Live Free 2 Sail Fast

Coming to San Diego for Baja Ha-Ha/CUBAR And Need Recommendations?

Are you coming to San Diego before heading out to Baja Ha-Ha 2019 or CUBAR in October or November of this year?  Need recommendations to find great services and contractors in San Diego?  From great restaurants and rigging services to the best book/chart store and contractors (who show up and do the work as promised), I can probably help where possible.  I’ll give you recommendations based on personal experience for services or places I’ve personally used or been to. Ask me via post or blog comments and I’ll give you answers chocked full of local knowledge.  

Great Dane on a Boat: Rain-Rain-Go-Away

I haven’t been on the blog or my computer for nearly a week.  We missed the usual Friday Kids Corner and the rest of my normal posting days.  In the last week or two we’ve road tripped, worked hard on the boat and continued to discover repairs that need immediate attention.  Stats definitely flog me for inattention to my writing.  This isn’t foreign to me as I value family road trips, work on the boat and actual adventuring…but still love to write when I have time and energy.  Sooo there’s more rain coming into So Cal on these atmospheric rivers sitting off the west coast and we’re predicted to get four more days of straight rain.  If I was in Seattle I’d understand rain, wind and coldy weather, but we’ve had not so great weather (lots of rain) since January.  Oh well, there’s always curtains to sew.  I’m in boat work season as we sit about five months from casting off so there’s no end to things that need attention and Michelle is still working full time.  The kids only have one more week of school, so that will have a definite impact on my work schedule.  In the last two weeks, I’ve gained a definite understanding about why you probably HIRE folks to do your brightwork (teak scraping, sanding and varnishing).  I’ve finished the scraping and sanding of the window frames all around Tulum and moved on to adding the base coats of varnish.  You can do one coat a day.  I’ve finished three coats and we’re trying to head offshore next week, so we’ll look pretty funny heading out with blue tape all over our windows but the tape is a pain in the ass to put on….so I may not take it off if I don’t finish (due to the rain).

This week I got motivated and ripped out all the old plumbing associated with the electric two heads we took off the boat.  With Francisco Cedillo’s (Cedillo Marine- 619 496 4116)) help, we opened (read holed) both holding tanks and cleaned them completely.  [I’m going to do a complete post on these two fun days of work, but a bit here too].  Now I’ll drop some reality on you…I was personally here when both holding tanks were pumped professionally and water was added several times to get all the solids out (we thought).  Dead Wrong!  When we opened the tanks, both tanks were about a 1/4 full of solids and hardened material…it didn’t all come out when Pepe La Poo pumped it.  The other reality is how heavy the lines were.  Several of the lines from both forward and stern heads were nearly 50% filled with solids…meaning that they would have eventually been stopped up completely.  Think through this….these are your hoses to and from your macerator and holding tank!

Here’s the first day of plumbing that we ripped out:

Here’s the second day of plumbing and other assorted stuff ripped out from beneath my stern head:

TIP:  In the pics (if you look close) you’ll see diapers.  Diapers are cheap, absorbant and easily found.  They have elastic and can be easily positioned to catch anything that drips or leaks.

And now, Quincy speaks: (more…)

Sailing Blogist to Fresh Website- LF2SF Gets Updated

I sat around the boat in February enduring one of the rainiest and coldest months recorded in San Diego, Ca; realizing how much I wanted to go from being a Sailing Blogist to having an actual website.  When I say this, it sounds like I might be putting down blogs or sailing blogs but it’s totally not that at all.  I’ve posted and run my own blog for nearly four years without refreshing or updating it and I was ready for a change.  While online I read great websites like Sailing Totem and S/V Delos  with updated information and content, making me want to put up a site where I could post more content and work toward having a self-sustaining website.  Knowing I’m no technical visionary and I knew I needed some help I reached out to Mr. Jason Cushman, the purveyor of the Harsh Reality Website (which I follow for the laughs and tough love wisdom).  Jason knows some tech visionaries and after getting some specifics, he put me in contact with a technical guru, Mr. Brandon.  Nope, I’ve never met him but after talking to Brandon for a while I knew he was the right person.  Brandon runs a website and company called Brandnu Creations; advising and creating commercial and private websites and helping dummies like me make their own sites fresh and new.  Brandon could have charged me twice the amount of money for the time he spent talking to me by phone and discussing content issues by email and text, but we wanted to get it right.  In the end, my site stayed on the WordPress platform but Brandon made tweaks, updates and improvements to the site that never could be done with my limited technical abilities.

