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The end is just the beginning...
Thursday, November 03, 2011 12:54 PM
I must apologize for the late update. You may have seen on www.transparentseavoyage.com that we made it to San Diego and had a great final night at the Maritime Museum! I will be compiling a lengthy update letting you know about the last week of travel from the sailors perspective over the next few days so stay tuned. Will :-)
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Fire Side Music.. and bombs?
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 12:15 PM
This post starts at Dana Point after a great fun show at the Ocean Institute. We sailed right into the harbor and it was a quick shower then straight to tuning guitars and getting ready to play...After a great talk by Dave and Howie we all watched Minds in the Water movie... Lots of surfing legends were attending like John Peck, Mickey Munoz, Rusty Miller who came up and played harmonica on a few songs with me. It was a great fun night with The Band of Frequencies keeping us all dancing till the end. Afterwards we were treated to a John Peck private performance by the fire and he worked his magic on the crew with body adjustments including the legendary implementation of his Christmas tree lights technique. Im not sure why but any ache and pain from the hours and hours of sailing and peddling instantly vanished! The next day Rusty Miller and big wave charger Rusty Long joined us for the 21 mile leg to Oceanside... After a few hours of peddling we got a great wind and swell direction sending us on our way, the most noticeable thing about this leg was the constant bomb explosions coming from the Camp Pendelton military zone. We all made it in safe and enjoyed more camp fire music from the Crew and Rusty Miller along with Jim Stephens jamming some great songs... We sail again in a few hours.. hoping for wind.. till next time, Will
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Back track story from day 12
Friday, October 14, 2011 5:30 PM
A rest day was amazing after our 17 hr sail, but some of us were excited about getting back out there without the fog! Our rest day was at a place called Portuguese Bend. Oliver, our recent addition to the journey, lives there in a house with a big wheel on one side because it was built on top of a fault line. He has to shift the house every month, a very foreign idea for most of us but such an amazing place. The quiet little bay is also home to Chris Del Moro's Mum and dad and sister who also housed some of us and what great loving hosts they are. Amazing food and times. But it was time to head back out.... not long after our launch we encountered more Dolphins than one could count. Some of us mentioned 1000! Im not sure but it was a beautiful display of moving smiles in all directions and they were ready to play! We spent at least one hour engaging in hilarious ocean Dolphin fun. We sadly left them and ventured on towards the Los Angeles shipping port. WOW what a contrast. Concrete and steel, grey and smog lined shore. We had to make a quick dash at the three port openings. The first one was interesting as we mis judged the speed of a tanker and had to hide behind a jetty wall as a behemoth moving football field stacked with containers roared by. What a feeling to be so close to a man made giant, but nothing of the energy and life force we gained from the next days encounter with the Blue Whales. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful, we did notice the smell and the trash in the water picking up as much as we could but we were out numbered by the litter for sure. At sunset we entered our destination port only to be screamed at by a military ship. We tried to ask directions to the next harbor but they were very un friendly and not interested in helping... They can keep that port! We back tracked North half a mile and found a great little entry and celebrated with the full moon rising in the West. It was all meant to be and the music and fun continued into the night. Till next post, Will
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Blue Whales
Friday, October 14, 2011 12:06 AM
An unbelievable experience, words can not describe how we felt as the biggest creatures known played with us for 2 hours. I learned they have a heart the size of a compact car! They passed gently under our little craft sharing their song and gifts of ancient wisdom. I really don't have much more to say about it, how people could ever harm them is beyond me. Tonight I wrote a song from this experience and it should be up in a day or so on the music section of www.transparentseavoyage.com Thx for tuning in, Will
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A night and day to remember
Tuesday, October 11, 2011 12:56 PM
Im sure a lot will be said about the 17 hrs we spent at sea crossing the South bay. This is what happened to me. We decided to do our first night sail. A beautiful evening with small swell, light winds and a billion stars over head. We launched from Leo Carrillo at 11pm and planned on coming in at Point Dume about 7 miles down the coast. We all stayed together and encountered amazing shooting stars in a huge moon filled night sky. Phosphorous everywhere turned a seal into a glowing underwater missile. Beauty everywhere. The reality of cold and wet started setting in as we arrived around our destination at about 3am. At this point I will introduce the pairs on our two person Kayaks. 1) Dave & Lauren 2) Hilton & katherine 3) Chris & OJ 4) Oliver & Patrick 5) Will & Troy. So just off shore we grouped and made the decision to not go in as planned, and to continue to take advantage of the current breeze and do our best to get some miles under our belt. We really wanted to get past what looks like a bay of cities from my perspective and get ourselves into the Palos Verdes area.
