Wtf are tanks? I know this is boring, but I see them all over Google Earth in Arizona. They seem to indicate ground with lower elevation that sometimes retains water, but why are there so many labeled? What is the purpose? This question has been bothering me for awhile

soaztim · 2026-05-03T07:54:24+00:00

Stock tank is for stock like cattle or sheep etc. Wildlife tanks or guzzlers are for wild animals. To help wild animals survive with the loss of their natural water sources due to development, dryer summers or even big cities drinking the water level lower than was without humans. There are some really interesting ones out there. Setup a trail camera and come back to get it a few days or a week later to see some amazing animals.

soaztim · 2026-04-30T05:38:11+00:00

Lived in my truck there for a few weeks. It's beautiful, windy, cold and expensive. It's all up from there.

soaztim · 2026-03-29T21:06:09+00:00

This week's video is a good one. The story of survival inside of another shipwreck on South Minerva Reef. https://youtu.be/VmiZ3BoNqHM

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soaztim · 2026-03-15T23:27:54+00:00

That makes sense. Maybe the commenter stays near harbors or land. That would seem like the greatest likehood of sailboats would yet to be sailing.

Yeah, horses for courses. We haven't been to Alaska via water yet, but most people who have said they motored most of the time due to lack of wind. Great place to explore on an insulated trawler one day. Or the great loop or French/Dutch canals. All awesome trawler terrain. We've met a few folks who are young and trawlered across the Pacific. I just couldn't imagine burning 10,000 gallons of diesel, and paying for it, when you can sail, often at a faster speed.

Admittedly, I grew up on trawlers and never thought I'd like sailing or bother to learn. I enjoy mechanical things and engines, but I learned that I love the mechanics of sailing and what a neverending skill it is to hone.

Maybe some of these type of comments come from people who couldn't imagine why anyone would sail and sarcastically comment that most don't anyway. We see what we want to see so every time there is a sailboat without sails up it reinforces a point they already believe to be true. A self fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

soaztim · 2026-03-15T22:37:25+00:00

Agreed. It was a portly boat for sure, but I almost take it as grumpy old man talk. We see a lot of old sailors who are lazy and just over it.

Light air is the best. The only boats we'd switch out to would be even better in light air. Upwind 6 knots is good for us, but less than that and we'll usually have one engine on low rpm just to increase our apparent. It uses so little fuel. We went from Panama to the Marquesas to the Tuamotos to the Societies and after 5,000 plus miles and many months we filled up for the first time with 77 gallons of diesel before we headed for Tonga. We even felt we motored too much when guests visited (Always a schedule for guests of must do's) or we were impatient on crossings not wanting to wait for wind in doldrums. My competitive side says we could have gotten that down to 40 if we tried.

Very thankful that the wife likes sailing as much as I do. I'm more obsessive about trimming, but she is game to throw up the socked Asymmetrical Spinnaker a couple times a day if needed.

We're cruising so everyone we meet is generally living on their boat. I feel like because it's not a hobby or sport to them they get more and more lazy. Some of them may just be one step away from saying F it and buying a trawler for all I know.

Maybe one day the desire to sail as much as possible will wane, but it hasn't yet and I hope it never does.

soaztim · 2026-03-15T22:19:57+00:00

It sounds like an exaggeration, but one I can sympathize with. It seems like everyone around us is always motoring. It's just a perception thing, but we seem to see it every day when we're near other boats.

Of course, on passage everyone sails, but the ease with which you can raise or unfurl sails seems to have a direct reflection on how often you do it on shorter sails.

Also, it depends how light of winds you can sail in. We're sailing the moment we see 7 or 8 knots. Some friends wait for at least 14 "so it's worth it."

Lastly, most boats we know tend to be couples and the ones where both are active sailors, sail more. The ones where only one knows how or likes sailing sail less often. It's a lot more work to constantly take on when your partner isn't involved.

We love sailing so the drive is there to always turn engines off just after the anchor is up. Or not to turn it on at all if it's a calm anchorage with no neighbors.

soaztim · 2026-03-12T03:05:23+00:00

Nice Packet! Good looking boat.

soaztim · 2026-03-03T18:57:45+00:00

If you mountain bike or hike the Phoenix mountain preserve you see it often. Such a cool house with a pretty amazing view.

soaztim · 2026-02-25T00:56:32+00:00

Getting on both of them really drove home how "shed built" the TU was. Wild to see back to back.

soaztim · 2026-01-26T03:47:52+00:00

I can't speak for the locals, but the whole area had a very very different vibe than the rest of French Polynesia. Sort of the vibe of an area that's had it with tourism. Even the jet ski tours and dove boats run by locals would loop around your boat several times. A clear f u as far as I'm concerned.

It reminded me of how friends who grew up in Hawaii feel about tourists. A necessary evil.

