Log Book
January 2007
January 2007
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Catch The Wind spent most of the month of January 2007 tied up at the dock, first at Richmond
Yacht Club, then at Brickyard Cove, in Point Richmond, California. We rented a car from Enterprise.
Sam had some medical tests and did some boat projects. Susie did some computer work, creating
our new website http://www.sailsamandsusie.com. Daily routines continued: laundry, grocery
shopping, trips to West Marine, Home Depot.
Sam’s bone scan indicated a healing cracked rib (we know when he did that) but NO BONE CANCER.
His gall bladder motility test showed good function and NO GALL BLADDER PROBLEM. We are relieved
with this clean bill of health from his doctors.
New Years Eve we attended the Mad Hatters Ball at Richmond Yacht Club. Everyone was supposed
to wear a hat. Sam came up with the idea to wear a piece of metal stove pipe on his head and call it
a “stove pipe hat” so you can imagine the looks we received when he was trying on potential “hats”
in the HV/AC department of Home Depot. He was able to select an appropriate vent pipe, pad the
sharp edges with that wonderful all-purpose duct tape, and wore his hat to the party. Susie wore
her cruiser hat – white wide brim canvas with large red polka dots. But Sam won a prize for the best
mens hat.
We had a wonderful time during December and January, visiting and renewing old friendships,
meeting people at restaurants, being invited to their homes, sharing meals, playing Mexican Train
dominoes, showing our pictures of Mexico. It’s been great, but we are ready to move on to warmer
waters. The temperature has been in the 20’s and 30’s at night and in the mornings, and warming
up to the 40’s during the day. Brrrrrrr!
After leaving San Francisco on Jan 22, we stopped at Half Moon Bay (where Dorothy Maurer and Jim
Hogan took us to Maza Luna for a great meal), Santa Cruz, Monterey (where we visited Todd Weber)
and Morro Bay. Between Half Moon and Santa Cruz, we slammed into another crab pot during the
night, wrapping the prop and killing the engine. We couldn’t back it off (reverse, forward, etc) so
spent 10 hours drifting around with no wind off Pigeon Point. For about 6 of those hours, there was
a very amorous sea lion playing around the boat, jumping up and doing flips, barking, belching and
swimming under the hull. We don’t know if this is actually what happened, but we want to believe
the sea lion pulled off the crab pot (the reason for his interest in our vessel) so that mid-day we were
able to restart the engine and motor all the way to Santa Cruz, where we had a diver check things
out. There was nothing left on the prop or rudder.
Our “plans” at this time are to continue harbor-hopping down the coast of California during good
weather. When we arrive in San Diego, we will do a final provisioning with products we want to
purchase in California and pick up our mail and some long-awaited new goodies for the boat. Our
friend, John Paul Watts, will most likely be joining us in San Diego for the trip south. Then we will go
on down into Mexico, again waiting for good weather windows and stopping many places along the
way where we haven’t been yet and returning to some we enjoyed. Susie hopes to walk the beach
at Bahia Santa Maria and Mag Bay and find some pristine sand dollars. We do not plan to spend any
more time in Cabo than is necessary to refuel and continue on up into the Sea of Cortez.
We hope to spend the months of March, April and May, and maybe even June, 2007, enjoying the
Sea of Cortez. When the weather gets too hot there, we plan to return to Southern California and
spend the summer cruising the Channel Islands. Then we plan to go back to Mexico in fall 2007 and
keep going south to be out of the hurricane zone before the 2008 hurricane season begins, which
means Central America. Or, we may change our plans and “puddle jump” to the Marquesas. Our
plans are set in stone: every morning we decide if we will go somewhere, when we’ll go and where
we’ll go.
For those of you who did not hear the news bulletin, the last time Sam made sourdough blueberry
pancakes in San Diego (yeah, that was you eating the very last batch, Roger) he forgot to set aside
the cup of starter before making the batter. The only child of this starter that we knew about was
on Etosha in La Paz, and we could NOT go back to San Diego without sourdough on board. So Don
and Judy McCubbin brought us some of their starter and it works! Don’t worry, Roger, there will be
blueberry pancakes again.
It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we are still healthy and enjoying life. Best wishes to all for
a wonderful year in 2007.