Of course being who we are as a family, I started working toward the website overhaul about the same time my wife traveled to Japan for two weeks and in the same two weeks we prepped and hauled Tulum out to give her a spa week (hull painting and other work).  Jason adapted to all this chaos on my end.  Coming out of all the work in the yard, I was stunned when finally able to get back on some Wi-Fi and see my overhauled and updated site, like brand new and shiny again.  With help from Brandnu Creations I was also able to sum up the courage to start my own YouTube Channel and turn on Patreon.  We’re not putting Patreon worthy videos on YouTube yet, but at least it’s all turned on and linked together now, a huge step forward.  

If you’re reading this post and need some technical help with your own site or blog, please consider dropping Brandon an email or stop by his website.  

LF2SF and I have NO financial affiliation to Brandnu Creations or Brandon since he already took our money and ran away to Colorado with it….but only after he finished all the work on the site.     

Our Sticker on a Random Car-

Check out the pic below.  I found our sticker on a random car and I’m stoked! How cool is it to have our sticker start showing up on cars instead of bathroom walls- right?  Have a great Weds-

Update to Multi-Year Coast Guard Vessel Documentation- It WORKS

I wrote the story below in February and shortly afterwards went onto the website to renew my documentation electronically.  On the Coast Guard website, I could only get the site to take payment for one year, so on a whim I sent in the paperwork and a check for five (5) years- renewal.  Yesterday I got my Coast Guard Vessel Registration renewal back in the mail for (5) years…it worked! Cool, one less thing to worry about.  Now I’m moving forward to get all my paperwork together in anticipation of May 8th (Ha Ha signup).  Happy Earth Day, today! 

Multi-Year Coast Guard Vessel Documentation is now available

Spring Break Tulum V Style

Spring Break this year was going to be a week-long shake down cruise to Catalina Island, Ca onboard our Aleutian 51 sailboat with kids, grandparents and Quincy the Great Dane, but things don’t always pan out the way you think they will.  Two weeks ago when we were up on San Francisco for the Pacific Sail and Power Show I was offered a chance to crew on a delivery from San Diego, Ca to La Paz, MX.  After altering Spring Break plans I jumped at the chance to go along…even breaking down and buying foulies at the boat show.  Skip forward a week and the delivery didn’t happen due to legal paperwork; so we called an audible and took the boat to Glorietta Bay here in San Diego for 3 days.  But the time has allowed us to take the proverbial deep breath, work through some of our minor repairs and test our new solar panel setup to see how it does.  We spent 3 days on the hook with no generator and without turning on the engine; but we also didn’t have hot water, couldn’t have run a water maker or sewing machine and seemed to squeeze as much juice out of the panels as possible.  I’m glad we put in the MPPT Controllers from Blue Sky; they worked very well even with a couple of days of semi-overcast weather.  I’m pretty convinced that with a wind generator, another battery or two and a larger inverter we could go without a generator, but that’s a future discussion.  Arriving back at our slip we were welcomed by packages at the office; our new water maker (Rainman) and our second Air Head Head has arrived.  I’m stoked, can’t wait to get our last pumpout tomorrow and stop paying for that service.  So excited in fact, I’ve already worked on the electrical for the tiny fan and put in the entire vent hose system.  Gotta wait on the rest till the tank gets sucked dry and cleaned with some fresh water tomorrow.  

