt to a sailing lifestyle. Wish us luck!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/off-to-catalina/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIts 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\u0026rsquo;s right, when given the choice between presents or sailing Ruby said she was more excited about sailing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn preparation, Victoria and I are frantically working down the todo list. Here\u0026rsquo;s what the next few days look like\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur good friends Sarah and Ricky are stopping by for a lightning visit this afternoon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTonight we make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. This year we\u0026rsquo;re adding \u003ca href=\"http://sproutedkitchen.com/?p=769\"\u003ePeppermint Molten Chocolate Cakes\u003c/a\u003e to the feast.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter dinner we\u0026rsquo;ll do a video chat with Papa Verne and Gramora where Papa V. will read \u0026ldquo;\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763631183?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=0763631183\"\u003eThe Night Before Christmas\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rdquo; (another family tradition.)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAfter the kids fall  asleep we\u0026rsquo;ll pack everything up for the trip, put out the presents, and hopefully get to bed early.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIn addition to the expected Christmas morning hullabaloo we will be preparing to leave (at noon? really?), and video chatting with the Logans.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;ll drive down to LA and spend the night there. Early on the 26th we will drive over to the marina where Vick will drop me off to do the check-in. She\u0026rsquo;ll head over to WF in Santa Monica to provision and we\u0026rsquo;ll hopefully be on the water by 11am. I\u0026rsquo;ve been told that the sail is ~7hrs to Two Harbors so we\u0026rsquo;ll be racing against the clock to get to the mooring before dark.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Off to Catalina"},{"content":"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 on the topic a week or so ago. I have always yearned to do more public speaking and trusted Scott to teach me at least one worthwhile thing for my $9 (Kindle Book).\nWhat I didn\u0026rsquo;t expect was to laugh my way through the book. The author\u0026rsquo;s informal tone and reflective storytelling engaged me from the start and kept me turning pages at breakneck speed. Another unexpected joy was the perfectly balanced chapters. Many authors of this genre tend to err either on the side of light/vapid or dry and long winded. It was unexpected and refreshing to get to the end of a chapter and feel grateful both that it ended when it did, and for the valuable content of its pages.\nScott also provided the best bullet points of any book I\u0026rsquo;ve read. I fully enjoyed the \u0026ldquo;things the human mind loves paying attention to\u0026rdquo; list which included\nThings we like to eat Things that eat us People we want to have sex with Things that explode Things that are pretty What\u0026rsquo;s most surprising to me is that I started reading this book as a bit of a challenge. I\u0026rsquo;ve been reading strictly for entertainment for the last dozen or so books. Tearing through the pages of a book that reads like a gloriously long and detailed fantasy life is a piece of cake, and struck me as a bit of a literary cop-out. I announced to my wife last night that I was going to commit to reading one book that \u0026ldquo;I think I should read\u0026rdquo; for every one that I know I will enjoy. Confessions of a Public Speaker cheated me by being fully entertaining and providing me with business value\nBefore I conclude this review, I want to give the author big props for inadvertently (or maybe not) supporting homeschooling.\n\u0026ldquo;For learning, small numbers win. The success of this one-on-one method is proven throughout history; many so-called prodigies were tutored by a parent or family friend (Einstein, Picasso, and Mozart all qualify)… Teaching is an intimacy of the mind, and you can\u0026rsquo;t achieve that if you must work in large numbers\u0026rdquo;\nIf you have an interest in teaching, lecturing, conducting webcasts, or just engaging people at your next dinner party, I highly recommend this book. Scott, if you read this, I hereby offer a nice bottle of wine, laughter and and interesting opinion any time you\u0026rsquo;re in the neighborhood and in the mood to chat!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/book-review/book-review-confessions-of-a-public-speaker/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI just devoured this book. I started it last night  (after completing the riveting \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553575651?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=0553575651\"\u003efinal book\u003c/a\u003e of the Liveship Traders Trilogy) and finished it a few minutes ago.  I bought this book (somewhat impulsively) after watching Scott give a \u003ca href=\"http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/e/1494\"\u003ewebcast\u003c/a\u003e on the topic a week or so ago. I have always yearned to do more \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/03/04/my-talk\"\u003epublic speaking\u003c/a\u003e and trusted Scott to teach me at least one worthwhile thing for my $9 (Kindle Book).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker"},{"content":"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 suggestions.\nObtaining a SIM card from abroad: This is perhaps the most confusing step in an entirely confusing process. I started by trying to purchase a card online. This is a complete non-starter. All of the links that I found point to sites that seem to have been set up prior to 26/11 (Mumbai\u0026rsquo;s Terrorist attacks). Subsequent to the attacks, India\u0026rsquo;s government set up a serious bureaucracy that seems to do little more than inconvenience legitimate customers.\nMail Order:\nEventually I had someone in India purchase a card for me and mail it to me. This would have worked well except that my go-between didn\u0026rsquo;t buy a card in the state that I was visiting. This is the first important lesson Buy a SIM card in the state that you will be traveling in. If you are traveling through several states either pick the one you\u0026rsquo;ll be starting in or the one you\u0026rsquo;ll be spending the most time in. If you can manage to have someone ship you a SIM card, make sure they charge it for you prior to shipping. It is very difficult to charge a SIM card for the first time, outside of the state it was purchased for.\nRetail Store:\nIf you can\u0026rsquo;t find someone to buy it for you your best bet is to purchase it at a retailer. The good news is that you can\u0026rsquo;t go ten steps in any village, town, or city without running over a retailer\u0026rsquo;s booth, stand, or office. If for some inconcievable reason you cannot find an Airtel or Vodafone sign, just ask around. I found that shop owners of just about any variety could charge my card.\nFor purchasing the card I would recommend an office. They are often A/C and you\u0026rsquo;ll have to fill out some paperwork, so the chair is a welcome perk. I had the good luck to get my Karnataka SIM card at the Infosys Campus in Mysore, which was specifically set up to process visitors. Your millage may vary. The one thing that will really streamline the process is if you bring a copy of your passport with you. Make it color, and don\u0026rsquo;t scale it. They need your picture to be passport sized. The card is free (or nearly free), but comes uncharged.\nCharging your SIM Card: As I mentioned before, I used Airtel for my provider. Airtel\u0026rsquo;s tariff (pricing) structure is such that if you charge the exact amount you want, you will likely not have that amount fully credited to your account. However, if you choose a \u0026ldquo;Full Talk Time\u0026rdquo; amount (Rs 333 or 444) you will get the full amount credited to your account. In my case I wanted to charge with Rs 1000 so I did a Rs 333 charge 3 times. In many cases the retailer needs to wait between charges (sometimes 10 minutes). I had fine luck walking away after the first charge and waiting for the texts for the other two.\nA note regarding Full Talk Time tariffs; make sure to say it like \u0026ldquo;Rupees 333. Full Talk Time.\u0026rdquo; For whatever reason, this created a huge efficiency of communication at some of the smaller vendors.\nTraveling out of state:\nI bought my (second) SIM card in Karnataka and later traveled to Kerala. I was very fortunate to be given this advice before I departed. Whatever your last in state recharge was, is what you\u0026rsquo;ll be allowed to recharge at when out of state. So if I charge my Airtel card at Rs 1000 in Karnataka and then travel to Kerala I will be stuck charging at Rs 1000 in Kerala unless I can find a shop that has a Karnataka phone (more on this later). Therefore I highly recommend charging at a full talk time rate. In some adjacent states (Kerala to Karnataka is a good example) you\u0026rsquo;ll probably be able to find a vendor with phones for both states, but there\u0026rsquo;s no apparent value in taking the chance.\nThe Charging Process: This is worth a quick note, as it completely took me by surprise. Here\u0026rsquo;s how it goes.\nYou stop into a retail shop and order your recharge, \u0026ldquo;Rs 333, Full Talk Time.\u0026rdquo; After you hand over your money, the guy will reach down and pick up a cell phone and ask you for your number. He\u0026rsquo;ll type in a code, and your number, and another code (probably the amount) and a few seconds later you\u0026rsquo;ll receive a SMS confirming the charge. If you do multiple full talk time recharges, you can either stay until they send the other recharges, or confirm that they will do it in a given period of time, and depart. I always trusted them, and wasn\u0026rsquo;t disappointed.\nI should note here that on my very first transaction, I made all sorts of mistakes. I had just arrived in India and hit the first stand I came across. He asked me which state I wanted to charge in and I confidently stated that it was a Karnataka SIM. As it turns out it was actually from Raj. The second mistake was assuming that they would know my phone. iPhones are still fairly rare, as are smart phones. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know to expect an SMS and they seemed tentative about the device in general. There was a bit of faltering on the vendors part as he conferred with his colleagues. This should have been a clear sign that it wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to work. These guys probably do a hundred plus transactions a day, any hesitation should be closely managed. I was tired and hungry and just wanted to charge my phone up, so I wasn\u0026rsquo;t paying very close attention. I also didn\u0026rsquo;t know about the full talk time loophole, and that added some confusion. In the end I plunked down a thousand rupee note and walked away after he showed me his text. I never got that recharge, and I didn\u0026rsquo;t have time to go back to clarify.\nVoice Mail: There is no voice mail to speak of, at least not on Airtel. It took quite a while to figure this out, as the very word voice mail is kind of foreign. I spent a long time going around in circles because they do have voice SMS (MMS) and they sometimes use that for voice mail. Much more common is to just text your message if you can\u0026rsquo;t get through. I was lucky enough to have this discussion with a vendor at Infosys\u0026rsquo; Campus where language was not a real obstacle.\nUnlocking Your Phone: I\u0026rsquo;m not going to go into details here, as all phones are different. You do need to make sure your phone is unlocked before you go. If you don\u0026rsquo;t have a phone that you feel comfortable unlocking, you might as well leave it behind and purchase a phone in India. The prices seemed very reasonable. If you\u0026rsquo;re not sure if your phone is unlocked, find a friend that uses a different network and put their SIM card in your phone. If its unlocked, you\u0026rsquo;ll be able to make a call, otherwise you\u0026rsquo;ll get a visible error on the screen.\nThe Good News: India\u0026rsquo;s telecoms have realized that marketing to the bottom of the pyramid is the shortest path to outrageous fortune. As a result you get quality service even in remote areas and it costs maximum Rs 6/min. Calling within the local state its Rs 1/min or less (Vodafone is 1p/sec). Make a long distance call and its Rs 6/min. Incoming calls are free.\nMore good news. Most of the country is serviced with Edge speed cellular internet. On my Airtel prepaid I could get a full 24 hours of internet for Rs 20 (48¢). This is a real treat on a train. I would have loved 3G but when I realized that the internet cafes provided throughput speeds that were roughly equivalent to my laptop tethered to my phone, I stopped being so anxious.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s all. If you have further questions or corrections, please leave a comment below and I will address them.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/buying-a-sim-card-in-india/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 suggestions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"obtaining-a-sim-card-from-abroad\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eObtaining a SIM card from abroad:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is perhaps the most confusing step in an entirely confusing process. I started by trying to purchase a card online. This is a complete non-starter. All of the links that I found point to sites that seem to have been set up prior to 26/11 (Mumbai\u0026rsquo;s Terrorist attacks). Subsequent to the attacks, India\u0026rsquo;s government set up a serious bureaucracy that seems to do little more than inconvenience legitimate customers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Buying a SIM card in India"},{"content":"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 wearing her pink flower rain boots, mini-skirt, and a blue tee-shirt. Olive was sporting the ripped play pants and a dinosaur shirt. I really can\u0026rsquo;t blame them for seating us in the back corner, and it did nothing to dampen our enjoyment of the meal. The waitstaff positively doted over Olive. She played it cool, not answering their questions, but turning around to gawk at them when they walked away.\nBy the end of dinner Olive was starting to make for the door, and Vick was still trying to get some food in herself. I thought quick and asked Olive to tell me a story. She was saying something about a bunny (I later realized she meant balloon) so I decided to follow her lead.\n\u0026ldquo;Tell me about your bunny Olive, what color was she?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Blue.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;And what was your bunny doing?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Hop, Hop, Hopping.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;Where was she Hopping?\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;On a stick.\u0026rdquo;\nAnd so on. This is the story that ensued.\nThe Blue Bunny: By Olive Bradford\nThe Blue Bunny hop, hop, hops on a stick through the doorway, on her way to the airport. At the airport she hop hop hops on a blue airplane and flies, on a trip, to Portland Oregon [thanks for that flourish Ruby]. When she arrives at the airport in Portland she gets on a black train to the country. She sees a goose, a blue goose. The bunny sees a blue leaf, all the time. The bunny walks in the hot fire (hock da-da, if we must be precise) and puts a book, on a stick, into the hot fire. Olive pokes a stick into the hot fire.\nOlive blows out the candle at the table, signifying, I think, that the story is over.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re waiting for a punchline, go back and read that again. This time imagine that none of the words make any sense, and you have to basically write the whole story while getting your artistic license validated by a two year old. I\u0026rsquo;m still laughing\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/the-blue-bunny-olives-first-collaborative-story/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 wearing her pink flower rain boots, mini-skirt, and  a blue tee-shirt. Olive was sporting the ripped play pants and a dinosaur shirt. I really can\u0026rsquo;t blame them for seating us in the back corner, and it did nothing to dampen our enjoyment of the meal. The waitstaff positively doted over Olive. She played it cool, not answering their questions, but turning around to gawk at them when they walked away.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Blue Bunny — Olive' First (collaborative) Story"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;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 individually a plan popped into my head that married both of these concerns into a harmonic union.\nThis morning I asked Ruby if she would like to go sailing for the week after Christmas. She asked a bunch of probing questions – \u0026ldquo;Can I bring my dolls?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;What will we do about pirates\u0026rdquo; – and when she was satisfied with the answers, wholeheartedly supported the plan.\nOlive was a push over by comparison. As soon as the word \u0026lsquo;sailboat\u0026rsquo; passed my lips she started shouting \u0026ldquo;Take me, Take me\u0026rdquo; and rushed off to pack her backpack. The only downside is that she then spent the rest of the morning getting very anxious whenever anyone touched her pack :)\nSo, with a light heart, and no reproach from Vick, I made arrangements to charter a Jeanneau Sunfast 35 out of Marina Del Rey. We\u0026rsquo;ll sail out to Catalina Island on the 26th and decide what to do from there. We may stay put and enjoy some gunkholing or head north to Channel Islands National Park. A lot will depend on the kiddos ambition and cooperation.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/yo-ho-ho-ho/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;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 individually a plan popped into my head that married both of these concerns into a harmonic union.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis morning I asked Ruby if she would like to go sailing for the week after Christmas. She asked a bunch of probing questions – \u0026ldquo;Can I bring my dolls?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;What will we do about pirates\u0026rdquo; – and when she was satisfied with the answers, wholeheartedly supported the plan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yo Ho Ho Ho"},{"content":"This is a slightly old video of Ruby singing a song she invented about respect. I love that as she\u0026rsquo;s singing it she grabs her brother and won\u0026rsquo;t let go of him when he yelps. Luckily she does let go when I ask her, so it seems as though she respects me, but not Mr. M.. Enjoy…\n… \u0026ldquo;This land was made for you and me.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ruby-sings-about-respect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a slightly old video of Ruby singing a song she invented about respect. I love that as she\u0026rsquo;s singing it she grabs her brother and won\u0026rsquo;t let go of him when he yelps. Luckily she does let go when I ask her, so it seems as though she respects me, but not Mr. M.. Enjoy…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e… \u0026ldquo;This land was made for you and me.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby Sings About Respect"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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 picture\u0026rsquo;s URL and I\u0026rsquo;ll jump ahead. The \u0026ldquo;En Trip\u0026rdquo; sub-album contains photos I uploaded while we were traveling. For the most part they are duplicates (at lower resolution) of what is in the main album, but there are a few gems from my Dad\u0026rsquo;s phone.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/hong-kong-and-india-pictures/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve just posted the best (331) \u003ca href=\"/photography/wpg2?g2_itemId=42920\u0026amp;amp;g2_highlightId=43113\"\u003epictures\u003c/a\u003e 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 picture\u0026rsquo;s URL and I\u0026rsquo;ll jump ahead. The \u0026ldquo;En Trip\u0026rdquo; sub-album contains photos I uploaded while we were traveling. For the most part they are duplicates (at lower resolution) of what is in the main album, but there are a few gems from my Dad\u0026rsquo;s phone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hong Kong and India Pictures"},{"content":"\n\u0026ldquo;It looks like the rain has let up a bit, should we make a run for it?\u0026rdquo; I asked, equivocating. \u0026ldquo;Its probably as good as any time,\u0026rdquo; Dad replied.\nWe had been enduring monsoon rains for hours, holed up first at the Cafe del Mar and later at Abba. It was getting late and we still had to pack.\nSo we made a dash for it and, as if cued by some rueful sadistic god, the rain intensified. Too late to change course, we soldiered into the torrent. Dad helped my pull my bike out of the muddy garbage heap. I was ankle deep in brown water and suddenly grateful that I was: a) wearing my sandals; and b) immunized against Hep A.\nWe hauled the bike out and I kick started mine while Dad readied his black beast. I moved under an overhang in a futile attempt to mitigate my drenching. As soon as I saw Dad\u0026rsquo;s headlight round the corner I launched forward into the axle deep river that once was our road. Hooting with glee, I raised my feet to the crash bar and barreled upstream.\nMoments later I became aware of the conspicuous lack of back lighting and stopped to look. My foot didn\u0026rsquo;t make immediate contact with the road and I almost lost the bike. Laughing, I pulled under another archway and smiled at the guard who was peering out from his guardhouse. A few minutes passed and I decided to circle back. I found Dad kicking like his life depended on it. \u0026ldquo;Out of gas,\u0026rdquo; I queried. \u0026ldquo;Yup, I think so.\u0026rdquo;\nA rickshaw eased up next to us and offered his assistance. \u0026ldquo;Do you have an empty water bottle?\u0026rdquo; He popped out a moment later with a water bottle and a small tarp, which he kindly held over us while we drained some gas from my tank into the bottle. The way it was raining, we would have taken equal parts petrol and water, had it not been for that shelter. We poured the gas into Dad\u0026rsquo;s tank and held our breath while he kicked the black beast into action.\nWe hastily thanked the rickshaw driver and sprang into gear, soaked to the bones and howling with primitive triumph.\nThe rain blinded me so completely that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have seen the giant lake, even if it hadn\u0026rsquo;t been camouflaged to look just like the river we were already transiting. Dad fell in first. I almost barreled into him as I considered how impressive it was that he and his bike were both still standing.\nWe were now only a short descent from the hotel and I was relieved when I realized that I could now run out of gas and still glide home. As we crested the last rise I saw below me an angry river forming a V like the rapids I used to shoot in my canoe. Lifting my legs once more I charged forward into the driving rain. A few blind bumps later and I was at rest in my parking spot, utterly drenched and laughing heartily. Dad\u0026rsquo;s rolled up and stopped abruptly. \u0026ldquo;Out of gas!\u0026rdquo; he exclaimed.\nI couldn\u0026rsquo;t have asked for a better farewell. It had all the components that have made this trip a success: the unknown; the victory of providence over planning; the subtle reassurance that everything in India happens for a reason; and perhaps most important the generous stranger, on hand at just the right moment to turn the tide and save the day.\nThank you India.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/the-victory-of-providence-over-planning/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/11/L1030801-Version-2-300x240.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;It looks like the rain has let up a bit, should we make a run for it?\u0026rdquo; I asked, equivocating. \u0026ldquo;Its probably as good as any time,\u0026rdquo; Dad replied.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had been enduring monsoon rains for hours, holed up first at the Cafe del Mar and later at Abba. It was getting late and we still had to pack.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo we made a dash for it and, as if cued by some rueful sadistic god, the rain intensified. Too late to change course, we soldiered into the torrent. Dad helped my pull my bike out of the muddy garbage heap. I was ankle deep in brown water and suddenly grateful that I was: a) wearing my sandals; and b) immunized against Hep A.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Victory of Providence Over Planning"},{"content":"Varkala, Kerala\nNovember 14, 2009\nThe 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 down the lane with anguished howls from the injured, then an argument between man and a woman close by, the first public display of such emotion I have witnessed. I lie back on my pillow to read with my nightlight, trying not to disturb T who is sleeping peacefully beside me. But peace is not the order of this morning. An enormous swarm of screaming blackbirds begins wildly swirling the palms in the walled garden just to our south, reminding me of a Hitchcock movie with it\u0026rsquo;s eerie freneticism.\nHad I not been over-concerned with an infection that had developed\nnext to my left ear last night I might have paid more attention to the\nshouting I thought I heard in the distance. But infections in this\nenvironment get first attention. Then the shouting increased in\nvolume. