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This morning, after sleeping the first night on my newly acquired boat, I woke up to a chilly 50 degrees F in the main cabin, it was decidedly cooler forward. I promptly switched on the electric cabin heater, a luxury I can still afford, as long as I am connected to shore power, so I could get out of my cozy sleeping bag in relative comfort. Now after taking the trek down to the washrooms to shave, and to do my morning ablutions, and after having had my breakfast, hot coffee with doughnuts, I am ready for another day of shopping and of exploring the many intricacies of this boat. A brisk north wind is blowing, a remnant of the cold front, that passed through here two days ago. The halyards are slapping against the mast setting up a racket. As soon as I get back on deck, I am going to tie them down.
5 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
Time just flies. I cannot believe, that a week has passed since I made my first feeble attempt to keep a diary, an indication how busy I have been. Only now, that I have sent off my application, to have my boat registered in Canada, that I have returned my rental car, and that I have set up my amateur radio, do I have the leisure to take things relatively easy. As of today, life is going to be cheaper, only having to pay $ 7.25 per day at the marina for dock space with shore power and water, and for the use of the toilets with the hot shower. I can now do my cooking on the boat. I do not have to rush around any more, trying to utilize the rented car as much as possible. Any more shopping, that I have to do, can be done by bicycle or by public transportation. If it means picking up heavy articles, like anchors and chain, I might go there with the boat.
Also today, in between cooking my supper of rice and stir-fried pork with cucumber, I checked in to the California-Hawaii net with my amateur radio. Apropos food. Just by accident I found a little Thai grocery store, only a couple of kilometers from here. The staff even speaks Thai. They carry all the familiar food items like fish sauce, garlic-basil paste, Tom Yum soup mix and even Thai newspapers. So I stocked up, and now I can make real Thai tasting meals. However, they did not have any coriander leaves. Apparently, nobody has gotten the idea yet to grow them here, as it is done in Toronto. What I am also missing, is rea l German rye bread. But I can make do with French bread instead. Once I am on the open sea, I shall have to bake my own bread anyway.
It is almost a month now that I left Toronto, Canada, my former home, on this big adventure, coming here to California, to buy a small sailing yacht and to sail it across the Pacific Ocean, all the way to Thailand. As expected, I am about a week behind in my too optimistic schedule. The boat I have already bought, and I am already living on it. The price for this 29 foot Ericson (1974) was Can$ 16000, plus 8.25% California sales tax. So far, I have further spent some $ 6000 on various other items connected with the purchase and the outfitting of the boat, such as survey, dinghy and outboard engine, wind vane self-steering gear, as well as a number of other things as rudimentary as pots and pans, dishes, tools, cooking stove, lamps, charts, a CB radio, not forgetting some $ 500 for three weeks of car rental. There is another $ 7000 to 8000 to go, with some big items, such as a GPS electronic positioning device, a water maker, a new set of standing rigging, radar alarm and the servicing of the old gasoline engine. I have deferred the replacement of the engine with a new diesel, until I get to the other side of the ocean. Labour costs are a significant part of the change-over, and these are much lower in the Far East. Besides this is a 'sailing' vessel, is it not?
The weather in Toronto started to get cold, when I was finally able to leave, after a summer's work. It was a good thing, that I had arranged for a drive-away car to take to Phoenix, Arizona, for a retired doctor, because it would have cost me a fortune in excess baggage, had I flown. When one is moving practically one's entire household, even an minuscule one such as mine, eight pieces of baggage is not too much to expect.
At United States Customs in Detroit I answered all their questions truthfully. But their reaction was incredulous, if not derisive. What was I going to do in the States? Buy a boat to sail to Thailand. How much money did I carry with me? $ 1200. How could I expect to buy a boat with only that amount? More would be transferred through the bank. Did I have proof of sailing experience? They would have to take my word for it. Could I show them any links to Thailand? Yes, my Thai bank book. Did I owe any tax in Canada? No, I had paid all my installments. Why did I not drive my own car, if I had money enough to buy a boat? I did not own a car, as I did not own enough money to have both a car and a boat. For well over an hour they grilled me, pawed through my papers and were finally convinced that I had the funds, I claimed I had. Had I ever been convicted of a crime, had I ever been arrested? No, never. Then, on second thought, yes, I had been arrested as a boy, when crossing the border between East and West Germany illegally. Luckily this was not considered a crime. After staring for ten minutes at the computer display of my personal information (it even showed, that I had lost my passport twice in my life, last at Koh Lanta in Thailand - there was another link to Thailand!), the officer in charge was satisfied, that there was no feasible reason to bar my entry into the United States. They allowed me to proceed, and I drove away into the falling night.
