From the anchorage at Redondo Beach:

My thanks to all ye faithful who check my blog regularly, I owe you an update at least, if not a full, proper short story. So much has happened, and I'm having major trouble keeping up. Here's a brief synopsis, however, with specific stories following in the next posts. I have indeed been writing in shorts and t-shirts, as hoped. I have a suntan, which is novel. I partied in Avila Beach and San Luis Obispo with an awesome croud I met at the yacht club, learned to surf, sailed around Point Conception to Santa Barbara by my lonesome, hung out there for five days or so. I have met many amazing people in the last few weeks, who have enriched my life in ways I can't begin to explain. I feel at home, for the first time in a long while.

Pacifica Pete called me out of the blue right before I sailed from Santa Barbara, hopped on a last minute greyhound and joined me for a week-long booze cruise to Santa Cruz island and then Redondo Beach. We snorkeled, kayaked in caves, ate ginormous crabs. Now here I am, anchored for free on a 4-day permit in Redondo Beach. I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, but will figure out a way to stay another day and get some blogging done, and maybe some sailboat racing with Captain Woody and some of his friends. He writes a column in Latitudes and Attitudes magazine, by the way, and it's always great, so go out and buy your copy today (...Shameless plug...). Next stop probably is Newport Beach to meet my good friend Chuck Hypes from Moss Landing (who escaped to Newport Beach ~2 years ago) and Matt Coats, one of my best friends from college. Chuck and I may buddy-boat (two separate boats) to Catalina island, and hopefully my Brother Boz gets better and gets his tushy down here soon and joins the fun. Cadence misses you, boz! So do I. And, so does dinner:

Thankfully they don't fight back. Lord knows I would, if I were that tasty.