It's been too long since my last post

Although I have not posted lately, the catamaran dream is still very much alive in my mind. I am working very hard now so that I can make this dream come true in the future. It is not easy. We are still stuck in the mud financially but the economy is beginning to show signs of improvement. I am very hopeful and optimistic that one way one day I will be cruising behind the wheel of my very on Catamaran. At the very least i will bareboat charter a Cat to get the feel for it. I won't be fully satisfied until I can chart my own course aboard my own ship on my own schedule.

The plan in the spring of 2011 is to continue sailing classes which will include Bareboat chartering and catamaran sailing. I believe Mary Swift of Afterguard Sailing Academy indicated I may be able to combine the two into one class. We shall see.

I finally took some time out to do a little Googling for anything new regarding Catamarans. The charter cat called Catatonic which is a Lagoon 440 popped up. It peaked my interest because it comes equipped with Scuba equipment. For those that don't know I also help run a web site called DiversOne which is a social networking site devoted to Scuba Divers. DiversOne has consumed much of my spare time which is one reason why I have neglected this blog. If I get the point where I am trained and can afford a Catamaran Sailing vacation I will look for one that has Scuba equipment and a compressor to fill the tanks on board. This cat also comes fully equipped. Even has Wifi on board. Sweet! Check out the video.



For the really big dreamers I also read about the new Sunreef Yacht equipped with Eco Friendly Solar Panels. Photo shown above upper right.

Coastal Cruising Done! Bareboat and Cat Class Next

I had the pleasure of delivering a sailboat from Richmond to the docs of the Afterguard Sailing Academy in an effort to finished my Basic Coastal Cruising course. Next up is the Bareboat charter and then the Catamaran class. Now I just need to find the time to squeeze it in. We are off to Bahamas for 5 days of Diving this month. Perhaps I can find time in August. What I would do for a couple weekends with nothing planned. Sounds refreshing.

I just can't catch up. Friday I was Tuna fishing out of HMB, Saturday was the 4th of July block Partner and Sunday I was finishing up my Sailing certification. Very busy and eventful weekend. If I am not doing any of the above then I am either playing soccer or watching my 12 year old play. In addition to that I do have a day job and in my spare time i help out with www.diversone.com which by the way is really starting to take off.

I am at a time in my life where no matter what i decide to do there is something else that I have to pass on. I am doing my best to balance family, work and play and still strive to achieve goals and dreams. Don't get me wrong. Life is pretty good even though the economy is in the tank. I still feel very lucky to be me, but oh do I look forward to a simpler life.

Special thanks to Mary from AfterGuard Sailing Academy for taking and sending this photo of me at the helm crossing the slot with the Golden Gate bridge in the background. Mary has an unending wealth of knowledge that she passes on to her customers going above and beyond what is required for the class. Awesome!

New Found Respect for Sailors

I have a new found respect for Sailors after my 1st weekend of the Basic Coastal Cruising course. Although I learned a lot I still have many questions and much to learn. It is not as easy as I had imagined. Unless you are the skipper and all you to is hand out orders I found sailing to be a mentally and physically challenging in the windy part of the bay. Not to mention there is much to learn about sail trim and the affects of the wind, tides and currents. To be honest it is a lot more work then I imagined at least aboard the boat that we learned on. I know it is important to learn the hard way but I am also learning about what not to do and how I will want my boat to be configured so that sailing is enjoyable for me.

We learned in the SF Bay which is known for strong winds, currents and constantly changing conditions. I learned aboard a 32 foot sloop rigged monohull without a roller furled Jib. This meant dragging a sail to the front of the boat and manually connecting the sail. Most importantly when the wind conditions suddenly changed and became very windy our teacher decided this would be a great time for us to experience changing the Jib in rough conditions. Since we had not practiced this in calm conditions we experienced this for the 1st time in rough conditions. We donned our wet gear and attached ourselves to life lines with safety harnesses and self inflating life vests. Although we completed the task successfully with our teachers guidance and without any issues it was by far the most nerve racking and physically challenging adventure so far. I can only imagine what it would be like to be caught in a storm in the ocean with swells and waves and wind. Even keeping the boat cruising in a straight line required a lot of concentration. I imagined being caught in a storm for 12 hours or more under these conditions which I am sure is not uncommon during an extended crossing.

As I am learning I am realizing what my limits are and what it will take for me to warrant the charter and eventually the purchase of a sailboat. I imagine inviting friends many of which will not have any experience. I will need a boat that can fairly easily be single handed. I will require a boat with a boom that is high enough so as not to knock anyone out do to an accidental Jib. Although performance will be important I may choose a self tacking Jib option for those days when you are entertaining non sailing guests. It will have to have a roller furling Jib. I will require a wind direction gauge located in the cockpit so I don't have to look up to the top of the mast. From what I can tell so far my only acceptable boat choice will be a well thought out performance cruising catamaran. From what I can tell a catamaran is the only choice to balance comfort, performance and ease of sailing.

