Christi worked in the banking world from 1996 to 2007. In 2002, Christi became deeply troubled by the economic policies set by the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As time went on, she became more troubled as the policies she viewed unfavorably were expanded. She wanted to join in the San Francisco protest, particularly once they moved to the Federal Reserve Building. Unfortunately, the peaceful protesters were harassed by police from the beginning. Eric made Christi promise never to go into the protest area because it wasn’t safe for a pregnant woman, particularly one who wasn’t yet showing.

After we moved Kosmos to Oakland, we saw that there was an Occupy Oakland protest set up in the park in front of City Hall, in the heart of downtown. Since it was across the street from the BART (train) station, we passed it often. Eric never went over to that side of the street to get a closer look, but Christi did several times.

In keeping her promise to Eric, she never actually went into the park, but she lingered around the sidewalk nearby and talked to some of the people that worked in the shops adjoining the park. There were a few more times she intended to stop by the park that she didn’t, though, because there was police wearing riot gear surrounding the park.

The more Christi talked to the locals, the clearer it became that this movement was different from the other Occupy Movements around the country. Instead of expressing anger about federal policies that have exacerbated income inequality, Oakland was more focused on expressing anger at the perceived sins of the local Oakland government, particularly in regards to a young man who was shot by police in a BART station in 2009. This demonstration against the local government wasn’t anything new, though. As we mentioned in another post, tensions between the police/government of Oakland and residents has been an ongoing problem since World War II.

The protestors camping on the grass were peaceful, respectful of the law, organized and orderly. But there was a small dark element that hung around on the paved areas surrounding the grass, particularly on the benches and retaining wall. Armed gang bangers loitered around, as did homeless people. The homeless people often went to the bathroom on the ground instead of the port-a-potties. Some more rebellious types openly drank alcohol and smoked marijuana, both in blatant violation of the law. Sometimes bands would play, and many didn’t appreciate the style of music.

The campers on the grass clashed on what to do about the fringe element. Some believed they should police themselves and kick them out; others thought everyone should be welcome in the movement no matter what. Nothing was done by the campers, so the police stepped in. Because the problem causers on the fringe were clearly divided from the rest of the campers on the grass, the police could have easily dealt with the small group of problem causers without disrupting the encampment. But the police decided it was time for the encampment to go. Both sides were ready for an ugly fight.

In the early morning of October 25, 2011, the police evicted everyone from the park. The protesters re-grouped at another location and started marching in the streets. That evening, Christi was aboard Kosmos writing away when several helicopters started doing circles overhead. She knew something bad happened to attract so many helicopters. When Eric got off the BART on his way home from work, he found himself looking at a police barricade. They were dressed in riot gear and had closed off the streets near park; main roads that normally saw a lot of traffic. It was clear they expected the protesters to return to the park and would meet them with serious violence. Eric pushed past the blockade area and rushed home, not wanting to be anywhere near the looming violence. That night, we were glued to the Internet, watching the riots play out and hoping the violence didn’t make it the .6 miles down to Jack London Square.

After the riots started, there was an enormous public backlash against the city. People got hold of the officials personal phone numbers and called them all night, demanding the police back off. The next morning, the officials directed the police to retreat. The protesters re-took the park and were emboldened. Thanks to so much publicity, the Oakland Occupation Movement grew rapidly over the next few days and became more active, now loudly marching in the streets instead of simply camping quietly in the park. Unfortunately, a few unruly people in the group became violent and began vandalizing buildings. The Occupy group also tried to disrupt business at the Port of Oakland, bringing the action closer to Jack London Square than we would have preferred. While it was exciting to be in the middle of history being made, we didn’t feel it was the right place to be with a baby on the way. Tear gas, flash bomb smoke and rubber bullets from the police aren’t exactly good for an expectant mother. Neither are spray paint can fumes, breaking glass, and random objects hurled with intent for destruction from the protesters.

