Position Report Apr. 28, 2013

WE ARE FLOATING!

It's been a very long time since we sent out any reports. But now that we are back in the water we thought it was time.

In March, we trailed Guenevere to the Napa Valley Marina. It was time for a new bottom coating and we had that done as we did many small items on the boat to get ready to get back in the water. It was fun (as much as being on the hard can be) to be in Napa!

Our FIRST thought was “WHAT HAVE WE DONE????????????”

It's SOOOOO COLD HERE!! We are used to places where the butter melts, and then we actually came back to this climate. We were very happy to have the oil lamps aboard. They did not get a lot of use in Mexico, but are going strong now. If you did not see it, you can take a look at how we use an oil lamp in our wood burning fire place for all night heat. It's on our YouTube page at;

http://www.youtube.com/user/delezynski

Just scroll down to find it. You can also see a lot of the refit we did there during our extended time on the hard.

From the Napa Valley Marina, two friend, Rob and LaDonna joined us for a short trip down river to the Vallejo Yacht Club. They also sponsored us there for a few days. It is one GREAT yacht club. THANKS Manny (Club Commodore) for such a fun time! From there we anchored out at China Camp. Not nearly as nice as we thought it would be. The wind was up and we did quite a bit of rocking and rolling. After one night, we made our way to Clipper Cove, at Treasure Island. VERY nice anchorage, well protected from most of the wind and waves. BUT, we found out that we now must call a phone number and check in. The longest you may stay for the call-in is 96 hours. If we want to stay any longer than that, we have to go into an office and file paperwork.

After a short time, LOVING just floating and being anchored out, we moved to the Oakland Yacht Club in preparation for the Nor'Sea Get-Together. As usual, the OYC was very welcoming and treated all of the Nor'Sea boats very well. Before the Nor'Sea gathering, we got to spend a day at the Strictly Sail boat show at Jack London Square in Oakland. It was a fun show. We found that our view of things at the show have changed a lot after spending a few year of cruising. It might just be that our views of what is needed has changed, or that we know we have what is required. Before we cruised, we attended the seminars to hear what the people “out there” had to say. At this show, we knew, and cruised with, a couple of the presenters! We did notice that it seems that now, we are hearing the SAME questions that were being asked before we departed, new people, but the same questions! We have to say, we found it so good “out there”, that our advice is to not over think it all, just untie the dock lines!

The Nor'Sea get together on April 13 was a LOT of fun. We all got to visit other boats and talk options. It is amazing how different owner solve the same problem in completely different ways. It sure reinforces the old adage; “Ask 5 sailors a question, and you will get 7 answers.”

Take a look at the Latitude 38 take on our Get-Together! It's at; Click here OR 
http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2013-04-19

We have found that many of the places we used to go to are now gone, closed, or restricted for your stay, or VERY expensive. Our plan to just hang in the Bay was in jeopardy. We thought that we might just cut this COLD stay short. But then we a couple of people suggested that we try the Delta. After looking at this option, we think that is something we are going to try. It looks like over 1,000 miles of waterways with many places to visit, including festivals. And anchoring seems to be very liberal.

We have signed up for the Latitude 38, Delta Doo Daha. It's sort of a open DIY delta cruising gathering. You sign up, but go your own way when you want to. Sort of a disorganized organization? Since we are not normally joiners, this sounds good to us. This will be our first experience in river cruising. We expect it to be very different from our past open water cruising.

We will keep you informed how it goes.

Greg & Jill