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t stand it any longer. I ran for the door, gently\npried it open to avoid waking Tuck, and popped out onto the balcony.\nJust as I feared, way out beyond the surf line I could see through the\npalm fronds two heads bobbing on the waves. The shouting was much\nlouder and as I slid up and down the perimeter of the balcony to\nimprove my sightline, I soon spotted a large group of agitated men\nmoving excitedly along the headland. They appeared to be pulling on a\nlong rope reaching into the surf, apparently a lifeline to the\ndrowning men. I rushed back into the room, told Tuck, who was now\nawake and abluting, that I was dashing to the shore to see what was up.\nHurrying down the red mud lane between the high masonry walls that are\nso much a feature of India, I rounded the end, wobbled over the four\nboard bridge that spans the ditch where yet another wall is being\nbuilt and sprinted back south toward the shore, now hidden by the\nshrimp hatchery. As I came round the corner, the scene began to come\ninto focus, but far from the pattern I was expecting. Instead of a\nheroic rescue at sea, I found \u0026ndash; 35 villagers hauling in a purse seine.\nAs I was soon to see first hand, it was filled with a heavy load of\nsmall silvery fish And one skate. After their two hours of shouting,\nheaving on the ropes and chanting the Malayalam equivalent of\n\u0026ldquo;Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,\u0026rdquo; I had hoped for more. Maybe a shark or\nat least a sailfish. But no, just sardines.\nThis did not dampen the enthusiasm of the villagers, though. There\nwas much smiling, some self-important shouting of directions, and the\noccasional departure from shore of some brave soul who swims out through the frightening waves to straighten the lines or beat the waters to scare the fish back into\nthe net.\nAs the huge seine nears the shore the fishermen skillfully close its mouth.\nThe two teams of pullers accomplish this by dancing in a tightly\narranged choreography around the intervening palms. Shortly two women\narrive carrying large metal tubs on their heads. The first load of\nshimmery fish makes its way hand over hand up the shore. Then several\nmotorcycles roar in with huge plastic milk crates tied to the back.\nClearly the whole village works together on this. I can see how an\nelected communist government works here. These people do everything\ncommunally. Not much different than what they had before, I imagine.\nA group of men are scooping up a large pile of fish that has dropped\ninto the sand, shoveling them back onto a tarp where the main treasure\ntrove lies. Tuck and I assume that everyone shares equally in the\ncatch including the boatmen at sea and those who transport the catch\nto market.\nA young Czech woman joins us to snap some photos from our prime\nvantage point. Her apparently non-English-speaking boyfriend stands\nmutely apart As we are talking I notice one of the scoopers\nsurreptitiously slip a handful of fish into his pocket. He avoids my\neyes when he notices me noticing. I quickly shift my attention back\nto the Czech woman.\nThis is her second trip to India. The first took three months. \u0026ldquo;What\nbrought you back,\u0026rdquo; I ask. \u0026ldquo;Well,\u0026rdquo; she said, \u0026ldquo;there were things that I\ndidn\u0026rsquo;t understand on my first trip that I wanted to understand.\u0026rdquo;. She\nis two weeks into her four week return trip now. I am expecting an\ninsight into fate, acceptance and the durability of the soul.\n\u0026ldquo;Like what,\u0026rdquo; I inquire.\n\u0026ldquo;Well, the first time I didn\u0026rsquo;t understand why I don\u0026rsquo;t find Indian men\nattractive. Now I understand. It is because their faces are round, not\noval.\u0026rdquo;\nI am stunned into silence. This took 14 weeks of travel to unwind? I\nsneak a peak at Tuck, who is atypically mute. I have to avert my eyes\nbefore we both catch the giggles.\nStill, I give her the benefit of the doubt. I often regret my\nimpromptu utterances when put on the spot. She probably just didn\u0026rsquo;t\nfeel like discussing her spiritual velocity with two fish voyeurs.\nProbably we would have made a better impression with Beatrice, the\nAustrian woman who introduced herself to us yesterday as\n\u0026ldquo;fisherwoman.\u0026rdquo; Another reply that left us nearly speechless.\n\u0026ldquo;But isn\u0026rsquo;t Austria completely landlocked?\u0026rdquo; T asked.\nEven though she avowed that she had raised young fish in a kibbutz in\nIsrael, I had to doubt her bona fides when she demurred our invitation\nto view the shrimp hatchery in front of our hotel.\nThe fish are now separated into small and smaller, the fishermen are\nsmiling and Tuck and I are retreating toward breakfast. Always\nfriendly, Tuck stops to talk to an older man in a lunghi whom we have\nseen working on the construction project day after day. In that warm Indian\nway he wants to share the joy of the morning with us. We exchange\npleasantries and names, shake hands and amble on our way.\nAs we leave the shore probably for the last time I think, \u0026ldquo;His face\nlooks oval to me.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shift-vii-the-circle-in-the-square/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eVarkala, Kerala\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovember 14, 2009\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe muezzin’s chant wakes me at 5 am. It is still dark outside except\nfor the occasional lightning bloom over the Arabian Sea. The early\nmorning rumbles with ominous portents. First a ferocious dogfight down\nthe lane with anguished howls from the injured, then an argument\nbetween man and a woman close by, the first public display of such\nemotion I have witnessed. I lie back on my pillow to read with my\nnightlight, trying not to disturb T who is sleeping peacefully beside\nme. But peace is not the order of this morning. An enormous swarm of\nscreaming blackbirds begins wildly swirling the palms in the walled\ngarden just to our south, reminding me of a Hitchcock movie with it\u0026rsquo;s\neerie freneticism.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RED SHIFT (VII) -- The Circle in the Square"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;ll check our bags at the airport and then spend the day wandering around Cochin. By 8:30pm we will be on a plane to Mumbai and from there it will be only a few hours before we are on our way to California.\nBoth dad and I have had such an amazing time here. We\u0026rsquo;ve been smothered with the generosity of spirit that permeates every interaction. We\u0026rsquo;ve been overwhelmed by the poverty, and color, and olfactory presence of this place. We have found peace and calm and the ability to live in a moment. It is this last gift that I believe I will carry the longest. It is this gift that allows me to sit in this familiar internet \u0026ldquo;cafe\u0026rdquo; and type this article as if tomorrow will never come.\nI suppose I could allow myself to think about how I might feel tomorrow, as we speed away from this little slice of paridise. I suppose I might predict a sense of loss and regret. Instead I\u0026rsquo;m going to allow India\u0026rsquo;s lesson its due. I am here. Right now I am grateful, and tomorrow will be rich with its own moments.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/living-in-the-moment/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur 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\u0026rsquo;ll check our bags at the airport and then spend the day wandering around Cochin. By 8:30pm we will be on a plane to Mumbai and from there it will be only a few hours before we are on our way to California.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Living in the Moment or Denial is the Lesser Part of Valor"},{"content":"Today\u0026rsquo;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, and it worked like a charm.\nWe started the day by puttering over to Varkala Beach. We asked around in the shops for a wooden printing block, and were told that we would have to go to Trivandrum for that.\nFrom the shops we decided to hit the beach. When we arrived there was a slew of local kids playing in the surf, chaperoned by a handful of adults. They gathered around us and one precocious youth extended his hand to me in greeting, \u0026ldquo;Hello Sir, How do you do.\u0026rdquo; After his bold introduction, other kids started gathering. When dad took out his iPhone to take pictures the kids all watched on eagerly.\nSoon the children were imploring me to go swimming with them, and I was just warming up to the idea when two bikini clad women ambled into range. The parents s immediately started to shoo the boys away. The boys, being much like boys everywhere resisted until one of the dads gave one of the boys a swat on the butt. They all took off running, looking over their shoulders at the women as they left.\nThe women sauntered by us, completely unaware of how they had scandalized the locals. I must admit that I was somewhat gobsmacked myself, having become so accustomed to women being covered from shoulder to ankle. As they passed I took a look around, the beach was desolate save the four of us.\nOnce the women had disappeared from view the locals slowly returned and things returned to normal. We decided we had had enough excitement for one day, and headed back to the comfort of our air conditioned hotel for a nap.\nAround 2pm we rallied for a trip to the cliff for a leisurely, plan-free afternoon. We stopped in to our tailor and found my shirts ready and perfect, but the pants a bit tight in the butt. The tailor assured me that they would stretch in the wash. When I laughed and assured him that I didn\u0026rsquo;t just fall off the apple cart, he agreed to let them out a bit. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure that he had left enough seam allowance for that, but trusted that he knew better than I. We left the owner and tailor and headed down the path to our little coffee shop.\nThe Cafe Del Mar was about half full when we arrived at 2:30. The oppressive heat seemed to have the same effect on the other patrons, many of whom were listlessly passing the time over an iced drink, and trying to conserve their energy. We fell into sync with our fellow dilatories instantly and spent the rest of the day ordering a variety of drinks and foods.\nFinally the rain came and the heat abated somewhat. It was enough to allow us to think about a hot bite of dinner. I looked around and was surprised to find that the restaurant had more or less the exact same customers as when we had arrived. We had spent a good six hours sitting in one spot watching the world go by, and the dozen or so people that surrounded us when we left had shared the experience with us.\nI can\u0026rsquo;t quite put words to what a liberating experience this day has been. We set out with the whimsical goal of beating the game and I am proud to say that I think we succeeded.\nLife lessons:\nTake myself less seriously, whimsy is my friend Take time to do nothing. Nothing is the paramount of low expectations, and one is never disappointed by setting low expectations. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/counter-planning-gaming-the-system/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday\u0026rsquo;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, and it worked like a charm.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe started the day by puttering over to Varkala Beach.  We asked around in the shops for a wooden printing block, and were told that we would have to go to Trivandrum for that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Counter Planning - Gaming the System"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;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, a Georgetown University international law review.\nHis posts will be published on the dates they were written, so please follow his author slug so you don\u0026rsquo;t miss any!\nIn addition to providing great reading for you all, I am pleased as punch to have this record of our shared experience. Please take a moment to greet him in the comment section of his first post!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/please-welcome-forgeovers-first-guest-author/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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, a Georgetown University international law review.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis posts will be published on the dates they were written, so please follow his \u003ca href=\"/author/rvbradford\"\u003eauthor slug\u003c/a\u003e so you don\u0026rsquo;t miss any!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to providing great reading for you all, I am pleased as punch to have this record of our shared experience. Please take a moment to greet him in the comment section of \u003ca href=\"/articles/2009/11/04/red-shift-tippu-express\"\u003ehis first post\u003c/a\u003e!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Please Welcome Forgeover's First Guest Author"},{"content":"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.\nI have to admit that the power surge that blew up my laptop power supply was pretty annoying, but i still managed to get over it after a few minutes. The downside to this is that I will be typing all of my posts on my iPhone from here on out (please forgive the typos), and l will have to be more stingy with photos.\nAfter the Internet debacle we cruised back to the Sea Breeze hotel for a little A/C (its got to be 95 w/ 85% humidity here) and to drop off the now dead weight of the laptop. Before we saddled up to head to Kovalam, I took a moment to fix the dangling kicker with a piece of twine, a solution that I was hoping would impress the locals.\nAfter a quick stop at the ATM and armed with our first set of incorrect directions we headed out of town with smiles on our faces.\nI happily double tooted my horn at everyone who tooted at me, and waved at every lifted hand, all the while hoping that they meant what I thought they meant. Oh well, worst case scenario I was spreading goodwill. We made our way north along the water, asking directions as we went and, of course, never checking the two maps we had with us. People all seemed very sure that we were heading in the right direction.\nWe stopped for numerous photo ops and chatted with anyone who was friendly enough to smile at us. I must have given high-fives to a half dozen kids as I rolled by.\nBy the time we got to Poorparum, dad was poorpooped out so we started home. On the way back I gave another high-five to the boldest of a group of boys, and then dad (who was behind me) got flocked. They asked him for money, or a ride, and when he took out his camera they tried to grab it from him. When he told them that he wanted to take their pictures, they all lined up for him and smiled. Soon we were on our way again.\nBy this point we were getting fairly desperate for our bathroom (there\u0026rsquo;s been a touch of travelers tummy amongst us), and we still had a good ride ahead of us, even baring more bad directions (which sadly, we were not spared from).\nEventually we did make it back and now we are enjoying a few hours in the A/C before we venture out again. We never did make it to Kovalam, but I suppose we got close enough.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/varkala-to-kovalam-or-close-enough/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have to admit that the power surge that blew up my laptop power supply was pretty annoying, but i still managed to get over it after a few minutes. The downside to this is that I will be typing all of my posts on my iPhone from here on out (please forgive the typos), and l will have to be more stingy with photos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Varkala to Kovalam - or Close Enough"},{"content":"\nAfter 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 if he could arrange such a thing. After a little back and forth on the details he went off to see what he could do. A few minutes later he came back with the details and within 30 minutes we were staring at two of the most beaten up bikes left in India. The first Royal Enfield bikes were built in India in 1955, and I suspect that ours were from the first batch.\nWe spent a good half an hour with the 5 delivery guys trying to learn the kickstart and recalibrate for all of the controls being on the opposite side. Once we thought we had it all under control we raced off (in first gear) towards town to fill up the almost empty tanks.\nJust past the top of the first hill, I had discovered that my bike had no hand brakes. I didn\u0026rsquo;t fully appreciate the gravity of this until I stalled out on a hill and was forced to brace the bike\u0026rsquo;s peg against my shin in order to keep it from rolling away from me while I kickstarted it. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to let a little thing like brakes stop me, so I waved my dad on, and we headed off in a thoroughly futile search for fuel.\nWe were retracing a stretch of road for what felt like the 3rd time when my dad\u0026rsquo;s bike stalled out on him. Try as he might he could not get the engine to start. After ten or so minutes someone from the crowd (who had been watching with unmasked glee) stepped forward to reteach us how to kickstart the bikes. This was the first indication I had that everyone in Karala seems to know how to fix and ride a Royal Enfield.\nDisappointed, we decided to head back to the hotel and demand a Hero Honda. We almost made it too when (wait for it) \u0026hellip; dad ran out of gas. We talked for a moment or two and decided to ditch his bike and head back to the hotel on my bike. At that moment an onlooker (Bali Ali) came bounding over to our rescue.\n\u0026ldquo;What\u0026rsquo;s wrong\u0026rdquo;, he asked\n\u0026ldquo;No gas\u0026rdquo;, we said\n\u0026ldquo;Why not just take some from one tank and put it in the other\u0026rdquo;, he rejoined.\nDad and I looked blankly.\n\u0026ldquo;Here, park it on my side and I\u0026rsquo;ll help you\u0026rdquo;\nBali headed into his work in progress shop (he and his buddies were building it when we arrived) and came out with some Chai. \u0026ldquo;Want some tea?\u0026rdquo;, he offered. I accepted only to find out that he had just offered me the tea that he was about to drink. \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll share with my friend, you share with your dad\u0026rdquo;. The tea was awesome, and it was sweetened with the wholehearted generosity that Bali exuded. He grabbed an empty water bottle, and while I drank tea, proceeded to pop off the fuel line and drain about a half liter of gas into it. We poured that into our tank, finished the tea, chatted for a few more minutes and then as we were preparing to say goodbye, the guys who rented us the bikes showed up. Was this cosmic syncronicity or did they get tipped off? We\u0026rsquo;ll never know. After we went down our laundry list of problems and they tightened the brakes up, we headed off to the petrol station in their wake.\nAfter we filled up we headed over to the air pump. That\u0026rsquo;s when we realized that Dad\u0026rsquo;s headlights weren\u0026rsquo;t working either. We hailed over the two guys that we thought had led us over and pressed them to fix the headlights before we left.\nThey tapped and tinkered and couldn\u0026rsquo;t make it work, but invited us to follow them back to their shop. Once we arrived, about 10 other guys encircled us and started working on the problem. Within a few minutes we had the prognosis. \u0026ldquo;About 1 hr, come back.\u0026rdquo; We pushed back a little, \u0026ldquo;That\u0026rsquo;s going to be hard, can we just take the other bike, perhaps the one you were riding\u0026rdquo; (theirs looked brand new). \u0026ldquo;Not possible\u0026rdquo;, he replied.\nSomeone distracted us and the rest of them got right to work. Before I knew what had happened the whole back of the motorcycle was on the ground and they were re-wiring the taillights, headlights, and blinkers. In not more than 30 minutes the job was done. We thanked them heartily for their quick work and then the talk started to come around to money. We were a little put off. \u0026ldquo;We rented them from you, shouldn\u0026rsquo;t you pay for th repairs?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;No sir, these aren\u0026rsquo;t our bikes!\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Oh lord, now we\u0026rsquo;ve done it\u0026rdquo;, I thought. Dad and I had a quick conference and decided to just get a receipt for the work and we would duke it out with the rental guys later. \u0026ldquo;Receipt, no no we don\u0026rsquo;t have a receipt\u0026rdquo; said the head mechanic. \u0026ldquo;How about a slip of paper with the cost and your name\u0026rdquo;, we asked hopefully. This seemed acceptable and he ran off to accommodate these strange westerners. A moment went by and we were discussing the cost again. \u0026ldquo;Rs 40, offered one guy, tentatively\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Deal\u0026rdquo; my dad said without flinching and we both realized suddenly how utterly insane we must look to these guys. We offered the money, plus a little more and did our best to show our gratitude. We shook every hand 2 or 3 times and then headed off into the sunset (literally).\nBoth dad and I are in complete awe at the generosity of spirit and the warmth of the people of Varkala.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/a-royal-enfield-adventure/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/11/L1030632-Version-2-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 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 \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield\"\u003eRoyal Enfield\u003c/a\u003e. So we asked our host if he could arrange such a thing. After a little back and forth on the details he went off to see what he could do.  A few minutes later he came back with the details and within 30 minutes we were staring at two of the most beaten up bikes left in India. The first Royal Enfield bikes were built in India in 1955, and I suspect that ours were from the first batch.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Royal (Enfield) Adventure"},{"content":"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. \u0026ldquo;You must go to Varkala\u0026rdquo; they pressed \u0026ldquo;You will find nice people there and its not too busy\u0026rdquo;. We chatted a bit longer and then settled in to read the guide books. Dad and I both picked a few hotels that looked good and then hit the hay.\nWe were awoken by the sheet and blanket guy at 4:15am. \u0026ldquo;Cochin\u0026rdquo; he said, walking away. We stepped off the train into pouring rain. We were immediately herded by one tout after another. Shaking them off (we\u0026rsquo;re finally getting our wits) we headed for the exit. Dad stopped me, \u0026ldquo;We should probably figure out what we are doing now.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;24 hr Cafe Coffee Day, then plan\u0026rdquo;, I replied tersely.\nAt the curb a rickshaw driver tried to lure us into his tuk-tuk. \u0026ldquo;No. Cab!\u0026rdquo; we said in sync as we walked away. Across the street the cab driver made us stand in the rain while he told us that there were no 24 hr CCDs and no restaurants that were open. Annoyed and increasingly wet, we headed for the relative shelter of the nearest coffee-wala.\nI was enjoying the stares when our friend the rickshaw driver came over and started herding us into his vehicle. Defeated I let him put my bag in. Dad still had some juice left and insisted that we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t fit, and he did not want his luggage on the roof in the rain. Our new friend called one of his buddies over and rickshaw driver #2 had a much larger cab complete with a trunk. Happy, we climbed in and were whisked off to a very accommodating local hotel. I was quite proud of us for not even commenting that we were, once again, not taken to our prescribed destination. In the hotel restaurant, we were served coffee and chocolate mouse, and allowed to sit for a few hours and plan our day.\nWe decided to try out a \u0026ldquo;Volvo Bus\u0026rdquo; on the recommendation of our train friends. Well fed and caffeinated, we hopped into another large rickshaw and headed to the bus station, only to find out (eventually) that the Volvo buses had all been canceled. \u0026ldquo;Canceled? All of them?\u0026rdquo;\nWho knows what the real story was, but I wasn\u0026rsquo;t interested in fighting. Once again India was pushing us in another direction, and its a big sub-continent, so I\u0026rsquo;m not going to argue. Besides, its taken fantastic care of us so far.\nSo with a light step we hoped back into a rickshaw and hightailed it over to the train station to catch the Kerala Express to Varkala. We bought our ticket and with the help of a porter, headed over to platform 4 to await our train.\nAs the departure time drew near we started to worry that we might be on the wrong platform. I wandered off and found an official looking person changing the placards on the coaches. Struggling with language I finally came to understand that we were in the right place.\nA few minutes later our porter came over to tell us that we were on the wrong platform. He loaded Dad\u0026rsquo;s bags up and we headed over to platform 3 in time to catch the train. This was the first random act of kindness of our day, and it left us feeling 10 feet tall.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/bangalore-to-varkala/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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. \u0026ldquo;You must go to Varkala\u0026rdquo; they pressed \u0026ldquo;You will find nice people there and its not too busy\u0026rdquo;. We chatted a bit longer and then settled in to read the guide books. Dad and I both picked a few hotels that looked good and then hit the hay.