The GIS Institute

Rounding Point Conception

By drew on November 6th, 2009

A day to prepare. After a great day working the sailing and evening programs yesterday, today’s work includes provisioning, sail planning, and a few maintenance items for the boat. At breakfast, Captain Mark ‘orders’ us to go for some exercise or recreation before we start our work, because we’re going to have a big day preparing and likely sailing through the night. Most of us go for a surf across the harbor on a nice beach break. As soon as we’re done, everyone is off to complete their tasks – for me, that means making sure the blog us up, getting the GPS gear charged and ready, and adjusting a few website related issues. Mark makes the announcement that we will leave at midnight, as a 15-20 ft swell is approaching, along with 15-20 kt winds, and we don’t want to be in open water north of Point Conception as those conditions appear.

Part of our role on this journey is to look for the deep dependencies we have on single use plastic and polystyrene – the stuff we all use, sometimes only for a few seconds, and then throw away. We decided to do our provisioning at the local farmers market in San Luis Obispo, because it supports the local economy there, and it gives us a chance to meet people and mix it up a little before we go to sea. We meet at six, to carpool down to “SLO town”…

Once we walk around the corner and enter this night market, the color is vibrant, and the energy is up. Fruits and vegetables from all over the area are on display, and farmers become proud salesmen, making sure we all know about their harvest. I’ve never provisioned a boat with this much fresh produce – we bought lots of stuff that was not even on the list; basil, honey, pistachios, lemons, beans, strawberries, avocados, and more…

We hold, smell and taste many flavors from this carnival of the senses; the sights and sounds are alive and moving and swirling… We make one end of the market, and turn for the other end. Much more a festival to me than a farmers market….

Even puppet shows for the kids! More pics at the bottom of this post.

As we got further into the concessions end of the market, we began to notice the plastic and polystyrene containers, lids, and straws that have become the meal delivery vehicles of choice for our society… after picking this stuff out of the ocean for a few days, it doesn’t look like a tasty treat, or a quenching drink anymore. I’ve found what I think to be engaging ways to start conversations with these vendors about the way they sell their products to ‘us’. Some vendors seem quite interested in the fact that bio-compostable cups, bowls, and silverware are become almost price neutral, others seem to think it is not an issue.

Either way, we made sure they knew we were not going to buy anything from them delivered with a single use product mage from plastic or polystyrene. If you are concerned about these materials in the oceans and waterways, you can vote like this too. Also, I do like to remind people that we are all learning and

changing our ways… good people are working hard to create jobs and products in this very market, and they are the type of people to realize that their product may sell better if it’s delivered with compostable dinnerware – it’s up to us to let them know we want and expect sustainable materials – click here to suggest sustainable suppliers for your favorite restaurants and vendors!

Back to the journey. By midnight, we’re stowing supplies and bringing-in the lines to make our way south. I love leaving at night. Nobody to see us off… coffee brewing, and those with a late watch tuck-in for a few hours sleep. My GPS gear is tracking our progress, as is all the navigation software aboard the Baylis.

Captain Mark and Dave both use paper charts to plan and track progress – I appreciate that for so many reasons, the main ones being that the electricity can fail, and you can still work the nav problems, and you can see little bouys and other chart features, while still seeing the big picture at the same time. Small computer and chart-plotter screens just cant facilitate that.

I‘m so excited to make the turn around Point Conception. I get some sleep, as I have the 5:00am to 7:00am watch. Once I’m up, I join Dave for late stargazing, and a beautiful sunrise as we approach the point.Here’s a little YouTube film I made of this morning…

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