12/12/14

We get back to California and have to live on the boat. I knew this was coming I just didn't expect a hurricane the first night. Luckily Oliver slept and it wasn't raining yet as we walked to the boat after getting home from the airport. However, the storm did wake me up in the middle of the night multiple times. I was just glad we weren't anchored anywhere. I think the winds got up to 60 mph that night…welcome to living aboard.

Sleeping isn't so bad but if I need to sleep after work it is hard because there is only one space essentially. 

12/14/14

I haven't even tried cooking, it just seems like too much work. I don't know why I am am making such a big deal out of it, I have cooked on it before, but that was just when we were living on it for a few days now it is all the time and there is way too much stuff in such a small space, it feels terrible. I mean I woke up today and there is like one spot to sit and the rest is covered in bags and clothes from our trip back to Minnesota. Sure I could put it away if there was a place to put it. There is no room, this sucks. Paul had the main part of the boat cleaned out when we got back but that was only because he stuffed shit everywhere without paying too much attention to what it was. I have asked for multiple things and he has no idea where he put them. I knew this would happen but it is still awful. I worked the first 2 nights we were back so hopefully after sleeping some today I will be able to go through it some and make it more comfortable but not suffocating. I don't know how people do this. I mean I haven't read extensively but I have read quite a bit and people just make it seem like they sell all their stuff and go happily saying. That is definitely not what is happening in our case. Moving was a b, just trying to decide what to bring, what to store and what to get rid of was awful. Then moving onto the boat and remember it also rained the whole time, was exhausting and a cluster f. Now it was picked up but only for show and it's not even picked up anymore. I feel like nothing will ever be able to be out of place if we want to live a semi decent life on it. It is just too small of a space to have any sort of mess let alone simultaneous messes happening without wanting to set the thing on fire and walk away. 

Diane and I go skydiving next weekend maybe I will break a leg and then I won't have to go sailing, JUST KIDDING, I want to go it just all seems like too much right now. We have a lot to do and I have a lot to learn in the next few weeks. I know we can do it I am just not really looking forward to it. 

I can already tell I have been eating worse the last few days, from going out to eat, I am just not ready to live this way. It definitely had to be forced or I would have never done this. Poor Oliver told me when we pulled up yesterday he wanted to go home and not to the boat. I am sure he is thinking about our old apartment. I told him I did too but this was our home now so we have to make the best of it and by that I meant we could eat a few chocolates and watch a dvd, it helped us both. 

I don't really know how I am supposed to do cloth diapers I guess wash them at the laundry mat and hang dry them at home or dry them there I don't know besides it has been cloudy and rainy here since we got back and doesn't look like it gets much better this coming week. We definitely did not take into consideration that it may rain all month since we have been in a such a drought the last few years I thought nothing of it. It wouldn't be so bad if we weren't the furthest boat from the parking lot. I mean it is a good 4 minute walk and not with Oliver, that is a grown up pace. I would give you a yardage but I am bad at those types of calculations and I want you to feel bad for me, it's far. Anyways it sucks when it's not raining so when it rains I just want to curse everything. It makes the simplest tasks ten times harder. 

Sometimes I can't get the toilet to flush, just pee, and I straight up don't know what to do and paul is not there and all I can think when the boat starts to rock from some waves is I hope it doesn't spill onto all that stuff that is still on the floor of the bathroom. 

We have no address. Think about that. I mean I have no idea what I am missing in the mail and if I want to order something or someone wants to send me something I have to ask a friend if it would be ok. Sure people don't mind but it is such an extra pain and then I have to go to their house to get the stuff and feel bad for bothering them. Lucky for us we do have great friends who I really think don't mind but you still feel bad asking so much. I keep telling myself I will adjust but right now I just want to keep coming to work so I can just avoid it all, lucky for me I do work a lot this week so that will help me put it off further.

12-2-2014

I swear the only time it rains in Southern California is when we move. I am serious. The last time it actually rained in OC was in February and that was when we moved from Huntington Beach to Long Beach. So not only was I trying to consolidate a small apartment to fit onto an even smaller boat but it rained the whole time. At one point Oliver and I were making a quick trip to drop things off at the boat and I had him in the dock cart, which was already wet from sitting out in the rain, and when we got back to the car I had to strip him down and put on dry clothes because he was soaking wet. Thank goodness it doesn't get that cold here or I would've quit. I took an hour or so in the morning to go through stuff Paul had unloaded the day before to try to put some of it away even though I know we are just going to move everything around again, probably more than once. It is so hard to decide what should go where especially since we will not necessarily take everything we have now with us when we leave, like my scrubs and the iron Paul needs now for his work clothes. So I thought that was bad but by night time the boat had some places where it was floor to ceiling with our stuff. I mean all we could do was cover stuff with tarps and get it there then basically throw it inside and go back for more. Since everything was wet we couldn't go through it or put it on slowly. I hope when we get back it won't be raining but who knows anymore. 

