Annika Helps Mommy and Daddy Do Laundry

She is such a good little helper, too. She would hand me clothes to fold until there were none left. Ok, she can't do that yet, but I'm sure she thought about it in between drooling on her bear and sticking her tongue out and blowing spit everywhere.

2008 Sailing Journal Begins - Feb. 10th

Feb. 10th, 2008 and I got my first sail of the year. The weather couldn't have been better. 65 degrees, 5-15 knots of breeze and an afternoon to enjoy. Seems every year we get this one week in February in which a high pressure system sits over the area and the temperatures go up and it makes sense to wear shorts... until the sun goes down. I'm not a big fan of the global warming mumbo jumbo, but if it means I get southern California weather in the winter... OK. For those of you who are buying into the hype, study the weather patterns for the last 200 years, then read the bible, then read A Short History of Nearly Everthing by Bill Bryson. This is from where I've gained a signifigant perspective. Now I'm not advocating making the world a dirtier place and I don't dump bleech in a boat bag to keep growth off my boat... and dang it, it took a looong time today scrubbing the bottom to make it cleaner, but what industry is Al Gore in that he profits from scaring us all into believing the sky is yellow? It's Blue. And today the sky was a magnifigant blue with streaking high clouds. I saw Jason Roe out on USA 16 before we left the dock, but didn't see him once we got out there. Good thing, the bottom was so dirty I think Chris Herrmann could have beat us today ;)
Partick, his 12 month old puppy and I set out this afternoon for a 3 hour tour... a 3 hour tour. The weather never started getting rough, but our tiny ship was tossed around by this idiot in a fishing boat who insisted on going in front of us... and I mean out of his way to go in front of us. We gave him the thumbs up for his kindness as we held the backstay as not to let the mast whip and snap. We sailed up to the Golden Gate Bridge in a building ebb, tacked over toward Crissy Field, then gybed and laid a course for... over there somewhere, not really caring if the sails were properly trimmed (yeah right). We sailed into the last of the flood and noticed the Harding Rock Bouy was a little bigger than I remember it. Seems it's been replaced with a very big replacement.
The puppy had her life vest on and we tethered her leesh to the mast, so no body freak out and tell me how potentially cruel I am to animals.

As we sailed away from Harding Rock, I broke my own no recieveing cell phone calls on the boat. I'll only accept or immediately return Cassandra's calls as the exception to the rule... I need to be a resposible father/husband, right? Otherwise, leave a message. I'll get back to you when the boat is put away... if I rememer to check my messages.
Dinner was at 6pm and it was now close to 4pm, I can't help it... let's sail into acquatic park and chase swimmers. They'd have to be stupid to swim in this freezing, partially treated 2.7 million gallon swewage dumped bay/toilet. I'm mad about this. First, the oil spill, now the sewage. Global warming won't kill us as quickly as human stupidity.
So, we chased one swimmer and tried to run her over. But she was too fast for us in the light winds... kidding. Only saw one swimmer getting out of the water as we entered the area. Too far away and too close to land to threaten. Again, I kid. I'm a kidder. I only chase them down when they get all high and mighty and act like I don't have a right to sail there, I do. I don't have an engine and it's a nice place to take a break from a pouding ebb on a strong wind day. But not today. Today was just a nice pleasant sail in the 2nd week of February.

Annika has a cute brown sweater

They are calling her Annika the Charmer at her child care/school. Apparently, she is quite the little flirt... Could be worse, at least she's fun to be around!

What Do You Do With All This Stuff Once You've Upgraded Everything?

See anything you like? Want to make a trade?

Old School Photos of Back in the Day

The photo says 1/19/08, but we know that isn't right... that's Don Oestriecher.

Webber wants to know more

I didn't think much of the whole boat bag idea, but Webber http://folkbat.blogspot.com/ in Sweden has taken an interest, so I'll explain...

The boat bag is simple, it's a normal heavy duty tarp, like the kind you can buy at Home Depot and sewn into the shape of a folkboat bow at one end left open at the other. The edges are long strips of styrofoam for floatation. It's secured to the dock off the bow and the sides. It could easily work off a couple of pilings like I saw in Vilje, DK or even off of two moorings like they have at the Viking Yacht Club in Stockholm. I guess you could put a long pvc pipe in the water on either side to tie the bag to. The bottom could be weighted down, but it's not necisary. A draw string rear door is easy to figure out and before you depart, make sure it is open and submerged enough... I have snagged my dad's old boat in it trying to get it out of the harbor a couple of times and think that weighting down the rear door would be a good addition to the design. You just sail into it and sinch it up in the back, then poor a gallon of bleech in the bag and nothing grows on your hull. The downside is if there is much current, the bag can rub on the keel and wear out your paint job. But, I always thought if the bag were shaped like a triangle and weighted down the middle on the bottom, it would minimize this problem. But, since we take our boats out of the water once a year, it's not that much of a problem. The downer is the bleech in the water, but it's cheaper and more reliable than a diver. I made one without the floatation for USA 105, but very soon after I put it in the water, I was asked to move slips and now that I'm on a end tie... I guess I could make it work, but I'm so visable to that harbor master's office... I don't think he would approve and I like my spot too much to screw up that relationship.

Ok Webber, any more questions?