FEBURARY 2000 TUESDAY, FEBURARY 1st to WEDNESDAY, FEBURARY 2nd, 2000 Finish up the week in Seattle visiting friends and running errands. Of course it was pouring rain which made it extra fun to run around Seattle.  Wednesday morning we head back to Ventura. We stopped off in Portland once again for some more tax-free shopping at Costco. Then it was back in the car to drive as far as we could stand it. The drive from Grants Pass to Mount Shasta was breath taking. Some of the most beautiful country I’ve ever seen. We drove by Mount Shasta right at sunset and this time we could see it.   Stopped for a few minutes to stretch our legs and take a few pictures.  Then it was back in the car until we found a motel in Redding, California. Seemed like a very long day. THURSDAY, FEBURARY 3rd, 2000 Back to the long boring drive down the flatlands of California.  The only excitement was the occasional tumbleweed blowing across the road. In one area the tumbleweeds were so thick that the dot workers were having a tumbleweed roundup. I actually struck and killed two tumbleweed along the way. Finally we start to see sunshine again and start to peel off our warm clothes. By the time we reached Ventura we were back in our shorts! Yea! Unfortunately we arrived back to the terrible tragedy of the Alaskan Airline flight that crashed into the ocean. The plane crashed just a few miles offshore from where we have been staying.  Spent the rest of the day unloading the car. I think we brought back more than we took up, but this is all-important stuff. FRIDAY, FEBURARY 4th to SUNDAY, FEBURARY 6th, 2000 Back to working on boat chores. David is working on various engine, refrigeration and electrical projects while I’m working on more sunbrella covers for the outdoor equipment.  This week I started designing a custom cover for our dinghy. This will not be an easy project. We put the dinghy out on the dock and I began measuring, designing, cutting and sewing.  I finally got a pump to blow up my exercise ball so I could do my back exercise. My back feeling better and well enough to attempt the stretches and exercises.  On Saturday David decided to attack the windless, which is the piece of equipment that brings the chain back up. It was bringing the rope up fine, but when it got to the chain it just spun around.  So after much work it actually came out. It did not look good. It was so corroded it was unbelievable.  We called the manufactures repair shop to see if we could bring it down for them to look at to see it was repairable.  Friday night we went over to the nearby hotel lounge and bar. They had a giant big screen t.v.  where we could watch the finals of the Louis Vitton challenge for the Americas Cup.  We are cheering for the Italians so that they will win the Americas Cup and take it to Italy. Then we can sail there to watch the next Americas Cup. Yea! The Italians won! The days that it hasn’t been raining I take my normal hour walk down the stretch of beach that looks out to Anacapa Island.  This is the area where the plane crashed. As I walk along the beach its hard to think about all those people out there. While we were gone there was a huge surge which washed out part of the beach. There used to be a long beach with ocean on one side and a huge fresh water wetland on the other side. It was always fun to walk along the beach and see all the different birds. There used to be lots of seagulls, pelicans and even some royal turns that hung out by this wetland. Now that the washout has occurred the wetland has been drained and fills with salt water with the tidal fluctuation. It’s been interesting to watch how the bird life, plant life and topology has been changing. MONDAY, FEBURARY 7th, 2000 David made a great colorful flyer for us to put up advertising for crew.  Hopefully we will find an adventurous soul with some sailing experience.  Later this day we drove to Santa Barbara to visit our friend Ed and see when he was planning on leaving for the South Pacific. He had already been interviewing people for crew and had a few names to pass on to us.  The big treat of the day was that I got to go swimming in my favorite pool and David got to go running and at his favorite track and stairs. TUESDAY, FEBURARY 8th, 2000 Today we were up early and head to San Diego, it was sprinkling a bit and traffic was pretty bad. We decided to drive most of the way down 101.  We stopped in Costa Mesa on the way down to stop at the Maxwell repair shop to have them look at our winless. They were very surprised. They said it was the second worst one they had ever seen.  They don’t make parts for it anymore and they would have to be special made from shop drawings. Looks like we will be getting a new winless.  Back on the road to San Dieg0 to pick up our mail and then went around San Diego and Scripps College to hang up more of our flyers. We looked for a new winless but the one we need is out of stock and will have to be ordered.  Once again, we hit San Diego and L.A. in rush hour traffic, which made for a long day of driving. WEDNESDAY, FEBURARY 9th to SUNDAY, FEBURUARY 13th, 2000 The next few days were devoted to boat projects. It is pouring rain here in Southern California, so our boat projects are contained to indoor projects.  I set to work on a sunbrella cover for the outboard motor while David went to work on the chain locker, the battery charger and inverter.  Saturday and Sunday David decided to attack the fuel tank problem.  We decided that the problem was the air vent was several inches below the top of the tank, so diesel would always escape out the air vent instead of filling up the tank. So we drilled a new hole in the top of the tank and moved the air vent.  Plus we installed a new fuel gage.  One day was spent installing and one day was spent hooking up the electrical parts. That will be nice to have instead of always trying to guess how much fuel we have.  It will be interesting to see how it all works out next time we refuel.  That was a big project. MONDAY, FEBURARY 14th, 2000 Valentines Day. Well it’s pouring rain still! It’s like being back in Seattle.  Despite the rain David goes out for a run. I made him a breakfast of toaster waffles and strawberries.  I went out running more errands today. It was such a Seattle day that I decided to stop off for a Starbucks latte.  Back to work on the web page, I’m very close to being done.  David is busy at work in the galley fixing a wonderful Valentines dinner.  