So not only were we trying to move onto the boat but Oliver and I also had to leave the boat by 630 AM to make our flight to Minnesota to go see our friends and family there While there we also have to unload everything (my parents are so graciously letting us store) at their place until we move back (and in with them). I had to pack our bags the day before since I knew I would never be able to find anything if I didn't. As you can see in the pictures below we had a small walk way to inch our way through on the boat. Thank goodness we just had to spend one night on it and I am sure Paul will make some headway while we are gone, he will have to just to live. I am also sure he will misplace stuff that is important to me and have no idea what he did with it, hence the packing and repacking of the boat. We were joking about him trying to help make more room by opening all the chip bags to let the air out. I am glad we talked about that before he really did, kidding but we definitely have different ideas about what is important and what's not.

Yep

The only space not filled with stuff

This is our 'home'...count your blessings folks

Oh and we had another guy come and check out the electrical problem, it was an easy fix but still costed us a hundred bucks so with the other guy we have to pay we paid almost $200 to have someone switch a switch that was labeled wrong. Sometimes I wish I just didn't know.

I am very thankful for this opportunity and just had to laugh when Paul thought I just went to sleep after working on the boat and its mess for almost 3 hours.

We did it. We cleared out our place and actually filled the two moving containers (almost) completely. Packing it up was like playing a game of Tetris. I wanted to make sure stuff wasn't going to be flying around since I have a few things I actually care about but we'll see if it did any good. Paul and I did a fair amount of bickering but got through it. Actually, Oliver and I did a good amount of bickering too because he kept busting out his toys and trying to tell me he "needed" whatever it was.  

The containers got picked up yesterday and now I have no idea where my stuff is but just have to trust it will end up in Minnesota like it's supposed to. We will have to borrow a vacuum when we need one but other than that we are just living with less which is easier than it would seem (when you have awesome neighbors and don't mind wearing the same clothes over and over). Now we just have to decide what to do for Thanksgiving and then get moved onto the boat before Oliver and I go meet our stuff in Minnesota.

One full

Almost everything in this pic is going to be sold on craigslist or given away

11/16/14

Paul went to meet the so-called 'electrician' yesterday and he had a bad feeling about the guy for some reason but he decided to go because he was recommended by a fellow sailor at our marina. Well Paul said he showed up and for the first 45 minutes he checked the batteries which Paul had already told him were brand new and that he had already checked them with a voltage meter but the guy insisted and why it took that long I have no idea. Then Paul told me he kept sitting down to talk and Paul would say to him, 'so what do we need to do now' to try to get him back to work. After that he switched a wire around that did nothing. So after a little over an hour Paul said this isn't working out thanks anyways for coming. The guy got all mad about Paul hurrying him too much and expecting him to fix it too fast. Then he tries to tell Paul he has a 2 hour minimum anyways and only takes cash. Paul told him that was never talked about before he came out and that he didn't fix anything or even teach Paul anything the whole time he was there. So then Paul had to stay and change the wire back and chalk it up to a complete waste of time. He will call a professional today and hopefully get them out this week. 

While Paul was doing that I was sitting outside our apartment complex, playing with Oliver, waiting for the people parked in front of our building to leave so I could take their parking spot. I had to get 2 of the 5 spots saved because the permit I got for those said they had to be right in front of our building. Although the containers will be delivered between 8am and noon and you would think Monday morning people go to work it should be no problem getting those spots that is not exactly how in works here in the ghetto. It took a few hours for me to get one then after Oliver went down for a nap I kept going out to check between laundry and packing and another one opened up right next to the one I already had parked in. Paul was at the boat dealing with that nonsense so I double parked it and went to the neighbors for help. They are wonderful people and they all know what is happening with our move so after a few knocks and phone calls one of our friends came out and moved their car into that spot for me. I was kind of worried after a few people weren't home because I have gotten into some arguments over parking spots here and didn't want that to happen again with me being double parked for too long.

The moving container comes this morning. I'm glad this week is finally here, the decisions have to be made about what is staying and what is leaving. I have to work tonight then we have to go over to our friends house right away in the morning, before I go to bed, to get a few big pieces of furniture that they so nicely let us keep there for the last couple weeks. Once we get those things in there it's just trying to get everything else in around those. I am really hoping we can fit it all into one container, if we have to use two it's another thousand dollars so it would be nice to save that. It's crazy how all these little things add up so much. I had to go to Target the other day to get: Benadryl pills and cream, insect repellant, tylenol for us and kids, ibuprofen, ace wraps, gauze, steri-strips, anti-diarrhea pills, anti-nausea pills, antibiotic cream, big bandaids, little bandaids, and a million other things we never use here but I would hate to be stuck without it if we do need it while we are out at sea. I also am making a kind of pantry so I have been buying plastic storage containers for dried goods and those things are not as cheap as I thought. I will try to look at the thrift stores but the few times I have gone I haven't seen any. I think about when we stop sailing and how if I spend all this money on stuff I will hate to leave it behind. I guess all I can hope it that we can make it back when we sell it but I think that is very unrealistic. It just seems like a never-ending list of stuff we need and I know we have been saving up for this but I can't believe how much it has already been. I read someones blog about shipping their stuff back after their sail and it was thousands, now maybe they had a huge boat or nice stuff, I am definitely not packing clothes I will miss or care about if they are wrecked because I believe that is inevitable. I am rambling, sorry. Between 8-12 today the box will be delivered…let's hope it's easy.

