Whirlwind to San Diego

Sailing Kamaya with the sun spilling orange into the sky and the wind on our sails, I can’t help but think how lucky we are and what a luxury and a privilege this adventure is for us.

It’s been a whirlwind of a week full of wind, howling wind, little wind, no wind and perfect wind all together bringing us south to San Diego. That’s where I am comfortably writing as Maya and Kai are swimming in the San Diego Yacht Club pool. When I left you last, we were in Ventura. We sailed to Smugglers Cove on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands, spent a night at Marina Del Rey where we met up with brother Ethan, picked up Karen and Martin Reimer and sailed overnight to San Diego.

When we arrived at Santa Cruz Island, a 100 foot military ship was testing missiles so we couldn't go farther than Smuggler's Cove. The waves crashed on shore and we took our dinghy the first visit, but opted to swim the next time. When I was five the under tow, not under toad, yanked me under at Baker's Beach in San Francisco, and since then I've always been scared of waves. So after harvesting walnuts on shore and imagining what life was like for the people who settled there in 1889, we were ready to swim back to the boat. Tim took Kai through the surf and Maya and I stuck together.

Traveling with kids, adults are supposed to act confident and hide all trepidations. As we walked towards the waves, I held Maya's hand. "Not this one," I kept saying as I tried to count the waves and find a small set for us to swim through. Finally, I thought the waves had gotten smaller so we swam hard, only to both be pummeled by waves and pulled under feeling like clothes in a washing machine with sand up our noses and pushed back to shore. Strong swimmer Maya took it well compared to her mother who hyperventilated. We both finally made it through the surf and back to our safe abode on Kamaya. Next time, Maya wants to go with her Dad, but maybe next time, I'll be a little wiser.

We left Santa Cruz Island Friday at 2 in the morning for a 60 mile sail to Marina Del Rey. We wanted to make it for brother Ethan's fundraiser. With Sarah Palin elevated to the high position of Vice-Presidential Candidate, "people from Outside" -- that's what Alaskans call those living in the lower 48 -- are interested in Alaskan politics.

Ethan is running for the sole Congressional seat in Alaska and is remarkably 12 points ahead of his Republican opponent Don Young. Please take a look at his website, www.EthanBerkowitz.com and if you can make a donation. It was great for us to take a break from boat life and watch Ethan field questions about Sarah Palin and solving problems in the Middle East. It was equally great for Ethan to take a break from the campaign trail, and visit our home. He said it felt like "comfort food."

Karen Reimer (my bell sister as when we sailed together at UC Berkeley we were dubbed "Ding and Dong") and her teenage son, Martin, joined us in Los Angeles. They drove our white van down from the Bay Area and were ready for some more motion -- the sail to San Diego. Only moments after Mary Jane Heppe from Hood River who happened to be in LA with her son Keenan, set our dock lines free, Martin felt a little queezy and suffered through our sail (the drugs kicked in) but that didn't stop him from photographing all the lighthouses along the way. Karen got a dose of the night shift where we have to be on the lookout for the tankers crossing our path. It was super to have her join us!

In San Diego we received our new Ullman main, which cousin Delphine who lives here, says is just like getting a "boob job" as you have to look good in Southern California. So we're enjoying the good life, looking hot, and gearing up for our sail to Ensenada.