Friends and Storage

On Tuesday we drove up to Sacramento to have lunch with Chuck and Margie of SV Dreamcatcher. The last time we saw them was at Khutze Inlet on our way up to Alaska. They had driven down to see some of Chuck's family that live in the Sacramento area. We had a great meal at the Virgin Sturgeon which is right on the river. The weather was warm and we sat out on the deck. Apparently this is an old hangout of Jerry Brown, the governor-elect. We didn't see him so I guess he was busy catching up with Arnold. After lunch we walked around old town Sacramento. Rich and I plan to go back sometime and visit the train museum there.

On Wednesday we had Pete and Sue of SV Kiapa over for dinner. Rich fixed his Mediteranean stew. They told us about some places to sail to in the bay area and up the rivers as well.

In the mean time we have been working on projects in the pullman. Rich has installed new hatch. We also put in a new access hatch to the storage area under the lower bunk. Originally when the boat was built, there was a water tank under the lower bunk. The owner previous to us, converted this to a fuel tank. Unfortunately he used the same venting system even though it was now diesal instead of water. If the fuel tank was overfilled it would vent into the forward head sink. Yuck! We removed this fuel tank and put a new tank under the aft stateroom bed and vented it on the transom. With the tank gone we now had a new storage area. The only problem was the access hatches were small, so we cut a much large access hatch with a piano hinge on it. One end is filled with plumbing spares and the rest of it is filled with tools that do not fit in the port settee locker or that we do not use as often.As we went through the storage I inventoried all of the parts and tools and where we are storing them.

Where are we going to put all of this stuff?

Since we will not always be close to a marine store we carry spares just in case. This is a bit of a balancing act since one never knows what part might fail and you will need to replace out in the middle of some beautiful anchorage with no store in site. Ideally we would have spares for everything but then we would have to buy another boat to tow behind us filled with spares. So instead we make some judgement calls as to what we might need based on our little experience and out and out guessing. Some times we have guessed well and some times not.

Tuesday we fly to Philadelphia for the Thanksgiving holiday. There may be no updates until we return.

We would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.

Elaine and Rich

Katmandu 1992-2010

Katmandu passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2010, He was over 18 years old. We adopted him at PAWS in Bellevue on Feb. 25, 1994 and they estimated his age at 1.5 years. He became our house cat. In February of 2001 when we moved onto Windarra, he became our boat cat.

Katmandu was also known as Mandu, the furry kid, Pooters, Pooterino or Poot, if you are into that whole brevity thing.

He traveled with us on Windarra from Seattle across the South Pacific to Australia and this year from Seattle to Ketchikan to San Francisco, accumulating over 14,000 nautical miles. Mandu may not have been able to pull a line or steer a course but he was able to let us know that land was near when we were 21 days from Mexico on our way to Nuka Hiva. We all had his company during our watches, especially at night when he would sit next to you and put out a paw to ask for attention.

Many cats are often aloof and merely deign to live with you. Mandu was special, a social cat, wanting to share the company of his humans. He would sit with us at meals or sleep next to you when you were reading a book or at the navigation station, surfing the web.

We all have special memories of Katmandu and he will be sorely missed. It is hard to say goodbye to our smallest crewmember. We hope he will be waiting for us at that far shore.

Elaine and Rich

Happy birthday Jesse

This past weekend Jesse, Rae and Sarah flew down to join us. Saturday was Jesse's 25th birthday and we got a chance to celebrate together.

Before they arrived on Friday evening, Rich completed the installation of the new hatch in the Pullman. We had to clean up our projects and move the items we had temporarily stored in the V-berth either back into the Pullman and still allowing room for Sarah to be able to sleep in the lower bunk and have room for her things in the upper bunk. The V-berth was cleared for Jesse and Rae to sleep in. As a consequence some items were stowed in our small dock box or along side the bed in the aft stateroom.

On Saturday the weather was clear and sunny. We relaxed and showed off the improvements we have made to the boat that they had not seen yet. Jesse tried to describe to us his new job in Portland where he is putting his math skills to work. Sarah, Rae and I went and checked out the IKEA store that is nearby. Rae and Jesse are moving to a new apartment in downtown Portland so she was looking for ideas. I was looking for a new cast iron pot for Rich. Sarah herded us both through the store. Afterwards we went out for lunch. In the evening, Rich made lamb shanks with polenta and we had a cake to celebrate Jesse's birthday. We watched the movie 1776 which Sarah is writing about for her Music in Film class. It was a great evening.

Sunday morning it was raining hard as we drove to the airport in Oakland to drop them off. On the way back we got caught in traffic going to the Raiders game. After a quick stop at Borders bookstore for some new reading material we went back to the boat to read and relax.

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.