                                         

Oliver checking out the sea lion a dock over from our boat. Thankfully not next to our boat because they are stubborn and leave when they are good and ready, not when you ask them.

                                          The inside of the boat in its current state of disarray.

11/1/14

So we are really going to give it a go this year. The moving company comes to collect our things in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say we are working on moving our storage unit to our house and going through and packing up everything that will not be going on the boat. It seemed easier when I was just thinking about it. There is so much to do and prepare for. I need to focus on one thing at a time like deciding what goes on the boat and what goes to MN and what goes to the thrift store because we will have to get rid of some stuff.

11/9/14

Things are moving forward quickly but at this point there is no other way. We cleared out the storage locker today so we have everything in our living room and a few big things at our friends house (thank you Nicole and Jason). Paul told his boss he was leaving and I told mine so there is no going back now. I can tell that we both feel better. This is good that we are moving forward, even though it is 'stressful' I don't feel stressed out since it's good stress. Everything is just working out and I feel like it is coming fast but not too fast. It's weird though because I am still having a hard time deciding what should come and what shouldn't'. Lucky for me I have dropped quite a few things that are glass so that always takes care of the question of if I should pack it or not. I am still notifying friends and family that we are leaving so I have been feeling bad the last week when people hear through the grapevine and not from me that we are leaving soon. I mean i just told my mom the other night. They are excited for us, probably not too excited that we are bringing all our stuff back to their house, but glad we will end up there eventually. I am also trying to pack only clothes that are dark for Oliver and I so it hides the dirt better. It's weird to think in a week I will be sleeping on an air mattress with only a few pans to cook with.

Our living room

We forgot our camera on the last trip but we did manage to take a couple photos with our cell phones

Oliver getting very comfortable in the dinghy

Working on our letters and sounds underway

Jumped in with dad

I have said it before and will say it again I am not a great/consistent blogger (yet). I have been journaling, just not posting...here are my journals from the last few months...

9/30/14

We leave on Saturday for Dana Point to make up for the trip we missed last month. We will only be gone for 5 days but I hope it gives us an ok idea about living on it extensively. I know the sailing part is what will be hard not the enjoying places we have never been before. Oliver did so great in the car you would think he would be fine on the boat but it's so different. You want wind so you sail faster but then the boat is usually heeled and I still get seasick after not being on it for awhile so I want to be up and Oliver wants to be down below. I will really focus this trip on sailing the boat by myself because if we are going to leave we have a lot of work to do and me sailing solo is one of the to dos. 

We have both been leaning more and more towards leaving this year even though we don't feel completely prepared. We would have a few months still to work as much as we can, move all our stuff to Mn (probably just Oliver and I would do it), pack up the boat and make sure we have all the safety and comfort stuff we can fit on that sailboat. We just feel like we keep saying we are going to leave and we aren't doing it. Yes, another year would be nice to finish seeing all the california stuff we want to see such as snowboarding at Big Bear, saving some more and maybe having another baby while we have insurance but life is just slipping away and neither one of us wants to be stagnant and we are definitely starting to feel that way here.

10/5/14

So we left a day later than we intended because we were arguing about who had to do what. I get tired of always having to plan, shop and pack everything and Paul feels like he does a lot too so we didn't go because I went on strike. It has to be done sometimes.

We ended up going Sunday after we quick packed the boat up and headed out around 230 pm. We, of course, forgot a few things we had to have so I had to run back to the house and grab them which delayed us about 40 min. Good thing we moved closer to the boat or that would've been a lot worse. We got out of the slip first try which was a first for me with Paul. I was so pumped I thought that had a lot of meaning for the outlook of the rest of the trip. There was a little wind and we got off to a good start but after a few hours we realized we were losing speed fast. We had initially meant to go down to Dana Point but since we were going so slow we set our sights on Newport Beach. Paul got to try out the spinnaker which looks like a Jamaican flag. It helped move us a little faster but barely so after another 40 minutes we threw in the towel and started the engine. We both hate to do that but it said it was weren't going to get to Newport harbor entrance until past 130am and we just didn't want to sit that long. We snacked on crackers and cheese and played a lot. It was a pretty nice sail with Oliver, he was happy and easy to please. It was nice the boat wasn't heeled so we got to read and play without sitting next to the water.

We got there and it was dark but we found the free anchorage no problem and there were only a few boats so we were able to find a spot with little trouble. It's always a little confusing and since it was dark no one was out to ask like there is during the day. It's funny boaters are always out watching the new ones come in and judging them. 

Paul slept in the galley the first night because he was worried about the anchorage as he always is. Oliver and I slept in the vberth pretty easily. Oliver tosses and turns a lot so it woke me up and I was worried he would flip off the entrance and fall and hit his head so I was always trying to keep him back. We have to get a foam mattress cover because my hips always hurt when I wake up after sleeping on that hard, old foam. That is an easy fix and it really helped when we did that with our last boat. I think we will figure out a way to make Oliver this own room/tent on one of the 'couches' so Paul and I can have the vberth to ourselves. 

We had eggs and sausage for breakfast in the cockpit, it is so nice to have a table outside. Then we got the dingy in the water and went for a ride to look for the free dingy docks for later.