We still have one more weekend to complete the Coastal Cruising course. After that I believe I have two more courses to round out my experience and prepare me for bareboat charters on a Catamaran. I will be very happy once I have completed the training and hope to have answered the majority of my questions and concerns about sailing. It has been an adventure to say the least. This phase however is the hard part and I look forward to the part where sailing is less of a challenge and more of an adventure.

We are taking our sailing lessons through the AfterGuard Sailing Academy. I have been very pleased with their operation and highly recomend them.

http://www.afterguard.net

Sailing Classes Finaly

Finally signed up for Sailing classes. The next step towards achieving my dream. Soon you will have to refer to me as Captain CatManDav or some rendition of that. lol. Soon I plan to charter a Catamaran in the SF area. Awesome!

I signed up through the Afterguard Sailing Academy. I met the instructor at the Strictly Sail boat show in Oakland last month and was impressed with their operation and prices. Per her request I have purchased the book Sailing Fundamentals book by Gary Jobson. I have a lot of reading to do although I am sure I will do fine on the tests. three weekends and 3 or 4 weeknight sails and I should have completed the Basic Keelboat and Basic Coastal Cruising courses. After that it is on to bareboat and Catamaran classes at which point I will be ready to sail.

I found out at the Strictly Sail boat show about the Electric Leopard Catamaran that is available for day charters. I believe they said the price is about 500 for the day. Not bad if you split the costs amongst 12 friends give or take. Maybe I can even rent it for a big weekend someday soon. Might even make my captain services available for a chance to log some sailtime. Just need to find the time.

I recently won a 6 night stay in the Bahamas. We also have a week long trip planned to Lake Davis and I will no doubt spend a week hunting again this year. That only leaves me with 4 days of random vacation days. Maybe the boss will slip me an extra day or so here and there.

Strickly Sail Boat Show 2009

My wife and I attended the annual Strictly Sail boat show in Jack London Square on Friday which included some power boats as well. I had seen all the cat’s there before accept for the Electric Leopard 43. It is powered by a Mercedes diesel generator. One motor instead of 3 sounds like a good idea to me unless it breaks down. I had a couple snapshots taken of me behind the wheel. Someday it will be for real rather then tied to the dock.

We stopped at every booth that offered sailing training. As it turns out the best deal might be to train out of Isleton ca. Apparently there is an outfit located there just off hwy12. Although you will be training in a wide part of the Sac delta I am told by ASA(American Sailing Association) it doesn’t matter where you learn to sail the certification is the same. I still have to research the Isleton outfit to see if it will suit my needs and budget. We also met a nice lady who ran the Afterguard Sailing Academy. Pricewise that would probably be the second choice. The OCSC sailing outfit is top notch and a little more expensive. They did have a pretty good price on a package deal but I am afraid money is a factor and as long as a certification is a certification then I may end up taking the less expensive route.

We took advantage of the free 30 minute sail aboard one of their Hunter sailboats. That was fun but again, not the same until I actually venture off for the 1st time on my own on my own boat or at least for now a rented one. 30 minutes is fun, but it is not the same as going on a sailing adventure. Apparently you can rent one of the big Cat’s for around 500 for the day. Dived that by 12 and you have a full day of fun for less then 50 bucks each. Not bad. Some day….. Some day….

DiversOne.com is going strong. We are already up to over 300 members and 1500 high quality photo, videos. you can blog and contribute to some of the many Forum topics. We added a Classifieds section and have many new features coming any day now. If you like diving or are considering becoming a diver please join us. Click here to sign up for free. www.diversone.com

What have you been up to?

Some might wonder if the dream is still alive. It is and I still keep an eye out on the Catamaran front. I just haven't had much time to devote to my blog. In case you are wondering I have been busy with new web project which has occupied all of my free time. I have partnered with a fellow dive buddy of mine to build a social networking site for Divers. It is phase one of a larger project to offer a complete source for all things diving related. As soon as I can catch my breath I plan to do something similar for Catamarans.

The goal of DiversOne is to become a one stop shop for all things dive related. If you are a diver this website should the 1st place you go for diving related socializing and information. Obviously we are on the ground floor so bare with us. We are looking for beta users. Please sign up and give us your opinion. Don't be surprised if in the next week or so to find lots of new users joining in on the fun. We are very excited to launch this site and look forward to adding features to it as soon as possible.

