Summer into Fall

Hey all.  We're still alive!  Living and working in Santa Cruz, CA.  Here's a quick summary:  When Bhodi came back from Lynx, he jumped into the season with the SRV Derek M. Baylis in Monterey, as relief captain.  My summer was spent trying to do research with equipment that always seemed to be breaking down.  But little by little, things got accomplished.  On days when I wasn't gnashing my teeth on campus and Bhodi was not sailing in Monterey, we both taught sailing at Pacific Yachting here in Santa Cruz and at Modern Sailing Academy in Sausalito.  During this time we also brought a new member to the family, a little white furball we named "Aloha."  This was one of the first shots managed to get of her, back when she couldn't even fit in her collar.  These days she's bigger than Foxy, and been busy keeping her older sister company when we are out of the house.

Another fun activity that occupied our summer was Geocaching, a type of GPS treasure hunt.  The second and third shots on this post are of one long day when we found eleven caches hidden on the coast between our apartment and Wilder Ranch State Park.  Our day cumulated in the finding of the Holy Grail cache, which Bhodi spent 15 minutes searching for amidst the fallen limestone ceiling blocks in this sea cave.  Our good friend and sailing buddy, Anthony, had also joined us in the hunt, and on several occasions came up with cache when it alluded both Bhodi and myself.  

A view from the coastal highway (Hwy 1), on another day of geocaching between Waddell Beach and Davenport.  We live in such as beautiful place... 

For my birthday, we went to Great America theme park in San Jose.  With school just

 starting back up, the park was pretty empty and we just coasted through the lines.  It had been a while since I had to a theme park and there was some pretty good rides for how small the park was..  One of the memorable moments was on the Spongebob show/ride.  It was a combination 3D show and moving car ride.  Well, it was pretty obvious as soon as the ride started that our car should have been labelled as out of order.  Only one hydraulic was working, which meant that we spent the majority of the time hanging on at a 60 degree angle, trying to not be pitched off!  I was laughing most of the time. 

Also in August, our long time traveling companion, Campbell the little white pickup, finally bit it.  That truck had taken me across the country 5 times, so I was sad to see it go.  We ended up donating it, so hopefully it will see some more use.  We ended up getting an Isuzu Rodeo to replace it.  Its a great car, though not very friendly on the wallet with the gas milage, but its very convenient in hauling around all our new windsurfing equipment.  Yep, windsurfing....

A friend of ours very generously asked if we wanted to empty his garage of all his old equipment and we jumped on the opportunity.

  As of today, we have been out three times.  The winter is not the best time to pick up the sport, since the wind is pretty inconsistent this time of year, and the first couple of times there was barely enough wind to hold us out of the water.  But the third time we went out was on the tail of a strong storm system and there was more than enough wind to be had.  We chose a spot a little away from the kitesurfers and struggled for over three hours with wind and sail and water to try to move.  At long last, I was able to stand up with a water start and sail for fifty yards or so before falling off.  Not long after, Bhodi also sailed a small distance.  We left the water utterly

 exhausted, but satisfied that we made progress.  I've been watching the forecasts for another storm system, but its been quiet for more than a week now.  

Since the winter season has slowed down sailing instruction, I have been back up at school.  Bhodi spent October on the Baylis as mate during their great white shark tagging season at the Farallones and November on the Seaward, preparing the ship for her three month long Mexico voyage, which he will be joining them on as mate/relief captain.  When the ship returns to San Francisco next year, he will be their full-

time captain through the tall ships challenge and into the spring season.   If I can get my work done, I'm scheduled to graduate in June, after which we'll move our little family to Sausalito.  And then, if all goes to plan, we will be married on the Seaward during the San Francisco Festival of Sail in late July.   Its a lot to happen in the next eight months, Ill try to keep the updates coming on how its shaping up.  Hope happiness is where you are!