Tawodi Sailing Adventures

The Captain went off to drive a big Brig, home again home again Jiggety Jig.

  My tour on the Lady Washington has ended and I am back home in San Diego on my own little boat.  I left Washington state early Saturday morning on my motorcycle and rode south down the coast.  I stopped in Arcada for breakfast then rolled on.  It was foggy on the 101 so I slid over to the 5 for a while, then back over to the 101 in the afternoon.  I made it thru Washington and Oregon by early evening and was in Crecent City for dinnertime.  I had a big ribeye steak and a baked potatoe then went off to find a hotel room.  Many hotels were sold out and those that had room wanted too much, so I just kept going south.  I made it to ‘drive thru tree road’ in the Redwoods at 2am, I stopped and laid my bike cover down as a ground cloth and slept in my clothes till about 04:30.  Then I woke up and kept going.  My parents mentioned they were going to be in Ventura, CA on Sunday and although I did stop for a nice breakfast, I made it to Ventura by 3pm.  I met up with my parents and we went out to a late lunch.  I had a double cheeseburger and a large milkshake, then we walked around until 4:pm when they checked into their hotel.  They continued walking but I went and slept in their room for an hour, then I showered and said my goodbyes.  Home was calling.  I made it to San Diego by 9:pm and was home in bed by 10.

I’ll miss adult summer camp and the great crew of the ‘Lady’, but it is good to be home. 

My latest tour of duty aboard the Lady Washington is drawing to a close, which means my time at adult summer camp is almost over.  We transited to Bellingham, WA yesterday from Blaine, WA.  We fired two cannons at the harbor entrance to announce our arrival, which is way more fun and effective than a horn.  Our time in Blaine passed quickly because we were having so much fun.  We were well supported by the locals, most conspicuously by Capt. Richard Sturgill and the crew of the Drayton Harbor Maritime organisation.  We were given a vehicle to use for provisioning and running around and to ferry both crews to the Birch Bay Waterslide Park on our crew training day, where we trained in water safety and learned about hydrodynamic friction, stability, inertia, buoyancy and water-tight integrity.  We also were shuttled to a party held by Capt. Richard and Co. in his backyard/bamboo forest.  They provided plenty of food and drink as well as great company and a fire pit which we hung around late into the night singing sea shantys, not to mention something like a gazillion chocolate chip cookies.  While in Blaine we also hosted dockside tours of the vessels and took groups out for adventure and sunset sails as well as our weekend battle-sails.  On the Saturday battle the Hawaiian Chiefton was on her game and won the day, so I handed over my sword to the other Captain.  On Sunday we redeemed ourselves and I earned my sword back.  It was returned polished, which was a pleasant surprise as it had tarnished somewhat during the circumnavigation of the southern ocean.  While in Blaine several of us took the opportunity to walk over to Canada, which was about a 1/4 mile away.  I walked around in Peace Park for a while the returned to my own country, which did not have pedestrian access at the border crossing so I had to go through secondary like a suspicious car.  After waiting in a line reminiscent of the DMV I was eventually cleared to return.  While waiting in line I could see our ships out the window of the Customs building.  We are here in Bellingham till Sunday when we leave for Annacortes and Family Camp in the San Juan islands, but I won’t be aboard.  My last day is Saturday when I turn the ship over to Capt. Jeremiah and return to Aberdeen where my motorcycle is stored.  Once I have my bike I’ll be riding down the coast back to San Diego and my own little boat/home.

Lake Union has been fun, but it’s time to leave.  We had our last sail this evening, Monday.  Last night was the last good night to go out on the town, because we’re underway early tomorrow morning, around 6:am.  Last night I walked up into the neighborhood where Kathleen used to live, under the shadow of the ZinoGen building, which we call the Zombi factory.  I found a great little bar called the Mars Bar, conjoined with the Venus Cafe.  The place wasn’t crowded, in fact there were only 3 customers when I walked in.  Soon the Kareoke started and we took turns singing songs to each other, bartender included.  After a while a few more people came in and it was clearly a local crowd, but they all went out of their way to make me feel welcome, including dedicating a group of nautical themed songs to me.  A fun last night.

Tomorrow we transit.  We must get out past the Fremont and Ballard bridges before 7:am because they won’t open during morning rush hour.  Once we get past the bridges, we go through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and under the BNRR bridge to rejoin the Puget Sound.  We plan to go north up the inside of Whidby island and through Deception Pass.  The Pass should have slack water at 6:pm so that is our target time of passage.  From there we’ll pick a nice anchorage for the night.  The next day, Wednesday, we’ll finish the transit to Blaine, arriving in the afternoon sometime.  It should be a lovely ride.

