July 4th weekend, 2000, Monterey California
We took a long weekend trip (by car) to Monterey, California on July 4th weekend, 2000. We'd lived in San Franccisco for almost 2 years and still hadn't visited this gorgeous town yet. We were walking along the piers taking in teh sites when our stomachs began to grumble. Bullwackers Restaurant looked to be a fine place for some good fare. The restaurant had some nautical motif and perhaps that's what started the conversation. We can't remember who was the one to bring up sailboats and the possibility of sailing wherever we wanted to go, perhaps even around the world. Abe had known a co-worker in Germany who had a sailboat, and had at one time enteretained the idea of possibly owning a boat once retired from teh Army. He liked the ide of being able to pick up whenever he wanted to go different places. I'm not sure he ever though of going around the world. In the course of a lunch, we decided , "Why not!?" It really was a spur of the moment kind of decision.
Abe was teaching computer engineering courses at the time, and in the first class following our decisioin, he had two gentlemen in his class that were assosicated with boating. The first was a member of the Coast Guard. The second, and more fateful, it seems, was a guy who told Abe he, his wife and his son were going to sail around the world. That sealed the deal ofr us. It seemed like we had a great resource to pick brains right off the bat!
We started sailing classes in August at OCSC in Berkely. It had been some tyears since Abe had sailed, and Amy had been only once when she was much younger. OCSC is an amazing school for any of you who may think you want to sail. Very impressive business model and great, great customer service. After we had the class aboard a 24' J boat, and after much research of ocean -worthy boats, we went on the search for our new home.
In January 2001 we bought a 1981 44 foot Kelly Peterson cutter. It is our home, our toy, and our pride and joy. On 6 September 2004 we will sail under the Golden Gate Bridge and turn left, headed towards warmer weather and big adventures.
It seems a bit self-aggrandizing to keep a personal web-site, but we've been asked by numerous people to make some sort of record of our adventure. Friends and family want to keep up with where we are and what's new. Also, as we were preparing for our trip, we found it so incredibly beneficial to read other cruisers' accounts of what to expect and how to better plan and prepare. Most importantly, though, with our memories not being what they once were (at least in Amy's case!) a record can't hurt!