one thing about boat life while docked is the insane levels of walking we manage to do every day. as of 5 pm today, i'm already over 21K steps. it's about 600 steps every time i go to the bathroom and back. my soles are swollen, my feet hurt constantly. home life is so sedentary in comparison.

perfect boat lunch with freshly smoked coho salmon. pseudo also got his salmon treat.

the gang is back

his admiralty smelling the wind

waking up with a massive weight on my chest, immediately being judged as i open my eyes

Raymarine Axiom 7 chartplotter weirdly calculates true wind from apparent wind using speed through water data. So when docked, we cannot check wind speed the same way we do while underway. Luckily I was able to add a GWS (ground wind speed) indicator to the dashboard.

cold night. we struggled for hours to get warm. also, once again forgot how hard the mattress is. our backs will need time to adjust. didn't have condensation dripping on our faces though so that's something. Also here's the new furler looking shiny in daylight 🥳

We made it to Kumru on a beautiful but chilly night under the full moon. Missed the sound of halyards clanking against masts. Captain Pseudo has already claimed his spot. The boat is in great condition. A little bit of salt here and there but no water, no mold, no stench. The deck is a mess though.

before we arrive, the bottom of the boat was cleaned, zinc was replaced, and more importantly, the jib furler was installed!!! we just need to have the jib trimmed to fit the furler when we get there and then: san juan islands, here we come! i mean, hoping there are no other issues, which is...lol

will be posting here soon. preps for summer sailing continues!

last sail of the season toward Rosario Strait. no wind day but with an old friend visiting, we have no complaints whatsoever. it's just perfect!

Ugh speedometer didn't work today. No boat speed/TWS. So we had to clean the paddlewheel sensor. That is, opening a hole at the bottom of the boat, letting water in, plugging the hole, cleaning the sensor, pulling out the plug, letting more water in, putting back the sensor. Very scary and yucky.

once again the wind predictions failed us. the promised 8-10 kt stable wind and 13 KT gusts were not to be found. so we did some rescue practice with a large fender. and saw a pod of harbor porpoises as a bonus! still beats being on land.

It's taken years but I've gradually become a pretty proficient helmswoman. Finally I've developed an internal wind compass/feel for points of sail. Can smoothly maneuver thru sequences of tacks, jibes,... Which is awesome bec when all that requires constant focus & processing, sailing is stressful.

gorgeous sail day but the crab pot season is officially open and it's like a minefield around here 😫

That floating keychain marine stores sell? It works. Ask me how I know.

Finally!!

summer bliss 😻

Gosh how I hate diesel engines. Went out of the marina. The engine stalled before we even had a chance to get the main up. It's working but not revving up. Came right back in for fear that it would stop altogether before we made it back. Now a day of troubleshooting instead of sailing.

When you live in the boat, the most difficult part of going for a sail is to get everything ready so things don't fly around when heeling. Wash the dishes, put them away. Fold and store the clothes. Any food or drinks left around, back into the fridge/cooler. Pack any extra shoes. Put the cat away.

"I said we cannot drop anchor right now. Stop asking me to get up!"

Pseudo ♥️

Yay the propane leak is finally fixed (🤞🏼) so we don't have to choose btw eating out & cold dinner anymore. Tho for tonight I pulled out the big guns (rice cooker & rotisserie chicken). Tomorrow we go out for a test sail to see if all is functional after the gazillionth re-rigging of the reef lines.

beautiful night. so calm and quiet. there's only the three of us, a seal mom and her newborn around.

one thing that never changes about boat names...

Not a lot of sailing yet as the boat needs work, beginning with the reeflines for the zillionth time. But the zoji has been life-changing. I put in steel cut oats with cinnamon, raisins and dates last night, this morning our breakfast was ready when we woke up. Why didn't we think of this before?!!

important boat update

momentary break from the torrents. anacortes, you're breaking my heart. please play nice?

