Author Archives: Eric

Off to San Francisco: Leg 1 and Repair/Maintenance Items

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On Wednesday we left for San Francisco. Leg one was from San Diego to Ventura, which took 24 hours. We left at 1130. For the first seven hours, the wind was steady at 15 knots from the forward port side, with two to four foot swells, gently shaped, at about 3 – 6 second intervals. Wind chop was about 1 – 2 feet, also gently shaped. We wish all rides in head seas could be so nice! Speeds varied from 5.5 to 6.5 knots at 1775 RPM depending on currents.

As the sun started to get lower in the sky, the wind picked up to 18 – 20 knots and the wind waves became slightly bigger at 2 – 4 feet, but noticeably sharper and at more rapid intervals. The pointier waves caused Kosmos to hobbyhorse and sent some sea spray over the bow, but it still was not a bad ride considering it was head seas.

The rougher conditions only lasted a little over an hour, then we got into the shadow of Catalina Island, where the seas slowly but steadily improved. By midnight the ride was relatively pleasant again (for head seas) and speeds had picked up to 7 knots. There was no moon and it was pitch black out, so there was no visibility all night.

We expected conditions to worsen once we passed Catalina, but they didn’t. In fact, they continued to slowly and steadily improve the whole rest of the trip. By 1000, the wind chop was completely gone, leaving only the gentle swell, making for a lovely ride.

Shortly after leaving San Diego, we had a small SNAFU arise. The entire downstairs reeked like the blackwater tank. Christi Continue reading →

June 2011 Update

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Part 1 of the Unexpected Circumnavigation  continues to sell well, for a self published book at least! We are working on getting it onto Kindle and into other e-pub and mobi forms. Right now it is only available in PDF, which isn’t quite the same as e-pub.

Part 2 is in the home stretch and should be completed relatively soon. Christi hasn’t been updated the blog primarily because she is focusing on finishing the book.

We have loaded a few photos from our circumnavigation onto Facebook (you do not need to be a member of Facebook to view them). There aren’t a ton on there now, but we have been slowly but steadily adding photos. If you “like” the page, you can see the photos as they are posted. Or, you can follow Christi on Twitter, which also notifies you when photos are added.

Work is keeping Eric very busy, but we have hopes that later this year he can try working remotely. If he can, we’ll do some limited coastal cruising and see how working remotely goes. With that goal in mind, we’ve been steadily getting Kosmos ready for cruising, including a new drawer freezer than can run on either AC or DC, new batteries, new alternators, and a whole host of other items we will hopefully get around to writing about soon.

Remembering Joplin, Missouri

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Note: This is Part 7 of the Passage Across America series. While it is out of chronological order (this was posted a year after the rest of the series), it is in the right geographical order. Read Part 6 here and Part 8 here.

Last year, we took a road trip across America in our diesel VW Jetta. The twist to our trip was that we drove from San Diego to Maine on one load of fuel (on the way back we stopped at gas stations). The theme was Americana; our goal was to never stay at or eat in chains, to only visit mom and pop places to see the “real America.” We posted pictures of most of our trip along the way; however, when we got home, we realized we’d lost the SD card with the pictures and we couldn’t post the last few days worth of photos.

Last month we went to France. When we got home, we found the missing SD card while we were unpacking our suitcase, tucked in a small interior pocket! We have been meaning to post the last of the photos from the road trip ever since, but life has gotten busy. The tragedy in Joplin has inspired us to make the time.

Joplin was one of the cities we visited along the way. We drove all around the town. Our impression of Joplin was that it was dying. It looked like it was once a vibrant city, but there clearly had been an exodus. Too many buildings were empty. Too many of those empty buildings were run down to the point that it was clear they’d been vacant for much longer than the current recession.

We stayed at a B&B run by the kindest people, Bill and Marge Meeker, both retired school teachers. They confirmed our suspicions. Joplin was originally a mining town established in 1873. It grew beyond mining, though, with many businesses, probably aided by the fact it was on the infamous Route 66.

The Meekers said when they opened their first B&B many years ago, they were booked solid every night, mostly with business travelers. But as jobs were exported, less visitors came to town, and the more local businesses died. We left there thinking that Joplin was living proof of why America should have more protectionist trade policies. Our heart goes out to those who live there and the horrible tragedy they faced.

On the evening of April 28, 2010, we had dinner at The Red Onion Cafe in downtown. Here are some photos of the downtown area. Notice how empty the streets are.

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Speaking on April 28 in LA

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Just a reminder that on Thursday, April 28, we will be speaking at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey. The event is open to the public! No host cocktails begin at 6:15 pm, full buffet dinner served at 7:00 pm, and we will do our presentation after dinner. Cost is $20 per person (includes dinner, tax, service and parking fees). Reservations required: 310-823-4567.