We left San Francisco on February 10, 2010 with a plan to head south to Mexico and then make the innocently named "puddle jump" to the South Pacific (!!) this spring. From there, who knows?!?!?!? Maybe Fiji? Australia? New Zealand? For now, we're just thrilled to finally be out at sea!
In honor of our good friend Jeff and his upcoming adventures, I am giving away his band’s latest CD to one lucky commenter!!
VANDELLA has an awesome sound, a sort of folk-rock style, and their concerts are fabulous. IN FACT, if you’re in San Francisco **THIS THURSDAY** please go see them at the Red Devil Lounge. Matt and I will be there and I’d love to see YOU!!!
Anyway, if you’re interested in some awesome new music, leave a comment answering this question (of particular concern to me at the moment):
If you were stranded on a desert island (or in a life raft!) and could only have one book with you (ok, maybe 2), what book(s) would you bring??????
I know it’s hard for most people to imagine how we live in such a *ridiculously* small place. I just measured the boat (i.e. I asked Matt) and our living space is effectively 30 feet long by 12.5 feet wide. Yeah – it’s small. I know that tonight probably isn’t the best time to take you on a tour since Matt is in the middle of fiberglassing the knees, but whatever. This is our home and I thought you might like to see it 🙂
This is what I see when I first come into the cabin (the “homey” part of the boat) from the companionway (the opening that acts as our “front door.”) Straight ahead at the far back is the entrance to the v-berth, that’s the “bedroom” that is directly under the front of the boat, hence the V shape. The big white pole in the middle of the cabin is the mast. Yes, the mast that is on top of the boat comes through the cabin of the boat and is secured just below the floor of the cabin. The table-like structure where Matt is standing is actually a table, but folded in half. It doubles in size when in it’s proper position. It also folds up against the wall which is why that strap is back there, hanging on the wall right behind Matt’s head.
On another day, my view looked like this:
Once you step down into the cabin, the quarterberth (“QB”) – aka our bedroom – is immediately on the left. Doesn’t it look cozy?:
Directly across from the QB, as in 2.5 feet away, are the wet locker and our tool locker. The wet locker (apologies for the blurry photo) is where we keep our foul weather gear, our life jackets (PFD’s), boots, etc. The tool locker, well, you guessed.
Just forward of the QB is the galley (i.e. kitchen). The space to stand in the galley is approx. 3 ft x 2.5 ft. But, that puts you in easy range to access the sink, stove/oven, and icebox (fridge). Like everything else, it’s cozy:
Right across from the galley is the nav table where we keep our charts, computers, etc. It also houses the electrical panel and our radios:
Ahead of the galley and nav table, the boat opens up slightly. This area would be considered our living room/dining room/guest bedroom. On either side of the boat, there are cushions (currently covered with pea-green sheets) that are our settees (i.e. couches). On the left side, the settee can pull out to become a bed approx the size of a twin and a half bed – perfect for sleeping two!! ha. The other settee can sleep one. Underneath the settees are our water tanks – two 75 gallon tanks. Above and behind the settees are bookshelves and cabinets. They’re there in one photo and not in the other one because Matt had to pull all that stuff out to fix the knees. The table is biased to the left side, but folds out so people on both settees can use it:
Just past the left settee as you enter the narrow “hallway,” there’s the head (i.e. the bathroom). Now the clearance on the bathroom is about 1 foot between YOUR feet on the pot and the door. You pretty much have enough room to turn around and do the deed and that’s it. I would liken it to a closet, but every closet I’ve ever been in is about twice as big as this. The toilet flushes by using water from the ocean to either push stuff into our holding tank or back out into the ocean. It’s the cycle of nature 🙂
There are more lockers directly across from the head and we’ve been keeping our clothes there. I never thought my entire wardrobe could fit in a space 15×30 INCHES. (I have the top shelf, Matt the bottom ones):
Just above this locker, there is a strange little storage area that, oddly enough, is PERFECT as a liquor cabinet (and the occasional bottle of olive oil):
About six inches past the head and lockers, there’s the V-berth. Right now, it’s the equivalent of our garage. We’ve stored everything in there while Matt has been working on the knees. So all the books, wood, etc. etc. that would go behind the settees is in the V-berth, not to mention numerous other things we simply haven’t yet found storage for. Under normal circumstances, the V-berth could sleep 2 people although the front of the boat is not exactly the most comfortable place to be while sailing 🙂
The view from the v-berth looking back into the cabin:
Standing in the center of the cabin looking towards the companionway:
For those of you who know us, it will come as no surprise that Matt and I desperately needed to get up to the mountains (and snow!!) one last time before we became fully committed to boat life. Except for the anticipated brutal journey down the California coast to Mexico, we don’t anticipate seeing winter weather (or real mountains) for a very very long time. So, for Christmas and with great happiness, Matt gave to me and I gleefully accepted two nights up at the Dartmouth alumni cabin about an hour west of Tahoe. The DOCNC Cabin, as it’s called, is a rustic little cabin overlooking a beautiful tiny lake (totally snow covered this time!!) with a woodstove and fireplace, electricity, and running water, but a chemical toilet (ok, so not that rustic).