We discussed the lack of water and food and how tired we were. Each of us main crew members made the decision to go and felt our guests on that leg were able to continue with us. So at the exact time of 3:33, Dave gave us the star Canis Minor (Dog Star) as a heading so we lined up our sails and headed into the night. We really needed sleep but kept awake for the most part and kept our heading. I asked Troy to take over so I could get fifteen minutes sleep and do my best to curl up and fend off the early morning cold before the dawn. This is where I get a little hazy the following may seem a little odd to some people and particular timing of events may be out of order but this is how my mind remembers the next 11 hours... I watched the beautiful red moon setting behind me and as it disappeared below the horizon, some how the moon light was still present, but then in a quick flash the light went out and our surroundings were very dark and even colder. At some point soon after I woke up and Troy must have fallen asleep also, we were facing North instead of South and I was really startled and disorientated. All of my bearings were backwards and to top that off, we were alone! How did that happen? In reality we both fell asleep and the others crew didn't notice... Bad move at sea, this really woke me up in all ways and I was determined no other mistake would be made. Troy and I watched the sun rise in front of us and since most of the land was covered in fog I just knew South East was a good direction to make it across this 30 mile bay and we would eventually hit land. Using the sun as my bearing we continued. Also the swell direction was a comfort to me all day, knowing I could follow that to land if it became necessary before dark. Every sense was on heightened alert and I tried to run through every scenario just to be prepared. I finally got in touch with Dave who was with Chris and Hilton and learned they were in thick fog and were using compasses to head South East. Oliver & Patrick were missing and they didn't have any form of communication. I was at least 8 miles off shore which put Dave and crew another 2-3 miles out in the thick fog. I tried to give them a land mark but it was hard with the marine layer covering the shore. Very weird to be in clear sun in a cocoon of fog. I felt a little better after contact but not having any view of the rest of the crew for 10 hours was strange. As the hours continued we could see the fog bank closing in on us. Along with the ominous fog came a welcomed wind. Luckily I could still use the sun as a bearing through the fog and I had my trusty swell direction as a back up to keep me headed in the correct direction. Also at this point our hearing became really sensitive to the point of us hearing voices. We could not make out what was being said at all but we really could hear people speaking. At one point Troy swears he heard a dog barking! On we sailed voices and all.... at some point hours into fog the time warp we heard an actual fog horn, over and over again it sounded its lonely call. Soon after I was distracted by a Seal that looked in distress, flipper up and floating in a strange way with seagulls closing in to peck at it. We took a pass and it was tangled in seaweed and floating and just sticking it's snoot out to breath. We made a pass to try to grab some of the weed and un tangle it, luckily the keel caught a hold of the weed and freed it. It was so happy and followed us with its family for quite a while. Troy and I both felt great to have that interaction and did our good ocean deed for the day. I knew this was a good sign and at this point decided to make our way to shore. I had a feeling it was time and followed some Dolphins towards the fog horn sound. As we approached the sound we could make out a shape which looked like an oil platform. My heart dropped as I thought we were still miles out to sea but then elation as I saw people and realized it was a pier, then finally LAND! I was so excited and relieved and re energized. I got hold of our ground crew by phone and they happened to be just north of us at Redondo beach. We sailed up the shore line and came in to meet Howie, Blake, and Garry. They gave me water! Coconut water and and avocado and corn chips which I devoured. Troy decided to call it a Day/Night and I invited Gazza to finish the last of what was to be 4 hours of sailing up the coast. I was on shore for about 20 minutes all up, great to stretch my legs. Later I joked about stopping off at a cafe while everyone was lost out at sea in the fog. So back out I went with Gazza, we had to tack for hours to avoid the Kelp and get around the angle of the coast we were in and out of fog and finally at the 17th hour I spotted 3 other crew boats. I was really happy to see they were safe and I was also informed via phone that Oliver and patrick came in at Redondo a few hours after me and had seen a Blue Whale. I asked Garry to take over so I could finally get 15 minutes of sleep knowing everyone was safe and imagined what crazy stories the rest of the crew would be telling tonight .... sleep beautiful sleep..... never felt so good, will update more soon, Will
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Music @ malibu
Saturday, October 08, 2011 8:14 PM
Hi all, we made it to the Malibu area early which gave us some much needed rest and the ability to prepare for our Music, art , awareness show last night at the Malibu inn. Thank you to everyone who came out and made the night one to remember. We have enjoyed learning about the Malibu wetland issue. Lauren will post something on this soon merseabeaucoup.com
Now as for the show, wow what fun.. loved playing an acoustic set and having the Band of Frequencies help me out on a song. Their set was amazing and we were all dancing the night away.