I had meant to drive through the first night, with perhaps only a stop of several hours at one of the roadside pullouts for some sleep. However, I was not able to sleep long, as it turned bitterly cold. Then it started to snow and the roads became very slippery. Late afternoon the next day, I was glad to stop for a hot shower and a decent night's sleep in a motel somewhere in Arkansas.
8 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
I got sleepy the other night, so I did not continue the narration of the events leading up to my being here. But then, there is no rush, I have left the rat race of last summer, or so I think, and what is another day, or two, or three for that matter?
Today I am a few steps farther along the road to being ready to leave on my voyage across the ocean. At the time of writing I have checked through the boat from stem to stern, tracing all the wires, the plumbing and making an inventory of everything. In the process I came to the conclusion, to have all the sea cocks replaced before I leave, because out of four only two are operable, that is, they can be opened and closed. As a matter of fact, the handle came off one, when I tried to close it. They do not leak, but before such a long trip across the open sea I want all the through-hull fittings to be in top shape. Otherwise, if a leak develops far from any land, I might be 'sunk' in the truest sense of the expression. This will probably cost in the neighbourhood of $ 600, since the boat will have to be taken out of the water once more for this task. However, this is a small price to pay for safety. I have cleaned up everything, as I went along. What is left to be checked now, is only the top side, the rigging, standing and running, which means climbing up the mast, and checking of the electrical connections to the solar panel.
But back to the events, which got me to this point in time. As I was reaching Texas, it finally became warmer. The snow disappeared, and I actually could get out of the car in shirtsleeves, and did not feel cold. In Phoenix I had meant to rent a car, to be dropped off in Los Angeles, where I was going to search for a boat. However, when I perused the map of California, I discovered, that the surveyor who had been appointed by the Canadian Coast Guard to measure my boat for Canadian registration, was located at Santa Cruz, near San Francisco, and not near Los Angeles. A quick enquiry with the airlines told me, that I would have to spend at least another $ 500, to get him down to L.A. Furthermore, all the car rental agencies charged a steep drop-off charge for cars going out-of-state. The decision was then quickly made to take the Greyhound bus to San Francisco, instead of going to L.A. I reasoned, that the San Francisco Bay area would be just as good a place, to search for a boat, suitable for my purposes, perhaps even better, because more better found boats would be available further north, because of the stronger winds generally prevailing there. The distance from San Francisco to Hawaii was the same as from L.A. to Hawaii.
As it turned out in the end, my conclusions were not off the mark. After I had arrived in San Francisco late at night, I checked into a cheap hotel downtown. Next morning I rented a car, and attempted to find my bearings. A tourist map showed me, that most of the boating establishments, marinas and boating supply facilities were located either in Sausalito, north across the Golden Gate Bridge, or in the East Bay area, on or near the island of Alameda. Alameda or the adjacent Oakland seemed to me to be a cheaper area to live, than the high class Sausalito, so I looked up motels in the yellow pages, and found a concentration of them on MacArthur Avenue. And that is where I settled down for the first two weeks.
'Latitude 38' is a San Francisco boating magazine with many ads of brokers, who advertise boats for sale. I started methodically to go through these ads, concentrating on the size of boat I wanted and the price range I could afford. My surveyor had advised me, what manufacturers to look for, and which ones to avoid. The 'Catalina', I had originally wanted to buy, was, in his opinion, and in the opinion of many others, whom I later asked, not suited for the purpose I had in mind, as it was rather too lightly built. The cost of a true ocean-going cruising boat, very sturdily built with a full length keel, was not within my budget. So I opted for a good quality 'coastal cruiser'. It also turned out, that boats built in the 70's were considered to be of better quality than those built in the 80's. This suited me fine, as the 'blue book' value decreases strictly with age, and does not take into account other aspects, such as more conservative (and better) construction methods. I did find a boat, which I really liked. 'Moonshot' was a 27 foot Watkins (1978), surprisingly big inside for its size, and with only 3'4" draft. In perfect condition, and well looked after, its listed price was only $ 16500. Several days, and many long-distance calls, I spent, to learn something about the quality of manufacture of this Florida-built boat. Nobody here knew much about the builder. In the end, heavy hearted, I decided against it, as the majority of the reports, which I was able to gather, indicated its quality as less than average, at least for the early years of its manufacture.
