Here are the photos:

20100801CrossingToSF

Here are the photos from the crossing:

20100524CrossingToHawaii

On July 1, 2010, the state of Hawaii banned shark finning. It is no longer legal to own shark fins, fish for sharks, or sell shark in Hawaii. This is currently the strictest law in the United States, but it only applies to Hawaii. On both a national and international scale, shark finning remains a threat to sharks and our ocean ecosystems.

Shark finning is a practice that involves cutting off a shark’s fins, then throwing it back into the ocean while the shark is still alive. The shark then dies through blood loss, drowning, or starvation. The fins are often made into shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy selling for as much as $100 dollars a bowl.

“Shark finning is inhumane- itʼs a cruel practice,” said Zack Bradford, an Ocean Policy Research Analyst at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “Youʼre catching and harvesting a whole lot of sharks for one part of the shark.” Nearly 89 million sharks are killed each year just for their fins. “It kills sharks for one small part of the body, and really isnʼt worth killing them for,” said Xenia Rangaswami, 8th grade.

To be profitable, shark finning requires many sharks to be killed, so shark populations around the world are declining. Since 1960, US populations of whitetip, smooth hammerhead, and bull sharks have decreased by about 99%. Experts estimate that within a decade, most species of sharks will be extinct or near extinction. This is a problem because sharks are important to help maintain a healthy ecosystem. They prey on sick or weak fish, which helps keep disease from spreading, and helps natural selection. “The harvest of shark fins leads to an over-fishing of sharks worldwide, which is having a large impact on the overall ecosystem,” said Mr. Bradford.

In 2000, a national bill was passed prohibiting shark finning in US waters, but there are two main loopholes that are allowing it to continue. The first is that fishermen can cut off the fins as long as they keep the body. Some fishermen keep the more valuable fins and carcasses, but throw back the less valuable ones. For instance, if one shark has valuable fins and another shark has a valuable body, a fisherman can keep the valuable fins and the valuable carcass and say they are from the same shark. The second loophole is that a boat can fish in international waters, and then give the fins to another boat that takes them to the US to sell. However, the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 would mend these gaps in the current law, prohibiting the possession of shark fins in the US. This bill has been passed in the House, but is currently stalled in the Senate.

Most eighth graders at Children’s Day School think shark finning should be banned nationally. Of 8 students surveyed, 6 were in favor of a ban. “I think it should be banned because first of all itʼs like if someone cut off your arm and threw you in the water to bleed to death, and second of all itʼs a very wrong thing to do,” said Mayra Alvarez, 8th grade.

If you want to protect sharks and our oceans, Zack Bradford suggests three steps:

• Step 1: Donʼt eat shark- either meat or fins.
• Step 2: Educate your friends and family about the impact of shark finning on sharks. Many people don’t realize that finning is decimating shark populations.
• Step 3: Talk to policy makers, such as Senators and congressmen, and tell them that you care about sharks and want them to do more to protect sharks on an international scale.

Because the Shark Conservation Act is still being considered in the Senate, it is particularly important to call our US Senators and urge them to pass the bill. Call Senator Dianne Feinstein at (202) 224-3841 and Senator Barbara Boxer at (202) 224-3553.



“Itʼs a challenging issue here in the US,” said Mr.Bradford. “The challenge is to get the message to Asian communities, and get them to care about sharks.” However, Hawaii has a large Asian community, and still managed to ban shark finning. “For Hawaii it was quite a step to ban the possession of shark fins, period,” he said, “It would be great if we could do that everywhere in the US.”

]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/sharks-delicacy-or-keystone-species/feed 1 http://sailsugata.com/post/letter-to-latitude http://sailsugata.com/post/letter-to-latitude#comments Sat, 23 Oct 2010 23:23:36 +0000 Susan http://sailsugata.com/?p=541 We wrote a letter to Latitude about Cruising and Unschooling. It was published in the October issue. Click here and then scroll down about a third of the way.
]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/letter-to-latitude/feed 0 http://sailsugata.com/post/back-at-home http://sailsugata.com/post/back-at-home#comments Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:11:15 +0000 Susan http://sailsugata.com/?p=531 We did it! After 27 days at sea and over 3,000 miles under the keel, we sailed Sugata back under the Golden Gate on August 1. This closed the loop on the journey we started back in October 2007. We felt an interesting mixture of emotions: joy, relief, a sense of accomplishment, sadness that our trip had ended, and perhaps foremost, an intense desire for a shower!

The passage from Hawaii to San Francisco, while not without its challenges, was a cake walk compared to our passage to Hawaii. Our experience runs counter to what popular opinion would have you believe about the two passages; everyone says that the trip to Hawaii is easy, and coming back is hard. It does seem true that the weather on the trip back to the mainland can vary greatly from week to week, and boats separated by just 100 miles can have really different winds.

We had great weather leaving Hawaii, with moderate winds and seas. While it made the passage slower, we really enjoyed being becalmed near the Pacific High, with nothing but flat seas stretching as far as the eye could see. Things got a little challenging psychologically when the Pacific High jumped over us and left us beating into headwinds, but other than a period of about 6 hours of gale force winds (which we could thankfully ignore just by closing the companionway and hanging out below), it never got really rough. So luckily, seasickness wasn’t a problem this time!

