Our First Video

Wow, the weather has really turned!!  Its only around 17 or 18 Celsius the past few days, its sooo cold.  (Sorry, I just had to rub it in.)

As we sit here listening to the water gentling lapping against the boat and the sound of the sea birds overhead --- NOT.  Where we are now, Point Loma Marina, all day long we hear the sound of military helicopters and jets flying overhead.  Yes, we’re that close to the military installation.  They’ve told us that this is probably the safest place on earth.  Who cares, really???  I don’t feel the need to have millions of tons of machinery and bombs, etc. protecting me.  Give me back the peace and quiet of nature.  Oh well, we expect to be moving on March first.  We’ll keep you posted.

We’ve been working with Captain Marty for 4 days now.  Today we have a day off.  It feels like we keep taking stuff out of the boat and putting it back again, over and over.  And Marty says we’ll do it a few more times before he’s done with us.  Oh, the toil of it all!  We’ve been through the captain’s quarters, the V-berth and both heads.  We started on the Galley yesterday, but didn’t finish it.  We uncovered the bilge and pumped it out, and discovered more storage down there.  We want to get it bone dry and then continue following pipes and wires as we learn what this boat is all about.

Today, we’re hoping to work on the dinghy and get it started so that we can have a little mini-cruise of the harbour. 

Archie continues to love it here.  Trouble is, he keeps wanting to go out, then come back in, and go out again, etc., etc.  We have to keep an eye on him cause we have to tether him to make sure he doesn’t jump or fall off.  At the captain’s suggestion, we’re going to get a bell for him so we always know when he is moving.  Same goes for Piggy, but he still hides all day, so there is no rush for him.

The other way, we observed a bird fishing.  Too bad we didn’t have the video camera with us, cause it was really neat.  There was a school of really small fish, and he’d start by going beside one of the boats where the fish couldn’t see him.  Then he’d dive down, swim under the boat, keeping in the shade all the time.  Then suddenly, he’s emerge from underneath them, catching them by surprise.  We saw him do this over and over again.  Cool.

So, we haven’t been sailing yet.  After we finish the galley, we’ll be emptying out the salon (the main living area) under which the motor resides.  Once we’ve covered the motor, we’ll start it up, back up and back into the slip again.  We’ll be doing that until we’re comfortable bringing her in and out.

That’s all for this post.  However, we were able to load a couple of video’s onto youtube.  We put the links in our last blog post, but here they are again.  Sorry to all our friends at RBC who won’t be able to watch from work.  Maybe you’ll try from home.

For Videos go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrlTZpEtygc

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uh4-vMVJcY

Miss you all.

Learning the Boat

We’ve now spent two days with Captain Marty.  We’ve been taking the boat apart, basically, from bow to stern.  We’re about ½ way through through the inside.  We now know which pipes vent the propane out to sea (to keep us from blowing up!) and how the heads work, including which pipes go to the holding tank and which ones go outside.  We know how to pump out the heads using the marina’s pumps as well as how to manually pump them out to sea (once we’re three miles or more off-shore).

We’re amazed at how many cubby holes and hiding places there are on board.  And the captain is impressed with the size and layout of this thing as well.  He says our boat is only about 10 feet longer than his, but has about 4 times the space!  Good for us!!

We’ve replaced a hose and washed out the stern locker.  We had to take our bed apart to get underneath it to follow tubing, chains and electrical wires, what a pain!  But we’re learning a lot.

We also manually pumped all the water out of the dingy and given her a good washing.

Captain Marty is not with us today.  He had to deliver another boat to Mexico.  But that only means we’re busy doing all the homework he gave us.  We’re just about to have lunch, then out to wash off the deck, which is fun!!  Its such a pleasure to be out there in shorts and sun dresses and bare feet, getting wet. 

Piggy is still terrified, as usual, so he hides all day.  But Archie is having the time of his life.  He gets to explore all the cubby holes and even lie in the sun outside.  Here’s a couple of pictures of him doing his usual.

Yesterday we went to Walmart.  Kelly, get this!  We picked up 6 bottles of wine (should have gotten more) for only $1.97 each.  No kidding.  We now have 9 bottles sitting in the “wine cellar” under the galley floor.

We have now replaced the wire furling line with rope.  Should be much easier to operate now.

We’ve not had the time to play with video yet.  We’re have issues getting it loaded on the blog.  We might have to post on Youtube and provide a link here instead.  Stay tuned. 

Oh, and here is a picture of one of the many beautiful sunsets we saw on the way down here:

For Videos go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrlTZpEtygc

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uh4-vMVJcY

We Made it to San Diego

Well, it took a week all told, but we made it to our boat.  We’ve been busy, busy, busy since we arrived.