After we all woke up from a nap we went to the beach for a few hours and swam and watched the skim boarders. We had chicken on the grill, rice and veggies for supper, it was so good. Then we kind of watched the kids movie Cars while we played and read some books and went to bed. We all slept in the vberth the second night which is ok but since Oliver moves so much he ends up taking up half of the bed and whoever is next to him is usually miserable. Since I know that I had Paul sleep next to him and in the morning he did indeed say he was uncomfortable part of the night. Also when he tried to move him over at 5am Oliver decided he wanted to wake up. We are used to 6am but 5 is really early. Thank goodness that is 'man time' in our house and I get to sleep in.

Tuesday morning we spent washing diapers and messing around talking about what we need to get and fix before we leave. We had a good breakfast of eggs and sausage again and sat outside to eat. Then we just played in the boat until it was nap time, Oliver slept and Paul and I hung out. When he woke up we went to the beach and found a park to play at then got an ice cream cone to share. We went back to the boat to freshen up and texted our friends Jim and DIane to see if they wanted to meet us for taco tuesday at one of the local mexican restaurants. They did so we changed and met them there. We had a few margaritas and tacos and then they had to leave so we watched the sun go down and walked Balboa pier. As we were walking out we saw this group of 5 teenagers with a rescue buoy and it looked like a few of them who were in their swim trunks were going to jump off the pier. It didn't worry me since i figured they were locals and it is probably only 20 feet or so. As I watched one of them had jumped and the rest didn't only yelling at the one in the water to "backstroke". They put the buoy away and started walking off the pier. I didn't think much of it until we hear a 'help' coming from the water and realize the kid that had jumped was yelling and waving his arms. I immediately grabbed my phone and called 911 since it was too late for lifeguards to be on watch. It was getting really dark but we could still see him and they said someone had already called and help was on the way. We watched 2 of the kids friends swim out to him and they kept a little distance but probably just calmed him down enough. We could see a blue light coming from on the water from a ways away and figured they would do a water rescue with the coast guard. The firetrucks and police all came and a guy with a camera who could see a lot closer up then we could said a lifeguard got out there and helped them in a little they had mostly made it in before they go there. It was really scary thinking we might watch this kid drown and there is nothing much we can do. I am sure it was a good lesson learned and they were all fine just going to be in some shit with their parents when they get taken home by the police. 

I drove the dinghy back and somehow I sat weird and although its only a 5-10 minute ride I jacked my left knee up and it still hurts, 2 days later. Thank goodness I have a chiropractor for a husband!

That night we were sitting watching a move and paul sees the new neighbor's mast go by the window and it looks like they are dragging anchor so paul motors over there and talks to the guy. At first the guy told him he had just turned with the shifting wind and that he had done the northwest passage blah blah blah basically trying to tell Paul he knows what he's doing and his anchor is fine then the boat almost hit Paul it dragged so hard and the guy got so close to hitting the neighbors boat he had a foot on his boat and one on the other. Paul asked if he needed his help but he said no and when Paul came back and asked if I had watched I said no I just saw you two start talking so I went back down below. I just figured they were shooting the breeze and the heck with it. I'm glad nothing happened as I would've been slow to help since I thought everything was fine the whole time he was gone.

I slept with Oliver in the vberth just like the first night but he slept closer to the tip of the v and i slept horizontally blocking the way in and out so I slept much better besides my knee hurting…how did that even happen?!

We had to motor/sail all the way home since we were going upwind the whole way. It turned out ok since I didn't get seasick and Oliver slept almost the whole way. We got into the slip one shot no problem, it was great.

We are thinking we will leave this year but as you can tell if you read this we go back and forth a lot so nothing is set. We have a lot of work to do and therefore money to spend so that is depressing but if it all works out and we are still feeling good and ready December will probably be our month.

9/6/14

So the night before we are supposed to leave I have to go to work and our son is at home with a 103 degree fever. I felt so bad for him and my husband but luckily it didn't last more than a few hours and he slept through it. When he woke up at 3am and was feeling better he got to have some tea and lemonade (a rare treat for our son who only gets milk and water). When I got home my husband showed me a rash he was developing and he definitely still had a fever but I didn't recheck it since we aren't the tylenol giving parents anyways. Long story short his rash turned out to be hand, foot, and mouth disease, a virus that a lot of kids get. So, needless to say, we had to delay our trip a few days to let our boy recover and mostly just for the comfort of everyone. Paul was bummed but of course didn't want to go with our son not feeling well. We read that they can be contagious for a week so we didn't want to cruise up there too soon just to be stuck on the boat since we obviously don't want to spread this to anyone…that is exactly how I am sure my son caught it. So we planned to leave Sunday night to meet them Monday at Santa Cruise Island. We thought about leaving Saturday night but realized we would have to miss the party anyways (since he's contagious) and it would be a lot of sailing back to back. 

Then when we went to start loading the boat up and do some more cleaning the inverter wasn't working and we can't be going anywhere without that. Paul messed around with it a little and talked to some of the guys at our marina with no luck. Then, miraculously, when Paul went back that night it was working again. So we obviously need to get that looked at along with the refrigeration sometime soon. It just never ends fixing this boats problems.