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bangalore to Varkala"},{"content":"Kerala Express\nNovember 10, 2009\nI 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 night convinced us to skip Cochin altogether and head straight for the white sand beaches and palms of Varkala and Kovalam. They suggested we take a bus south, but only a Volvo bus. The other KSRTC buses, they assured us, we would not enjoy. I am silently thanking them for their good advice as I, Varkala bound, peer out our window at the rice paddies, rivers and thick green jungle. I spy a woman dressed in a bright orange sari with a turquoise shawl and a pink parasol walking up a red clay road and feel as if I am watching some PBS documentary, not experiencing this in real life.\nThe conductor shook us awake at 4:10 a.m. We were at the end of the Bangalore line in Ernakulam. We emerged into the dark station in a pouring rain surrounded by men in lunghis, sort of a tablecloth wrapped around the waist and then pulled up above the knees to make puffy pantaloons. A tout latched on to us, promising to locate a cab that would take us to a 24-hour coffee bar, as Tuck had asked. We were a little suspicious of him, though, given past experiences, and eluded him to go splashing through the substantial puddles to the cab stand. We snagged our own rickshaw driver and said we wanted to go to the 24-hour Coffee Day in town. He looked puzzled and uttered the now predictable line, “It is not possible, sir.” There ensued a conference with several other rickshaw drivers, but the result was the same. Nothing is open at this hour.\nWe bailed. Across the drive to the train station were strings of lights around little vendors\u0026rsquo; stalls. Blue plastic tarps strung from trees provided rain cover, and we made a beeline for these. I saw Tuck heading for a vortex of brown water swirling down an open hole and shouted to him. I had seen some of these ungrated drains yesterday and thought what a great way to break a leg. T, of course, had already spotted the man-trap and had diverted.\nWe huddled in under the canopy with quite a few other refugees and rethought our strategy for the next leg of the trip. The conclusion? “Let\u0026rsquo;s get some coffee; then we\u0026rsquo;ll figure it out.” The tout had spotted us by this time and brought over one of his stable of rickshaw drivers. They grabbed our bags and started loading T\u0026rsquo;s pack into the back seat. Even though we\u0026rsquo;ve seen up to ten people crowded into these little motorcycles with a canopy, I was not willing to believe that all our luggage and us were going to fit. Sure enough, the driver grabbed my suitcase and started to heft it up onto the roof. “No, no, no!” I yelled. There was no way I wanted my only dry clothes left exposed to the driving rain. The tout and the driver looked stunned that anyone would object, but when they saw I wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to change my mind the tout quickly switched gears and called over another rickshaw that was set up like a lilliputian pick-up truck. The bags fit into the back and we happily climbed into our seat.\nThe ugly cement, flat-topped buildings of this section of Cochin were mostly covered in black mold. My wretch factor was rising fast as far as finding a hotel in Cochin was concerned, but that had been only the vaguest of possibilities anyway. As we buzzed through the lanes, I switched into observation mode, enjoying the strangeness, and silently making the decision that I knew T was making too – we will leave this unprepossessing city and head for the south as our bunkmates had recommended.\nThings seem to work out for us in strange ways here, but never in the ways we expect. We are both coming to accept that plans are only pointers on the crooked roads of our days. Our rickshaw driver has us under his care for this brief moment in time, and though we can\u0026rsquo;t communicate with language, he has assessed our needs and sensitivities and come up with a solution. We are dropped minutes later in the circular drive of a marble clad business hotel with an elegant, and distinctly non-traditional Indian lobby. They have an open restaurant and we are graciously welcomed and seated, our bags attended to by a porter. At 4:30 am we are, of course, the only patrons, but the staff on duty rise to the occasion and fulfill our orders; coffee and chocolate mousse for both of us. What a great start to the day!\nI have slid two guide books out of my suitcase and T and I are studying them. Our different approaches to travel are expressing themselves, but we have achieved a harmony that honors both our styles. T much the planner and executer, I resisting decisions and wanting to float like a leaf in a brook, waiting until I see a comfortable bank to come to rest. Both our styles have their advantages and pitfalls; together they seem to be greater than the sum of their parts. Tuck\u0026rsquo;s quick reactivity has gotten us out of some jams and into some good luck. Need a hotel reservation – he is ready with his jail-broken iPhone, Airtel India sim card, and magical internet access and dialing before I have time to object that, well, maybe we might like something else better if we could just scope things out first. There is a reason I am often checking in after dark.\nAnd here we are now, skimming the edge of the Arabian sea on our Royal Enfield Bullets, happier than two lost Americans have a right to be. We arrived at the Sea Breeze hotel in Varkala, way down on the southern tip of India yesterday afternoon. Vani the hostess, Sunil the manager and Rani the general factotum have received us graciously and presented us with a wonderful second story room, our balcony overlooking the palms and sea a few hundred feet away. (The price \u0026ndash;$16 a day each.) We are the honored, and only, guests. We sat on the rooftop for a chicken biriyani and a paneer tikki masala, talked to the manager, and moments later were examining our strange Royal Enfields, whose lifetime appears to have begun in the days of the Raj.\nAfter our careening cab ride from the train station down an exceedingly narrow and windy road at unfathomable speeds, I am downright terrified to be on this ancient black machine with its tank-like heft and tractor-like gear box. In true English style, everything is backwards – the rear brake is on the left side, the gear shift on the right. You lift up for first instead of down. It has a kick-starter that requires an engineering degree and the patience of Job to operate. And when it does work, you risk been launched skywards from the recoil if you don\u0026rsquo;t remove your foot from the lever fast enough. Then there are the no brakes and no lights, no documents and no helmet. I feel like a Roger Miller song, no phone, no pool, no pets . . .\nStill the bikes, with their good looks and pulsing exhaust offer us undeniable street cred. And no-one can see the bruises on my legs where the overweight beast has nicked me time and again. Everyone waves and stops to offer advice on how to kick start the thing properly, how to fix the broken lights, and so on.\nWe park the bikes by a little cement garage-like structure in the red mud across form the shrimp hatchery under construction. The construction workers have adopted us and seem over-amused at our klutziness. The little old man who sits cross-legged in front of the garage each day trimming screens tells us by pantomime and broken English that the even older owner has been staying up all night to watch our bikes he is so concerned they will be stolen. He advises a chain and padlock. After living with these kind people in this communist state, I feel as if I need to re-evaluate every preconception I have ever had about anyone and anything. The kindness is just overwhelming. I feel unworthy.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shift-vi-coffee-day/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eKerala Express\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovember 10, 2009\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI 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 night convinced us to skip Cochin altogether and head straight for the white sand beaches and palms of Varkala and Kovalam.  They suggested we take a bus south, but only a Volvo bus.  The other KSRTC buses, they assured us, we would not enjoy.  I am silently thanking them for their good advice as I, Varkala bound, peer out our window at the rice paddies, rivers and thick green jungle.  I spy a woman dressed in a bright orange sari with a turquoise shawl and a pink parasol walking up a red clay road and feel as if I am watching some PBS documentary, not experiencing this in real life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RED SHIFT (VI) -- Coffee Day"},{"content":"\nWe knew that we sucked at haggling, and I\u0026rsquo;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 on three different wallah\u0026rsquo;s faces, I knew I had been well and truly bested.\nI am totally okay with that though. Shopping in Mysore has been a total joy. \u0026ldquo;Come in, sit down. I will pour you and your father some tea\u0026rdquo; sings the merchant in the Silk Museum. \u0026ldquo;This is your son?\u0026rdquo;, he asks my father. \u0026ldquo;Your father has been here 3 times already, we have much respect for him, I will give you special price.\u0026rdquo; Good Lord, I\u0026rsquo;m in for it already and I haven\u0026rsquo;t even looked at the merchandise yet.\nSo dad and I take a seat and have a really warm conversation with Khan, our new friend. We talk and sip for at least 20 minutes before we start to bring the conversation around to the silks. I mention offhandedly that my wife works with textiles and he insists that I come downstairs to look at their rug loom. Khan proceeds to sit me down on the floor and give me a full demonstration of the loom, along with a short history of the Kashmir people and their rug making process.\nOnce the demo is over, we poke around downstairs for a bit longer and then head back up to look at saris, the real reason for our visit. Khan and King pull out dozens of saris and describe their various qualities and styles. I keep reminding them \u0026ldquo;No reds, my wife doesn\u0026rsquo;t care for red.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Perhaps this one sir\u0026rdquo;, King says as he shows me another red one. Finally I\u0026rsquo;ve selected my favorite and move on to the purchasing. I start at 50% below asking price.\n\u0026ldquo;Oh sir, that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t cover my cost.\u0026rdquo;\nSo I come up a bit,\n\u0026ldquo;No that would be impossible.\u0026rdquo;\nUp a bit more,\n\u0026ldquo;Oh that would leave me no profit. How about something to put a smile on my face\u0026rdquo;,says Khan as he types a number into his calculator. The number is no more than 10% below the asking price, a number I know to be almost fraudulently high.\nThe bargaining continues until we arrive at a price that is roughly 60% of the original asking price. Knowing that I am both beat, and still leaving money on the table, I shake Khan\u0026rsquo;s hands and we begin the wrapping up process. As we make to leave King shows up with a carpet that we had admired before and makes a last desperate attempt to sell it to us\u0026hellip; at 50% of the original asking price. \u0026ldquo;This is the throw away price\u0026rdquo; he said. Tempting as the deal sounded we weren\u0026rsquo;t in the market and kindly declined the generous offer.\nAs we hopped into our rickshaw and zoomed away I turned to my dad and asked \u0026ldquo;Did you tell Shiva (the driver) where we were going?\u0026rdquo; Fortunately he had, but as it turned out, Shiva had other plans for us.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/shopping-in-india/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/11/L1030526-Version-2-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe knew that we sucked at haggling, and I\u0026rsquo;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 on three different wallah\u0026rsquo;s faces, I knew I had been well and truly bested.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am totally okay with that though. Shopping in Mysore has been a total joy. \u0026ldquo;Come in, sit down. I will pour you and your father some tea\u0026rdquo; sings the merchant in the Silk Museum. \u0026ldquo;This is your son?\u0026rdquo;, he asks my father. \u0026ldquo;Your father has been here 3 times already, we have much respect for him, I will give you special price.\u0026rdquo; Good Lord, I\u0026rsquo;m in for it already and I haven\u0026rsquo;t even looked at the merchandise yet.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shopping in India"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m staying in Mysore now, at the lovely Green Hotel. If you happen to be visiting Mysore, I can\u0026rsquo;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 there will change me and my course. The one thing I can be sure of is that it has changed me. The speakers, naturally, were (mostly) all amazing, but what really pulled the whole event together were the attendees. From the moment I stepped out of the registration I was greeted by one warm, generous, and engaging person after another. As the conference proceeded, little networks began to form. One new friend would introduce me to another until I felt I knew every like minded person in the thousand person audience.\nI could go on about the amazing off stage experiences, and perhaps I will in another post, but the title of this post promises my recommendations so I\u0026rsquo;ll deliver.\nAs I mentioned all but a small minority of the talks were amazing and inspiring in their way, but there were eight that really impacted me. Some people use the word impacted in a loose way, but I can honestly say that these talks had a physically palpable affect on me. The very best continued to wrack my physical being for hours afterward.\nThe conference started out with Hans Rosling promising to predict the exact date when India would overtake the rest of the world on average per capita wealth and health. While I haven\u0026rsquo;t been a fan of his previous talks, this one was funny and engaging. Later on Shashi Tharoor commented that it is not right to look at India as overtaking the world. He believes that we are heading into an era of increased equity. I hope he is right.\nJib Ellison spoke about taking his family on a trip around the world. I spoke with him and his family later, on the ride to dinner, and was blown away by their experience and their warmth.\nDevdutt Pattanaik discussed his role as Chief Belief Officer, and discussed how important it is (in the business world) to understand and be sensitive to the beliefs of your customers and employees.\nAnanda Shankar Jayant talked about her struggle against breast cancer and described how she conquered her fear and despair through belief and dance. She then painted us a powerful picture (both literal and figurative) through dance.\nSadhguru Jaggi Vasudev spoke to us about his spiritual awakening, and the power of mind (and spirit) over body.\nThe last three speakers that I\u0026rsquo;m going to tell you about were by large margin my favorite of the conference. Each one of them made me cry, and think, and long for a better world.\nSunita Krishnan gave a passionate accounting of the state of human trafficking. She described the plight of young girls who have been sold into slavery and prostitution. I\u0026rsquo;m still processing my emotions, so I won\u0026rsquo;t go into any more detail but I strongly encourage everyone to watch her talk when it shows up on ted.com. When she left the stage, an audience member stood up and offered $10,000 if 10 other people would do the same. 100 people stood up.\nKavita Ramdas, the president of the Global Fund for Women, told us about her middle path. She learned the middle path by observing strong and determined women working in conflict areas. They taught her a way to address injustice which navigates the space between anger and despair. This third path utilizes the power of love and respect, along with strong will and determination to disarm and co-opt the opposition. If you are fighting for a cause, and sometimes find yourself fighting outrage and anger (or hopelessness) you owe it to yourself to watch this amazing woman\u0026rsquo;s speech.\nLastly I submit Eve Ensler for your consideration. Eve is the author and star of the famous Vagina Monologues and has given at least one other TED talk in the past. I really enjoyed the one I had seen previously, but the end of this talk just left me breathless and speechless. Eve ended her time on stage with a passionate and theatrical delivery of her new poem \u0026ldquo;An Emotional Being\u0026rdquo;. You really must watch the whole talk but stick through to the end because this poem rocked me!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/tedindia-recommendations/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m staying in Mysore now, at the lovely Green Hotel. If you happen to be visiting Mysore, I can\u0026rsquo;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 there will change me and my course. The one thing I can be sure of is that it \u003cem\u003ehas\u003c/em\u003e changed me. The speakers, naturally, were (mostly) all amazing, but what really pulled the whole event together were the attendees. From the moment I stepped out of the registration I was greeted by one warm, generous, and engaging person after another. As the conference proceeded, little networks began to form. One new friend would introduce me to another until I felt I knew every like minded person in the thousand person audience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TEDIndia Recommendations"},{"content":"Bangalore\nNovember 8, 2009\nDarkness 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 crush of Mysore traffic, wiping the fog from my glasses and searching for any clue as to where we might be. Mysore is laid out like a Mandala, with roads radiating outward from the Maharaja’s Palace. An endless web of crooked lanes link the rays, with confusing traffic circles at key intersections. Watchtower Circle, New Statue Circle, Devaraja Urs Swamibatami Circle. Their names are helpfully scribed in Kannada, the predominant second language of Karnataka state. Occasionally a sign in English will give a vague nod in the right direction, but I am forever disappointed in my hope for clear direction. When the sun is out I know my compass points, but in the dark of night in the rain it is dead reckoning only, hopefully in the primary meaning of the phrase. Still, the fact that Sateesh’s motorcycle has no working lights or horn raises the vague possibility of second meanings.\nI have failed to locate the shawl shop, a mission which somehow has slipped to the end of the day, and, defeated by the maze of streets, we are fleeing the darkness for the soothing calm of the Green Hotel and a candlelit table with Mahadeva, our waiter, at our side. Tucker was not really eager to experience the joy of a motorcycle ride through the city with his father who has crashed once already today. I am doing my best to be reassuring and make this an enjoyable outing, but some efforts are doomed beyond resistance. I will now settle for getting us home unscathed. Having passed the same landmark three times, I am ready for extreme measures. I pull over to the curb in front of what appears to be an apartment complex and motion T to accompany me into the garage where we can see an attendant standing in uniform. Soggy map in hand we duck under the canopy and ask the guard for directions.\nRather than take the map I have offered and pretend to be able to read it, he takes the wiser Indian course – he makes his guests comfortable. He walks over to the side, sets out two plastic chairs for us to sit, and thinks through the problem. I see the lightbulb go on and he motions me to follow him up the stairs to the living level. He appears confident, yet deferential, as he knocks on the door identified as the home of Dr. Mahaveda. The teak door is opened by an intelligent looking man dressed well, and I can peer in to a tastefully decorated and softly lit inner sanctum. The guard explains our distress in Kannada. He is respectful, but also clearly possessed of a certainty that not only will this wise man know how to help, but that he will want to help.\nThe doctor says something and walks into another room of the apartment, returning shortly with his glasses. I point out to him where we want to go, Vinoba Road, and he studies the map for a long time, twisting it to read the tiny street names. I begin to wonder if anyone can find his way about this city, but when the doctor begins to speak I understand that he has been picturing our journey in the dark and wants to lay out the prominent landmarks for us. He has thought this through and realized street names will do us no good. So he points to the playing fields here, a well lit government building there and the stone arch where will we turn left onto Vinoba road. When he sees I have understood, he shakes my hand and turns back to his evening.\nIt is a small thing, giving directions to two lost strangers, but two days later I am still resonating with the grace and dignity of the experience. I have the inkling that it explains in a small way how this over-crowded and chaotic country manages to maintain its equanimity. There is a gentleness and respect for other humans that offsets the brutality of the poverty and ready loss of life. There is an acceptance, too, that some people are just better off than others. Maybe things will change in the next life.\nWarm from our showers and dressed in dry clothes, Tuck and I sit down to dinner under the outdoor canopy and give silent thanks that we didn’t have to find out tonight what that next life holds for us.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shiftv-house-call/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBangalore\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovember 8, 2009\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarkness 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 crush of Mysore traffic, wiping the fog from my glasses and searching for any clue as to where we might be.  Mysore is laid out like a Mandala, with roads radiating outward from the Maharaja’s Palace.  An endless web of crooked lanes link the rays, with confusing traffic circles at key intersections.  Watchtower Circle, New Statue Circle, Devaraja Urs Swamibatami Circle.  Their names are helpfully scribed in Kannada, the predominant second language of Karnataka state.  Occasionally a sign in English will give a vague nod in the right direction, but I am forever disappointed in my hope for clear direction.   When the sun is out I know my compass points, but in the dark of night in the rain it is dead reckoning only, hopefully in the primary meaning of the phrase.  Still, the fact that Sateesh’s motorcycle has no working lights or horn raises the vague possibility of second meanings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RED SHIFT(V) -- House Call"},{"content":"The Green Hotel, Mysore\nNovember 6, 2009\nHere 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, and probably couldn’t identify them if I did, but they are reliable whatever they are. And they only seem to crow at 6; I don’t hear them at other times of day. When they coo and warble I know the emptiness of the nighttime will soon end.\nWhen I write, I am doing it mostly as a balm for loneliness I think. Not the “I don’t have a friend in the world” type of loneliness, but more the “search for connection” type. Tucker works for the SETI Institute, SETI being the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. They are searching for human connection in the universe. My search is on a far less grand scale. I just want to find the love right here.\nWhen I am writing, it is Sweetie Pie to whom I am speaking in my head. She is my lifeline; where I find the love. She is the grand master of connection, loving her people with a depth of feeling that is beyond my understanding. I observe it, value it, but its essence eludes me.\nThe hotel travel agent did not make good on his intention of finding me a motorcycle rental yesterday. In fact, when I returned in mid-afternoon to the place where his desk had been just hours before, there was only a pile of dust on the floor. That is what happens to evil witches, I thought. The maitre d’ later told me that the manager would soon have a desk in that spot, which is at the foot of the staircase to what is really the main floor of the palace. The travel agent is now located by the door that marks the craft shop.\nFeeling lonely and somewhat discouraged I decided to find an internet café to see if I could scare up SP. I have ripped out the Mysore section of my Lonely Planet guidebook and stuffed it in my messenger bag. It mentions an internet café called Netzone at 1266 Narayana Shastri Road, across from the Sangreeth Hotel. Thank you, Lonely Planet. That is very specific information.\nBut still, I do not end up there. My auto rickshaw driver cannot find the address. We wend our way down Narayana Shastri Road through the crush of traffic, dodging motorcycles, trucks, pedestrians and cows and make several abrupt 180 degree turns that have me counting my remaining lives, but there is no discernible order to the addresses if indeed they are addresses at all. Most are written in that beautiful Hindi script that looks like a line with rose loops above and below it. My driver pulls over, hops out and consults with a shop owner. He slides back into the driver’s seat, reaches down to the long lever on the floor, and pulls up abruptly to start the engine. It works every time, I have observed, unlike my lawn mower which takes three tries before it perks up.\nWe lurch back into traffic, reversing direction and turning right onto another street. Halfway down he points to a building that says “New York Pizza” on it. “There,” he says. I protest that it’s a pizza joint, but he looks at me as if I am daft and explains gently that the internet café is inside the building in the back. Resigned, I tumble myself out of the back seat, thank him for his effort and wander over to New York Pizza. I am longing for familiar food. Maybe I’ll just have some pizza, I think. But I am not completely comfortable with the cleanliness of the place so I push through a glass door next to the shop and walk down a dark hallway. A door to the side opens and a man pops out. He is the owner of New York Pizza and wants to know where I am going. “Internet café,” I say. He points down the corridor.