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Summer Highlight

Could it be our own Pirate Bob from the Laurel Street mooring? You bet it is!

"GROUNDED SAILOR RESISTS ASSIST

San Diego lifeguards tried to help a man whose boat was grounded Monday south of the Ocean Beach Pier.  The man did not want to get off the boat, but lifeguards were able to walk him to shore, lifeguard Sgt. Troy Keach said.  He was suspected of public intoxication and arrested, police Officer Dino Delimitros said."

(source: San Diego Union Tribune, Tuesday, August 10, 2010 issue, page B2)

Another Day on the Mooring Field

Yesterday, Ben met Joe & Brad out in the bay to help bring Pharaoh back to the ball.  Pharaoh and crew spent the last ten days at the cop dock, working to get her engine running.  Unfortunately, the cops shooed them away before they got the parts back from the machine shop, so she needed a tow back to the ball.  (Photo, right)

I spent last night at the hotel while Ben was working, so I was able to upload some of my HD videos onto YouTube.  Here are links to some of the Livingston videos that I didn't get to post the other day:

Livingston 1
Livingston 2
Livingston 3
Rollers
Home Stretch

4000 Words

Mommie Dearest

We got taken on a wild ride last night. We've heard rumors of wind speeds anywhere from 50 MPH to 125 MPH. The brunt of that only lasted ten seconds or so, but it always feels like longer when you're at the mercy of Mother Nature. I wasn't sure if I should jump ship and make a mad dash for shore or wait it out. Oddly, my safest bet seemed to be to wait it out, so I did.  So much for mild San Diego weather.  Anywho, here is a video to complement the one from last night... and some pictures below of the aftermath.

Possibly the light at the end of the tunnel?

A sunken dinghy

Jaybird's bowsprit was destroyed when a runaway boat went careening into his

The front of this electrical box was torn off

Used to be the home of the wind generator

The hinges remain, but the lazarette cover is long gone

This strut used to hold up our solar panel before it was ripped free and chucked into our cockpit

What remains of our wind generator (besides the pole and supports, of course)

Doo, Doo, Doo, Looking Out My Back Door

This is a view looking out the companionway to the stern of the boat. Does anything look amiss?

I've heard about the grass being greener... but apparently the same goes for trees. We decided to flip the boat around (stern to shore) a few days ago with the help of Adam and Justin. I used to see bobbing masts. Now the view out the companionway is that of a bobbing tree. There is something very unnatural about a bobbing tree.

But I'm not sure the tree is the real problem. The companionway seems to act as a vacuum, sucking up the societal cacophony: sounds of airplanes, honking cars, squealing tires, bikers, walkers, joggers. Part of the allure of living on a boat is to escape from society. This new perspective is making that more difficult.

We decided to flip the boat because it's easier to pull forward off the mooring ball. We've had some hairy experiences trying to reverse off the ball because Mother Culture likes to turn to starboard when reversing from a standstill. I think with some practice we can perfect the maneuver... And slip comfortably back into our escapist mentality.

The grass isn't always greener... even under a bobbing tree.

Elation

I am a true believer in the saying, "You are who you surround yourself with." Over the past 7 years in San Diego, that has made me:
a) A dumb blonde
b) A fun-loving brunette
c) A person who just wants to get laid, no matter what the cost
d) Someone who believes money buys happiness
e) A chihuahua with big ears
Some of those don't sound so bad. But I prefer small ears. And I know from experience money doesn't buy happiness and marriage doesn't guarantee sex (C'mon ladies, sex is not meant to be used as a tool).

I'm pleased to announce that, lately, I'm elated. And I owe my elation, in part, to the people I surround myself with. There are a lot of happy people out here on the mooring field. People who truly understand that money DOES NOT buy happiness. People who don't sell their souls to the she-devil simply because their biological clock chimed their 35th year (and I say she-devil because most people out here are men). People who can honestly say they love their lives. And they mean it. And it's refreshing. And it rubs off.

I am a happy person by nature. (Yes, Mom, it's true!) But I'm often overwhelmed by a deep sense of sadness because I feel like many of the people with which I've surrounded myself in the recent past wear a false facade. And I'm not easily fooled. And it truly hurts me to the core.

But, to quote the great Bob Dylan, times they are a-changing... and I'm pleased to be surrounded with happy, like-minded people.

