Chaos on the Water

Happy Boxing Day!
This year we were lucky enough to find the Sydney to Hobart race live on the internet.
We get to save Alaskan Dave Down Unda a bunch of pesos in postage!
And since it goes on for eons a couple of days, we can follow the placement of the boats on Google Earth.I personally think these people are insane...
Wet, cold, too long, all night long, maybe all night long the next day, folding wet spinnakers, heeling over, did I mention wet?, little or no sleep, did I mention cold?, crazy area of the ocean and did I mention too long?
I like to race sailboats.
For about 3 hours.
Maybe 5.
Then I am done.
Want to be at The Yacht Club.
Any Yacht Club.I did mention too long, didn't I?
Look how far away from the finish line they are and they have already been sailing for over 24 hours!
Hell on water.

Parade of Lights ~ 2009 ~ Ventura Style!

First a beautiful sunset!




A really beautiful one!





Then the cockpit party lights get turned on!


Then the massive pile-up of parade boats right behind our boat (we are at the starting line).

Then "Island Adventure" of Island Packers goes by.
Keith and Alex, where is my ice cream?Then we chat with Terry and Erik of "Mija" who we met in Mexico but I fail to take a picture of them.

Then we watch a really cool boat go by!Unfortunately our new slip is further away from the boats, but we don't have to fend any of them off or get hit anymore...
A tradeoff that works.

Then we watch a GREAT fireworks show!And being further away don't have to worry about East wind fallout and burning embers...

Then we go to sleep, wake up and do it all over again!
YAAAYYYYY!
Exhausting.



Chris finally gets his party lights!






Bigger pile-up on the second night!Bibiana and Mike make it a second time tradition.The Killions join us - yay!
Andy, Tina, Jack and Carly the Irish Step Dancing Girl, who entertained us!




Too much fun this night!
Great fireworks again.
More friends visit.
A harbor cruise in Andy & Tina's boat.



And the next morning...

Evidence!

Gearing Up for Our Two Nights of Parade of Lights!

Ventura has not one, but two nights of parades!
Always the best party of the year in the harbor!
Well, of course, because we always have a party.
Each night.
Then on Sunday we are wiped.

OK!
Food?
Check.
Christmas lights up?
Check.
Wine?
Check.
Water?
Check.
Friends?
Check.
Beer?
Check.
Wind supposed to blow tonight?
Check.
Snacks?
Check.
Warm clothes?
Check.
Stan?
Check.
Boat cleaned?
Uh sort of, not really.
Pigeon poop everywhere, but luckily the view is off the stern this year...
Decorations up inside?
Check.
Peppermint schnapps?
Check.
Forgetting something?
Check.

Horse Trough Hillbilly Tub! Bathtub!

Ok so the best thing in the world happened to me tonight.
My husband gave me an early Christmas present.
A horse trough.
A tub.
A real live well not live, but plastic bathtub.
Hot water.
I can submerge.
I can get warm in the winter.
I can take a bath whenever I want and not have to rent a hotel room.
Seriously, I now have a bathtub on my boat!
Back in a minute, I gotta go look at it again!
I came home to an excited husband telling me to take of all my clothes.
No, get your mind off of that!
I came home to a full tub.
105 degree water.
Glass of zinfandel on the bathroom counter.
Disneyland (RIP Roy Disney!) lights on.
Christmas music in the background.
And proceeded to spend 45 minutes in sheer liveaboard heaven.

The Weekend

Ah yay, finally Friday!
Laugh that my 15 year old niece cut me (and the rest of the reptiles relatives) off of spacefacebook.
Ponder that for awhile and think she has poor timing.
Duh? Right before Christmas? Guess I will not order that Maserati I was going to get her for her 16th birthday.
Dinner.
Rain.
Rain.
Rain.
Saturday morning.
Rain
Laundry.
Rain.
Thrift stores.
Rain.
Rain.
Rain.
Laundry.
Grocery store.
Rain.
Laundry.
Dinner.
Rain.
Movie.
Rain.
Rain.
Sleep.
Rain.
Rain.
Wind.
Laundry.
Laundry.
Vacuum.
Wind.
Wind.
Wind.
Dinner.
Sleep.

