Yesterday Eric and I went for our first sail on El Gato by ourselves.

Headed south to Port Vendres to sightsee a different harbor and have lunch Catalan style. Meaning late afternoon.  The forecast was 10 kts but it was more like 5 and when we got half way it died.So much for the spinnaker but we are getting better at rigging and take downs!

Navionics on the new iPad is awesome. We just put our waypoints down with a finger and it tells us how far, speed, COG, heading to waypoint, etc. Punch the autopilot and keep an eye out for fishing traps and we are set. We’ll have a big chart plotter that integrate with radar and the other stuff once the goods clear customs. But having the iPad is good now and seems to be the future too. Walk anywhere with it and see the info on board. The only problem I see so far is the battery runs out too fast.

We took a quick look around PV and noticed lots of fishing nets on docks, a marina with a huge crane, and more old buildings. A small city. And it must be a good hailing port as we’ve seen numerous boats with PV on the stern and we know they don’t mean Puerto Vallarta!

After checking out PV, we did a small hop north to Collioure where we took the kids for a peek, but this time we had an anchor!  The yard reinstalled it for us the day before.

It was even more beautiful this time. And so warm we went shirtless for the first time since we arrived!  Sat on the back porch facing a castle or fort (it has a mote and we aren’t sure how to differentiate) and had gnocchi, salmon, fresh tomatoes, grilled red peppers ala young Eric, and a glass of red wine. Because the lighting was so nice (picture Santa Anna Cali style) we hopped on the dinghy with my big camera and snapped away.  Then went to shore to do some exploring.

The town is small and charming with numerous artists selling original work featuring yachts and the lighthouse, cafes along the waterfront, even a drummer entertaining the happy Saturday lunch crowds. It was about 4PM.  We climbed up the parapits of the castle and got a special view of El Gato from up high. She was the only yacht at anchor on the most stunning day. Finally left for home around 5 knowing the sun would set soon and we had a few miles to burn.

No sails going home, just the pink tinged twilight reflecting on the water, the running lights, and 2 good engines.

Coming back to the narrow Med tie up is still our steepest learning curve to date. No doubt there will be plenty more.

We have met a few different couples of various nationalities who buy a boat and go cruising. Some without knowing how to sail, others with limited knowledge of cruising, and some who just learned to sail and are in their late 50’s early 60’s and now live aboard! As I hoped, the cruising community is very friendly and helpful. I suppose when your life could depend on the help and support of others it’s good to be friendly! But also maybe because we have a kindred spirit. Docks lines and anchors can’t hold us back.

They inspire us.  I’ve always said to myself “if they can do it I can too”.   Funny how many limitations we put on ourselves. And I keep reminding myself as far as I know I only have one life. So I better go for it now! Lucky I have a good partner for this!

Today it’s back to chilly and howling outside and we are prepping to leave for the week.                          We have our laundry hanging on the bow and are hoping it won’t blow away!

Wake up at 5AM to drive to 2.3 hours to Barcelona.

But not before we go to a rugby match in Perpignan with Claude and his friend Riccard who just happened to be a Catana Captain for 12 years and now is a sailmaker across the small harbor.

Small world.

And it keeps getting smaller the older we get and the more we sail.

And eat.

And love.

Because there never seem to be enough!

We fly home to San Diego on Monday and hope to get a lot of things done between now and then. And then while there we hope to get a lot of things done. And then we come back and do the same!

It’s not exactly cruising yet. So much to do and the paperwork and language barriers don’t help. The latest is our shipment from West Marine is stuck in Paris. They want all kinds of proof that we own the boat, that we are leaving the country with the boat, and won’t resell the goods, or else we have to pay 20% Value added tax VAT. The whole idea was to save money and know what we are buying in the US, ship it here which we were assured was easy breezy if you follow their instructions to the T. Which West Marine assures us they did.  Everything here has the 20%VAT except in France you don’t have to pay it on food.  The other problem is getting the paperwork done that deletes El Pato/Gato from being a French documented boat and then making it a US doc boat. They tell us it’s different here and our friends who are helping us buy and change the papers are asking daily for what we/they need. And we have no idea whats really going on! It’s a mess that someday will be over. Meanwhile there are all kinds of things to register like VHF radios, EPIRBS, AIS and Iridium Go!

Ah well you want to hear more about the adventures! But just so you don’t think all we do is play, there is that other side to being here and getting a boat ready for a long crossing. Lists and more lists. Fun to check things off but we keep adding more than deleting.

