Passed the Basic Cruising practical test!

Phew...now that's outta the way, I can concentrate on the written part and prepping for the new semester back at school.  Holy cow.  I'm still kind of in shock.  I almost screwed up with the the heave to maneuver...I forgot to switch sides on the tack and then I got confused as to which side the tiller is pushed.  Then I saved myself...tiller is on the same side as the sails.  Phew.  I must admit, I had the coolest instructor, Bruce.  I've been quite fortunate during my last set of reviews.  All the teachers have been quite remarkable--really patient, really knowledgeable and just good people to know in general.  

Back to searching and sailing

Now that I'm finally and fortunately in my second trimester and the morning sickness has subsided, I've been sailing again.  I had to take a major hiatus from being on the water.  I tried my best to tough it out but I was just miserable aboard.  

I have been doing the reviews for my Basic Cruising class that I started a few months ago and my free period for reviews and the test is ending this Sunday which means I better pass my practical test (on Friday) or else I have to pay for my test which is gonna make me pissy.  I have the man overboards down now (I hope) and feel way confident at the helm as skipper of a small boat.  The reviews have been great and I'm learning something new each time I go--something about mechanics of the boat, something about being more graceful and patient, something about wind and waves.  It's been great.  Things are clicking more now.  I can see how you just never cease to learn onboard.   

On the boat search...we may have to change course a bit.  We are not sure about living aboard any longer with the new baby coming.  I'm getting chicken about not having any family here to help out and having a toddler, a newborn, and a dog AND finishing my PhD onboard.  One of our regular babysitters already told us she wouldn't work for us onboard because she's terrified of the water.  Sigh.  Yep, I'm chicken.  

We still want to get a boat big enough to cruise down to the Sea of Cortez but want to spend less money.  The boats that we saw ourselves living on, were getting too pricey and I just couldn't bare to see so much of our savings go straight to delivery fees.  Also, a major factor in our decision has been the loss of part of our down payment.  E's parents were going to lend us some major dinero to put down for the boat, but now with economy going down the drain and them on the verge of retirement, they decided they would hold on to their cash for now.  Totally understandable.  So with less money to put down, and fewer marine financial companies willing to extend credit with smaller down payments, the catamarans we could afford were looking pretty rough.  We started to do the monohull search but were just not feeling it.  

So smaller boats...smaller 30-35 ft. catamarans on this coast... Slim pickings.  We were about to make an offer on a boat today but our brokerage company said the dude refused to budge on the price which is kind of ridiculous in this market.  And we refuse to pay for what he's asking.  The broker said he'll probably be more motivated come April as he's gotta some financial problems.  By then, we'll hopefully have something else though.  

Compromises

Now that I'm well into the horrid queasy stage of morning sickness (and no sign of relief has emerged yet!) my perspective on comfort has shifted.  It's crazy how strong biology pulls at one's pragmatic sensibilities.  I am thinking ok, by the end of May and if all goes well, we're having a second child.  That's E and I, my mom who will fly out here to help us, Mario, a newborn, and an old mutt.  Did I ever say that I was leaning towards performance boats?  Well, if I did I take it back.  Those slick narrow hulls are beginning to make me nervous now.  The thought of my old Okinawan momma with all her complaining about why we are living on a boat whenever she bumps into something is going to drive me up the wall.  Just a little more space is going to be absolutely necessary for all of us to stay somewhat sane.

E caught me looking at real estate again yesterday.  I'm actually dragging him to an open house this afternoon (the house has a deep water dock and we'd be zoned into the best public schools!).  But then we met with our broker this morning for breakfast who is in town for the weekend.  He got me pumped up again after he brought up some cats that are good compromises between comfortable/spacious and performance types.  E has his heart set on an Outremer 50 standard owner's version.  I hate the galley up all squished in next to the salon. Cruising with a galley up, fine, who cares.  But living aboard with galley up right there across from your main living area in a small space--I forsee lots of dirty dishes cluttering the view.

When I got home, I looked up the cat that really stood out for me as our broker spoke and I was like, "ohhhh, yeah.  This is it!"  E did his little searches on how well it sailed and surprised me with, "yep, I could do this too."  We'll see... we've gone down this road so many times.  Now, as our broker suggested, we need to just start putting out some offers and some low offers as this is a buyer's market.  Now all I need is to have one full day without any nausea so I can be as  fully excited about all this as I used to be.  

