Marin Co. Sunday



Today was not a sailing day, but really a boat day. I went to Loc lomond marina first thing in the morning. This was were I sailed to memorial weekend.

I drove today because the yacht club there was putting on a flea market sale. I thought I could get lucky and pick up a few boat parts I needed cheap. There were not really a lot of sellers there. Only a few. They did have some boat stuff but nothing I really needed.



A couple of things I would have gotten if the price was right, which it was not. I did get a little box fan for s/v Zen and a pair of jeans.




A Mission to Modern Sailing Academy

So next I'm off to Sausalito on a mission. Bill-san from Osaka Japan, who runs BLISS, a sailing school there, contacted me. He is the one who got me on the idea to get certified with ASA and teaching. So he told me another American who will be working with BLISS is here to get teacher certified at the Mordern Sailing Academy school. If I was interested he would be around for 5 days. Also if I was to go over please leave a message.
So I leave the flea market and head over to MSA about 20 min away. I get there and expect to miss the boat. However the office guy says, oh they are still here, right there.

I go down to the dock and ask for Dave and it is is Dave I'm asking, wow! what karma!. We get to chat for a very short time as he is heading out with the class. I take a few shots of the area after they leave.





Too many to put up, other than this. There was however this monster in the next yard.!! It would take my whole year salary to fill this with fuel no doubt
It looks like a buiding but it is really a boat!
Bottom center of the shot is a car and those are warehouses to the left







Next stop the Artist Marina


Further down in town is another marina where the Artist Community on the water. I find out later it is one of the last low income housing spots in Marin co. much less that it is on the water.

I hear most living there are in some type of boat related work, or painting, photography, woodwork, etc.

This is also the place where there is to be a Flea Market and Art show in Aug. So I was interested in seeing what was there. This is also the place that is managed by the woman writer who her, and her husband built their Cat. and sailed around the world for two years with thier family. Yup that one.

I stroll around looking and taking pictures since everything is open. Some interesting looking boats and places. I speak to a few folks, one dock guy and I chit chat for a short bit. Then I head to the office. I want to see what time the show starts and if there is someone who can make a dodger for s/v Zen. I am greeted by two ladies. One of which is the writer. She introduces herself , I say " oh the writer" she looks surprised, but I keep on going about the dodger. After we get that out of the way we talk about her, how did you know? she asks. I explain, the other woman says yeah we saw his web site. I think, hmmm so they did get the email. Anyway, I did not push it. I figured she was busy with her life, and just moved on with the chat. She turns out to be a nice lady. We talk just for a little while as she was heading out shortly. The other woman reminded her, so we cut the talk short. If you want to read some of her adventures, I will now recommend them :-) look under Sailnet.com and SailJazz .com for the writer named Doreen. If that is not the name it is close and maybe the only female writer there at least with a similar name.





Now after that I head home back across the bridge
but it is not over yet...











The Ebay Sewing Sailor:

I buy a fair amount of stuff off Ebay for s/v Zen and in general for our home use. The last cover Lady Zen made for s/v/ Zen she had a hard time with it. The machine was not built to handle the heavy material double triple folded like she does to sew. So I figured to find us a better machine on Ebay since money is an object. I found several. I Asked a few questions. One guy took a couple of days to reply, he said he had been out sailing, sorry for the slow reply. He then told me the machine was good for what i had in mind, but if I wanted to make sails I would need something else, another brand. If said he did not want to have a fellow sailor bummed out about the purchase. He also told some woman that she did not need to buy his machine just have her's adjusted. So I placed my bid, after a while I get an email saying pretty much the same things as told me before. He said he saw I was a sailor and did not want another sailor to be unhappy with the purchase, the machine was good but not for making sailing. Repair and canvas, etc was fine. Something to do with the size of the stiches for sailmaking. All this to say he was concerned not only the quality of his sale but for another sailor. He stated in his ad he was "into" sewing machines, from his actions, I felt comfortable buying this machine. I also got it at a GOOD price. I am putting this up, because 1. Another sailor looking out for another, but someone concerned about customer service, which I conplained about the lack of before. 2. So to give some due respect where due. If you need a sewing machine on ebay check out "sewteck".

So ends boat day, well all but all the time i spent putting this up. :-)
No adventures planned for this week or weekend, maybe some misc work on Sunday coming and a short sail.
BBQ on the 4th. Maybe I will invite some friends over to see the fireworks from the boat...