Amassing A Crew

Insert theme music from Gilligan's Island here.





Josh, Nick and Derek came to town for the Cal/Arizona game and so we thought we'd take them out to The Murray for a few hours in the life of a sailor. Brooks wore his chick repellent all weekend, which conveniently made him look like a stevedore. Magnan insisted on sanding the handrails despite my pleas that he just relax like Derek. Thingy The Dinghy was proof tested to about 830 pounds, which is 300 pounds over the listed maximum capacity. She performed beautifully with no incidents. On The Murray, we took the VIP tour of Sausalito without hauling anchor, snapped some pictures and enjoyed the mostly sunny day. Once back on shore, The Sausalito Chili Cook-Off was wack. The guys drove home and we began to reap the rewards of having The Murray to draw our friends to town. Everybody knows the drive home on Sunday is the worst part of the weekend. Eliminated!

National Talk Like a Pirate Day

I woke up this morning to find that an anonymous donor had left this pirate-like inflatable doll face down on my front porch next to an empty bottle of brandy and was reminded that yesterday was national "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Arrr, I'm so mad that I forgot to celebrate it.

Hopefully this will be the only pirate run-in that the TVM crew will have, but I'm beginning to think more seriously about Chris' idea of having a potato gun on deck...just in case.

Day Sail Options

Here are some of the options when you come visit. Click on the image for details. Seriously, we're waiting.

The Murray teams up wth The American Red Cross (Unofficially)

As part of The Virgin Murray's commitment to the community, we have decided to offer a free day-sail pass to anyone who gives blood to the ARC between now and the end of October. In addition, for each friend you take to the donation center, we'll toss in various extra items. One friend buys you snacks and drinks for the ride, two earns you that plus captain-for-a-day status where all navigational decisions are yours (within reason) and three gets you all of the above plus a yet to be made TVM Crew t-shirt. I assure you these shirts are going to be hot. All you have to do is snap a picture of you and your friends post donation with your stickers and arm wraps and then come on out to the Bay. What could be easier? In response to Anonymous' question, we'll honor both the 'I Tried' and the 'I Gave' stickers. Derek. Locate a blood drive near you!

Logo Ideas

Update: Julka pointed out that The Murray might be easily confused with Tiger Woods' pleasure craft, what do you think? Saw the poll on the right?







What good is a sailboat without a fine logo to strike fear into the hearts of all those who see it? Not as good. So here's what we have. The logo at the very top of the blog was a first attempt. Hunter recently submitted this triangular masterpiece (on the left). It's a sketch only, the final version of the logo will be professionally assembled (as is Tiger's I'm sure). I could see us making a pennant-style flag out of this design as well. So many possibilities. Questions? Comments? Please let our design team know.

This Bud's for you, Lil' Billy

Another big weekend for The Murray. Yesterday we didn't make it to the boat but instead hit Ikea for kitchen ware, a floor mat and some candles. All of which will be critical items soon. Today was a 2-7er that saw us raise the main sail for the first time to check things out, take out the bilge pump for some repairs and reinstall the newly sanded and oiled companionway steps. Also, the cushions in the fore cabin and some random exterior wood pieces were hauled back to the east bay to be re-covered and sanded, respectively. As you can see, the galley is doubling as a workbench and it's hard to take group pictures on a sailboat with a crew of two.




A special shoutout to Jaben Billy and Nina who are expecting a baby really soon. We're all praying she doesn't end up a coal miner like her dad. I took this picture at Ikea just for you Lil' Billy.

Where it's at

I'm not sure, but I think the boat you see on google maps is Murray himself. The Loft and 931 Spruce Goose are also marked if you zoom out a bit. If you have never been to the bay area, have a virtual look around, get excited and then book your flight. We're patiently waiting for you.

Chips Ahoy!

Another weekend, another 12 hours of boat improvement. This time we focused on the elecrical systems and detailing the interior of the cabin. Both are incomplete but significant steps have been made in the correct direction. The whites are whiter and the teak is way teakier. I think the running lights are worked out, the anchor light presents a problem because we always leave before sunset and so it's hard to see if the damn thing (at the top of the mast) is lit. The first pictures are of the million dollar view from our mooring. San Francisco and Alcatraz at dusk to the south, and a Mount Tamalpais sunset to the north. Also, the rat's nest of wires and switches we inherited. Interesting. Oh and of course, Thingy The Dinghy, our all-purpose pier to boat transport. The seagulls in the backgroud were freaking out because of all the noise the foot pump makes. It actually sounds like a seagull. How lucky.

on deck

Just thought we should demontrate our boat's exterior layout with a microsoft paint schematic as well.

Simple Plan Drawings

Here are some simple plan drawings, more or less to scale. The pop-top gives about six feet of headroom in the majority of the main cabin. There is a storage compartment under the starboard bench in the cockpit as well as under all the seating in the cabin. A removable platform and the long port-side bench are connected to form one large bed. We need to mess with it, but the stove will be run off of small camping propane tanks. The head is yucky.

First round of cleaning

Ellie, Dave, Dan and I spent saturday taking care of the majority of the cleaning of the hull and cabin. It's amazing what people will do for a free beer. Anyhow, things are starting to come together. We pulled the carpet out and will find a suitable replacement. Removed a few of the old wooden parts to fix up as well. Yeee haw! More to come.

Act I: They Meet

So we bought a boat. Here's the first round of pictures Dave and I took of the outside of the mostly-yet unnamed '82 Balboa 24. Room for 6 to sail comfortably, 4 to sleep comfortably and maybe 10 to sit around and have a beer. He needs a bit of cleaning and some recovering of the original upholstery, and maybe a motor, but otherwise is ready to sail. Check the gold and orange main, there's a matching jib sail as well. Hunter and I have talked about designing a logo to screen print on the sails and the life jackets. Should be quite a looker when we are done. The last picture is of one of our neighbors 100 yards across the Sausalito channel. What a piece of junk.