Finished OCSC Basic Cruising Weekend Part II

Alas...done with Basic Cruising II.  This weekend was definitely more fun than last weekend.  I bought some better accupressure bands to control the nausea from my morning sickness and loaded up on ginger candies and cranberries.  It definitely helped this time around.  I was almost going to cancel class because the whole week before I could barely move.  The nausea is way worse the second time around..maybe because I have less time to rest with an active toddler.  I managed to pull it off without any major fiasco though.  I can't wait for this to pass in a few weeks.  The belly will be a bit bigger but at least I'll feel better.  

Our crew was more lively and our instructor was really good--firm yet courteous and very patient.  It's a hard balance I think when you're out there on the water all day with relative newbies and you gotta cram down tons of information.  On Saturday we went to Clipper Cove, practiced anchoring, and piloting.  That was really terrific and the winds were coming from the west at around 20 knots.  It was hard to go down below and write down our triangulated bearings.  I got super sick from all the bouncing around and I was already feeling an urge to hurl from the usual morning sickness blah that sticks with me until about 1pm.  Everyone was super cool and let me stay at the tiller until my body/mind adjusted and by lunch I was good to go again.  

Sunday, we did reefing under way (very physical), changing sails under way, and more maneuvering in the bay, fine tuning our skills and person overboard recovery skills.  I need more practice on getting my speed just right when I'm going to pick up the "BOB".  My zone of approach is perfect but I just screw up at the end.  I'm thinking I need a couple of reviews before my practical test or if we can get our mainsail fixed in time, I can practice on Ecstasy.  

I'm so glad I took these courses.  Next year I'll move on to Bareboat chartering and that'll be the last course there I think...I'll then be certified to charter the big boats.  Can't wait!!

Basic Cruising Course -First Weekend

I successfully finished the first weekend of Basic Cruising at OCSC.  It's not as exciting as BK because there's not as much that is new--most of this class is reinforcing BK skills and forcing you to really take control of the boat as a skipper.  I had an ok time.  I think part of that has to do with the gender dynamics aboard.  Everyone was very nice.  It's just that last time, I really lucked out and had an all female crew the first weekend and a female instructor.  The second weekend we had a mostly women crew and a male instructor.  This time I was the only female and the guys were all older men.  The conversations all revolved around super technical aspects of racing and naming the planes in the sky (blue angels were nosily flying above-thank goodness I don't live in a part of the world where these war planes fly over daily).  When I asked if I could go up to the foredeck as we did some marina motoring (and since I was in observer role), I was told jokingly, well, if you're wearing a bikini...  I was in such a boy's boat.  I wasn't offended or anything...it was just a boy's boat.   

The approach was also different... in subtle ways.  I have to think about exactly how but I'm too tired from being out in the sun all day today.  Oh, here's one.  When I had a hard time starting the engine, the instructor would either 1) laugh it off and say he would give me a prescription for the gym, or 2) move me aside and just do it.  The instructor realized I might take that the wrong way and said, "I'm not trying to dismiss you, because I've seen you do it, you just look a little tired" and actually I was but still... I wanted to get it down and for him to be patient.  In my BK classes, I was encouraged to do it right then and there and given good tips (one of my crewmates this class told me after class how to get more leverage by standing above it to pull the cord).  I paid for these dang classes to learn!  I should have just spoken up.  I just didn't come away as psyched as last time.  Hopefully I'll have a better time next time for the second part of BC. To be fair though, I was a little nauseous so that could have affected my outlook.  

Passed the written exam!

What a relief.  I got my first US Sailing certification today.  It's just the Basic Keelboat certification but I was jumping up and down.  I start Basic Cruising in a few weeks.  Very exciting. I think I am most looking forward to learning how to sail into the slip and sail by the compass.  

I took my seamanship course last week too.  That was amazing.  We had an old salt of a teacher (also a physicist) and he was the biggest trip ever.  I swear I was laughing half the class (and mostly at him).  I love quirky Brits.  In the section of the seminar on recommended safety gear, he had me rollin'.  He pulls out his personal bag and starts hauling out his crap.  He was identifying everything, from extra underwear to debris.  It was awesome.  Anyhow...I now know how to recognize light patterns on various boats at night and what all the sound signals mean.  Very cool.  Well, at least I have the notes on how to recognize the lights.  I can just see myself being one of the idiots he was talking about who get the 5 short blasts from a large ship because I cut across a shipping lane and am oblivious to the turns they're about to make.  I'm kind of terrified about sailing at night.  I should sign up for one of these Wednesday night sails at OCSC.  Watch, it'll be me who ends up running into one of those unlit Olympic circle buoys or running into "little Alcatraz" during a flood through the Golden Gate.  

