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11/14/2004 5:00:00 PM
San Diego, CA
Shelter Island - At the marina

A quarter year has passed

All the things that happened: In July we travelled a lot, August we worked our b.... off, in September Niki's mom visited and in October big changes happened.

Hallo everybody,

I think I never had such big gaps between my reports... And even now I have a hard time being inspired, but on the other had I don't want to keep you waiting much longer since many have mailed and asked what is going on. There is obviously a lot to tell and I thought I'll start with this report before I'll reply to the individual mails. I am going to try to keep it as short as possible but be careful not to over read the latest news, they are quite big...,

JULY

- 4 week trip to the Bay Area: (some parts I have told you about already in   my last report)   * a Robert/Niki weekend in San Jose, with a lot of sleep, shopping, dining     and a beautiful wedding in SF - the boys stayed with Maura and Bob     having a wonderful time   * family camping trip to Tahoe National Forest - with "our" four bear     encounters... (I am still amazed how calm the boys and I were!)   * one week camping at the Smith River in Northern California (1 hour from     the Oregon border) for the kids and I together with Maura, Bob and their     clan (at the most we were 16 people!), just like last year we had a     wonderful time enjoying the harmony, fun and respect that they all have     with each other - thanks for teaching me a lot!   * at the end we had a few days left in Boulder Creek, Sebastian's teacher     was so kind to test him for me to see, if he had actually learned some-     thing from me... And he scored 97%, which needless to say we all are     very happy and proud with. I am glad to know that we were able to catch     up on our late school start with our 3 day week. For Benjamin we did a     birthday party and a "last" get together with our friends

AUGUST

- We hardly were 2 days back when we started with our major deck repair   project. I have told you in our previous reports that we discovered a   lot more leaks than we expected over the last winter, leaving the deck in   no condition for us to leave with. After a lot of research, proposals,...   we decided to take the old teak layer off (there is a thick layer of   Epoxy underneath) and install a new PVC teak, sort of the marine linoleum   First we had to get all the fixtures off the deck and that was definitely   more than I had expected! For the chipping part we had great help from a   young guy (J.D. - his mother works at Tommi's office and he works there   now too), but it still took him and Robert almost a month to get it all   off!!! - the boys and I still tried to explore a lot in San Diego and for   Benjamin's 5th birthday we went to Sea World together with Barbie, Jimmy   and Lara. We watched the night shows and fireworks, quite a treat for a   birthday! - one week the boys went to a YMCA summer camp, this time "Sponge Bob", with   arts, craft, dance and music all about Sponge Bob. They had a lot of fun   and I had a week to myself.

SEPTEMBER

- The first weekend we took Lawur to the dry dock to get her painted below   the waterline again (it has to be done every 1-2 years) and we thought we   should do it again and save on it for next year... We also had to take her   out to sand the rough wood surface and seal it with 3 layers of Epoxy. All   in all it was a full and busy 3 days with a lot of dust, which I can't   stand at all! That weekend we also had some temperature records which did   not make it any easier and we literally were "swimming" away. After four   days we was back in the water and we continued with work there. - On September 9th my mom came to visit for 3 weeks and it was a welcomed   change for me. Since our visitors have been quite rare this year it was   nice to have her come and see were we are. We did stay at Barbie's,   I guess for such a long time it would have gotten too cozy... Besides my   mom's suitcase would have used up half of the aft cabin... Mama and Barbie   came to stay a night on the boat, since she wanted to experience it and I   doubt that she'll have such a chance again soon. It was great having her   here and the boys loved being spoiled by Omi for a change. - On September 24th we had our 10th wedding anniversary and we celebrated   that in Palm Springs. Barbie and Mama had the boys and treated us to a few   days away. On Sunday we ended this perfect weekend with a Sting and Annie   Lenox concert, looking forward to the next 10 years! - Robert has stopped working for Deloitte at the end of September. As you   might remember he was able to have a year sabbatical last October and   with our decision to stay he had started on a project up in San Jose   mid May (Mo-Thu). He had stopped for good now to concentrate on our trip,   deck work, etc.

