Reflection

Now that we’ve been back for 2 weeks, I think we have a good perspective on the whole experience of our trip. There’s a lot that has been written about in the past several blogs but I wanted to get more of Matt’s side of his experience. Here’s a few questions I asked him. And after the silliness subsided, he gave real answers:

What surprised you the most on the trip? (After asking him many times, while he was eating chocolate, he finally answered.)

How violent the sea can get. -Waves, swell rolliness.

That I didn’t want to come home every day. -Even though it was hard work, it was a more enjoyable type of hard work.

What was the biggest lesson you learned?

Carry extras of anything. We had pretty much every thing we needed. -It was great that we had 2 of everything.

What was the most fun?

Snorkeling at Emerald Bay. Dinghy rides. Fishing was surprisingly fun.

What was the hardest thing to get used to?

Getting around a moving boat. Traveling through a tossing vessel. And keeping track of where stuff was on the boat.

What did you think you’d miss the most at home but you actually didn’t?

I thought that the small space would feel more cramped than it did.

Any more thoughts?

Everyone asked if it was fun. It was a lot of work. Some fun. More of a balance between the two. Not a vacation though. An adventure/journey. Otherwise, go on a boat with shredded ice drinks.

Sense of accomplishment. -Can’t really say that about vacations.

Advice for beginners: Start with a small boat. Join a sailing club. Take sailing classes. Join other people on their boats if possible.

Recalled a lot from the lessons. -Which really helped when there were only seconds to make decisions.

My take:

Since I reflected a lot as the trip went along, I’ll just point out a few things going on in my head now that we’re home:

-I feel like we accomplished something pretty awesome.

-I enjoyed the marinas more than I’d like to admit. I still would rather anchor or moor the boat if it isn’t insanely rolly. However, I can’t deny that marinas/docks are pretty damn comfortable to stay at!

-Much easier to get away from work & the computer on a boat. We took time, most days, to explore & wander & enjoy life.

-You can actually lose stuff on a boat. You know it’s still on the boat but you have no idea where you put it because it’s not in it’s designated spot. Many times it’s futile to even search. You just have to wait for that thing to miraculously reappear. (Usually underneath the one thing you didn’t look under.)

-MerSea definitely felt like home to me. I almost forgot we had another home on land.

Matt sent me a few of his photos after I wrote up last week’s blog. So here are a few of his perspective from the places we went:

We are pretty sure this was landscaped by the Garden Gallery.

Leaving Morro Bay for our 2nd overnight sail. Hard to believe we’re so optimistic after the sail from two nights previous.

Sailing to Santa Barbara from Cojo.

The huge cruise ship just outside the Santa Barbara Harbor.

Measuring the one oar we did have left so Matt could get a replacement at West Marine. He was successful in getting the same exact one!

Santa Barbara Harba.

Emerald Bay anchorage.

Dad’s trimaran.

Container ship that we had to communicate with under way when we were going across the shipping lanes.

Evening in Ventura.

Santa Barbara Coast.

Oil platform off coast.

Evening glow in Morro Bay.

Thought I’d share with you some musical artists that we played often during our trip. -In case you were wondering what fills our ears during voyages. And in case you’re looking for some new music to check out:

Sofi Tukker: (We love listening to them in the morning, or right before a sail to get our spirits up!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvKa-Ll9Ers

Jain: https://youtu.be/59Q_lhgGANc

Stromae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO1VDCZh_Ko

The Interrupters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EP7422hggs

Betta Lemme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMvMR-jNSKg

Trevor Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxhoOWH5Bxs

Xavier Rudd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcDWBckYN18&list=PLo5_x6SFT0INcS2TsoizWvql6Tv6DKnDL&index=10

Brewfish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_92M-r2EgO4

Orville Peck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3esGD6lcMM

The Strokes: (Always a favorite! We’ve loved them forever! I don’t think they’ve ever written a mediocre song! The best!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dyNbMVfeyM

Pretty short blog this week. I know. Have been scrambling to get a rythmn going again for life back on land. More content next week. I promise.

Zephyr reflecting…..

If you want to see video footage shot from my iPhone of the trip, head over to the video page. I’m still in the  amateur level of making videos. So if anyone has any advice or is a pro at making videos, send me a message via the contact page! I can use any help.

Going to try to put together the footage that I took with the GoPro next week. Wish me luck!

Join us next week when we let you know what’s next for us three!

Thanks for reading!