We are very thankful we are at the Catana Yard where anything and everything can and will be fixed. It’s just hard to communicate and even if we did speak French (they all know some English) the culture is different and their speed is not the same as ours.  Everyone is only allowed to work 35 hours/week, they take long lunch breaks and actually go home. Coffee and cigarettes are so common it’s actually quite sad.

But we continue to enjoy the French wines, cheeses, breads and desserts, fresh produce, and friendly locals.

Last night Claude from our favorite Catalan restaurant Vigatane came over and brought us a cruising book for this area. He showed us a sweet little island off of Menorca and some other cool places to visit. We plan to do a some island hopping before the big jump to Canaries. And we found out Stephane made it there in 8 days from here. The Bali hit 16 knots down one wave so that’s the new record for the newest boat off the mold.

We our looking for a downwind sail and hoping to find a used one from a Swan through Mitch. Otherwise we are pretty well stocked.  Tomorrow another sail before packing up. Hoping it does not blow 30 which is quite common this time of year. And it might be just me and Eric which will be a first. No problem leaving but coming back in and Med mooring backwards with a side wind and very little space between boats? We’ll be challenged for sure!

OK back to work on the lists!

Claude at Vigtane  Wind cloud!

Wow what a whirlwind of a week!

As we arrive in Barcelona to explore the city, I can’t help but reflect on how much we’ve done and how fast it’s flown by. A cross country 3 day drive through Toulouse and on to Basque Country including San Sebastion, a day trip to Andora in the Pyrenes, our first sail on El Gato to Coullierre, yesterday a long bike ride into Perpignan and back from Canet, and today at the Dali Museum on our way south.   Kids are itching to walk the city streets so for sure my feet will be aching by midnight! Chelsea and Bobby depart tomorrow AM and young Eric leaves the 7th.

Tomorrow eve we are going to Mitch Booths (Olympian Cat racer) for dinner at his house on our way north. Loving FB for connecting friends in other countries! It also helped us find our awesome surveyor Kim who will be rejoining us end of the week while he surveys another yacht at the Catana Yard.

We love our new temporary home and it really feels like a home to me and Eric. We even say things like “Let’s go home”. And we know we mean El Gato. 🙂  Having been here less than a month we are feeling good about where we are and how things are progressing.  Lots to do still, but nothing to keep us from crossing an ocean!

Next week will be all about learning how to use the navigation and weather software while Eric keeps learning the hardware like water makers and gen sets and such. It’s been a sweet break and distraction and we are grateful the kids push us out of the dock and help us explore the world through their eyes too.

Bobby, Chelsea and Eric Jr. arrived yesterday AM in Barcelona so Eric and I woke up as if starting a watch for an overnight and began the drive at 4AM.
No problemo!
It’s not that far, only a little over 2 hours and about 30 minutes to the Spanish border. We truly are in the south of France where as Jeff Husted would say “the ladies wear no pants.

They were jet lagged so we stayed “home”, ate tapas, drank red wine, and played cards. Deuces Wild was my dad’s boat I raced with my all girl crew back in the 80’s, and our F18 we own now. The logo of the One Ton was Snoopy holding 5 deuces and winking. Last night we played Bullshit with a new deck from the grocery store named Casino. When someone said they put down a deuce, another kid called BS and next thing we knew there were 5 twos in the deck! Hilarious! Maybe you had to be there. 🙂

Today we left the boat for the first time and drove to Toulouse via Carcassonne. Very cool to be going from the Med towards Basque country. and the Atlantic which we are curious to see. Saw the canals that folks love to cruise on, lots of vineyards, castles, and wind turbines. This is a very windy time of year and a storm blew in yesterday. We think about Stephan and his journey south since he had to turn back once already.

Now we are holed up in a beautiful apartment in the middle of Toulouse. Bobby is glued to his phone that is streaming the Chargers playing Kansas, Eric is in the sauna, Chelz passed out from being up since 3AM (jet lag) and dad and I are enjoying more cheese, wine, sausage, and apples. Dinner will be duck!
Recommended by the hostess of the hotel, we said of course! She explained how everyone here loves duck and we love that. El Pato’s name will be removed soon but not before we eat tons of ducks! Oh and we are all very grateful for Eric Jr’s 6 years of French classes! He has saved the day more than once. He knows what the signs say and how to ask questions! Our sign language can only go so far. LOL

Tip of the day – Bad Elf! And not the costume I wore at SDYC; it’s a small device you can put into your phone or iPad to give you GPS when on the road (or on a boat) if you don’t have a good international plan (AT&T). Thanks for sharing that info Rags!
He owns the Maritime School in San Diego where I got my Cpt license and is a good buddy who has sailed across plenty of oceans.