The 4th of July holiday has passed us by and we, the crew of the tall-ship ‘Lady Washington’ survived it.  Saturday the captain of the ’Hawaiian Chiefton’ and I built a boat in about 2 hours for the Quick and Daring race, and then passed the torch to crew members for refinements so we could get underway for our afternoon charters with the big boats.  When we returned in the evening I was not satisfied with the water-tight integrity of the hull, so I reinforced it with duct tape.  One of my crew stayed late to paint the boat and by dark she looked great and ready to race.

Sunday, the 4th dawned and I discovered that the solvents in the paint had attacked the duct tape, it was all falling off.  I quickly borrowed a staple gun and fastened the tape with staples.  We had a morning charter and a battle sail in the afternoon.  By the afternoon Lake union was a zoo.  They had blocked off half the lake with the fireworks barge and safety perimeter and the other half was filled with drinking boaters at anchor.  I have sailed through ridiculously crowded anchorages before, but not with a 208 ton tall-ship.  There were some close calls, and I mean CLOSE.

Toward the end of our battle-sail, wherein Captain Jimmy of the ‘Chiefton’ and I teamed up against the drunken anchorage, which we called the ‘Jimmy Buffet Fleet’, the Quick and Daring race began.  We had each left a crew member behind to race the boat we had built so we left off firing on the anchorage and proceeded to the race course for the Quick and Daring.  The fleet of quick built dingies got off the line and our boat and crew was fast downwind, no matter where they wanted to go.  They struggled with the second leg of the three leg course, so we swooped in with the 112′ Brig and towed them upwind to the finish, while barging the course and firing cannons at the rest of the fleet.  They disqualified us for cheating, but we cheated with style and everyone seemed to enjoy the show and the spirit of fun.  Later, at 8:pm, we got underway a for a third time that day with a group of spectators aboard for the fireworks show, which didn’t start until 10:15pm.  The show was fantastic but the traffic was fully insane.  We somehow made it back to the dock without any collisions just before midnight.  It was an 18 hour day for all aboard, but fun just the same.

Next weekend we have a Pirate-themed wedding, a ‘Make a Wish’ charter and more battle sailing.  We’ll be doing dockside tours, maintenance, and afternoon adventure sails until then.  The Center for Wooden Boats has been a great host and there certainly were some lovely boats here throughout the weekend festival.  On tuesdays they hold the Lake Union Duck Dodge, a version of Beer-can racing.  On wednesdays the power boats come out en mass for a Drink and Drift type of gathering.  All of this with sea-planes coming and going, it’s quite a show.

I am onboard the tall-ship ‘Lady Washington’ and we are here at the Center for Wooden Boats on Lake Union in Seattle.  There is a festival this holiday weekend and it is fun to be a part of the activities.  Yesterday, the 2nd of July there was a big barbeque and ice-cream social.  The ice-cream was served aboard the tugboat ‘Arthur Foss’.  Afterward there was chanty singing aboard both the ‘Adventuress’ and the ‘Hawaiian Chiefton’.  I have to give the nod to the ‘Chiefton’ for being more realistic, if less lyrical.  Today we have a battle-sail in the afternoon, but before that we begin construction on our entry for the ‘Quick and Daring’ race.  We must construct a boat primarily of cellulose in a short period of time and tomorrow we will race said boat against the other entries.  We are the Peoples’ entry.  All other competitors have been prepairing for months.  We went out last night and bought some plywood.  Our design, which had to be submitted for approval yesterday was scrawled on the back of a scrap of paper late in the day.  Mostly the design exists within the head of the Captain of the ‘Chiefton’ and myself.  We begin constuction at noon and then tag-team with crew members because we must get our boats underway for the Battle sail in the afternoon.  Tomorrow we have an Adventure sail in the morning, a Battle sail in the afternoon and are also getting underway with spectators for the fireworks on Lake Union.  We will punctuate the fireworks with cannon blasts.  In the middle of the day, two of our crew will race in the ‘Quick and Daring with whatever we construct.  This is my work for the next few weeks.  Kathleen calls it adult summer camp.  Remember, these boats move forward only because of volunteerism, and if you wanted to be a part, you too could sail with us.  Just go to the Lady Washington website for scheduling and contact information for the office.  I should be returning to San Diego at the end of July or the beginning of August.

