Thanksgiving 2012 at Hale Medoff on North Shore

WOW, what can I say, except "THANK YOU" to Fe and Rob for opening their beach house for our 4th (is it 4th?) Thanksgiving  Surf and Grind!

The view of "Fe's Break" right off their lanai.

Looking right towards Alligator Rock and...

Marijuanas.

We all met in the morning and then went out for surf session #1...

A yard-full of boards of all shapes and sizes.

Then it came time to eat!

Everyone checking out the surf.  

Leftovers was too big for me, but Paul, Mike and Jim all had a great time there.

Oh yeah, did I mention that "the Hulk" was there too?

After our first session and subsequent breakfast, we went out for our second session.  After that, we ate and some even ventured out for yet another session!

Fes' granddaughter Maya, and Ihan and Mike's daughter Jade were happy to share Uncle Paul's lounger to enjoy their dessert together.

Dylan, who possibly surfed more than anyone that day, coming in after the sun went down.

THANK YOU FE AND ROB for a great day of food, friendship, laughs and surf!

Into the Mountain with Ryan Waugh

Paul had the pleasure of meeting Ryan Waugh of Waugh Cellars before Jan arrived in Napa, who then  invited us up to see his new into-the-hillside winery he is building when Jan arrived.  Ryan met us straight from his busy picking day (he was straight from his grapes,  he now leases land in several different areas for his growing).

 He gave us an amazing tour of his hill top currently under-construction 

winery /cellar/ cave/ offices in the Napa hillside.  It's 20k sf underground! 

We met Ryan in the outskirts of Napa per his directions and then followed him up the winding hillside to a gated dirt road, then a mile up a steep dirt road to his property far above the valley floor.

Here we are waiting for him to open the gate.

No fair Ryan, you've got a 4X4!    We're trailing him in our mighty '93 Taurus wagon                                         (sold the EuroVan for new sail money).

We arrive at the cored-out "soon to open" site of his winery and cellars, "Waugh Cellars Winery...into the hillside!  (he said, "six months to opening date" ... we will be BACK!)

Are these bomb shelters??? 

Ryan, with a bottle of wine his best chardonnay and a red, and two goblets in-hand ( he gave us engraved glasses for the schooner, explains the process to us.

(Geez, I look like a bobble-head doll...)  

The gas powered generator behind Ryan lit the way, after a couple of pulls, but ran out of gas when we were inside... dark! Temporary fresh air ducts hang overhead.

Ryan and his wife bottled 3400 cases of wine in 2011,  all sold thru their wine club.   Ryan has been in the industry for 19 years, and loves the craft.  See the nice selections at the wine club and feel free to order some ( the Russian River 2009 Pinot Noir was THE best we have ever tasted by far).  If you order,  be sure to mention Jan and Paul sent you. 

Check out Waugh Cellars wine club at:

www.WaughCellars.com

"I think there was a party going on here,"  Jan says, holding a glass of the delicious Pinot Noir.   This is the foyer to the cellar, where Ryan and his investors  begin the tour.   "Knights of the Round Table" comes to mind.

Into the tunnels we go.  These will house the new winery and tasting rooms, and the entire operation is bored into this hillside, totaling 20k sq ft. The property will be fully powered by solar panels on the sunny hillside below.  No need for A/C or heat,  the hill stays a perfect constant temperature for wine:  a bit chilly for the Hawaii girl though.

After we walked all the different tunnels, we went back outside to where the final tunnel was dug toward the west and  will soon break thru the hillside to a beautiful view of the Napa Valley and beyond to San Francisco (you can see the top of the Golden Gate bridge if you stand on the picnic table).

This area will soon be the outdoor party / event area and offer amazing views,  great wine and  feature a wood-burning pizza oven.   Ryan described his vision of fountains,  winding paths, and amazing garden areas high above Napa Valley to sit and enjoy the food and his Waugh Cellars wine.  All available for events and weddings

We love people with a vision...Thanks Ryan!   Was great to get to know you and we're looking forward to your next visit to Oahu.

You can also watch the construction of this at:

► 5:20► 5:20

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1UHtjYBZr8

Jan on the picnic table, the wine has obviously taken its effect on her...

"Yippeee...."

A beautiful sunset over the valley.

A BIG "Mahalo" to Ryan for taking the time to show us his cool "office" and a big "Thank You" for the bottle of Russian River Pinot Noir and the etched wine goblets too!  Those made it safely back to Hawaii, and we'll always think back to Napa when we use them.

(Poor lil' Taurus, still out of breath, in the background, from the hill climb.)

"Hey Ryan,  how are the limos gonna make it up that hill?"

   "Ahh," he says, with a wine glow in his face, "nothing a bit of money and asphalt or crushed rock wont fix."

                                    ......... the end of this great chapter of Paul and Jan's adventure..........

But, there's yet more to come!

