Monthly Archives: April 2010

Exploring Tempe

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Tuesday, December 15th Today Eric attended a work conference while Christi went sightseeing. Since she had heard there wasn’t much to do in Phoenix, she was pleased to find that there were plenty of things to keep her occupied, all within walking distance of the hotel.

She left the hotel at the same time as Eric, at 0845. The streets were completely deserted, with few pedestrians or cars. Two things were evident: this isn’t a business district and school must be out of session for the winter break. Arizona State University is located here in Tempe, and Tempe is considered to be primarily a college town.

It was a beautiful day””clear, sunny and warmer than it has been in San Diego, so she was happy to be out walking around. She took Mill Street, the main drag, north a few blocks to the Tempe Town Lake and Beach Park. Near the lake there is an old abandoned mill, which she is assuming the street’s name came from.

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At the park entrance was a sign she found surprising. She knew the Continue reading →

Kosmos Haul Out and Off to Phoenix

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December 14th – A couple weeks ago, the weather turned cold and rainy. In San Diego, December usually has mild weather and the rain don’t start until January. The earlier than normal and heavier than normal rains are a result of El Nino, an unusual weather pattern that occurs every 2 5 years. The El Nino pattern affects a huge chunk of the world, and affects each area differently. In Panama, it has a negative effect on the wildlife, in Indonesia it brings drought, and in Southern California, it brings excessive rain. Of course, since Southern California has been in a severe drought for the last three years, the rain is a welcome relief.

Our marina was feeling a bit ominous. The docks were deserted. The days are short and were very gray. While it was warm and dry inside Kosmos, on the walk to and from the boat, the moist, damp air seemed to permeate our clothes. The especially strong winds made a perpetual “woooo” sound through the sailboat masts that sounds like ghosts howling. It was the perfect setting for a horror flick.

So, we were quite pleased when we woke up early this morning to blue skies, bright sunshine and no wind. And the forecast said no more rain for the next few days. Yay! Weeks ago we had scheduled Komos to be hauled out today for new bottom paint, and we had been worried that the adverse weather would affect the bottom painting.

We pulled out of our slip shortly after dawn broke. The water was flat as a pancake and looked like a mirror beneath us as we headed over to the boat yard. Unfortunately, we were heading east, so the incredibly bright early morning sun was blinding us. But we were so happy to see the sun that we didn’t mind the glare.

Like the haul outs in both Australia and Turkey, we pulled Kosmos into a special finger slip and secured her. A huge machine called a travel lift rolled up to the edge of the dock. The travel lift has straps, and the straps were lowered into the water and secured underneath Kosmos.

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The machine slowly Continue reading →

Halloween and Thanksgiving 2009

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Yes, we are way behind on posting, but slowly but surely we are catching up to real time”¦

Thursday, November 26 Over the last month, we have taken Kosmos out a couple of times to the ocean to dump the septic tank and give her some exercise. The first time was uneventful. The second time, a sailboat race was going on. As we headed out to sea, we found ourselves facing literally hundreds of sailboats on their way back in the entrance to the bay. We felt like we were in a living video game as we continually dodged the dozens upon dozens of boats that surrounded us. We were relived when we had completely passed them.

On weeks where we don’t take Kosmos out, Eric runs the various components (engine, wing engine, generator, bow thrusters, etc) while in the slip to keep all the components exercised.

Most days this month it has been Continue reading →

Nordhavn Southwestern Rendezvous

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Just in case anyone didn’t figure it out, the last post, Reality TV, was an April Fool’s joke. Today’s post has us going backwards in time again to October 2009.

Sunday, October 25th“”This weekend was the Nordhavn Southwestern Rendezvous in Dana Point, CA. It started on Friday evening and went through this afternoon (Sunday).

Eric left work a couple hours early and we made the drive up to Dana Point. With no traffic, it only takes an hour to get there from where we live, but it took a little longer with Friday traffic. We arrived just as the cocktail hour was getting started. We were surprised at Continue reading →

Reality TV?

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Shortly after we completed our circumnavigation, we got a call from a Hollywood production company. The person calling was the assistant to the producer and an avid boater. He had followed our website and thought that our travel stories were fascinating, so he had talked his boss into considering us for a reality TV show. As the assistant explained to us, the new trend in reality TV is not to put people in crazy contrived situations, but to find people who are doing interesting things and simply follow them around. Apparently, the main reason for this trend is it keeps production costs incredibly low. The big question he had for us was: were we up for it? Of course, we said yes.

Knowing that there are a lot of hoops that have to be jumped through to get something like this going, particularly in the current recession, we didn’t let ourselves get too excited about it. We only told a handful of people.

Over the last couple of months, we have gone through a several sets of interviews (including some psychological testing), and contract negotiations. We were grilled about how prepared we were for emergency situations, physically, psychologically and emotionally. We recounted our scary stories about the sunken sailboat, the Java Sea passage, and Stromboli. After each meeting, we expected a call saying “thanks, but no thanks,” but instead got calls saying “Let’s schedule the next meeting.”

When the formalities were completed, it was time to work on a pilot episode. The pilot is Continue reading →