I got an email from my mom today, she is in the hospital today with a kidney problem. Having some kind of surgery to explode the kidney stone. TUESDAY, FEBURARY 15th, 2000 Wow the sun has finally come out! David heads out for a run and I get my ball out for back exercises and stretches. It looked like the sun was going to stay out, so I decide to go for a walk down the beach today. The beach is really changing since the surge. It was low tide when I went for my walk and the wetland is almost drained. The area has been taken over by great blue herons and egrets. All the neat little birds have left for calmer waters I guess. As I get closer to the washout the sand changes to large pebbles and then big rocks when I get right by the washout. The plants along the fringes of the wetland are turning brown, probably from the saltwater. Walking back I’m noticing and thinking about all the garbage that washes up along the beach. I wonder how these glass bottles and plastic bits will conform to the new rock stratum that is being formed. Of course some of the plant life will decompose or turn into fossils, but will future geologist and paleontologist think when they break into a piece of sandstone and find a beer bottle, Styrofoam, plastic can rings or some little unidentifiable plastic bit? It’s really a sad comment on our society to see these beautiful beaches covered with litter. We really must think about what we throw into the streams, rivers and oceans. Later this afternoon I go back to work on the dinghy cover only to discover that I do not have enough sunbrella left, so another trip to the marine store to order some more.  Tonight we had a special treat.  Jeri and her husband Joe had us over to their boat for dinner. Jeri works at the marina office here and she and her husband have been cruisers in Mexico and plan on cruising up to Seattle and Alaska in another year. They also had just picked up a new beagle puppy. She is the cutest thing I’ve seen in along time.  It was a fun night to swap stories and get some good cruising advice. WEDNESDAY, FEBURARY 16th, 2000 It’s pouring rain today. Not a whole lot to do, so we go to Santa Barbara to do some shopping. Jeri and Joe convinced us that a pressure cooker is a great piece of equipment to have in a cruising boat galley, so we decide we better get one. Back home with our purchases, we tidy up and work on some paperwork. THURSDAY, FEBURARY 17th, 2000 At last the sun has come out. Went for a long walk on the beach today. Then it was back to work on boat chores.  Pam and Sid visited us from the boat Justice. They were our dock neighbors in Santa Barbara and are temporarily located in the Ventura harbor not far from us.  They stopped by to show us a book we must have for our cruising library called “ Boat Owners mechanical and electrical manual” by Nigel Calder. FRIDAY, FEBURARY 18th, 2000 The sun is out again, I decide to go off for a walk when I run into Jeri and got a detour out to Costco to get a wetsuit. Later I run in to Pam who has more cruising tips and doctor recommendations.  We took her up on some of the doctor advise and get in to see an international traveling doctor for physicals and travel consolation for next Tuesday.  David spent the day working on all the windows, replacing gaskets and one whole window. Back to sewing until the Americas cup comes on, when we head to the big hotel in the harbor to watch it on the big screen TV. Too bad it was cancelled due to lack of wind. So I top of the day by going to a slide presentation by the national park service on the Channel Islands. It turned out to be a pretty busy day. SATURDAY, FEBURARY 19th, 2000 WOW, last night the winds came up and the boat was rocking most of the night with the water lapping up against the side. The dock lines were creaking all night so it was a restless night. As morning approached the sun came out and the big storm they had been predicting never came.  With our reprieve in weather David decided to take the toilet out of the front v-birth for a clean and lube. It was a pretty messy and along project. I worked on the other cover for the v-birth cushions, so when I’m done well have a matching set and the mattress in the v-birth will be covered.  By four o’clock we were ready for a break, so we went to the lounge at the hotel to watch the Americas Cup. Today the weather is better and the Kiwis win the first in the series. SUNDAY, FEBURARY 20th to THURSDAY, FEBURARY 24th, 2000 We thought we had left behind the windy rainy city, but it has been raining for the last few weeks and it was no different this week.  As a result we had to work on the indoor chores.  I started making all the curtsey flags of the countries we will be visiting.  I’m up to about 12 flags. I had some ripstop nylon that I’m making the flag back grounds out of and will make the stars and other details out of insignia cloth.  I also made a folio to hold all the flags.  Monday we were going to go to San Diego to get our mail, but it was raining so hard, and there were so many accidents that we decided not to go. So I went back to work on the flags. Tuesday we went to the international health doctor for our travel consultation. We talked about the areas we will be visiting and the diseases that could possible be caught. As a result of this converstaion we decided to have 4 shots, a polio booster, tetanus, hepatitis A and typhoid. The doctor is also going to write out prescriptions for us to have in our medical case with a booklet on what to use certain medication for.  We are going back next week for results of tests and more consultation.  Wednesday we drove to San Diego in a downpour for 3 hours. I have never driven in such hard rain, even in Seattle.  Rain is really hitting the southern coast of California hard. So far this week 4”.  There have also been waterspouts sited off the coast. Not a good time to be sailing. We picked up mail and our parts we were waiting for and headed back to Ventura. Finally half way back it quit raining but the wind picked up and was now blowing sand across the road. Another rocky night on the boat.  Thursday I went back to Santa Barbara for some more medical test. David stayed behind adding more cleats and blocks to the mast.  FRIDAY, FEBURUARY 25th to MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2000 With the weather being so bad and the forecast showing one storm after another coming in for the next few weeks, we have decide to haul the boat out here in Ventura. We only have about one month before we go and we wanted to add some equipment to the boat before we left.  We will add a new max-prop propeller; an electric grounding plate and some special slime resistant paint to the hull. The hull out went fairly well. We had two sunny days and two rainy days so we were able to get all the work done plus wax the topsides. It was like painting and waxing a giant whale! The boat Justice was also hauled out, so we had Pam and Sid to commiserate with about life on the hard. The last night we were hauled out a big wind storm came through, making it a little unnerving sleeping in those little stands with the boat swaying slightly in the wind. It’s a good feeling to be back in the water with the new propeller working and the shiny wax job.