Pink makes her way to sunny, warm Southern California!

Blog from Paul...

 Pulling out of Napa at 11 am under a heavy fog that was just starting to show signs of lifting.

 The guy lifted the bridge, but not near as fast as when Jan calls on the radio in her best flirty voice!

(Jan:  "Hey, I was just being friendly!  You know, Aloha Spirit, brah...")

Bow shot, Pink Cloud movin' right along!

San Pablo bay in amazing glassy conditions,  well suited for water skiing.  

In the same area this past summer, Jan and I had green water coming over Trim's bow in short choppy seas that Trim did not like at all (Jan neither, I'd say:  we retreated and spent a night at Vallejo Marina, tucked in the bottom of the Napa River).  
Tide meets current, which meets wind which makes the Martinez Strait spooky at times, but NOT TODAY!
:o)

Crewmate Dennis

You can see one of the tower tops of the Golden Gate bridge above the fog.

With Angel Island to our port and Tiburon to starboard,  we get a glimpse of what lies ahead at the Gate to the Pacific... "hmm, kinda looks like the end of the world, Mr Columbus." 

As we entered to soup with radar on and all eyes on GPS,  we could see maybe the length of football field or less, as we flowed out with the tide under the Golden Gate bridge at 5-6 knots low RPM's.
"Dennis, do you see any bridge supports yet?  We are, like, almost right under the bridge per GPS."   I couldnt even see the huge bridge overhead but I heard the cars and trucks on the grate sections above.
Dennis says, "Yeah, to port, look, its a dark shadow..."   (heart starts to beat again as it wasn't dead ahead causing me to do a quick course adjustment, like full reverse!),   "...and I can see a shadow above of the bridge now too."  

"Ok, thanks!"

Gps was dead on, as we came under the bridge (I never did see it , but I heard the rumble).  Then, the loudest fog horn I've EVER heard went blasting right near us...WTF!   I pulled back throttle and stared at radar and hit it to get more of a close up view...is there a tanker out here too???   That section under the Gate and out the entrance to the bay is a major, major shipping lane, shared by small guys like us.  The freighters are going 10+ knots even in the fog, as they have schedules... I had brown shorts.

Dennis says, "That's the Bridge horn,  I've been here once before on a foggy day and heard that."
"OH, thats good, are you sure?",  I ask.
"Sure I'm sure... till I see a freighter," he says with a smile.
About then, it sounded again and it was a bit further away as I bumped the throttle up against the straight-in 5-6 foot rolling swells.   With Jan's help on her iPhone tide app,  we planned to hit the Gate just at the end of the outgoing tide, almost slack.  And it was...we were going 8.8 knots as we rolled up and over the big hills of water about 15 seconds apart ( bet there were good waves at that beach they surf right there where Slater won his 11th world title, as it was not windy at all, just soup fog).

Into the soup, exit to the left.

...all eyes on the radar/GPS...

   ...the GPS shows us out the gate and doing 8.8 knots.

I'm reading "Charlies Charts" again on the pilot house dining table for the 32nd time about the potato patch, the shipping lanes, the swell and the rip tide areas, and oh ya, the crab pots... help me Mr. Wizard!  Deep breaths and go for it, radio weather says its ok outside.  This soup must just be stuck in the bay entrance,  and if we didn't leave that afternoon (by 5pm under the bridge),  it was going be foggy until at least noon the next day if we had gone back and moored at an Angel Island Ball.  The weather down the coast was really good for the next 24 hrs. on both Sailflow.com and NOAA, so WE GO!
That's how the decisions need to happen, I'd say.  Call it as you see it when you have all the info you can gather.   If you wait for a hot, sunny clear day,  you're gonna need a lot of food and beer and get your mail delivered to Angel Island.
Grins.

Out the Gate.

Finally out far enough to hit the auto pilot button for "10 degrees starboard please, Scottie"  (auto pilot 6000 = "Scottie").  Another 10 degrees, then another 10 degrees after 15 minutes of kinda sketchy rolly-swell water and all the while expecting to cross a 800-1000 ft tanker or Hong Kong freighter.
Half an hour later, out of the shipping lane and running parallel with the coast, I started to relax a bit but kept the speed at 8.5 knots to get the heck out of there.  The fog did get lighter once out a few miles, and we didn't see land again until Morro Bay 36 hours later.

Night shift, into the darkness guided by the GPS.

Footnote:  We never did see a freighter in the area around the Gate or outside (very different from when I sailed down from Canada last October, where there were 5 or 6 that passed me both coming and going:  guess they were scared by the fog...LOL).  Only craft we saw was a pilot boat that crossed us near before the Gate, and he cut it close, I wonder if he was using radar?   We saw the orange cabin and white hull, someone waved, but no radio contact.
"See ya", said Dennis.

The offshore shakedown cruise/ adventure begins...