The Leaky Mast ( ooohh thats a good name for a bar)

It all started one dark rainy dismal day. It was pouring so hard as soon as you stepped out side you were soaked to the bone. I thought it only rained like this in Kodiak but I was wrong, it rains harder in California than in Kodiak, and that's BAD!

This is a shot straight down the mast and into the hull. Now let me take the time to remind you that there is a hole in the middle of the bed that allows the mast to go from the deck into the interior through the bed and to the keel. As it is, our mast is hallow, and there are wires that are run in the mast to provide lights to the top of the mast and spreaders. Those wires run from the very top of the mast 40 some odd feet from the top of the deck all the way into the interior where they are hooked to the power source. So what happens is there is a hole drilled somewhere in the top of the mast to let the wires out to the lights and a hole drilled in the interior portion of the mast to hook to power. WELL, the rain water goes in the top hole, and where do you think it goes from there? right down the center of the mast. Then what happens? the mast fills up with cold nasty rain water until it reaches the second hole just above our heads as we are sleeping! And once the mast is full it proceeds to leak out of the hole and onto our heads and all over the bed! and starts to fill the bilge! So the bed got completly soaked and it's still raining and filling the bottom of the boat with water!

As you can see Jim is not very happy about this situation. But really what makes it even worse, there's nothing he can do about it because he can't fit his arm in the mast hole. Larissa to the rescue. sort of. I could barely fit my arm in the hole. love that expression! I had to make it as I squoze. so I had a piece of duct tape attached to my fingers and was trying to cover the hole to get us through the night. my poor arm hurt for the next few days, and the tape only covered part of the hole.

After lengthy hours of revolving all the cushions in front of the heater, we are finally sleeping on a dry bed again. and the rain still hasn't stopped! you should see all the duct tape we've been using. we also found out several of our port holes leaked and so did the main hatch. Well, were all sealed up again at least until the rain stops and we can fix it the right way!

a day off in San Fransisco

Jim had a day off from work so we thought a trip to San Fransisco's fisherman's wharf would be fun. It was finally time to explore our new surroundings.

This is the famous Golden Gate Bridge
the toll to cross the bridge is up to $6.
But its so exciting to go into the big city! (golden gate fact #1 approximately 50 people a year commit suicide by jumping from the bridge) and yes some survive!











pier 39 is quite an interesting place. full of people and shopping and tourist
activities. this is the out side of the bay aquarium.

















here is Alcatraz. we'll take the tour one of these days. today was just to get a feel for the place and see what all it has to offer- quite a bit. it took several hours just to walk the wharf and pier, not to mention all the museums and food and shops and cruises and submarines and the fishing and sea lions.
















phew, after all that we had to stop and rest with an ice cream. jim shared some of his cone with the pigeons. it was funny. they were sitting on his lap and taking food from his hand.

the new member of our crew aka the sea urchin

Welcome aboard!

It's a boy!
12 lbs 2 ozs
18 ins. long
4 furry paws
and a tail!
this is our salty sea dog Scupper. he is a pug schitzu mix (pug-shit)


our 1 year anniversary is comming up soon so for our present, we went to the local animal shelter and got a dog.

aaaarrrrrrgggggggggggggg..........he's a wee bilge rat!

he seems to have made himself home all over the boat where ever there is a comfortable spot to sleep. a little shy with people but he's not afraid of any dog no matter how big. he's got the big dog attitude in his wee little body.




we took him for a hike atop Mt. Tamalpias a few days ago. (Jim says-mt. tamalpias is the birth place of the mountain bike) see how happy he is? he just loved it. we were a little worried about him keeping up, with his short little legs and all, but he did fine, infact, we had to keep up with him, except any up hill parts, he didnt like those! but hey, who does right?








as part of the crew he needed a job so we offered him "dog watch" which in nautical terms means the extra left over watch shift at the end of the day. he took it graciously, and as you can see, he's a natural. he just loves the cockpit float cushions any thime there is one available for him! he really is a spunky little dog in is awake time- barking at all the strangers that pass by the boat and playing attack our feet under the blankets.