Heading South

October 19th was departure day. We sailed from Long Beach to Newport Beach, where we picked up Mexican visas, fishing licenses and entry documents from Joan Irvine's document service. The next day we sailed on to Oceanside, where we stopped two nights while I did more work on the boat. I touched up the varnish, disassembled and reconditioned the primary winches, and worked on our WiFi amplifier and antenna set up. I also replaced the regulator and connector on the propane tank in order to deal with a propane leak. Then it was on to Mission Bay, where we will meet up with our crew for the trip from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas--my sister Janet and her husband Paul. They are both experienced sailors and we are looking forward to sailing with them.

Last minute repairs and upgrades

We have decided to go South with a cruiser's rally known as the Baja HaHa, which departs from San Diego on October 26th. That means everything must be ready in time for us to get down to San Diego. We have been working frantically to take care of problems and make repairs. In the last couple of weeks we have replaced our aging lifelines and replaced the main and spinnaker halyards, which were identified as suspect when we had a rigger go over the boat. I added a teak bracket on the stern for our new outboard engine, added a hoist for the outboard, rebedded a leaking deck prism above the chart table and made a series of repairs, upgrades to the sanitation system to try to deal with an odor problem. Our marine toilet is new--the problem seems to be an old Y-Valve (diverter valve) which was leaking because the gaskets were shot. Replacing that was a delightful job--not exactly how I expected to be spending my time on sabbatical.

Shakedown Cruise to Catalina

We just got back from Catalina. We have sailed there before, of course, but this was the first time since moving on the boat with all our stuff. And it served as a shakedown for all the new equipment I have recently added.

Everything performed well. The autopilot keeps the boat on track when sailing and under power. The chartplotter and AIS are working fine. I'm particularly happy with the AIS, which helped us identify some large ships that were approaching us in foggy conditions near the entrance to LA Harbor long before we could see them.

Moving Aboard

We now live on the boat--it is our only residence. Moving out of the house we have occupied since 1992 wasn't easy. We spent weeks getting rid of things. Luckily we were able to leave a lot of things in the house with a very understanding tenant. It may take weeks more to find places to put all the things we decided to bring with us on the boat. We are using my parent's garage in Long Beach as a staging area while we decide what to put where.

Preparing the boat

August 2009--I've spent most of the month getting the boat ready for the trip to Mexico. In the past few weeks I have installed an underdeck autopilot (Raymarine) installed cooling fans in the cabin, and installed the Viking Liferaft that I purchased on E-Bay. I have also installed solar panels and additional batteries. I still need to install the new Raymarine Chartplotter, AIS and Satellite Radio--which will bring the boat's electronics up to date.

I've debated about whether to buy and install a radar. I've decided to do without one for a while and see how it goes. After much discussion, Claudia and I have also decided to do without refrigeration. We will rely on the boat's large, well-insulated icebox, and stock it with ice, for the time being. Doing without refrigeration means we can get by with smaller, cheaper solar panels, a smaller battery bank, alternator, etc., which will keep our costs down.

The Boat

Our boat is a Mason 33 sloop, designed by Al Mason and built in 1985 in Taiwan's well-known Ta-Shing Shipyard by Pacific Asia Enterprises. It is a comfortable, heavily-built cruiser. We bought the boat in 2007. It had been lightly used for most of its 22-year life: there were only 400 hours on the engine and the interior, including the bilge, was amazingly clean and new looking. The boat has extensive storage space, which should make it a good live-aboard. When purchased, it had only the most basic electronics (VHF, depth gauge, knot meter), which I liked because it allowed me to upgrade to my choice of new equipment.


The boat was previously known as Sous Le Vent (Downwind). In anticipation of the upcoming sabbatical year, we rechristened her Sabbatical. The re-christening followed all the require formalities--including a toast to Neptune.

The Plan

Academic sabbaticals are supposed to be a time for careful reflection--an opportunity to read and think broadly, retool intellectually and perhaps work on long-term projects. As I thought about ways to spend my sabbatical, it occurred to me that I could pursue all of the traditional goals while living on a sailboat--and have a sailing adventure at the same time. Thus, I decided to spend my sabbatical on Sabbatical (which, not coincidentally, is the name of my sailboat).

The timing is right. I just completed a three-year term as Chair of my academic department (Criminology, Law & Society) at UCI. Our youngest child, Elliot, is beginning college this Fall. So I am free of most administrative and parental obligations. I am working with a few graduate students, but all are at a stage where they can (and should) be working independently; I can continue to help them from afar by e-mail.

The plan, then, is to rent our house in Irvine, move onto the boat, and go sailing. We'll be starting in the Fall, so we'll begin by heading South toward warmer waters and keep going as long as far as it's fun.