While we thought we would have crossed our first ocean together by now, or be cruising the Med, the alternative has been quite nice. Being home in San Diego does not suck. When given limes, make margaritas!

One of our projects before we left in November was building a boat bar in a corner off the kitchen that does not get used. Eric came up with the brilliant idea to shape it like a small boat, (we actually had a mock up made of cardboard in our kitchen for a month) and wood artist and friend Stine Poole was commissioned to build it. We were psyched to see the finished product when we returned from France this time! The exquisite details, the brass latches, the ice bucket cover, even the cabinets have such fine details you could stare for hours. Everything is first class and if anyone is lucky enough to get something made by Stine, they will Not be disappointed!  It’s far beyond our expectations and these days that’s not an easy thing to say.  Add tiles to the wall, my Dad’s ancient bottle collection from beaches in the Bahamas, and we have ourselves one kick ass bar! All we needed to do was name it.

So we hosted a Name That Boat Bar Contest! Names trickled in from around the world and it was fun to hear all the ideas and suggestions.  A small group of Eat Sail Lovers came to celebrate and christen her and we read all the names out loud after everyone was duly pickled. The crowd roared for some names and was very quiet for others.  Felt and looked a bit like the Johnny Carson or Jay Leno show. Toss that card or hold onto it and read slow for a belly laugh.

In the end we decided to wait until the morning to sober up and make a good decision since we all know alcohol makes good judgement fly right out the window.

THE WINNER IS:

ISOBAR, Ice-O-Bar, I sober, well you can pronounce or spell it anyway you want but we chose this one for a few reasons.

The bar is beautiful and deserves a classy name. Wet Spot, FUBAR (military name meaning effed up beyond all recognition) Eat Swallow Love, Shipfaced, and Kids Table were all contenders but again, we have to live with this when we are sober and have guests that might not understand. FUBAR was a close second but then again we really don’t want anyone coming over here and going there. It’s not pretty. So…Steve Olbogen our personal trainer for wedding dress shape and big competitions as well as overall healthiness entered about 30 times and proved that perseverance pays. We had no idea he was sitting at a table at the party writing names non stop and this was his entry. The irony? He doesn’t drink!

What dos Isobar mean?

From Wikipedia: An isobar (from βάρος or baros, meaning ‘weight’) is a line of equal or constant pressure on a graph, plot, or map; an isopleth or contour line of pressure. More accurately, isobars are lines drawn on a map joining places of equal average atmospheric pressure reduced to sea level for a specified period of time. In meteorology, the barometric pressures shown are reduced to sea level, not the surface pressures at the map locations.^[9] The distribution of isobars is closely related to the magnitude and direction of the wind field, and can be used to predict future weather patterns. Isobars are commonly used in television weather reporting.

And why does this name work for us besides the obvious that we are sailors? Well, when it’s high pressure outside ( or somewhere) we will make drinks that are good for that. High pressure generally means good weather and that translates to warm. Blended drinks! And low pressure? Hurricanes are an example of extreme low pressure and we will be inclined to pour drinks on the rocks… like Dark and Stormies. What do you call a bunch of Dark and Stormies all lined up in a row? A squall line!

So here’s to Stine and coming home to a beautiful boat bar!