But, a few quick notes so far about our experiences with both the water maker and the composting head.  Rainman Watermaker came in by freight and we hauled it back to the boat.  Great packing, lots of spares and high quality workmanship.  But…it’s ALOT heavier than the ads made it look and we didn’t pick it up at the show.  Again, if you’re gonna buy one, make sure you know how much these things weigh and make sure you can handle it.

Air Head Head after two weeks of having it operational:  I still love it, but we’ve noticed that the girls occasionally get toilet paper forward of the spring loaded clamshell when they’re going #1.  When this happens, the toilet paper can go forward into the funnel on top of the liquids bottle and create a cork like bundle of wet toilet paper.  If you don’t know the obstruction is there, piss starts to accumulate and SMELL.  This has already happened and we’re now on the lookout for it.  Also, the 2-gallon bottle easily fills up when two little kids and two adult guests use it…like in less than 24 hours.  Especially when the adults add wine or beer or rum to the mix.  I didn’t read ALL the fine print in the directions, you’re supposed to empty the liquids bottle when it reaches the sight glass.  If you empty it when it’s completely full, it WILL slosh all over you, erasing any lingering doubts of your own superiority.

Ok people, Baja Ha-Ha 2019 sign-up is next month and we’re about 6 months from casting off our lines.  I’m ready.  Don’t forget about our Pinterest, Patreon and YouTube Pages-

Gotta finish the second Air Head install tomorrow.  Friday my Dad’s gonna get to destroy some metal with a grinder and I’m gonna go up the mast to put the check-stays back on, depending on the wind.

Doing What I Write About

I do what I write about. I try to be upfront, genuine and honest and I’m pretty sure it comes across in my writing. I haven’t posted much in the last couple days because we were in San Francisco visiting relatives and the Pacific Sail and Power Show. Good show, we were able to find things we needed and are down to 1-2 large purchases left for Tulum. She’s getting the equipment we need to cruise at the safety and comfort level we want. More on all this on weds. We set the kids loose with a Go Pro each at the show, so I’ll take a day to edit the footage and get it on You Tube when I can.

Have a great week, weather seems to be slowly getting warmer, yeah!

Love Me Some Spam Mail-

I LOVE all the great SPAM Mail I’ve come back to on the website after an interesting two weeks in the boatyard.  PLEASE keep it up…but I’m really bummed that you guys don’t think I need any more Viagra Spam mail.  Really folks…I was looking forward to seeing all those again!

On another note, we’ve been getting lots of great readership, THANKS.  We just got back from the “Yards” where Tulum was hauled out for two weeks.  Really GREAT experience with the Boatyard Crew and learning lessons from one of the subcontractors in the Yard.  I lived on the boat, with the kids while she was out of the water, 16 feet up.  It is possible to do all this.  Michelle was in Japan most of the time on business, so it was an exciting two weeks.  Stay with me, more to come once I’m settled again.  Took the big girl (the boat) out for some time on the water yesterday and she didn’t disappoint.  Whoever called her a Motorsailor never sailed her I guess.  I had her doing 4 knots in 6.5 knots of wind….we were smokin!

More to come-

Evolution of a Great Tattoo

I need to take a moment to rave about Guru Tattoo in Little Italy, San Diego, Ca, USA.  An extremely professional and clean business, this tattoo shop has a dedicated following and fair prices that match the detailed and perfect artistry from each practitioner.  When some of the senior practitioners in the shop have 2-3 month wait times to even talk about starting a tattoo; there’s gonna be some badass ink.  Tim McEvoy is one of the best and his ink speaks for him.  If you’re looking for a great tattoo and want quality over a quickie; Guru is a great choice.  Check out the progress of a full sleeve tattoo that took five months to complete:  (more…)

Alexa scolded me!

Be very careful when you’re having a brain fart and forget her name. Yesterday I called Alexa Siri by mistake. Once I remembered her name, she played me 9 minutes of the Jonas Brothers instead of Metallica. Jonas Brothers is not music that inspires me to Bilge Paint!

7-year old birthday party today….yeah!