What is an Ericson?

My sailboat is an Ericson. In the slip next to me is a 32 Ericson sailed by Lee. Next to me at my previous marina my Russian comrade has a 29 Ericson and recently I met a fair lady from Dana Point that has a 27 Ericson. The majority of the time the Russian and I sail single handled but this Sunday I was joined by my visitor from the south and we took turns handling the sheets as we matched tacks by the Russian who for a change actually had a shirt on.



The past couple of weeks it has been plain hot until you clear the breakwater then the temperature drops and the sailing is great. Getting out and back the temperature in my cabin averages around 95 on these hot days even with the hatches open and a fan on. This was a three day weekend and there had been two days of rain before hand so the sun was playing peek-a-boo and dark rain clouds were covering the end of Catalina. Going out to the ocean from the depths of Wilmington takes a little over an hour covering 5.1 miles unless you decide to sail and sharpen your tacking drills. This can only be done if the channels are free of container ships, cruise ships, tugs and barges. The cruise ships have large signs posted to stay away from them and the channel is patrolled by the United States Coast Guard, Port police, Los Angeles police, life guard boats, and Sunday the Long Beach patrol boats were over on our side of the harbor. There are two separate harbors, one is the Port of Los Angeles and the other is the City of Long Beach and both are competing for the business of the container ships



Going out the winds were light and I decided to run a 150 Genoa but by four o'clock Hurricane Gulch was white caps on the way back. Besides the whitecaps there was a couple of container ships coming in the harbor entrance, a cruise ship coming out, and one container turning around in the basin. This makes for interesting. The number of sailboats out out numbered the private power boats my a considerable margin as diesel is over $5.00 a gallon and gasoline is not far behind.

The Russian just recently had his boat hauled out and bottom painted and it seems to have increased his performance. Last week I made arrangement to pull mine and have the bottom painted. It was hauled yesterday and now sits drying in the parking lot at Eddies Marine.

Previous Word of The Day

Jilbab and Hidjab

The term jilbab or jilbaab (Arabic جلباب) is the plural of the word jilaabah which refers to any long and loose-fit coat or garment worn by some Muslim women

The Hijab, Muslim Veil, (Islamic dress for women) did not only protect them from those evil eyes of non-believers but also gave them freedom and independence from being misused by them.


Outside the house she wore the full jilbab, which covered the eyes with a separate thin black cloth. She eyed my hidjab with approval, but there was something insufferably cloying about her.

taken from Infidel (page 125) by Ayaan Hirsi Ali