Escape Artist's Chronicles

Pursuing our crazy dream to travel the seas.

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#sailing #celebrities #sspac15 #memories #awesome #books

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Sailing SFBay March 29

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Sailing in the Bay: be ready for all kinds of conditions.

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Sunday sail

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Winter in SF Bay

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Clipper race SF to Panama is off with a sporty headwind and incoming tide.

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Someone's gotta do it!

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"So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." — Mark Twain

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Looking spanking new after a good scrub.

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US Coast Guard Auxiliary Courses - Always Ready!

I started taking "Sailing Skills & Seamanship" with the local US Coast Guard Auxiliary at Sierra Point Yacht Club in Brisbane last week. It's always a good idea to refresh and pick a few things here and there. 

Although I had learned to sail in Argentina with Optis, my memories are mostly of being miserable in the winter cold and terrified about of capsizing in the muddy water of Rio de la Plata. I stayed away from the water for a while...

Many years later, I found myself in San Francisco Bay learning to steer with just the sails with J World's instructor out of Alameda, CA. Josh Butler, from J World,  taught me everything I know about sailing.

But even after three intense and hands-on weekends, I was still in need of many more hours on a boat to feel comfortable and really cement what I had learned. I read everything that I could get my hands about sailing and jumped at every opportunity we had of sailing in the bay. Two years later, now a boat owner, I have absorbed and learned a ton but still don't know much about handling a boat under power, docking, different rigging systems, etc.

Can you tell apart a sloop, a yawl, a ketch, or a cutter from a schooner? Now I know that the boat below is a...ketch!

And that in the 60's ferro-cement became a very popular material from which to build sailboats? 

Thanks US Coast Guard Auxiliary for making these courses available to us. For $50 a course, including two books, this course is a steal! 

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Hold on.

[mackanna]

Just another regular day for Lowell, driving the Protector (true to its name here) as chase boat for a sailboat race yesterday (called Three Bridge Fiasco). Helping prevent a disaster into the north tower of the Golden Gate Bridge with the Shadow Cat catamaran. This photo was caught by the press. #sailing #catamaran #sfsailing #california #protector #goldengatebridge (at San Francisco Bay)

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Oops! 

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Fred's Shed, a real service to all boat owners. What an awesome initiative! Put on by National Marine Manufacturers Association, Fred's Shed is pretty much present in every boat show in the U.S.

It reminded us of Tim Allen's fictitious show "Tool Time" on Home Improvement, remember that one? 

We were able to get a TON of information from Larry at the SF Boat Show. You can too! Go to your next local boat show and chances are that a friendly mechanic and teacher will be there to answer all your questions: engine, fiberglass, and more! 

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Fixing to fix the fixings

We are at that stage where we tend to find more things to fix and sometimes come back from a daysail with one or two repairs to make.

Nothing new, right? Well, the whole process is made a whole less painful when vendors are helpful, parts are available and shipped to you fast. And this is definitely not the norm.

This post is simply a shout out to Force10 for just stepping up and providing us a part for free just because.

Our stove in our Jeanneau Sun Fast 37 is held by two plates attached and one of them just simply gave up under pressure. Typical, you might be thinking. Stuff just breaks unexpectedly.

Christian my husband talked to a fellow called Brad at Force10 and before we knew it he had placed the spare part in the mail for free! 

It was one of those cool stories where the forces of the universe come together and your faith in humanity is somewhat restored.

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Movie about five month solo sail trumped by a floating container starring Robert Redford?

Sign me up! 

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Hoping for another good sailing weekend in SF.