\nThere is a heavy odor of male sweat in the hall. I cannot believe that God intended this odor to attract females, but certainly there must be many mildly aroused women hereabouts if it does. I stare at a dark office that says CYBERNET on the door, but the odor is not encouraging me to go in. As I am equivocating the door opens and three men come out. One asks me what I want. “Internet Café?” I ask. “Closed,” he says brusquely, as he shuts the door and walks down the hall with his colleagues. Mostly, I am relieved. There has been much talk in the news about potential bombings as the anniversary of the big Mumbai bombing approaches. Armed soldiers are everywhere. Most such drama is overblown, but still, I can’t completely ignore the fact that not everyone here regards Americans as friends.\nI begin my usual wander down the street. I want to walk slowly enough to take it all in \u0026ndash; the strangeness and color. But not so slowly that the shop owners will come running out to herd me into their shops. It is a fine line.\nA ways down the lane a young boy running a Xerox shop tells me proudly there is an internet café across the street. He points and I see it. The second story balcony of a grungy building has a banner advertising internet access and five or six men standing on the narrow balcony. I mount the cement staircase and join them, but instantly feel uncomfortable as if I have just crashed a party to which I would never be invited. Inside the shop there are a dozen dirty carrels crowded in a tiny room. There is a man sleeping in the first one, but no sign of the owner. I go back outside to the balcony and find a spot by the rail. None of the men say anything to me and I am feeling like bolting, but don’t want to admit I am scared.\nTravel for me involves a certain measure of faith. I push forward with the day even when I am not confident of a happy ending. Things usually work out. So, I rally my courage and ask one of the men where the owner is. He looks directly into my eyes and tells me to wait, he is not here but will show up in 15 minutes or so. I do. I hike one cheek up onto the rail of the balcony and watch the street below, feeling lucky that I have a spot where I can examine people without being observed. I feel instinctively that staring, particularly at women, is somewhere between impolite and dangerous, but I want to soak it all in, figure these strange and wonderful people out.\nBy now several more men have arrived. A few drape a jacket or a bag over the edge of a carrel, then come out onto the balcony. They are reserving spots the way people drop their bags on a table in a crowded café before they go to stand in line. It seems a little unfair, like line jumping, but I do it, too. So counting the carrels and the men waiting, I realize there is little chance I will get a seat even if the owner does return. Still, it would be weak just to give up and walk away, wouldn’t it? So I stay.\nA man walks by below on the street balancing a tray with artificial flowers on his head. The flowers, in fluorescent colors, extend upward at least six feet. He looks a little like a circus clown and I can’t keep from chuckling to myself, but I can see that this is serious. This is his living.\nWhen I turn around the crowd on the balcony is gone. The owner must have slipped in and everyone is grabbing a carrel and getting down to business. I stand alone, looking in, feeling slightly defeated. Then the man I spoke to earlier comes to the door, beckons me in and shows me to a carrel he has saved for me. He smiles a little, then sits down with his friend and they get to work.\nAh, connection.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shift-iii-connection/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Green Hotel, Mysore\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovember 6, 2009\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere 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, and probably couldn’t identify them if I did, but they are reliable whatever they are.  And they only seem to crow at 6; I don’t hear them at other times of day.  When they coo and warble I know the emptiness of the nighttime will soon end.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"RED SHIFT (III) -- Connection"},{"content":"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. load relief program. It has the small businesses in Mysore in a tizzy, because they never know when they’ll have consistent power. When you’re running a foundry and everything cools off in the middle of a run, it makes for a sticky mess. The government still happily adds new customers, nevertheless.\nI spent the morning trudging around in search of a place to rent a motorcycle. At Palace Honda I am introduced to several clerks and then eventually ushered in for a sit down with the big cheese. We discuss, mostly in sign language, what size bike I would like, the color, for in town or off road use, etc. When the matter of price arises, he happily announces “Rs 52,000” (about $1,000). “Awfully high,” I say, “for two days. This is a rental isn’t it?” “Rental?” “No rental. That is not possible.”\nI hear that a lot here. A cot in my room for my son. “No, sir, that is not possible.” Directions to walk to the zoological park. “No, sir, that is not possible.”\nI asked my driver to take me to the silk factory yesterday. Instead he took me to some stores where he probably gets a commission. When I inquired about the silk factory, he assured me that this was the same thing. “It is silk,” he gestures..\nAfter returning from Palace Honda I ran into Shiva for the second time this morning. He drove me up to an internet cafe yesterday, only it turned out to be just a telephone, fax and Xerox place. Close enough. After asking a half dozen people, someone finally directed me over the hill and down the other side to the real internet café, a basement with a dozen grimy cubicles and no cafe. That should be the motto of India. “Close enough.”\nShiva wears a nice light blue silk/wool blend sweater and speaks English I can sometimes understand. He would like me to rent his services for the day. 300 rupees. If the motorcycle doesn’t work out, Shiva it will be. Close enough.\nAfter returning to home base from Palace Honda, I decided to ask the maitre d’ if he knew where I could get a motorcycle rental. Ah yes, indeed he did. Turn left at the end of the cement wall and walk down the lane. Turn in at the second gate (the first one will be locked) and there is a woman there who handles rentals. I ran over the directions with him several times and backed out of the office smiling and nodding.\nWalka walka. I see Shiva eyeing me from his perch across the street, but now he is used to this odd American who walks everywhere and he leaves me alone. I avoid the large brown puddles in the oceanic potholes of the lane and hip hop to the horn toots that are one’s only warning of impending death. The second gate leads into a dark and dangerous looking alley with several large and apparently empty warehouses. The first is for construction. The second for import/export to the U.S. I walk further into the shady darkness. A few people pass me but do not look at me. I nod benignly but nobody is warming up. Questions about motorcycle rental prompt vague waves down the path. By this time I am walking under the biggest Banyan tree I could have ever imagined. It shades the equivalent of a city block. Now I can see that a few of the small warehousey looking things are actually houses with little gardens. I walk farther and the paved path turns to a dirt track. Way at the end among the trees is a newish looking building with a man washing a car out front. I hail him, but at first he ignores me. I’ve come too far to be dissuaded so I walk up next to him and ask about the motorcycle rental lady. “No, there are no motorcycle rentals here. This is a film studio.”\n“A film studio????” I am incredulous. But why not? The Green Hotel used to be a film studio back in the ‘50’s. There is a print of a half clad starlet on a hidden wall to prove it. Finally, the car washer looks at me and tells me to go down the dirt path behind the “film studio” and ask there. “There are college students over there,” he says. I’m not quite sure of the implication. Is it that college students are the types who ride motorcycles, or is it that they are more likely to speak English.\nTrundling down the indicated path I indeed spot a young man in the dense undergrowth who looks like an actual college student. I’m feeling pretty ridiculous by now, but what the heck. “Do you know of a lady here who rents motorcycles?” He smiles. “No, there is a lady here who rents rooms, but no motorcycles.” Ah, I think, a rental agent. Close enough.\nI walk the half mile back to Vinoba Road with the student. He is new here and not too interested really in chatting, but I learn he is a graduate student at Mysore Technical University studying for a degree in computer science. He programs in C, C++ and Java, but no, he isn’t going to be rich. The people who get rich are the ones who go into banking. Computer programming is not well paid, he says.\nNext I try the hotel’s travel agent. He speaks good English. Yes you can rent motorcycles in Mysore, but the minimum is a week. Well, I think, that will do. There is no store to rent motorcycles, but he has some contacts, of course, and will call me at 12 o’clock. “Will that be satisfactory?” “Oh, yes,” I say, thinking maybe I will make a fallback plan for the day.\nNot so bad really. The morning has offered me two things most useful in life – hope and experience. After all, I’ve met several interesting people, seen the giant banyan tree, met someone who works in films (even if it is road film), and gotten more comfortable with my neighborhood. Not a motorcycle rental, true, but maybe tomorrow.\nClose enough.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shift-ii-hope-and-the-banyan-tree/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI’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. load relief program.  It has the small businesses in Mysore in a tizzy, because they never know when they’ll have consistent power.  When you’re running a foundry and everything cools off in the middle of a run, it makes for a sticky mess.  The government still happily adds new customers, nevertheless.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Shift (II) -- Hope and the Banyan Tree"},{"content":"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 platform and perching atop it with easy adaptability. I am standing at parade rest, one hand gripping my matched luggage.\nIt is hot, but not oppressive, and the hundred or two other passengers have made themselves as comfortable as possible, chatting, rearranging belongings, trying to position themselves on the platform to be located properly for their car when it arrives, or staring at us. I am trying not to stare back, but with little success. Oddly, there are no flies despite the fecund air and abundant garbage.\nThe drama of India has elated and drained us. Bi-polar with sensory overload, we pitch from mood to mood. Despair at Mumbai airport as we contemplate the crowds, the scammers, the slums and the insane scrum of people, auto-rickshaws, mini-cabs, trucks, motorcycles and oxcarts. Elation at the charming and peaceful restaurant we happened into off a dark street lined with sleeping families later that night. India affects your soul, I can see that already, although I can’t yet quantify how. Perhaps an observer can gauge one’s spiritual velocity by observing these changes from afar, the way astronomers can gauge the speed of distant heavenly bodies by the color shift in the light they emit; but we are too much in the moment for that.\nThe combination of jet lag, discomfort and apprehension pushes me over the edge shortly after we land at Chhatrapatti Shivaji Airport. Anxiously contemplating our night-time arrival in the madness of downtown Mumbai with an excess of baggage and a deficit of one hotel reservation, I may have unjustly chastised my son for our poor planning. He may have later indirectly indicated that I was an emotionally tone deaf throwback. It is all unclear now as the fog of despair recedes. It was a small friction and the heat has blown away with the wind.\nAn earlier train has just arrived in the well, disgorging its passengers onto our platform. It will soon recharge itself and head back whence it came. We are watching two men lugging an ancient cast iron sewing machine down the platform suspended from two short ropes grasped in one hand of each. They are struggling slightly, but laughing about it, happy it seems with their treasure.\nIndia Rail has at least seven different classes of carriage on its comprehensive and surprisingly efficient rail system: First Class AC (or executive chair car on a few special express trains like the Shatabdi Express), 2-tier AC sleeper, First Class, AC 3-tier sleeper, AC chair car, sleeper class and second class. Not sure what to expect, we have guiltily paid the top fare, 450 rupees (about nine dollars), for the trip from Bangalore to the site of Tuck’s conference at the vast Infosys campus in Mysore 75 miles south of us.\nFrom 10,000 miles away this profusion of classes seemed a poignant political commentary, highlighting the rigid caste system that separates rich from poor on this crowded subcontinent. Here in front of us we see a bunch of ancient, soiled, blue and grey rail cars barely distinguishable one class from another, all slightly foreboding and none in any way elegant.\nI have paid my red-coated porter 47 rupees for carrying my too-heavy-for-me suitcase on his head down a long set of cement stairs and through a dank and stinky tunnel under the tracks and up to our platform. He has deposited us at exactly the right place for the AC chair car, for which I am grateful. Such little kindnesses help me keep my center amid the chaos.\nThe earlier train is now loading and I notice Tuck watching, as I am, the occasional discharge of effluent from a pipe projecting from the bottom of one car. Our eyes meet and Tuck winces, “Is that what I think it is?” I nod yes, but point out the long white trail of chlorinated lime a railroad worker has spread up and down the track on a perfect line to blot up and disinfect the discharge from that pipe and others like it.\nThen my attention shifts to a beautiful little girl, maybe 3 years old. She is interacting with her sari-clad mother and grandmother. Although I am often embarrassed to mistake a girl for a boy and vice versa at that age, I am sure she is a girl because of the dangly gold earrings she is wearing. She has a hauntingly beautiful face with wide brown eyes, short wavy black hair and the burnt cork and chocolate complexion of southern India. There are two round black marks on her face, one almost in the center of her forehead and one on her right cheek. I am not sure if these are of religious significance or birth marks, but the lack of symmetry only adds to her charm.\nShe has been circling her mother, hiding under her orange sari, then popping out with a delighted smile on her face. I notice a cookie crumb hanging from the corner of her lip, then the cookie in her hand just as she drops it onto the platform. There is a pregnant pause as we all stare at the cookie. I am silently screaming in my head, “No, do not pick that up!” She picks it up.\nWe wait with ‘bated breath to see what happens next. To our relief, her mother grabs the hand with the cookie and wrestles against determined resistance to remove it. The little girl starts to wail as grandmother frantically searches her bag for a replacement. Cookie number two soon pops forth. We think all will be well, but the little girl’s commitment to cookie number one has not yet lost its force. Finally, she releases it and takes the new one. Mother quickly tosses the old one into the track-well eight feet away, and the tension fades from the air. But just as we are all turning to go about our business, the little girl bolts for the edge of the well to retrieve the lost cookie. Two are better than one, she thinks. Tuck and I are frozen in our tracks, afraid she will pitch over the edge as our train begins to pull into the station, but mother’s reflexes are better tuned and she lunges and snatches her daughter’s wrist before disaster strikes. We all smile at the happy ending, and then our train arrives.\nI don’t think of the incident again until I am ripping open a packet of chocolate cookies to share with Tuck as the Tippu Express clicks down the rails. I shouldn’t eat chocolate, to which I am profoundly allergic, but I love it and I rationalize that I will undoubtedly soon be sick as a dog with traveler’s stomach anyway. We are happily reviewing the day, looking out the window, snapping pictures and sharing a few words with our fellow passengers. As the package empties I see there are an odd number of cookies remaining. I give Tuck one of the last three and eat another myself. I will split the last one between us.\nTuck has been alternately writing a piece for his blog on a little netbook he carries and gleefully snapping pictures with his new Leica camera. I am using an old Canon point and shoot and have a case of photographer’s jealousy as I see how clearly and colorfully his snaps appear on the crisp LED screen. Mine are adequate, but grainy and gray by comparison. Just then we pass a man driving a gayly painted oxcart down a dirt road. Tuck lunges for his camera. I lunge for the package and slip the last cookie into my mouth as he looks out the window.\nTwo are definitely better than one.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/red-shift-tippu-express/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTucker 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 platform and perching atop it with easy adaptability. I am standing at parade rest, one hand gripping my matched luggage.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hot, but not oppressive, and the hundred or two other passengers have made themselves as comfortable as possible, chatting, rearranging belongings, trying to position themselves on the platform to be located properly for their car when it arrives, or staring at us.  I am trying not to stare back, but with little success.  Oddly, there are no flies despite the fecund air and abundant garbage.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Red Shift - Tippu Express"},{"content":"If you\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t I\u0026rsquo;m not sure they would make too much sense. Please leave comments (especially suggestions) in the comments section.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/india-adventure-serialized/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;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\u0026rsquo;t I\u0026rsquo;m not sure they would make too much sense. Please leave comments (especially suggestions) in the comments section.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"India Adventure - Serialized"},{"content":"I would guess that more than half of the average person\u0026rsquo;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 argue though that what sets the exemplary meal apart from the good, for most people has to do with atmosphere, service, and other intangibles.\nGaylord\u0026rsquo;s nailed the subjectives. Perhaps they didn\u0026rsquo;t need to even try. So completely overwhelmed, tired, hungry, and hopeful were we, perhaps any place would have brought a contented smile to our faces. I ordered off menu (paneer tikka masala) and my dad ordered the lamb roganjosh. The staff were omnipresent but somehow not imposing. When the food arrived it exceeded all of my expectations and all of my prior experiences. At this moment (it was my last substantial meal) I would believe that it was the best Indian food in the world.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/food/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI would guess that more than half of the average person\u0026rsquo;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 argue though that what sets the exemplary meal apart from the good, for most people has to do with atmosphere, service, and other intangibles.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGaylord\u0026rsquo;s nailed the subjectives. Perhaps they didn\u0026rsquo;t need to even try. So completely overwhelmed, tired, hungry, and hopeful were we, perhaps any place would have brought a contented smile to our faces. I ordered off menu (paneer tikka masala) and my dad ordered the lamb roganjosh. The staff were omnipresent but somehow not imposing. When the food arrived it exceeded all of my expectations and all of my prior experiences. At this moment (it was my last substantial meal) I would believe that it was the best Indian food in the world.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Food"},{"content":"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 a place in this sprawling crawling city to rest ourselves. Dad had reviewed our guide book and highlighted a few good candidates. All of them, the guide suggested, “should be booked well in advance.” After dodging scam number one of the evening, we made our way to a \u0026ldquo;pay phone\u0026rdquo; and called the first hotel. You can imagine my shock when they told us that they had a vacancy for us.\nNearly ecstatic, we climbed into the most rickety A/C cab in Mumbai and headed to our evenings destiny. As the cab picked its way through pedestrians, rickshaws, buses, and animals, we were confronted with the slums and their chaotic thrum. I noted two things on this drive. First, even in the poorest neighborhoods that we passed through, people by and large seemed to take great pride in their clothing. Bright colored saris and crisp khurtan adorned many barefoot revelers. The second thing I noticed was that the vast majority of people (at least those who captured my attention) were smiling, or playfully tussling with their companions. This observation returned my spirit to a state of calm which almost could have survived the upcoming introduction to our night\u0026rsquo;s lodging.\nIt would not be unfair to compare the foyer of the Château Windsor to a bombed out WWII ruin. True, you could see that it was once a place where people stayed, and perhaps even rested in great luxury. Now it was a shambles. It was also getting dark. And we were in a strange neighborhood. One that didn\u0026rsquo;t look at all familiar or strictly speaking safe. And we were tired. Dead tired. Dad and I exchanged a look that said at once, “I am very worried” and “This is what we signed up for” and decided we had nothing to lose.\nWe entered the foyer through an almost impenetrable cloud of fine granite dust. Two guys were grinding away at the steps, ostensibly drawing out their future glory. We were met at the elevator by the first of a series of impeccably courteous and good natured staff members. The porter helped us to load our bags into the minuscule elevator and we all crammed in for the 5 floor lift. Stepping out of the lift did nothing to reassure us that we had chosen a winner. More work was being done on almost every floor and landing, and the construction noise drowned out all but the most determined conversation. I approached the desk and asked to see a room.\nI was led down to the 4th floor, through more bustling construction, areas closed off by canvas sheets, and odd smells, to a rather elegant looking door. When the door was opened I had to stifle a gasp. The room was immaculate, well decorated and vast. I gave the porter a huge smile and thumbs up and we proceeded upstairs to secure our room.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/lodging-mumbai/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSoon 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 a place in this sprawling crawling city to rest ourselves. Dad had reviewed our guide book and highlighted a few good candidates. All of them, the guide suggested, “should be booked well in advance.” After dodging scam number one of the evening, we made our way to a \u0026ldquo;pay phone\u0026rdquo; and called the first hotel. You can imagine my shock when they told us that they had a vacancy for us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lodging (Mumbai)"},{"content":"The flight to Mumbai was as sublimely pleasant as the long haul to Hong Kong had been. It wasn\u0026rsquo;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 everywhere with occasional stands of sky scrapers sprouting up amongst them. We landed and disembarked and things were pretty predictable until we reached the last turn before the elevator that descended to the H1N1 screening area. Blood curdling screams reached up to assault us and I could have sworn that someone was being tortured. Rounding the corner I was relieved to identify the owner of the tormented bellow. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more than 2 years old. My relief was instantaneous. A universal sympathy connected me to her parents and I alighted the escalator with a small smile. The customs and immigration process was a tremendous press of bodies. The bodies combined with the unfamiliarity of the language to dispossess me of my remaining emotional energy. I was running on empty.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/arriving-in-india/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe flight to Mumbai was as sublimely pleasant as the long haul to Hong Kong had been. It wasn\u0026rsquo;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 everywhere with occasional stands of sky scrapers sprouting up amongst them. We landed and disembarked and things were pretty predictable until we reached the last turn before the elevator that descended to the H1N1 screening area. Blood curdling screams reached up to assault us and I could have sworn that someone was being tortured. Rounding the corner I was relieved to identify the owner of the tormented bellow. She couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more than 2 years old. My relief was instantaneous. A universal sympathy connected me to her parents and I alighted the escalator with a small smile. The customs and immigration process was a tremendous press of bodies. The bodies combined with the unfamiliarity of the language to dispossess me of my remaining emotional energy. I was running on empty.