| Heading South
September 12, 2000
The
harbor is starting to fill up with boats headed South, so like the wild
geese, we’re getting the urge to go, too. Today we fueled up and met
some Canadian boats from British Columbia’s Bluewater Cruising
Association traveling together down the coast. We met a lot of them at
their rendezvous in BC last summer on our way to Alaska. It will be nice
to get reacquainted and to have company on the trip; cruisers are just
about the nicest people you’ll ever meet. So about 9:00 AM on Friday,
September 15th, give a little thought for Raven and her crew as
we head out the Golden Gate at slack tide and ‘turn left.’
Jan has been keeping close watch on the
weather faxes and the satellite weather pictures for the last week.
Everything was looking quiet for our departure on the 15th,
until Hurricane Lane decided to head our way. Here’s a photo we  downloaded
by radio a few days ago directly from a US weather satellite, clearly
showing Lane’s frightenly tight spiral west of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
(Jan added a few place names to the image). At that point, it packed
100-knot winds, and even though it was over 1,000 miles away we didn’t
even want to be in the same hemisphere! Since then it’s been moving
northwest over the Pacific and dissipating quickly. By our departure time
Lane will be down to a wimpy 20 knots and no danger to us, although the
leftover waves might make it a little lumpy. Jan is pleased that all the
electronic gear he loaded onto Raven is working exactly as billed, helping
us to spot weather patterns and stay safe.
The other reason we think it may be time
to move on is that we had 5 days of cool weather and actual rain over the
Labor Day weekend. Oh, the horror! On the first day we were driving down
the freeway looking at six drops of rain on the windshield asking
ourselves, “What is this stuff?” The radio announcer  started
talking about the “dreadful weather” and that it was a real ‘Bela
Lugosi kind of day’. At that, Jan said, “You think this is a
Bela Lugosi kind of day?!!  I’m
from Tacoma, and I’ll show you a real Bela Lugosi day!!!
Mercifully, after putting on long pants for the first time since
our arrival, all is back to normal and it is sunny again and in the
80’s. Whew. Dodged winter again!
We have had our 15 minutes of fame on
this trip, having been mentioned, with photos, in Latitude 38 magazine —
the west coast cruiser’s bible — for three months running. I’m sure
it’s just because we have an unusual boat. The first time, I was reading
along, (I have to read it before Jan because he’s a notorious article
ripper-outer!) and I saw a photo of a woman who looked familiar. Then I
realized it was me! The second month, they complimented us on our “fine
website.” The third month there was a photo of Raven and the bio of her
crew that we wrote for the Baja Ha-Ha rally from San Diego to Cabo San
Lucas in November. Paul and Michelle are going to join us on the ten-day
trip (750 miles, five parties). The kick-off event is a Halloween party,
since we leave on October 31st, and Paul and Michelle are in
charge of costumes. We have all just finished the fourth Harry Potter book
(You’ve had the pleasure of reading them all, we hope!) so they’ve
decided we’re going as the Raven Quidditch Team, complete with
broomsticks and helmets. We’re still arguing about who gets the Firebolt
2000. (If you haven’t read the books yet, have we piqued your interest?)
There are bound to be more photos in Latitude 38.
Speaking of The Kids, our other role in
life is to be Raven Moving and Storage. Paul dislocated his shoulder for
about the 10th time, so he had to go have some fast surgery to
give him back a tendon and a rotator cuff to hold it all together. The
timing of it all is a bit difficult since he has to have his arm in a
sling until mid-October,  but
he and Michelle were about to move into their new house. Thus The Raven
Heavy Lifters appear! Professionals shifted the major stuff on Monday, and
we spent several fun days (no, really) helping pack and unpack boxes,
install furniture, move a few carloads of clothes and breakables, and
generally get Paul & Michelle settled in. Amazing how much more
fun moving can be when it’s your own kid and his wonderful fiancée!
We’re still managing to fit a little
culture into our lives while all this physical stuff is going on.
Sausalito’s huge annual Art Fair was on Labor Day weekend, with artists
from all over the country. Knowing that I would have to get rid of a
similarly sized possession on the boat if I purchased anything, I was not
tempted. We’ve even started sending stuff home that’s not being used
and is
taking up valuable space. Last week we attended a performance of the
Teatro Zinzani, billed as “Love, Chaos and Dinner.” We were laughing
so hard that dinner was hard to manage – a very entertaining
evening. Today we’re seeing a play called “Totally Committed,”
a one man play about a New York restaurant reservationist, and all the
“types” he encounters in his job. We’re also planning an evening at
“Beach Blanket Babylon” (Did I say culture?) but that event is running
a tight race with a baseball game at the new PacBell Field. Wonder who
will win?
It is going to be very  hard
for us to leave Sausalito. We’ve begun to know the area, made friends
here in the marina, had some beautiful sailing days , and renewed
friendships from the past. We finally know where to go to find everything
we need. Now we get to start all over in San Diego, but I guess that’s
what cruising is all about. We have especially enjoyed being able to spend
so much time with Paul and Michelle at a very exciting time in their
lives. Then again, Michelle mentioned painting some of the rooms in their
new house, so on second thought maybe it’s time to head south!
Signe
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