Chris and I have spent the last few days in the boatyard. As Chris' Dad called it...we're living in a "tree house". I'm not exactly sure why I was so excited about this because the boat yard is really noisy, smelly and whenever I'm on deck I'm freaked out that I'm going to fall off to my death. I'll be excited when we're in the water again :)
In good news, Starship's hull is in very good condition and they have nice showers at the boat yard that we can use. We plan to leave San Diego on Thursday or Friday and check into Mexico in Ensenada. Then we'll probably take a few weeks to make our way down to Cabo.
Here are few pictures of us and Starship at the boat yard.
That's it. Thanks for following.
Anne-Marie and Chris
P.S. Chris said he uploaded a higher definition video of the dolphins on the previous post.
We made it from Half Moon Bay to San Diego in just under 4 days (440 nm). We left on Monday January 16th at around 10:00 am and arrived in San Diego on Friday January 20th at around 8:00 am.
The trip started off a bit rough as Kyle vomited after about 15 minutes of sailing. He quickly retired to the cabin to sleep it off. We've discovered that if you are lying down with your eyes closed that you for some reason don't feel seasick. A quick sleep also somehow makes you feel better when you awake.
I attempted to make tea, but just ended up spilling boiling water on myself. Luckily I was wearing my foul weather gear. After crawling around the cabin floor to clean up the water, I was feeling pretty seasick myself, so off to snooze-land it was for me. Captain Chris didn't seem to mind being the only one on watch because when I woke up I found him busting a move to a 90s dance mix in the cockpit. I think he was just super happy that we were finally heading south.
The first day can really be summed up by Kyle and myself trying to manage our seasickness and Chris holding down the fort. The seas were lumpy and the winds strong. We were running under a reefed main alone.
Kyle was a trooper
Day two can really be summed up by the word "DOLPHINS"! We had a huge (~ 100) pod of dolphins follow Starship for about 45 minutes. They came super close to the boat and loved to play in Starship's bow wake. They would tilt their heads and stare out of the water at you. Making eye contact with the dolphins was one of the most magical experiences of my life. One of the dolphins came so close to the surface that it started splashing it's tail vigorously and got Chris all wet. They are such playful creatures, or as Kyle says in the video, "they are the most excellent creatures". I know for me at least the dolphins really renewed my spirit. At this point in the trip I had only eaten about a granola bar, a fruit cup and a banana and was still feeling pretty queasy. Thoughts like "ummmm why are we doing this again….?" were floating through my brain as I wondered if my next snack would stay in my stomach. Experiences like the dolphins definitely make it all worthwhile.
Kyle trying to pet the dolphins
Listen carefully when you watch the video (Now with improved resolution). Can you hear the dolphins "clicking"?
We also got to fly the spinnaker and I saw an amazing sunset on my night watch.
Kyle and I both agreed that day 3 and 4 were the most enjoyable (at least for our tummies). We all seemed to get into the groove of things more. We had more great spinnaker flying days and some intense games of scrabble.
Sailing by Catalina Island was beautiful.
Here are some pictures I took of my last night watch as we approached San Diego. What a gorgeous sunrise.
This is how we sleep!
San Diego is a huge port. You don't want to get in the way of one of these guys.
Here's a picture of our first meal on land. We were pretty pleased. Yay! We did it boys!
Nice for our feet to be on land. San Diego's got some fine grass.
We've got our Baja fishing license, a rod and reel, and a fishing book. I hope we catch a big one soon.
The plan is to stay in San Diego for about a week and then head to Mexico. Starship is going to be hauled out of the water on Tuesday to have her hull re-painted with anti-fouling paint. For some reason, I'm very excited to live on our boat when she's out of the water. I'll definitely post some pictures.
Things I've/we've learned:
1)I really like having a third crew member. The extra hands are super helpful and it allows everyone to sleep for 6 consistent hours (we do 3 hour shifts). Kyle you were awesome crew! You are so easy-going, a good listener and picked up the sailing quickly.Thank you so much for making the first leg of our journey a success.
2)Nobody (except for steel-stomach Chris) feels like eating spicy home-made chili on a passage. I need to make more bland pre-made meals next time. I'm thinking maybe plain rice or mac and cheese. Any suggestions?
3)I like being on night watch by myself.Somehow the 3 hour night watches passed by really quickly. Starring up at the stars or staring at the green glow of bioluminense in the water was enough to keep me completely fascinated.
4)If it's blowing a bit too hard and you think maybe you should take down the spinnaker. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY TAKE DOWN THE SPINNAKER. Do not wait!!! We waited once and it was not a good scene. Luckily the spinnaker only has a very tiny (very reparable) rip.
Chris and I have had a very busy week after getting back from Canada. We've knocked off all of the essential/safety projects. WooHoo! One of the most exciting projects to complete was the installation of all 3 bilge pumps (a 750 G/hr pump, a 4000 G/hr pump and a manual bilge pump).
