Left Coast Lifter

Here at work is the Left Coast Lifter. Left Coast a right wing epithet coined to characterize the voting habits of California, Oregon and Washington. We are reliably Liberal. Yesterday was a classic Indian summer day on the San Francisco Bay. This gigantic crane is preparing to hoist into position the last piece of the […]

Prayer at Sunrise before the Masts

Here at the Emeryville Yacht Harbor just a stones throw from downtown Oakland site of the horrific riot by police that sent an Iraq war Marine veteran to the hospital where he was being treated to a traumatic head injury when what seems to have happened is a tear gas canister shot at the Occupy […]

Good Man to Go with a Good Woman aboard a Blue Water Vessel

I’m a big fan of traditional yachts. Here is Chris and Helen’s. Lyle Hess designed this vessel with the Bristol Channel Cutter in mind. She displaces almost twenty thousand pounds. She is made of wood. Chris built her in New Zealand. While her hull is made up wood she’s been sealed (in fiberglass?) and LPU painted. […]

Sailings Unimpeachable Reliable Sources……

Sailing is a thinking man’s game. The equipment is complex and so are the sailing skills. And like all human endeavors there are a host of actors, some good and most of the rest? Well, we’ll wish those bad actors a safe voyage as they go about hazarding their own lives at sea. If you […]

Bernard Moitessier Pelagic Wisdom for Celestial Loons

“I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the […]

Prideful Mariner and the Wooden Sloop that Could

What is it about sailing that you don’t get? The years I devoted to Maestro had more to do with my learning how to show up and do something. The relationship between the sleek wooden sloop and my character expanded me. I became a more complete sailor. I learned that I could handle a lot […]

Total Displacement of Your Fate

I sailed into an unexpected robust 29 knot steady wind Saturday in San Francisco. By October the autumn pattern has taken hold and with it lighter winds. My wife and I sailed with another couple departing from the Sausalito Yacht Club. The gentleman owns a Hinkley 43. It displaces 25,000 lbs according to the numbers […]

Water Wonder Dog World

Lacey is a good dog. I tell her that. I say, “Lacey you are a good dog.” She’s deaf now. Can’t hear me, didn’t listen when she could unless I said, “Where’s the ball?” Then she heard me! She’s 14 years old now and sinks like a stone. She doesn’t have the energy to […]

Under the Spell of a Golden Gate Wooden sloop, Hull #18 Maestro

Indian summer ignites my passions. I don’t mind a hot summer day, don’t care for a cold winter night, but those last gasps of balm that slather my skin as the Northern hemisphere inevitably marches toward winter stir some deeper part of my yearnings. Because fitting out a wooden sloop is so time intense they […]

Sail Home, Be There, Happy

The canal in San Rafael, California terminates near downtown just east of Highway 101. A bit further eastward sits the San Rafael Yacht Harbor. I worked on my wooden sloop- Maestro, a Golden Gate hull #18 in this boatyard. I worked on the boat for a few years and then by way of a thousand […]