George and Martha and the clan

Whether it is or not, it could be G & M. We have seen several flocks, but surprisingly, there are babysitters when the geese all get together. The lawn over by Sequoia Yacht Club is goose poop central, as well as along the front of the area by the Redwood City marina. The geese are wonderful to see, but I wonder why they are not heading north or south. Redwood City claims to have the best wather, by "government test", whatever that means, and perhaps the birds are in agreement. Notice the smaller goose, near the parents. Probably an adoption.
We went over to Sequoia with a neighbor on a power boat with two engines, so he could use the pump out. We were pretty impressed with the two engines, and how the boat could work in the wind and current with these aids. I almost want one.

Robert is happy he is not pumping the poo, and probably wants a motor yacht also.

We spend our days doing small boat projects: today, sewing a strange protector for the dodger metal (keep black marks off the plastic); install a vent for the holding tank; seal up the soundproofing of the engine covers, etc. A typical day also includes kayaking, bike riding, and walking the dogs. I also spend some time working on paintings in the parking lot.

Sailing involves checking the tide book, planning for good weather and then gathering crew until we have our muscles built up. We will be doing more. In between boat projects.

Building Character

Robert brought the boat down from Sausalito on a day when there was "only rain" according to the harbormaster. As soon as he left Schoonmaker's, the sky opened up: thunder, lightning and hail and rain so thick he couldn't see beyond the end of the boat. Then in the middle of the Bay, he hit an ebb with giant swells. I crossed the GG bridge and saw blue sky on my side of the peninsula, and he called to say that he had another heavy squall off the City front. I was warm and dry in the van with the dogs, but tense as I could see the weather. Oh, yeah. High winds, too. I was on the dock when he came down the channel and motored right into the slip. He said it was kind of fun. The above is a recent day of sailing in the South Bay: Bridge & Dave, Linda and our favorite helm person, Jean. We got 6.1 knots on the jib alone. Lots of tacking and of course, a weather forcast that was totally off.
This is Tom who was the magic behind the new engine installation.

he knows engines inside and out and talked Robert through the installation. Of course the new engine created another problem of a requirement of some work on the prop as we only go 4.5 knots under power and this is a 75hp engine. So, we will have the prop hauled by a diver, sent to Seattle and probably twiddle our thumbs for a couple weeks. Tom is our new hero.

Presently, Robert is putting the nonskid on the deck. We have spent the last three days sanding, taping, and painting and the deck looks wonderful.

The last touch up is tomorrow and we head to Linda's to sand and varnish the floorboards. We are staying out of trouble and all these aches and pains

from the bending, kneeling and crawling around on the deck are just adding to the character building. I would certainly hope so. Old people, when they wake up without anything hurting think they are dead. We don't live to fight the current in our channel, or the adrenaline of getting the boat pointed to the Bay, but we are living what we didn't count as part of our dream: maintenance. It is rewarding but as far as character building? Think again.

A break from the weather gods and the boatwork

All the rain in Sausalito had us fighting cabin fever so we took the road out to the coast. Robert drove while I tried to breathe as it is curvy, long drop offs and the typical California, get there first drivers. It was the kind of road where any sane passenger would just lie on the floor and whimper, "Are we there yet?" It was a magic day, and we were on a quest to find Bolinas. Well, it wasn't so difficult, although supposedly the residents take down the signs to keep people away. Dumb, as there are a few restaurants, etc. and really it must be a schtick to get tourists to come to town. Above is looking towards Bolinas and the lagoon.

This is looking towards the Gate. Two giant limos were at the outlook with French people trying to get the locked loos open.

We walked through Bolinas in about two minutes, and then drove to another area to have a picnic above the ocean. The residents of B are sort of strange - the ones we saw, carefully not making eye contact and pretending that the 60s are alive and well in the community. We drove on, trying to find a place for the boat bound dogs to run.

A meadow was found without a fence and we climbed, and climbed, into nettles. The wind blew the cobwebs out of our heads and we and the dogs were happy.

And then back to Sausalito and the rain and more engine installation.