Stop look and listen - May 17 - 3 months

Month 3

The many terms i've learned

Lines not Ropes

Spinnaker and A Symmetrical Spinnaker also known as kite

broaching is not quite capsizing

Chicken Jive, Jiving - Watch your head and head to the other side

PB and Jelly's are suddenly an incredible difficult task to make when at sea and in cabin.

the cockpit is personal space, when crossing from boat to boat, cross at the bow.

expire flares can still be shot but illegal.

Dynamic rope and static rope, long short, measure and tag them
bowline knots are your best friend
and the list goes on.

It's been a great couple of months living on a boat, I've come to learn about racing, how exhilarating, I'm still compiling the video and will log the experience some time soon.

I now often miss certain things whenever I'm not home. The pontoon beneath my feet that rock from side to side, whenever i leave or head home. The fact that sometimes, my house is at level with the road, and sometimes almost 5 feet below, always humors me. The squeaking of the dock lines against the edge of the boat, the water knocking on the side of my stern when the wind starts blowing in the middle of the afternoon and the boat then responding by rocking form side to side ever so slightly. When I'm on shore, I sometimes feel the need to tip, my sea legs now expect.


I've learned about the geography build of the bay area waters and it's perfect conditions for sailing in the summer - how were set pressed in the middle where the bay warms up in the afternoon and the air churns strong winds perfect for sailing. People keep telling me, sailing going to happen so much in the summer. How I'm longing to get to know more people who sail. yet, my free time, has been occupied with cleaning and fixing the boat and my curiosity about where to get stuff and the best upgrades for the boat.



I've also been less ignorant of the living things around me, I've taken the time to breath, stop look and listen, to take time to stare in the ocean. In the morning at 8am flocks of birds, take a dip between the   boats and docks, no vocal communication between any of them as I watch them having their breakfast in such synchrony. My only memories of sea lions used to be by a pier, for their humorous floppy behaviors and unfortunate poppy smell when they congregate and bask in the sun. Now they'll pop their head up ever so often and glide elegantly and quickly off sight, the unexpected, leave me appreciative,for their beauty. The jelly fishes, and silver fishes greet me in the sparkling water and most recently, a sting ray, oh how lovely.


Thanks for visiting :)
Cheers!

Window Replacement - Starboard Side Done!

Starboard side  done! 
I had hope to video my entire process, but the stuff I was dealing with got too gunky and messy, so I stopped and took photos instead. Hope you'll enjoy watching snippets of the first half of the process!

 Starting this project on April 8th and finished April 20th,  I knew i had two weeks of beautiful shine before any signs of precipitation. Thankfully I got it done 4 days before it started to pour, which is today!

I discovered that the sticky stuff is Beutal, stays forever sticky and ridiculously hard to remove.
taping the edges is always better when cleaning mess up.


Special thanks  to David, Travis and Jay for giving me advice and help!
here are some of the progression photos!

And a video of me very happy my boat is not leaking :D

My first Race!

Over the last couple of months,
I've met amazing and really cool people out here on the docks, willing to help out and answer any of my questions!
I've been walking around and just being completely honest telling everyone how I bought a sailboat, have zero sail experience but is very eager to learn. The intentions were to save up go to OCSC, and at some point take the first class! $700, I'm not sure when I'll have.

I ran into Nancy, who lives with her husband chuck   and Mr Captain Jack Sparrows the Jack Russell on a _____Boat,
She's probably given me one of the best advices thus far,"go crew with other boats make friends, you'll get to see the different kinds, learn about them and well learn to sail!" put your name on the billboard she said, you'll be snapped up really quickly!

I kept that in mind but I hadn't quite asked around, in attempt to pretzel my bike and stuff it into the back seat one day, a guy entering the dock looked over to my silliness and said" are you crewing with us today?" I said yes! erm I mean no! but I would love to!

Since then I've gotten to know Peter, Peter and Rob from the Back Bay Boat!
I helped out on Back Bay just yesterday helping them add additional rope lifelines.
their plans are to race in the Pacfic Cup to Hawaii.


they've been out and about doing numerous other offshore races and beer cans!
Their up coming race will be the and I'm really excited to say
I'll be joining them on the

GREAT VALLEJO RACE 2014

The live of a live-aboard sharing, has begun!

Welcome to SailingSeed :)
January 14th, 2014.  was the official day I started living on a boat.
for many reasons, I hope to slowly share on this blog.There’s just so much i want to share and talk about, people have been asking me a load of questions for my decision. I thought I start with a short background description, a little about the boat, and my reasons for starting this blog and take it from there!



 I’m originally from, Singapore and came to the United States, to pursue my studies and has recently obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation. My family ran a scuba diving business and did numerous activities around things related to the sea. It’s probably why I’ve been fortunate enough to experience the ocean and love it so much.I’ve lived in San Francisco for almost 6 years now, hopping from one rental apartment to the next, but never did any of them feel like home to me. It was through a series of experiences, graduating, being away from family, some soul searching, job hunting, possible relocation, and the need to find a new living space. That even though were all rather chaotic experiences in my life, coincidentally brought my attentions to a random opportunity to live a boards a sailboat. Everything seemed to align and essentially gave me answers to what i was searching for.

Docked in Berkeley marina, SailingSeed is a 1982 30” Catalina sailboat. It’s  32 years, has definitely shown some weathering damages, but it’s design remains a classic,as a costal cruising/live-aboard sailboat. It’s layout hasn’t changed much in some of the newer models. It  just doesn’t have as many bells and whistle, but it’s basic needs for being a sailboat is very much there. 



 I’ve just finished the process of restoring the boat deck wood with teak oil and that has gotten me excited for a whole long long list of things to do. I currently have a hole on the side of the boat, form my current project of popping the windows to reseal it with some new silicon.

Essentially,I’m hoping my experiences with fabrication, Illustration, design and love for making stuff will get the boat to where I envision it to be ascetically.

I’ve never lived alone,
I’ve never lived on a boat
I’ve never sailed
I’ve never cruised
I’’ve never fish
I’ve never fix boats/house
I’ve never..
and the list goes on…

But these are also the things, I’ve always wanted to do but never found the time or gave an excuse not to do, so what better way to throw myself into it and learn how. In some way I’ll like to say the boat found me.
 I just hope to grow with it and let it take me on a journey, using this blog to log  both good and bad experiences,to use this as a vessel :P to share my passion, creative, hopes, dreams and aspirations to inspire others with the same interest and beyond as well as to meet people alike.

I’m excited to see where this takes me, and I hope you’ll share the same excitement with me!


Thanks for visiting!