Hello Everyone

Well we left the Columbia river on December 2 nd at 10:00 am and headed out 20 miles to avoid all of the crab traps and get into a calmer sea and the headed south east for San Francisco. The Nordic V needs three crew on board in order to be a relaxing and restful experience. My idea of Cruising is to be relaxing and enjoyable so we decided that it was in our best interests to find another crew member. We talked to a few new found friends and came up with no one that wanted to go south so I hired a charter boat guy ( Captain Joe; picture to follow), The cost of the extra hand was certainly worth it to us. We were out on the high seas for three nights and were under the Golden Gate bridge at 6:50 am December 5th with Freighters, Tugs in tow, Pilot boats, fishing boats, and more, Wow all of this after only seeing 6 ships in 4 days a bit of a sensory overload for sure. The trip to San Francisco from Astoria was a great training experience on all the things we need to consider for serious off shore travel. All of the books in the world can not get anyone 100 % ready because every boat is different. We did very well and did not lose,break,or damage anything at all. Well our Captain Joe was a great asset to the trip. The seas were swells from the north west 6 to 10 feet and the winds were 5 to 20 from the north west and the east. We had a chance to experience the doldrums as well. We motor sailed and motored all the way. A picture is worth a thousand words and Cathy will be adding pictures soon. We are up in the Napa river at a small place called Vallejo and are going up the river with the Nordic to the Napa valley and will stay in Napa overnight. Our plans are to wait here until tuesday the 8 th and hook up with a friend on his sailboat ( Princess ) and Buddy boat south. Don is 71 years old and has sailed around the world a few times, lost his wife a few years ago and decided to go a third time, Don is a great guy and a real life book of knowledge.

Well that will be all for now and anyone interested in crewing let us know. 250 202 0102 will work till Mexico and then we will have a new number for anything important at all.

We just heard the weather for San Fran area and they are calling for snow tonight in the hills so we want to go south even more now.

Till later keep warm.