Seawind Starts New Podcast

Now, I am a Podcast junkie and can't get enough of them. Just wanted give our friends over at Seawind a plug for their new Podcast. So far they have some interesting talks with Seawind owners about their crusing expieriences. Check it out at Seawind Podcast, or you can find it on iTunes.

Hitting the Trails

Was planning on going to the annual dealer conference in Vietnam in late November, but it turns out I will not be going this year. I will however be holding down the fort in Alameda while the boss is over in Nam.

On the plus side, two friends and I hiked near my home in El Sobrante. This trail is mostly used by dirt bikers, and is across the street from Carriage Hills(a massive cookie cutter suburb). I grew up here in El Sobrante, but always seem to find new trails that go on and on forever. If any of you live in the East Bay I highly recommend you get out there and take advantage of these fantastic trails. Especially now, while it's still warm, and the hills are turing green. Next week we are planning to go hiking in Canyon, which is this mirco-sized rain forst near Moraga California. I'll be sure to bring my camera along.

Yes We Can... Finally

Tonight is my Moon Landing moment. As I saw Barack Obama win the election tonight, I can say that I am more proud of my Country then I have ever been. Not only am I excited about how far we have come as a Nation, but also very excited that young people like myself are eager to get out there and rebuild our Country. Frankly, I am speechless...and trust me, that does not happen often. Tonight I am honored, humbled and excited to be an American.

Bad News... and Good News

So I did not get to take the Seawind 1160 up the coast of California as planned. Instead, I drove the crew down to Santa Barbra where the boat was docked. Afterwords I drove down to LA and then San Diego to visit my girlfriend. I did get to go to the Wild Animal park in Carlsbad, which was pretty cool.

With the Winter weather fast approaching, I'm not too sure how much sailing I will be doing in the coming months. You never know though, we do have a new Corsair 750 in stock. Also, the Seawind 1160 is on the current cover of Multihulls magazine, so check it out.

Taking 1160 Up the Coast Tomorrow...

Last week I helped my Dad take delivery of two new Corsair 750's. They came in one cargo container from Vietnam. Now, imagine getting two 24 foot boats crammed in one steel container with no instructions on how to get them out. Fun stuff...

Also, tomorrow morning I will be driving down to Santa Barbara to help take a Seawind 1160 up the coast to San Francisco. It has been a long time since I have taken an open ocean sailing trip. Hope I still have my sea legs. Then after I get back I will turn around and drive to San Diego. I should have some video of the trip up in a week or so.

Boats Comming In Tomorrow

My Dad has two Corsair 750's coming off the container ship tomorrow, hopefully. This was suppose to happen last Friday, but keeps getting delayed. I'll have more about this tomorrow...

One Day After the Crash

It is difficult to avoid writing about the stock market crash that took place yesterday. However, with the Dow dropping over 700 points in a single day this is going to effect everyone. Now, I am not what you would call a knowledge person when it comes to economy. Hell,anything that has to do with finances, stocks, money or even numbers gives me a headache. That being said, we are at the beginning of a historic event.

Like many people I spent yesterday in a stunned haze. Now, many people out there are going to have it much worse then me. Frankly I am young, unemployed, and have nothing to loose. So, why was I left with a bad taste in my mouth all day, and a feeling of anger building up in the pit of my stomach? Well maybe it is the people that I know around me that have lost so much, or stand to still loose. Maybe it's the fear that I may have to relieve the horror stories my grandparents told me as a child about The Great Depression. At any rate, this just sucks.

I spent the latter part of yesterday cleaning a catamaran on Oakland Estuary. When I get in a funk, manual labor and my Ipod always seems to cheer me up. When I finished cleaning the boat I grabbed a cold beer and sat up on the forward nets. As I watched the boats go up and down the estuary, it was difficult to worry about all these issues out of my control. I've always prided myself on being caught up with the news of the world, but I may just start to cut back. Right now, we may just need a little more time with the things that make us happy, and a little less time worrying about doom and gloom outside our control.

First Day of Fall

Sharp pain shot through my joints early this morning leaping me in to action. This weekend I decided to play Ultimate Frisbee, and thought I was Jerry Rice laying out for catches. Problem is, when cursed with flat feet, one's body has an odd way of distributing your weight. I am one of these lucky few to be blessed with this affliction.

Being as I was unable to return to sleep, I decided to go for a morning skate boarding session along the Alameda beach front. How lucky am I to be able to go for a nice morning skate wearing only a t-shirt and flip flops on the first day of Fall? Absolutely great to be out there shredding up the concrete.