Then we checked the weather, thanks to the nice guys at our marina reminding us, and it says their may be strong storms where we are going since we are getting all this leftover hurricane stuff from down south. So we decided that we should just not go. We were both so bummed but with Oliver still being contagious and the storms it just didn't make sense for us to try to force this. 

We were supposed to be going on a road trip in October so we just went on that instead. We went to Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon and Sedona. It was a really fun trip and Oliver did awesome in the car. 

So we will sail for a week or more in early October when we were supposed to be doing the road trip and decide then if we are staying or going this year.

8/31/14

Sorry it took so long to post again. We went to see my parents in Minnesota for a few weeks and time slipped away. 

We did the sail to Catalina with the autopilot installed and it was a much more comfortable sail but still hard because it was a lot of sailing in 2 days and Oliver was restless and, lets be honest, so was I. Paul was sitting in the cockpit the whole time so I was still completely on 'Oliver entertaining duty'. I kind of thought the autopilot was going to make it more even since he wouldn't have to sit up there but he did so then I was all mad like, "why did we get an autopilot when you sit up there anyways. You mind as well be steering and we could've saved $500?" I guess you still have to lookout for other boats…who knew ;) I think it will get better once we get used to it and trust it more. I don't know but I am always hopeful that sailing will get easier and more enjoyable.

So…countdown to 10 day sail is 3 days away and I am at work tonight and work Wednesday night…that leaves a lot to do and not a lot of time, if I want to sleep. I am getting our lists made and checking it twice. I will probably do most of the grocery shopping tomorrow and cooking Wednesday. I will try to precook some meals and muffins to try to make this as easy as possible. I really need to get down and mess around with the stove since I have never used it. We don't cook much with a stove anyways, especially in the summer, it is just too hot. 

I feel a lot of pressure for this trip to be good. We have kind of decided that if this doesn't go well we reassess what we are going to do…like possibly sell the boat. If it goes well we might just leave this year. Not that I think we are totally ready but I know a lot of signs point to go (ie our cars are both old and need work if we stay, Paul's job is moving buildings and paring back staff, I would most likely want to get a new job, we would need to move). That kind of stuff. Not that all of that can't be done, it can, but it would be costly and a pain in the rear. I kind of feel more and more that we just need to go. 

If you can't tell we go back and forth a lot. There are also a lot of reasons I would like to stay and wait so I guess we just have to go and see. 

7/27/14

We signed up for a week long sail in September. It's called the SoCal tata. It goes from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island to Paradise Cove to King Harbor to Two Harbors. I think it will give us a really good view into what we are doing and who knows maybe we will change our minds and decide we are ready to go after all. I don't think so but you never know with us. We will actually be living on the boat for 10 days since we will have to take a few days before it starts to get up there. We have a lot going on between now and then so I haven't thought too much about it. 

Paul just got the autopilot installed the other night so that is good but then he told me the refrigeration isn't working. It is always something. I reminded him that it needs to be working before the tata. It is hard enough to cook on that boat with a fridge full of food. 

We will sail to Newport Beach or Catalina this weekend to test out the autopilot and just to take a little trip. Cross your fingers for us...

7/13/14

More bad news. We had a horrible last trip on the boat when we went to Catalina Island. I am in a good place about it now but let me recap…

We got ready and of course that is a ton of work for me. I have to plan the meals, do the shopping and pack everything for Oliver and myself and make sure Paul didn't forget things (he is getting much better I can't complain much). I know Paul does a lot to plan with the GPS and boat but I don't see that and he loves it so I don't think it counts. And since we don't want to be wasteful and buy more dishes and all that we have to pack all of that stuff too. So even when I plan meals I have to remember which pans I need to be able to make everything.

We head out and luckily we had people help us get out because of course, again, we couldn't get out on our own. We did have a guy give us some good advice but it will need more fine tuning and practice. The wind is blowing which is good and we get the sails up and that's all fine. The fridge also wasn't' working like Paul said so we had to get ice, not a big deal but just another thing to go wrong.

I kept Oliver up so he would nap on the boat so he was tired and once I could finally get him laying down and falling asleep water started leaking through the hatch above us and water was spraying in the window. I got that closed but then we were heeling so hard I kept having to adjust us and the pillows so he wasn't going to hit his head on the side…long story short he was unable to fall asleep with all the commotion. Then he wanted to stay below and read books and play which was fine but then I started to feel seasick since we hadn't been sailing in so long. I took a dramamine right away and tried to go up above but Oliver didn't want to and we didn't have the autopilot so someone had to be steering the boat. I still don't feel totally comfortable especially because we were heeled so hard on the side and it was pretty rough. I tried but it makes me nervous when it's like that so I am on baby duty the whole time.

So I am seasick, Oliver is tired and crabby, it's uncomfortable on the boat because of how hard the wind is blowing and the sea is choppy. It was nice that we were making good time but nothing else about it was good. I heard a joke once about being seasick which went something like there are two feelings of seasickness, feeling like you are going to die and feeling like you want to die. It is so awful. When we finally got there the anchoring was easy, we did a great job together, thank goodness. We made some supper, not for me I didn't want to eat and then decided to just stay in and deal with the dingy in the morning. Went to bed, all was good.