We're thinking of hauling out Ecstasy and having someone look her over.  I wanted to get rid of it so we could save up dinero for our big boat purchase but my instructors advised us to hold on to it and sail the heck out of her, work out our learning on a cheap boat.  They said, when you're learning on a cheap boat and one that you're not living on, you'll be less scared to try new and adventerous things.  One instructor told me he knew a couple that had an ugly, cheap boat that they ran aground, run into unmarked buoys at night, etc. etc.  But their learning curve jumped like crazy and later they bought a nice boat after they worked out all the new sailor kinks.  Ecstasy was free after all.  We never had it hauled after we took over ownership  We just hired a cheapy diver to scrape off the barnacles and give us an idea of what it looked like below.  He said it looked ok but what does he know?  

We're going to call tomorrow to see if the Berkeley Marine Center can haul it out and give us an idea on how much it'll cost to redo the bottom.  It had been in the water for 6 years without moving before us.  Yikes.  If it's extra pricey we won't do it.  But if it's reasonable and if some of the work can be done by us, then we'll do it.  We're envisioning weekend trips up the Delta.  

Here are some pics of Ecstacy:

Ecstasy on our first day of ownership--super dirty.  Took hours to clean.  Still not finished.  The sails are rusty looking.  Kind of embarrassing.  The sunbrella on the bimini is super dirty.  Hard to clean.

 My mom on the boat.  Mocha liked hangin' in the cabin.  Brucie is always out on the deck and cockpit.   

The rigging needs some work.  The shrouds are bent.  Sails are old and ripping.  We repaired the mainsail twice already--ourselves!  We have an industrial sewing machine and my mom helped E reconstruct a torn area.  I was so proud of them.  E is really amazing.  He fixed the old diesel engine on this boat.  Those volvo penta's are incredible.  It still chugs along even thought it's 30+ some years old.  It needs some more maintenance so for now we're the slowest boat when we have to motor anywhere.  I think some row boaters even passed us.  Sad.

Bust on the Cat in San Diego

Our broker just got back to us on the Cat we were all psyched about that is docked in San Diego.  It's a Farrier F-41 and it is not going to work for us. Our broker knows this boat well because he owned the very first Farrier F-41 built and loves them.  So he really talked this one up but when he went down there to look at it, he was less than enthusiastic about a family living aboard and cruising.  He said it would be better for a couple of guys who wanted to take their surf boards on it and go for a short cruise.  He said it was constructed with kevlar and that structurally it seemed quite sound.  But the interior felt very "home built" and not finished well like one would expect in a production cat or one done at a professional yard.  He said it had ugly formica and some of the other material he chose to outfit the boat was cheap and just plain ugly.  He also said the layout was awkward--the placement of the engine is odd (although access was good), the salon is very small, there is no separate shower.  There is a huge cockpit however.  

Some bigger red flags for us:

• Our broker sailed it and said the engine was unusually loud, possibly out of alignment which could potentially be a major problem.  The boat shook too.  He said when he asked the owner/builder (who lives aboard and is selling b/c of a personal family issue) he said it had always done that which kind of makes me nervous.  Actually, really makes me nervous that he didn't quite know that it wasn't right.  That means there could be other major issues that are not as apparent now but would show up later.  
• The sails are brand new which is nice but because the boat is practically new, there hasn't been much time to work out the kinks so some of the rigging is a bit odd.

So SKIP.  Back to yachtworld. I'm looking at monohulls again.  Just to see if anything interesting pops up.  After my sailing classes, I'm feeling more confident about heeling.  Mario will be able to adjust to anything we get.  I hear kids adjust faster to boats than adults.  Sigh.  Back on the hunt.  While at sailing school, some of the instructors poo pooed cats as can be expected.  They didn't like that you couldn't sail it into your dock, that they "don't feel right," that they feel like plastic.  It's good to hear more of this but I know to take it with a grain of salt. I'm kind of over that cat vs monohull fight.

There are only a handful of cats on the west coast. And nothing stands out in our price range.  

