Rally to Restore Sanity - San Francisco

Rich and I just got back from downtown San Francisco. We took the BART in from Oakland and walked to the Civic Center Plaza to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity - San Francisco. We each got a t-shirt, stood in the light rain, watching the people, reading their signs and watching the videocast from Washington, DC on the jumbotron. It was great. There were people from all ages, all walks of life, all different backgrounds. It was hard for me to guess the number of people attending. I would say upwards from 300. I think that some of the attendees remember marches from the 60's, vaguely and in a haze. Quite a few must not be old enough to remember Father Guido Sarducci, since it was the 2nd most popular search on Google today. I saw Jusef, aka Cat Stevens, in concert in Seattle, many, many years ago when I was in college. Now I have the tune, "Love Train", going through my head. Ouch!

Here are some pictures:

Who are these people?

The wisdom of the Dude abides

Afterwards we went down to the Embarcadero and had lunch at the Ferry terminal which is a farmer's market on Saturdays. It was delicious after standing in the rain.

Connections

This week we have been making connections with new and old cruising friends.

On Tuesday night we met Greg and Melissa Davids of SV Pura Vida at Trader Vic's which is just down the street from Emery Cove Marina. We were introduced to Greg and Melissa by Peter and Ginger of SV Marcy. They had cruised together in Mexico. As it turns out, SV Pura Vida is a Hylas 47, which is essentially the same boat as Windarra but a little newer. We had many things in common and had an evening full of conversation. They are liveaboards at the Berkeley Marina which is just down the road from us. We hope to get together with them in the future.

On Wendesday night we met with Pete and Sue of SV Kiapa. As you remember we saw Kiapa across from Jack London Square on Oct. 10. We met over at their boat, which is a 52' catamaran. The last time we saw them was in Seattle a few years ago when they were just taking delivery of Kiapa and on their shakedown cruise up to Desolation Sound. It was great to catch up. They are nannies for their granddaughter while their son is attending graduate school at Berkeley and their daughter-in-law is working. It was a fun evening and we also saw the first game of the World Series as they are Giants fans.

The cruising community is a group of nomads that span the globe. We may met in one location and then not see each other for several years, but we are able to pick up are friendship where we left off, exchanging experiences and information about places we have been or hope to visit in the future. It is a dynamic community and one that we enjoy very much.

No worries,

SV Windarra

Visiters from out of town

On Saturday we met with Fran of SV Cape St. James, her daughter Jen, Jen's son Sam, Jen's half sister and Fran's friend Pat at Boudin's Cafe at Fisherman's Wharf. They are in town to race in the Nike Women's Marathon on Sunday. It was great to catch up on Fran's activities in Sitka and their sailing adventures this past summer.

Since Sam is only six months old, we volunteered to sit with him on Sunday while the ladies did their walk/run. Unfortunately it rained as they were crossing the finish line and the wait for a bus back to the race start was 2 hours. It was a long day for them but they were all very proud of their Tiffany necklaces, the prize for finishing. Apparently local firemen dress up in tuxedos and hold silver trays with Tiffany boxes for the finishers. How elegant.

Well done ladies!

Walking across the Golden Gate Bridge

When we were back in Seattle, Suzette and Paul of SV Altair suggested that we walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and check out the views of the bay. This sounded like a great idea and so yesterday we drove to the last exit going north on Hwy 101 before the bridge, parked the car and walked across.

It was a clear day and you could see for miles. The air was warm with a slight breeze. On the east side of the bridge is a wide walkway with alcoves along the side to step out of the pathway to look at the view and take photos.
Last week was Fleet Week in San Francisco, similar to Seafair in Seattle, without the hydroplane races. We watched some of the visiting US Navy ships leaving the bay and going under the bridge. Each had an escort in a rigid inflatable zooming around. There were some policemen on bikes, with GGB on their backs, hanging around where the ships would go underneath. We saw some sailboats going out as well.

The Red & White Fleets are tour boats that take the tourists from Fisherman's Wharf, out and under the bridge. We also saw helicopters going out under the bridge and then coming over the bridge and going back. Many folks rent bikes and ride across the bridge. One bike rental allows you to ride across the bridge, into Sausilito and then take a ferry back to the Wharf. I think some of the folks renting the bikes needed a little more practice ride around pedestrians. I didn't see anyone get run over but there were some near missed and one fellow was trying to ride and shoot video at the same time, a recipe for disaster.

The walk across one way is about 1.7 miles. The bridge website has a virtual tour which includes an elevator ride up the top. I looked but I did not see this being offered. Not sure I would like the height.

We learn many different languages from the tourists. I may not have understood the language but from watching a young teenager on a bike suddenly stop in front his father who started to yell and gesture, I could imagine what was being said.

From the bridge we could see downtown San Francisco, including the Transamerican Pyramid, Alcatraz, Treasure Island, the Oakland Bay Bridge with Emeryville and Berkeley beyond as well as Sausilito. Below we saw sea lions, dolphins, sailboats and even a paddleboarder.

Thank you Paul and Suzette for the suggestion. We had a great time and even got some exercise.

Settling in

We are now back on Windarra and settling in to life in more or less one spot so to speak.

Yesterday we did some exploring. We visited Svensen's Marine Store in Alameda. It is a nice chandlery but we have been spoiled by the facilities in Seattle. We drove around Alameda and then went over to Jack London Square across the way in Oakland. There are some public docks were you can tie up for a few hours and visit the square as well. We hope to do this on Windarra sometime. We had lunch outside at one of the many restaurants and walked around afterwards. Looking back towards Alameda at some of the marinas, we spied SV Kiapa, a catamaran owned by our friends, Pete and Sue. It's a small world. Hopefully we will be able to meet up with them.

We also signed up at a local fitness place so we can get some more exercise besides walking. Grinding winches and manuvering on the boat while under passage helps but when we are tied to the dock we need something more.

Katmandu has been enjoying the sunshine and looks forward to naps in the sunny cockpit. We are enjoying the shorts and t-shirts weather so far. Hopefully it will last for a while.

A list of boat chores has been started. We were pleased that some of the items from our previous list in Australia have been completed but of course there are always more things we would like to do. We have not prioritized the list yet. That will require some negotiation. Of course we don't plan to be workaholics, we have plenty of other things we want to do, including more exploring of the SF bay area.

Well, it is time to go to the gym. I am bracing for the sore body tomorrow morning...

No worries
SV Windarra

Stuff

Some of you remember George Carlin. He used to do a skit about stuff and how we tend to collect stuff and take it with us wherever we go.

We can relate. We have Windarra and our stuff on Windarra which is now in Emeryville, California. Some of our stuff is also with Jesse and Sarah in Portland, Oregon. In Seattle we had two storage units. Our stuff is spread over 3 states!

Originally we had one unit but when my parents moved into assisted living and we sold their house we put some of their things in another storage unit. Over the next few years we paired down their things but some of our things, like winter clothes, boat parts, charts, bicycles, etc found their way into this other storage unit.

On Thursday, Sept. 23, we flew up to Seattle to deal with our two storage units. First we took items to furniture consignment. Next we culled through boxes of boat parts. We sorted items into the following groups: take back to Windarra now, take back to Windarra before leaving the US, take to consignment, take to the dumpster fairy or just to the dumpster. Next we sorted through the remaining boxes. Many items went to Goodwill. We also sorted through the file cabinet and boxes of paperwork and took several bags to be shredded and destroyed.

At the end of nine days we cleared out one storage unit completely and the original unit has a lot more space in it that ever before.

We are now on our way back to Windarra. We still have stuff in three different states but less stuff than we had before.

No worries
SV Windarra