Some memorable things from the passage: The great sailing north of Hawaii, with sunshine, steady winds, mahi mahi in the water, boobies and albatross in the sky. The stars at night. Trying to identify the trash that floated by (the greatest concentration seemed to be around latitude 38, when we’d see something every 10 minutes or so). The storm petrels that gathered around the boat at night, their eerie cries in the fog, and the one that flew into our sink!

Dropping the sails at night, and one day, near the Pacific High. The large sei or Bryde’s whale that surprised us in the calm water. Ron catching 2 tuna, which fed us for days! The great entertainment of the evening radio net, when we talked with our fellow boating friends and shared stories, poems, songs, trivia, and encouragement. Our windvane giving out about one week from the coast, and lashing the helm to steer us. Listening to my iPod, Ron reading, and Capn Todd-quila mixing drinks, spilling drinks, and drinking drinks.

We had been looking forward to the euphoria of landfall that we’d felt after making it to Hilo, but after tying up at our old marina (Emery Cove), it was actually a bit strange. In a way it was like we’d never left. We felt conflicted about being back. It was great to see family and friends, and we love the Bay Area. But being home also means dealing with the stresses of life here: the traffic, the ‘noise’ that goes along with internet connectivity, the flood of non-news that passes for news, and that utmost of annoyances- needing to find jobs!

So maybe it was partly because the passage was so much easier this time, and maybe it was because we weren’t ‘on vacation’ with a new place to discover, but after a week back, Todd and I both felt like we could happily take off again. Now I can sort of understand those crazy folks who love passage-making. Quite a contrast to my feelings just after arriving in Hilo, when I would have eagerly pledged to sail nevermore.

But, Sequoia wants to go to a ‘real school’ (oh, foolish youth!) so we’re facing 5 years of a more settled lifestyle. This probably means that we’ll have to sell the boat, but that is such a painful prospect that we’re ignoring it for now.

See all of our passage photos here:

20100801CrossingToSF

]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/back-at-home/feed 2 http://sailsugata.com/post/land-ho http://sailsugata.com/post/land-ho#comments Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:55:00 +0000 Winlink http://sailsugata.com/post/land-ho We’re currently 89 nautical miles west of the Golden Gate and if all goes well (knock on wood) by tomorrow evening (Sunday) we’ll be land ho’s tied up in slip B-30 at Emery Cove!
]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/land-ho/feed 3 http://sailsugata.com/post/730-miles-to-go http://sailsugata.com/post/730-miles-to-go#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:24:00 +0000 Winlink http://sailsugata.com/post/730-miles-to-go In case you’ve been following our position, and have noticed that it hasn’t been updated in the last couple days, fret not! The winlink database is just down right now.

What started out as a fun game of leap-frog with the Pacific High has turned into a frustrating game of tag! Just when we think we might be far enough from the high to get some more favorable winds, the darn thing moves closer to us. What’s a crew to do? We’ve been sailing as close to the wind as possible, which means we’re beating into the wind. But luckily it isn’t too uncomfortable.

We have just about 730 miles to go to the Golden Gate! If all goes well, that means just about another week at sea. While we’ve had a great passage so far, I think we’re all feeling ready for hot showers and a little more variety in our diets (rather than just a different flavor of ramen). Not to mention that we can’t wait to see our friends and family back home.

Luckily we still have plenty of margarita makings on board, and our nightly conversations with our buddies on other boats remain a highlight of our days. For tonight’s net, Capn Fairwinds has prepared a fake weather report. Imagine a computerized voice saying something along the lines of “the sailing is great everywhere, except where you are, where it will suck”. (I guess it’s funnier if you’ve heard to the forecasts on the VHF. To us, it’s hilarious!)

Miles down: 2262
Miles to go: About 730
Beer remaining: 50? (we lost track a while ago)

]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/730-miles-to-go/feed 1 http://sailsugata.com/post/fish-on http://sailsugata.com/post/fish-on#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 03:18:00 +0000 Winlink http://sailsugata.com/post/fish-on The last few days of this passage have been just about perfect! We’ve had calm seas and nice wind during the day. At night, the wind dies off, so we just drop our sails and sleep. It was frustrating at first not to be moving, but then we started to look at it as being just like anchoring for the night. I’m thrilled to report that not only have I stopped taking pills for sea sickness, but I’ve even been able to read without feeling queasy!

We think these next couple days will be the “crux move” of this journey. We are flirting with the edges of the Pacific High, and it’s anyone’s guess whether we’ll manage to scoot around or get caught for a while with no wind. Thanks to all of you psychics out there who helped push the High south- it worked! We’re optimistic that even if we do get stuck, it will be for just a day or two; and it’s more fun to hang out here than to sail north, only to have to sail south again near the Pacific Coast, where we’re likely to have gale conditions.

Today was a shower day- I’ve declared that we will bathe every 3 days whether we need to or not! With the sun and light winds, it is quite a pleasure.