Next day they got up, I got to sleep in, and made breakfast. When I got up Paul blew up the dingy and got that all ready. Oliver showed me a fish that flew onto the boat overnight and dried up…I felt so bad, but he thought it was great. I will get a picture up. We got ready for a day at the beach which was easy since we do that most days in California. The dingy was awesome and we got onto the beach no problem. We swam around, the water is so clear and beautiful there. Once we were there a few hours we went back to make a real lunch. We decided then we should just go home that night because sailing over was so bad and all we were going to do was more beach time and we could do that back at home. It's hard when we go somewhere that doesn't have anywhere to explore. Whites is where we went because it is easy to sail to but all it has is a beach and two private camps. If we go to Avalon or Two Harbors there is stuff to do and places to hike so we have to go to those places so we at least have a little something to do. Paul thought the sail back would be a lot easier so I was relieved. 

It wasn't. 

It was just as bad but I wasn't seasick (so I guess it was better). Oliver was acting like a wild, caged animal and it was over 4 hours of trying to keep him entertained by myself since Paul had to steer and the boat was on its side. Half ways through Paul was even saying 'this is stupid, we should just sell it'. I was shocked. I didn't think anything would make him say that. I knew we weren't serious but a little of me was and I could tell a little of him was too.

So we got home late and then we have to pack everything up and put it in the car and then get home, where we have no parking and bring everything inside. Just awful but so glad we still had Sunday to get it all back together and hopefully enjoy that day, which we did but we were so depressed from having a bad trip.

So now our plan has changed. We will stay in California for a few more years. Yes, that is right…a few more years. I am going to take another sailing class with bigger boats, we will continue to sail on this boat at least monthly trips, Paul will take the classes he needs to take and we will hopefully be very well prepared by the time we go. 

I really want to circumnavigate and I know if we go this year we won't be ready to do that. We are ready enough for Mexico but I think in a few years we will be ready to see it all and safely. Oliver will also be older and we can save some more. 

I know Paul was really worried this meant we weren't going but it doesn't. I know we will go. We are having a good time in California so rushing to leave isn't necessary anymore. 

I have been having a hard time thinking I haven't been to Yosemite or the Grand Canyon and all these places are so close. We have decided that we will also take a lot more vacations until we go. Travel is important to us and this delay isn't going to stop that.

We were supposed to sail this last weekend but we agreed that we wouldn't take any more trips without the autopilot and it didn't come in time. It did come today though so I am sure in the next few we will be heading out to take on another sailing trip to Catalina. 

Oliver catching a ride in the dockbox

Paul cleaning up the lines

Oliver cleaning up the lines

Oliver's fish

Glad to be anchored 

Only the best human chaises for Oliver

5/16/14

I haven't been able to write because we ended up spending thousands more on the boat than we had originally planned. It was so depressing. They didn't even call us. They just hit Paul with the bill when he showed up. I can't write about it. It makes me too mad/sad/overwhelmed. Paul moved the boat back to our slip with a friend. We didn't have it for over a month so we were paying for the empty slip too…if I read this blog I would not buy a boat. I just keep hoping that someday I will be so glad for all of this. 

Our plan now is to sail to Catalina Island for the first time and anchor it the last weekend in May. I guess I am looking forward to it just to see how we do and to get the first time anchoring it over with. Paul told me he got the refrigerator working and cleaned out the water tanks so that should help make the trip more enjoyable. We'll see...

Looking down the companionway of Mouse Pad

 More of the gigantic living area

 The 'hallway' and 'master suite'

 The loo

                                       

The view from the 'hallway'