I did not want to buy a 30' Pearson, highly recommended, but having a conventional fin keel, because of the 5' draft. The 'Watkins' experience had taught me, not to discount boats with less than 30 feet over-all length. So I stumbled across the 29 foot Ericson. It had as much room inside as the 30 foot Pearson, and its draft was only 4'4". The elongated fin keel ensured relatively good tracking capabilities, at the same time providing better rudder responsiveness than a full-keeled boat, also more ruggedness in case of hitting a reef. And its size and mast height were not as intimidating as those of many of the 30 foot boats. After going through all the ads, there were two to choose from. One was in mint condition (1972), but the owner had it listed at $ 24000. My offer for $ 16000 was not accepted, but a counter offer for $ 20000, later dropped to $ 19000, was tendered. I later learned that the owner still owed $ 20000 to the bank for this boat. I then offered $ 14000 for another 29 foot Ericson (1974) which was in good condition, had a lot of extras, and was listed at $ 15900. After two days of anxious waiting, because the broker was unable to contact the owner, the happy news was, that this offer had been accepted.
Things went very fast from that point onwards, even surprising the broker, because I wanted to get out of the motel and move onto the boat. My surveyor was able to survey the boat the very next day, the yard was not busy, so that the boat could be taken out of the water right away. So everything was settled at the end of the third day. The survey was satisfactory. A mixup with the hull numbers (different in the papers from what was embossed on the fiberglass hull) was straightened out at the licensing agency in Sacramento, and the final papers were in my hands. So 27 October was the happy day, when I took possession, and actually taking the helm of 'Sundance', soon to be renamed 'Caraboi' ('water buffalo' in Khmer) I transferred her from the boat yard to Richmond Marina Bay, a half hour trip under power.
Last night I also had my first radio contact (ham radio) with Wolf Mucke in Toronto. It is good to know that with a little shortwave radio set like this one can span thousands of kilometers and talk to a friend. The quality of sound is not the same as on the telephone, but one can understand each other, and it does not cost anything. It is also good to know, that the three months of hard study, to obtain my amateur radio operator's license were not in vain, and this will provide some useful benefits on the voyage ahead.
10 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
Now I am again ensconced sitting in my semi-enclosed port bunk in the main cabin, and have my laptop computer in front of me on the table. As a matter of fact, this port bunk turned out to be a really comfortable berth for sleeping. Although it is rather narrow, one is prevented from falling out of it by the combination hanging locker/radio console along its forward end, and by the table along most of its remaining length. I think I shall use it as my berth for the voyage across the ocean.
This morning I realized that it is only two more weeks to Christmas, and then I certainly want to be out of here on the ocean on my way to Hawaii. So after breakfast I set to it. I finished inspecting the topside of the boat, desisting only to climb up the mast. It proved to be too slippery, without somebody else pulling me up in a bosun's chair. I made up my final list of items to be bought from West Marine, the major San Francisco yachting supplies retailer. It totalled $ 4500, and this includes such major items as a GPS positioning device ($ 1300), a water maker ($ 1700), a radar alarm ($ 350), three anchors and extra rode ($ 260).
This morning also a mechanic came to look at the engine and gave me a price for doing the servicing plus replacing some parts in accordance with the surveyor's recommendations ($ 350). So I instructed him to do the work tomorrow. My inspection of the sail inventory indicated, that I need at least a storm jib and perhaps also a small working jib. I have sails galore, but they are all light weather sails. So to the eight sails I have already, at least one more will be added ($ 350). Changing all the sea cocks and installing the Aries self-steering gear will run to another $ 800 or so, as I was quoted by the yard. And to total the list, the replacement of the standing rigging will run close to $ 1000. All the suppliers are here in Point Richmond, so that will make it relatively easy for me. Oh, I forgot the solar panels at a list price of $ 500. The total cost of the boat after all this will be Can$ 30000, right on target, allowing me another $ 5000 for the installation of a diesel engine in the Far East. And in conclusion I must say I got a few expensive items included, which I really had not hoped, I would be able to afford at this time, such as the water maker and refrigeration, which came with the boat.