Sam and Susie
S/V Catch The Wind
Yacht Club, then at Brickyard Cove, in Point Richmond, California. We rented a car from Enterprise.
Sam had some medical tests and did some boat projects. Susie did some computer work, creating
our new website http://www.sailsamandsusie.com. Daily routines continued: laundry, grocery
shopping, trips to West Marine, Home Depot.
Sam’s bone scan indicated a healing cracked rib (we know when he did that) but NO BONE CANCER.
His gall bladder motility test showed good function and NO GALL BLADDER PROBLEM. We are relieved
with this clean bill of health from his doctors.
New Years Eve we attended the Mad Hatters Ball at Richmond Yacht Club. Everyone was supposed
to wear a hat. Sam came up with the idea to wear a piece of metal stove pipe on his head and call it
a “stove pipe hat” so you can imagine the looks we received when he was trying on potential “hats”
in the HV/AC department of Home Depot. He was able to select an appropriate vent pipe, pad the
sharp edges with that wonderful all-purpose duct tape, and wore his hat to the party. Susie wore
her cruiser hat – white wide brim canvas with large red polka dots. But Sam won a prize for the best
mens hat.
We had a wonderful time during December and January, visiting and renewing old friendships,
meeting people at restaurants, being invited to their homes, sharing meals, playing Mexican Train
dominoes, showing our pictures of Mexico. It’s been great, but we are ready to move on to warmer
waters. The temperature has been in the 20’s and 30’s at night and in the mornings, and warming
up to the 40’s during the day. Brrrrrrr!
After leaving San Francisco on Jan 22, we stopped at Half Moon Bay (where Dorothy Maurer and Jim
Hogan took us to Maza Luna for a great meal), Santa Cruz, Monterey (where we visited Todd Weber)
and Morro Bay. Between Half Moon and Santa Cruz, we slammed into another crab pot during the
night, wrapping the prop and killing the engine. We couldn’t back it off (reverse, forward, etc) so
spent 10 hours drifting around with no wind off Pigeon Point. For about 6 of those hours, there was
a very amorous sea lion playing around the boat, jumping up and doing flips, barking, belching and
swimming under the hull. We don’t know if this is actually what happened, but we want to believe
the sea lion pulled off the crab pot (the reason for his interest in our vessel) so that mid-day we were
able to restart the engine and motor all the way to Santa Cruz, where we had a diver check things
out. There was nothing left on the prop or rudder.
Our “plans” at this time are to continue harbor-hopping down the coast of California during good
weather. When we arrive in San Diego, we will do a final provisioning with products we want to
purchase in California and pick up our mail and some long-awaited new goodies for the boat. Our
friend, John Paul Watts, will most likely be joining us in San Diego for the trip south. Then we will go
on down into Mexico, again waiting for good weather windows and stopping many places along the
way where we haven’t been yet and returning to some we enjoyed. Susie hopes to walk the beach
at Bahia Santa Maria and Mag Bay and find some pristine sand dollars. We do not plan to spend any
more time in Cabo than is necessary to refuel and continue on up into the Sea of Cortez.
We hope to spend the months of March, April and May, and maybe even June, 2007, enjoying the
Sea of Cortez. When the weather gets too hot there, we plan to return to Southern California and
spend the summer cruising the Channel Islands. Then we plan to go back to Mexico in fall 2007 and
keep going south to be out of the hurricane zone before the 2008 hurricane season begins, which
means Central America. Or, we may change our plans and “puddle jump” to the Marquesas. Our
plans are set in stone: every morning we decide if we will go somewhere, when we’ll go and where
we’ll go.
For those of you who did not hear the news bulletin, the last time Sam made sourdough blueberry
pancakes in San Diego (yeah, that was you eating the very last batch, Roger) he forgot to set aside
the cup of starter before making the batter. The only child of this starter that we knew about was
on Etosha in La Paz, and we could NOT go back to San Diego without sourdough on board. So Don
and Judy McCubbin brought us some of their starter and it works! Don’t worry, Roger, there will be
blueberry pancakes again.
It doesn’t matter where we are, as long as we are still healthy and enjoying life. Best wishes to all for
a wonderful year in 2007.
Sam and Susie
S/V Catch The Wind
| January 2007 |