I am sure many of you Catamaran owners enjoy diving whether this includes snorkeling, scuba diving or hunting for food in some exotic location. I look forward to combining Catamaran cruising with diving among other things. I would love to hear from other cruisers about their diving experiences from their sailboats.

This looks like fun.

Free Multihulls World Magazine Download

Looks like the link to the download is no longer valid, but I will leave the post anyway in case you want to check out their site.

The Multihulls World Magazine is available for download and it is free as of the time I am posting this blog entry. I thought I would pass it on to other members. If you are interested in Multihulls this is a must read.

http://www.multihulls-world.com/us/download-magazine-103,462.html

4 New Fast Cruiser Racers

There are four new cats I have read about that have peaked my interest. The Jan-Feb 2009 issue of Multihulls World magazine reported on two of them. The January 2009 Sail magazine had a lot more Catamaran information in this copy then usual. You will notice a theme surrounding these tree cats. Sail magazine called them Feral cats. I call them fast, affordable and have the accommodations that should suit my needs when the time comes.

The Sig 45 looks like it has potential. They claim in only 8 days of sea trials as of Nov 2008 that the top boat speed is 22 knots with 24 knot wind. Check out this video for a view inside and out at high speed. Sure does make me wish I were sailing. I would want some shade as the summers in and around the SF Delta and Bay Area can get hot. Additionally it can be just as cold so I would consider some sort of shelter to get out of the weather. You can’t have everything though. I am not sure I want a tiller driven cat, but we will have to see. According to a recent article in MultiHulls World magazine, the 9th commandment is “Thou shalt buy a multihull that is easy to sail”. I don’t know how easy this cat is to sail, but it sure looks like fun.

While researching the Sig 45 I came across the Moxi 37 which also peaked my interest. I am seeing a pattern here with these new designs. Light, fast, functional and affordable. They are not something to live on, but you could certainly be comfortable for a week and get from point A to B in no time. The Moxi 37 weighs in at only 7165 lbs. The cockpit forward design boasts the ability to enclose both the helm area and the entire bridge deck area with canvas and vinyl windows.

I was unable to find much on the XLight 45. It appears to have some similar structural characteristics from the small photo in Multihulls World. They say if you liked the TS 50 you will like this one as well. They report it will be light fast and easy to maintain. I will keep an eye out for more information.

The choices seem to be increasing with the popularity. Sail magazine n the Jan 2009 issue compared Monohulls to Multihulls and gave the advantage to Catamarans in 4 out of the 5 area's that were compared. The area where Monohulls won was in Sailing Performance. I am sure with the right Cat you could easily give the advantage to Catamarans in all 5 categories

I like what I am seeing, but where will the microwave and big screen TV with Surround sound go? Later in life perhaps…. .

Christmas in Puerto Morelos

My family decided to spend Christmas in Puerto Morelos Mexico this year. Puerto Morelos is a short drive South of Cancun. There were 12 of us in all. Rather then spend a bunch of money on gifts we spent it on travel expenses and excursions. Puerto Morelos is a family friendly town and was not overrun with Tourists. It is much less expensive then Cancun and not so crowded.

We stayed at the Posada El Moro. It may be the best deal in town for the money. It was no 5 star resort by any means, but for location and staff I give it a 10. It has a pool with a shallow area for kids. It is less then a block away from the center of this family friendly town and has free Internet Access in the hotel lobby for its guests. There is some construction going on and they have some kinks to work out with the hot water heater and AC unit in the room we were in, but over all it was a pleasant stay.

One day on my way out to a local dive spot, I spotted a large 50 foot Catamaran moored behind the protected reef near the peer at the center of town. I imagined what it would be like to stay on the Catamaran VS the Hotel we were at. Especially on the 5th or 6th day without a TV, a fridge and sometimes hot water. It was windy so there may be some mild waves slapping and a bit of motion. I am curious what a night in those conditions would be like. I suppose as you get used to it you would be rocked to sleep. Unfortunately for me after the 5th or 6th night at the hotel I began to miss the comforts of home. I am confident a properly outfitted cruising Catamaran would eliminate the desire to go home.

Since I am still a long way from retirement but still strongly desire to spend a lot of time on a Catamaran I will require full functional while at sea. What I will be seeking in a Cat is a mobile office. Since I primarily work from home I could conceivably work from a properly configured Cat. As long as I have a strong Internet connection I could theoretically work wirelessly from the back porch of the Cat sipping coffee in the morning enjoying a new and amazing each day. During breaks for lunch I could drop a line in the water and maybe catch something for lunch or take a dip to cool off. Some day….. Some day…..  Still dreaming.