This morning Alli and I are off for the next week to spend the holiday break in sunny and warm California. I'm super excited to get there for a couple of reasons.
Almost four of my six years in the Navy were spent in San Diego at various sonar schools and a short shore duty at the sub base, so I am excited to get back there to visit my old spots. And I learned to sail in San Diego harbor, at the Naval Training Center, which, from the looks of it from my geo-non-synchronous satellites (actually, Google Earth) is no longer a Navy property. I want to rent a sailboat if we can find a place to do so. I barely remember negotiating that huge bridge and the Navy bases, but I must have because we used to sail to this restaurant downtown, dock the boat, and eat lunch.
We will be hitting up the best Mexican food in town at Adalberto's on Rosecrans street; seeing what we can see of the old Navy bases I was at; trying to shop at the Naval Exchange (the rules used to be uptight, I wonder if I/we can get in); going up Mt Soledad (in a car this time instead of a bicycle); visiting Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, and Mission Bay; and, if I can find it, the site of the BMW Oracle's monster catamaran (recently featured on CBS News Sunday Morning).
And I'll be seeing my cousin Joanna for a little LA sightseeing.
26 December 2008
21 December 2008
20 December 2008
did you guys know about this?
Apparently CNN has some sort of sailing news channel...I had no idea!
Check it out here: Mainsail CNN.
Check it out here: Mainsail CNN.
18 December 2008
15 December 2008
Turkey Race 2008
Apologies all around. The Turkey Race was a few weekends ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it because I had, as usual, a million papers to grade (mommas don't let your babies grow up to be English teachers) and two papers to write for grad school.
I was able to go out on the beautiful Miss Gracie for the first time. What a great boat! I didn't steer or anything, but even from the ride it felt more solid than the Redwing - powerful, with a lot more muscle. Even though it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 21 boats showed up. Unfortunately one of Kickin' Back's crew got hurt and had to go home. We ended up with eight spinn boats and 12 non-spinn. We came in sixth.
We raced with Uncle Larry, Joe of Wild Blue II, Larry's sister Paula (she of Persuasion fame), and Larry's buddy Carl. And we had a great half-race: For the first half of the race we showed some great speed and were making just about everyone chase us, but then, after we turned around, everyone just sort of ate our lunch. And our snacks. And our juice box.
But what a great boat! I really love the yawl rig. So pretty, and not as complicated as you'd think.
And then we took the boat home to Larry's and had some punch and some Pyrate. And had a mid-canal raft-up with Kickin' Back. Everything worked out with their injured crew and so they came back out to go sailing! Tough!
I was able to go out on the beautiful Miss Gracie for the first time. What a great boat! I didn't steer or anything, but even from the ride it felt more solid than the Redwing - powerful, with a lot more muscle. Even though it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 21 boats showed up. Unfortunately one of Kickin' Back's crew got hurt and had to go home. We ended up with eight spinn boats and 12 non-spinn. We came in sixth.
We raced with Uncle Larry, Joe of Wild Blue II, Larry's sister Paula (she of Persuasion fame), and Larry's buddy Carl. And we had a great half-race: For the first half of the race we showed some great speed and were making just about everyone chase us, but then, after we turned around, everyone just sort of ate our lunch. And our snacks. And our juice box.But what a great boat! I really love the yawl rig. So pretty, and not as complicated as you'd think.
And then we took the boat home to Larry's and had some punch and some Pyrate. And had a mid-canal raft-up with Kickin' Back. Everything worked out with their injured crew and so they came back out to go sailing! Tough!
13 December 2008
Groups Call for Protection of Clams - NYT
By John Rather
from the NYT
THE Nature Conservancy on Long Island says that a four-year, $3 million clam reseeding effort on Great South Bay is showing signs of success. Now the conservancy and state, county and town officials say this is the time to revamp regulations and coordinate efforts to protect against future overharvesting.
from the NYT
THE Nature Conservancy on Long Island says that a four-year, $3 million clam reseeding effort on Great South Bay is showing signs of success. Now the conservancy and state, county and town officials say this is the time to revamp regulations and coordinate efforts to protect against future overharvesting.
09 December 2008
02 December 2008
I had a pretty busy holiday weekend, but was able to sneak in two sail-related events. First, on Friday, I got down to the boatyard to mess about in my boat. And then on Saturday I got to race on the very beautiful Miss Gracie (more on that later on in the week, including pics).Redwing was so dirty! Every leaf blown from its tree this week anywhere near the boatyard found its way into the cockpit, clogged the drains, and left nasty brown stains on the deck. Nice! Nothing a little Magic Eraser can't solve, though!
My second-most-important mission though was to get the mainsail off. I climbed up onto the boat and saw that I was the only fool there with my main still on. I guess I could have left it up, but I do so hate to be overdressed. And so off it came;I then very carefully walked it over to the loft for an inspection and a cleaning. With the exception of one old-ass spinnaker I now have every sail I own at the sailmaker's loft.
The first-most-important mission was getting some more pictures taken:
Here's the boat right behind me. They sure do make the most of their real estate there...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
