I hate people...

I was going to write about one of the trips that I have taken in the last couple of weeks. One to Malaysia for work, and another to the Florida Keys with Dina for a vacation. But instead I am going to write about some fucked up douche bag who has caused me great pain and anguish.

We got back from Florida late Tuesday evening and pretty much went to bed right away.

Wednesday morning I left the house as usual to head off to work. I have been leaving a cover on the Miata as the rear window leaks and as I got out to the car I noticed a small tear in the cover. While pretty disappointed in the fact that a cover we had got less than a month ago had a tear in it I figured in the great scheme of things it was no big deal. Besides A six inch tear in a cover is something that I can fix pretty easily.

Just a small tear

I drove to work as normal and settled back into the routine that is me at Glacier Bay. When I came out at lunch however I noticed that the right front fender of the Miata had been dented. AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Dented fender

I guess some pencil dick must have hit my car while we were away on vacation. Worse than that I have a sneaking feeling that whoever hit it might not have even noticed that they did it. The crease is along the top of the fender, made by something much taller and bigger than the Miata. Covered up as it was by the cover they may not have even noticed that they hit it.

Die fucker die...

Either way Whoever hit it didn't leave a note or anything, so I have no way of knowing who did it. I may leave a note at the gatehouse at the top of the ramp, but I seriously doubt anybody will come forward. My best hope is that they see the note and become so overwhelmed by guilt that they take their own life in some particularly painful way...

Either way fuck em...

First race of 2010

I was hoping to post a story about our first race of 2010, complete with tales of utter and complete domination over worthy, yet ultimately doomed, competition along with a bunch of video edited on my snazzy new laptop...

Sadly when I went to load up the camera on my way out the door it didn't want to work. Something about a "dew alert", no doubt caused by the damp conditions here on the Lobster T. This was kind of a bummer as the first part of the race might have actually been somewhat interesting to film.

Team Gonzo showing excellent early season form right out of the start.

RT joined Jeff, Cameron and I for the race which was a pretty light air affair. The race itself followed the usual pattern of us winning the start, but then getting rolled by the bigger boats as it turned into a light air reach. We ended up third after leading most of the first beat, and a lot of the run. The Race Committee shortened the race after one lap, which was probably the right call as the next boat behind us finished way way back.

A random sunset shot taken from the Lobster T at the pump out.

Still it was good to be back racing on the on the Gonzo. We may enter the Island Yacht Club series as well even though we have already missed the first couple of races. Just getting out back out is a good enough reason for me.

Early morning fog here at Marina Village.

In other news we have had a few pretty cool mornings of dense fog here on the Estuary. One morning you couldn't see 50ft down here on the water, but as soon as you went a couple of hundred feet inland it was bright and sunny. It's good fun to walk the dog in that stuff, although I don't know why.

Tony, Krysia, and Jessica on the Farr 40 on Christmas eve.

Another cool thing going on down here in the marina these days is that we are getting a lot of either Seals or Sea Lions around. I first noticed a bunch of them on Christmas Eve when I went for a quick sail on the Farr 40 with Tony and his daughters. There was a group of about four out that day, which is a lot this far down the Estuary. Ever since then though there has been a rash of these sea critters here in the marine. They swim in between the boats and the docks here, presumably looking for whatever it is they eat. We actually saw one jump most of the way out of the water just off the stern of Gonzo the other day. That really got Ajax excited...

Where you been?

Ok, a quick end of the year explanation and a promise to get back to this blog thing soon enough.

As I said in the previous post I have gotten a new job. This has taken pretty much all of my computer time away. Seeing as I sit in front of one, actually two, all day the last thing that I want to do when I get home is sit in font of the computer and write more stuff.

Throw in the fact that I haven't been sailing much since the last Estuary race and that all I have to write about is work, things in blog ville just kind of tapered off.

Still, the first Sunday Brunch race is next Sunday, I have a new laptop that will allow me to edit the video's that I will be taking, and that I feel the need to babble inanely on the Internet again. All adds up to getting this thing up and running again soon.

I promise

really.

Long time gone...

Well, it's been a while, but damn a lot has been going on lately, hopefully I will be able to remember some of it.

I guess the big news is the new job... That's right after 25 years of being a sailmaker I have moved on to other things. I am working for an outfit called Glacier Bay Inc. out of Union City. I will try to explain what it is that I do there later, but the job involves some travel, with some of that being international. Indeed I have already done my first trip, to Fort Meyers, Florida for them.