Paul and Oliver in the cockpit

 Angel's gate, our home lighthouse

 The dirty port where we keep our boat

 Our boat out of the water

You don't have to be a professional to know this needs work

Well we go the boat down to the boat yard. We were both pretty nervous the night before since we have been having such a hard time getting it out of the slip and it has been really windy and they were predicting rain. All I could think was of course it's going to rain, the 5 days a year it rains here and it has to be when we have to bring the boat down and when we moved earlier this month. Anyways…I don't know why Paul was thinking he could do it himself he definitely could not have. We woke up early, thanks to our little boy, and I didn't hear the wind so I was like we gotta get up and go now before it starts. I woke Paul up and we were out the door by 645am. There was light wind but nothing like it had been so we figured we would be ok getting it out. We had parked one of our cars at the marina the night before so we could have it to drive back up, we just couldn't forget the car seat. As Paul was taking off the dock lines our neighbor, who is a really nice older gent, offered to help, he has before and probably figured we still needed it. Without me knowing they decided that Paul was going to back the boat out of the slip. I don't know why since the wind was always the problem and it wasn't windy. So as we were leaving the dock I am like what are you doing and he is like oh we're going to back it out well of course it didn't work and we basically got stuck because the width of the aisle between docks is about 36 feet, the exact length of our boat. Paul didn't know exactly what he was doing and I didn't know the plan. Well our neighbor ended up turning us and we did make it out ok. Paul was really worried about hitting in the front and I was all worried about hitting the boat behind us so I was running back and forth. Again we didn't hit anything but dock and I didn't even look to see if it left a mark. Once we got out it was a piece of cake but we, of course, forgot the car seat. It was 7 easy miles down inside of the breakwall. We motored since there wasn't hardly any wind. Paul wanted to put up the jib (front smaller sail) but I just wanted to get there and get off easy so we didn't. It was kind of exciting, since we had never sailed into that 'port' before, getting to see it from a different point of view. We talked about what it will be like when we are coming into port in different countries and how exciting it will be. When we got there there was no dock room for us. I got all irritated because they told us to bring it down and now there was no where for us to go. We did a figure 8 outside their docks and when one opened we yelled across the water and they said another boat was going there. I told Paul to call the office. They told us to come any time between 630 and 930am it was 830. He wouldn't call, he kept thinking they were just going to be like, 'oh Paul, you're here, thank god, we've been waiting'. Obviously they didn't and we end up doing like 10 figure 8s before a spot opened and we were able to get someone to say we could dock there. Paul makes a pass then another I am like wtf are you waiting for and he tells me not to rush it he wants to get it right. Ok fine so the third time he goes for it and it's bad. We have to put it in reverse and start all over. Granted all these boat people are watching us, not blatantly but they are. So we try again and this time I am able to jump off the boat onto the dock but the current is dragging the boat toward the boat next to us and I'm not strong enough to hold it. I am yelling at Paul, "I can't hold it!" Paul is yelling at me to cleat it off and it takes a few yells before I actually get it and do what he says. By then he has run to the front and jumps off so he can take over. I hear Oliver yelling mama from the cockpit where he is…alone. Yep. So Paul tells me to get back on the boat and it's not that easy. The bowsprit on our boat (the front pointy part) angles outward so not only do I have to jump up but around the lines and they are flimsy and there isn't much to grab on to. Of course I do not want to fall in the water and I do not want my baby being alone for one more second. The second try I get up and run back to the cockpit. Fine. I am on the boat but now what, we still only have the front tied to the dock and the back is moving away from the dock with the current. Looking back I should've kicked it in reverse and it would've swung around and lined up but I didn't think of that so I am trying to throw Paul the line which is too short and keeps landing in the water. Paul eventually kept pulling the front line up the dock by the cleats and the boat eventually swung back just enough for me to throw him the line. Well we did it but we look like idiots. Thank goodness their docks are super wide for boats much nicer and larger than ours or we definitely would've hit that boat. I decided that since he had to talk to these people about all the things that needed to be fixed I would go and get the car and drive back with the car seat. As I am walking up a guy stops me and asks if we are cruisers. It takes me a second to realize he is asking if we live on our boat and have been sailing extensively. He can obviously see that look and said, "I see the back of the boat says UK". I am thinking obviously you did not see us dock the boat or you would not be asking that. I tell him no we bought the boat from a British guy but we plan on sailing away in the fall. As I am walking away I am like oh and I probably look like a cruiser all un-showered and basically look like crap in dirty clothes. I hadn't even left and Paul is texting me that 4 out of 6 batteries are bad and need to be replaced and the only reason the other 2 are good is because we just replaced them a month ago. Well that does explain why they weren't charging but I was hoping it was a cheap fix, a wire or something. These batteries are like $200 a piece not to mention what we just paid this guy to tell us something we should've been able to figure out on our own. On the way home Paul said maybe we should keep track of all the money we put into the boat. I was like no way that will make me hate this boat, I would rather not know. I am hoping once we leave some sort of amnesia will wash over me and I will just be happy about the boat and sailing all together.

On Thursday morning, yikes tomorrow, Paul is going to sail the boat down to a place that is going to fix the bottom of the boat and paint it (not cheap). It's about 5 miles and he is going to do it by himself…I think. We haven't really talked about it but now that I am writing this I probably should go. We have only taken this boat out three times and the first time was when Paul and I sailed it down from Ventura and by sailing I mean motored because their was no wind AND it took us 13 hours. Yes 13 hours. Thankfully this boat is so much better than our last so it seemed more comfortable. The second time was with my mom and she got sea sick, so did I and I think Oliver was a little. Of course Paul had a great time. When we were leaving the dock a couple of the neighbor marina guys offered to help us and thankfully they did because we would've smashed into 1 or 2 other boats trying to leave our slip because it was so windy and we still don't know exactly how to get it out yet. Once we were out it was fine and getting it in is tricky because we only have a few inches on each side but we can do that no problem so far. This third time was last weekend with 2 of our friends that have a son Oliver's age. Luckily (for Paul) they are really into sailing so that helps get me out there. Unfortunately the same thing happened leaving the dock that happened the second time we took it out, we backed out ok but when going from reverse to forward the wind pushed the boat into the docks, thankfully not other boats but still…So we scratched the side of the boat pretty good but since we aren't into looks, just function, we should be just fine. I actually had to jump off the boat onto the dock to push us off then onto the back of our neighbors boat and onto the other dock just to get us off and we still scratched the hell out of the boat. Oh well, we are learning. I think we decided to try to back it out next time but that will probably come with its own set of problems. After getting it out the sail was good, there was plenty wind (about 20 mph). However, on the way home, Paul had the boat heeled so much I had to tell him the trip was over and it was time to motor. I mean it was as sideways as that boat will go (I was basically standing straight up with my feet on the back of the seats) and maybe that is fun if you are racing but not when you are trying to have a nice sail with your friends and small children. After he got the sails down my girlfriend and I went below and she thanked me. She was like, "I didn't want to say anything." We were only like that for 15 seconds before I told Paul to stop it so that's how uncomfortable it makes people feel. Oliver was sleeping and I couldn't believe he slept through that. Paul had to make sure to tell them that we could've sailed all the way back had I not pulled the plug…that's me, always ruining all the fun. We tried to reef the main sail (when you bring some of the sail down so it catches less wind) but something was wrong with it (weird…put it on the list) so it was an all or nothing situation as far as I saw it. We got in ok and they said they had a good time…we'll see if they come next time. 

