That's not a wake, that's a surf break!

8/28/09
Long day of motoring, winds on the nose and you can’t sail into that. By 7pm we made it to San Pablo Bay and decide to anchor just east of Pinole Point. Nice and quiet, we settle in for some Orange chicken and brown rice, always nice to have a hot meal after a full day.

Ice is holding up well, thank you Julia of Pisces for the idea to add a layer of reflective insulation to the ice box; I raise my glass of ice cubes to you!

We watch as a fast ferry passes in the distance, wow, they are fast. The water shooting up behind them is a huge foamy wave, now if we only had a surf board. Surprise 15 minutes later the wave arrives, we are beam on (sideways) and we start rocking and rolling!! Lucky for us, the ferry runs stop about 11, and we finally got some sleep.

Sitting in the cockpit, watching a spectacular sunset is the perfect end to the day. It seemed to last forever with brilliant shades of orange and red, the lights reflecting on the windows across the bay. Interesting how lighting can make things prettier, even an oil processing plant looks lovely lit up. The lights of Pinole reflect on the shimmering water and make pillars of lights.

3 months and 7 days, but who's counting

It is difficult to say exactly when this journey started. Was it when I went sailing in San Diego that summer and met the interesting Aussie crew that was delivering a beautiful yacht to Alaska? Was it the first time I picked up a Latitude 38 and read the stories of tropical coves, fascinating cultures, and sailing adventures? Was it the time Marcus and I laid on the foredeck of our soon to be first sailboat dreaming? Maybe it was the week we spent aboard the Benateau 47 "Caca Fuego", with our new found friends in the BVI? I know we were well on our way when we joined Western Grace with John and Joanne, Harry and Sailor Dave for an amazing trip down the coast of California and Baja.

After much searching and aiming at the moving target of the perfect yacht, we took the plunge (wait, plunge may a poor choice of words). In December 2008 we became the proud, if not a bit nervous owners of Quiet Moon, a 32 ft Fuji ketch. THAT purchase is another story.

So here we are after a slowly evolving journey of research and discovery buying the essentials at a breakneck speed. Our list of "absolute's" are being crossed off rapidly. It seems more things are being crossed off now because of lack of funds than due to purchasing of said items. The criteria now is, what is required for us to sail safely to Mexico.

I have lived and learned so much through the generous sharing of so many other sailor's experiences, I feel it is a responsibility to share our experiences in this process. Hopefully those who are on a similar journey will find vision, encouragment, information or comfort through our adventures.