Category: Voyages

November 1-8, 2007

We spent a week on a mooring in Newport Beach Harbor. It is the greatest
deal in southern California. Public moorings are only $5 per night. We were
adjacent to very expensive homes, hopefully improving their view with our
lovely yacht. We were on the main channel, not right near the shore, so it
felt quite private. Our nearest neighbor was the sea lion that claimed the
small sailboat next to us. See photo gallery. We enjoyed checking out all
the fancy homes via dinghy rides around Linda Isle and Balboa Island. Other
than the fact that the weather was cold & gray, it was lovely. Cindy sought
out the YMCA to get in her swims. And discovered a nearby Gelsons.

Scott & Brad Phipps of Back Bay Marine continued to be frustrated by the
generator output problem. Many hours, tests and reconfigurations were spent
trying to sort out what eventually was discovered to be a multitude of
compounding problems.

November 3, 2007

Cindy was overwhelmed with gratitude when Eva Robles emailed an offer to
drive down and clean our boat one last time. Eva & sister-in-law Eloisa,
were our interior housekeepers, with Pancho Robles washing down the outside
of *Beach House* for the 3 years we lived aboard in Marina del Rey. It was
the cleanest house we ever lived in. They scrubbed us to a shine no matter
how much we messed things up. And with all the work we did over those 3
years we really made a mess sometimes. But more important than the service
they provided, Eva & Pancho became our friends. They cheered us on during a
multitude of disruptive projects. And provided a comforting ear during the
dark days following the deaths of both Scott\’s parents. Their beautiful
daughters Melanie & Eva Joan always made us smile. We are hoping the family
will be able to meet us when we arrive in their home port of Punta Mita,
near Puerto Vallarta.

Scott was proud to finally show *Beach House* to friend & mentor Merald Keys
and wife Marianne. We enjoyed lunch with them at the Balboa Yacht Club. For
many years since meeting Merald at his class to prepare for the US Coast
Guard Professional Mariners exam, Scott taught for him, 1 night per quarter.
It has been a relationship of mutual respect and affection.

November 6, 2007

Craig Johnson spent the day setting up and teaching us how to link any
combination of our 3 laptop computers with a peer to peer network.

November 7, 2007

Cindy got a boost by a visit from her PT girlfriend Lori, who drove down
from Santa Monica. They took the dinghy & walking tour of the area. Scott
joined them for a delicious dinner at El Torito Grill which is a big step up
from the normal chain. Super yum.

TUG & TOW STORY

We had an \”in your face\” reminder that one must always stay alert when on
the water. We had experiences sailing in Spain & have heard many stories
from other boaters around the world that you cannot rely on other boats to
be properly lit at night. In fact many small fishing boats zoom around in
the dark without any lights at all. Somehow we expected more from a busy US
marina. We were returning to our mooring by dinghy one evening and had the
proper lights on. Cindy in the bow of the dinghy observed a boat overtaking
us & alerted Scott who was driving. He said, \”It\’s a tugboat\”. Well if it\’s
one thing that Scott impressed on Cindy\’s brain over these past 3 years of
life on the water, it\’s that where there is a tug, there is very likely to
be a tow. Scott did not see a pattern of towing lights on the tug and began
to turn behind it. Cindy had immediately looked back beyond the tug & saw
the huge barge being towed. It was difficult to see the tow line between the
two vessels. The barge was not properly lit either. The captain of the tug
hailed us at the same time Cindy yelled and Scott made a quick reaction to
steer us away from harm. Every year boaters are killed by the tow line when
passing between a tug & a tow. We were upset to have a close call with this
danger. We learn from every experience, relying on our teamwork to keep us
safe.

Dear F&F,

Long Beach is very large with many marinas & an active boating community. We
enjoyed watching the many dinghy racers, kayaks, outrigger canoes & shells.
A highlight for Cindy was docking anywhere that she could go swimming. We
enjoyed being guests of the Long Beach Yacht Club and their lovely pool.