Hello all,

Honestly I have no idea what I am doing with a blog. I have never followed one and have only been asked to once (sorry Andrew, I tried). I just figure since we are going to be doing this trip I should keep my friends and family updated on what we are doing or not doing.

I guess I should recap on the last year or so. In fall 2011 my husband, Paul, and I took sailing classes together on little 14 ft sailboats in Newport Beach which was a lot of fun. I got really good at reading the wind and together we smoked the other boats (we were always racing but I don’t think anyone else knew that). Paul also (seriously) raced on a sailboat for about 8 months so he gained a lot of sailing knowledge then and that’s where his whole dream of sailing around the world started. 

We bought our first sailboat, a 30 foot Tartan for those of you who know boats, back in May 2012 when I was about 8 months pregnant.  Paul found it on craigslist so we went to meet a 30 something year old guy who had been living on it for the last few years. He sailed up and down the California coast and if I had to guess never cleaned it once. I almost laughed out loud when he told me we could keep the bean bag chair he had…holy gross, thanks but no thanks I am trying to get through life without any VD. She, Rita, was functional as a sailboat but not pretty (at all). She eventually came to earn the name Dirty Rita for good reason. Paul and some friends sailed it up from San Diego, thank you Dietz, Kamil and Matt, to our slip in the armpit of the Los Angeles Port where about 1/3rd of all the countries imported good come in. We figured I should stay back and do the driving and not put the life of our unborn child at risk, yet. 

The first time we took it out we had no idea what we were doing and I was almost in tears. Swearing up and down that was the last time I would step foot on that boat. I thought we were going to die. The boat was tipping on its side, called heeling, and after Paul even admitted he was scared. Later when we went in is when the other sailors who live at the marina told us it was like 20-25 knots and that is why we didn’t see any other boats. We had no business being out in weather like that and from then on we learned to ask others and look at the wind speed before we took her out. Needless to say I did go back on the boat and we learned to sail her really well. We took her to Catalina island which is about 26 miles off the coast and spent a few weekends there relaxing and talking about our/his dream of sailing down to Mexico. After owning her for 1.5 years we decided if we were serious about sailing long distance the boat was too small and we needed to get a bigger one. We sold Rita pretty quickly and waited a month or so to start looking to save some money. After looking at 4 or 5 boats Paul took me to see a 36 foot Islander in Ventura and I was sold on it pretty quickly. It had a lot more room and good storage (very important when sailing long term on a boat) so we offered them a lot less than they were asking. Paul was really nervous like they wouldn’t take it. Looking back now I would’ve offered even less and asked a lot of other questions but that’s easy to say looking back…I’ll explain why later….stupid boat. So after a lot of back and forth with an old man, who has the onset of Alzheimer’s even though he doesn’t know it yet (at one point he called my mother in laws house a few times after we had left AND she had told him we weren’t there any more), we agreed on when to do the sea trial and ask the owner a lot of questions before we said yes. So we took the 2 hour drive and when we got on the boat and put our son Oliver in his life jacket he freaked out so I decided to stay on shore with him. He hadn’t been in one for a few months so we gave in for everyones sake. Oliver and I sat on shore talking with some boat kids who were definitely a little weird but very nice. He got back and we asked that brit (yes the previous owner was British) a bunch of questions and went home to make sure it was the one since it would be most of our savings. Paul was so pumped and he’s good at talking me into things so we bought it. 

Why I feel like we got a little ripped off was because a big part of the reason we wanted this boat was because it has almost all of the extras we wanted (wind vane, water maker, stove/oven, autopilot). Well now it seems like all the stupid extras are broken and they’re not cheap to repair or replace. I just wish we had done more looking into everything before we said oh great this boat has it all. Paul, of course, tries to pretend like we got a good deal no matter and that it will be easy fixes. You know how people say nickel and dimming to death we are going to get thousand of dollared to death because everything that is broken is like a thousand dollars or more to fix. We also haven’t even paid the taxes on it…couple more thousand. I can hardly think about it or I just get all pissed off and blame Paul even though we decided together. For a long time he was so gung ho on 30 feet and that’s all we need and blah blah then all the sudden that wasn’t safe and we needed a bigger boat. I agree we did but you see what I am saying. He can find the information to back up whatever he wants that has to do with sailing. I shouldn’t have started writing about the boat problems you can tell my mood has soured over the last few sentences. We will make the most of it.

Mouse Pad, our new (to us) 36 foot Islander

Our son, Oliver, stuffed into his life jacket. Moments later he is crying

Hike on Catalina Island. Looking down on Rita

My husband, Paul, and Oliver swimming at Catalina Island

Bedtime on Rita in the master suite

Doing it all