Christmas Decorating Boat Style

Being creative with my Sea of Cortez beachcombing finds.

"Passage II" Passage Completed!

Bad propagation this morning, but I did understand "Passage II" was just rounding the arch at Cabo San Pucas Lucas!
I thought they were going into San Jose del Cabo, which would mean another 20 miles of motoring, but they want to get in, get anchored and sleep go out and have a celebratory dinner!

So congratulations to Jim C., LLLLucy and Jim D. for making it from Point A, Ventura, Alta California to Point B, Cabo San Pucas Lucas, Baja California Sur!

With only a few sidetracks.
One, a summer in San Diego for health stuff and hanging out until "Meerkat" came back up Baja so they could play with us and lend us their car and eat and visit and come see us in Ventura twice and blah, blah, blah.

Two, a few weeks in Ensenada after catching a 3/4" long line on their keel in crap 35 knots of wind and some strong seas ~ same time as the J-World boat hit a whale and sunk ~ and doing an accidental gybe and ripping the gooseneck out of the mast.

So success for them!

And me?
Besides being cold?
It's officially time to listen to the best Christmas cd ever.
Over.
And over.
And over.
Several times a day.

Sing along!

"Last Man At The Party"

Sister Bridget by the stair... a glass of wine and she's almost there.
Cousin Jimmy at the door... another beer and he's on the floor.
Friends and neighbours come around,
waste no time we're heaven-bound.
But not before we raise a glass to good camaraderie.

Stinky Joe from down the street fell right over his own three feet.
He's doubled up in the outside loo, to taste again the devil's brew.
Friends and neighbours come around,
waste no time we're heaven-bound.
But not before we raise a glass to good camaraderie.

So make yourselves jolly under mistletoe, holly and ivy.
Get to it - and be in good cheer.
And when it's all over... pigs gone to clover -
Will the last man at the party wish me a happy New Year.

The house is jumping, suppers up. Curried goat in a paper cup.
Forks of plastic, knives of tin... who cares what state the goat is in.
Someone with the gift of song
has brought his pal to sing along.
Now they're turning up old Frank Sinatra on the stereo.

Santa Maria, Bahia Magdalena & Post Reunion Reunion

Well we are all having fun!
Some of us are just a hell of a lot warmer than the other of us.
The warm ones?

Jim C., Little Lovely Lucy Lowe and Jim D. on "Passage II" enroute from Bahia Magdalena to San Jose del Cabo.

But first a night in Bahia Santa Maria.
A night in Bahia Magdalena.

A hike across the sand dunes from Mag to Santa Maria.
Fuel from Gregorio, the port captain at Man-o-War Cove.
Provisions from Gregorio too.

And now they are doing their last overnighter of the trip!

Me?
I am the cold one.
But hey! I don't have to do a nightwatch tonight...

But I did get to have a girl's night at Shirley's last night!
Several of us from Junior High and High School got together for a post reunion reunion.
One that we could hear each other talk.
When we could get a word in edgewise.
And one that we could run around the kitchen counter really fast to all get in the picture...Lisa Stadler Dobson of "Blue Aweigh" (also lives on a boat and cruises! Saw her in La Paz!), Liz Bentz Luciani (I have now officially forgiven her for being a turd to me in school), Lisa #2 in the background, Shirley Henderson Rhoads (thanks for a lovely evening in your lovely home!), Lesa (sort of Lisa #3) Jensen, LaDene Steeno Morrison (slippers...), moi, Sherry Vasquez McCarthy squeezing in (I ran faster than Sherry...)

Loads of stories.
Loads of laughs.
Loads of Shirley being related somehow to 94% of Ventura.
Snacks.
Wine.
More stories.
Broken dish.
Hold the dogs back from the broken dish.
More laughs.
More relatives of Shirley.
I thought I was bad.
Wine.
More stories.
More laughter.
More remember her, remember him?
More stories.
Drinks.
Pet the dogs.
Tall tales.
More snacks.
Shoe sizes.
Tall girls.
One cartwheel.
One dog poop.
Everyone exhausted today.