I have to say that sailing in San Diego has been great. On some days we can set the main as soon as we are out of the fairway in our marina. Just a couple minutes later we make the port turn at the west end of Harbor Island, which puts us on starboard tack, and we can lose the engine.
On most days, we have to tack a couple times before we can lay the channel to the ocean, but not this time!
We had to pinch a bit, but we were able to carry our starboard tack to where we could bear away a bit and lay the exit from the bay. About 13 knots of wind kept things moving nicely. Sometimes the terrain around Point Loma accelerates the wind in the area just seaward of the sub base, and we had to ease the main through some gusts, but once we were clear of Point Loma the wind was really very steady.
We stayed on starboard out past the whistler buoy, and when we were ready to head for the barn, we tacked and bore away a little and were able to carry port tack all the way back to the marina...
That was it, sailed all afternoon and tacked once.
SK
--posted Monday, Jun 29, 2009
I won't nick that hose with this hole saw...
Bad thinking! Everyone knows that any hole saw put aboard a boat becomes a "water seeking hole saw".
I was cutting a hole for a new hose, a nice simple diagonal hole through a locker floor and a bulkhead. I could see through another hole, the hose I needed to not nick. I knew I needed to control the feed pressure on the saw, and just barely finish the cut before stopping the saw. Yet despite my best efforts to control the feed pressure on the saw, I failed miserably and touched the hose, yet ever so slightly, with the saw. The bad news is that the hose was 1-1/2 inch diameter and open to below water-line (I wasn't going to nick it so I didn't shut the sea cock. Bad Sean!) The good news is I didn't cut it clear through, I only compromised about half of the wall thickness of the hose, so I only had to spend an extra couple hours changing one of the most difficult hoses in the boat.
We were changing the head (toilet to non-boating types). We had a Raritan PHII, and while it worked, it was getting pretty odiferous flushing with sea water. (Sea water, even in the intake hose will "rot" in short order and produce a sulfur odor akin to rotten eggs.) Not to mention what sea water does to the insides of the hoses (the calcium builds up very quickly). So we decided to convert to a fresh water flush. We have three fresh water tanks, and the smallest one is proximate to the head, so it was easy to plumb it as a dedicated tank for flushing.
We decided to go with a new Lavac marine toilet, a time tested and simple solution, and a favorite of many cruisers. It has a bowl with a 1-1/2 inch outlet at the bottom that gets plumbed to a great big diaphragm pump. The lid actually has a seal, so to flush you just close the lid and take some strokes on that pump, which empties the bowl and creates a vacuum in the bowl which is what draws the flush water in. After about 30 seconds, the
vacuum breaks and you can lift the lid and everything is ready to go again.
You can read more about the Lavac here.
SK
--posted Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009
Sailing!
May 16
Took Solana out sailing for the first time since last Fall. A Saturday on San Diego Bay and just offshore in light wind. It was a 4 star day on the ocean, very light swell, partly sunny. A few more knots of wind would have made it 5 star! Lots of sailboats out enjoying the day, a few races going on, the handful of crazy wake-makers and only one tanker to avoid. It was nice having crew aboard, my brother Rusty and a friend from our childhood days in Long Beach, Bill Clow.
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Red Bull Air Races!
May 9-10
We motored out to the middle of San Diego Bay and dropped anchor along with a few hundred others to watch the Redbull Air Races. Those guys are crazy! (No, I didn't take that photo. We weren't that close.)
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009
Missing Solana while in Anacortes
April 17-20
Don't you just hate it when all of your friends are headed out for a weekend cruise, but your boat is in another location? Yeah, I know, play a violin of sorrow! But the Anacortes Yacht Club has an annual cruise to Sucia Island, arguably one of the most beautiful locations in the San Juan Islands, and we want to go! It's early Spring so no crowds, and the weather promised to cooperate. Chilly of course, but the sun was out. We chartered a nice little Nordic Tug from Anacortes Yacht Charters and had a great time. 2 nights at the dock in Fossil Bay and a night at Jones Island. Both islands have limited facilities but great hiking trails and plenty of peace and quiet. Best of all, the internet and cell phone coverage in both locations was almost non-existent! Good enough that we knew we'd get notice if there was an emergency, but so slow that neither of us attempted to accomplish any work! It was great.
JC
--posted Thursday, May 21, 2009