As has become the norm these days, we got up out of bed on Tuesday around 10:30am, didn’t leave the boat until 12:30 and, after running several mis-adventurous errands and getting lunch (yum Chipotle!), we eventually headed out of town around 2:30pm. Matt sighed, speaking our thoughts aloud, “I had really looked forward to spending the whole day up at the cabin.” Yeah, me too. To prevent the day from being a total bummer, I smiled brightly and said, to both of us, “But, you know, we’ve got to just enjoy the journey!” Matt grins, takes off his stinky shoes, and pulls out his book – “that’s right – it’s all about the journey.”
Three hours later, we are standing in line at the grocery store when I suddenly look at Matt – “Did you bring our headlamps?!” His eyes open wide. “Oh Sh*T!” We take a minute to ask if Safeway carries headlamps, which, of course, they don’t, then just decide to find our way to the cabin in the dark.
This is a big deal because, as described in my previous post, when it comes to camping, we try to be especially organized. We have bins and checklists, and have done it so many times that we just KNOW when we are missing something. Headlamps are pretty crucial when tramping around in the snow in the dark or trying to find your way down really steep stairs to the bathroom in the middle of the night. So, for us to forget our headlamps, it was kind of a big deal.
But, not as big a deal as us forgetting *well, just not asking* what the combination was to the lock on the cabin.
When we finally arrived at the cabin (about 1/3 mile away from the car), after spending 25 minutes post-holing through the snow, and momentarily getting off course, we unloaded our heavy backpacks on the cabin porch to realize we had no light to see the combination lock. After thinking about it for a second, Matt turns to me – “Cell phone.” So, we stand there in the cold for 10 minutes clicking our phones every 5 seconds, so as to maintain that steady glow with which Matt can decipher the lock. The combination we have isn’t working. We start calling people. (like I said, not that rustic.) I call my mom and get a phone number off the cabin website, as I repeat the number, Matt dials. Not home. Leave message. Get another number. Dial. Not home. Leave message. Repeat. Matt gets his dad on the phone to get some other numbers. By now, we’ve left messages or talked to about 6 people, trying to find someone who might know what the combination is. Meanwhile, I’m trying not to giggle – because this is just the perfect end to our ridiculously un-organized day. Finally, I tell my mom, “Let’s just go down the list.” Half an hour later, as Matt’s phone is breathing its last, we get the combination… they had changed it and we never would have guessed it.
In the cabin, we immediately go about the routine of turning on the water, hooking up the lights, starting the fire, etc, etc. We settle in with our books and our tea and spend the remainder of the evening completely relaxed in the cabin’s cozy warmth. Sometime in what felt like the middle of the night, we began to get tired and started thinking about going to bed. Suddenly, I realize something important. I look at Matt and just start laughing – “We forgot our sleeping bags.”