Will I get all this done in two weeks? I think it is possible. This boat turns out to be a vast improvement over my first and previous boat, the 23 foot 'Chega'. With her I was down to basics, not even having electricity or a radio. Now I am loaded with electronics and have all the comforts of civilized life, ice in my drinks, high-fi music and not one but three two-way radios (ham radio, marine VHF and Citizen's Band). There is a back-up for almost everything. I even have weather-fax (satellite weather maps). At the small extra cost of $ 100 the interface and software works in conjunction with my ham radio and my laptop computer and printer. It is rather exciting to be able to make all these expensive purchases. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it is very satisfying when one can stay within one's pre-determined budget.
This night or tomorrow we are supposed to get some more rough weather, which will probably preclude going up the mast for a couple of days. Today was another sunny and relatively calm day, but some five degrees cooler than the day before.
12 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
Things are slowly falling into place. Perhaps I will make it out of here before Christmas, and perhaps not. They finally started working on the engine today, but will not finish before tomorrow afternoon, because a new water pump is needed, the old one showing signs of electrolytic corrosion. That means $ 150 on top of the original $ 370 estimate. On Monday, the boat will be hauled out again, to renew and make operable the sea cocks, two of them are not working now, and to install the Aries wind vane self-steering gear. The new name will be painted onto the boat at the same time. Since all this will take more than one day, I shall sleep on the boat, while it is propped up in the yard. The rigger will also come then and take measurements for the new suit of standing rigging. This should be installed by the end of next week also. On Wednesday I can pick up my new solar panels.
Good news from Canada today! My provisional registration documents should be ready to be picked up at the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco any day now. The name 'Caraboi' will be official then. I hope my 'Water buffalo' will carry me safely across the Pacific, to meet again my wonderful, natural mate Su and her two lovely children. While this boat has seen racing days in its early years, now it will be more like a steady plodder, like the admirable water buffalo, who slowly but steadily gets the job done without any fuss. I had some anxious moments, when I phoned yesterday to Ottawa, they could not find my application forms, and I had sent them by express mail almost ten days ago. But this morning they called back, everything was in order, and the provisional certificate will be faxed to the Consulate, where they will type it up properly and certify it. The shipping registration office in Canada is one Canadian government office which, in spite of all the aggravation of staff hiring cutbacks, they had to suffer at the hands of the Mulrooney government recently, has provided me with exemplary service, and all that at the total cost of Can$ 44, which is the application fee for registering a boat. They surely deserve a 'thank you' postcard, when I arrive in the Philippines.
So the only major thing left to do now, is to go to West Marine and get a good discount price and prompt delivery for the package of items on my list worth $ 4500. This I shall attend to tomorrow. At this point I am only some 5% over my budget, and I believe, this will be the final figure, really not too bad, since originally I had not allowed for the California 8% retail sales tax. But to ship this equipment out-of-state, and pick it up there, in order to save the tax, would be really too much trouble and add cost and time also.
Earlier today, I studied the pilot chart for December and decided on my route to Hawaii: From San Francisco harbour mouth (after passing under the Golden Gate bridge) to a point 25 degrees north, 132 degrees west (course 216 degrees, distance 912 nautical miles), and then straight for Hilo on the big island of Hawaii (course 260 degrees, distance 1296 miles). This routing will bring me into warm water and air temperatures in the fastest possible time, favours existing wind and current patterns at this time of the year, and cuts the three major shipping lanes (Balboa-Philippines, L.A.-Honolulu and Balboa-Honolulu) at reasonably sharp angles. The distance is only 190 miles longer than the great circle route between San Francisco and Hilo, but probably just as fast for a sailing vessel, because of better winds and currents. On top of that, I shall not have to contend with all the major shipping along the direct route. It looks like a 20 day passage all told at an average speed of 4.7 knots.