Sorry for the short post today. My ear if full of water from the fun waves at the BU today.. Hope to sail tomorrow and a healthy ear should bring me into a more creative space. Will
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Missile Launch!
Wednesday, October 05, 2011 2:46 PM
Day 4 started from Emma Wood beach after a fun little surf. Guests were Quentin age 11 and Nick age 14, It was awesome to have these stoked little guys keeping all of our energy high! We headed south at about 12:30 about 4 miles out we rounded an oil rig and headed towards the Navy base Mugu keeping a wide birth as we are required to stay clear. We were directly out from the base when a helicopter circled us and kept it up for ten minutes, then another one came out. Then we spotted two boats speeding out towards us. They tods us a missile launch was about to happen! Glad they warned us but it made me wonder what were they aiming at, was it just going to explode in the ocean? Hope the dolphins got the warning also.... I think they did because not lond after that tense moment about 60 dolphins playes with us for at least 30 minutes. The kids were so excited and loving the little waves we were surfing on the boats. We traveled about 35 miles all the way to Leo Carrillo camp ground and set up under a beautiful California Live Oak and had a fun night of music and story. We will be in this area for a few days before out show this Friday at the Malibu Inn. Till next post... Will
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Good friends, Music & wind!!
Monday, October 03, 2011 11:03 PM
Hi Yall, Sometimes the moment takes over and there is just no time to reflect. Here I am stealing a quick moment to share as the crew and especially Hilton is outside around the camp fire dancing and singing like crazy. If anyone knows Hilton you get the visual :-)
Day 2: We left El Capitan beach in calm winds... Never sail with expectations.. soon we were flying in 15 - 20 knot winds and loving the power. We saw a few big pods of Common Dolphins, not a great name for such a playful little smiling friend. Look them up on Google!
My guess is we traveled for 6 hours, its easy to loose track of time out there. We made it just past santa barbara harbor to a beach called hammond's. We were guided in by Jack Johnson, it was a great night catching up with jack. We played the Ukulele around the camp fire and all had a great night sleep under the stars. What a welcome!
Day 3: We said good by to Hammonds and headed out past the Oil rigs, wow they are weird sitting out there and even stranger close up. A fun sail with the waves all the way to Emma Wood just north of Ventura. Tonight our musical guest was Denny Aaberg who is an amazing muso and wrote the movie Big Wednesday. I was honored to haver him, the band of Freaks, and Angus Stone play on a song I wrote called "Friends that Smile" it should be up on www.transparentseavoyage.com sometime tomorrow. Please excuse my non descriptive behavior... its real late and could be a big day tomorrow, until then this is Will signing out..
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El Capitan
Saturday, October 01, 2011 11:49 PM
Day one... We launched from Gaviota pier at 12:30 after a beach clean up and a wonderful farewell from the local folk who came down. Not much wind at all so we peddled and paddled 12 miles along with our new companion Chad Konig who recently paddled the same route, all the way to Mexico. More on our new crew member soon. The weather was amazing but we were really wishing the wind would pick up. We stopped out to sea for a swim and lunch and a few Ukulele songs by Will. We have Angus Stone, amazing Australian musician and equally as amazing actress Isabel Lucas as our guests for a few days. They took to sailing no problem and enjoyed the Dolphins and Seals we encountered. It was a really good work out peddling for the 12 miles and we were all happy to enjoy the amazing Californian sun set on the beach before heading to our camp site. After a beautiful vegan dinner The band of Frequencies, Dave, Will and Angus recorded the daily song "20 Miles". Its an ode to the last 20 miles of undeveloped coast we are sailing at the moment and hope this small gesture will help shed some light on this important issue. Check in at www.transparentseavoyage.com for the song. Over and out for now.....
