Have I ever told you about the time I played with the popular punk band Blink-182?

Of course I have! I bring it up shamelessly, I hardly need prompting. You probably asked me to pass the salt, or maybe mentioned the weather, and I responded with, “Salt and/or weather, reminds me of the time I played with Blink-182…”

If somehow you’ve never heard of this event (presumably because we’ve never met), maybe you have some questions. You might be wondering:

So you actually played in the band Blink-182? No, I played in a band who played with Blink-182.

Cool! So you were like, on tour with them? No! One show only, in Kelowna, BC, 1997.

Amazing! You must have played for thousands of people!? Nope! It was in a coffee shop before they were well known.

Wow! Do you keep in touch? No. Christmas cards at least? No. Did you even talk to them? Not really, no.

So you were just physically in a room with this band, in 1997? Yes! You get it. Pretty cool right!?

Why do you even tell this story? Is Blink-182 still relevant? What does this have to do with sailing? Look, the important takeaway here is that it’s a pretty big deal, which makes me a cool and interesting person.

Are your own kids impressed at least? No further questions!

Let’s talk about this sailing trip that we’re on… We arrived in Southern California!

Our first stop was at Santa Rosa Island, and by some cosmic fluke there were 7 boats in the anchorage with kids on board. Every single sailing family that we’d met thus far was there, plus a couple of new ones. This was an amazing experience. Finding other kids is still a struggle for us.

From there we’d head to mainland SoCal, into the heart of the action. Santa Barbara, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Orange County, Venice Beach, Santa Monica. There were song lyrics and TV shows everywhere we looked!

There goes the L.A.P.D. There’s L.A.X. And there’s Baywatch! All three of those things are actually real!

One thing we’ve found on this trip is that while it’s fairly easy to meet other travelling boaters, it’s a challenge for us to meet local people. When my sister came to visit us at Marina Del Rey, my 6 year old niece put on a friend making clinic for us.

“I LOVE your dog”, she would say, to every single person with a dog. And that’s all there is to it. She’d be locked in conversation with the person who, coincidentally, also loves their dog. Business lady, yoga guy, homeless man with pit-bull. She didn’t discriminate against man or beast.

This was very inspiring. But how should I break the ice with people who don’t have dogs? I’ve given this some thought, and I think the solution is: “I LOVE your parents!” Everyone loves their parents after-all. Soon I’ll have all the friends.

We spent a day with our guests walking around Venice beach, people watching and making friends with dog owners. The muscle people, the fashionable people, and the roller skating people were all present. We took a break to cool off in the surf and lounge on the beach, which is where another marvel unfolded before us. A series of planes or drones were writing words across the sky.

BLINK-182 IS COMING. Wow. I’m not going to miss this opportunity.

“Gather round kids! Having Blink-182 written across the sky, reminds me of the time I played with the definitely-still-relevant band, Blink-182…”

Next stop, Mexico!

And some photos…