Earlier this evening I had another good radio contact with Wolf Mucke in Toronto, the first really good contact in fact. This will improve when I am out on the ocean, as my antenna will then not be obstructed the the many masts of the sail boats all around me here in the marina, which shield off my transmissions. I am glad, it is not quite as cold here as it is in Toronto. It is bad enough with night temperatures dipping down to near freezing. Without the heater in the boat I would be rather miserable. There will be a few uncomfortable days offshore without the benefit of shore power at the beginning of my trip, until I reach more favourably latitudes.
17 December 1991, Cal-Coast Boat Yard, Richmond
Last night and this night the boat is out of the water sitting up in a cradle in the boat yard. This still does not prevent me from living on it, except that I have to refrain from emptying any water through my various outlets. Today was a special day, since from today on my boat will be known as 'Caraboi', and not any more as 'Sundance'. Yesterday afternoon and this morning, I was busy to scrape the old name off the stern and the California registration numbers of the bows. Then I had some paste-ons made up for the new name and now she sports 'Caraboi' on both bows and 'Caraboi', and below that 'Toronto', on the stern. The seacocks were replaced this morning, and the wind vane self-steering has also been attached. Some of the standing rigging has already been taken off for replacement.
So things are coming along. My personal big achievement this evening was to install a 12 Volt outlet in the main cabin, and to adapt with appropriate plugs two Radio Shack 12 Volt to 9 Volt adapters to be used in re-charging my computer and printer from the boat's main power supply.
An unpleasant surprise this evening, as it started to rain fairly heavily: Three of my windows are leaking slightly. This means I have some more work to do, unscrew them and re-seal them with silicone. While the leaks are not big, they are bothersome, as the drops of water are running down the walls and soak my books on the shelf above the bunk.
19 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
Yesterday I brought 'Caraboi' back to the marina. This morning I rented a car for a day and went 'Christmas' shopping. The two major items were the GPS positioning unit for myself and the water maker for Su, so that she can have her beloved showers every day, when she is on the boat. It is amazing, what technology has brought us. Sailing certainly is not the same, as it was a few decades ago. With the water maker I can have fresh water made from seawater at the rate of 5 liters an hour. All I need is four amperes of electrical current, which the solar panels can easily produce. The panels I also picked up today and lots and lots of small items, not counting a hundred dollars worth of food. The car was absolutely loaded, as I pulled into the marina tonight, and it took me four dock carts full to transport all the goods to 'Caraboi'.
All in all, my spending total for the day was about $ 5000. But at this point I have almost everything, that I need. All that is left now are the new storm jib and repaired mainsail from the sailmaker, the installation of the standing rigging to be completed, and to fully provision with food and fuel for the voyage. Above all, I must install all my newly purchased goodies and try them out, to see how they work. And then I have to take the boat out, and actually sail it on the Bay, using the self-steering gear and various combinations of sails. So there is still a lot to do. But the end is in sight, and my departure is probably no more than one week away.
24 December 1991, Christmas Eve, Richmond Marina Bay
Yes, I am still here, and I had wanted to be on the high seas by this time. However, I am a lot closer to leaving, than I was when I last wrote in this diary. My bills are all paid. The grand total amounts to Can$ 32000. All that is left to spend, is food, provisions and fuel for the leg to Hawaii. I am well on my way, to have all the new equipment installed and tried out. The GPS is giving me positions almost on demand, even being mounted inside the cabin. The fiberglass body seems to admit the satellite signals readily. This morning I received my first satisfactory weather fax map, albeit only from San Francisco, just across the Bay. The evening transmission from Hawaii was somewhat less than satisfactory.
I have installed the extra water tank, the water maker and all the associated piping and plumbing: water intake, seawater rejection and freshwater feed line to water tank number two. I have also installed the sensitive volt meter, to monitor the state of charge of my two batteries, and I have installed a second 12 V outlet for re-charging the GPS. All the plumbing is finished now, only electrical connections remain to be installed for the trolling generator, the water maker and the solar panels. And then, of course, the all-important sea trials.