We had always planned to return to San Diego around the end of October. Eric had been keeping an eye on the weather for the previous couple weeks, looking for an ideal weather window. That window came on October 28th. There was a huge storm approaching from Alaska, but if we made a non-stop run we could make it to San Diego in mild weather. If we waited, we could be stuck in Oakland for several more weeks before another window opened. So at 0700 on October 28, we left Oakland, returning to San Diego on October 31.

This is part 10 of an 11 part series on our time in the San Francisco Bay area. Read part 9 here and part 11 here. 

Fortunately, we figured out how to watch the show from the water without taking Kosmos out — we rode the 3:00 ferry from Oakland to San Francisco.  It was a great plan. The show started a little after 3:00 and ended just as we pulled into San Francisco. We had amazing views!

As you may have surmised, the Blue Angels are essentially military aviation stunt show. Six Boeing F/A-18 Hornets fly together in a coordinated series of maneuvers, some maneuvers so daring that they take your breath away. The planes fly as high as 15,000 feet, as low as 50 feet, at speeds between 120 miles per hour (mph) and 700 mph (which is just under mach 1), and get as close as 18 inches from each other while twisting, turning, darting past one another, flying in close formation and doing other amazing coordinated tasks. If you get the opportunity to see a Blue Angels show, don’t pass it up!

We are glad we chose to take the ferry instead of Kosmos. Our poor ferry driver was constantly changing course to avoid nutty people who got in his way and weaving in and out of boats anchored in inappropriate places. We saw several near accidents between other boats, too. We probably would have been so focused on the other boats on the water that we would have never looked up to see the show.

The booths were so close to Kosmos that we could have stood on the bow and stolen produce from the stands! Here is a shot from the other direction:

Having the Farmer’s Market come to us made shopping easy! It was an especially good market, too. We knew we’d miss it when we were gone.

We did a little exploring of downtown Oakland in the month we had Kosmos there. Oakland was officially made a town in 1852, the same time the shipping industry began on Oakland’s shores.  Oakland was prosperous from the beginning. In addition to the shipping wharves, Oakland became the main staging post for passengers and cargo journeying between the Bay Area and the Sierra foothills during the California Gold Rush. In the 1860s a railroad hub was put into Oakland and the town boomed even more, with shipbuilders, automobile manufacturing, canneries and many more industries developing there. Oakland’s history is rich with fascinating information, but we’re not going to get into the details in this post.

As we walked around downtown Oakland, we noticed that most of the buildings looked to be from the late 1800s to early 1900s. It was clear from the architecture, the quality of construction and the appointments that this was once a very wealthy city, and that it was beautiful in its heyday. Here are a couple of examples:

Oakland continued to flourish until World War II. During the war, an influx of poor laborers were brought in to work at the ship yards, and they were recruited mostly from the Deep South. Long standing Oakland residents complained that the new Southern arrivals “tended towards public disorder” and didn’t care for the  racist attitude that the Southerners — both the blacks and whites — carried. Racial tensions and segregation followed. Many affluent locals moved out of Oakland.

After the war ended, things got worse. With the disappearance of Oakland’s shipbuilding industry and the decline of its automobile industry, jobs became scarce. The extensive public transit lines were mostly dismantled, replaced with freeways that partitioned off neighborhoods. The police force was now full of white Southerners who persecuted the blacks, and racial tensions became out of control. 100,000 of Oakland’s more affluent community members fled to surrounding towns.

During the 1960s, the Hell’s Angels took over the neighborhood. During the 1970s, drug kingpin Felix Mitchell created the nation’s first large-scale gang-controlled  heroin and cocaine dealing operation. Needless to say, crime and murder were a big problem — with rates twice of most major cities.

In the 1990s, the redevelopment projects began. Oakland has been slowly but surely been getting nicer since then. These days, in the downtown area, most of the old buildings have been renovated, though there are still a few dilapidated buildings dotting the neighborhoods. This block of Victorian houses is a perfect example. The middle two are in great shape, the one on the left is in fairly good condition, and the one on the right has been seriously neglected.