Today we finished unpacking and stowing all our stuff.  We had to take out everything the previous owners left, throw out what we didn’t want and find places for all our clothing, electronics, linens, etc.  We’re quite amazed at all the space on board.  We actually have lots of storage space that is empty at the moment. 

We’ve been having lots of issues getting a working phone and internet service.  The reception around here is horrible.  We’ve been told that it is due mostly to the military that is nearby.  I guess they block of lot of the signals.  Apparently, the locals complain about it all the time.  We have a temporary cell phone, but we’re paying 10 cents a minute.  We got wifi service for $20 a month, but its not too reliable.  Not reliable enough to use the Magic Jack (which gives us free local and long distance phone service), and that stinks.

Archie (one of the cats) is loving it here.  He’s out on deck in the sunshine most of the time.  He hasn’t jumped off yet, but I’m a little worried he’ll slip and fall in.  I don’t know if he’d be able to make his own way back on the dock or not, as they are quite high.  So, whenever we leave, we put him below and lock in him, just in case.

The weather here is gorgeous.  Its been around 24 everyday except for one.  We’re in short sleeves most of the time.

Our bed is the most comfortable we’ve ever slept in.  Its so cozy in bed that we want to crawl into it all the time.  There’s one of those space age Swedish foam mattresses on it, and its very, very large.  We have about 7 pillows on it and a nice TV at the foot.  Its wonderful.

We’ve been able to cook on the propane stove and on the bar-b-que.  We think we’ll be buying a new bar-b-que right away as this one is old and doesn’t work too well.  The stove is also a challenge as we’re not able to adjust the flame.  Everything cooks on high!  You know what that means – we’re burning everything.  Hopefully we can just get it serviced, cause marine stoves are very expensive.

We’re not crazy about this marina.  Most of the slips are rented by boat brokers so there aren’t many people around.  We were looking forward to enjoying the boating community, so we’ve been shopping around for another one.  We think we found one we like and we’ll probably be moving there shortly.

We’re commissioned a captain to teach us everything.  And I mean everything.  He’ll be going over everything on the boat and explaining what it all is and how to maintain it.  We’ll be making a map of the boat detailing where everything is, cause we don’t want to be searching for things when we need them.  He’s going to take us shopping for gear.  We’ll be emptying out the water tanks and re-filling them, about 5 times, he says.  Also pumping out the waste tanks.  He’s going to teach us how to maintain the motor, etc. etc.  We probably won’t be going sailing for a week or so.  We’re going to spend a lot of money on this guy, but he’s going to prepare us for everything.

We’ve still got lots to do to get her pretty.  We’ve changed some of the rigging and have someone working on the graphics for her new name (In the Vortex).  Apparently, you can’t just change the name of a boat.  There’s a whole ritual we have to follow as well as getting rid of everything on board with the old name.  We’ll be doing it all later, but not yet.  We need to clean her up, polish her, etc.  We’re also going to probably change the carpets and upholstery.  But we’re going to try doing it ourselves.

We’ve been sleeping like babies, and its time to go get comfortable for the night. 

So far, so good.  This is the life!!

$^%%#@%& US Customs and Border Patrol

 We left Toronto on Jan 10^th, with the intention of getting to San Diego by Jan 15^th.  That plan has been blown all to hell by the &^%$^*( US Customs.

In all fairness, we did have a car full and then some.  They thought we were trying to move there.  Yeah, like we would want to live in the US!!!! 

On day 1 we were sent to the “office” to answer some questions.  The room we were taken to was more like a jail than anything else.  We were not allowed to bring in our phones or any water or food.  We weren’t allowed to use the bathroom or even to stand up!!!  We were informed that we would need to get proof that we had a home in Canada.  Meaning, we had to bring a list of stuff as per their instructions.  Things like the deed to house, our renters agreement, proof of employment, financial viability, etc., etc.