The installation of new kerosene burners into my stove presented a problem, as the thread of the new burners did not fit the ones on the stove now. So I took the stove to a machine shop, to have the intake pipes re-threaded. They promised to do it the day after Christmas (Boxing Day), and I had to leave the stove with them. That meant no cooking was possible for two days, giving me the excuse, to have dinner tonight at a Thai restaurant. There are many Thai restaurants and shops here, and the amazing thing for me is, that the people working there actually speak Thai, not like in Toronto, where they are either Chinese or Malay and do not understand a word of Thai. So I had some delicious Thai food accompanied by some California wine. I actually conversed only in Thai with the two waitresses, much to their and my delight. Most of the guests in the restaurant were also Thai with just a few 'farangs' strewn in. It was so pleasant, to hear Thai music again and hear this beautiful melodious language spoken, and to watch the pleasant and gentle mannerisms of the people.
What a difference to the blacks that you see here so many of. While most of them are quite easy to deal with, their loud language and often brash behaviour are such an antithesis to the gentle manners of the Asians, especially the Thai. It really makes me realize again and again, where I belong. All of the blacks seem to be driving large cars, many Cadillacs, beaten up mind you, among them. Most of the women, and many of the younger ones too, are fat, and when they speak, you can hear them a block away.
The other day I realized, that a facet of the character of so many of them is an aversion to conform to a unified and disciplined society. As I was standing at one street corner I noticed within a radius of only 100 metres not less than six churches. All of them store front ones, to be sure, but different churches nevertheless, bearing all kinds of fancy names. The variety of different religious groupings amongst blacks in North America is a reflection of the multitude of different tribes in their continent of origin, and bodes ill for their ability or willingness to subjugate themselves to any central authority, or to being 'part of the team'. How much different the Japanese, who by working together, have been phenomenally successful, in raising their living standard, or the Thai, 95 percent of whom subscribe to a universal Buddhist religion, and the 55 million of them, who venerate one king, but still are happily independent in their daily lives.
27 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
A frustrating three days finally ended in success and satisfaction. It started, when on the afternoon of Christmas Day I got finished installing the electrical connections for the trolling generator and for the water maker. Just as a finishing touch, I pulled over the harness of assorted electrical lines away from the engine exhaust pipe, so that they would not be damaged by the heat from the engine. Then I switched on the light in the cabin (still on shore power, 110 Volt). The light flickered on and then went out. The heater did not work either, so something was wrong with the shore power supply, after it had entered the boat, as on inspection the shore power plug measured 110 Volt on my meter. It was pitch black by this time, and I resigned myself to a night without the heater. I could not prepare my food either, as my 110 Volt kettle did not work without power, so after a shower I took off on the bicycle, looking for a restaurant. Lo and behold, on this day every possible place was closed, even MacDonalds. Finally I found a little Chinese place where I could get my 'Christmas dinner', sweet and sour pork. And then back to the boat for a cold night, straight into my sleeping bag.
Yesterday, Boxing Day, after tracing the power outage to a loose wire in the shore power receptacle of the boat (disconnected by shifting the wire harness away from the exhaust pipe of the engine the night before), I had picked up my re-threaded kerosene burners from the machine shop, so I could install them in my erstwhile alcohol stove. On this task I laboured till this afternoon, adjusting the burners endlessly. My efforts culminated in a bicycle ride in the rain to get some extra parts for the stove's installation. Now I am sitting here full with the first meal, Thai-style stir-fry, prepared on the newly converted, and finally working stove.
The rain is being brought in by a large low pressure area, coming in from the ocean, which I had seen on my weather fax char t already a couple of days ago. While not exactly helpful to my other plans, the resulting rain proved, that my resealing of the windows had been successful, as the boat is now bone dry. To top good things off, today I had a nice chat with Hank (KH6-DEH, the Hawaiian end net controller of the California-Hawaii amateur radio net) at Honolulu. He comes into my set with a really strong signal, and he receives me also quite well. I related my story, and he said, that he would be listening for me daily on the net, learning about my progress.
What else did go wrong today? Yes, I plugged in my 12 Volt charger for the computer into 110 Volt shore power. Boom, the fuse of the shore power burnt through. This was easily fixed, but what showed up later, the batteries in my computer were also blown. So I had to install the spare set, and had to re-initialize the computer all over again. Luckily I had all the relevant information from the virtual hard disk backed up on diskettes. This was the second time, that I had plugged an appliance into the wrong system. Some day I shall learn, not to do this. The other day I had plugged my 12 Volt searchlight into 110 Volt, resulting in blowing the bulb. So far the damage caused by these mistakes has been kept within limits. Once I leave here, I shall not have this problem any more, as there will only be 12 Volt power available from my batteries, and the other receptacles will be dead. It is unlike that, once away from the American mainland, I shall ever have access to shore power again. Then I shall strictly have to depend on what I can generate on the boat itself.