Another good tip is Navionics. You can download it onto your tablet and navigate. Even though we bought one, the chart plotters might be obsolete before too long. Covering our bases for now just to be safe!

Christmas eve we hosted a young French captain named Stephan who is preparing to deliver a brand new yacht to the Miami Boat show. We watched as 17 men swarmed the boat to try and get it ready before they took off for 2 weeks holiday.Reminded me of the joke “how many Californians does it take to change a light bulb?”  Noticed him alone after the swarm left, and as it turned out he had no food on board. So he came over around 9pm and stayed until midnight. I was pinching Eric under the table to keep him (and me) awake!

Stephan was born in Brittany but spent 12 years in Tahiti as his dad was an oceanographer. Hence his love for the sea. We pick everyone’s brains for their advice and experiences and always learn at least 2 or 3 things. With him it is we must try to go to the Cape Verde Islands which are SW of the Canaries. He says the people are SO nice and it is very European and beautiful. Plus it sounds like a good idea to see more, repair anything as needed, and stock up before the big crossing.

Christmas was spent working on El Gato, then riding our new fold up bikes around the local towns. We love them! They have 7 speeds, kick stands, folding pedals, lights for front and back, and a rack in back to hold stuff.  And they fit in the forward hatches and are about the size of a tire when put away.  Anyway, it’s very rural here with farms and vineyards and chateau’s etc. and great for bike riding as it’s mostly flat too.  The beach towns are desolute with very little open.

X Mas dinner was duck. Since we will change the name from Pato to Gato we figure we should eat lots of duck.

Two days ago the ex rugby player we met at the Catalan bar/restaurant (where we ate the most delicious duck ever) showed up on our dock looking for us.  He came aboard and shows us by map where to go for New Years Eve with the kids.  He promised to come back and bring an English chart book which he has no need for. Claude is quite the character!

Meanwhile I downloaded Navionics and Eric is installing Iridium Go! so we can have internet and navigation onboard soon.  Tired of waiting for the office to open or look for a McDonalds!  And life is so much easier and more efficient when you can search on line.

Kids arrive tomorrow so it’s a big push to get ready.

Can’t roll out your cookie dough that you think you memorized from all those years of making them? Use a wine bottle!  The French do not have all the cool decorative sprinkles that US does but they did have some nice little white and yellow stars. I faked the recipe after wondering if what I bought was baking soda or some kind of cleaner.  Brought my favorite boat cookie cutters from home – dolphin, sea horse, star, windsurfer, heart, and also made a cat and a catamaran. Tre bien!  Gave them to the nice folks working on the boat. Eric tested them first for poison and declared them safe, and good! This is the first year in as along as I can remember that I haven’t made a gingerbread house. Partially relieved as it is a huge undertaking. Traditions can be bent for sure.

The work list gets longer, not shorter, as we uncover hidden treasures like leaks and broken wires, but we still wake up eager to work and fix and make it ours. But we wake up in the dark with no clue of time since it doesn’t get light until 9AM. I kinda like it. Eric jumps out and starts running around uncovering things.  The floor boards, the hatches, there is no stone left unturned for this curious man! And I am grateful. Today he figured out how to turn the speakers on outside so we now have lots of surround sound for the new French CD I bought.

Hoping everyone has a wonderful holiday enjoying life and the people they love.

We are grateful and loving each other, our friends and family and this wonderful place we call earth! Which is covered in water. 🙂

Yesterday I tried to cook a frozen dish of Aubergine in sauce. Finding it’s quite tasty and much quicker to buy things already made sometimes. Plus an easy way to try things without buying a ton of ingredients. Going to the grocery store is such a treat for me. Goes well with the Eat Sail Love theme. And boy are we eating! The stores are so different and I walk up and down isles mesmerized by the choices and possibilities. I want to bring so much home to show and share.

I used the microwave and whoosh, blew out the power. Which meant no heater for the night and back to basics.  Candle lit dinner with lots of tapas, sliced turkey/potatoes and leeks.  This morning when we pulled the microwave out of it’s nice cubby we found a pile of mouse poop and wood chips. It had chewed through wires to get into the area. So we need another cat!  Good thing the boat has been empty long enough that we hope the little guy left for better feeding grounds. Will look for new poop to make sure. And borrow the dock kitty if we need a hunter to scare our guest off.

