Saltbreaker

If I put my ear next to the deck I can hear the spray from the hose gushing down the pipe to our water tanks in the cabin below. I bend at the waist to look through the nearest open porthole and see the back of Alex’s head. “What’s the verdict?” I ask. “It’s getting pretty close, ” he says, leaning over the 10″ circular viewing pane on top of the tank. “Should I stop?” “Uh…let’s see what happens.” The dock is barely lit by…

A few days ago I decided to deal with our dirty bilges. I followed some tubing from the cockpit to find a pump we never knew existed in the bilge furthest aft. Turns out the float switch was set way too high, so there was a decent amount of water built up. Being nearly under the engine, it was filled with years worth of oil drippings, so I got really gunked up reaching up to my elbow in the opaque black water to reposition the…

Actually, my girlfriend Lauren’s parents’ high school friend knows a guy, who knows a guy who sailed around the world (Kevin Bacon may actually be closer). The important part however is that a few weeks ago we were fortunate enough to be introduced to Larry Jacobson, who recently returned from a successful circumnavigation and who graciously volunteered his (and his partner Ken’s) time to sit down and talk with us about their trip and make sure we weren’t forgetting something in our planning. Armed with…

About 6 months ago, we realized there was simply too much material to learn for each of us to study everything we’ll need to know to make this thing happen, so we split the work up 3 ways. As it stands, Alex is tasked with studying weather patterns, our boat’s electronics, and linguistics. I’m in charge of marine life, navigation, and diesel engines, and Dave Green is learning about provisioning and medical considerations. This list doesn’t actually look that bad until you really look at…

After nearly a solid week of delays, we’re finally back in the water; removing the head intake thru-hull proved to be harder than we had expected, painting the boot stripe turned out to be a two day affair, and cleaning up and inspecting the shaft log was dirtier and more difficult that we had imagined. Working on the boat 8 hours a day for 2 weeks paid off though, and last Thursday she was lowered into the water with only a slight leak in the…

After last Tuesday’s haul out, we pulled tons and tons of money out of the bank to hand over to the the previous owner of the boat soon to be known Saltbreaker. Having this much money gave me all sorts of opportunities I knew I’d never have again. Throwing it all up in the air or using a bill to light a cigar were both good options, but in the end I settled with fanning myself, throwing it out the window to Alex, and burying…

In the past several months we’ve seen dozens of boats; most of them here in the bay area, and several in La Paz. Of all the boats we’ve seen, some were out of our price range while others would potentially need years of work before they would be ready. One in particular, a Valiant 32′ stood out and we began to pursue it. A couple of weeks ago we took it out for sea trials in the bay, and after a bit of consideration took…

My brother and I along with a dear friend will be leaving this May in a 32 foot sailboat in an attempt to complete a 2 year circumnavigation. We’ve just finalized the purchase of our boat, and the time has come to think of a new name for her. Among other things, the three of us are united by a love of your music and have seen you every time you make it through San Francisco. On our way to your last SF show, we…