What else has been going on? Firstly the new car, the Miata, is way fun. Sure it feels like a World War 1 Sopwith Camel sometimes, noisy, windy, with lots of rattling through the fabric type of stuff. When I first got the thing I was kind of surprised at how harsh the ride was. It turns out that the thing came with adjustable shocks that had been set to the firmest ride setting. A turn on the stiffness adjusting screw, down to five from nine, has smoothed things out considerably though.

The engine on the thing is great fun. I had heard of the phrase loves to rev before, but never really got it till I drove this thing. One thing that is funny though is that the car as fun as it is, is really not that fast. I come out of a series of turns or a freeway merge or something, having just run the thing through the gears and having a go at the twisty bits, but then you look in the rear view mirror and the lady talking on the cell phone in her SUV is staying right with you with out even trying. Still I am having more fun than she is, as well as paying more attention to my driving, so fuck her...

I have been sailing a couple of times recently. Once on the Farr 40 for the Great Pumpkin regatta. I did bow for three short races on the Berkeley Circle and even though it wasn't that windy I still got pretty beat up. I think we ended up fourth on the day, and I only managed to screw up one set out of the eight we did and even that one didn't hurt us that much. The other sail was taking out Gonzo with a couple of my new co-workers for a day sail out to the mouth of the Estuary and then back home. That was a pretty good day out, nice and mellow.

Ok, hopefully I will get back onto this blog thing on a more regular basis now. Next I think I might write about my trip to Fort Meyers. A great place if you want to feel young, like to drive slow, and eat in chain restaurants.

Out with the new, in with the old.

When I get woken up by the sound of jets flying over the boat I know it either is raining, or is about to rain. So, yes this morning it is raining. Rain isn't that big of a deal to most folks, but living on a boat it can be a pain sometimes. The way our marina is laid out with a single entrance gate means that we are as far away from the gate at the end of C dock as you can get. This always means a long walk to the parking lot whatever the weather. Later on, once winter hits for real, we will have ice on the docks in the morning, something which is fun to look at, but not real fun.

Coming soon, Ice on the docks.

Another reason that rain has become more of an issue that usual is that I have gotten a new car. A 1992 Mazda Miata convertible. We picked it up on the cheap from a friend of Dina's who no longer needed it. Something about a baby... I have to say the thing is just plain fun to drive. It handles like a go kart, and the engine really likes to be pushed around. There are fewer things more satisfying than coming around a corner, dropping down a gear and nailing it. The thing goes like it's on rails and just takes off.

My New Wheels

It does need some work, most notably a new top, hence the issues with rain. I got the present top pretty well taped up with sail repair tape over the weekend, but a new top is in our future. New tops for Miata's seem to be relatively cheap and available on E-bay and the like, and seem pretty straightforward to replace. Hopefully I will get this done in the next couple of weeks. I also need to go through it and redo the shocks and some suspension pieces. Once again parts are cheap and it doesn't look that hard to do.

New Wheels

The car itself is tiny, just getting into it can be a pain sometimes. It's also a little daunting to be sitting at a light or stop sign and be looking up at a Toyota Prius and thinking Damn, that's a big car. On the freeway with a SUV following you the car feels really small really fast especially at night with the SUV's headlights at about your eye level. That part is going to take some adjustment.

Element at the dog park

Sadly this means that we are going to sell our Honda Element. I have to say that I am really going to miss the Element. Dina bought it new about six years ago and we have never had a problem with it ever. The thing drives really well and has been probably the most useful car I have ever driven. I will admit to having doubts about the Element at first, but it has won me over by just being a really good car.

I will miss this car

The hardest part about selling the Element is dealing with the people who answer the ad on Craigslist. Some of the stuff you get is just an outright scam, some are just rude, most are just clueless idiots. I think I answered about ten emails before I have dealt with a normal person. We shall see what happens, maybe I will do a post about dealing with "buyers" on Craiglist. Trust me there are some stories there.

Batten down the hatches

It's the first big winter storm of the season right now, and weather, as Dina says, is so much more 3D when you are on a boat.

For one thing the boat moves around, a lot. Right now we have eight dock lines to keep us snug, but we still move quite a bit. Also since the boat is basically glass and fiberglass the rain can be a lot noisier than if you live in a house. To be honest for the most part these storms don't bother me, but Dina really struggles with them. The dog and the cat seem ambivalent as they do about most things. I find sleeping in the aft cabin to be the most comfortable, you almost find yourself being rocked to sleep back there. The forward cabin gets the most motion, but even up there it isn't that bad.