Problem with power solved and heat back on. Whew!

The yard will shut down for 2 weeks while we have kids here so good timing. We will be forced to go play and explore! Andora is a country all on it’s own not far from here. That is definitely on the list!

Yesterday was our 6 month wedding anniversary so we celebrated in style by going to McDonalds to find internet. LOL That was how this blog was started. Watching little kids with french fries (wondering why we call them french) and parents taking a break from shopping while we type away and search the internet.

It was uphill from there though. We stumbled on a small town courtyard that had Catalan dancers, local foods and spiced wine.  As we walked in a man looked right at Eric and yelled at him with a huge grin. Since we have no idea what he said we figure he was greeting the strangers and welcoming us to the festivities.  Next thing we are handed spiced red wine that was delicious! Like our apple cider but obviously not!  They tried to talk to us in French but basically we could only transfer the knowledge that we are from California and on a boat.  That sent them to get the mayor. And then we tried out a dish that was SO good!  A huge pan of onions and sliced potatoes smothered with huge wheels of Brie cheese all melting together. Now I have to try and make it.

After that we went to a sporting good store and tested fold up bikes and bought 2 for the boat. They are our anniversary gifts to each other but also will be handy wherever we go. Less cars the better.

For dinner we went to a local restaurant known for the local food and customs. Belly up to the bar as there was no room at tables and instantly befriended by 3 men. One could speak some English and he has sailed all the way across the Pacific. They showed us how to eat the huge chunks of bread by rubbing the tomato and garlic on it, sprinkling olive oil (choose one from the bar) and dunking it in cheese or just as is. Follow up with the local wine and listen to the live music. It was fantastic.

So someone please pinch us as this is so much more than a vacation. We are actually living here for a few months and learning so much every day.

The idea has always been to start our journey in the Caribbean and we almost changed it to stay here. But then we learned you can only stay for 90 days within 180 day period. And since we have so much work to do on the boat to prepare it eats up too much of that time. We’ll head south when we can and come back for sure! And by the time we return we will have learned a lot more about cruising here.

So we’ll probably go to Minorca, Majorca, and Ibiza on our way to the bottom of Spain. Then through the Straits of Gibralter, then over to the Canary Islands. Always waiting for good weather windows.  Then the big crossing to St Thomas!

For now we are just happy to be living aboard a beautiful and well maintained yacht.

Woke up to ICE on the deck! But it is really nice out and warm. Kind of like the desert. And our heater works really well so we had no idea how cold it got last night until we woke up and went outside.

OK better go help Eric take the main back down. First day with no wind and we checked all the reefs lines and moved the mainsheet back a foot on the boom.  Also put up our Code Zero and the spinnaker. The owner of Catana took a photo from his office of us and it’s really cool because the mountains are in the background with snow!  He gave us a paper copy of it as a surprise.

Three more days until Christmas and we have no idea what we will do. No kids for the first time since we’ve had them in our lives. We will miss them all for sure but 3 of them will show up on the 27th. We can’t wait to share this with them!!!

El Pato will soon be El Gato!

The previous owner is Italian and must have loved ducks.

And as much as we think it’s a good name, and ducks love the water, this IS a catamaran, AKA a cat. And some cats love water too. Like our cat Squeezy!

So once we get the G figured out we’ll remove the necessary P’s and do homage to Poisidon.

Complete with champagne (from France, not just sparkling wine) and the required dances and costumes. Evidently there are rituals to keep the bad luck away and to fool the water God.

Not that we believe any of it but just in case. Kinda like being baptized for some…

So one week into this grand adventure and we are so happy with our purchase. It took a year of looking, another year of hoping, and now we’ve arrived. In France! Funny how you think and hope, but it’s not good to have too many expectations. Like where to start this journey.

So the plan for now is to keep prepping and installing, fixing, updating, and make her not only a sweet boat to cruise on, but also a comfy floating hotel. Because we plan to do some charters once we get settled and know enough to take care of others too.

I have my 100 ton license and Eric can fix anything. Between the two of us we figure we can host others and have a grand time doing so.  Something out of the ordinary will be the plan. Hence Tradewind Adventures. Learn about the cruising lifestyle and how to sail a big cat with experts. Eat well, Sail fast, and Love doing it!  ESL has a new twist.