Thanks to Bill, 2008 will be my third Pacific crossing, after delivering Cirrus for the 2007 TransPac and the 2006 PacCup. When I'm not sailing with Bill, I spend a lot of time sailing the waters of Monterey Bay aboard my Beneteau 33, True North, out of Santa Cruz California. I also race regularly aboard the Catalina 32, Pacific Spirit.
Since 2003, I've been a fairly active coastal delivery sailor, having crewed aboard various boats sailing up and down the coast between Santa Catalina and Richmond. Recently, I was privileged to crew aboard the Derek M Bayliss on her transit to San Francisco from her home port of Monterey. I have also been invited for the return trip, after Strictly Sail. They have an interesting mission: http://sealifeconservation.org
In June of 2006, I took the two-week Captain's License school at the Maritime Institute in San Rafael, passed the test, and by April of 2007, I had racked up enough sea time to get my Master's License. So now, in theory, I can get paid to be a sailor. In reality, while I have had a few paid gigs, I mostly continue as a volunteer, which is fine by me.
One of the coolest things about taking my Captain's training in San Rafael was that I could sail my own boat up there, tie up at the San Rafael Yacht Club, and live on my boat for the two weeks I was there. The SRYC people were wonderful; they gave me a smoking deal on a slip (yacht club reciprocity with Santa Cruz Yacht Club), access to their shower facilities, and, whenever they were open, they let me spread out my charts and books in the club and plied me with extremely low cost Heinekens.
Another sailing highlight: Way back in February 2004, I spent three weeks sailing as crew from La Paz to Zihuatanejo aboard s/v Neptune, a custom Lagier 50 cutter. Aside from enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the locals in such ports as La Cruz, PV and Zihua, I really enjoyed sailing at night with the warm Mexican breeze blowing and the moonlight shining down. No foulies!
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