Here is a picture of Chris trying to sink the boat with a garden hose.
The hose didn't have a chance...look at this flow! (I should mention that the installations for all pumps did not work right away and it was very frustrating... BUT after many hours of work, they are working perfectly now. Chris is not having any more bilge pump nightmares....thank goodness).
The last couple of days have been spent on provisioning, organizing and creating an inventory of EVERY item on the boat (with it's exact location in the boat). I'm loving the giant excel spreadsheet. I know exactly where everything is! All our kiteboarding gear is on board and there's even room for us to still sleep ;)
We also emptied all of our belongings out of our car (1991 Buick Regal aka "the Reeg") and storage van. We figured it would be hard to sell our vehicles, so we donated them to a radio station we often listen to, KQED. Chris' parents bought him the Reeg in Canada and it's been an amazing car. It's made it from Harrow to California and back 2.5 times! I absolutely love the Reeg and was sad to see it go.
In other news...Kyle (Chris' best friend) is here! YAY! His vacation so far has been spent doing boat projects for the last 2 days, so I'm really looking forward to starting the sailing fun soon. Kyle has a week off of work and we're hoping to make it to San Diego in that time.
I want to end off by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that came to the Starship Send Off party on Friday. It really meant a lot to Chris and me to share in the excitement of the trip with you all. Starship has never had so many people on board. It was awesome! Thanks for treating us to both lunch and dinner in HMB! We really are lucky to have such good friends. Please come and visit us on board! We'll miss you!
Annie out
P.S. We plan on leaving today (Monday, January 16th in the morning). There was a bit of a storm last night now, but it has cleared out and is looking like smooth sailing today.
Chris and I have been very lucky to see lots of family and friends before we leave. We have also gotten a few very unique gifts. My coworkers gave us a beautifully nautically decorated box with lots of surprises inside. Assuming we cross the pacific, we get to open the box when we cross the equator. It will be a very exciting moment :)
Our friend Sammy made us a delicious gingerbread sailboat. Thanks Sammy!
I have been a little disappointed with the Blogger "Follower" implementation, since there is no way to notify a follower via email when new content is available.
After doing some digging I decided to use FeedBurner instead as a means to update followers via email when new content is available. To signup for this new feed, follow the following steps:
Enter your email address in the "Follow via Email" area to the right and click "Subscribe"
A pop up will appear and ask you to type in the letters displayed in the picture followed by clicking "Complete Subscription Request"
Check your email for the confirmation message, and visit the confirmation link
That is all! You will now receive an email (max one per day, delivered between 5-7am EST) when new content is available on our blog.
So far it has been a great holiday and much needed break from preparing the boat for our upcoming journey.
Anne-Marie and I have been in Canada since December 23rd. We spent the first week in Harrow visiting with my family and are now in Toronto with Anne-Marie's family. It was really nice to see all the family again, some of whom we have not seen since our wedding nearly two years ago.
It was especially nice to be able to spend time with our nephew Quentin (aka Q) while in Harrow. He is growing up to be quite the little man at 4 months already!
I have also been working on some enhancements to the blog which are on display at the bottom of this entry. Now we will be able to include information about our position, course, speed, wind and wave conditions along with a Google map of our position in each posting. For example I have included all the possible data fields so that you can get an idea of what it will look like while we are under way. (NOTE: I re-posted Anne-Marie's first post via this new mechanism)
I moved to California in January 2010. Chris convinced me to try living on a sailboat with him. "Just try it Annie. If you don't like it I promise we can live on land." After our first weekend moored at Angel Island I was hooked. The freedom of moving your entire home using just the wind is pretty amazing!
Now 2 years later we're off on another adventure. Chris quit his job in November and I have 3 days left! The plan is to sail our boat "Starship" south to Mexico in January. We want to get to warmth as soon as possible, so we plan to make few stops and get to Mexico as quickly as possible. If all goes well and we feel prepared then we're planning on participating in the "Pacific Puddle Jump" in March .... a sail from Mexico to French Polynesia. Then we would island hop our way to Australia. This is the ambitious plan and it will likely take a year, but nothing is set in stone. We really just want to have a fun and safe sailing trip. Those are the main goals. The actual destinations might change...
The main criteria we have are that we are going to continue sailing until one of the following conditions is met....
It is no longer fun
We run out of money
I can no longer contain my baby desires
Chris thinks #3 will come first.....probably right.
Well, that's the plan. We'll see what happens. Wherever we end, we're going to sell the boat there and then move back to Canada to start a family.
As I write this, Chris is on deck finishing a boat project, I'd better go help.
P.S. Check out our recent adventures photo gallery on the right to see pictures of us and the boat! Below are a couple pictures also.
