San Francisco

Left Pittsburg Marina and arrived in San Francisco at the South Beach Marina on August 27 and stayed until Sept. 2nd.  Crossing over between Angel Island and South Beach Marina the wind was blowing hard and the bay was very rough.  Poor Chloe was not handling it very well and was really glad to be at the marina.  We had lots of visitors including our good friends Mike and Debbie.  We had a great time. Debbie and Jan went shopping and got pedicures while Mike and I stayed on the boat and took care of Chloe enjoying adult beverages.  We were only a few blocks from where the America's Cup boat New Zealand and Italy keep there boats.  It was amazing to see how they lifted the whole boat out of the water to store it until the next time it was used.   These boats will go up to 57mph.  They almost literally fly.  Across from where our boat was moored was a boat from the past owned by Marty and Stephanie.  We have not seen them for at least nine years.  When I saw Marty he was doing what he always is doing on his boat and that was sanding the teak getting it ready for a new coat of varnish.  We all got together Thursday night and had docktails and pizza.  They left the next morning to take the boat to the Delta.  Friday night Mike and Debbie went with us up to the South Beach Yacht Club and had a good dinner with a great view of the Bay Bridge.  On Saturday after Mike and Debbie left to go home our son Gary, Tiffany, and Ashley came on the Panacea to spend the night.  We all went to one of our favorite restaurants in San Francisco, called Scoma's.  Always great food.  Next day we all walked down to Pier 39 where all the tourists go to shop for souvenirs.  Heck of a walk.  Too many people.  Ashley bought herself a bag full of tricks at the magic shop.   After we got back to the boat we all had dinner and they left to go home. Heading to Clipper Cove in Sausalito tomorrow.

Whose idea was this anyway?

Home of the World Champion San Francisco Giants

USA

Hauled in for a wash and night night.

South Beach Marina

Gary and Tiffany enjoying good food at Scoma's

Granddaughter Ashley

Mike and Debbie with us at the South Beach Yacht Club

Sunset in San Francisco

Pittsburg CA

Had a great ride to Pittsburg Marina.  Boat worked great.  New electronics worked great.  It was only about 18 miles, but we have started what's about to be an adventure of a life time.  While at Pittsburg we did alot of walking.  Checked out old downtown and not much to say.  We plan on leaving the 27th for South Beach Harbor in San Francisco.

Pittsburg Marina

New Electronics

Okay, so now we have new electronics consisting of radar, chartplotter, AIS, Sirius weather, auto pilot, and a Wifi extender.  So I guess it's about time to go.  We left our slip at Tower Park on Sunday the 18th and moved the boat to the guest dock so I could finish installing the radar dome and Wifi.  Plan was to leave on Wednesday the 21st but it was blowing pretty hard, so we decided to wait till the next day. 

Bon Voyage Parties

We were lucky enough to have 2 Bon Voyage Parties!  One was hosted by our dear friends, Pat and Linda Dwyer, along with the help of Mike and Melissa Anderson.  Family and friends attended this pirate themed event and enjoyed delicious food with a "hurricane" drink to enjoy. 

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Pat and Christopher

Jennifer and my Looper

Erika and Mellisa

Jennifer

Pat and Linda

Arrrrgh!!!

Ashley, Tiffany, and Gary

Steve and Carol

Phil and Linda with Pat

It's the Kozicki Family.  Jason, Kelly, Madison and Jaxon

Mike, Jess, Carter, and Dylan

Booty

Arrgh.

Dale and Joanne

Newly weds Erika and Patrick

Watch out for these two

Evelyn and Dan with Chloe

Susan and Bob

Pirate girl

Our second party was held by friends at our dock in Tower Park.  Quite unexpected but wonderful.

Looper Jan and Julie

Shooting the bull

A toast

Thanks Debbie, Richard, JJ, Julie and Steve, Charlie and Donna, Cindy and Al

Step One Completed

Just completed one of the big steps towards starting our loop cruise.  We rented our house for a year and have moved on the boat.  It was a little unexpected to rent our house so quickly but we worked our butts off getting everything packed and ready for the movers to put all our stuff into storage.  Now that we are on the boat there are some essentials we need to have completed.  I now have in my possession a brand new full adult size toilet for the boat and just need to have it installed.  I don't know what boat manufactures are thinking when they put toilets in boats.   We also need to install upgraded chart plotter, radar, and autopilot.  Oh, and we need an inverter. 

Next big step will be to get the boat down to San Diego.  We plan on heading to the San Francisco Bay in August and hang out until we see a weather window that is perfect to start our trip South.

2013 AGLCA Spring Rendezvous in Norfolk, VA

We returned Saturday from the Americas Great Loop Cruisers Assoc. (AGLCA) spring rendezvous in Norfolk VA.  There were past loopers (as they're called) present loopers and us, the wanna be loopers.  Most of the present loopers we're there with their boats docked at the marina located at the Sheraton hotel, where we were staying.  The rendezvous held many seminars and presentations that we found extremely helpful when we start our trip at the end of this year.   We also meet a lot of friendly people that were all willing to answer any questions we asked.  Next year at this time we hope to be one of those present loopers with our boat at the spring rendezvous.  Next step is renting the house.

USS Wisconsin

Some of the looper boats

Americas Great Loop Cruise Map