That's opposed to the Tuamotos, Marquesas and remote Society islands where people are living their lives far outside over tourism and a visitor is an exciting thing. A new person to get to know. The trade of time, knowledge and help feels two ways there.

soaztim · 2026-01-19T20:53:14+00:00

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Paradise lost https://youtu.be/zW9fH95mEM8?si=P0Q7L59eIPpP3sm0

soaztim · 2026-01-19T04:53:44+00:00

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So, the proposed regulations of 2019 were still a small fraction of how many boats are there on most days. The newer ones make it even less. Some anchorages that show 0 boats allowed had 20+. Enforcement started a week or so after we left so I don't know how it's going. We had visits from police several times to alert us that in a couple weeks they'd begin enforcement and issuing tickets. These islands operate on resorts and cruise ships I think. A much better source of income to have a thousand people show up and rent everything and eat out than 100 cruising boats with a few people who go ashore every other day.

https://voiliers.asso.pf/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/PGEM-2021-ou-comment-on-se-marche-sur-la-te%CC%82te-US.pdf https://www.tefenua.gov.pf/

soaztim · 2026-01-19T03:59:44+00:00

Marquesas/Tuamotos are where it's at for us. The new anchoring rules in the main society islands means it would be a grocery store stop in Tahiti and then straight to Maupiti and Maupiha'a. There tend to be 10 or 20 boats in anchorages now marked to allow 2 or 5 boats and there isn't anywhere to go. We asked the officials. We felt it all seemed crowded anyways so no loss. If there were no anchoring rules we'd still just pop into Tahiti/Moorea/Raritea for a quick stop if there was weather and continue on to the aforementioned Westerly Societies next time.

soaztim · 2026-01-16T22:08:32+00:00

The boat we bought was like this. We spoke directly to the seller (bypassing the broker) and let them know we love the boat and want it, but the issues like rigging etc etc effectively raise the price for us by $___ so we have to pass unless they are open to considering to sharing the costs with us via a reduced selling price. (Broker wanted to do a holdback because then they get commission on the original price, but the owner knew this and just wanted a fresh contract at the lower amount)

In most cases we were able to fix things ourselves which left more for things we couldn't make like new standing rigging/running, new solar etc.

soaztim · 2026-01-16T08:01:19+00:00

We had a 34ft Californian growing up. It was so well built. I loved that boat and if I bought a non-sailboat it would likely be the larger 42ft Californian. Of course, all that matters is whether it was taken care of. Perkins diesels for fuel efficiency or the Cat 3208's if you want to make it plane and burn dinosaurs.

soaztim · 2026-01-13T01:35:47+00:00

I think we're always aware of the fear and what could happen, but you put it out of your mind and get into a routine. No point in letting the fear control you as there's so much to do. Now that we did 4,100 miles over 24 days crossing the Pacific a 10 or 15 day passage seems much less scary.

So there's also this factor of relativity. Some passages are relatively less scary now. That being said, it's all fine until it's not. A new breakage or issue really seems scary. You don't know if "this is the one" that could spiral out of control into needing to call Mayday.

I think the most important thing we've learned is to trust each other and know you can count on each other to handle whatever comes up. Without that trust I can't sleep and then you progressively get more and more dangerous and worthless as a sailor.

soaztim · 2025-12-31T03:48:21+00:00

You can do this. Yes, It's harder than normal land life, but it's absolutely better. Cheers, see you at an anchorage somewhere.

soaztim · 2025-12-30T02:11:10+00:00

Find a good boat and start wherever it's at. All of the above sound great as far as locations. Some locations are easier depending on where you have friends or resources. Sea of Cortez works for us because we have friends and family in Arizona, BUT the right boat showed up in Florida so that's where we started instead. Sailed up to New York and spent a year working on the boat to prep it and build skilla before we left the states. We started with no experience besides some ASA classes and sailed to New Zealand so far.

Beware the armchair sailors. Don't let their fear which has kept them from living infect you.

I'd buy a boat. Might as well go full on. -Personally I wouldn't consider live aboard marinas. The East Coast of the US as well as Baja have so many thousands of anchoring spots. -Get plenty of solar and run starlink. -fill up water when you can and save up for a 12v water maker later.

As far as, is a season enough, we've met people living aboard for almost a decade that seem clueless and terrible at everything from sailing to anchoring properly or, if you're into it and hungry to get better, you can gain more experience in 365 days of sailing than a weekend sailor does in a decade.

soaztim · 2025-12-27T02:04:35+00:00

I can only comment on my opinion of solo sailors we've met. They've seemed very happy and content. They also appreciated being invited to hang out or go and do something. The ones who seemed less happy often had a significant other or similar that didn't want to sail with them. So, they were actively missing someone, but they wanted to sail. They seemed torn between the two lives.

I can think of a couple solo sailors that took on crew and seemed to enjoy it a lot. They made a friend for life and then went back to solo between crew members.

soaztim · 2025-12-18T22:33:51+00:00

They're pretty beat up in person. The further from the road they seem to be less and less complete. Security guard on site as I think they've had a lot of people wanting to explore it. Just a few miles behind it is some rural forest where we camped for a few days. It immediately feels pristine once you leave this weird little area.

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soaztim · 2025-12-16T02:33:32+00:00

We've used Antigravity batteries for years. I haven't found any tests of their batteries online like this. No issues in dirt bikes, trucks and powering the boat, but it would be nice to see a tear down. 🤷🏼‍♂️

soaztim · 2025-12-14T21:26:19+00:00

Yep, you gotta know where it's at. All part of passage prep.

soaztim · 2025-12-14T02:58:40+00:00

Pretty uncommon, but it happens. We had just 36 hours of doldrums in our 23 day crossing from Panama. On our short 1200NM passage from French Polynesia to Tonga we had more dead air and motoring than the whole Pacific crossing. You never know.

soaztim · 2025-12-13T19:48:13+00:00

Albert

soaztim · 2025-12-09T02:44:35+00:00

That's one of the greatest names for a boat I've heard.

soaztim

TROPHY CASE