The less well kept commercial buildings also tend to house seedy venues like Adult Bookstores. In and amongst the old buildings there are quite a few new, modern buildings, as well, and most are higher end.

There was no denying downtown Oakland has a lot of character. As you walk down any given street, you’ll pass an odd variety of things — for example in a one block stretch near Jack London Square there is an old, kind of scary looking shipping warehouse next door to  brand new luxury condo complex, then a dilapidated porn shop, a charming coffee shop that has been around for 50 years, a chic high end restaurant in a gorgeously renovated historic building, a blocky government building with several homeless people sleeping on the steps, and a medical marijuana facility. All on the same block.

For the most part we felt safe, but there were a few small areas, like near the freeways, that were a little scary. We walked around freely during the day, but after dark we tended to use public transit even if we were only going a few blocks.

Another benefit to being here is that we’ve been treated to amazing sunsets most nights, as well:

We are pleased to report that Part 2 of The Unexpected Circumnavigation is selling well (for a self-published book, at least). We haven’t gotten much feedback as of yet, but so far all of it has been good. If you want to read some excerpts, there is one in The Mariner Magazine taken from Chapter 1 (starts on page 18) and one on Lulu with the first few pages of the prologue (click on preview link under image of book). If you have already read the book, we’d appreciate if you would rate it on Lulu, as well.

Part 1 is also selling well. Sales had been steady for most of 2011, but since Part 2 came out, sales of Part 1 have leaped up.

We are nearly finished with our next book project, a workbook called Recipe for Success: What My Cruising Will Cost Me. The text is more or less complete, but we are finding it harder to format a workbook than a reading book. We didn’t have much time to work on it over the holidays, but now that things have slowed down, we hope to have it done by the end of the month. Once Recipe for Success is finished, Christi will focus on Part 3 of The Unexpected Circumnavigation. 

In personal news, Christi is now 32 weeks pregnant. Less than two months to go! She continues to have a mild pregnancy overall. Her first trimester she was tired and bloated, but she never got nauseous or sick. According to What To Expect When You Are Expecting, the more prone you are to motion sickness, the more prone you are to morning sickness. Thanks to all those rough days at sea, it now takes a crazy amount of motion for Christi to get sick. All those miserable days at sea have paid off!

The second trimester she felt good overall. While she did have several typical second trimester symptoms, such as stuffy ears, heartburn and leg cramps, all were infrequent and minor.

Now well into her third trimester, she is becoming increasingly uncomfortable as she gets bigger and increasingly tired now that she has to exert more energy to do every day activities. She also has bloating and heartburn when she eats too much in one sitting, and gets light headed when she is dehydrated, so she is now eating many small meals per day and getting plenty of fluids. This eating pattern is familiar, though. When we are at sea, we also eat small amounts all day long instead of big meals, which helps prevent sea sickness.

Throughout the whole pregnancy she has needed more sleep than normal. Much to her frustration, she’s also suffered from “baby brain” all along, and it seems to get worse daily. She’s also one of the lucky 1/3 of women whose allergy issues worsen during pregnancy.

Here is a photo of her in early July, right after we found out she was pregnant and another one taken yesterday.

When the baby was 28 weeks old, we had a 4D sonogram done. The 4D technology is amazing! Look at how clearly the baby can be seen in the womb! He definitely has Eric’s nose and eye shape. As far as the doctors can tell, he seems to be healthy, which we are grateful for.

However, we didn’t love the marina. We were on an end tie, and it was a long walk to the boat from the gate — we estimate a full quarter mile. One of our friends commented that at night the dock was eerie — that it looked like the hallway from “The Shining.”