Thanks people! <3

The 'Hood

I took this picture a few nights ago while we were rowing around the 'hood with Adam and Jasmine. It was an interesting night, to say the least. We happened by one sailboat inside which a man was screaming and banging on something. We thought maybe he was trapped in his boat (or even held captive in a boat) and it was a little unsettling at first. We tried to call the police but didn't have the correct phone number. All the while, he continued screaming and banging. It was not even a banging really, but almost a clicking. Or banging followed by clicking. Maybe it was the dark of night that had me spooked, but I wasn't much interested in hanging around to see if the clicking sound was that of an empty revolver or of something less precarious. (Sure, an empty revolver may not sound dangerous, but who knew if a box of bullets was just a reach away?!) After a while, we decided this particular boat must be the home of Crazy Paul and we continued on our way. I've never met Crazy Paul before. In fact, his nickname isn't really Crazy Paul but I'm certain his real nickname is too offensive to post here. Anyway, I've heard a lot of stories about Crazy Paul and after that night, I asked around to many of the neighbors and they all confirmed that was indeed Crazy Paul we heard screaming and banging and clicking. Never a doldrum on the mooring field.

Moving Day

Today is moving day for Mother Culture and crew. A few months ago, San Diego Mooring Co. added about twenty-five new moorings (not shown on map) along the wall on Harbor Drive. In the next hour or two, we're moving a few spots westward to one of the new moorings (see blue sailboat icon on map below). The new moorings don't attach directly to the wall so no one will be able to mess with our lines. It's also further from the wall and the park benches so we will have more privacy. And it's closer to the dinghy dock, which will be convenient for more than one reason. We're just waiting for another boat to finish up at the dock so we can empty our tank and clean the boat... and then we're outta here!

View New Address in a larger map

Saturday Morning on the Mooring Field

Here are a couple videos of a sea lion and some seafowl frolicking off the stern of our boat. Boy, that never gets old! Happy Saturday, everyone! :)

Bringing New Meaning To The Word DINGHY

OK. So we were coming down the dock after a walk with Lola and some people were looking across the bay with binoculars. They said they could see the whale, just beyond the mooring field. (I should mention we walked Lola to Happy Hour... we like to kill two birds with one stone, as they say.) So we bravely decided to dinghy out and see for ourselves. Our mission was a success. This was my first "up-close" experience with a whale, so I wasn't sure I believed Ben when he said the whale wouldn't surface beneath our boat and capsize us. (As it turns out, he was correct. Whales are apparently very aware of their surroundings and don't bump into boats. Boats bump into them. But I am a hard sell when it comes to giant sea creatures swimming in the vast world beneath me.)

So here they are: pictures and a short video of the whale... S/he surfaced within about 10 feet of our dinghy. I was never quick enough to catch the spray. Just some shots of her/him coming up and going back under. I only wish I could have paid the Coast Guard helicopter to get some aerial shots of the two fools whale watching from their 8-foot dinghy. (Keep in mind the whale is about 30 feet long.)

(Note: For those of you lacking imagination, the whale is depicted by a black hump above the water or a blurry spot on the water's surface.)

Urban Trees

Some local artists created "Urban Trees" that are displayed along the Embarcadero at San Diego Bay, not far from where our boat is moored. We walk by them almost every day so I thought I'd share some of them with you.














I also wanted to thank to everyone who keeps up with our (my) blog and, please, feel free to share the link with friends and family. Thanks again!

TGIF (but Saturday would be better)

I'd like to whine about the 5 days I spent on the boat alone, but I'll spare you. Instead, I'll just say I rowed just under a mile each day. I lost about 4 pounds. And I cried for the first time in *oh-I-don't-know* a year. It's been a rough week.

On a positive note, I was able to snap some shots of these pelicans as they cruised by the boat. Interestingly, they appear more colorful through the lens than the naked eye. They are very timid and quite camera-shy. In the first photo, you can see his wings raised as he gets ready to fly off. The second photo, their backs are toward me. They see me and are attempting to duck and run. (HeHe). The pelican in the last photo is giving me evil eye. (I know it when I see it).

Row My Boat

This picture is a few months old. That's me, pumping the water out of my dinghy after a rainy night. (Thank goodness for rubber boots!)