We were taken into a back room and body searched and finger printed.  At one point a female officer called me up and asked me if I had ever been arrested.  I said “no, never”, which is true.  She asked me if I was sure.  Of course I was.  After another hour or so, the officer handling our case (McCue) called me back up and asked me where I was in 1976.  I said “Montreal”.  He said are you sure you weren’t in New York protesting or something.  “Isn’t that what they did back then?”, he said.  I said no, I was just a teenager then.  He got pissed with me and said “no you weren’t.”  I said I didn’t know how old I was at the time and he said “yes you do”.  Gosh, have you ever tried to do math while you are under stress?  Ok, so I was 21.  Big deal.  So he said they ran my fingerprints.  He said “you understand that fingerprints don’t lie.  Is there something you want to tell me?”  I said “no, I have never been arrested.”  He said “ok, we’re going to send your prints to the FBI.  You can wait here until we hear back, which could be several hours.  I’ll give you some time to think about it.”  About an hour later he came back and asked me if I had anything to tell him.  I said “no, I have never been arrested.  I understand that fingerprints don’t lie.  You obviously didn’t run my prints or you’d know that.”  He said “actually I did run them”.  I said “I know you are turning us back, so what does it matter if I was ever arrested anyway?”  And he said, “You’re right, I don’t have to hold you.  You can go.”.  4 hours later!!!

When we got checked into a motel, we called the FBI first.  The FBI confirmed that the border patrol did indeed send them my prints.  But they were rejected due to poor quality.  They also informed us that the US Border Patrol is not capable of running fingerprints, so the customs officer lied to me.  We then called the Detroit US Immigration office, for a couple of reasons.  First one was to file a complaint about the officer’s intimidation tactics and his lying.  The second reason we called was to find out if we could go to an alternate border crossing with the information.  We were informed that we could go to any border crossing.  There was no way we wanted to go back there (Windsor/Detroit Ambassador Bridge crossing – avoid it at all costs!).

The next day we went to RBC to get a printout of my employment records at RBC as well as 6 months transactions to show income and bill payments, including mortgage and tax payments.  We got a copy of Neil’s book listing from Chapters and a copy of our tickets back to San Diego in May to prove that we would be returning to Toronto.  We took this to Windsor/Detroit Tunnel crossing.  When we were back in their “office” we were told that we had to go back to the Ambassador Bridge crossing, that what we were doing was considered “border shopping”, and that it is illegal.  At that point, I broke down and cried.  This appealed to the officer in charge and he became more gentle with us and said he would allow us to use that crossing without charging us.  Long story short, after another 4 hours we were once again turned around because we did not present the deed to the house.  I explained to the officer (Kerby) that it was back in Toronto and that I didn’t even know where it was off hand.  He said if we got a statement from the bank indicating that I own the house, the balance owing and that we are not in arrears, that would be acceptable.  Once again, we were body searched, finger printed and returned to Canada.

So, we ran to the bank again, but we were too late.  The next day, we got the necessary statement and returned to the Tunnel crossing.  Unfortunately, the same officer was not on shift and they started all over again with the “you didn’t bring the deed” and “you have to return to the Bridge”.  One officer even came forward and said he heard the officer instruct us to return to the Bridge.  Yes, he did, but he changed his mind later, but, of course, this guy didn’t hear that.  OMG, I thought, this is a nightmare.  Anyway, we asked to speak to the supervisor.  The wait was almost 2 hours.  During that time, Kerby came on shift.  Thankfully, he cleared everything up and they ended up letting us through.  WHEW!!!

We running 2 days behind schedule, but we’re finally in the US. 

(Would you let us in?)

And We’re Off

Well, after a lot of work, we’re finally ready to head out to San Diego.

We got almost everything taken care of.  We have tenants for the house, put in all our change of addresses and packed up.  Whew, packing was a chore.  Now, we haven’t checked it out, but I am quite concerned that everything won’t fit into the Beetle.  Thankfully, we bought a roof rack.    The plan is to put 4 giant duffle bags (or hockey bags) onto the roof rack and everything else into the car. 

We’ve decided to take both of the cats with us.  We’re not sure how that’s going to work out, but we feel better about taking them than leaving them.  They also seem to sense something and if I didn’t know better, they’re eagerly waiting for us to take them along.  We got all the necessary shots and papers from the vet and bought two brand now, comfy cat carriers for them.  These we’ve just left in the middle of the living room floor for the cats to explore on their own.  We also bought halters and tethers for them.  I think putting the halters on them is going to be fun!  But we have to make sure they don’t fall overboard.

We’re leaving Monday, January 10^th with the intention of arriving in San Diego by the 15^th. 

This trip is to gain our sea legs, get some much-needed sailing experience and to generally get to know the boat.  We’ve already made plans to return to Toronto on or about April 17^th.  We’ll drive back and sell the car while we’re here.  We have our return plane tickets for May 9^th.

So there probably won’t be any updates until we arrive in San Diego.  Then we’ll write an update and, hopefully, post some photos or videos of “In the Vortex”.

Until then, fair winds. 

“In the Vortex” It Is

The boat is registered!  In Canada, that is.  We were not able to get “the Vortex” so we’re calling her “In the Vortex”.  It’s official.

