TinCanDispatch: Sailing with Cap'n Mark

Cap'n Mark, fellow Airstreamer Tom and myself

"Lois Mae" Cap'n Mark's 43-foot Polaris

We met Cap’n Mark and his buddy John in the hot tub on our first Friday afternoon in Chula Vista. Mark, a San Diego native, had recently sailed in from his home port in Hawaii where he has spent most of the last 40 years, to be near his aging mom. He lives in the adjacent marina aboard “Lois Mae”, his fine 43-foot Polaris sailboat. We hit it off immediately and met them later for dancing at the adjacent "Galley Bar". A couple of weeks later we sailed out thru San Diego harbor and about 10 miles into the Pacific. Mark, a gregarious, relaxed, California surfer dude, almost to the point where one might question his abilities, is an extremely experienced sailor. He’s captained his various boats on charters throughout the South Pacific and has made about 20 roundtrips to Hawaii, some solo. He makes wicked Tacos to boot. We were joined by SUPer Tom, an expert paddle boarder and fellow Airstreamer from Michigan. A great sailing day ensued.

We all took our turn at the helm while our fearless Captain chilled in his beanbag chair, required equipment on all his boats, on the foredeck.

Motoring out SD Bay toward the Coronado Bridge and the turn for the open Pacific.

We've seen many private yachts in SD but this one was truly a beauty. Oh to be a billionaire, but we felt pretty lucky as it was. SD Convention Center in background.