Off-Season Stories

Exactly five months ago, we left Solla in Guaymas, Mexico and returned to California. We had planned to be back from July to late October. But as they say, all cruisers’ plans are written in sand at low tide, and we’re still weeks away from returning South. We all miss the boat terribly (Tuxie misses the fresh fish) and winter storms are chilling and depressing, but commitments made cannot be broken regardless of the pesky little wildfire* that got in the way. The summer (and fall) was a mixed bag for us both with highlights, lowlights and a whole lot in between.

You may be asking yourselves, “why did you come back? I thought you were going sailing forever?” Well, there’s one undeniable aspect of pretty much every inch of the world’s oceans – a portion of every year will see inclement weather which most sailors try to avoid. For Mexican waters, it’s the heat and hurricanes from June to November. Most of us choose to pull the boat out the water and skedaddle for that period, visit friends & family, and try to pad the cruising kitty while working at home. We won’t necessarily come back every year as it depends on the livability of the offseason and the cost of returning, but for Mexico it was an easy decision (especially after a few punishing 110-degree days toward the end of June).

Harry was able to drop back into his normal routine of work and living in whatever house he was working on at the time – he has come and gone in this manner since college. The lifestyle was a bit more challenging for moi. Number one, I don’t have a steady job at home, and two, few jobs in my lines of work are up for a 4-month hire. At first, I did some house/dog sitting and randomly picked up some work assisting a contractor with a friend’s bathroom remodel. Then I went on a cruise to Alaska** with my mom, so July passed pretty quickly. But come August I was staring down the barrel of 3-months without much to do, while staying with Harry and the family he works for in Healdsburg which felt too far from my peeps in Oakland and SF. I did a lot of eBaying of stuff to make a bit of $$, a lot of Spanish practice on Duolingo and live Spanish lessons via Verbling (awesome way to learn btw!), but none of this got me out of the house. Depression was setting in – rapidly. That’s when I found a tutoring gig working with a High School Sophomore 3 days a week in nearby Santa Rosa. It was just enough “out” time and pocket money to feel independent, and hopefully my tutee did a touch better this semester than last (report cards are still pending.)

 **The Alaskan Cruise adventure with Mom was a hoot. Admittedly the whole cruise ship thing isn’t really my bag and I doubt I’ll go on another one, but spending time with Mom in a place I’m unlikely to sail through while being fed and cleaned up after was too good to pass up. Alaska is unequivocally gorgeous with fascinating history, wildlife and people, and the glaciers and fjords should be experienced before they are gone forever.

Harry unexpectedly got to go on a fabulous trip with his mom too, to Italy! She had planned to join some friends staying in a castle near Lake Como but was a bit nervous to make the trip alone. It wasn’t the best timing but I was thrilled that Harry was able to go with her on such a neat adventure.

In the midst of all of this we made several trips to Sacramento to rebuild a deck for an Aunt/Uncle of Harry’s. The first few times up we worked in 100-degree heat (some days it was hotter there than it was at the same time in Guaymas!) and the last time we shivered in 40-degree weather and gusty winds. But it was wonderful to spend so much time with them in a very comfortable home.

*By October 26 as we were returning with the bosses from a work-trip to Oregon, we were running about 2.5 weeks late. We had one more trip to Sacramento, some more work for the boss, a little go-cart project for a friend, and about a week’s worth of stuff to do to get ready to leave. But here’s when that pesky little wildfire reared its ugly head. The Kincade Fire officially started on Oct. 23 allegedly due to a transmission line, despite PG&E’s “Public Safety Power Shutoff”. It would eventually consume just under 78,000 acres, claim 374 structures and cause evacuation for 180,000 people. The bulk of the damage done was due to a severe wind event in the early morning hours of October 27, where winds were clocked at ~90mph. The boss’ place was in the direct fire-wind line that night and we evacuated shortly before midnight. Sunday was an awful day – watching the news seeing fires blaze and structures destroyed while winds whipped ferociously outside. On Monday, the boss and Harry wanted to go back despite the evacuation orders***, and fearing roadblocks the plan was for me to drop them off as close as possible and they’d hike the rest of the way. But we managed to get all the way in to the property to find the homes safe, but the 2 workshops and all their contents completely gone. It was the same situation at several neighbors’ places – homes safe but secondary structures lost. Allow me to now shout this from the rooftops: FIREFIGHTERS ARE ROCKSTARS and they deserve every ounce of GRATITUDE, PRAISE AND RESPECT.

Hot spots were smoldering everywhere, so we outfitted a truck with a 55-gal drum, backpack pumps, shovels & rakes, and buckets and got to work. The boss put his tractor to good use clearing brush debris. The first day and night was all fire abatement. The second day as things were calming down a bit, we tackled neighbors’ fridges – consolidating everything into a fridge/freezer we kept going with a generator, and I did some more home-checks in the area as people found out we were there. Another wind event was forecasted for Tuesday night, so we kept a watch system keeping an eye on the fire in the distance all evening. But it turned out to be relatively quiet thank goodness. By Thursday, the area was reopened to residents, although the air quality remained terrible for several more days. Early on there was a ton of cleanup to do, and now we are helping with the tedious process of inventorying losses.

***I still have mixed feelings about returning to an active evacuation area, even though this is now Harry’s second fire. (The first was the 2017 fire where he defended his mom’s and neighboring homes, which ultimately delayed our departure that year too!) There is absolutely no question that a few able-bodied, experienced, well-equipped and level-headed individuals can do a heckuvalot of good right after the immediate fire has moved through, so long as they are prepared to leave at a moment’s notice and stay out of first responders’ ways. Fire departments and police can’t say this publicly because too many people in an actively dangerous area makes their jobs harder, but we’ve been told as much by firefighter friends and family. It is a sad fact that some homes are lost due to spot fires after initially being protected, because the FD defends an area to the best of their ability and then has to move on as the fire moves. Early on, they simply don’t have the (wo)man power to station folks in its wake. This is where I think there should be a wave of “Secondary Responders”. I’ve been hearing that some insurance companies are offering this service now… it’d be a lot cooler if it was a volunteer thing. We’d sign up for sure.

So what’s this summer got to do with cruising? If you’d have asked me 2 years ago, I’d have said nothing whatsoever. But now I realize that as long as we’re still relatively close, we’ll be returning home in the off-seasons – and though we’re away from the boat, it’s still a part of “cruising”. The upsides are financial, and staying connected with friends and family. The downsides can be mitigated with expectation-management and better planning on my part. Haha, there I go trying to plan again, silly me. 😉

PS: This summer we lost a family friend who was also a cruiser back in her day. While I never met her in person, she sent a lovely and encouraging reply after every blog post. She will be missed. Eight Bells, Mary Ann S.