Picante on Forgeover

Ship's Log: Angel Island with the Richardson/Shamels

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:48:41 +0000

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.

Ship's Log: Golden Gate With Deneb & Seren

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 21:50:05 +0000

We had the boat ship shape and ready to rock by the time Deneb and Seren showed up at 10:30. The kids were overflowing with excitement to have little Seren aboard, and just couldn’t wait to show him everything. Seren, warmed up to the chaos and excitement much more quickly than I would have expected (being his second time aboard a boat).

After 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’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.

Communing with Convivia

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:14:53 +0000

Last week I wrote a post on forgeover about the first chapter in my water heater replacement. To summarize, it didn’t go so well. I felt defeated before I even began, and things only went downhill from there.

Today was a completely 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: “You’re going to do it, it’s going to be easy, and you’re going to feel GREAT when its done.” That was exactly the pep talk I needed and it probably made the difference between 90% success and utter failure.

Mast Prepped and Stepped

Thu, 13 May 2010 20:39:50 +0000

I spent last night on the hard. I’m not sure I can adequately convey how strange it is to be on a boat that isn’t moving. When I’m working on it, its not so noticeable(unless I look up, then I get severe vertigo), but sleeping on it my body demands the gentle rocking. It is very disorienting, and I can’t wait to have her back in the water again. Enough of that, this is a work post, so on to business.