Totally rad on the visitor tip, yo.

Oh my gosh you guys, having a boat isn't easy! I feel like we've been out on that sucker every weekend since we bought it, and there are still things to fix up. Part of the reason we haven't made much progress was the fact that we had so many fun visitors in the last month or so.

After the Derek and K-Bro slam dunk, we had another sweet run of back to back weekends. First was Ed and Linda, who actually got to enjoy sailing under wind power but had to trade the thrill of sailing for the thrill of seeing. I think the visibility was around 200 yards or so in the fog channel that flows west-to-east through the gate. Linda was freaked out by all the container ships that we could hear zooming back and forth but never saw and repeatedly said something about how it would be nice to head back to the mooring. I talked her out of it every time until we finally got a glimpse of Alcatraz, then we headed home.

The following weekend Alex, Nathan, Ragan and Craig were in town so we went out again. This time no wind but plenty of excitement. First the prop became fouled by some plastic sheeting and stalled the motor out. Luckily we didn't lose the shear pin and Ellie managed to untwist the sheeting while hanging overboard. As soon as the motor was started again, a plastic bushing on the motor mount exploded due to old age and UV embrittlement. This whole time we are drifting towards the gate and the open ocean at maybe 5 knots. Another quick fix later we limped back to the mooring, tied up and drank beers. Although it was a downer to cut the trip short, I think we had more fun anyhow not having to talk over the motor.

Last weekend we went out and stayed the night again. Ellie did some varnishing of the external teak and I installed our new battery and removed the busted motor mount. We also managed to put in a new mooring chain and set a third anchor on the mooring, just in time for the 30 knot winds that came ripping through the area on Sunday and Monday. Expensive chain, but well worth the extra sleep you get on a windy night, whether you are on the boat or not. So that's that. More repairs to come and maybe more visitors? We'll see.