Our slip was exposed to the bay and very rocky — so much so that Christi had to leave the boat every afternoon when the wind picked up because she couldn’t take the rocking! There was no wireless Internet (well, technically there was but it was broken and the marina staff had no interest in fixing it), which made it tougher for Christi to write when she was onboard. The parking options were limited and ungodly expensive, making it challenging to have friends and family come over to visit. Laundry was also a problem. Because we were at the end, the electricity voltage was too low to run our washing machine. The marina’s washing machine had the hot and cold water set backwards, and of course, all cycles had a cold water final rinse, so all our delicate clothes took horrible beatings in the very hot rinse water. The marina staff seemed uninterested in fixing that problem, too, despite the fact it could have been resolved in literally five minutes.

After a month of spending every afternoon in Internet cafes unsuccessfully trying to work on the book (Christi is easily distracted by things going on around her; she really needs to write in isolation), Christi put her foot down and demanded that we move to another marina. Eric didn’t want to move, but realizing that it was useless to argue with a pregnant woman, he relented. With help and advice from our friends in the Bay area, we re-visited our options and decided Jack London Square Marina in Oakland was the best bet for Eric since it was close to both the ferry and the BART (train). Miraculously, they had space available.

On the morning of September 28, we untied the lines and headed east across the bay to the relatively narrow channel that separates Alameda Island from Oakland on the main land. The channel was a natural estuary that was widened and deepened in 1852 so that wharves could be built on the Oakland waterfront. In 1874, the channel was further dredged to make Oakland a deep water port. Over the years, they continued to deepen and widen the channel. In In 1962, Oakland became the first major port on the US Pacific Coast to have container ship terminals. Today the Port of Oakland is the fifth busiest container port in the United States.

We passed the container port. Though much smaller than many of the other container ports we’ve seen around the world (ie Singapore and Oman), it was still imposing. Jack London Square was not far beyond. We pulled into the small basin and were shocked to see the marina was virtually empty, with only a handful of boats. When we checked into the office we were told that a boat show had just ended two days prior. All the tenants had been kicked out for the show and most had not yet returned.

Right away, we were happy with the marina. Our slip was steps away from shore. The marina was protected from the main bay, and while the marina did get some occasional big rolls from the ferries and ships, it was relatively calm overall. Oakland is generally sunnier, warmer, and less windy than San Francisco, and we reveled in the warm afternoon sun as we tied up the lines.

Oakland is an area undergoing gentrification, and Jack London Square is one of the recently renovated areas. It is adorable! Once upon a time it was part of the industrial shipping area, but now it is a lively pedestrian area sporting a a variety of shops, restaurants, hotel and ferry terminal, along with the marina. Unfortunately, we didn’t take many photos of the square, but here are a couple shots.

The square is named after the famous American author Jack London, who grew up in Oakland near the waterfront and spent much of his youth working as a sailor and oyster pirate based out of what is now Jack London Square. London made notes for his books while sitting at Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon, built in 1883 from the timbers of a whaling ship. Heingold’s is still there, now a National Literary Landmark, that preserves the rustic character from the earlier era. It is an odd tiny wooden building with a few tables outside that stands out from the rest of the modern buildings surrounding it.

London eventually moved to Alaska. Interestingly enough, an adoring fan went to Alaska and found London’s log cabin. He had the cabin dismantled and brought back to California. The tiny cabin (the one here may only be a replica; the information about it is conflicting) sits in the middle of the square, next to Heingold’s bar.

This is part 7 of an 11 part series on our time in the San Francisco area. Read part 6 here and part 8 here. 

The California Academy of Sciences is actually several museums all rolled into one facility. The ticket to get in was $30, which is pretty expensive for a museum, but once inside, she saw why it was so much. There is a lot to do there, and a lot of staff on hand to answer questions and offer help.