Other excitement lately: we’ve seen a couple of tankers pass about 5 miles away from us. We also had a small bird (a storm petrel, I think) fly into the cabin and land in the sink! Ron scooped it up and set it free. These petrels love to hang around our boat at night; they seem to be attracted to the light. In fact, Capn Ornithology went out on deck with a headlamp on, and a bird flew right at his forehead. Todd managed to get his hand up and fend the bird off, sparing the poor creature from certain death on the rocky precipice that is Todd’s brow.

But our biggest news is that Ron caught an albacore tuna yesterday! I had been debating about what to make for lunch: pasta or rice to go with the (as yet uncaught) fish. Ron said not to count on fish for menu planning. After an hour or so I decided to go ahead with the pasta, and just after I’d dug out the pot, I heard the handline knock. “Fish on!” I yelled. Ron let the fish run just a bit, then brought it in steadily. We all crowded around the cockpit to catch a glimpse of it as he reeled it in, and were so excited when we saw that it was a tuna! Ron landed it and killed it quickly. “Pasta’s off, rice is on!” I yelled. The fish was maybe a ten pounder so it fed us all for two days. Ron’s already declared that tomorrow is another fishing day, and I’ve been thinking of how I might scrape together a fish curry. I love yelling “Fish on!” in a high, quavering voice, so I kinda hope he gets a lot of strikes before ultimately getting one to the boat. We’ll just have to be careful about eating too much tuna because of the mercury levels. After we hit Hilo, Todd and I joked that we had eaten so much sushi, that when it got hot outside, we grew taller! But seriously, I’ve been told the symptoms of mercury overload are irritability, forgetfulness, and… damn it! I can’t remember what else!

Miles sailed: 1524
Miles to go: 1343+
Beer remaining: 90 or so

]]> http://sailsugata.com/post/fish-on/feed 2 http://sailsugata.com/post/homeward-bound http://sailsugata.com/post/homeward-bound#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 05:44:00 +0000 Winlink http://sailsugata.com/post/homeward-bound After all of our sightseeing and surfing, we were ready to set sail for San Francisco on Saturday, July 3. But then Todd scrutinized the weather and decided it would be better to wait a day, to let a low pressure system pass through the North Pacific ahead of us. And since our spot on the Aloha Dock of the Hawaii Yacht Club gave us front row seats for the fireworks on the 4th, well, we decided we might as well stay til the 5th.

So last Monday morning we hit the Wailana Coffee House for all-you-can-eat pancakes (including Capn Sugar High’s favorite coconut syrup!) with our buddies on Isis. I was a little embarrassed to order a third plate of pancakes when Ron and Todd had stopped at two, but I’d spent the last month on Oahu porking up for the return trip and wasn’t about to hold back on our last morning in port!

After showering and cooking up 3 DiGiorno frozen pizzas (dinner and lunch for a couple days), we hit the fuel dock for a little bit of diesel and then were on our way! We had great sailing out of the Ala Wai and around the west side of Oahu. Things got a little rough that night in the channel between Oahu and Kauai, but since then it has been pretty much ideal conditions, with plenty of sunshine. And today has been the best day yet: the wind on the beam and the small, well-organized swell have made for a smooth ride. Hooray! The guys even managed to reduce our beer stock by upwards of a dozen.

To get back to SF, we have to sail north, up around the North Pacific high. Our friend Rick has been sending us weather updates, letting us know the high’s position. Unfortunately right now it is pretty far north, so we invite those of you with psychic abilities to envision it moving south. (Those of you without such abilities, well, how about you start saving your pocket change so you can buy us burritos?)

Rick has also been giving us important news updates. A couple days ago Todd came up into the cockpit and announced, “Rick told us who is in the World Cup finals.” Excited to know, I asked “Oh, who?!” Capn Total Recall scratched his large forehead and mumbled, “Uh, I don’t remember.” Hoping to give his thought process a helpful push, I offered, “Well it is either Spain or Germany and either Uruguay or the Netherlands.” Todd shook his head. “Nah, none of those. It was something like Peru or Chile or one of those countries.” I was left wondering which was more appalling- his short term memory, or his failure to understand the concept of “semi-finals”.

I will give him this though: he learned from our provisioning mistakes of the last passage. This time, we’ve got plenty of easily-prepared (but somewhat disgusting) foods like Chef Boyardee ravioli and Hormel chili. Our mainstay is ramen; we even did taste-tests of the many brands available in the Japanese stores of Honolulu. Sequoia made up a ramen chart with star-ratings and comments about each brand, and she ruled out one of them based on the amount of sodium it contained (astronomical as opposed to sky-high!).

Todd also bought a ridiculous amount of Pringles, much to Ron’s both joy and misery. When he signed on, Ron thought this would be a great opportunity to lose weight. But a tube of Pringles is never far from reach, and they tempt Ron with their siren call. We’ll hear Ron yell, “Oh, damn!” and the next thing you know, he’s elbow-deep in sour cream and onion.

Miles sailed: 987
Miles to go: Depends on where the high is (think SOUTH!)
Beers remaining: About 105 (yes, he bought more this time)

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