Hi all,

Tuesday:- Well we have finally arrived in Idylwild.  We had quite a day yesterday with a glider flight over Warner Springs, a very sudden wild fire in our path which turned us back with a detour of nearly 60 miles and an unexpected drive through Desert Springs to finally arrive in Idylwild about 5 1/2 hours later.  It was meant to be a 2 1/2hour drive.  The glider flight was a spur of the moment decision..  There was a sign on the side of the road and we decided that was a good way to see the sights.  We were in a 3 seater (pilot included) and had a 20 minute flight.  We had been told that there were wild fires in the area and could smell the smoke in the evenings while we were in Oakzanita but this one we could see from the air and was right where we needed to go.  And it had started about an hour after we had started our journey from Oakzanita.  After our flight our pilot checked that the road was open for us so we continued on our way only to be turned back when we only had about 20 miles to go.  The only detour we could take was to travel about 60 miles in what felt like the opposite direction.  There is one road in and out of the park we were headed to.  But the positive was we saw a few unexpected sights along the way.  Like the acres and acres of windmills in Desert Springs (over 4000 windmills in total).  I've attached a photo to give you some idea but as usual the photos do it no justice and they were taken from inside the car while driving. Idylwild is at 7200ft so the drive up the mountain was quite spectacular. It was a challenge for Phil to keep the truck and RV on the narrow road but as usual he did a great job.  The temperature here in Idylwild is 84degF (29degC) which is very nice for us Kiwis but down in Desert Springs and Warner Springs it was between 96 and 110degF!  And a very hot breeze blowing all day.

Wednesday - We woke up this morning to the smell of smoke.  The rangers were still saying all was ok so we drove in Idlewild town with our new friends - ZZ Top (Garret) and his wife Debbie.  They gave us the grand tour of a very cute village full of log homes.  An alpine village that comes to life in summer but is still fairly sleepy.  We had a nice lunch outside in the shade with a view of the billowing smoke in the distance.  At this stage the fire was still 2 hilltops away (8-10 miles as the crow flies) and watching the smoke change colour was quite mesmerizing.  The breeze was blowing the fire away from us and there was no smell however it was definitely growing.  Once we got back to camp the rangers came around telling us that there was a change in the breeze and the fire had started to creep closer to camp (it had covered 5 miles in the last 3 hours) and there was now a voluntary evacuation in place..  After much discussion with other campers we decided to abandon camp before the notice became mandatory as we then would not be allowed to take our RV with us.  It took us a record 20 minutes to pack up and as we were driving out of camp the notice became mandatory.  Quite an adrenaline rush I'm not keen to repeat!   At this stage the fire is covering 19,400 acres and is only 15% contained.  They have a huge number of fire fighters and equipment working including a DC10 in the air dumping water.  

So now we are quite a bit further down the mountain and have found a really nice camp that hopefully will be ok for the next few days.  As you can imagine it is all anyone talks about but they all seem fairly calm as it is just something California has to endure in exchange for the lovely climate.

That's all for now,

Marit & Phil

I'm sitting in the truck at the side of the road in a place called Coronado which is an 'island' off the coast of San Diego.  We have managed to find a yacht club for Phil to go racing - it is their regular Wednesday night race so Phil is a happy chappie!  Not sure how much action he will get as there is not alot of wind and the boats don't look very competitive but he's managed to get out on the water which is a plus.  Coronado is mainly a military area with quite a nice town.  Very touristy and expensive housing..  It's quite flat and the roads are great for biking around.  We visited the Hotel Del Coronado where alot of famous movies were made.  It is a very large timber building.  Very old worldy feel to it but beautiful.  We've spent quite alot of time riding around all over San Diengo..  A great way to see the sights.

We are staying at an RV campsite called Pio Pico which is near Otay Lakes, inland from Chula Vista.  It is mostly desert country so very dusty, dry and brown.  We've had alot of trouble with internet there hence me sitting at the side of the road in Coronado writing this email!  Tomorrow we will move to Descanso which is about 1 hour outside of San Diego.

We spent the first few days in Malibu overlooking the ocean, getting ourselves set up with groceries and sorting all our electronic gadgets out!  We visited Paul Getty's villa and spent a bit of time seeing the sights.  The beach front homes are built right over the sea - the water comes right up and under the homes.  When the tide is in it feels like you are in a boat!  