Upon arrival, Christi and Kim made a beeline for the world’s largest all digital Planetarium to catch the show “Life: A Cosmic Story” narrated by Jodie Foster. It was a surprisingly interesting history of the universe, illustrating how microbiology and astronomy are inter-connected in the great scale of the universe. (In a weird coincidence, the night before, Christi watched the movie “Contact” for the first time. “Contact” stars Jodie Foster, who played an astronomer who found life on another galaxy.)

In the middle of the museum building is a 90 foot diameter (27.5 meter) glass dome that houses a tropical forest. A walkway circles the interior of the dome, climbing higher and higher, allowing people to look at the various plants and animals along the way. We didn’t see many animals at the bottom, but near the top we saw a couple birds and a few butterflies.

Kim loved it. Christi though the concept was cool, but wasn’t super impressed with the exhibit in general. Christi thinks she spent too much time in real tropical rain forests (such as Australia, Panama and Costa Rica) to appreciate a tiny tropical simulation. (On another side note, Kim’s husband, Mike, was with Christi and Eric in Costa Rica on the wilderness hike we linked to above).

At the top of a dome, an elevator takes people down to ground level and lets them out in the aquarium. Eric and Christi have been to a lot of aquariums over the last few years (including Atlanta, Georgia, Monaco, Panama, Crete, Greece, and San Diego, among others) and while the San Francisco aquarium is not the best we’ve seen, this one certainly rates fairly well. It had a swamp exhibit, coral reef exhibit, Amazon Forest exhibit, a Northern California Coast Exhibit, and a tide pool, where the staff encouraged Christi and Kim to touch all the specimens.

By far the most interesting attraction in the aquarium was the white alligator in the swamp exhibit. Christi had never heard of white alligators before and was fascinated by it.

Another interesting specimen was a paddlefish, the largest freshwater fish in North America. They commonly reach 5 feet (1.5 m) or more in length and can weigh more than 60 pounds (27 kg). Though fish that feed on plankton, they resemble sharks a little bit, but their nose is shaped like a paddle! Sadly, Christi didn’t get a decent photo of one, but you can see some swimming around in this youtube video. There were a few more species that were unfamiliar to Christi, particularly in the swamp exhibit, but she didn’t take notes and can’t remember them anymore.

Most of the species were familiar, though, especially in the tropical displays. Christi loves tropical water exhibits and spent a long time looking at them, remembering seeing the various creatures on dives we did around the world and dreaming of going diving in the tropics again.

From there, Christi and Kim headed over to the Japanese Tea Garden. The entrance fee was about $7.00. The garden was absolutely gorgeous, a work of art in and of itself. Here are some pictures

This is part 6 of an 11 part series on our time in the San Francisco area. Read Part 5 here and part 7 here. 

One of the fun tourist activities we did was to take Kosmos overnight to Angel Island State Park, located about a mile south of Tiburon, near the Golden Gate Bridge. We chose an unusually clear and warm day to go over there. Here is a shot of our nephew and his girlfriend on the bow of Kosmos with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Here is Kosmos moored in Ayala Cove, on the north side of the island. The moorings were different than any others we’ve seen before and were difficult to tie onto. Fortunately, the kind gentleman next to us hopped into his dinghy and helped us get tied up. The park requires boats to tie both front and back to the moorings, so it would have been double tough without his help! The fee to stay on the moorings was about $30 per night.

We took a bus tour of the island, where there was a fascinating narration on the history. Over the years, it has been used for an assortment of purposes. When the bay was originally “discovered” by the Spaniards in 1769, the island was inhabited by Native Americans, who had probably resided there for 3,000 years. As San Francisco grew and more whalers and trade ships pulled in, the timber on the island was stripped. After Mexico became an independent nation, in 1839 the Mexican governor granted the island to a private citizen who used it as a livestock ranch.

After the US government took control of the area, in 1850 the US courts gave the land to the American military. Angel Island was part of the “Bay Area Defense System” for one hundred years. Camp Reynolds was opened on the west side of the island and became a recruiting and processing depot, but it wasn’t well maintained. Here are a couple shots of the few remaining buildings from Camp Reynolds:

Fort McDowell was built on the southeast side of the island in 1900 to replace the crumbling Camp Reynolds.

