For labor day weekend we decided to head up to Mission Bay for a lovely 3 day stay. One of our mooring friends was to be heading that way also to start his adventure to Hawaii. His name, Bill and his boat, "Root Beer Float." For a while there was a bit of a race, but all in all, he won as he was a bit smaller and far less heavy than Hand Full.
This time we were to include with our crew Stewart's good friend Sam. Since we have the skate park on shore behind our boat, they became good friends over the summer. Sam is sponsered by one of the local skate shops which we think is pretty cool considering he is 13 years old!! Stewart is getting pretty good at it as well so watch out Sam!!
Sam had never been sailing before and is new to the concept of life on the water.He has spent the night a few times but is not sure if he likes the constant rocking, so we were more than happy to let him come along and see what a sheltered anchorage with your own private swimming hole is like.
Everything was fine until....we got out into the ocean. The swells and a little bit of yawing sent poor Sam over the edge to chum the waters. A nice nap later we were anchored safely. We set the boat up the next day for swinging off the side and swimming but the water was much cooler than it was a month ago, so the water playtime was cut in half and the kids spent most of the time onshore. Neil and I had a good time just being a bunch of lazy boaters and enjoyed the hard work of working on our tans!!
The last day, after Sam got picked up by his dad, we were to get together with our friend Bill for dinner. We hadn't seen him outside for a while but it was a cool day and windy so we didn't think too much of it. When we went over to his boat we found that he was in bad shape. He couldn't move and was quite disoriented. We radioed in for Harbor Patrol as requested and they quickly came with aid of the paramedics after giving them the specifics. They carried him out on a stretcher and he was off to the hospital. Last we heard he was doing ok.
We came to find out that he has colon cancer and a few other ailments. He knew it. He wanted "one last trip to remember" before it's too late. Bill had told Neil he didn't know if he was going to make it all the way but it was better than sitting around doing nothing. We hope the best for him and that he will have a wonderful experience.
When we got back to the bay we had a couple of very HOT days. I guess everyone else agreed and turned up the AC at the same time. Result? Power Outage! For us being off the grid is no biggie, but for others it was torture! We watched the news for a while and were very surprised to hear all the people frantically looking for any place that was able to serve them a hot meal. People were staying in their cars overnight at the gas stations because they ran out and no one could pump fuel. The internet was still going for a while so everyone was communicating via the internet. We were amazed at how the "masses" were not coping well without power. Stewart came home from the skate park and said the "skaters" were complaining about the lack of power and Stew was all like "I have power, and I am going home and playing X Box!" much to their "Awe man, no fair's!" The city wasn't lit up and the bridge had only the solar lights.We got to sit and see the stars, no light polution, not much noise at all, and thought, "Isn't it lovely." Ha Ha.
Things got back to normal the next morning. The kids are back in school via the internet. Neil is doing well. I am feeling great and we are looking forward to the future. It has been great being able to go out and have dinner with our good friends Jim and Kara (who are now "San Diegans")and I hope to be doing it more often and not just that, but just having fun, playing games, being a big kid.
I know I have said it before, but this fall I hope to be further south. To quote Bill, "I'd rather go and do something than sit and do nothing." So here's to us all having little adventures of our own!
5 comments:
Someday I would like to take a look at mission bay. You make it sound very nice. I think you posted a photo of the anchorage there and it looked crowded. i would rather be in a crowded anchoragee than in crowed parking lot.
We were in the anchorage at HMB before the labor day weekend and watched 100 boats come in and fill the marina and then overflow into the anchorage. Some folks ground tackel was way short of what they should have had but caught a break with little or no wind.
Wed, Thur, and Fri, before the weekend saw south to south west winds so the santa cruz and monterey boats came in and very few from SF bay. The boats that did come from the north had a nice motor boat ride and got double whammied because typical north wind returned Sun. and Mon.
Thanks for mentioning Jim and kara in your posts. They are great folks. The kind you wish you knew 20 years ago. I admire them both, and miss them since they left marina bay.
How is your super duper anchor. Forget the name. Is it living up to it's reputation? Our 35#cqr failed to set once in HMB anchorage. It is easier to be sure it is set now with our new and improved feathering prop. The fixed 2 blade prop does not begin to match three blade feathering for thrust either forward or reverse. We can drive hard into big chop and wind. Barry
Our manson supreme is still one of the best anchors we've ever used...highly recommend as it has never failed us in the storms and quick to set. I am jealous of your new lovely prop and know it makes a huge difference! Oh how we miss you and hope to come and bug you for a while, via the open road, very soon. Hugs and kisses, Tiff
ps. just sail down here and I will show you were mission bay is!! wink wink
Yes...wink-wink just sail down here. Saw that one coming. Joyce is tough, she wants perfact weather, and the northern pacific is hardly ever perfact. If she can see fog anywhere,she will not budge. Does not matter if we can see ten miles. Don't know what to do. Barry
well barry, if you can make it past pt. conception..it's a cake walk, honestly. jim (of jim and kara) got to see it just like we said when him and neil came down, it's like a switch turns off the crappy weather and than, poof! smooth sailing, flat calm and sunshine. tell joyce it's ok and to meet you in L.A. and we will crew you down to there!!
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