Then we moved down the coast to San Diego to Pio Pico..  Although it is mainly desert there the temperatures don't get too hot due to the breeze that blows most of the day.  We have done a few trips into San Diego - the first night was 4 July so we headed down town and just followed the crowd thinking they would all be going to a fire works display.  We ended up on top of the Convention Center watching the display which was set up on 4 barges in different places on the harbour.  The 4 barges had the same fireworks all synchronized  to go off together.  San Diego has a very beautiful harbour especially at night so it was well worth going to. 

We met a lady who had emigrated 13 years ago from South Africa and she turned out to be very knowledgeable about San Diego. I was asking her where she would recommend we visit and a little later that afternoon she arrived at our site with a 3 page list of things we could do.  We have named it 'Dawn's list' and then reported back to her the next night with an update telling her what we had visited.  We had dinner with them talking about where we had visited and finding out about their life in the US.  We are still working our way through 'Dawn's list'!  Asking the locals was something we did on our last trip and it is a great way to meet people.  It always amazes me how well Americans know their country.  Puts me to shame when I think of my knowledge of NZ!

The next day we spent the day on the Embarcadero on Harbor Drive visiting the US Midway aircraft carrier which is on permanent display.  In it's day it carried 4500 sailors - there was even a jail on board.  Americans just love their military! 

We have also visited an outlet centre just beside the Mexican border which was an experience!  Phil found a leather outlet shop and finally bought himself a new wallet!  He has retired his old wallet which was bought in Mexico when he was about 20!  It needs some serious repair that is beyond my sewing machine so Karl you will be relieved he hasn't thrown it out and we'll list it for you in his will!  Good luck keeping anything in it though. 30 odd years with the same wallet must be a record.

Reub has arrived a couple of days ago and we have had a few phone calls with him.  Seems odd he is so close ( in San Diego yesterday and today) but we'll leave him to his trip and catch up with him back in LA in a couple of weeks. Tomorrow night we are going to watch a ball game at Petco Park in the city between San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.  I think it's a softball game (very knowledgeable I am  - not!) but it will be an experience no doubt.

We will slowly work our way back towards LA over the next 10 days or so to meet up with Reub at the end of his tour and then go inland towards Las Vegas and the canyons.  The heat will no doubt wear us down.  We met a lady on the boat Phil went sailing on yesterday who lives in Las Vegas.  It has been around 120degF (45degC!!) so I'm not sure how we'll cope with that.  She is going to organise for us to go on a boat trip on the lake which will be a nice change from the usual touristy activities.  The temperatures are a bit lower around the canyons due to the altitude but I don't think it will be a prolonged visit!  Then the plan is the salt flats in Utah.

Hope all is well at home.  I don't miss the weather but I miss you all!

xx

It seems like years since I was last in NZ, I must say up until now it has been a wild ride. I have had next to no free time since I arrived in Vietnam. Went direct to Ha Long Bay for a bit of a cruise around. From there it was a short time before I was on my way to Beijing to start my Train Journey. To fit everything in. From the Walking along the Great Wall and tobogganing down it.

Mongolia led to living in a Gerr for a few nights where the traditional clothes came out along with the bow and arrow and the vodka soon started to flow. By the time we reached Russia I was missing being on a boat once more so I hopped aboard one at Lake Baikal and went swimming. A frozen lake may not have been the best idea though.

Back on the train I was in a carriage with a Major and Lieutenant from the Russian army. 6 bottles of vodka soon went missing before the morning. In Moscow I went along to the Kremlin and liberated a few of the chain links similar to the picture below. From there it was off too St. Petersburg which was a beautiful and amazing city. Once again found my way to a boat this time for a jazz concert on the water. And spent my days going around palaces, cathedrals and museams as it is the cultural capital of Russia. 

The craziest part of this journey would be the cruise from St. Petersburg to Tallinn as I met a hens party, Both Greenie and me seemed to entertain them every night which was a bit strange. Now im just living it up in Estonia looking for bikes to buy before we tour across Europe.

 I wish you all luck for the winter series and I will be in touch again.