From 1892 – 1946, Ayala Cove (north side) was used as a hospital cove. Incoming ships stopped here before entering the Port of San Francisco, where they underwent fumigation. Passengers suspected of being ill were quarantined on the island until it was clear they were healthy. Thanks to better sanitation and medical care in the early twentieth century, the need for a quarantine port waned and it was closed. Here are a couple shots of restored buildings from the quarantine camp:

In 1910, the government also opened an immigration station on the northeast side of the island. It kind of sounds like it was something of an internment camp, where immigrants of Asian original were essentially imprisoned for weeks, months, or even years before being allowed into the US. Here is a photo, though sadly, the buildings are obscured by the heavy fence that surrounds the camp.

The immigration station closed during World War II because Fort McDowell was expanded to cover the entire island (except the quarantine area, apparently). We can’t remember if this photo was of Fort McDowell or the Immigration Station, but since it is a cool old building, we’re posting it anyway.

After the last of the troops came home from the war in 1946, Fort McDowell closed. In 1954, another base was opened on the south side, this one housing missiles for the cold war. The base closed in 1962 and the island became a state park. It looks like there are also currently a couple small coast guard stations on the island, as well.

As you can see from the photos above, there are some incredible views of the Bay Area from the island. Here is a shot looking north of what we think is Belvedere Cove, with Belvedere on the left and Tiburon (one of the highest dollar neighborhoods in the country) on the right.

Here are Eric and Christi looking west with the Golden Gate Bridge behind them

Looking south at downtown San Francisco and the Bay Bridge

Looking east towards Oakland

This is part 5 of an 11 part series on our time in San Francisco. Read part 4 here and part 6 here. 

To recap: on Wednesday, October 31, 2011, we set out from our home port in San Diego on our way to San Francisco, where we planned to spend a couple months. We broke the trip up north into two legs: the first was 24 hours at sea, stopping in Ventura. The plan was to wait in Ventura for a good weather window around Point Conception. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long. After only 24 hours in Ventura, we were back at sea. Leg two took two days, and we arrived in San Francisco Bay on Sunday, September 4.

We docked at South Beach Harbor Marina, located right next door to the AT&T ballpark in the heart of downtown San Francisco. We picked that location because Eric could walk to work (his company also has an office in San Francisco, which he worked out of). Here is a shot of Eric in front of the ballpark and one at the back of the ballpark.

Monday, September 5 was Labor Day, so Eric had the day off work. We took a walk along the embarcadero to the famous Ferry Terminal Building. Here are some sights along the way:

This is Pier 38 right next to the marina. Along the waterfront, there are several more of these Pier buildings that all look similar.

The view of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge from just past Pier 38

Fireboats docked under the Bay Bridge:

A sculpture on the Embarcadero lawn with some of the beautiful downtown skyline behind it.

A cool old building surrounded by more modern ones:

Next door to the Ferry Terminal building:

The Ferry Terminal Building:

An old street car stopped near the Ferry Terminal Building:

Inside the Ferry Terminal Building are an assortment of interesting shops:

We had dinner at a Peruvian restaurant near the Ferry Terminal building. The food was amazing! Here is a photo of the causa sampler tray. Causas are whipped potatoes topped with ají amarillo and seafood or vegetarian toppings. The ones pictured here are: Limena with dungeness crab and avocado, Nikei with raw tuna and avocado, Casera with artichokes, aspargus, avocado and tomato, and Saltidido (not sure what was in that one). We also had an amazing ceviche sampler tray and dessert sampler tray. Yummy!

This is part 4 of an 11 part series on our time in San Francisco. Read part 3 here and part 5 here. 