This week, Ben is up north attending a work conference. It's just me and Lo on the boat. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, that's true. But it seems to also make my muscles grow stronger. I never realized before how many times I have to row back and forth to shore. I suppose that's partly because when Ben is here, he shares the duty of taking Lola to shore for potty breaks. But in addition to that, Ben often rows all three of us when we are together (and we're almost always together). I guess I never realized til now just how much rowing Ben actually does! *Thanks, Ben!*

A friend told me that she didn't think she could row that much. But I think she could. I think anyone could if they didn't have a choice. If I don't row, I am stuck on the boat 24/7 and that would be even harder than rowing. Even after 8 months living on the boat, there are times when I just NEED to be on solid ground.

The hardest part for me is rowing against a strong current. I must look pretty silly to the people on land, as I struggle to row against the current, each stroke appearing to take me just a little bit further from my destination. As I move at a snail's pace, I can't help but imagine how handsome my back and upper arms must look after months of rowing! ;) And eventually I get where I'm going.


Ben has an inflatable dinghy with a motor. You might be wondering why I don't retire the oars and use the motor. There are a few reasons for that:
A) I don't know how to use it.
B) It has some quirks that I'd rather not deal with.
C) With mechanical things, there is always that worry that it will break. With rowing, there is never that worry. (Except that time when those crappy oars broke while Ben was rowing, but I've since purchased some nice solid ones!)
D) Rowing is Zen-like. It forces me to slow down and reflect.

Have you ever seen a person in a wheelchair cruising around like it's nobody's business? As if the wheelchair is an extension of their body? I'm beginning to feel the same way about rowing. It's as if the oars are extensions of my arms. It's fun to turn on a dime and slide sideways right up to the dock. I haven't perfected my skills, but I'm a work in progress.

25 Random Things

In the tradition of facebook notes and myspace surveys, I've decided to create a list of 25 random things I'd like to share... not necessarily about me or us, but instead about "boat life":

1. We DO NOT HAVE a shower on our boat. (We instead pay a monthly fee for access to the showers/gym/pools/hot tubs/sauna at the Sheraton hotel less than an a mile from our mooring field).

2. We DO NOT HAVE hot water.

3. The icy cold water that we DO have on board is carried BY US in 6 gallon jugs (36 lbs. when full) from the dock to the dinghy to the boat. These are extremely heavy for me and I am not physically able to lift them from the dinghy onto Mother Culture. Ben always takes care of that part.

4. We get ALL of our electricity from the sun. This means that we never leave things plugged in when they aren't in use and we are very conscious of every bit of electricity we do use.

5. We do not have a heater on the boat. We stay warm with body heat and blankets.

6. The square footage of the cabin (enclosed area) of the boat is less than 200 square feet. (Probably a lot less than).

7. We can't flush toilet paper down our toilet. And, we learned this the hard way. (I'll let you use your imaginations here).

8. We don't "flush" our toilet. It requires pumping.

9. We live downstream. Everything you rinse down your gutters ends up in our "yard". (This includes chemicals, oils, trash, etc.)

10. When it rains here in San Diego, the water gets contaminated (see #9) and if you want to stay healthy, you best stay out of the water.

11. Two of our live-aboard friends fell in the water during/after the last rainstorm and both contracted a flesh-eating bacterial infection and had to go to the emergency room for treatment. Now, I make sure to always wash my hands after touching the water during rainstorms.

12. Ben cleans the bottom of our boat. He uses his scuba gear to go underwater and scrape all the algae, animals, etc. off the bottom of the boat. It takes him a lot of time and elbow-grease. He also cleans the bottom of both dinghies.

13. Many homeless people live on the benches and sidewalks along the bay where our boat is moored. Most people I know are disgusted by homeless people. I'm intrigued by them.

14. Lola is so well potty-trained that she will not go to the bathroom on the boat (even when we ask her to). 99.9% of the time, we MUST bring her to shore to potty. In other words, we have to make trips early in the morning and just before bed. (We're still working on this one...)

15. Ben has an inflatable dinghy with a motor but most of the time, we use my plastic dinghy and row to shore. (I recently purchased a trolling motor and once I get a battery for it, I will use that when the current is too strong to fight against).

16. We live completely off the grid, which means we don't rely on any public utility services. (Go GREEN!)

17. We have the best view of the San Diego skyline. And we pay the cheapest rent within city limits (with the exception of the people living in motorhomes).