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Arriving in India"},{"content":"The e-mail from Bentley\u0026rsquo;s Hotel came while we were still in the relative comfort of our Hong Kong hotel. The management let us know that our \u0026ldquo;Tentative Reservation\u0026rdquo; could not be filled. We would have to find another place to stay. For some reason this didn\u0026rsquo;t strike either dad or I as a particularly big deal.\nWe spent the morning hoofing it around Hong Kong Island. When our feet started to fail us we took a bus until we were ready to walk again. Our journey led us through an amazing outdoor market, a bustling shopping district, and eventually through the Botanical Gardens. By the time we figured out how lost we were, there was nothing for it but to hail a cab and get found, and back to the hotel.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/hong-kong/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe e-mail from Bentley\u0026rsquo;s Hotel came while we were still in the relative comfort of our Hong Kong hotel. The management let us know that our \u0026ldquo;Tentative Reservation\u0026rdquo; could not be filled. We would have to find another place to stay. For some reason this didn\u0026rsquo;t strike either dad or I as a particularly big deal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe spent the morning hoofing it around Hong Kong Island. When our feet started to fail us we took a bus until we were ready to walk again. Our journey led us through an amazing outdoor market, a bustling shopping district, and eventually through the Botanical Gardens. By the time we figured out how lost we were, there was nothing for it but to hail a cab and get found, and back to the hotel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hong Kong"},{"content":"For those of you following our adventures at home, you might want to keep an eye on the India 2009 Photo Album (located @ \u0026lt;/v/India2009\u0026gt;). We fly out today at 1am. With the time change and the date line, I\u0026rsquo;m thoroughly confused when (exactly) we arrive, but its somewhere around tomorrow at 7:15pm Hong Kong Time. Shortly thereafter I\u0026rsquo;ll start uploading photos.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/travel/india-photo-gallery/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor those of you following our adventures at home, you might want to keep an eye on the \u003ca href=\"/v/India2009\"\u003eIndia 2009 Photo Album\u003c/a\u003e (located @  \u0026lt;/v/India2009\u0026gt;). We fly out today at 1am. With the time change and the date line, I\u0026rsquo;m thoroughly confused when (exactly) we arrive, but its somewhere around tomorrow at 7:15pm Hong Kong Time. Shortly thereafter I\u0026rsquo;ll start uploading photos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"India Photo Gallery"},{"content":"3 days to go. I can\u0026rsquo;t remember ever being this excited for a trip. I haven\u0026rsquo;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 of the people I\u0026rsquo;m going to meet and the places I\u0026rsquo;m going to see is nerve wracking and thrilling and overwhelming.\nI\u0026rsquo;m buried at work. TED related activity, on both the TEDIndia and Jill\u0026rsquo;s Wish front have created a maelstrom of tasks and objectives. Beyond that I\u0026rsquo;ve got new and old projects coming out my ears. Come Friday, I will have to find a way to let all of those things go so that I can be free to lose myself in this experience.\nUndercutting all of this is that quiet wisdom that I always remember, too late. \u0026ldquo;The best experiences are born of low expectations and an open mind.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/preparing-for-ted-and-india/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e3 days to go. I can\u0026rsquo;t remember ever being this excited for a trip. I haven\u0026rsquo;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 of the people I\u0026rsquo;m going to meet and the places I\u0026rsquo;m going to see is nerve wracking and thrilling and overwhelming.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m buried at work. TED related activity, on both the \u003ca href=\"http://conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia/\"\u003eTEDIndia\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://www.tedprize.org/jill-tarter/\"\u003eJill\u0026rsquo;s Wish\u003c/a\u003e front have created a maelstrom of tasks and objectives. Beyond that I\u0026rsquo;ve got new and old projects coming out my ears. Come Friday, I will have to find a way to let all of those things go so that I can be free to lose myself in this experience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preparing for TED and India"},{"content":"In a recent comment my buddy Dave asked:\n\u0026ldquo;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 something fully? It seems like one more digital distraction in my day. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. But the rate at which people use it makes me think its not going away as fast as I once thought.\nPlease note, I’m not trying to put down twitter or those that use it. I’m just curious what you find so useful about it and what you use it for.\u0026rdquo;\nThis is a question that I\u0026rsquo;ve fielded more than once, and I\u0026rsquo;m going to take a public stab at answering it for the demographic(s) that Dave and I, and many members of my family and social sphere fall into.\nIf you are in sales, customer service, or marketing, and haven\u0026rsquo;t yet figured out what Twitter\u0026rsquo;s value is, its safe to say that you have missed the boat. Dive in and start swimming. This article isn\u0026rsquo;t for you guys. I am writing this for the geeks, scientists, parents, co-workers, and friends that have asked me why so many times.\nSo let me tell you why I use Twitter…\n**Science:**One of the great intangible benefits that we provide our scientists at the SETI Institute is promoting cross-pollination of ideas. We would all love to believe that great ideas are born full grown from a crack in our head. Sadly, they are almost always a messy and awkward amalgamation of conversations, interactions, research, accidents, and good fortune. Twitter is a virtual fire hose of information on scientific topics. Sure it\u0026rsquo;s not a peer-reviewed journal, but it has got its place. For example, at the top of my pile right now is this gem.\n@arielwaldman \u0026ldquo;Wow, for the (very small) fraction of a second collisions take place inside the LHC, it will be 100,000x hotter than the core of our Sun.\u0026rdquo;\nAriel is just one of the [citizen] scientists that I follow, others of whom regularly inform me of things that are going on at SETI before I hear it internally. Which is a perfect segue into…\n**News:**I think its safe to say that all of my news comes from Twitter or Facebook. It used to be The Daily Show followed by copious googleing, or Digg but like many media outlets you\u0026rsquo;re only getting one side of the story (watch this for a moving testimony on the danger of the single story). With Twitter, it\u0026rsquo;s possible to follow diverse sources in a single stream. Perhaps the best way to do this is through trending and searching. Twitter makes it easy to see what the masses are tweeting about through special search filters called Trending Topics. These show up in the sidebar in the official Twitter web client, but many clients and interfaces have more robust trending capabilities. While trending shows you what other people are interested in, searching helps you to find information about what you are interested in.\nGo to Twitter right now and type \u0026ldquo;Balloon Boy\u0026rdquo; into the search box and you\u0026rsquo;ll get a long list of inane and informative comments on the subject.\nYesterday I saw a whole bunch of people tweet about this kid, and had no idea what they were talking about. 10 seconds later I knew 100% more than I needed to know in order to have an informed, friendly conversation with the Whole Foods clerks later on that evening. To me, this is a bargain time investment because a) without that 10 seconds of \u0026lsquo;research\u0026rsquo; I would have maybe 5 words to say to those folks, b) it may have actually been important, and , c) it just so happens that it is the only trend I followed up on yesterday.\nStrange but true, news breaks on Twitter all the time. Sure most of it is only of interest to a small demographic, but those are often the very demographics ill served by mainstream media. What\u0026rsquo;s your niche?\nSocial:\nFirst things first. Twitter is not Facebook. Its really bums me out to see Facebook changing to be more like Twitter. I use Facebook because it gives me a \u0026ldquo;private\u0026rdquo; forum to post the minutia of my daily life that perhaps a handful of good friends (and high school voyeurs) want to know about. It lets me get that same daily dose of input from people I love (or went to high school with). I would not recommend this approach on Twitter. Twitter is asynchronous. You don\u0026rsquo;t have to accept a follower for them to see what you write. This is fairly freaking fantastic. It also means that you don\u0026rsquo;t have to follow someone else just because they want to see your status. This asynchronicity is the real reason why people should pay attention to twitter.\nWhile Facebook keeps me up to date on people I know, Twitter gets me in touch with people that I don\u0026rsquo;t know yet. A few weeks ago I posted a link to my TED India article in my status. In a very short time a few people picked up on that tweet and @ replied me that they would like to meet me in India. Is this valuable? It sure is to me. If it\u0026rsquo;s not, you can use your imagination to extrapolate a possibility that would be of social value.\n**Geekery:**This really doesn\u0026rsquo;t need much explanation. Twitter was created by geeks and geeks constituted the majority of early adopters. Lately I\u0026rsquo;ve been finding bucket loads of software and web services that I\u0026rsquo;ve then passed on as retweets and IRL (in real life). I also post great software, hardware and other tips of my own. Doing this builds my follower base while simultaneously supporting the information ecosystem. It\u0026rsquo;s a beautiful symbiosis.\n**Summary:**I\u0026rsquo;ve stated my case for Twitter as clearly as I am able. As for the case against, I can\u0026rsquo;t claim that Twitter won\u0026rsquo;t cost you any time. I must admit that I spend at least an hour (if not more) on Twitter every day. Still I will argue that this time has supplanted time spent in front of the TV or tracking other media sources (Digg, Slashdot, Engadget, etc). In my experience Twitter is a more expedient path to this information, your mileage may vary.\nIf you haven\u0026rsquo;t tried Twitter yet, take an hour or so to peruse The Twitter Book. It provides a host of techniques for maximizing your Twitter experience. Once you\u0026rsquo;re on Twitter, follow me and tell me what you think.\nDid I miss anything? Do you (dis)agree? Please comment!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/why-tweet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn a recent comment my buddy Dave asked:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;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 something fully? It seems like one more digital distraction in my day. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is. But the rate at which people use it makes me think its not going away as fast as I once thought.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why Tweet"},{"content":"Disclosure: I know the author. This will color my review somewhat. In the handful of interactions I\u0026rsquo;ve had with Dom I\u0026rsquo;ve developed this succinct (alliterative) impression of him: Impressive; Inspirational; Intimidating. The man is a polymath. I know him to be a talented musician, a (soon to be sponsored?) surfer, well respected programmer, social media maven, involved parent, and now professional author. I don\u0026rsquo;t rattle this off as some sort of character reference, after all #thebook (#thebook is the Twitter hashtag for 140 Characters) must stand on its own merits. I say this because in many ways the author\u0026rsquo;s breadth of knowledge is the cynosure of the following critique.\nFrom the covers, we are asked to believe that the book is a simple treatise on the Short Form, a la Strunk and White. Its unassuming title and byline lead the reader to believe that they will receive insight into, if not Twitter, at least the new literary potential of Twitter and its brethren. I was delighted to discover in the first 50 pages was that this is in fact a modern guidebook for:\nPhilosophy. \u0026ldquo;The antidote to envy is exercise.\u0026rdquo; Etiquette. \u0026ldquo;If you absolutely must respond [to unjustified detractors] in public, do so with as little energy as possible.\u0026rdquo; Style. \u0026ldquo;We all want to be original, but take heed not to suck in the process.\u0026rdquo; Leadership. \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t proclaim yourself a leader, or an expert. Only others can call you such things.\u0026rdquo; Learning. \u0026ldquo;If you\u0026rsquo;re going to learn from someone, they should gracefully learn from their own mistakes.\u0026rdquo; Approach this book with a desire to learn how to harness the power of this social media tool and you may quickly find yourself reflecting on how you handled a conversation at a dinner party last week. This, in my opinion is what makes 140 Characters such an engaging read. I\u0026rsquo;ve been reading books and blog articles on Twitter style, strategy and technique for quite a while and initially wondered what Dom could say that hasn\u0026rsquo;t already been said. O\u0026rsquo;Reilly and Milstein\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;The Twitter Book\u0026rdquo; is as painless an introduction to Twitter as one could ask for, but it doesn\u0026rsquo;t attempt to illustrate or exemplify the social, literary, and historical value of the medium. Filling that need, 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 or support.\nIf I have any criticisms of the book it is that it seemed to meander a bit. Granted, when winding, the path of the narrative was full of delightful and sometimes insightful detail, but it did seem that the author was, at times, struggling to fit into the \u0026ldquo;Long Form.\u0026rdquo;\nSo, for the prospective reader, new to Twitter and looking for a quick dip into tips and tricks, or newly minted \u0026ldquo;Community Liason,\u0026rdquo; I would recommend \u0026ldquo;The Twitter Book.\u0026rdquo; If you\u0026rsquo;ve been around this media and are looking to dive deeper, to explore new possibilities, or to find outlet to a creative muse, I couldn\u0026rsquo;t recommend \u0026ldquo;140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form\u0026rdquo; more highly.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/book-review/140-characters-a-review/","summary":"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.","title":"140 Characters — A Review"},{"content":"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.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t easily stoop to using other people\u0026rsquo;s content on my blog, so please do cut me some slack on this one. Its just too important to paraphrase!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/humans-suck-at-estimating-modern-odds/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBruce 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.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t easily stoop to using other people\u0026rsquo;s content on my blog, so please do cut me some slack on this one. Its just too important to paraphrase!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Humans Suck at Estimating Modern Odds"},{"content":"Errata: I initially labeled this \u0026ldquo;Ruby\u0026rsquo;s 8th Kyu Test\u0026rdquo;, 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\u0026rsquo;ll know which to believe.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/rubys-9th-kyu-test/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eErrata: I initially labeled this \u0026ldquo;Ruby\u0026rsquo;s 8th Kyu Test\u0026rdquo;, 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\u0026rsquo;ll know which to believe.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby's 9th Kyu Test"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s Market. All of our friends came over for coffee and much fun was had. Then at 11:30 we kicked everyone out so we could hop a train to San Francisco.\nWe caught the 12:19 train to SF and hoofed it to Automatic @ Pier 38. We arrived just a few minutes before the Camp started and there was already a line out the door. At 2 (on the nose) the line started moving and within a few minutes we were all crowding the tables for the first round of cupcakes. Ruby and I opted for Taro cupcakes and I was quite surprised that I really liked it. Vick stood at table 3 and waited for the Cheesecake cupcakes but they never came.\nLucky for us table 3 was also the home of the next round first pick, Blue Bottle Coffee Cupcakes with Krispy Kreme doughnuts on top. Yes, you heard right, a cupcake with a doughnut on top. I don\u0026rsquo;t expect you to believe this without photo evidence, so here you go.\nBelieve it or not, after this little indulgence we were all cupcaked out. I know, we\u0026rsquo;re wimps, I promise to work up a better tolerance for CupcakeCamp 2010. In any case we decided that the only thing that could get us back on track was an espresso and some good food, so we hopped on the N Judah and headed over to the Ferry Building for lunch/dinner. After a way too hasty inhalation of food and beverage we hightailed it back to 4th and King to catch the train back to Mountain View.\nWhen I say that this was the most miserable train ride I\u0026rsquo;ve ever taken, its not without rival. The post 21st Ammendment train ride of \u0026lsquo;09 may have given this one a run for its money had not both kids been screaming, climbing on the tables, whacking the other riders, and generally being horrific. It was in fact so bad that Ruby herself volunteered that \u0026ldquo;maybe next time I should only have one cupcake\u0026rdquo;. Yeah, I think maybe only one would be good, and maybe not the one with a Krispy Kreme doughnut on top.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/cupcakecamp-2009/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eToday 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\u0026rsquo;s Market. All of our friends came over for coffee and much fun was had. Then at 11:30 we kicked everyone out so we could hop a train to San Francisco.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"L1010921\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/10/L1010921-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe caught the 12:19 train to SF and hoofed it to Automatic @ Pier 38. We arrived just a few minutes before the \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t\u0026amp;amp;source=web\u0026amp;amp;ct=res\u0026amp;amp;cd=1\u0026amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fcupcakecamp.org%2F\u0026amp;amp;ei=_5HLSpW7Hob-tQO2na2HAQ\u0026amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNE9al_6eAE_FMXdujuR9rjB8giVnQ\u0026amp;amp;sig2=qoCTVLXvDch2oYsZHLlO0Q\"\u003eCamp\u003c/a\u003e started and there was already a line out the door. At 2 (on the nose) the line started moving and within a few minutes we were all crowding the tables for the first round of cupcakes. Ruby and I opted for Taro cupcakes and I was quite surprised that I really liked it. Vick stood at table 3 and waited for the Cheesecake cupcakes but they never came.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CupcakeCamp 2009"},{"content":"I replace my dispersion screen every couple of months and I\u0026rsquo;m always disgusted by what I find on the other side of it. The screens and gaskets don\u0026rsquo;t cost much, but I always drag my heels because getting the darn things back in is just a tremendous pain in the butt.\nYesterday Olive and I decided it was time so we got our parts and tools together and set to work. I used the Flathead screwdriver on my handy Swiss Army knife to remove the old screen and gasket, and gave that to Olive to throw away. Then I put the gasket around the new screen and handed it to Olive to inspect, commenting on how nice and clean it was. I turned around for a moment and when I went back to the task the screen was gone. I asked Olive where it was and she jovially replied \u0026ldquo;ina dash\u0026rdquo;. As I was washing the screen I had a minor epiphany, if this thing were wet, I probably wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to fight so hard to get it in place. And if wet is good, lubed would be better right.\nSo, with Olive\u0026rsquo; help I got a thin layer of food grease spread all around the outside edge of the gasket. I pressed the gasket into the grouphead with my fingers and the used the blank portafilter to set it into place. I was floored when it popped into place on the very first try. The whole process took less than 10 minutes, and would have been quicker without Olive\u0026rsquo; help. No more bloody knuckles and sweaty frustration for me.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/coffee/trick-e61-dispersion-screen-replacement/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI replace my dispersion screen every couple of months and I\u0026rsquo;m always disgusted by what I find on the other side of it. The screens and gaskets don\u0026rsquo;t cost much, but I always drag my heels because getting the darn things back in is just a tremendous pain in the butt.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYesterday Olive and I decided it was time so we got our parts and tools together and set to work. I used the Flathead screwdriver on my handy Swiss Army knife to remove the old screen and gasket, and gave that to Olive to throw away. Then I put the gasket around the new screen and handed it to Olive to inspect, commenting on how nice and clean it was. I turned around for a moment and when I went back to the task the screen was gone. I asked Olive where it was and she jovially replied \u0026ldquo;ina dash\u0026rdquo;. As I was washing the screen I had a minor epiphany, if this thing were wet, I probably wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have to fight so hard to get it in place. And if wet is good, lubed would be better right.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trick: E61 Dispersion Screen Replacement"},{"content":"I have never considered myself to be a competitive person. Perhaps at one point I wasn\u0026rsquo;t, or perhaps I\u0026rsquo;ve just been deluding myself all this time. The first indisputable proof that I am indeed a competitive person came when I started riding my bike to work on a regular basis*. I noticed after only a few weeks that I just could not tolerate being passed, and had an unquenchable thirst to pass others.\nNow in the grand scope of competitive behavior, this assessment isn\u0026rsquo;t really all that scathing. Even assuming that you (like me) have some presentiment that excessive competition is contra-indicative of peak mental health, you will probably grant that a behavior like running at the head of the heard is a natural survival instinct.\nThe question is, \u0026ldquo;How much faster than the slowest member of the heard does one, evolutionarily speaking, have to be?\u0026rdquo; And in case that\u0026rsquo;s understating the problem, \u0026ldquo;How much faster than the fastest does one have to be?\u0026rdquo; Certainly, for individual survival, one simply needs to not be lion lunch. To ensure the survival of one\u0026rsquo;s \u0026ldquo;line\u0026rdquo;, some competition for a choice mate may be in order. Beyond that though, I believe we are in the realm of entirely human concern.\n… this was (save the introduction) more or less what was going through my mind in the 30 seconds or so walk between the exit of SETI and my bike. By the time I saddled up to ride home I had noticed that it was an ideal Californian Autumn afternoon, and I was exhausted. Having just critiqued myself for being ever-so-slightly over-competitive and in celebration of a hard won end to my work day, I decided to perform a small experiment. I decided that I would under no circumstances accelerate to pass or avoid being passed, that I would not break a sweat, and that I would take time to observe everything that I could on the way home.\nNow as it turns out, I had it pretty easy on this first iteration. There was only one biker bound in the same direction as me, and he couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more than 6 years old. I even thought for a moment that I should slow down to let him pass me, but decided that that would be disingenuous, and not in the spirit of the experiment. I can say that I did notice a lot more than usual … mostly kids and homeless people peeing in the woods, but still, I was present… More importantly I can honestly say that I arrived home refreshed and changed. Changed, not in some super-significant way, but calmer, more open and yes happier than when I had left work.\nI\u0026rsquo;m a moderate person, and would certainly never suggest that all competition is bad, or that we should just roll over and let the world do with us as it sees fit, but I do wonder if maybe we (and by we, I mean I) are over doing it a little. How about you? Do you ever take an intentional break from competition. How does it feel. Do you feel that you compete in unhealthy ways? How would it feel to let that go?\n* Some who know me might argue that I should have recognized this way back in high school when I (for reasons not even known to me) took up and became quite good at greko/roman wrestling.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/competition-and-the-ride-home/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have never considered myself to be a competitive person. Perhaps at one point I wasn\u0026rsquo;t, or perhaps I\u0026rsquo;ve just been deluding myself all this time. The first indisputable proof that I am \u003cem\u003eindeed\u003c/em\u003e a competitive person came when I started riding my bike to work on a regular basis*. I noticed after only a few weeks that I just could not tolerate being passed, and had an unquenchable thirst to pass others.