She has also been moved into her semi-permanent home at Point Loma Marina, slip # 304.  Thanks to Tom for moving her for us.  As it turns out, we don’t have to move her to Mexico after all.  Well, not until May 22 anyway.  Our broker was able to get in touch with the authorities and by providing proof of deletion from the US registry, we can get away without paying the US Personal Property taxes. 

We’re leaving Toronto on Jan 10^th, but there’s lots to do in the meantime.  We’ve wired money down to Tom and he’ll start the ball rolling on getting all the survey findings addressed.  He’ll also get the rigging replaced for the mainsail and foresail.  We don’t like the wire lines.  Too hard on the hands, and they don’t move smoothly.  It will require a new winch.  The winch is $1200, but Tom was able to get us a discount so we’re only paying $800.  If all goes well, she’ll be ready when we get there.

We’ve also found a tenant for the upstairs of the house.  And a home for Archie, one of the cats.  Still need to find a home for Piggy.

We’ve already made plans for our first return.  We’ll be coming back to Toronto near the end of April and will return to San Diego on May 9, just prior to our big departure.

Its hard to know what to take with us and what to leave.  We’re not going to take our winter coats, boots and gloves, etc.  But it can get cool in San Diego this time of year, so we’ll need some warmer clothes.  However, once we leave in May, we won’t be needing them, so we’ll probably bring the warmer stuff home in April.  And there is no Loblaws in the US!  So, we’ll have to stock up on all those President’s Choice products we love so much.  We’ve just purchased a roof rack on Ebay.  We can only take what fits in or on the car.  At this point, we really have no idea how much free space in on board.  There is a possibility that we won’t be able to fit everything we’re taking.  That means we have to be careful when deciding what goes and what stays.

We’ll be selling the car when we return in April.  I’d love to keep it and take it with us, but it just won’t fit on the boat.  No way, no how.  What a shame, I love that car.  Oh well.

There won’t be many updates now until we get to San Diego.  If there is news, we’ll write it up here, but if it gets quiet, we’re probably on our way. 

Its all coming together.

Getting Ready

Well, making a drastic change to our living arrangements means lots of things to take care of. 

We’ve decided not to sell our house.  We’re going to rent it, furnished.  That way, we can keep (and store) our furniture in the house and charge a bit more for rent.  So we have to find a tenant.

Even though we’re renting the house furnished, we still have to pack up and store our personal effects that we will not be taking with us.  Our winter clothes, for example.  We have limited storage on the boat, so we’re only taking the bare minimum with us. 

We have to cancel our phone plans, change addresses on all our mail, arrange for out of country medical coverage, etc., etc.

And, it’s breaking my heart, but I have to find new homes for both of my cats.  The tenants in the basement have agreed to take Archie.  Now I just have to find a home for Pig Pen.  I’d really like to keep them together, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

We’ve been to the government to start the process of registering the boat.  This is where we finalize the name of the boat.  The official did a quick search for us and says we cannot use the name “The Vortex”.  Apparently, it belongs to a very old boat.  He said he could petition to get it deleted, but it has lots of problem surrounding it, so it best to just leave it.  Our second choice is “In the Vortex”.  We’ll have to wait and see if we can have that name.

Lots to do to get her registered.  We need all kinds of photos and measurements.  So we’ve had to get our broker to go get the pictures we’re missing and to get some additional measurements.  Funny how US and Canada have different requirements.

And another little glitch; as it turns out, in order to totally avoid both Canadian HST and US Personal Property Tax, we cannot have her listed on the roster of any US marina when the yearly inventory is checked.  So we are now working on having her taken to Mexico until Jan 5 or so.  Luckily, marina charges are much cheaper in Mexico.  However, it will take someone 7 – 8 hours to get her there.  We’re looking at paying a captain to take her there and back for about $300.  Not too bad.

Before we do that, however, we want to address the important stuff from the survey.  The mechanic has already indicated that he can do all the mechanical work – around $900.  We want to replace the rigging for the mainsail and foresail.  We’re still getting estimates, but figure that will cost around $2000.  But after that, she’ll be ready to go.

Right now, our plan is to leave Toronto on or around Jan 10, 2011.  We’re going to drive down and take our time, so we’ll get to San Diego around the 16^th or so.  We’ll stay in San Diego until around the end of May.  By then we will have had lots of additional training and we’ll have our sea legs.  We’ll return to Toronto in April to get the last of the belongings we need (in case we forgot something the first time),see our doctors and dentists, etc., sell the car and fly back.  By May 22, we’ll be on our way.

Every day we learn something new.  Its fun and exciting, though scary at times too.