The Tall-Ship Lady Washington is in Puget Sound for part of her summer tour.  She is the Tall-Ship ambassador for the State of Washington.  I am filling the role of Captain for the month of July and will be stopping in different ports along the way.  I have picked up the ship in Olympia and that is where we are now.  On wednesday we leave for Seattle and will be on lake Union for the fourth of July, in fact we will be firing the cannons as part of the celebration.  After Seattle, we’ll take the boat up to Blaine, just at the Canadian border.  After Blaine we go to Bellingham and I get off the ship there on the 24th of July.  I’ve been associated with this organization for about 8 years now and I always enjoy operating the vessel.  There is nothing quite like manuvering a square-rigged ship through a cannon battle.  We travel in company with the Hawaiian Chiefton so we always have someone to play with.  We provide sail training for our volunteer crew and maritime education for school children and adult passengers.  Both vessels are owned by the Gray’s Harbor Historical Seaport Authority held in public trust by the city of Aberdeen and Washington State.  If you would like to see more the Seaport maintains a website and there is an unofficial but well run site at ladywashington.org.  If you think you might enjoy something like this come see us for a day or volunteer for a tour of duty.  It is only $500.00 dollars for two weeks before the mast.  We’ll feed you and give you a bunk and after two weeks of training you can stay for as long as you wish to volunteer at no additional charge. If you see us on the water be sure to say AAARRRRRRRRR!

Abby has failed in her goal of circumnavigating.  Once failure has occured it is easy to claim you knew it all along and many, many people have jumped on this band-wagon.  I cannot walk down the street without being stopped by someone wanting to talk about it.  It is a little frustrating as my only association was to give her good advice which she ignored.  My dentist always tells me to floss, but I still don’t, who’s fault is that?  Did I see this coming?  No and Yes.  The whole point of advising was to help her find success, if she doesn’t follow the recommendations, then I can see why it didn’t work.  I don’t really know what to say about it at this point, so I’m going to use the words of others.  First is Kathleen who sent me a nice e-mail saying;

“People have walked up to you and said- “Well, what do you think of your girl now?”

It’s a jab, a poke in the ribs for a moment’s support given to Abby Sunderland, a girl you took on as an individual.  You afforded her a respect few others have the hubris to consider, but you, perhaps, because you remember 16 as something other than childhood, did just that.  You took Abigail Sunderland on as her own person.

That was your failing and your success.  In the brevity of time spent with her you had no way to comprehend all the manipulation, all the merchandising, all the selling of Her; Abby Sunderland, as Product.  You talked to the person while the marketing circus minced along in the background.  You focused on her as the individual about to attempt the spiritual and physical gain that IS the act of sailing round the world south of humanity.  That was your success.

Never apologize for that.

They asked advise and you gave it.  And they ignored and now the boat drifts alone in the Southern Indian Ocean.  She was never ‘your girl’, she was a person you treated as a sailor without understanding that she was, first and foremost, a product, a piece of merchandise in the Sunderland Catalog.

When people walk up to you and ask you what you think of ‘your girl’ all you can do is shrug and admit you got taken.  You thought you were dealing with sailors only to discover you were dealing with an advertisment aimed at culling as many dollars as possible.

Even if it meant Abby lost her life.

O.K., that’s what I think.  Call it a letter from a friend who knows what it means to close the circle.”

Thank you for those words Kathleen.

I remember Moitesseir saying something to the effect of “Those who attempt to sail around the world for profit or fame are doomed to failure.”

While we’re at it, I’ll throw a few more quotes your way.

Francis Stokes- “The sea finds out everything you did wrong”

Uffa Fox- “You must at all times remember that the power of the sea is greater than anything else on earth; and that although many fleets have sailed over it, not one has conquered it or harnessed it, and no one ever will.  Remember too, that like fire, the sea is a good friend but a bad master, so you must never, never allow yourself to get into a position where the sea takes control”.

Alain Gerbault- “Adventure means risking something.  And it is when we are doing that, that we know what a splendid thing life is and how splendidly it can be lived.  The man who never dares never does.  The man who never risks never wins.  It is far better to venture and fail than lie on the hearth rug like a sleepily purring cat.  Only fools laugh at failure.  Wise men laugh at the lazy and the too contented, and at those who are so timid they dare undertake nothing”

Tuesday, June 1st, I became another year older and am now 39.  I have a good friend, Jano, who shares my birthday and this year was her 60th, so we had a party for her on the Saturday before the 1st at the Outboard Boating Club on Shelter Island.  The crowd included many members of the now dis-banded EYC (Eichenluab Y.C.), including Carl himself.  Arne, Jack, Mark, Steve, etc al.., there must have been 30-50 people.  It was a good gathering.  Kathleen was at the party too and we were able to spend some time together and commune.  Kathleen just moved into a new place and asked me to help her shop and build furniture on the coming Friday.