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Competition and the Ride Home"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;s favorite sites, Etsy. If you\u0026rsquo;re not familiar with Etsy, its an online storefront where artists and craftspeople can sell their wares to a voratious customer base. It seems some enterprising individual has extended the concept to food, and the result looks quite scrumptious. Check out Foodzie. If you decided to buy anything, please comment on your experience.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/foodzie/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis 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\u0026rsquo;s favorite sites, \u003ca href=\"http://etsy.com\"\u003eEtsy\u003c/a\u003e. If you\u0026rsquo;re not familiar with Etsy, its an online storefront where artists and craftspeople can sell their wares to a voratious customer base. It seems some enterprising individual has extended the concept to food, and the result looks quite scrumptious. \u003ca href=\"http://foodzie.com/chocolate-candy.html\"\u003eCheck out Foodzie\u003c/a\u003e. If you decided to buy anything, please comment on your experience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Foodzie"},{"content":"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 to grind it up for the trip I decided to mix the FC+ and Vienna roasts together. If the smell is anything to judge by I am going to be delighted with the results. Hopefully I\u0026rsquo;ll get the licorice/cinnamon, clove flavors of the bean ( which FC+ reveals best) and the deep chocolate/caramel/earth flavors of the Vienna roast.\nJust after I created this blend I set out to see if anyone else had done something similar. Sure enough there were other instances of single origin blends, but one that I found particularly interesting was this one that Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s did where the kept the final roast level the same but varied the roast temp and time. I\u0026rsquo;m intrigued enough to try that on my next batches.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/single-origin-blend/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast 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 to grind it up for the trip I decided to mix the FC+ and Vienna roasts together. If the smell is anything to judge by I am going to be delighted with the results. Hopefully I\u0026rsquo;ll get the licorice/cinnamon, clove flavors of the bean ( which FC+ reveals best) and the deep chocolate/caramel/earth flavors of the Vienna roast.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Single Origin Blend?"},{"content":"I posted my first roast report in March, right after I got my new roaster. Since then I\u0026rsquo;ve been so busy with roasting, entertaining, traveling, and life that I\u0026rsquo;ve not reported back. Well here it is.\nSometime in July I convinced Vick to let me take over a portion of the laundry room for my roast shop (gotta love the smell of burnt cardboard in your clothes). I moved a bunch of stuff around and finally got the roaster semi-permanently set up next to the microwave. With the scale and barrel stand on top of the microwave everything fits nicely and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to move a bunch of part in and out of the cupboards every time I want to make a batch. This dance was occurring every 4 or 5 days so it seemed like a worthwhile compromise to our anti-clutter rule. Now the only thing I have to do when its time to roast is pull the ducting up to the hanger and crack the window a bit.\nSo on to the actual roasting. My general practice has been to sample several single origin beans each month, purchasing a pound or so from Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s. The next month I\u0026rsquo;ll purchase my previous month\u0026rsquo;s favorite in a 2 lb bag. So far I\u0026rsquo;ve found that I practically never prefer the lighter roasts that Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s recommends. Many of the beans that I\u0026rsquo;ve tried and rejected probably deserve a do-over at a darker roast. With that in mind here are my picks so far.\nBean Roasted Date Notes Guatemala San Jose Pinula La Trinidad Full City + March 30th Delicious, Fully Body, Chocolaty Java Kajumas Organic Tama Dador Vienna April 8th Rwanda Cup of Excellence Suvu-Maraba Full City + A tasty cup and well balanced. A bit pricey Brazil Cerrado DP Fazenda Aurea Full City + May 20th This is the best coffee I\u0026rsquo;ve had in a long time. Very intense chocolate flavor even in a latte. Yemen Mokha Ismaili Full City + July 25th This fantastic chocolate and earth flavored coffee tasted so good that I ordered 5 lbs of it in the next batch. There is some unevenness in bean size and quality (I even found a small stone), but it can make a fantastic shot if roasted darker (Vienna) I won\u0026rsquo;t dwell on the lesser beans I\u0026rsquo;ve roasted, mostly because I fear that my under roasting may have contributed to their lesser qualities. I will say that with the exception of the Brazil Cerrado that I mentioned above, all of the Dry Process beans I\u0026rsquo;ve tried have been seriously chaffy, and some have even caused fires.\nToday I\u0026rsquo;m roasting off perhaps the end of the Yemen Mokha Ismaili (~2lbs) for a camping trip this weekend. I\u0026rsquo;ll grind it on Thursday night and seal it up in my vac-cans. I\u0026rsquo;ll be making cuptop drip for my friends this weekend and I hope it lives up to expectations!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/september-roast-report/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI posted my first roast report in March, right after I got my new roaster. Since then I\u0026rsquo;ve been so busy with roasting, entertaining, traveling, and life that I\u0026rsquo;ve not reported back.  Well here it is.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"L1000628\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/09/L1000628-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSometime in July I convinced Vick to let me take over a portion of the laundry room for my roast shop (gotta love the smell of burnt cardboard in your clothes). I moved a bunch of stuff around and finally got the roaster semi-permanently set up next to the microwave. With the scale and barrel stand on top of the microwave everything fits nicely and I don\u0026rsquo;t have to move a bunch of part in and out of the cupboards every time I want to make a batch. This dance was occurring every 4 or 5 days so it seemed like a worthwhile compromise to our anti-clutter rule. Now the only thing I have to do when its time to roast is pull the ducting up to the hanger and crack the window a bit.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September Roast Report"},{"content":"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.\nWhen I mentioned to my dad that I was almost certainly going to India, he told me that he had always wanted to go and got this far away look in his eye. I instantly extended an invitation to him, hoping that he would accept, but aware that it was a big lift for him. I was happily surprised when my Mom started to encourage him and he gradually agreed that this was the chance of a lifetime. Of course my parents have this habit of dreaming about things in a way that looks to outsiders like resolve, so I was optimistically skeptical until last week when we bought our plane tickets.\nPlanning this trip with my dad is doubly exciting because it feels like one of the trips he and I used to plan when I was young (though clearly on a whole different scale). These early adventures were bike trips (from 2 days to 2 weeks long) on Cape Cod, in Maine, Quebec, Montreal, Seattle, Victoria, and Vancouver . I remember them as a coming of age experience as well as a deep bonding experience for my dad and I. This trip has all of the same promise, and a strange new element. First, and most obvious, its going to be in India. We\u0026rsquo;ve both read a lot about the place. We\u0026rsquo;ve read enough to know that we could never read enough to prepare us. Also I\u0026rsquo;m the dad now, and he\u0026rsquo;s the grandfather. There\u0026rsquo;s no coming of age this time, but I don\u0026rsquo;t doubt that there will be a great deal of bonding. I don\u0026rsquo;t want to project too much so I\u0026rsquo;ll just finish by saying that I am literally shaking with anticipation.\nSo the rough schedule is as follows\nOct 31st - Leave SFO\nNov 1st - Arrive HKG around 5pm find a place to stay\nNov 2nd - Depart HKG around 2pm. Arrive BOM 6:30pm\nFrom Mumbai catch an overnight train to Bangalore and then connect to Mysore\nNov 3rd - Arrive in Mysore\nNov 4th - Pre-conference Tours of Mysore and TED University\nNov 5th - 7th - TED Conference\nNov 7th - Catch a night train to Hampi (via Bangalore)\nNov 8th - 9th - Explore the ancient ruins of Hampi\nNov 10th - 11th - Explore the beaches, architecture, and cuisine of Goa\nNov 12th - Travel to Mumbai\nNov 13th - 14th - Negotiate the bazaars, discover the temples, and get lost in Mumbai\nNov 15th - Fly home\nMy head is already spinning and I haven\u0026rsquo;t even started packing. Even though I\u0026rsquo;ve traveled extensively in Europe, the US, and Caribbean, for some reason this seems like the grand kickoff to a life of travel. If you\u0026rsquo;re even an occasional forgeover follower, I strongly recommend that you tune in regularly from November 1 - 15 2009. Unless the promises of easy internet connectivity are greatly exaggerated, I\u0026rsquo;ll be updating the blog frequently (and possibly Twitter and Facebook too).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ted-india-and-beyond/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia/images/logo.png\" title=\"TED India\"\u003eWhile I was on vacation, I received word that I had been invited to be a guest at \u003ca href=\"http://conferences.ted.com/TEDIndia\"\u003eTED India 2009\u003c/a\u003e. Tonight I completed the registration and made it official. My tickets are purchased and plans are being laid.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I mentioned to my dad that I was almost certainly going to India, he told me that he had always wanted to go and got this far away look in his eye. I instantly extended an invitation to him, hoping that he would accept, but aware that it was a big lift for him. I was happily surprised when my Mom started to encourage him and he gradually agreed that this was the chance of a lifetime. Of course my parents have this habit of dreaming about things in a way that looks to outsiders like resolve, so I was optimistically skeptical until last week when we bought our plane tickets.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TED India and Beyond"},{"content":"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 friends.\nIt was a true vacation in every sense. The children both came into their own. Ruby, discovering her roll in our family (nuclear and extended), found her inner sweetness (best self) and showed an unexpected degree of maturity, self reliance, and empathy. This was best expressed when she was shepherding her sister around, pointing out dangers, explaining tricks and relationships, and helping her get her needs met.\nOlive started talking up a storm. At first it was a few new words each day. By the end of the trip it seemed she was repeating every new word that she heard. She also developed her counter will during the trip. Any parent who has kids over 2 probably just inhaled deeply. To tell the truth Vick and I are both taking it much more lightly than we did with Ru. Perhaps its the perspective of having one out and one in (Ruby now says \u0026ldquo;I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t do that mommy because I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to make you angry with me\u0026rdquo;), or perhaps its the perspective of knowing that it won\u0026rsquo;t last forever, but we\u0026rsquo;re both much more inclined to laugh it off, and play around her defiance than we were the first time around. In any case, it feels much better not to fight it.\nAs for Victoria and I, this was clearly the change we needed. Having both of us present (emotionally as well as physically) for each other and the family was invaluable to our recharging. I believe it has also provided the environment the kids needed to evolve.\nPerhaps the most unexpected outcome of vacation was that I was neither glad to leave New England, nor anxious about my return to work. Tuesday morning seemed just like any other day, and my re-entry to work has been stress free.\nLet\u0026rsquo;s hope this familial peace abides!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/east-coast-family-vacation-2009/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe 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 friends.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a true vacation in every sense. The children both came into their own. Ruby, discovering her roll in our family (nuclear and extended), found her inner sweetness (best self) and showed an unexpected degree of maturity, self reliance, and empathy. This was best expressed when she was shepherding her sister around, pointing out dangers, explaining tricks and relationships, and helping her get her needs met.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"East Coast Family Vacation 2009"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;ve received a few complaints lately regarding the gallery login. If you\u0026rsquo;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 \u0026ldquo;fixed\u0026rdquo;. The default behavior now will be to redirect you back to the home page where you can easily click on the gallery link again. Sorry for all of the confusion.\nAt some point in the future I would love to fix this so that it redirects you to the link that you clicked on (Gallery, most likely), but that\u0026rsquo;s more than I can commit to right now.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/fixed-login-problem/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve received a few complaints lately regarding the gallery login. If you\u0026rsquo;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 \u0026ldquo;fixed\u0026rdquo;. The default behavior now will be to redirect you back to the home page where you can easily click on the gallery link again. Sorry for all of the confusion.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fixed Login Problem"},{"content":"UPDATE:\nBased 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…\n…I am trying out snap.com\u0026rsquo;s snapshots. Snapshots add seemingly cool mouseover popups to my links. . I\u0026rsquo;m interested to hear what my readers think? Is this intrusive, annoying, helpful. Please comment!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/trying-out-snapshots/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eUPDATE:\u003cbr\u003e\nBased 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…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e…I am trying out \u003ca href=\"http://www.snap.com/\"\u003esnap.com\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rsquo;s snapshots. Snapshots add seemingly cool mouseover popups to my links. . I\u0026rsquo;m interested to hear what my readers think? Is this intrusive, annoying, helpful. Please comment!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trying Out SnapShots"},{"content":"\nOkay, I\u0026rsquo;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 case, that\u0026rsquo;s not the point of this post. This is the point. I want to believe that what I do for money is just one aspect of who I am, and what makes me valuable in this life.\nOn some levels, intellectually I suppose, I know this to be the case. I\u0026rsquo;m a father, and a darn good one if I may be so brash as to say so myself. I identified myself as a father (in training) before I even touched a computer (and 20 some years before I had my first child). I\u0026rsquo;m a husband, and I think I do well at that too. I\u0026rsquo;m also a semi-lousy (but motivated) guitarist, an avid amateur philosopher, bicyclist, activist, community organizer.\nSo really I shouldn\u0026rsquo;t need the external validation of my website stats to tell me that I\u0026rsquo;m valued for more than my technical prowess. So why do I keep checking, and being disappointed?\nAt dinner tonight, my wife reminded me that people probably don\u0026rsquo;t go Googling \u0026ldquo;Being your Best Self\u0026rdquo; as often as they Google \u0026ldquo;free kindle,\u0026rdquo; but when I saw these stats… well it bummed me out. At least until I realized that being radiant isn\u0026rsquo;t about other people seeing your light, its about emitting radiance. So I\u0026rsquo;m just going to keep on emitting, and ya\u0026rsquo;ll can go ahead and read those kindle posts if that\u0026rsquo;s your thing. Maybe you\u0026rsquo;ll check out the real me, maybe not.\nWhat makes you feel radiant? Is it your day job, playing with your kids, solving a tough problem, playing music? Don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid of being cheesy, I\u0026rsquo;m obviously not :)\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/i-am-a-radiant-being/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"radiance1920_xthumb\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/07/radiance1920_xthumb-150x150.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOkay, I\u0026rsquo;m going to come right out and say this cheesy thing that sometimes runs through my mind. \u003cstrong\u003eI am a radiant being\u003c/strong\u003e. This is not to say that I am radiant and some other people are dull. I suspect that we are all radiant. In any case, that\u0026rsquo;s not the point of this post. This is the point. I want to believe that what I do for money is just one aspect of who I am, and what makes me valuable in this life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Am A Radiant Being"},{"content":"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 \u0026ldquo;Programmer Insecurity \u0026amp; The Genius Myth\u0026rdquo;. Ben Collins-Sussman and Brian Fitzpatrick talked to us about how our fear of looking like an idiot or not being taken seriously, or hubris, prevents us from admitting failure.\nThe following are my thoughts on this topic, which have recently been influenced and enhanced by Ben and Brian.\nFailure is the perfect mentor. The emotions that failure evokes are powerful. According to John Medina, author of Brain Rules, \u0026ldquo;Emotionally arousing events tend to be better remembered than neutral events\u0026rdquo;. What happens then if we suppress the failure, and thus, to a large extent, the emotional gravity of the failure. I submit that we learn less from it, or possibly learn nothing at all. If we don\u0026rsquo;t learn from failure, we are destined to fail again… in the same way. Ugh, what could be worse!\nI think many of us, myself included, convince ourselves that we can learn privately from our mistakes, hiding the failure but still \u0026ldquo;feeling bad about it\u0026rdquo;. When we do this we cheat ourselves and those that we hide it from. First, we deprive ourselves the full richness of the experience. Here\u0026rsquo;s an anecdote from my recent experience.\nLast week I made a tiny little programming error that had a rather large consequence. I nested a bit of code in the wrong for loop and instead of sending a single e-mail message to each of 700 users, I sent them all a single message with all the users\u0026rsquo; e-mail addresses in the To: field.\nFortunately, this mistake was so high profile that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t hide it even if I wanted to. That said, having six of my fellow Steering Group privy to this mistake, I experienced the full mortification and education that that error provided me. Did it suck? Oh yes it did, but I can guarantee that I will never make that mistake again. If other developers had been working on this project, they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t make that mistake either. Its the \u0026ldquo;Oh I see fire burned you, so I won\u0026rsquo;t stick my hand in it either\u0026rdquo; brain function.\nThe other major benefit of admitting failure is that it builds credibility. This might sound counter intuitive, but its true. Everyone makes mistakes. We tell our kids this, and occasionally say it to eachother, but I don\u0026rsquo;t think it really sinks in how true it is. This isn\u0026rsquo;t an excuse, or a consolation, its a universal truth.\nWhen I work with someone who seems to be infallible, I generally feel one or two of the following, jealousy or incredulity. Jealousy because I want to be perfect like that, and incredulous because I know it cannot be so. When I see someone admit to failure (especially if its one they could have just as easily concealed) I feel reverence and kinship. In a world of coverups a person who is not afraid to admit their failure openly is truly courageous (and wise). This brave addmitter of failure is also showing me how \u0026ldquo;like me\u0026rdquo; they are. Showing their common humanness make them more accessible, more knowable, more human.\nSo, how \u0026lsquo;bout it? Want to cop to your latest failure? That\u0026rsquo;s what comments are for? If not, I\u0026rsquo;m cool with that. The Internet is a big scarry long memoried beast. Instead go forward with this… \u0026ldquo;Embrace your inner fail!\u0026rdquo; Don\u0026rsquo;t yield to insecurity, be human.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/admitting-failure/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 \u0026ldquo;\u003ca href=\"http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/7461\"\u003eProgrammer Insecurity \u0026amp; The Genius Myth\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rdquo;. Ben Collins-Sussman and Brian Fitzpatrick talked to us about how our fear of looking like an idiot or not being taken seriously, or hubris, prevents us from admitting failure.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe following are my thoughts on this topic, which have recently been influenced and enhanced by Ben and Brian.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Admitting Failure"},{"content":"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…\nA lot of people are trying to link this unfortunate episode to DRM. While I oppose DRM, and think that Amazon has squandered what little possible benefit DRM offers the consumer, this is quite clearly not at DRM issue. Digital Rights Management is concerned with access control, and specifically with limiting the ability of the consumer to copy and transmit copyrighted materials. Most people dislike DRM (possibly without know much about it) and therefore bloggers and the media have co-opted the term in hopes of raising our hackles. I post this short afterthought in hopes of settling your DRM hackles back down, at least on this count.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/amazons-orwell-debacle-afterthought/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs 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…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lot of \u003ca href=\"http://www.ghacks.net/tag/kindle-drm/\"\u003epeople\u003c/a\u003e are trying to link this unfortunate episode to \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management\"\u003eDRM\u003c/a\u003e. While I oppose DRM, and think that Amazon has squandered what little possible benefit DRM offers the consumer, this is quite clearly \u003cstrong\u003enot\u003c/strong\u003e at DRM issue. Digital Rights Management is concerned with access control, and specifically  with limiting the ability of the consumer to copy and transmit copyrighted materials.  Most people dislike DRM (possibly without know much about it) and therefore bloggers and the media have co-opted the term in hopes of raising our hackles. I post this short afterthought in hopes of settling your DRM hackles back down, at least on this count.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Amazon's Orwell Debacle: Afterthought"},{"content":"\nThis week Amazon pulled a surprisingly ironic move. It removed an unauthorized version of George Orwell\u0026rsquo;s 1984 and Animal farm from all connected Kindles. Its important to note that these books were uploaded to the Kindle Store by a company that did not own the rights. Regardless, the move angered and frighted Kindle many users.\nThere are countless newspaper articles, blog posts and tweets on the irony, legality and fairness of this move, so I won\u0026rsquo;t say more about that here. What I will do is provide a solution to this problem. I\u0026rsquo;m not using (or supporting) Windows anymore, so this solution will only work for you if have a Mac or Linux box.\nOpen up Terminal (use Spotlight if you don\u0026rsquo;t know about this) type crontab -e paste this line in and save the file ( :wq to save) 0 0 * * * rsync -var /Volumes/Kindle/ ~/Kindle\\ Backup/ 2\u0026gt;\u0026amp;1 This will put a backup of your entire device in your home directory in a sub directory called Kindle Backup. It will run every night at midnight. Just plug your Kindle in before you go to bed (unless you\u0026rsquo;re a night owl) and cron will do the rest. The rsync command will overwrite anything that is newer on your Kindle, so if Amazon decided to revise a book, this trick won\u0026rsquo;t work.\nThe biggest problem with this \u0026ldquo;solution\u0026rdquo; is that it only ensures that your paid for media remains yours. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t allow you to continue to use your device as it was designed and maintain contraband books on your device. If you want to read one of these contraband books, I suspect it will be necessary to turn off the wireless.\nIn theory it is possible to use your Kindle entirely offline. Amazon allows you to download books to your computer, and from there its trivial to load them onto your device. Benefit: your battery will last forever (exaggeration); Cost: No whispernet syncing with your iPhone :( Other readers may feel that the sacrifice of easy purchasing is a significant cost.