** These pictures are from a previous trip. This time, guess what? we forgot our camera.
It’s New Years Day and I’m standing in the doorway of our near empty studio apartment looking at Matt. I can feel Matt seething with annoyance as he precariously balances two overflowing cardboard boxes, a paper bag, a blanket, my backpack, and two sets of over-the-door hooks on our little hand cart. “We didn’t have bins for this stuff?” he asks, not hiding his impatience very well. “No, I told you I need to get some more at Target,” I respond, already mentally rehearsing my harsh retorts for when my tower of stash topples over in the elevator. I hear him sigh loudly and he continues carefully pushing all my crap down the hall. When I get down to the car, I can tell he is on the verge of losing it completely. There are things everywhere – books tucked up under the rear window, plastic bags here and there, my newly washed petticoat stuffed behind the seat – nothing is in a bin.
The plan for moving out was to put everything, and I mean everything, into a plastic bin of some sort. When we first moved into the studio, Matt even painstakingly designed a platform bed around a specific type of sturdy bin, so that we could store all our worldly possessions in *EIGHTEEN* bins that would live beneath the bed. Needless to say, not everything can fit neatly into a bin (see the video below!). The plan for boat organization was the same – everything should go in a bin. So began the adventure of finding bins that would fit those oddly shaped spaces in the boat and would actually hold something useful. I cannot yet say we have been entirely successful in that task! (see video below!)
But – to Matt’s credit – the bin idea is great in theory, if not in execution. So far, we have managed to fit about 85% of everything we own into a storage shed approximately 6ft x 4ft x 8ft, solely because everything is in a bin. (Ahem… my mom might challenge this assertion since at least half a room in her house is also a dedicated storage area for our non-binnable stuff, but we won’t go into that… – THANKS MOM) Anyway, according to Matt, when things are in a bin, life is easier, especially when you’re moving.
The first time I experienced Matt’s “bin system,” we were going camping in Yosemite. He had designated camping bins, each carefully organized. Since it was only our fourth date, I didn’t yet have my own bin. After the disaster I caused in the car – two bags of clothes, books, pens, cameras, jackets, stuff and more stuff everywhere – and now knowing how much Matt abhors loose items, I’m honestly surprised Matt took me on a fifth date let alone married me.
Now, three years later, I am a huge fan of the bin system, and I can more than appreciate the benefits of using them, but, only three days into living on the boat, MY GOD CAN I PLEASE HAVE A DRAWER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Everything we deal with and I mean EVERYTHING is in a bin – the tools are in a bin, my toothbrush is in a bin, my clothes are in bins, my knitting is in a bin, books are in bins, toilet paper is in a bin, the butter is in a bin… thank God our bed doesn’t have a lid on it.
It seems a small thing, really, to push and pull a drawer instead of slap a lid on a box, but sometimes I think maybe there can be too much of a good thing – i.e. exact organization. To make up for it, though, there are three drawers in the galley (basically the only drawers on the whole boat), and I have to admit I feel a huge sense of satisfaction and RELIEF when I open the top one and it looks like this:
Sometimes I need a little chaos in my life.
LIFE, for sure, cannot fit into a bin. (Not that Matt expects it to, my goodness people!! he is amazing and wonderful and organized, but not insane!!) I’m just trying to lay the groundwork for the following videos because it’s embarrassingly HILARIOUS how meticulously we are trying to adhere to this bin system and yet how intent life is at throwing it back in our face. The below videos show (in order) our apartment the week before we moved out, and the boat as we were moving in… A picture can say a thousand words, so I think these will more than explain the stress and utter craziness of these past two weeks. Enjoy.
Happiest New Years to you and yours! Wishing you lots of luck, love, laughter, and un-binnable adventures in this new decade!
For Christmas, Jon’s parents gave the boat a pair of binoculars. We were quite excited about this as we have been wanting some for a while now. Everyone always asks if it’s so we can see pirates or cargo ships… me? I just want to know whether that splash over there is a dolphin or a whale!! Totally excited to see the wildlife up close (or from a couple hundred meters away…) Matt is particularly thrilled about the gift 🙂
First things first, a belated Merry Christmas to all!! We had a great Christmas with my mom down in Bako but were a bit sad that we missed the WHITE CHRISTMAS in New Jersey. We’ve spent the last two Christmases with Matt’s family in NJ and, each time, I’ve begged and pleaded with the Big Guy Upstairs to please send snow. Apparently my prayer was answered a little late and it just so happens that we missed it. Next time, God, I know you’ll get it right… Poor Matt – it was his first Christmas away from home EVER and it snowed. Nice of the holiday to rub it in.