Tuesday itself was a day of eating.  I had breakfast with a group of friends in the morning at the “Point Break”.  Later in the day, Fritz and Richard took me to lunch at the “Brigantine”.  I rode my motorbike in the afternoon and hooked up with my friends in Alpine; Scott, Kelly, Miranda and Coral.  Scott and Kelly and I rode off together and stopped by a bar, for more eating and drinking.  Later I had a home-cooked meal and was even able to take a hot bath, which is always a treat for me.

Another breakfast, this time in P.B. with my friend Ann Marie.  I can totally see why people begin to gain weight when they get older, everyone wants to feed you!

Dispite their efforts, there is still no fat on me.  39 years old and no hint of a beer-belly, of course, I don’t drink beer, which I’m sure must help.

The following Friday, I spent the day helping Kathleen shop for home furnishings at Great News and IKEA.  In  the evening I worked on assembling the furniture while Kathleen made us dinner.  Some people are challenged and frustrated by IKEA puzzles, me, I love that kind of thing. 

Saturday I rode mostly around the bay on my bicycle with my friend Michelle, who lives on her beautiful Bristol Channel Cutter near me in the mooring field.  We used the ferry to get over to Coronado, and later the Trolley to get back up from Chula Vista.

The next day, Sunday, I did the same ride again, only this time with Kathleen and in the opposite direction.  We rode down to Chula Vista and met up with Brian, who just moved into his new Condo.  We admired his place, then we all rode out together for the silver strand.  Brian turned around when we got near Fiddler’s cove and Kathleen and I continued on to the the Ferry-landing, where we boarded the ferry for the return to the mainland.

June 26th marks the one year anniversary of our return from circumnavigating the planet.  It has taken most of the year, but we seem to be recovering our friendship and reiterating what we mean to the other, which is a lot.  We each care deeply for the other, and it feels very nice to be friendly again.  I do love her.

On June 26th of this year, I should be up in the Puget Sound.  The Gray’s Harbor Historical Seaport has asked me once again to come up and drive the tall-ship “Lady Washington”.  It’s been a few years since my last tour with them and I’m looking forward to it.  I plan to drive up on my motorbike in just less than two weeks and will be gone for the month of July.  I pick the ship up in Olympia and will leave it in Bellingham 4 weeks later.  It will be the standard tour, with education programs and cannon battles between her and the “Hawaiian Chiefton”.

Otherwise than that, live is good.  I took my sailing dingy out into the bay yesterday afternoon to cheer on and watch the “beer-can” races.  Kathleen was racing on a Oslen 34′ called “Buzz Lightyear” and they looked good at the weather mark, although K. said they had some issues at the other end of the course.  It was fun to see them go by.

Yesterday I also got to dive to the sea floor to retrieve an expensive part that someone else dropped over.  They looked for it for a while and gave up, so I said I’d go get it, and I did.  For some reason, I’ve alway been successful on those kind of missions and I was cocky enough to virtually guarantee success before I even got in, so I was happy that it worked out.

Summer is here, in San Diego that means June Gloom.  It is foggy and overcast all morning long.  This should be over by the time I return from the “Lady”

I hope all is well with you and yours.

Be well, have fun!

The outer waters from Cabo San Lucas to San Fransisco can be punishing, especially for those wishing to go up the coast.  I flew down to La Paz with my friend Jeff of the sailing vessel “Tika” and once there met with the rest of the crew, Mike and Linda from the vessel “Aquavit”.  We took a 38 foot Catamaran up to S.F., but not before loading it with fuel and food.  I purchased a number of 50 litre plastic containers for additional diesel, as the boat’s own tank was small.  We stocked the larder from the C.C.C. grocery store and we were off like a prom dress.

Uneventful 25 hour motor-boat ride down to Cabo from La Paz.  Hot weather, warm water, dolphins, all the stuff they write about in the brochures.  We topped the fuel in Cabo and had an ice-cream break at the fuel dock, then around the corner just before sunset.  By the time the Sun went down, we had 25 knots on the nose, the prevailing noserly.  And cold.  The wind direction was unforgiving and the velocity varied from 15 to 25 most of the way up to San Diego.  The cold just got colder.

