One of my goals from the very start is to be able to sail in and out of my slip without the need of the motor. This is pretty tough because my slip is located at the back of a very long narrow channel with many twists and turns to get here. The wind is usually dead on your nose as you come along, requiring many tacks and turns into the wind. It is also complicated by the fact that the play beach and learners dinghy dock is along the way so the channel is usually congested with paddles board...

Projects

I wonder where the day goes. When my dad retired he commented that he is so busy now he wonders how he ever had time for a job!

Besides the everyday tasks of “living” on a simple boat where everything is done in some old fashioned (ie “Slow” ) way, It seems there is a never ending list (and growing every day..) of projects to do on the boat. The boat was in good repair when I bought it but there are upgrades and improvements that I want to do to make it more comfortable, ...

Last month I pulled the boat out of the water and applied anti-fouling bottom paint to the entire bottom of the boat. This is to keep marine critters from taking up residence down yonder and turning No Bad Days into a marine garden.

This week I applied non skid paint to the entire topside decking. When she was made, they molded in sort of a micro waffle pattern all over the topside decks to allow safer moving about fore and aft. Over the last 40 years that pattern got all worn down and it ha...

When I bought the boat, I had gone down there over a weekend, expecting to be back to work Monday. Once I bought it I had to stay and go to the DMV that Monday and have it transferred to my name. The lines at the DMV were very long as usual and I almost missed my flight home! My boss was not amused. “well I guess you gotta do what you gotta do” he said, in that tone of voice your mother uses when she is very displeased with you…..

I had not yet decided to keep my boat in Dana Point....

One of the strategies I want to employ in learning all about sailing is to cruise from Dana Point out to Catalina almost every week. The prevailing winds are from the west, and Catalina is 35 miles due west of Dana, so you can’t sail straight there. It requires much tacking and is a “beat” against the wind and the swells, making a very tough sail that would take longer than a day, requiring an over night passage and several crew along to do it safely. In order to make it over there in...