\nWith any luck Amazon won\u0026rsquo;t do this again (they have publicly stated as much) but I would rather be safe.\np.s. Please take a moment to give this article a thumbs up or down. This is my single most popular article by hits but I\u0026rsquo;ve received no feedback. I\u0026rsquo;ll also respond to comments, so feel free to share your experiences.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/simple-kindle-backup/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"hero-top-right-05._V244132736_\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/07/hero-top-right-05._V244132736_-150x150.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis week Amazon pulled a surprisingly ironic move. It removed an unauthorized version of George Orwell\u0026rsquo;s 1984 and Animal farm from all connected Kindles. Its important to note that these books were uploaded to the Kindle Store by a company that did not own the rights. Regardless, the move angered and frighted Kindle many users.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are countless \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=1\"\u003enewspaper articles\u003c/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/146512/amazon-deletes-kindle-downloads-backpedals-quickly\"\u003eblog posts\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://search.twitter.com/search?q=kindle\"\u003etweets\u003c/a\u003e on the irony, legality and fairness of this move, so I won\u0026rsquo;t say more about that here. What I will do is provide a solution to this problem. I\u0026rsquo;m not using (or supporting) Windows anymore, so this solution will only work for you if have a Mac or Linux box.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Simple Kindle Backup"},{"content":"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 will give you the homepage in Spanish. The first time a page is translated it takes a while to build, so Global Translator gives you the google translation page while you wait. A Dutch speaking friend verified that that translation looked okay, if you are fluent in one of the 42 languages, I would love some feedback on translation quality (and mistakes).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/forgeover-now-available-in-42-languages/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks to the fantastic \u003ca href=\"http://www.nothing2hide.net/wp-plugins/wordpress-global-translator-plugin/\"\u003eGlobal Translator Plugin\u003c/a\u003e, 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  will give you the homepage in Spanish. The first time a page is translated it takes a while to build, so Global Translator gives you the google translation page while you wait. A Dutch speaking friend verified that that translation looked okay, if you are fluent in one of the 42 languages, I would love some feedback on translation quality (and mistakes).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Forgeover: Now Available in 42 Languages"},{"content":"\nI\u0026rsquo;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 feelie, AP, parent you are not, for example supposed to say \u0026ldquo;Do that again and you\u0026rsquo;re out of the family.\u0026rdquo; Nor is it encouraged to shout \u0026ldquo;Are you insane?\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s just not the thing. Conversely the suggested mantras \u0026ldquo;Biting is not okay\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t bite sweetie,\u0026rdquo; just don\u0026rsquo;t really satisfy the deep, furious, wild feelings that are floating around the house at such moments.\nAs a result we of the Bradford family have adopted this concept of the \u0026ldquo;Best Self.\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s this sort of Platonic ideal person that we have the potential to be. For whatever reason it\u0026rsquo;s a little more satisfying to say \u0026ldquo;Sweetheart, are you being your best self? No? What do you think you could do to be your best self?\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s a little bit closer to what I\u0026rsquo;m thinking which is \u0026ldquo;You can not possibly be my child, if I didn\u0026rsquo;t scoop you up all wet and white from your mother\u0026rsquo;s womb, I would seriously wonder if you were switched at birth\u0026rdquo;\nSo what happens when you turn this wonderful parental device around on yourself? I mean as a touchy feelie, etc… I really shouldn\u0026rsquo;t hold my kids to a standard that I don\u0026rsquo;t hold myself to right? Right! I started thinking about this on the way home from Aikido tonight.\nTwice a week I have a better than average chance of being my best self for an hour or so. Generally, if I rise to the occasion (read: if I\u0026rsquo;m not too broken when I arrive to get into the spirit) the blending and harmonizing lessons that my body learns during training become spiritual and emotional lessons that I carry with me into the next day. If I concentrate really hard I can go from Tuesday all the way to Friday blending my way through trafic, social tension, work problems, and ego problems. It\u0026rsquo;s these weeks when I feel empowered, confident, competent and just. It is these weeks when I am my best self.\nThis has not been one of those weeks. Aikido also teaches me forgiveness. I forgive me. I\u0026rsquo;ll do better tomorrow. The trick now is to find a way to be my best self all the time. Until then, I guess I\u0026rsquo;ll just have to go easy on the kids when they bite, hit, kick, and then laugh, remembering all the while that we are all on a journey to become our best selves.\nWhat does your best self look like? When do you feel most like that person? What kinds of things make you forget your best self and be that other person?\nRelated Posts:\nParenting: What I\u0026rsquo;ve Learned So Far\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/being-your-best-self/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Stellaris_Yin_Yang\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/uploads/2009/07/Stellaris_Yin_Yang-150x150.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;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 feelie, AP, parent you are not, for example supposed to say \u0026ldquo;Do that again and you\u0026rsquo;re out of the family.\u0026rdquo; Nor is it encouraged to shout \u0026ldquo;Are you insane?\u0026rdquo; It\u0026rsquo;s just not the thing. Conversely the suggested mantras \u0026ldquo;Biting is not okay\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;We don\u0026rsquo;t bite sweetie,\u0026rdquo; just don\u0026rsquo;t really satisfy the deep, furious, wild feelings that are floating around the house at such moments.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Being Your Best Self"},{"content":"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 \u0026ldquo;Kindle Public Library\u0026rdquo; and the whole loaning and selling Kindle books thing until I rediscovered Project Gutenberg, and Feedbooks.\nTo be honest, while I knew about Project Gutenberg before, I didn\u0026rsquo;t really have a use for it until I had a dedicated reader. I mean, who wants to read a book at your computer. Even on a laptop its no fun. But with a svelte, light, non-backlit reader in my hands, the out-of-copyright and CC world are my oyster.\nOf course the next step was to try to find out every legal way to get free or cheap commercially available content for my device. If you spend even a second searching the web for free kindle e-books, you\u0026rsquo;ll probably find the -domain trick. I\u0026rsquo;ve added a little to this technique to filter out the single chapter books (if I\u0026rsquo;m really interested in a sample, I\u0026rsquo;ll just click the sample button). Here\u0026rsquo;s my current method (I\u0026rsquo;ll post updates if I find a better way)\nGo to The Amazon Kindle Store Search for -domain -chapter -epilogue -excerpt -preview -romance Sort by Price (lowest to highest) The resulting pages should be full of trashy romance novels, religious books, and a handfull of sci-fi, fantasy, and other fiction.\nDo you have a good source for free or inexpensive e-books?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/my-free-kindle-book-recipie/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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 \u0026ldquo;Kindle Public Library\u0026rdquo; and the whole loaning and selling Kindle books thing until I rediscovered \u003ca href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t\u0026amp;amp;source=web\u0026amp;amp;ct=res\u0026amp;amp;cd=1\u0026amp;amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gutenberg.org%2F\u0026amp;amp;ei=JuJSSpesNpGwswOg-NiPBw\u0026amp;amp;usg=AFQjCNEwWvhQCQqfxd5f1CbKz4kDmWOgtw\u0026amp;amp;sig2=feH1zdfP2s4hUlOEDRrwwg\"\u003eProject Gutenberg\u003c/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.feedbooks.com/\"\u003eFeedbooks\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo be honest, while I knew about Project Gutenberg before, I didn\u0026rsquo;t really have a use for it until I had a dedicated reader. I mean, who wants to read a book at your computer. Even on a laptop its no fun. But with a svelte, light, non-backlit reader in my hands, the out-of-copyright and CC world are my oyster.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Free Kindle Book Recipe"},{"content":"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 disappointed sound and she consented to letting me hold her for \u0026ldquo;one minute\u0026rdquo;. I swear she counted seconds, because she kicked me out before I fell asleep (which generally happens around minute 4).\nOlive was a bit more of a challenge. I believe I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten her to sleep exactly one time before. It was very late and I lucked out on the sleep-walk transfer. This time was absolute magic compared to that. I sat with her on the couch and watched Goodnight Gorilla. After one and a half viewings she said \u0026ldquo;Mama, Sleep\u0026rdquo;. I asked if she was really done, and ready for bed right now. She corroborated. On the way to the bedroom, I asked her to put her head on my shoulder. I very gently eased her onto our bed, gave her a kiss and said goodnight. Then when she looked up at me I said, \u0026ldquo;Olive, can you go to sleep like your sister did?\u0026rdquo;. \u0026ldquo;Ya\u0026rdquo;.\nAbout 10 minutes later I went in to make sure she was really sleeping. Ahhhh the sweet sound of success… silence!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/putting-the-kids-to-sleep/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51ld2tIogNL._SL160_.jpg\" title=\"One Morning In Maine\"\u003eTonight, for the first time ever, I put both kids to sleep without help. Ruby went down first. I read her \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I8K35A?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=B001I8K35A\"\u003eOne Morning in Maine\u003c/a\u003e, and held her for a few minutes. Initially she wanted me to go away right after I was done reading, but I gave a disappointed sound and she consented to letting me hold her for \u0026ldquo;one minute\u0026rdquo;. I swear she counted seconds, because she kicked me out before I fell asleep (which generally happens around minute 4).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Putting the Kids to Sleep"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/dancing-balloons/","summary":"","title":"Dancing Balloons"},{"content":"\nYears 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 came there are endless possibilities for social and intellectual cross-pollination . This idea settled deep into my consciousness and made a home. I\u0026rsquo;ve been carrying it with me for years, and talking about it from time to time.\nAt the beginning of this year Victoria and I decided the time had come to build our own little community event. We put out the word to all of our local friends that we would be hosing a pre-farmer\u0026rsquo;s market coffee every Sunday morning. We make coffee and a snack (croissants, coffee cake, etc.) and our friends come as is or with food. Its turned out to be more fun than we ever expected, and its started to blossom to the point where people are bringing their friends (previously strangers to us). This Sunday will be our 16th Coffee Social.\nI\u0026rsquo;m interested to hear from anyone else who\u0026rsquo;s hosted a similar all-comers type party. What has the experience been like for you? Did you have good turnout. How do you encourage people to invite their friends. Did you have guests that no one knew before?\nWant to join us? Sunday Morning Coffee Social\nSunday, 9am\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/throw-a-party-invite-the-world/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://crush3r.com/page/xvzlykocmx\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"A78d9c5ad6319ee245dc475ce11d2c99d06cca10_m\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://s3.amazonaws.com/crusher_files/title/1/a78d9c5ad6319ee245dc475ce11d2c99d06cca10_m.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYears 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 came there are endless possibilities for social and intellectual cross-pollination . This idea settled deep into my consciousness and made a home. I\u0026rsquo;ve been carrying it with me for years, and talking about it from time to time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Throw a Party, Invite the World"},{"content":"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 friends. Early naps provided a little needed excuse to read more of my latest addiction .\nSomewhere around 4 we packed up our things and headed over to Hidden Villa for the Banana Slug String Band\u0026rsquo;s Annual Father\u0026rsquo;s Day concert. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why I love this event so much. Maybe its sitting on the most lucious green organic lawn in the world, embraced by mountains all around. Maybe its the huge jar of margaritas Vick brought. Perhaps its the happy kids (myself included) running around without a care in the world. Whatever it is, I really look forward to this event. Every year I meet a couple of other dads that seem genuinely happy to be fathers.\nAnyway, the Banana Slugs are a goofy band. They really get into their gig, and don\u0026rsquo;t take themselves too seriously. That\u0026rsquo;s a big part of the appeal. I took a lot of video footage on Vick\u0026rsquo;s new phone, and uploaded it to YouTube. Here\u0026rsquo;s a sample to give you a taste.\nAfter the show, we lingered for a while, climbing trees and wandering slowly towards the car. When we got home the kids fell right to sleep and I got to go back to my book for a few more hours.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/fathers-day-hidden-villa/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI started out the day, as I do most every Sunday, with the \u003ca href=\"http://crush3r.com/page/eyzrgvwsrx\"\u003eCoffee Social\u003c/a\u003e. 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 friends. Early naps provided a little needed excuse to read more of my  \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553381687?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=0553381687\"\u003elatest addiction\u003c/a\u003e .\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSomewhere around 4 we packed up our things and headed over to \u003ca href=\"http://www.hiddenvilla.org/\"\u003eHidden Villa\u003c/a\u003e for the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bananaslugstringband.com/\"\u003eBanana Slug String Band\u003c/a\u003e\u0026rsquo;s Annual Father\u0026rsquo;s Day concert. I don\u0026rsquo;t know why I love this event so much. Maybe its sitting on the most lucious green organic lawn in the world, embraced by mountains all around. Maybe its the huge jar of margaritas Vick brought. Perhaps its the happy kids (myself included) running around without a care in the world. Whatever it is, I really look forward to this event.  Every year I meet a couple of other dads that seem genuinely happy to be fathers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Father's Day @ Hidden Villa"},{"content":"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, but it always takes me hours to identify the colors on the color wheel or spectrum.\nLast night, quite by accident, I found a solution to this conundrum that may make my life quite a bit easier.\nAs I was resizing a bunch of photos (using my favorite little image manipulator Acorn) I accidentally dragged one on to the color picker. The image showed up in the palette a moment later and a little eyedropper icon was hovering over the image. I found that I could get that radiant orange from the poppy and the deep rich green from the trees and add them to my favorites (that little row of boxes at the bottom of the color picker).\nNature has a great palette, and I think I might be exploiting it more now that I have found this tool. Have you found any neat tricks for color selection?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/business/apple-color-picker-magic/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI 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, but it always takes me hours to identify the colors on the color wheel or spectrum.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast night, quite by accident, I found a solution to this conundrum that may make my life quite a bit easier.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Apple Color Picker Magic"},{"content":"\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t actually read this book, but I found the title intriguing. The title suggests that if you aren\u0026rsquo;t paying attention to your customers needs, then you may find yourself putting whipped cream and a cherry on a meatball. When I read the title, I had two strong and immediate impressions.\nFirst, \u0026ldquo;yuck.\u0026rdquo; I said it out loud. Ruby, of course, asked what I was talking about. I told her the title, and asked if she would like a meatball sundae. \u0026ldquo;No way,\u0026rdquo; she replied \u0026quot; I would want a meatball plain and cherries and whipped cream plain too.\u0026quot;\nThe second thing I thought was, \u0026ldquo;Now if that were a bacon sundae he would be on to something.\u0026rdquo; I find this amusing on several counts. First, it reinforces the title, because bacon is in, and any self respecting meat-product sundae maker would know that. Second, my friends and I concocted just such a sundae (concept) over dinner a few weeks ago.\nSo, please comment. How do you get to know your customers? What crazy bacon combo have you tried or thought of? Have you read this book? Should I?\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/bacon-or-meatballs-what-makes-a-better-sunday/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591841747?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=1591841747\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51OcZUw%2BekL._SL110_.jpg\" title=\"MeatballSunday\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026l=as2\u0026o=1\u0026a=1591841747\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI haven\u0026rsquo;t actually read \u003ca href=\"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591841747?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;amp;tag=tuckerbradfor-20\u0026amp;amp;linkCode=as2\u0026amp;amp;camp=1789\u0026amp;amp;creative=390957\u0026amp;amp;creativeASIN=1591841747\" title=\"this book\"\u003ethis book\u003c/a\u003e, but I found the title intriguing. The title suggests that if you aren\u0026rsquo;t paying attention to your customers needs, then you may find yourself putting whipped cream and a cherry on a meatball. When I read the title, I had two strong and immediate impressions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, \u0026ldquo;yuck.\u0026rdquo; I said it out loud. Ruby, of course, asked what I was talking about. I told her the title, and asked if she would like a meatball sundae. \u0026ldquo;No way,\u0026rdquo; she replied \u0026quot; I would want a meatball plain and cherries and whipped cream plain too.\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bacon or Meatballs, What Makes a Better Sundae?"},{"content":"Hey there cherished reader, I bet you\u0026rsquo;re wondering where the photos went. How do I know, because you\u0026rsquo;ve both called me and asked, that\u0026rsquo;s how. Well here\u0026rsquo;s the scoop. I\u0026rsquo;ve migrated my blog over to wordpress. This is going to have lots of benefits for all of us, not the least of which is that my blog and photos will be much more tightly coupled now. What this means for you is that you\u0026rsquo;ll have to create a new login. Go on up to the navigation bar and click on login. Then register. You can even sign up to get e-mail notifications when new blog posts go up, how cool is that?\nMuch more fun stuff will be coming soon. So stay tuned.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/new-blog-engine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey there cherished reader, I bet you\u0026rsquo;re wondering where the photos went. How do I know, because you\u0026rsquo;ve both called me and asked, that\u0026rsquo;s how. Well here\u0026rsquo;s the scoop. I\u0026rsquo;ve migrated my blog over to wordpress. This is going to have lots of benefits for all of us, not the least of which is that my blog and photos will be much more tightly coupled now. What this means for you is that you\u0026rsquo;ll have to create a new login. Go on up to the navigation bar and click on login. Then register. You can even sign up to get e-mail notifications when new blog posts go up, how cool is that?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Blog Engine"},{"content":"\nI 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 course), and kept thinking about it afterward.\nAs Chris Guillebeau points out many times on his website, if you are reading this, you are likely very rich. You are in fact, likely to find yourself in the top 1-10% of the worlds richest people. Regardless of how you feel about economic equity it is more likely than not that you\u0026rsquo;ll agree that we at the peak of the wealth pyramid are standing atop a wide base. That base supports us in ways that I can scarcely comprehend, but in many ways it needs our support as well.\nI feel a responsibility to the billions of earthlings who, though their toil, skill, and wit have provided the foundation of the pyramid of wealth that I sit so comfortably on. But this post is not a call to socialism, in fact, its the opposite. A socialist society should have no need for philanthropy, as the government would directly support all environmental, social, health, and scientific development and protection. Our (American/capitalist) culture does require philanthropy though, both to sustain our environmental, intellectual, proletariat, artisan, and artistic base as well as to correct for the failures of the system.\nWhen times seem tight for my family it is sometimes a struggle to remain mindful of the fact that whatever slump we may be feeling, we have not descended below even the top 10% of all earthlings. That pyramid is still supporting us, and we must continue to reinforce it. I\u0026rsquo;m not suggesting that we all turn our proverbial pockets out and deplete our personal wealth. A commitment of as little as 1% of our annual income could make a significant impact.\nConsider that $50 US is enough to save an acre of rainforest or $73 US could provide a new mobile health clinic to care for AIDS orphans in Uganda. Not a fan of charity? Why not try kiva? They facilitate microloans to highly motivated entrepreneurs in emerging countries.\nWhat do you do to support the pyramid, and how do economic hardships impact your philanthropic efforts? Please leave comments!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/personal-philanthropy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/tucker_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nI 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 course), and kept thinking about it afterward.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Chris Guillebeau \u003ca href=\"http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/you-are-incredibly-rich/\"\u003epoints out\u003c/a\u003e many times on \u003ca href=\"http://chrisguillebeau.com/\"\u003ehis website\u003c/a\u003e, if you are reading this, \u003ca href=\"http://www.globalrichlist.com/\"\u003eyou are likely very rich\u003c/a\u003e. You are in fact, likely to find yourself in the top 1-10% of the worlds richest people. Regardless of how you feel about \u003ca href=\"http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/economic-equity.html\"\u003eeconomic equity\u003c/a\u003e it is more likely than not that you\u0026rsquo;ll agree that we at the peak of the wealth pyramid are standing atop a wide base. That base supports us in ways that I can scarcely comprehend, but in many ways it needs our support as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Personal Philanthropy"},{"content":"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\u0026rsquo;t find anything so she kept looking. She smelled something good. It was a carrot. The bunny tried to find a carrot too but she found the pig\u0026rsquo;s carrot. The pig wanted the carrot and they couldn\u0026rsquo;t work it out so the bunny kept walking and found another carrot. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t anyone\u0026rsquo;s so she ate it all up.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ruby-writes-a-story/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOnce 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\u0026rsquo;t find anything so she kept looking. She smelled something good. It was a carrot. The bunny tried to find a carrot too but she found the pig\u0026rsquo;s carrot. The pig wanted the carrot and they couldn\u0026rsquo;t work it out so the bunny kept walking and found another carrot. