Last weekend, Dominic and I enjoyed one of the fringe benefits of marina life—friends with boats! We spent a killer day on the Bay with Greg and Sujata, our neighbors aboard Taniwha. Taniwha is a sleek, fast, easy to handle Saga 43 and she sailed swiftly from Alameda out past the Golden Gate and back in about three and half hours. We had winds up to 22 knots and hit speeds up to 6.8 knots!
Read MoreA long holiday weekend with gorgeous weather in San Francisco—it would have been an absolute crime to leave Helios tied to the dock this last Sunday. I also had a small, personal milestone to celebrate: this September marks the first time in 25 years that I'm not going back to school right now.
Read MoreAs I'm sure many assumed after our cruise to Raccoon Straits, we have successfully reinstalled the mast and regained our status as a sailing vessel. Yahoo! It was no fun being the least efficient motor vessel on the dock…
Read MoreAs of today, six coats of varnish cover the cockpit teak, and we have two more to go.
Read MoreThere was a moment on Wednesday—in the cockpit, covered in sawdust, steam building in my face mask, sweat pooling in my knee pads, I was cleaning blood from my punctured foot off the deck—when I wondered if I was finding God in the details of this endeavor, or the devil.
Read MoreI'm super excited to show off our recent upgrade, the dodger and bimini! The dodger is the windshield-like structure at the front of the cockpit, the bimini covers the helm, and there is a removable panel that connects the two.
Read MoreThe Fourth is always a highlight of my summer. How are you celebrating? Dominic and I are headed to Weaverville to visit his family and have some small town fun. Pizza partying, patio boating, and parading are all on the agenda, and I couldn't be happier.
Read MoreAs we're without a mast, it seems fitting to give some love to an important part of the motoring system on the boat: the propellor.
Read MoreHaving a sailboat without a mast is unnerving. Being in our slip feels like being a solitary stump amid rows of gloriously tall redwood trees. One of our neighbors asked if we are planning on having Helios shipped to a remote location to avoid enduring the voyage; others competed for cleverest mast-missing innuendo.
The impetus for having the mast removed was to fast-track a number of projects so we can maximize the end of summer sailing season in the Bay and have premium equipment while on our voyage...
Read MoreOne of my ongoing projects since moving aboard has been to increase our storage space by making pockets to hang on available vertical surfaces.
Read MoreThis article tells the story of a Bay Area couple currently rowing from Monterey to Oahu. These two are an athletic dynamic-duo, and combine personal growth with social consciousness:
Read MoreWe reached a huge boat prep milestone last weekend—the autopilot is installed and ready for action!
Read MoreI'm late getting on board, but I've finally had the chance to listen to This American Life's recent episode, Call for Help.
Read MoreDominic and I had a full weekend of projects on Helios. I continued to explore the wild world of varnish removal, while Dominic contorted himself in the aft cabin and the port lazarette while he installed the autopilot.
Read MoreSome pictures from our first few months living on the dock.
Read MoreAthens seems to have always gotten negative reviews--too much heat, too much acid raid, too much urban sprawl. So, Dominic and I only planned for 48 hours and arrived in Athens with very low expectations….
….but we were totally blown away!
Read MoreI always knew I wanted to honeymoon in Greece. We considered a few other tropical locals, but as our marriage coincided with our first sail boat purchase (Dominic bought the boat, picked up the dessert, and drove to the rehearsal dinner…) we decided a sailboat charter in the Ionian Sea was written in the stars.
We were married on July 13, 2013 and flew to Greece the next day.
Read MoreMoving aboard was an adventure in itself. It was largely an exercise in getting rid of our stuff. We had been downsizing over the past two years; the rental we moved out of was partially furnished, so we only had a desk, bed and two chairs.
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