It didn’t snow in Bako, but we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway. Matt was incredibly lazy, reading books, watching movies and napping, while I sat in the corner and stuffed myself to sugar overload with my mom’s amazing “peanut blossoms” i.e. sugar coated peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses tucked into them. I left her house last night thinking for sure that I would never eat one more granule of sugar for the rest of my life, only to find a little baggie of those cookies stashed away in my bag and well… I may have had one (or five) with lunch today. OY.
I’m telling myself it’s ok because we just spent SEVEN HUNDRED AND FORTY DOLLARS at Costco on healthy stuff like peas and peaches and whole wheat pasta. We are a short month or so away from a self-imposed ban on all things sweet and expensive like oreos and diet coke, so I plan to make up for it in the coming weeks and then lose all the accumulated weight either due to sea sickness or because I simply cannot stomach one more peanut butter and jelly sandwich (this is the one I would prefer). Needless to say, Matt and I are crossing our fingers that we don’t have to go grocery shopping for the next six months!
On a less exciting note, we got a bittersweet Christmas present this week. I won’t go into details but Jonny, one of the boat owners who has been living on the boat, moved off the boat and has decided to back out of the sailing trip. While this is not the way any of us would have wanted things to go, a lot of issues had come up and his departure became the only way for any of us to have any happiness. Matt and I honestly believe that Jonny will be happier off the boat and pursuing other goals and Matt and I know that we will be happier on the trip without having to deal with all those issues that surrounded Jonny. We half-jokingly talk about the situation in terms of a divorce or a really really really bad break-up; it’s quite sad and difficult to say goodbye to such a long history of memories, but sometimes in order to move forward, you have to let go.
I am going crazy over here, wanting to end this post on a happy note, and I really really want to post the silly video we have of what a disaster our apartment has been recently, but I don’t know how to get the video off the camera or upload the video to youtube. So, I’m going to have to *ahem* coerce my sexy husband to show me how to do these things so you all don’t succumb to the boredom that comes with just reading lots of words…………..
Every once in a while someone will make a comment about how relaxing our lives must be now that we’re going into a period of not working and just “hanging out” on the boat. Yeah, wouldn’t THAT be nice.
We’ve suspected for a while that there was a major structural repair needed on the boat, but just got confirmation of it yesterday. There are 8 “knees” on the boat. The knees are more or less triangle pieces that are attached on one side to the hull, and on one side to the underside of the deck, with the third side as a support brace. A couple of the knees are attached to bulkheads, making them uber-strong (we think), but the others are simply fiberglassed to the inside of the hull. The reason the knees are important is because they are the things that hold the shrouds in place and the shrouds are the things that hold the mast in place. And the mast is kind of one of the most important things on the boat.
So, three of the knees are pulling away from the hull. Which means that the strength of the shrouds is compromised and hence the mast is compromised, which means that the knees have to be fixed before we can go anywhere.
Matt is estimating that fixing the knees is going to take about 3 weeks+ of constant work, on top of all the other work that still needs to be done, and will probably cost us an extra $1,000.
SO – if you’re looking for a “charity” to donate to this Christmas, or someone to pray for, or a family to cook a warm meal for, or a sad, discouraged person to send a smile and kind word to, well……………..
Just kidding (sort of – I won’t underestimate the power of beggar-blogging), but weeYOW this has been an emotional last two days. I can’t even begin to explain how defeated Matt feels. It would be one thing if this had come up last year, but since we’re trying to leave in January – OY. Bad timing, Syzygy, BAD TIMING. If she doesn’t start behaving we’re going to have to rip her guts out and grind out her insides…….(sound familiar, you janky pos?!?!?!) And then, of course, there’s more drama surrounding the crew situation and we still don’t know exactly who is going to be with us on the boat at any given time.