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t anyone\u0026rsquo;s so she ate it all up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby Writes a Story"},{"content":"\nLast 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\u0026rsquo;m attaching a photo. If you\u0026rsquo;re in the US, I recommend stopping by. ","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/vick-e-ohs/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/victoria_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast 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\u0026rsquo;m attaching a photo. If you\u0026rsquo;re in the US, I recommend stopping by. \u003cimg alt=\"VickEOhs\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/VickEOhs.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vick-e-Ohs"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;If a man must be obsessed by something,\nI suppose a boat is as good as anything,\nperhaps a bit better than most.\nA small sailing craft is not only beautiful,\nit is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble.\u0026rdquo;\nE. B. White, The Sea and the Wind that Blows 1077\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/pretty-much-sums-it-up/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;If a man must be obsessed by something,\u003cbr\u003e\nI suppose a boat is as good as anything,\u003cbr\u003e\nperhaps a bit better than most.\u003cbr\u003e\nA small sailing craft is not only beautiful,\u003cbr\u003e\nit is seductive and full of strange promise and the hint of trouble.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eE. B. White, The Sea and the Wind that Blows 1077\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pretty Much Sums It Up"},{"content":"\nBasically, what I\u0026rsquo;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 wake up calls make me a bit grumpy, so I could either: a) yell at the kids to leave me alone or; b) go to sleep earlier so that I\u0026rsquo;m not so tired at 6:30.\nOn a similar note, we have been having lots of trouble lately with nap time. We\u0026rsquo;ve tried coercion, bribery, deal-making, exasperation, and force to keep Ruby on her normal nap schedule. We did this for three reasons. First, when she naps regularly, she\u0026rsquo;s a nicer kid. Second, when she naps, her sister can nap, and when she doesn\u0026rsquo;t nap she intentionally wakes her up. Third, when she doesn\u0026rsquo;t nap, Vick doesn\u0026rsquo;t get a break, and is ragged at the end of the day. As a result I\u0026rsquo;ve taken to coming home several days a week at lunch time to put her down. This has worked surprisingly well on the days that I can come home, but when I can\u0026rsquo;t the whole family is a mess by the end of my workday.\nFor months (years?) I\u0026rsquo;ve been holding on to this \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m in control here, and I know what\u0026rsquo;s best, so I\u0026rsquo;m going to find a way to make it happen\u0026rdquo; mentality. Well last week we had a bit of an epiphany. Vick and I decided to give Ruby the choice whether she was going to nap or not. I told her that she was old enough to take responsibility for this choice. I explained why we had been making her nap (the three reasons above), and that she was going to need to work with us to find other ways to make those aspects of our family life work out if she was going to choose not to nap.\nThe first several days were hot and cold. There were several times when we decided to can this plan all together, and a few where we actually told Ruby the deal was off. Somehow we managed to give her back the reigns before nap time each day.\nToday before I left for work, I reminded her that she had this new responsibility, and that Olive was still a baby who really needed to nap every day for as long as she wanted. I also let her know that I believed she was going to succeed. When I got home, I was pleasantly (and completely) surprised to find out that Ruby had carried her responsibility admirably, and Olive had had a great nap.\nSo back to my original point. Ruby is more than capable of managing herself, she just needs to know the parameters. In our family the ultimate parameter is harmony. When we gave her responsibility for her choice, and let her know what standard she was expected to live up to, she was able to shine, and to own her success.\nNow that I\u0026rsquo;ve shared this insight, I expect you all to remind me of it when I loose focus.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/parenting-what-ive-learned-so-far/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/tucker_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/victoria_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nBasically, what I\u0026rsquo;ve learned so far boils down to this. \u003cstrong\u003eParenting is not so much about managing your children, as it is about managing yourself\u003c/strong\u003e. For example, in our family the kids wake up every morning (in the winter) at 6:30. 6:30 wake up calls make me a bit grumpy, so I could either: a) yell at the kids to leave me alone or; b) go to sleep earlier so that I\u0026rsquo;m not so tired at 6:30.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Parenting: What I've learned so far"},{"content":"\nA 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. I (too) quickly snatched my pen back and then gently explained that the nib of a fountain pen is a very personal thing, blah blah blah. We then confonded our guests and caused a bit of a stir when we had trouble locating another writing device. Eventually we resolved the problem by borrowing a marker or crayon from Ruby.\nThis brought to light a startling (even to us) realization. We each (Victoria and I) only have a single pen. Victoria also has a matching pencil, but that\u0026rsquo;s it. The ubiquitous pen drawer that seems to exist in every household does not exist in ours. What\u0026rsquo;s stranger, we never intentionally created this rule. This is how it happened\u0026hellip;\nJust before Ruby was born Victoria bought me a marvelous pen. As time went by I realized that I always had this pen with me, or knew just where it was. Its special enough that I never let anyone else use it, and therefore, it never moved around on me. As time went by (I realized in retrospect) the need for backup implements faded. A year later I returned the favor.\nWhat we have discovered, since the Coffee Social, is that one pen is really all you need. So I put this to you, consider purchasing a fine writing instrument (or fine enough to not get lost all the time). Keep it close for 21 days (that\u0026rsquo;s apparently how long it takes to build a habit). Then try putting all of your other writing implements in a very inconvenient place. Report back.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/productivity-the-one-pen-challenge/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/tucker_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nA 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. I (too) quickly snatched my pen back and then gently explained that the nib of a fountain pen is a very personal thing, blah blah blah. We then confonded our guests and caused a bit of a stir when we had trouble locating another writing device. Eventually we resolved the problem by borrowing a marker or crayon from Ruby.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Productivity: The One Pen Challenge"},{"content":"\nAfter days of contemplation and discussion, I believe that Ruby has finally solved the pirate problem, for everyone.\nRuby: I know, lets make a flag with a cake on it. I\u0026rsquo;ll make my favorite cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and flowers on top) and we\u0026rsquo;ll put the flag up. Then the pirates will know that we have cake and they can come over and eat it. Then they will like us and won\u0026rsquo;t eat us or take our boat.\nRuby: (after some more thought) \u0026hellip; and then we can tell everyone in the world what to do and nobody will have to be afraid of pirates anymore.\nMe: Oh Ruby, that\u0026rsquo;s beautiful.\nRuby: Oh, and we can make a cookie flag, and a pizza flag too. \u0026hellip;\nThis conversation has spanned several days, but Ruby is really excited about making friends out of the pirates. I have never been so proud of my little girl. With any luck she\u0026rsquo;ll carry this attitude into her adult problem solving and interpersonal self.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ruby-solved-the-global-pirate-problem/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/ruby_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nAfter days of contemplation and discussion, I believe that Ruby has finally solved the pirate problem, for everyone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRuby: I know, lets make a flag with a cake on it. I\u0026rsquo;ll make my favorite cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles and flowers on top) and we\u0026rsquo;ll put the flag up. Then the pirates will know that we have cake and they can come over and eat it. Then they will like us and won\u0026rsquo;t eat us or take our boat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby Solved the Global Pirate Problem"},{"content":"\nWhile we were eating dinner tonight (hamburgers\u0026hellip; 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 we (of course) took the opportunity to turn the question around\u0026hellip;\nParent: Do you have any ideas Ruby?\nRuby (immediately) : I know, we could make a note that says \u0026ldquo;Pirates don\u0026rsquo;t steal our boat\u0026rdquo;, and we could put it in a bottle and send it to them, and then they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t steal our boat.\nMe: That\u0026rsquo;s a great idea Ru, but some pirates are so mean that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t even care if you wrote them a note, or maybe they couldn\u0026rsquo;t even read it.\nRuby (thinks for a moment): Oh! I know, we could keep an eye out (exact words, I swear) and when they come we could see them through a telescope or something, and then we could run away somewhere safe where there are no pirates and we never see them ever again.\nMe: Ruby, that\u0026rsquo;s another great idea, but they would probably have a motorboat and we\u0026rsquo;ll have a sailboat, and their boat would probably be faster than ours.\nRuby (immediately): We could buy a motorboat for a while and tie our old boat up with a special knot, one of my really bad ones, that nobody can untie but me, and then we could go faster than the pirates.\nRuby (un-prompted this time): If they got us we could get a very sharp knife and cut them in half and hang them from the very highest part of a tree.\nOlive: Hurt\nRuby: \u0026hellip; and I\u0026rsquo;ll stay in the boat with Olive because she might be afraid of the pirate eating her and we can play games in my bed\nOlive: signs food; makes chomping sounds (i couldn\u0026rsquo;t make this up if I wanted too)\nRuby: Or another thing we could do \u0026ndash; I learned this from Dora \u0026ndash; is fill them up with pepper, that would make them cough us up if they ate us. But if we eat them we could boil them and then bake them and then make pirate burgers (with peppers).\nOkay, that last part was a little disturbing to me too, but she just said it in her little singsong matter of fact way that makes \u0026ldquo;We\u0026rsquo;re going to have a sleepover tonight\u0026rdquo; seem like the most wonderful idea ever to grace your ears. Watch out world, here comes Ruby, the Solver.\np.s. Dear readers, I really didn\u0026rsquo;t make a word of this up, I actually got out a pad and took notes at dinner because I knew early on that it was blogworthy material.\np.p.s We did discuss more \u0026ldquo;conventional\u0026rdquo; methods for avoiding and dealing with pirates.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/family/ruby-dispatches-pirates/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/tucker_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWhile we were eating dinner tonight (hamburgers\u0026hellip; 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 we (of course) took the opportunity to turn the question around\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParent: Do you have any ideas Ruby?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRuby (immediately) : I know, we could make a note that says \u0026ldquo;Pirates don\u0026rsquo;t steal our boat\u0026rdquo;, and we could put it in a bottle and send it to them, and then they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t steal our boat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby Dispatches Pirates"},{"content":"\nOn 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\u0026rsquo;s ability to hike for several miles (4 to be precise) without a complaint. The hike was a consistently steep upward slog on the way in, and a nice downhill run on the way out. We stopped about every quarter mile for a snack. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure that Ruby was tired, or hungry. I got the feeling that she just liked making camp for a minute. Some of our snack stops were barely enough time to catch our breath, but it seemed to be enough for the boo. Here\u0026rsquo;s a picture of us at the \u0026ldquo;Last Muffin Stop\u0026rdquo; which was actually the third from last break of the hike.\nThis was a test for an overnight trip that we\u0026rsquo;ll do in 3 weeks. In fact, it will be a lot easier next time, as we won\u0026rsquo;t have to hike back out the same day. Ruby seemed really happy the whole day, I\u0026rsquo;m glad I got a nature girl :)\nSee the gallery for more pictures (60 I think).\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/monte-bello-test-hike/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/ruby_teardrop.png\" title=\"About Tucker\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nOn 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\u0026rsquo;s ability to hike for several miles (4 to be precise) without a complaint. The hike was a consistently steep upward slog on the way in, and a nice downhill run on the way out. We stopped about every quarter mile for a snack. I\u0026rsquo;m not sure that Ruby was tired, or hungry. I got the feeling that she just liked making camp for a minute. Some of our snack stops were barely enough time to catch our breath, but it seemed to be enough for the boo. Here\u0026rsquo;s a picture of us at the \u0026ldquo;Last Muffin Stop\u0026rdquo; which was actually the third from last break of the hike.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Monte Bello Test Hike"},{"content":" 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.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/victorias-latest-sewing-project/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/victoria_teardrop.png\"\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\u0026rsquo;s Gown\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/IMG_5995.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Victoria's Latest Sewing Project"},{"content":" Victoria and I built a secret garden in our back \u0026ldquo;yard\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t wait to see what it looks like in bloom.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/secret-garden/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/victoria_teardrop.png\"\u003e Victoria and I built a secret garden in our back \u0026ldquo;yard\u0026rdquo; 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\u0026rsquo;t wait to see what it looks like in bloom.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cimg alt=\"garden\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/IMG_5999.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Secret Garden"},{"content":" Tonight I said goodbye to Kristy our hair stylist of 10 years. It was \u0026ndash; oddly \u0026ndash; the hardest thing I\u0026rsquo;ve done in quite a while. Carma Hair Company is in San Bruno, a one hour drive during rush hour. We have been commuting between thirty minutes and one hour for about seven years, and it just got to be too much to justify. What we\u0026rsquo;re saying goodbye to is a salon that treats its customers like extended family, and the easy comfort of a big thanksgiving dinner. I\u0026rsquo;m going to miss the playful banter, what-ifs and did-you-hears that every trip promised. Goodbye Carma, I hope to be back someday!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/loosing-carma/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/tucker_teardrop.png\"\u003e Tonight I said goodbye to Kristy our hair stylist of 10 years. It was \u0026ndash; oddly \u0026ndash; the hardest thing I\u0026rsquo;ve done in quite a while. Carma Hair Company is in San Bruno, a one hour drive during rush hour. We have been commuting between thirty minutes and one hour for about seven years, and it just got to be too much to justify. What we\u0026rsquo;re saying goodbye to is a salon that treats its customers like extended family, and the easy comfort of a big thanksgiving dinner. I\u0026rsquo;m going to miss the playful banter, what-ifs and did-you-hears that every trip promised. Goodbye Carma, I hope to be back someday!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Losing Carma"},{"content":" 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\u0026rsquo;t even realize she could do. Her Uke (Jonathan) was fantastic, as usual, and really helped her to be her best, but in the end, it was all Ruby. She is now 10th Kyu. Congratulations sweetheart!\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ruby-earns-her-yellow-belt/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/ruby_teardrop.png\"\u003e 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\u0026rsquo;t even realize she could do. Her Uke (Jonathan) was fantastic, as usual, and really helped her to be her best, but in the end, it was all Ruby. She is now 10th Kyu. Congratulations sweetheart!\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cimg alt=\"ruby nage\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/IMG_0635.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby Earns Her Yellow Belt"},{"content":" It all started last weekend when Ruby and Anika started angling for a sleepover\nNo Ru, you didn\u0026rsquo;t have a nap today and it just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be a good idea, Vick calmly states.\nI will have a sleepover, Ruby corrects.\nRuby, listen to your moma, she said no, says I.\nDaddy, Anika and I will have a sleepover tonight, she insists\nI don\u0026rsquo;t know exactly how it happened but the next thing we know Jennifer is trying to figure out how to ride three kids home on her bike, and we were all happily joking about the padawan in our midst. The force is strong with this one. After three or four more successful executions of her new skill, I felt compelled to impress upon her that no sometimes does mean no. You can guess how that went.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/ruby-and-the-jedi-mind-trick/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Ruby\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/ruby_teardrop.png\"\u003e It all started last weekend when Ruby and Anika started angling for a sleepover\u003cbr\u003e\nNo Ru, you didn\u0026rsquo;t have a nap today and it just wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be a good idea, Vick calmly states.\u003cbr\u003e\nI will have a sleepover, Ruby corrects.\u003cbr\u003e\nRuby, listen to your moma, she said no, says I.\u003cbr\u003e\nDaddy, Anika and I will have a sleepover tonight, she insists\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don\u0026rsquo;t know exactly how it happened but the next thing we know Jennifer is trying to figure out how to ride three kids home on her bike, and we were all happily joking about the padawan in our midst. The force is strong with this one. After three or four more successful executions of her new skill, I felt compelled to impress upon her that no sometimes does mean no. You can guess how that went.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ruby and the Jedi Mind Trick"},{"content":" Olive rang in her 1.5 year birthday like a princess. I arrived home to both kids yelling \u0026ldquo;ta-da\u0026rdquo; and showing me their beautifully painted faces. .\nWe had some wonderful fajitas for dinner and then a 6 minute chocolate cake with home made whipped cream for desert. Olive reveled while Ruby led the group in a round of Halfy Birthday to Olive\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/halfy-birthday-to-olive/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/miles_teardrop.png\"\u003e Olive rang in her 1.5 year birthday like a princess. I arrived home to both kids yelling \u0026ldquo;ta-da\u0026rdquo; and showing me their beautifully painted faces. \u003cimg alt=\"facepaint\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/files/IMG_5961.jpg\"\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe had some wonderful fajitas for dinner and then a 6 minute chocolate cake with home made whipped cream for desert. Olive reveled while Ruby led the group in a round of Halfy Birthday to Olive\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Halfy Birthday to Olive"},{"content":"Last night I roasted my first batch of coffee in 5 years. It was a Sulawesi Enrekang \u0026ldquo;Mount Alla\u0026rdquo; (from Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s, of course). I roasted it to Full City, as recommended. The first shot was sweet, earthy and fruited (apparently fruity isn\u0026rsquo;t good), with a tiny bit of sour. The sour was most likely due to extraction, and not a characteristic of the roast or origin. All in all I was quite pleased.\nUnfortunately, the first batch wasn\u0026rsquo;t meant to last. So tonight I roasted up a half pound of Brazil Ipanema \u0026ldquo;Tree Dry Process\u0026rdquo;. This time I went all the way to a Vienna roast. It looks and smells wonderful. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to try it.\nI did learn an important lesson on the maiden voyage of the Gene Cafe Roaster. Apparently, my stove hood doesn\u0026rsquo;t suck. Tonight I hooked up a duct to vent out the nastiness.\nAww Yeah! I\u0026rsquo;m not fooling around.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/roast-report/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast night I roasted my first batch of coffee in 5 years. It was a Sulawesi Enrekang \u0026ldquo;Mount Alla\u0026rdquo; (from Sweet Maria\u0026rsquo;s, of course). I roasted it to Full City, as recommended. The first shot was sweet, earthy and fruited (apparently \u003ca href=\"http://www.sweetmariascoffee.com/roastmaster_blog/?p=60\"\u003efruity isn\u0026rsquo;t good\u003c/a\u003e), with a tiny bit of sour. The sour was most likely due to extraction, and not a characteristic of the roast or origin. All in all I was quite pleased.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Roast Report"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/my-talk/","summary":"","title":"My Talk"},{"content":"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 their was this completely amazing virtual community of parents hidden, Hogwarts style, from our view all that time.\nNow years after our first child was born, we\u0026rsquo;re grateful to be surrounded by wonderful and supportive friends (some even without children), and a strong community. So partly as a celebration of that good fortune, and partly to bolster and encourage a stronger sense of community, we\u0026rsquo;ve started to hold a weekly Coffee Social.\nThe concept is simple. Every Sunday we invite all comers to our house at 9am. We\u0026rsquo;ll make coffee and something baked, and they bring themselves and possibly something that they would like to share. We chat and watch the kids play for an hour or so, and then anyone interested can walk, ride or (sigh) drive to the Mountain View Farmer\u0026rsquo;s Market.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;re near enough to make it, and up and about at 9am, please come.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/social/sunday-morning-coffee-social/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor 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 their was this completely amazing virtual community of parents hidden, Hogwarts style, from our view all that time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow years after our first child was born, we\u0026rsquo;re grateful to be surrounded by wonderful and supportive friends (some even without children), and a strong community. So partly as a celebration of that good fortune, and partly to bolster and encourage a stronger sense of community, we\u0026rsquo;ve started to hold a weekly Coffee Social.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sunday Morning Coffee Social"},{"content":"I spend a lot of time thinking about how I\u0026rsquo;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 responsibility by creating an organization that brings food or educational resources to third world countries, or by raising two fantastic children who carry forward the same desire to do good.\nThis weekend my family went up to Sacramento to attend the La Leche League regional conference. La Leche League is well known for its goal of promoting breast feeding. Another significant aspect of the LLL philosophy is a parenting modality called Attachment Parenting.\nIn observing the children of Attachment Parenting families, I have noticed empathy, compassion, self confidence, and an emotional intelligence that I feel the world is in dire need of. After spending a weekend with these children, and reflecting on other AP and LLL kids that I\u0026rsquo;ve played with, I\u0026rsquo;m quite sure that the volunteer work that Victoria is doing with LLL is the kind of contribution that I\u0026rsquo;ve been dreaming of making to the world. If my contribution to LLL is simply to provide the financial stability to allow our family to contribute then that, combined with my direct contributions to raising my own children will be enough for me.\n","permalink":"https://forgeover.com/articles/uncategorized/making-the-world-more-beautiful/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI spend a lot of time thinking about how I\u0026rsquo;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 responsibility by creating an organization that brings food or educational resources to third world countries, or by raising two fantastic children who carry forward the same desire to do good.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Making the World More Beautiful"}]