These are the ones we peeked at in order of length that are here on our coast:

• Prout Quasar 50--I tried to like this boat but I just can't get over the layout.  We both look at it periodically.  We got some extra photos a while back from the broker and nothing impressed us much about it.  It's got tons of storage and it's a stout cruiser but it's just ugly.  We read a review of it in our catamaran book--and it was highly recommended as a terrific boat for the open ocean.  We were looking at the one in Florida too which has got new engines and lots of great upgrades but we both just don't feel it is the right fit.
• Voyage Yacht 50- not impressed.  Built for the charter companies.  OK layout but I worry about cruising in the Pacific with it.  E does not like it at all.
• Gil's Catamaran Choy 47-- I like this layout a lot.  Can you say party boat? It's a custom boat with daggerboards and lots of cruising goodies and storage. I see lots of room for Mario to play.  I like the big  cockpit, the two helm stations outside and the one on the inside.  Only 2 berths and the big red flag-it's glass over wood.  We asked around and people said don't risk it because of the different expansion rates or something like that.  I think it would be hard as heck to resale.  It's been residing on yachtworld forever.
• 2007 John Shuttleworth Performance Cruiser-Um, can someone give us a million bucks?  It's kind of amazing.  E gets mad when I look at it because he said I won't be able to look at the ones we can afford with good perspective.  Can a lady dream every once in a while?
• Broadblue 46-love it.  E has been online trying to find reviews of it but can't seem to find much information about how it sails, etc..  We know that the company has an amazing reputation--formerly Prout so known for strong, seaworthy boats.  We have to dig more.  We can't afford it now at its asking price anyways...but if there's a price break, hmmmm.  We'll ask our broker.
• St. Francis 43-I asked around about this one.  Slamming slamming slamming is what everyone says.  The bridgedeck clearance is way too low on this model.  They made it higher later.
• Venezia 42-Not gonna happen.  This looks like it was made for chartering too.  Not a good family layout.
• Manta 42 in Bellingham.  We looked at the Ninja long and hard.  I mean we thought for sure it was gonna be THE boat.  We talked to several Manta owners.  I had to get over the sterile look because I had been eyeing the more stylish and modern French cats but after I adjusted, I really liked it.  Love the cockpit.  My change of heart really came after following the blog about Jade.  It's made with the liveaboard in mind so there's good storage and practical features (like the larger  Outremers.)  We called San Juan Sailing School to see if we could charter Ninja for a week.  It was going to be a nice vacation that we so needed and a way to check it out first hand and also learn to sail the Manta.  We started making arrangements.  They said the captain/owner would come teach us as much or as little as we wanted.  It was gonna be pricey but we figured if this was going to be IT, we should feel very comfortable about the decision. We could test out how Mario would do aboard.  I called my mom in TX and told her I'd pay for her ticket to come up and she would be aboard helping us out with Mario while we learned.  She loved the idea.  I spent a few days looking at flights to Seattle for all of us, E was about to take the days off from work and then we got a call back from the school telling us the captain didn't want a baby aboard--if it was possible to kick granma and son onto land because it would be "too much of a distraction."  Then the guy from the school goes, "Well, he is a little too young to be aboard."  What?!  Tons of kids live/cruise aboard.  We thought the teaching was going to be casual and light anyways... E said he was probably not a kid person.  I figured he was worried about liability.  We cancelled the charter. We haven't even been away from our son overnight (sigh, we need to live closer to family!) so a week would have been traumatic for us both.  Plus we learned that he won't budge on his price.  You can get a loaded brand new Manta for just a little more than what he's asking.  It's on our list still.  Just not that one.  We're a bit sour now.  They missed out on a chance to lure us in.  
• 38 Seawind--Airy, airy airy.  We stepped aboard the one in Alameda and that is now for sale.  It's gorgeous.  I just think it might be a little too small for us.  I don't know.  There would have to be a significant price drop too.  There are two for sale on this coast now.  The salon windows open up and the salon door lifts up completely so that you have this seamless cockpit/salon space.  I worry about storage.  E worries that you have to look through the window in the cockpit and then through the salon window to see forward or lean over and look around the boat when at the helm.  That's kind of a pain.  

That's it.  There are a few other boats but ones that we totally skipped.  Apparently there's another boat coming onto the market soon on our coast that's interesting.  We're waiting to see the price tag.  

Exhausting.