We did stop for fuel in Turtle bay.  They’ve got it down so well, we were out of there inside half an hour.  We arrived at Turtle bay around 0930 Sunday morning and were met at the enterance by a panga who informed us that the fuel barge near the anchorage could accomodate us.  They even had fenders and lines all ready to go, saving us from digging in the cockpit lockers.  We took on our 125 gallons or so and departed.  We remained well offshore for the bulk of the passage, only closing with land for Turtle bay and again when we arrived in San Diego.

We cleared Customs late and then rafted up to my boat on its mooring in Commercial basin, but not before dropping Jeff off on his own boat.  The next morning we collected Jeff and went to the Fuel dock.  Topped off diesel, propane and water and went to San Diego Plastics to by a new piece for the Head door, which broke enroute.  By mid-day we were back at sea and bound for the home stretch to San Fran.  The wind, however, had other plans and smacked us down in the Santa Barbara channel, so we ducked into Santa Barbara for 3 days.

While there, we ran into many friends, some of whom were blown in also.  Ken Roper, the General was there, on his way up to do yet another Single-handed Transpac race, his 11th officially, 12th unofficially (One year he became frustrated with the race commitee and sailed to Hanalie without their sanction).  This race only happens once every other year, and all his haven’t been uninterupted, so he’s been doing this race for over 30 years.

I also ran into a group of old friends who live in the area.  John Paine, Matt Ridge and Daniel Bean are all former employees of the Santa Barbara sailing center and I know them from those days.  We all went out to a show one night, then returned to John’s boat to have him sing and play his guitar until early hours while we all enjoyed ourselves.  The next day Daniel took me for a back-country hike and then to a Tavern with a funky band.  I got down with my bad self on the dance floor and had a great time.  Despite all this distraction, I still managed to replace the broken head door, repair the broken dingy davit, service the engines and top the oil, fill the fuel again and so on.

Finally Monday dawned calm and both Ken and I decided to go for it.  We both left in the morning and motored as fast as we could toward Pt. Conception.  By 3 pm the headwinds were gusting to 35 but it didn’t stop us from making it to Coho, where we anchored in the lee of Goverment point.  At 0200, Tuesday morning, the wind was down to less than 10 and we weighed the anchor and got underway.  We saw a few puffs over 25 just past Pt. Conception, but the wind soon abated and actually became a slight tailwind later in the day.  With such a clear weather window, we motored non-stop the rest of the way, arriving at Richmond Marina Bay around 4pm on Wednesday.  The owner came in the evening and we settled up and went to the rental car outlet at the airport.  We were on the road by 9pm and I drove us straight through to San Diego.  We stopped early on for dinner at a Carl’s Jr, then only once more for gas.  We arrived in San Diego just after 4 am, having hauled ass.  I had the cruise control on 85 and often exceeded that as the road was nearly empty, even through L.A.

Now I’m sitting on the boat in standby mode, which is always a little hard for me.  I have to return the rental car this evening, but planned to us it for some errands today.  The only trouble is I had Jeff move the car to the parking lot last night after we unloaded our bags, while I rowed out and retrieved his dingy, and he did not return the keys to me.  Now I’ve spent half the day looking for Jeff, who does not have a phone, so I can get the keys back.  Let’s hope I don’t have to pay for a second day.

Such are the adventures of a sea-life.  I hope everyone is well and that you all enjoy a happy Memorial Day holiday.

Happy May!

Today is Friday, May 7th.  On Wednesday I rode in a rental car with my friend John up to Long Beach where we picked up a Columbia 52 to bring down to San Diego.  The boat needed fuel when we got there and we were in thick fog. Oh, and the boat didn’t have radar.  We groped our way slowly forward all the way to the Huntington harbor where we went in and got fuel.  The fog still hadn’t cleared as we felt our way out of the Huntington breakwater.  We never saw the end of the Long Beach breakwater, but eventually figured we must be out in the ocean (we did have GPS, but no chartplotter).  By mid-day the fog finally lifted and we came up to full speed, which was close to 9 knots with the current.  We made it into San Diego just after sunset and tied up at the Driscoll dock.

Tomorrow, Saturday, there is a Airhead tech rally for older BMW motorcycles in Murietta, so I’m going to ride up in the morning.  Should be a fun and interesting day/weekend.

Monday I’m flying down to La Paz, Mexico to pick up a 38 foot Catamaran and deliver it to San Fransisco, California, up the outside, of course.  I’m taking my friend Jeff with me and have another friend named Mike in La Paz who will join us there.  I anticipate about 2 weeks to get up the coast but we’ll see.  I should be home in San Diego by the end of the month.

My family in Alabama has a reunion every year on Memorial day.  I was thinking of going on my bicycle this year, but I’ll be offshore instead.  Maybe next time.