Back to Kumru, once again under downpour. We didn't bring the space heater or the electric blanket since it's supposed to be summer. Yay! And this damn handrail through hole is leaking. Pseudo is getting his bearings. There's a hole exactly the size of Random everywhere we look 💔

A newborn seal pup hiding behind her mom. See the umbilical cord attached, still pink and fleshy. It must be a day or two old 🥹

Sailor cats (and us) are back on the boat for the summer, ready to explore the Salish Sea!

🧵 Our plan was to open the sailing and cruising season beginning of June this year. We decided to move Kumru from the Bay Area (San Francisco,CA) to the Salish Sea (Anacortes,WA).

Back to Anacortes after four years. Due to uncooperative weather & unreliable sailors, Kumru had to travel 900 miles by land. Maybe all for the better. It's all intact, except the mast is down & will need to be reinstalled. Erkan will have to tell the story of the hassle so far.

In academia everything has a deadline or bound by a strict schedule. Sailing is the opposite. We're getting the boat ready for an ocean passage (>1K nm) but dunno when. It's the reverse of the route we did in 2020, this time S-to-N, from SF to Anacortes. >

Brushed & washed 10 months of grime, green mold, dust, dirt off the hull. Back breaking business under sunshine and 10 kt wind. Sudden transition from couch potatoing & armchair theorizing to physical work under exposure to elements. Feeling both revived and discombobulated.

Hello all! Missed us? Made it back to Kumru yesterday. It's still afloat and intact. Inside is dry. There's a little water accumulation in the bilge but no mildew inside. Looks clean and ready to sail!

Last night of sailboat life for this summer. Full moon makes for a memorable good bye.

Final touches before we leave. Mildew cleanup and protection application is hard work because it largely accumulates in/around the ceiling and weird books of the boat. My shoulders are sore. But it's worth the effort for finding the boat in good condition next season.

One thing that gets exhausting for boat living in the bay area is the same reason it's a great sailing hub: Nonstop wind. Constant wind exposure 24/7 gets on one's nerves after a while. It's abrasive and harsh and you always have bed (bad) hair.

New fixtures (and holes). Circuit breaker for the windlass, inverter remote, windlass remote. Both the windlass (hence the anchoring system) and the inverter are finally fully functional, and as far as we can tell we have managed to fix the water leak as well 🥳🥳🥳

Strong winds and intrigue at the marina!! A training boat with two jr sailors capsized. Here the students jumping on the keel to upright the boat but the wind is too strong and they're not heavy enough. 1/n

Will need to reinstall the soft bladder with plumbers tape. Looks like they didn't do a proper job sealing the mouth(s) at first installment and it was leaking from the top and the bottom. Good thing that the bladder itself seems intact.

Last week of boat life for the summer. Now gotta put in labor to get things fixed. We've already installed the inverter and reinstalled the boom. Now need to fix the windlass that stopped working and the water leak from the soft water tank. Oil change & mildew cleanup to follow.

A fact of marina life: When you don't flake your mainsail nice and tidy after a long passage, the day sailers will collectively judge you for it no matter how exhausted you are. And they'll tell you so as they sail past you! There are no boundaries.

a sailor's life is rough

Pump out ✅ Boat wash ✅ Sail wash ✅ Sail dry - Ongoing Boom reinstallment - Up next

Power still hasn't been restored at Coyote Point since February storms. We have the solar power but the battery voltage is 12 v. Erkan temporarily installed an inverter this morning so I can have my morning (N)espresso (😍). Now how to permanently install it and where??

I caught their entrance to Coyote Point. Finally back to home base to some sunshine! Stay away, Karl the fog.

It feels sad to not be on board but one of us had to move the car so I'm (Berna) tracking Kumru's progress toward SF Bay here: https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/details/368150170. It just got out of the marina & turned to the ocean. Fingers crossed there's enough wind to fill the...

Spent all day with my head in the engine compartment. I hope spraying hair with diesel is an initiation ritual and not something that regularly happens. Engine fixed thanks to our mechanic. Bound for Coyote Point today. Looks like it is blowing 10-20 knts around Golden Gate.