I've neglected this blog for a long time. I've been working at the Department of Fish and Game doing GIS (mapping and spatial analysis) for the MLPA initiative and, while that's sort of exciting in it's way, I don't consider it to be the type of thing anyone wants to waste their time reading about on the internet. What type of thing do I think you want to waste your time reading about on the internet? Well, I finally bought I sailboat. That's it up there. It's a 1970 Mariner 31. It's a fiberglass hulled, wooden masted ketch and I think it's pretty damn cool. Here are some more pictures of it:

She's a moderate displacement, shallow draft, full keel cruising boat. What the hell does that mean? It means that she's not particularly fast and won't sail upwind as well as a more performance oriented boat but she's durable, comfortable, and difficult to turn upside down. Given my plans for her, the benefits more than outweigh the drawbacks. Aside from all that, I love the way this boat looks. I think she's far more fun to look at than all those plain looking white sloops that fill 90% of the slips of every marina you've ever seen. I could sit here and tell you all about where the boat was built, who designed it, and all that sort of thing but it's a lot easier to just post a link to the Mariner Yachts website.