My father, Gary, just returned from his trip to Catalina where he was off playing on a Corsair 750. Sure wish I could have gone with him, but had other things to attend to. Still can not believe I have never been out to Catalina. Anyways, I washed the 750 for him, and got her looking like new again. Maybe I'm a wierd bird, but I love washing boats. Listening to Podcast and washing a boat is sublime enjoyment in my eyes.

As I sit here, it is hard not to be thankful for a day like today. It is great that a day with such a painful start could end up being such a fulfilling experience. I mean, it really could have gone either way, and today seemed destined to be one of those days where nothing goes right. So, it feels good on this first day of Fall to push through, and get things started on the right foot, even if it's flat.

Australia

So, I've been home from Australia for almost half a month, and I think I finally have some control over my jet lag. I had never travel such a great distance in my life, and let me tell you, going across the International Dateline is a sonova bitch! That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in the land down under.

We headed out to Australia on July 23rd for the Seawind dealers conference. It was fairly chilly day in San Francisco, but when is it not? The flight was 14 hours or so, and I'd rather not talk about it. Just picture being on three consecutive flights in a row to Hawaii, and you can kind of get the idea. When we landed it was very cold in Sydney. About 53 degrees and raining. What struck me right away is how very similar to the United States Australia is. I mean, I guess I thought it'd be like Europe or something. Sure, the cars were a little smaller, and you didn't see as many raised monster truck hillbilly mobiles roaming around, but it was still pretty similar.

Our Taxi driver took us to our motel just outside of Sydney. Actually, calling the place a motel would be a misnomer. It was really just an apartment that is rented out daily, and this is the Australian version of a motel I guess. We spent our second day taking in the sites of Sydney. We saw the Opera House, the Sydney Harbor Bridge, a street fair, their Space Needle looking tower thing, and the new Apple Store. It really is a beautiful city. I was most impressed by how few cops I saw in Sydney. I mean, it is a huge city, and I don't think I saw one cop for at least three days into the trip. A truley astonishing thing to be hold for a former Los Angeles resident like myself.

Richard, the founder of Seawind Catamarans took all of us dealers out for a sail on Sydney Harbor. Truely, sailing there is a religious experience for any sailor. It reminded me much of going out on the San Francisco Bay. I can see now why the two cities are often said to be so alike. We also saw no less then half a dozen Seawinds out on the harbor. Part of me wishes it had been the summer though, because I would have loved to go out to Manley Beach.

We spent the next three days down South in Wollongong visiting the Seawind factory, and having various meetings. The factory visit was a real treat, and it was fascinating to see how much work goes into building a Seawind. It's so rare to see such craftsmanship go into Yacht construction, and it is easy to see why Seawinds are such well made and study boats. During our stay in Wollongon we slept in an old farm house, where I found a huge spider. Let's just say I didn't sleep so well that night, and could of sworn I felt something crawling on me.

The next few days were spent in Sydney again. We attended the Boat Show, and it was great to see so many boats that you never see in the Bay Area. Also, I was able to scope out some of the French Cats, which I just do not get. Call me a hater if you want, but I think they are floating homes with a mast. It does seem like multihulls are more accepted out in Australia, and this made me a little more envious. Well, that and the fact that they have a $17 an hour minimum wage can make you jealous too.

I wish that I could have traveled around Australia some more, but time did not allow it. You can be sure that I will be going back to Australia soon. Next time I hope to make it up North to Brisbane to check out the Great Barrier Reef. Then, off to New Zealand, hopefully. I really liked the dealers from New Zealand, who were gracious enough to teach me the rules behind rugby while we watched New Zealand exact out revenge on Australia's team. Anyways. Definitely an exciting trip, and Australia, good on ya mate.

Video from my film school days.

Just wanted to post this video I made in school. Many of my friends are still very involved with this cause, The Journey of Hope. It is a cross country bike ride held every summer.

Wednesday Night Racing

Tonight my Dad, John Green, and I raced in the OYC Wednesday night race series on a Corsair 750. My Dad sails this race weekly, but this was my first time tagging along. It was a blast to get out there on the Oakland/Alameda Estuary. After all, this is where I learned to sail. As a child I spent many a days dodging cargo tankers in an small El Toro. Hell, I nearly sank the damn thing once or twice out there, but that's another story.

It sure was nice today to race in a friendly low key situation for a change. Often times races are so intense that the crew ends up wanting to kill each other before they cross the finish line. Due to the tight quarters of the estuary, we were practically be on top of our competition, which gave us plenty of opportunities to yap it up with them. To top it off we came in first, and just in time for a beautiful red and gold San Francisco sunset.