October 26, 2007

We were invited by our friends Mike & Beth Lonnes to the October dinner
meeting of the Blue Water Cruising Club. To get there, we dinghied 10
minutes from where *Beach House *was docked, over to Bob & Terri\’s Cal 48 *
Listo* at Alimitos Bay Yacht Club. The family of 4 live aboard. We are
always impressed to meet people with children on boats. We rode in their
van to Croatian restaurant Ante\’s in San Pedro. We were already acquainted
with many of the other members due to frequent trips to Big Geiger Cove,
Catalina, the club\’s anchorage. We enjoyed the evening of swapping sea
stories. Cindy won a soft blue blanket in the raffle drawing which we have
used nightly.

October 27, 2007

We were surprised our first morning to see John Carroll of *Arana* paddling
by on his paddleboard. He keeps his boat at California Yacht Club & we were
used to see him paddling in Marina del Rey. We weren\’t aware that he spends
much time in Long Beach also. Always fun to see a familiar face in a new
place.

Scott\’s Aunt Barbara drove down from the San Fernando Valley & joined us at
the Long Beach Yacht Club for a delicious lunch buffet. She then gave Cindy
a ride back to Marina del Rey to retrieve our car. Despite sitting neglected
for 5 weeks, Old Bessie started right up. Before departing our old stomping
grounds, Cindy\’s PT friend Barbara met her for a walk. And one more trip to
beloved Gelsons. She reported feeling kind of odd, that she didn\’t really
belong there anymore…

October 28, 2007

The next day friends Linda & Martin drove down (also from SF Valley) for
Cindy\’s pancakes & to report on the land-based Beach House. They are kindly
overseeing it for us. Linda & Cindy are used to seeing each other regularly,
so treasured one more dock walk, not sure when or where they would meet
next.

Later that day the amazing & wonderful \”T\” from House of Stainless showed up
to take our old dive ladder for modification. Since we raised the swim steps
it needed to be lengthened. He took his measurements for the ladder & also
to design a bracket to hold our 3rd anchor on the stern of the boat. \”T\”
miraculously finished the ladder modifications in three days!

October 29, 2007

Cindy is thrilled to have the car to zip over to Trader Joes. Scott made a
couple of trips to West Marine.

We finally forced ourselves to stow \”the elephant\”. The elephant was a
collection of dive gear & miscellaneous other items kicking around the
cockpit for which we did not easily find a place. By completely emptying
out all the cockpit lockers, tossing out some items and repacking the
lockers more efficiently, we are proud to report that we took care of the
elephant problem. Well, that particular elephant anyway. Boats do have a
tendency to \”grow\” elephants. It is a constant challenge to have a place for
everything & put everything in its place. Which is really important to feel
ship-shape & not cluttered.

October 30, 2007
Mike Lonnes & 2 chaps from Safe Navigation helped us swing our compass. This
involves aligning our magnetic compass to a known corrected gyro compass to
eliminate any errors due to influences of the boating equipment around the
compasses fixed location. Mike also helped Scott finish up some projects
that didn\’t quite get done in Marina del Rey.

October 31, 2007

We made a quick trip by car to Marina del Rey to pick up our mail, put
things into & take things out of our storage unit and the obligatory trip to
our hometown West Marine. When we returned to Long Beach we set sail for
Newport. Yes, we had good wind & were actually able to sail for most of the
20 mile trip.

Friends Tom & Gail Levy picked us up & took us to dinner at PF Changs at
Fashion Island. Tom was an endodontist in Scott\’s dental practice, in
addition to being a clinical instructor at USC School of Dentistry. After
dinner they generously gave us a ride back to Long Beach so we could
retrieve our car. With the help of friends such as these, we were able to
leap-frog our car down the coast all the way to San Diego. It was a huge
convenience to have land transportation to buy food, supplies & parts.