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Tomorrow we sail!
Friday, September 30, 2011 8:12 PM
9am start at Gaviota Pier, beach clean up them we sail about 12pm Everyone is welcome. Please come meet the crew for a fun morning!
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Seals, Dolphins, Round wooden houses & Music
Friday, September 30, 2011 12:43 AM
That title is a mouthful yes, but wow what a day and we haven't even set sail yet. We are all staying in the most amazing beach house north of Santa Barbara. Thank you Linda & Dan for sharing your wonderful home with all of us... all 18 of us! Were a band of very thankful gypsies. Thank you for all of the amazing Vegan food! We watched Seals and playful dolphins from the house... I can't even begin to describe what this place looks like...it's a home away from home and even the Dali Lama came and stayed a while a few years back. I can see why he stayed here.
Tonights kick off party was a packed house with two showings of "Minds in the water". A great question and answer with Dave and Kristi from www.environmentalcefensecenter.com who are trying to help save the endangered Blue Whales in this area from being run down by container ships. I played a few songs and then later sat in with The band of Frequencies who had the whole place dancing and wanting more. They have such a great sound and I cant wait to start doing our "one song a day", of which I will tell more about in the next few days. Everyone left tonight with big smiles and we all learned a lot. Tomorrow we will explore this magic spot some more, hope to catch a wave and get our gear ready for the first sail on Saturday... Stay Tuned, Will
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Hurricanes & Lightening storms
Monday, September 26, 2011 6:47 PM
Hi Folks, this is Will, checking in from Florida.... Right now im in the middle of a CRAZY thunderstorm, somehow we still have electricity... There is a Hurricane off Mexico bringing some swell towards California.... The band of Frequencies are heading towards the USA as we speak and then ill be right behind them into LAX tomorrow. Whenever the weather gets crazy I start feeling alive, this is getting exciting. Have a great day or night wherever you are, Will
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Thank you!
Friday, September 23, 2011 8:21 PM
Thank you to everyone who has signed up so far to follow our journey. We're all getting really excited and doing our best to prepare. Funny thing is though, and we learnt this from the last voyage.... all we really need are the basics. Once we hit the ocean and feel that first gust of wind fill our little sail none of those things we thought might be important really matter. That is until the rudder pin breaks and those pliers we forgot to stow would work much better than our teeth! The next few days are busy ones and half of the crew are already in California traveling with the Minds in the Water movie release. Please check the web site and come see us. And if you wouldn't mind helping get the word out about cooweeme.com and asking a few friends to sign up and follow us we would greatly appreciate it. Until the next post, stay safe, have fun and enjoy the ocean. T-Sea-Crew.
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Welcome to Transparensea USA!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 11:52 AM
Welcome to our first update on Cooweeme. Here you will be able to track our actual location and we hope you will come down to the waters edge and join us and meet our friends. Members of the crew will be adding daily logs to keep you informed of what we experience on this unique trip following the Grey Whale migration from Santa Barbara to the Mexico boarder. Right now the crew are all preparing for the trip in their own unique ways. Here is what were all doing right now:
Dave - Travelling to Encinitas to meet up with the Minds in the Water movie launch, you can see all of the dates at www.mindsinthewater.com
Lauren - Connecting with our featured Non profits (will post them soon) & enjoying a few more warm Florida waves before heading to california.
Hilton & JJ - Flying now from Australia to meet Dave for the MIW launch.
Chris - Surfing San Diego area.
Will - Tuning his Ukulele & learning a Bob Marley song in St Augustine FL. Just got his tickets to California!
Justin - Getting camera gear ready in Encinitas.
Howie - Were not sure but no doubt he will pop up soon.
Band Of Frequencies - Getting ready for 2 fundraiser gigs in Australia before heading to USA.
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