Back from OZ

So, it's been a few days since I've been back from Australia. I am still very tired from the whole 14 hour flight, and lack of sleep. I'm going to have more about it soon... when I get some energy. Cheers.

Smokey Trans Tahoe Race

Last weekend my Dad and I took part in the Trans Tahoe race up at Lake Tahoe. With our friend John Green, we towed up his new Corsair 750 from Alameda. On the way up to Sacramento the sky began to turn progressively gray and smokey. Over 1000 wildfires were burning in California that day, and the air quality was terrible.

John's mid-nineties pick up truck towed the 750 up the Sierras surprisingly well, and we got there in about four hours. It was amazing how much smoke had poured in over the Lake. In many ways Lake Tahoe almost looked like San Francisco on a foggy day. Even worse, there was absolutely no wind. With no chance of sailing that day, we launched the boat and hit the yacht club.

The next day however we awoke to similar conditions. At the skippers meeting the race committee said that they, at their most optimistic estimate, predicted only 6 knots of wind. This, of course, was not good. They also informed us that the race would be postponed until late in the afternoon. Luckily some of the other Corsair owners decided to improvise.

As we motored the boat over back toward our mourning at the launch ramp we noticed two Corsair 24's were beached close by. We pulled the 750 between the two, and cracked open a few cold ones. This turned out to be the best part of the day. It was still very smokey, but warm enough to take a dip in the Lake.

After a few hours of swimming, sandwiches, and drinking we motored out to the race course. Of course when we got there there was still no wind. Many racers had resorted to jumping off their boats, and taking a swim to escape the heat. Finally, late in the afternoon, the race started. I skippered the boat during the race, and was surprised how quickly the wind showed up. The wind became stronger then I think anyone could have hoped for. As for where we finished in the race, somewhere in the middle. Give me a break though, I have not raced in two years. All in all, it's always a good time in Lake Tahoe.

Back in the Bay

Well after 6 years of being away, it sure is good to finally be back home in the Bay Area. I must say though, forgot how much colder it can be up here sometimes. I am looking forward to the fourth of July and spending time with the family. Still tired from the drive up though. On Sunday I packed the truck up with everything I owned then drove all the way up from San Diego in the middle of the night. Thank God for podcast and my IPOD or I would have been bored out of my friggin mind.

Today my sister and I are going to try to look for some part time work. It would be nice to get a easy summer job to get myself settled in up here. Now that I live at home I can save my money up towards some fun trips. Living by the beach in San Diego was just too pricey. Was a prisoner in paradise so to speak. I figured I could get a great job straight out of college, which in hind sight was a little naive. Still, nothing wrong with being ambitious. In some ways it was exciting to be a little poor for the first time in my life. That being said, I don't ever want to have to scrape by like I was doing in San Diego ever again. For now I just want a name-tag job until I can begin selling boats, and producing online entertainment.

Did I mention it feels great to be home?

Corsair spotted off Pacific Beach

Today, on my daily bike ride along the Pacific Beach Boardwalk, I spotted a trimaran disappearing and reappearing behind the rough surf. The trimaran was only about a surfer's distance away from the shore, which is quite uncommon for boats considering monohulls are usually much further out. "It has to be a Corsair," I thought. Without the aid of my eyeglasses, it was too difficult to be sure. So, I ditched my beach cruiser, and ran towards the surf. Sure enough, it was a Corsair Trimaran tacking back and forth.

As the cold ocean swept up to my shins, I decided to race back home to grab my camera. Of course, this was a waste of time because, personal basis aside, I think its safe to say Corsairs are fast boats. So by the time I returned, with camera in hand, it was gone. So, just like the existence of UFO's, Bigfoot, or the Loch Ness Monster you'll just have to take my word for it.

The Original Multihull Sailors

This is a part 1 of a fascinating PBS special about how the ancient Polynesians were able to create the geographically largest civilization ever. By using catamarans, they were able to discover and inhabit the most isolated islands in the world. Having sailed Corsair trimarans and other catamarans most of my life, it was interesting to see where this superior boat design came from. Once the video is done, it can be continued by clicking on part 2 and so on. Definitely worth watching.

Pics from the Getty

This is a little movie that shows some of the sites I saw at the Getty museum in Los Angeles. Pretty cool place...and admission is free. Also, it has some great views of smoggy LA. :)

Welcome

So I have switched my blog over to Blogspot... figure might as well be using a Google company right? Going to try this out for a bit, and let's see how it works.