OCTOBER

- The first of October we started off with an Al Jarreau concert, whom we   both have seen at event and really, really enjoy. This time it was a   rather small venue and an average age well beyond us, but still he gave   a wonderful performance and the audience much to our surprise was very   energetic. Afterwards we waited at the stage entrance to get the   autographs from the musicians on the new album. Our 45 minute wait got   "paid off" with meeting Al in person and exchanging a few words with him,   he had just been to Austria during his Europe tour. And to top the   evening we even got a photo with him! - For the boys and I the school schedule has started again (I did not want   to use up precious time while my mom visited, that's the beauty of   home schooling "flexibility"). Sebastian will continue with 3 times a week   for 2-3 hours and Benjamin will start 1-2 times a week for an hour or two.   We had a good start and I am confident that we will be as successful as   last year. Sebastian really enjoys reading now, which I am very happy   about, specially since he really understands the stories. Benjamin has   quite a bit of interest and I already knew that he was learning along   even without knowing - he has stored so much already...! - They both continue with playing soccer at the YMCA, which they truly   enjoy and are good in. They definitely are both fast runners on their   teams. - On October 31st we had the long anticipated Halloween night, which we   celebrated a lot this year, with many pumpkin carvings, farms, etc. The   boys both were Ninja fighters, but already know now what they want to be   for next year - something scary... Boy am I glad we've got at least 360   days to go....

... Because the latest news come quite unexpected (also for us - and don't worry it is not a 3rd child!) How does that song go... "It never rains in Southern California...", Bolognie. Last October it was so hot that they had raging wild fires going on and this year one rainstorm after the other comes through. Well and one of them had gusts of about 50/60 mph! I had mentioned above that due to the deck renovation we had to take everything off which also meant the shrouds (the steel cables that run left and right of the mast stabilizing it. Well, we had them tied off at the toe rail (the outside edge of the boat) and it worked fine since August, no problem at all. Unfortunately this did not last and with all this strong winds the lines chaffed, which made the mast very vulnerable and "BOOM" broke it like a match! It was Wednesday October 20th at 11am, Sebastian and I were in the middle of doing school when it happened. We were fortunate that Robert wasn't working in San Jose anymore, but was at Tommie work, so that he could come home within 20 minutes along with J.D. And a crew of 3 riggers. We were very lucky despite the misery that no human got hurt, not our or other boat got structurally damaged, it was day light (with pouring rain) and not night as well as we were not out at sea. We cannot really prove it but many people have said that the mast might have been repaired before, because it is unlikely that it will break that easy and fast even if it is not tied off. So maybe we were able to avoid an even bigger catastrophe, who knows. It certainly is/was a big shock, specially because it throws us back time wise a bit. We had planned to leave in December (the plans for October departure have been abended a while ago with the deck repair and Roberts work). The new mast will take about 8 weeks (it will be done close to Santa Cruz, of all places!), so around Christmas. At the moment everything is open and we haven't made any decisions yet. We think that the next weeks will give us good clarification, how quickly we can install the deck, when the mast will finally arrive here, etc. Our goal would be to leave latest by the end of January, how realistic this is we have no idea yet. One thing is for sure though - more than ever are we going ahead with our family adventure, we just won't give any prognosis for the departure date anymore...!

To top all of that we also were not able to extend our rent at the marina and it is most difficult to find anything in San Diego. We had a few things that might work moving around but at the end the help of one of our boat neighbors got us into another marina where we could stay at least 3 months trough. We moved on November 3rd and the election results the night before kind of gave us the sign to get everything ready and out of here. Like I said nothing is made final yet, our priority is to get the deck ready and geared for winter. Robert is just finishing up the priming and painting work for the cockpit (where we as well had to take all the hardware off, needed to sand, prime and paint. The weather wasn't very cooperative and delayed us a bit, just what we need?!?

What can I say - I hope it doesn't take so long again until I'll write and we also always love to hear from you. Who knows maybe you'll have the chance again next year to come and visit us in beautiful San Diego....?!?!?

For today, Adios, Ciao, Servus, By, by

The 4 Schmids (from a motor sailing vessel)

PS There are a few new pictures on the webpage to see what was going on and what "Lawur" looks like. PPS If you think we are brave, crazy, adventures, please go and check out the webpage wwww.northernmagic.com - just unbelievable what some people manage to do, overcome and change! I was very fascinated by it and encouraged to do what we had planned to do.]

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