Taking a leap College Graduation

This past Saturday I graduated from UCSB with a BS in Biology.

It is bittersweet 

There was a point in my time here where I felt that I could not wait for the day that I would be able to leave this place 

That has changed.

In my last year in Santa Barbara I have found so many reasons not to leave and I feel that even though my relationship with this place will never be the same as it has been this past 4 years I am confident that I will be back here someday.

I have never been satisfied with the status quo, and often find that I choose the unexpected over the safe. For better or worse this aspect of my nature is becoming more prominent. 

I have another 12 hours on my lease. I will be headed home tomorrow

Going to take my amazing aunt out to buy groceries and get some rest.

I may be headed up to the Gulf Islands in British Colombia for some salmon fishing at the end  of the week!!!

 

Hope you are all safe and happy,

Dave

Big Sur Sailing Trip

Reese Hodges and myself sailing Pazzo off Big Sur

So I was just finishing up my last couple weeks of school, studying for the approaching MCAT when I realized that I have not had an adventure in a while. The sun was out but the wind was howling and like most days that meet this description I thought to myself, I wish I were sailing. This time, I did something about it.

Sixteen hours later, fellow People of the Sea crewmen Reese Hodges and myself were piled in a car along with photographer Kellock Irvin, headed up to Monterey.

Fire in San Ardo that we stopped at on the drive

We had a lovely dinner at my family's house (the Nurcanyans) and shared some great stories before heading back to my house to prepare for the trip the next day.

We spent a few hours that night going over charts and familierizing ourselves with the GPS equipment that we would be using.

Reese and I going over the course

The next morning we went and purchased food water and extra fuel. 

We emailed out our float plan then left the harbor around 12:45 and headed south

 Reese at the helm

Kellock navigating 

As the day came to a close the wind decided to disobey the weather report as it often does and shut off. 

W/o the anticipated 25kt breeze our dreams of making it to SB in a reasonable time frame were dashed and we decided to turn around.

 We motored into the night and arrived at Stillwater cove at 0300
and after a tricky entry into the cove with reese on the bow with a dive light
I finally got to get some rest

Overall it was a great trip!

Special thanks to the Nurcanyans (Sima, Herman, Ara, Jackie, Nicholas and Natalie), George (Stillwater Harbor master) and  Darla Barsoain