18. On major holidays, we can watch (from our boat) 5 synchronized fireworks shows at various points around the bay.

19. The Coast Guard Station is very close to our boat and on many a day, they run their helicopters for hours on end. They are loud, they create blustery winds and rotor wash, and they sure seem to be wasting a lot of fuel during their drills.

20. On holidays, it's fun to turn on the VHF radio and listen to all the goings-on in the various waterways around San Diego.

21. We don't have an oven. Instead we have one butane burner to cook on.

22. We have a propane grill. Unfortunately, we lost the control knob in the water the other night and a new one costs $30+.

23. We live on the water which means if you drop something, you probably aren't going to get it back unless you go diving for it.

24. One day I realized our bucket was missing and I concluded it must have fallen into the water and drifted away. Later that day, on a walk downtown, we found our bucket across the bay, anchored in the rocks. We got our bucket back. :)

25. My dinghy has been "saved" once by a neighbor. Ben "saved" his own dinghy with my dinghy. And we have "saved" three other dinghies on the run... Always pay it forward.

Updates

I've been slacking again with the updates, so here goes...



The three of us spent most of the month of January at the hotel while the owner was in India. Ben needed to be on site for any problems that arose and I filled in at the Front Desk for a few weekends.



The picture to the left is the crusty muffler/exhaust that Ben pulled out of Mother Culture. He is currently reconstructing a new one and once that is installed (along with a few other repairs and a coat of engine paint), we will resume sailing.

Other than that, I don't have much to report. I did have the opportunity to experience my first "bad" storm at the mooring field, back in December. I call it "bad" but maybe some of the seasoned veterans of the mooring field wouldn't agree. Ben had to work that day and the storm was pretty much over by the time he got back to the boat. I felt a little queasiness by the 6th or 7th hour, but I survived. (Actually, I slept through most of it... I thought I'd read some books but my body thought otherwise.) I'm anxiously awaiting the next storm. (Hopefully Ben will be around for the next one! ;) Here is a short (and shoddy) video clip of the storm:

San Diego Christmas Parade of Lights

Here are some pics from the Christmas Parade of Lights. Ben, Lola and I dinghied out to edge of our mooring field with some of our neighbor-friends to catch an unobstructed view of the parade. The pictures are a little blurry because we were floating on the water and it was nearly impossible to hold my camera still! (The parade also included powerboats but they came out a lot blurrier than the sailboats... maybe because they were going faster or causing a bigger wake... so I didn't bother to include any of those shots.)

Dipping the Rail

There are a few reasons it has taken me so long to post this blog:
1) The photo upload process on this blogger is slow and therefore a deterrent.
2) Most of the photos we take while sailing look exactly like all of the other photos we've taken while sailing. (Hopefully this will change someday.)
3) Our sailing experience a few weeks ago scared the $%!# out of me and left me deep in thought (and therefore speechless) for a period of time.

Here's what happened:

I believe it was a Wednesday, about three weeks ago. After two successful SOLO sailing expeditions around San Diego Bay, we decided we were ready for the ocean. The wind was working in our favor. On a normal day, we'd have to tack (zigzag) back and forth across the bay for 2+ hours before crossing into the Pacific. On this particular day, the wind was pulling us straight down the middle of the bay toward the ocean. We were cruising fast... and we knew we'd be there before long. Suddenly, as we cleared the corner of Coronado Island, the wind shifted and knocked Mother Culture on her side (eloquently referred to as "dipping the rail"). Everything in the cabin began crashing to the floor. I zipped Lola into her Pup Tent for fear she would tumble overboard. That day, the words "batten down the hatches" took on real meaning for us. In addition to battening down the hatches, it appears we must batten down the books, batten down the dishes and batten down everything else, including Lola (and, honestly, I may even batten down myself).

Not only did everything go flying around the cabin, but the boat herself was flying...so fast that, after careful consideration (or perhaps panic) we turned the boat around, rolled in the jib, and took a relaxing cruise back to the mooring ball under mainsail alone. Let's just say we sailed faster that day than we've sailed to date. So fast that I had to give some serious thought to this sailing thing.

What did we learn?

1) Always, ALWAYS batten everything down. No matter what the weather looks like and no matter where we are going.
2) When the wind is knocking you down on your side, let out the mainsail. (This we learned from some of our good neighbors).

The following pictures were taken on our journey back to the ball. (Unfortunately, in the heat of the moment, I forgot to snap some shots of the boat on her side and everything crashing down below.)