Something that struck me yesterday, though, was that – through everything, through the last four years – the only thing that has been consistent in our lives has been mine and Matt’s relationship. Our commitment and our love for each other have never wavered. There has been no second-guessing, no drama, no doubting, no questioning. We are in it for the long haul. And, considering that there has been a lot of crap going on with this whole boat trip (and undoubtedly more to come!), I think that is quite a victory 🙂
Today was my last day of work. I still can’t believe Matt and I are quitting our jobs when the economy is in the dump. But, then again, what better time to leave the country???
At work I am known for writing funny emails. They’re largely about all the ridiculous situations in the office *insert Dilbert comic here* and are funny because they are true. Anyway, I sent my final email to the office, trying to keep it funny and poignant at the same time. It was about 4 “pages” long. A couple people commented about how long it was, but it was my final exam as to whether people really DO read the emails I send (as they claim they always did.) I got quite a few fun responses back in turn. My favorite comment, though, was from our CEO who called me and repeated a few things he said in his email. He reminded me to beware of the Somali pirates.
“You know, I’ve been reading about this and they are getting more and more aggressive and are traveling farther out into the sea now and capturing private yachts and everything, so you really need to be careful out there.”
Then, one of the highlights of my day:
“But, if something happens, you call me. I’ll come get you.”
YES! My company’s got our back. I’m sure the office would find it pretty frickin’ hilarious if they were notified that quarterly bonuses were suspended indefinitely so that all such profits could go towards ransoming Matt and I from the crazies.
My co-workers all signed a card for me (turning me into a sobbing mess) and one of them noted that not only had I been a good office manager, but I was now an inspiration for all of them that one really could follow his/her dreams. Such a sweet sentiment but makes me smile because it’s all a matter of perspective, right? Some call us inspirational, others call us stupid. I prefer the former, but sometimes think the latter may be more accurate.
Anyway, as of today – we are (almost) ALL IN. All that is left is for us to move onto the boat, which will fully happen January 2.
It still doesn’t feel real. I’m thinking it won’t actually feel real until I am lying on the deck at anchor in Mexico, cheap taco in one hand, corona in the other, and haven’t checked Facebook in like a week.
My wish, for you,is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you’re out there getting where you’re getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
This, is my wish.
We are getting ready to go on this big sailing trip, you know, and two of the most common questions people ask us are:
– Is it safe?
– Are you scared?
And – yes it is safe, and no I’m NOT scared of going sailing – for lots of reasons I won’t go into here – but I’m REALLY not scared because it cannot be anymore scary than what I go through everyday here in SF. Right now I live in one of the most earthquake-prone places in the world and everyday I cross under the bay twice and I spend more than 8hrs of my day surrounded by huge, tall concrete structures that are more or less sitting on a pile of sand… and everyday, I get on BART, surrounded by crazies – I’ve sat by two definite weirdos just last week – like the one today who was screaming at people that he was clean-and-sober-and-unemployed-and-couldn’t-you-just -spare-some-change as he is swinging his huge black bag around and becoming more and more agitated by the second and who I gave a dollar to just because I’m thinking – for all I know he’s got a knife or a gun in his bag and is going to freak out in a minute and if he turns on me, at least I can say, “Dude! I gave you a dollar! No one else gave you anything, but I gave you a dollar!” and you think maybe I’m a little paranoid or whatever, but you know what – over the last month, some crazy man on MUNI just up and stabbed four random people as they were riding the train. And, to top it off, everyday I get off BART and walk through a couple of unlit parking lots at a super ghetto station in a super ghetto area, constantly looking over my shoulder.
It is the nature of the beast – large cities have higher crime rates and SF in particular must be top o’the charts for wackos. And yes I know I am prone to an overactive imagination, but I cannot say I will be sorry to leave this city for the SAFETY of our little boat (yes, with its own risks, I know) and the unknowns of the great wide ocean.
We left San Francisco on February 10, 2010 with a plan to head south to Mexico and then make the innocently named "puddle jump" to the South Pacific (!!) this spring. From there, who knows?!?!?!? Maybe Fiji? Australia? New Zealand? For now, we're just thrilled to finally be out at sea! 