World Footprints Media, who did a radio interview with us a few months ago, is currently running a “I LOVE To Travel” Photo Contest. Prizes include a copy of our books. For more information on how to submit photos, check out their contest page.

Also, if you are interested in buying our books, Lulu is currently offering a buy one book, get a second one for 50% off coupon. At the check out screen, simply enter the coupon code SECONDHALF305. Coupon expires January 15, 2012.

At 1000, the event started. A speaker explained the history of the event. The 1851 World Exposition was hosted by Queen Victoria in England. As part of the festivities, there was a sailing race around the Isle of Wight (a 53-nautical-mile course). 14 British ships and one American ship, named America, competed. America won. The prize was a silver trophy, now named after that ship, the America’s Cup. A few years later, the America crew donated the trophy into a trust to be used as a perpetual challenge trophy to promote friendly competition among nations.

Over the years, the rules changed and the racing event slowly evolved (there were even several court cases to help determine what were fair rules). In the last few years, the sport has changed dramatically. It used to be that, while all the boats had to fit certain parameters, each boat was different. Now all the boats are the same model of catamaran, so the competition is now truly about the skill of the crew versus the capacity of the various boat. Thanks to new technology, the cats can go three times faster than wind speed, topping out at over thirty knots!

The leadership have also made a concerted effort to make the race more of a spectator sport. Thanks to the ability to sail in light winds, now races are scheduled in light wind venues, like protected bays, where spectators can watch from shore. Actually, these new cats can’t really do ocean racing anymore anyway because they flip so easily. They can’t handle anything bigger than 6 foot seas. In the past, when the races were in the ocean, the only way to see the races was to jump on a spectator boat, which limited the exposure the races could get. Now the courses are a loop close to shore so many fans can watch live. Now that any average person can easily see the races, they are expected to become more popular with the general public and attract more big sponsors. The races last approximately 40 minutes, ideal for a one hour TV slot.

It was explained that the real America’s Cup competition would be held in 2013, but that there are still a series of preliminary races scheduled all over the world for this year and next year so that the various teams can get used to racing in the new standardized boats.

After the history lesson, we went into a simulator where they showed video footage of one of the cats sailing. It looked like a cold, windy day and the water was choppy, however, they were in a bay and had no swells. The cat made several dramatic flips, sending some crew overboard while others barely clung on. While they were adept and righting the boat and getting back on course, it looked like it took some serious physical strength. The audience was splashed with water to help make the simulator effect all the more real. We suppose they were trying to make the spectators understand how much strength, power and skill it took to crew the temperamental vessels, but we kept thinking that Kosmos would have barely rocked in those same sea conditions (with the stabilizers on, of course). Man, were we thankful for our solid boat and stabilizers after that demo!

Then we went to another simulator, but this one was like a video game. Selected people got to pretend they were racing a real America’s Cup boat. Eric was one of the lucky contestants. He took second place, missing the video game championship by a mere 8 seconds. Here he is being coached by one of the official Oracle team crew:

Then it was time for the “On the Water Experience.” We were loaded into a replica of the original America ship and taken out into San Diego Bay.

It was unusually cold and windy for San Diego, which made the racing more exciting (but cold for us spectators!). Winds were 14 – 19 knots, averaging 16 – 17. First we watched time trials, which wasn’t all that interesting. When the race finally started, we were ready for some action! The race certainly was eventful. When the boats were near us, we could clearly see the action, and a few times it looked like a few of the cats were on the verge of flipping, but they were righted in time. There was also a minor collision. Of course, when the boats weren’t on the other side of the bay, we could see little more than who was in the lead.

After the race was over, we were taken back to the tents. One of the two teams representing America (which, incidentally, was made up mostly of foreigners) came to speak to our group. It was exciting to have them in the room answering questions.

We also got to see a couple of the boats being taken out of the water and put on the hard near the tent. Here is a shot of one of the American boats about to be set down:

All in all, it was a fun day and an interesting experience.