I guess the race was first put into perspective for me at the briefing on the night before when someone, over a beer, pointed out that, in the tide, all boats drift at the same speed – thereby predicting the form the race start would take the next morning. And so it began. Urban Cowboy was slightly late at the start, but it didn't matter – all boats drift at the same speed. Struggling to keep a kite full we made our way slowly to the first decision point – Rangitoto Channel or Motuihe. A couple of boats were heading to Rangi Light and we very nearly went with them, but at the last minute a north-westerly started to establish itself and we lifted out on port tack and headed for Motuihe – good call, the guys in Rangi channel bombed. Then began a dead beat to Channel Island in a light nor-easter and a dead flat sea – the only conditions in which we have ever made Urban Cowboy go well to windward. What a day – late March and sailing on the wind in the outer gulf in t-shirt and shorts well into the evening. It turned out to be a great leg for Urban. Kia Kaha had rocketed away and Rikki was starting to stretch but we rounded Channel just on dusk in a group of other boats, all around 36' to 40'. The promised bear-away turned out to be a lay to the Mercs as the wind went East. Through the Hole in the Wall and it was Friday already and the wind had disappeared completely. A bit more drifting with the same group of boats until, once again the wind went with us, and the promised bear-away turned into a lay south. Unfortunately the wind god was not yet done and by Slipper Island the wind had now gone south enough for a choice to be made – sail on port and go into the coast or sail on starboard and go out. Rikki had gone in immediately after clearing the Hole in the Wall and a couple of other boats had shown the same intention. On Urban the guys on deck had seen, in the moonlight, a band of fog clinging to the coast and concluded there was no wind in close and so took us out to the Aldermans. Dawn found us in a dead beat to the finish and in a very frustrating phase of the race out by Mayor Island. On port tack we got bent West and on Starboard we got bent East, at one point sailing a course of 050 (yes - directly away from Tauranga) for a very short period. We seemed unable to get closer than 18 miles to the finish for some hours as we tacked to and fro. Then, from nowhere a bit of puff from the South West and it was a lay to the finish ….. almost. About lunch time, 10 miles and 2 hours to go, we discover that Kia Kaha is the only finisher – holy crap - we could be second home – Squealer and Frenzy to port, a couple of sails in the distance to starboard and a number of sails behind. 5 miles to go and the wind goes east, kite up and ghosting along. The boats to starboard turn out to be Rikki and Kaimai Flyer – in shore was a doomer - and its all on for love or money, albeit in slow motion. Less than a mile, we are heading for the boat end, sailing as deep as we can on port tack with a kite up. Frenzy and Kaimai Flyer have been dropped and we have Squealer out to port, on starboard tack with a gennaker and Rikki out to starboard on port tack with a gennaker, smoking us, while we try and figure out what to do. We know we run deep comparatively quickly and maybe a puff will get us through – or should we hot up, or maybe gybe.The boat-end is closer so we stay deep. A few hundred yards to go and Rikki takes our stern, Squealer has us on starboard and so we follow Rikki and take Squealers stern. We are now committed to gybe and so we set up. Rikki gybes and crosses ahead. Squealer finishes, we gybe and sail deep, Rikki can't lay and must gybe again, for an instance we look good but compared to us she is smoking hot, and with a flawless gybe beats us home by a few seconds. Suddenly its all over, its around 2.00pm and we need a beer. 28 hours to sail 120 miles, bloody hell, who needs this – still, box is ticked, been there, done that … finally. A few rums in the club, a shower and some stories followed by a yacht club dinner and its prize giving …. and …. “holy handicap batman” …. we have done enough and Urban Cowboy takes first on PHRF in Division A. Then, just to prove that when its going your way it goes all the way, the two custom made jewellery spot prizes went to the ladies in Urbans crew along with a lake diving scuba course to one of the guys. Now its Saturday, we deal with the mandatory sore heads, lose one crew member, gain another and set off for a 3 day cruise home, in which we do more motoring than we have done in the last 12 months …. but that's a story for another day. Our thanks to Tauranga for hosting the event and our thanks to the sponsors – especially International Paints for donating prizes of product. Urban Cowboy came up for an antifoul this morning and so the timing could not have been better. 28 hours, mostly on the wind in less than 10 knots ... would I do it again …... probably.  

Colin Rickett

Gary Swain - owner of Blue Beat