Sunday I spent a bunch of time going around the boat getting it ready for the storm. I fixed a bunch of snaps on the top, tied up the post that supports the top, cleaned and re-sealed the front hatch, and tried to re-seal the main cabin windows. So far most of what I did seems to be holding up. We still have a leak in the main cabin, but it is right into the sink, so I can live with that for now.

Actually Sunday saw a lot of folks down here in the marina getting there boats ready. It was good to see so many people take the threat of a bad storm seriously and get down here to get there boats ready. As always I am sure that a couple of boats will have problems, broken dock lines, or a furler that comes undone, but it shouldn't be to bad. Another thing is the staff here at the marina do a real good job of keeping an eye on things. I noticed that all of the dock boxes had been checked and wire ties put in the ones that didn't have locks to prevent them form flipping open.

The hard part of course is the fact that we live as far away from the parking lot as you can get. This means a long walk down the docks, with a dog that really doesn't understand rain. He wants to shake every time he gets a drop of water on him. This really doesn't work in these big southern storms that pack a lot of moisture, and as a result the walk always takes longer than it should. On the bright side it never really gets that cold during these storms.

This storm is supposed to be a big one, so we shall see tomorrow how we came out of it...

I still can't hear shit...

Because Monday is usually the quietest night of the week I decided to mix things up a little and do something about that. In a kind of last minute call, I bought the tickets on Sunday, and as a result Sylvia and I went to see Motorhead on Monday night.

Not a bad line up for a Monday night

Motorhead has always been a guilty pleasure. Loud, crude, but never half-assed, just the way rock and roll is supposed to be. For years I have always wanted to see them, but never did. So, when a guy I run into at the dog park asked me if I was going, probably because he saw my Motorhead T-shirt, I knew it was time. I tried to get Dina to go, and she agreed just long enough for me to get her a ticket, but she wimped out in the end. Still Sylvia, of the big red boat, was game so off we went.

The opening act was Nashville Pussy, a band I admit I knew nothing about. They turned out to be a couple of good ole boy rednecks, and two pretty hot chicks. The singer reminded me of an old friend of mine, Tony. Short, round, long red hair, and pretty fucking funny. The chicks in the band played bass and lead guitar. With song titles like, Drinking and driving while angry and The land of hate and whiskey, this was strait up southern hard rock. Kind of like Molly Hatchet meets Heart only better! I liked them...

Nashville Pussy

Next up was The Reverend Horton Heat, a Texas rockabilly trio. Once again I knew very little going in but these guys impressed. They did some roots rock inspired stuff that reminded me of Mike Ness', of Social Distortion, solo stuff, but they also did some psycho-billy stuff that was pretty cool. They played a solid set with a stand up bass, an electric-acoustic guitar, and drums. Good stuff.

The Reverend Horton Heat

Motorhead came on right at ten pm, Lemmy and the band walked out on stage, Lemmy says "We are Motorhead, We play rock and roll" and they did. At a very LOUD volume for the next two hours. I don't know all of Motorhead's songs, but they played most of the ones I did. It was great to watch a gig played by a group who obviously enjoyed playing and doing what they are doing. I think the three of them have been playing together for something like 25 years and the rapport on stage they had with each other it was obvious. Just in the way that Lemmy and guitarist Phil Campbell talked to the crowed and to each other you could tell. I especially liked the part when Lemmy told the crowd that this was the best crowd that Motorhead had ever had in Northern California.

Sylvia and I managed to scam a couple of great spots to watch the show right on the edge of the walkway down to the stage and thus had a great view of the whole stage. As we were also on the first rise above the floor, we also got a great view of the mosh pit in front of the stage. We saw some big guys, get pretty roughed up, but we also saw some girls in the pit holding their own. This was a great gig for people watching thats for sure.

Motorhead goes acoustic

I have to say that with the exception of the volume it was probably one of the best shows that I have ever seen. Mikee D the drummer, just back from a stint on the Swedish version of "Get me out of here I'm a celebrity" is just plain awesome. With long blonde hair, this guy looks, and plays, like a rock and roll drummer should.

Mikee D Drum solo

Motorhead though is of course all about Lemmy, the bass player, and vocalist. Lemmy does have a presence on stage which is hard to explain. Tall, dressed in black, and with an iron cross necklace Lemmy projects rock and roll in way that is hard to explain. Sure his voice is not what you would call great, but hey the guy is 64 and is up there doing it better than most.

Lemmy

All in all one of the best shows I have been to. Only complaint is that I didn't have earplugs, my ears are still ringing now 48 hours after the show... Not good.

Thank you, Good night