31 December 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
Perhaps the next time I make an entry in this diary, it will be on the high seas. Tonight as I sit here listening to the tunes of the 'Merry Widow'(in German) on my stereo system broadcast by KDFC-FM, San Francisco, the local Public Radio station, I am ready in all respects to leave. All the stores and fuel have been bought and put away, all the equipment is installed and working. All the tanks are full, and the boat sits a bit lower in the water than before. I plan to leave on the afternoon of 2 January, after I have cleared with U.S. Customs in the morning. Tomorrow I shall take the boat out on the Bay again, to try out the self-steering gear. I had her out two days ago, but it was almost dead calm, so the wind vane did not react to what little breeze there was. However, I pulled up the sails, and tried out the water maker for 20 minutes. The water, it produced, tasted quite good.
Today I was busy to buy my perishable goods. I have now almost two months worth of supplies of food on board, at a total cost of about $ 300 (including liquor, beer and wine). I hope, the boat does not sink, and all this good food will get wasted on the fish. I also decided to invest in a second cooking system (propane, at the total extra cost of $ 140) for bad weather, when it may be difficult to pre-heat the kerosene burners. Also with propane one does not have to worry about smoking up the cabin through extended use of kerosene. The small propane tank I strapped down outside on the cockpit bench.
After I came back from shopping, I was busy to put the food away, rubbing the eggs with Vaseline (to make them keep longer) and cut up the fresh meat into little pieces (or thin slices), separating them into meal-size portions, salting them and enclosing them in airtight zip-lock bags. According to a Filipino lady, meat, preserved like this, will keep unrefrigerated almost indefinitely. However I stuck all the envelopes (some 20 portions) into my freezer compartment, where I shall keep them frozen, as long as I have power available.
The weather has been fine today. However, a small new Low, which is supposed to bring strong contrary winds tomorrow, is approaching. Behind that is a large High, and I should be able to ride down the front of it (northerly winds) far enough south to get into the Trade Wind belt. The 72 hour prognosis (for 3 January) looks real good for my route. All this information I get from the weather fax maps, which I make a point receiving over my radio every morning. The crowd on the California-Hawaii ham radio net will be watching my progress with interest, taking down my positions daily.
By the way, all the free money, which I had, is spent now. All I have left is some $ 600 in cash. But then, barring unforeseen circumstances, it should last me for the next three months, considering that I have two months worth of food on board. I have my own accommodation, and for energy I shall use what nature provides for free, the wind to blow me where I want to go, and the sun to produce the electricity through my solar panels, to run the various electronic gimmicks, I use and like to play with. And the larder will hopefully also be supplemented by the bounty of the sea. I got good advice from an experienced ocean sailor, what kind of lure to use (white or red feather) and how to trail it right in the face of the second bow wave behind the boat.
1 January 1991, Richmond Marina Bay
The die has been cast, the decision has been made, to leave tomorrow, as soon as I get back from Customs with my clearance papers. I am as ready as I shall ever be, and if I tarry any longer I may never get away. Tonight over the Hawaiian-California ham radio net I have already announced my impending departure, Wolf Mucke in Toronto had also tuned in, and although conditions were not too good, to talk with him at length, he understood my message. The weather prognosis is as good as one can expect it at this time of year. I shall have to fight at least some contrary winds, and some of them strong ones, but the forecast, at least for the next two days, is beam winds from the southeast, not exceeding 25 knots. This weather fax is sure a nice thing to have. The weather map is so much more illuminating than a spoken forecast.
I went out for several hours again sailing on the Bay. This time there were 15 knot winds, at least for part of the time. The 'Aries' worked quite well, once I had discovered, that the connecting lines to the tiller had to be crossed. I was happily sailing along, wandering all over the deck and through the cabin, with the boat steering herself. It was also the first day, that I proudly hoisted my Canadian flag and the American courtesy flag. Everything has been done, that I could think of, and I feel good about being ready to leave. It would have been rather depressing to hang around here any longer, waiting for more suitable weather. If it turns bad out there, I shall just have to brave it.