Well, earlier this month while Ian took a trip down to Berkeley to scout out some boats (some of which fell through, luckily), he came across this one in particular which was not necessarily "for sale" after chatting with the owner of Berkeley Marine Center in the Berkeley marina. Turns out, the owner of this boat was a UC Berkeley professor who had this boat for 7 or 8 years, but took a new job in New York City and was temporarily storing the boat at Berkeley marina for free (he was friends with the Berkeley Marine Center Owner). Seeing as the owner would need to pay for new registration fees and another month of berthing fees at the marina, he was interested in selling it quickly. Long story short, we had ourselves a 30 foot Catalina sailboat as our new home :)
Packing up what we thought would be essentials, we picked up our little moving truck in Seattle and began the drive down to the Bay Area at around 1am after Ian got off work.
As you can see in the picture, it was POURING the entire time from the second we left Seattle to until we arrived in the Bay Area. Windshield wipers were on maximum speed for the entire duration of the 14 hour drive, and it even began to hail and snow pretty hard in southern Oregon and northern California.
It took a few days to finish the last of the title transfers and paying taxes during registration, but it's all done now. Here are some pics of the boat (these are by no means glamor shots since they were just taken with a little cell phone camera, and these were taken before we had the boat repainted, lifelines repaired, and the interior all cleaned up). In any case, you can get a general idea of what our new home looks like:
At the boatyard waiting for work to be done: before sides were buffed all shiny and white again and new lifelines strung
In dry dock being worked on - lookin' good!
Bottom totally sanded down and repainted, hull gelcoat cleaned with solvent and buffed to a shiny, glistening white. Now being hauled back into the water
Had to sail the boat over from Berkeley marina to Emeryville marina - first time out in the water (although as you can tell it was cold and wet that day!)
Previous owner built custom dodger ... protects cockpit from wind when sailing and helps to keep rain out of the cabin even when the slats are open. New green mainsail cover as well.
Aft anchor (there's also another one in the front of the boat)
View of the cabin from the stairs leading down from the cockpit - like I said, not totally cleaned up yet .. pardon the mess! Galley (kitchen) directly to my port side (left), table with blue top is the dinette area, wooden hanging locker for all our clothes further back, and across from that is the toilet/sink, and then in the very front is the V-berth where we sleep.
Chart table for our nautical maps and navigation tools!
Pretty much a full galley ... only thing missing is an oven - well, I guess a toaster oven works all the same ;-). Otherwise, we have a fridge, microwave, two burner propane gas stovetop, sink with water filter on the faucet, icebox, etc. You can also see this big wood/plexiglass custom cabinet the previous owner built for extra galley storage (I now have all my dishes, cups, and teapot stored here). We brought our own crock pot and rice cooker on board so we are by no means roughing it ;-)
Starbord (right) side bench
Dinette area just in front of the galley cabinet ... table has another section that folds out and the dinette area has another bench (on the left side, out of the picture) that forms an "L" shape so 6 people can easily eat here. Table also folds down to lay flush with the bench, so with adding another cushion, it forms a double bed.
Toilet (behind wooden door on the left) and then looking into the V-berth where we sleep. I can totally stretch out my legs ! This is much deeper than it looks. Hatch open above for some fresh air and light.
Outside in the cockpit bulkhead: marine GPS, depth sounder/fish finder (to gauge depth of the water), knot meter for our speed, anemometer (to gauge wind speed and direction), Raymarine Autopilot for the tiller (to hold our course on longer voyages), and weather station sensor that sends information to the weather station inside in the dinette area.
That's all the pictures for now ... unfortunately it's been raining nonstop since we've been here so we haven't had a chance to sail out into the bay yet. However, we did move the boat from Berkeley marina to Emeryville marina where we now have a slip ($290 a month! So cheap!). For those unfamiliar with the Bay Area, Emeryville is a little town between Berkeley to the north and Oakland to the south, on the east side of the San Francisco bay. We are located just north of the eastern end of the Bay Bridge which enters into San Francisco:
As far as the Emeryville Marina goes, this place is so fun. Looking south to north on this little peninsula which sticks out into the San Francisco bay, I can see the cargo ship docks of Oakland, then the Bay Bridge into Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island, then the entire San Francisco city skyline, Sausalito/Tiburon, Angel Island, and Berkeley.
The land surrounding the marina is all a public park with gorgeous, unblocked views of the entire San Francisco bay .... lots of people walking their dogs, jogging, etc. There are also tons of BBQ grills and picnic tables amongst the forested park areas, and here by the entrance to our dock is a pit for a large bonfire!
Our $290/month "rent" includes 20 channels of satellite TV (which we haven't hooked into since we don't really watch TV and we haven't mounted our LCD screen on the bulkhead yet), multiple channels of WiFi internet, laundry room access, private and clean shower stall access, electricity hookup, and water hookup (directly at our dock)
At first I was concerned this place would be too isolated, but we quickly learned that there's a free shuttle that runs from the marina through emeryville's downtown shopping area (lots of restaurants/shops), and then even to the Oakland BART station for a quick 10 minute subway ride into San Francisco. For my cooking fix, there's a Trader Joe's very close by (walking distance) and I can get everything from garlic naan and vindaloo curry to fresh fruits and sandwiches. Even closer (within the marina peninsula) there's an independent grocery that is a bit more expensive, but a great place for last minute items if I need.
Over the past couple days, we've pumped out the bilge, filled the water tank up, flipped on the water pump (we now have running water for the bathroom and kitchen sink, plus a flushing toilet!), and have our electronics (mini fridge, microwave, cabin heater, etc) all up and running. There are speakers for our sound system both inside the cabin and outside in the cockpit so we can play some chill tunes while we sail. All the lights inside the cabin are running (one of them is solar powered!) and we have a solar powered ventilation fan as well. Pretty fun.
Yesterday I also cleaned up some of the extra lines laying around in the cockpit and spent some time figuring out which lines lead to where .... I think we're all set to sail the next time the sun is out since I can locate and operate the mainsail halyard, main sheet, topping lift, jibsheet and jibsheet furler line, and other things.
Today, I'm enjoying some oxtail soup that my aunt cooked (thanks Yee Yee!), doing some laundry, and staying warm inside the cabin while I do my homework. Sunshine is coming towards this weekend, though, so hopefully it'll be our chance to head out.
Although there have been many times where I've bonked my head on a handrail or radio mount, I do have to admit that waking up gently and naturally to the sunshine beaming down on my face or to the sound of rain on the deck above while the boat gently rocks has been pretty cool.
